Civvie Spandex: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I'm not wearing one of those damnfool spandex body-condom things. I haven't got the [[Most Common Superpower|bust]] for it."''|'''Jenny Sparks''', ''[[The Authority]]''}}

 

 

The most prominent example is jackets, and most of the characters who wore them were originally the younger set created in the early 90s. [[Marvel Universe]] characters are especially notable for this, although the first popular character to do so may have been [[Animal Man]].

** Similar attire was adopted by Mr. A and [[The Question]] in the late 1960s (both characters were created by the legendary [[Steve Ditko]], and bear a few more similarities to each other besides their mode of dress), and later still by Rorschach of ''[[Watchmen]]'', a [[Captain Ersatz]] of The Question.

*** Well, according to [[Alan Moore]] he's equal parts The Question AND Mr. A. Basically he's Ditko incarnate.

*** The chauffeur's uniform for Kato goes back to the 1940s movie serials ... which makes one wonder why no one realized Britt Reid's manservant/chauffeur looked just like the Green Hornet's aide.

**** [[Fridge Brilliance|Or any one of the other hundred of butlers, doormen, or chauffeurs hanging around the city.]]

** In the '40s, the original Sandman's ([[The Sandman|no relation]]) original costume was a suit, [[Badass Longcoat|Long Coat]], fedora and gloves -- with a gas mask.

*** For a brief period towards the end of [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]], Sandman was [[Executive Meddling|executive meddled]] into garish yellow-and-purple tights. This was generally regarded as a [[Dork Age]], including by the character himself.

** The Crimson Avenger and Wing, who were [[Captain Ersatz|closely modelled on]] the Hornet and Kato, started out with the trenchcoat-and-fedora look, but quickly gained costumes to distinguish themselves, with a [[Chest Insignia]] resembling a sunburst. When the [[Legacy Character|modern Crimson Avenger]] was introduced, she claimed the insignia was a stylised bullethole, and wore [[Civvie Spandex]] comprising leather pants, a [[Badass Longcoat]] and a T-shirt with a ''real'', blood-spattered bullethole.

** Of course, the ur-instance of this trope would be ''[[The Shadow]]'', even older than ''The Spirit'', who dresses in a black and red suit, cape and fedora with the only unusual garment being a silk mask over his lower face.

* ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' had Wonder Man, who wore a red safari jacket over a black tee shirt and jeans through the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, when he's a member of the Mighty Avengers he wears the red safari jacket, but in his own mini series that largely takes place ''in his own house'' he walks around in his spandex uniform.

** Remember that Wonder Man is/was a being of almost pure ionic energy, so the fact that he has a body to wear spandex on is quite remarkable.

** Gambit from ''X-Men'' wears a [[Badass Longcoat|long coat]] over muscle-molded body armor.

** Again from ''X-Men'', Rogue wore a leather bomber jacket over her tights for a good portion of the 90s.

** Happened for a while in most ''X-Men'' comics after the first movie, which had them in leather, as an intentional movie tie-in. Marvel later [[Executive Meddling|made an edict]] changing them back to costumes, [[Merchandise-Driven|because costumes are much better for merchandising]].

** Storm's initial definitive shift from her gentle [[Team Mom]]/Nature Goddess persona during the '80s was punctuated with both an [[Important Haircut]] and abandonment of her outfit for a black leather tube-top/vest/tight pants/boots ensemble. Some readers took it as her [[Les Yay|coming out]] as well, especially after her "night out" with Yukio.

** It's generally accepted that Animal Man popularized the leather jacket motif for superheroes throughout the nineties (which is ironic because he'd never ''touch'' leather). It seemed like every superhero suddenly got the urge for a biker jacket after A-Man. If there is another reason for ''Black Knight'' sporting a jacket over his ''medieval armor'', it is surely not a very good one.

*** Buddy Baker did temporarily switch to leather while [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|hunting and culling]] those responsible for killing his wife and kids. Said wife and kids [[Unexplained Recovery|got better.]]

** Would [[Rule of Cool]] cover it?

*** As ''[[The Rocketeer (film)|The Rocketeer]]'' explained, the fin on the helmet helps you steer.

** And in the "relevant" '70s she [[Dork Age|lost her superpowers and became a Kung Fu fighter for Women's Lib in a white pantsuit]].

* The Post-Crisis Superboy in [[The DCU]] (Kon-El/Conner Kent) went through a number of uniform variants (mostly including leather jackets, like his original one, pictured above) before settling on a uniform ([[Not Wearing Tights|or lack thereof]]) that appeared to be a black t-shirt with a red Superman-style "S" [[Chest Insignia]], blue jeans and work boots, which became his trademark since he first joined the [[Teen Titans]].

