The Untold Truth Behind These Famous Superhero Costumes

Since Superman's introduction in 1938, DC Comics has published multiple retcons about his history, his characters...and, yes, his clothing. More than a few stories are floating around (or should that be leaping in a single bound?) about Superman's outfit.

In Superman's earlier years, there wasn't a lot of in-comics history about the costume. In those days, the behind-the-scenes story was more interesting, showcasing how Superman's look evolved across a variety of comics artists and animated shorts. Eventually, it was revealed that his cape was actually made from a blanket that his biological parents included when they sent him to Earth—and the first Superman movie added an interesting wrinkle by making the "S" the crest of Superman's family.

Later comics changed the story of both the cloth and the symbol, turning them into decisions made by Clark and his adoptive parents, and still later comics removed the red "underwear" portion of the costume. More recent movies like Man of Steel return to the suit being from Krypton, making it battle armor, and the "S" now represents "hope" (which itself was a notion introduced in the "Birthright" storyline in the comics).

Wolverine has had a surprisingly diverse array of costumes. Sometimes, his colors are bright; at others, they're muted. On the big screen, they've grown progressively more toned down—as Deadpool jokes in the teaser before Logan, it wouldn't take him long to change into costume, as all he wears is "a !@#$ing tank top and a pair of jeans." Then again, Logan may never have had any costume variety at all if it weren't for X-Men artist Dave Cockrum and his desire to completely punk John Byrne.

Wolverine's look was pretty consistent in the first few years after he was introduced. The pointy parts of his cowl got pointier, but Wolverine's bright yellow, blue, and black costume was hard to miss. With Uncanny X-Men #107, however, departing series artist Dave Cockrum had Wolverine defeat a villain called Fang and steal his costume. Cockrum's real motivation was that he thought it would be funny to leave the new guy (who turned out to be future comics legend John Byrne) with a costume that was hard to draw. Byrne didn't like it, and quickly reverted back to the familiar yellow costume before realizing he didn't really like that one either. He designed a brown and orange outfit that Wolverine would sport for a dozen years—colors clearly inspired by the deliberately terrible getup Cockrum left behind for Byrne.

There are few comic book costumes that have evoked as much discussion (and occasional controversy) as the one originally worn by Batman's sidekick Robin. Over the years, some have wondered about the logic and ethics of a guy whose own suit is basically dark camouflage dressing his sidekick in some of the brightest and most visible colors; Robin comes off as a walking target. Later, the infamous book Seduction of the Innocent would examine a comic in which a rich bachelor's ward runs around in what amounts to green underwear, accusing Robin and his costume of being part of an effort to somehow recruit young men into becoming gay.

The actual origin of Robin's costume, though, is quite straightforward. When artist Jerry Robinson was tasked with designing a sidekick for the Caped Crusader, he turned to Robin Hood as an inspiration, modeling (and clearly naming) Robin after the classic literary hero. This is actually reflected in some early Batman comics in which Dick Grayson has a Robin Hood painting in his room—showing he was influenced by the legendary character, just as Robin's own creator was.

Captain Marvel's newest look—and the one she'll almost certainly be sporting in her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut—is the result of a very conscious series of efforts. The artist who designed it, Jamie McKelvie, wanted to draw on the military background of the character (Carol Danvers had been in the Air Force). McKelvie believes the best costumes reflect aspects of a character's background and personality, so giving Captain Marvel a pseudo-military and professional costume helps to showcase her abilities and experience.

McKelvie has also pointed out he'd "like to see more consideration for what message a female character's design is putting across"—alluding to the outfit Captain Marvel wore when she went by Ms. Marvel. That leggy costume is generally considered one of the more exploitative Marvel designs, and her storylines reflected it: many readers still wince when they look back on an old story in which she was raped and impregnated by a character so she could give birth to her time-traveling rapist son. Marvel has since tried to ignore that story—and spent years downplaying Danvers—so her overdue makeover helped highlight her increased prominence as well as her character's increased agency.

Green Arrow's most familiar costume has a suitable origin. Neal Adams was inspired by Robin Hood (seems like there was a lot of that going on at DC), and he figured it was a natural look for the company's famous archer. Adams also had a distinct desire to make the character something more than a Batman knockoff. Think about it: Oliver Queen, like Bruce Wayne, was a billionaire who used his money to help fight crime. Like Batman, he did so with silly, themed devices (like an Arrow car in place of a Batmobile), and both characters had plucky teen sidekicks.

So Green Arrow's new design corresponded with a redesign of his fundamental character: he'd lost his wealth and lived among the downtrodden. He was portrayed as their champion as well, and fought against wealthy people who wanted to exploit them. If this sounds familiar—a character living on society's periphery and protecting the poor against rich exploiters—it's because Adams did this on purpose. As he admitted, "I didn't create a great new character that everybody immediately related to. I essentially created a modern Robin Hood and everyone relates to Robin Hood. What's the difference? He's got a little mask on his face. Big deal."