Nice Hat/Comic Books

DC

 * The DC Elseworld Superman: Red Son is particularly noted for giving Batman a rather amusing Russian fur cap with tiny bat ears on top, which fans have taken to calling the Bat-Hat. It is natural to want to touch a hat so sexy.
 * When asked about the Bat-Hat, the artist responsible justified it with "I took a lot of crap from friends about this hat. But I still like the design. Russia is cold, why can't Batman have a warm hat?"
 * Jay Garrick, The Flash, wears his father's World War I army helmet, modified to look like Mercury's winged hat. It's stylish, it protects his head, and it's a devastating weapon when thrown at Super Speed!
 * It might only appear in a single issue of Superman, but still - wouldn't it be neat if he always wore that hat?
 * Some (DC's) Enchantress fans weren't happy that she didn't have her trademark witch's hat in the Shadowpact series.
 * In an issue of Books of Magic, Zatanna is having a conversation about good and evil with the Affably Evil Tala. The latter is wearing a particularly stylish hat. Zatanna finishes her argument about how good is better with "It's the only thing that keeps me from stealing your hat." Not that Zatanna is any slouch in the headgear department herself.
 * The Mad Hatter is a Batman villain who not only has a hypnotic (literally) chapeau of his own, but who's fascinated with all headwear, especially the nicest one of all-- Batman's cowl.
 * Lots of Batman villains have very nice hats: The Riddler has been known to sport a green bowler hat with a question mark, the Penguin usually wears a massive top hat, and the Joker sometimes accessorizes with a purple gambler hat. Niiiice.
 * Though he only wore it once and it was part of a specific tourist-themed outfit, the Joker's straw-brim hat from when he shot Barbara Gordon is also memorable.
 * DC's Doctor Fate has a helmet which is the source of his power; it originally contained the spirit of Nabu that possessed Fate when he wore it. If put on by an enemy, the helmet would drive them insane. Later on, the helmet also fought evil on its own, approximating a body with his gloves and cape. Although Nabu left the helmet to usher in the new Age of Magic, it still has enough magic to impart knowledge to its host and contend with those that might abuse it for their own ends.
 * The Sandman: Death of the Endless has a floppy hat collection. She also borrows Emperor Norton's hat (see Real Life below) when she comes to collect him.
 * Can't forget Dream's trademark Alien-in-a-gas-mask helm (a Shout-Out to the 1950s Sandman series), which he dons whenever he has serious business to take care of.
 * The Shade normally sports one in Starman, but he occasionally swaps out for a variety of other hats.
 * Also from DC: Both Questions have nice hats.
 * Enemy Ace Hans von Hammer has very distinctive flying headgear.
 * In the Hitman comic, Tommy Monaghan's best friend is Natt "The Hat" Walls. The hat in question is very nice indeed, and damage to it appears to serve as a Berserk Button for Natt.

Marvel

 * Galactus cares not what lesser mortals think of his hat!
 * In an issue of the Marvel G.I. Joe comic series, Firefly unveils his new outfit. The Joes he's facing are less than impressed. He notes that "you don't get the full effect without the hat" and puts his on (it's more of a helmet, but whatever), and although he's supposed to be a terrorist but is wearing neon green, he does look commensurately more badass.
 * In X-Men, Magneto's helmet tends to signify whether or not he's a villain this week; you're a lot likelier to be able to have a reasonable conversation with him if he's not wearing it.
 * Plus, in the movies, it serves as a psionic shield, making this Evil, Stylish, and Practical. No wonder he's a major villain.
 * There's a particularly interesting use in Excalibur v2 #11, where Magneto comes back home to Xavier after taking Scarlet Witch away from the Avengers. Charles reprimands him about wearing his helmet and Mags responds defensively, only calming down once he's taken the bucket off his head. Of course, this likely had more to do with the ridiculous amount of power he had just used, but the helmet was a good symbol.
 * He wears it when he feels a particular need to shield his mind from Xavier--which usually means he's up to something nasty.
 * The Juggernaut's Helmet which also keeps Charles out of his head. And the skull cap he wears underneath, which is also psy-proof.
 * Alpha Flight villain/hero Smart Alec has a big, bulky helmet that also enhances his intellect and feeds him information at a superhuman rate.
 * Dum Dum Dugan from Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos is very attached to his bowler. A major subplot in one of the issues involves the hat getting destroyed and Dugan's attempts to replace it. (His squad-mates get together to buy him a new one. D'awwwww.)
 * Wolverine can usually be seen wearing a cowboy hat when out of costume.
 * Several characters Jack Kirby designed for the Thor mythos have gigantic, lavish Nice Hats, particularly Loki and Hela. Indeed, Kirby created a great many Nice Hats over his long career, as shown in the ongoing feature from Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull, The 5,000 Hats of Jack Kirby.
 * Runaways: Molly Hayes has a whole collection of Nice Hats.

Other

 * Transformers wearing clothes? Generally kind of silly. Nightbeat with a Film Noir detective-style fedora and trenchcoat? Totally in-character, and pretty cool.
 * Watchmen: Rorschach wears a fedora. During the movie version,, whenever his hat falls off, he won't fight until he's put it back on. This seems to hint that he considers it to be a part of his 'body', as he does his mask.
 * Half the Gauls in Asterix wear nice helmets. The winged headgear worn by Chief Vitalstatistix actually has a chicken fall in love with it.
 * In Calamity Jack, the sequel to Rapunzels Revenge, Action Cowgirl Rapunzel buys a hat in Shyport, the Big City. It's right nice and smart, making Rapunzel look all citified and stylish and suchlike. The acquisition of Nice Hats is also the obsession of their friend Prudence, a pixie, who likely pointed Rapunzel to the city's finest haberdasher for the acquisition of her new chapeau.
 * The Redeemer from the Necromunda Comic of the same name. His flaming crown also doubles as a weapon, allowing an extra degree of Kill It with Fire when in a pinch.
 * Phrygian cap style hats are pretty much standard clothing for The Smurfs. They may vary in appearance depending on the occupation of the Smurf wearing it, but they are rarely seen without it. Since male Smurfs are bald, the hats can be used to smuggle things (like in the Animated Adaptation's Greedy Smurf, who hides a dessert under his hat, or Clumsy, who hides an Explosive Breeder). In the live-action movie, the hats also serve as parachutes to slow the Smurfs' descent as they jump from the Winslows' apartment window in New York City to a nearby taxicab.
 * K'Kruhk's conic straw hat in Star Wars has reached Memetic Mutation levels on TheForce.Net, where it is referred to simply as "the Hat".
 * Ki-Adi-Mundi also wears a wide-brimmed hat at times, most notably in the Outlander story. It helps hide his very tall head.

Newspaper Comics

 * Perhaps not quite the same, but in the newspaper comic Curtis, the title character often gives commentary on the church ladies' more and more extravagant (and silly) hats.
 * Curtis himself is always seen with an oversized green cap -- he even sleeps with it on.
 * One arc had the Pope touch Curtis' hat in blessing -- and then a small horde of nuns (who all looked identical) showed up and demanded the hat so they could venerate it as a holy relic!

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