*** Of course, most of her earlier outfits during the ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'' era were not much different.

** In the [[New 52]] continuity, [[Superman]] himself started his superhero career in an outfit that's similar to Superboy's pre-reboot costume - jeans and a t-shirt with the typical [[Chest Insignia]]. Jarringly though, he still wears the cape with this outfit.

* In the short-lived ''Young All-Stars'', team strongman Arn Munro wore white jeans and a tight black t-shirt. He did try out a costume in one storyline, but it was [[Clothing Damage|promptly destroyed]] and he decided to go back to civvies.

* The second Mister Terrific started out wearing ordinary clothes, including a leather jacket with his predecessor's "Fair Play" logo on the back. He now sports a full costume, including a stylised jacket with "Fair Play" on the sleeves and "Terrific" on the back.

* When the Wonder Twins became [[Canon Immigrant|Canon Immigrants]] to the DCU, they wore purple jeans and logo-bearing shirts resembling their [[Superfriends]] uniforms.

* Shadowman from [[Valiant Comics]] started out wearing a spandex costume. About a year and a half after his debut, he switched to wearing leather pants, boots, leather jacket and a shirt with the logo he used for the spandex costume.

* Crimebuster, a [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] teen superhero, started out with wearing his school hockey uniform and a cape for a costume. Several years later, he traded it for a more mundane outfit, wearing jeans and practical shoes with his hockey jersey. At the very end of the feature's run, he switched to wearing various civilian outfits, but by that point (thanks to the [[Genre Shift]]), he was barely acting as a superhero anyway.

* Spiderman related characters:

** Until he took over the [[Spider-Man]] title, Ben Reilly's costume was the standard spandex affair, all red, with a blue sleeveless hoodie with a spider on it. Though a lot of fans didn't realize it, the costume was actually [[Stylistic Suck|''supposed'' to look cheesy]] - the idea being that Ben didn't have time to make a real costume, but he ended up wearing it for so long that the justification stopped making sense.

** Dr. Octopus' costume has traditionally consisted of a lab coat or sometimes just a plain suit. During the 70's and 80's, he wore green spandex, but otherwise, he stuck to civvies.

** [[The Authority|Jenny Quantum]], successor to the above, also eschews spandex in favour of civilian clothing; however, her trademark combination of a yellow t-shirt and black leather jacket is a [[Daddy's Girl|rather sweet]] callback to her parents' costumes.

* The [[Flaming Carrot]] wears just a white button-up shirt and purple pants. Oh, and a 4-foot tall carrot mask (with a torch on the top). Also, a pair of flippers. The only function they serve is to keep things from being too easy for him.

* In ''[http://johnnysaturn.com/2006/01/18/book-one-page-01/ Johnny Saturn]''Triops, tired of being tressed as a foppy stage magician, turns to wearing average clothing and a trenchcoat.

* None of the [[Runaways]] wear any particular costume. They ''attempt'' to use code-names in their first major story arc, but quickly abandon them (except for the [[Cute Bruiser]] who likes calling herself "Princess Powerful."

* While he's usually portrayed with a full body suit, [[The Punisher]] is shown as just wearing a T-shirt with a skull on it in his more "serious" outings including most appearances in Punisher MAX.

* [[The Savage Dragon]] wears normal clothes unless he's in his police uniform. He went through one arc wearing a patriotic spandex costume after joining the superhero team SOS. It was [[Clothing Damage|torn apart]] in that story, which was okay with the Dragon since he hated wearing spandex anyway.

** Pretty much all of the kids in Sky High wear ordinary clothes, but have some sort of recurring color motif that suggests uniforms.

* ''[[Ghost Rider (film)|Ghost Rider]]'''s biker gear, although of course that's how the comic character dresses as well.

* In ''[[Unbreakable]]'', the main character's green rain poncho becomes his de facto superhero costume, as {{spoiler|Mr. Glass's purple outfits become his villain's costume.}}

* The first and second film version of [[The Punisher]] had Frank Castle wearing civvies the entire time (Dolph Lundgren version) or threw on a black skull t-shirt over standard police kevlar (Thomas Jane version). The third one gave him a more "superheroy" costume.

* The animated version of Morph from ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' sometimes wore a jacket over his spandex.

** [[Fridge Logic|Technically, he was naked the whole time]]

** That coat probably came from [[The Movie]] version of Doc Ock.

* On ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', Hawkgirl ditched the helmet and traded her earlier outfit for something you might go jogging in.