- "Underoos!"
- ―Tony Stark
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| Super-suit | |
| Type: | Clothing |
| Continuity: | DC Comics Image Comics Marvel Comics Valiant Comics |
| Aliases: | Union suit Underoos |
| Availability: | Common item |
| Manufacturer: | Various |
| Model: | Various |
| 1st appearance: | Action Comics #1 |
A super-suit is the outfit, costume and/or accessories worn by a super-hero or a super-villain. Also known as a superhero costume, a supervillain costume, or sometimes even as a "union suit", these are the most important tools used in one's crime-fighting, or crime-committing endeavors. Many super-suits include masks, helmets, hoods or goggles to help conceal one's secret identity. Many super-suits are tight, form-fitting pieces of clothing that allows for added flexibility, but also show's off a person's more impressive physical characteristics whether they be abdominal muscles, biceps, breasts, etc. It could be argued that Action Comics #1 saw the first appearance of a super-suit when it introduced the world's first costume superhero, Superman, in June 1938.
Some super-suits have special properties to conform to the needs of the wearer. A hero or villain whose abilities risk damaging conventional clothing may have a specially designed costume that adapts to their needs. For example, Reed Richards of Marvel Comics fame discovered a concept known as "unstable molecules", which is what he uses in the composition of the costumes for his teammates in the Fantastic Four. These unstable molecular fabrics allow the Human Torch to activate his pyrokinetic powers without burning his costume, are durable enough to withstand the punishment that The Thing puts his Underoos © through, and stretch and adjust to whatever length or volume Reed Richards may require when using his elasticity capabilities.
The term "super-suit" did not enter common parlance until the 2004 computer animated film The Incredibles. In one of the more memorable exchanges in the movie, Lucius Best, aka Frozone, has a hurried conversation with his off-panel wife, Honey, before going off into battle.
- Lucius Best: Honey?
- Honey Best: What?
- Lucius Best: Where's my super-suit?
- Honey Best: What??
- Lucius Best: Where... Is... My... Super-Suit?
- Honey Best: I, uhh... put it away.
- Lucius Best: Where?!
- Honey Best: Why do you need to know?
- Lucius Best: I need it!
- Honey Best: Uh-uh. Don't you think about running off doing no derring-do! We've been planning this dinner for two months!
- Lucius Best: The public is in danger!
- Honey Best: My evening's in danger!
- Lucius Best: You tell me where my suit is, woman! We are talking about the greater good!
- Honey Best: Greater good? I am your wife! I'm the greatest 'good' you are ever gonna get!
Spider-Man's shirt from Amazing Spider-Man #231.
Other super-suits may come equipped with some form of accessory. This may included padded armor, elbow pads, knee pads, or other materials. During the Golden and Silver Age era of comics, capes were a popular costume accessory, but have diminished in popularity as years have gone by. In the early 1990s, there was an oddly popular trend for heroes to wear costumes with a bunch of belts and straps everywhere. The most popular costume accessory of all time is of course the utility belt, which was made famous by the DC Comics superhero Batman, as well as his plucky sidekick, Robin. The utility belt was akin to a Swiss Army Knife in that it contained everything an able-bodied crime-fighter on the go could possibly need such as grappling lines, handcuffs, smoke pellets, knock-out gas, a pack of smokes, etc.
Underoos are a brand of underwear primarily for children, produced by the Fruit of the Loom company. The packages include a matching top and bottom for either boys or girls, featuring a character from popular entertainment media, especially superhero comics, animated programs, and fantasy/science fiction. Underoos do not function as proper super-suits, but in Captain America: Civil War, Tony Stark summoned Spider-Man to his cause by shouting out "Underoos!" as a battle-cry. Peter later reminisced about this affair in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Costumes of note[]
- Doctor Fate's half-helmet
- This was a simple half-helmet designed and worn by Kent Nelson. He began wearing it early in his career as a member of the original Justice Society of America in the 1940s. The reason why he began wearing this alternate headpiece is because the Helmet of Fate, which was infused with the power and cosmic esssence of Nabu was becoming possessive of him, governing his motivations and guiding his actions in ways that Kent Nelson did not approve of. Foregoing the Helmet of Nabu, Kent instead began wearing the half-helmet. This restricted his power levels as he no longer had unfettered access to the power given to him by Nabu. However, Kent still possessed his own learned mystical abilities which included enhanced strength, superhuman durability and the power to fly.
- Scarlet Spider's costume
- Ben Reilly dons a particular costume as the Scarlet Spider. It is a singular dark red unitard with a detachable mask. He wears a torn up blue sweatshirt over top, with the collar and sleeves ripped off. Ben wears a gauntlet on each wrist, which serve as his web-shooters. They also fire concentrated balls of web fluid, which he refers to as impact webbing. He also wears ankle bracelets and a belt.