Remember when Henry Cavill’s Superman: Man of Steel came out in 2013 where fans noticed something different in his costume? Finally, learning to wear undies inside his spandex pants! Well, at one point or the other every superhero fan of Superman, Spiderman, Batman etc must have given a thought as to why their favourite hero always wears undies on the outside. The answer to this is actually pretty fascinating. And this long history of weird costume feature all started out as in inspiration from the early 1920s and 1930s.
According to former DC Comics editor, Julius Schwartz, superhero costume from inspired by aerial circus performers and wrestlers from the early 1920’s and 1930s. In his book, Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Science Fiction and Comics, Schwartz penned down the source of inspiration of our favourite superhero’s costume.
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Adding more information to Schwartz, a Gizmodo article added additional details regarding the much-questioned superhero costume. It stated,’’ Now it should be noted here that the wrestlers, circus performers, and superheroes weren’t actually wearing underwear, but rather tight underwear-like shorts over their leggings. As superheroes are generally incredibly gifted athletically and perform amazing acrobatic stunts while crime fighting, it was natural for this style of dress to get adopted by the earliest superhero artists for their characters.’’
So, there is the answer you have always asked yourself! The next time you see those strange undies in comics you know where they are coming from. Although, the undie question should much baffle you anymore because our favourite superheroes have installed an upgraded superhero costume from Tony Stark that doesn’t much show their undies anymore.