Why Do Superheroes Wear Tights?

Answer 1

Not all of them do, though most that do wear them for ease of motion and to cover them completely to help preserve their secret identity. But there are armor wearing characters like marvel’s Iron Man and DC’s Steel.

Many female heroes wear little besides a modified swimsuit, a leotard or less. (Check out my previous question on which super character wears the briefest costume! Some of them are pretty skimpy)

And some wear no costume at all. Marvel’s Martinex (of the Guardians of the Galaxy) is made of silicon and wears no clothes. (Nothing to hide on his hide!) Neither did Sasquatch of Alpha Flight. His clothes disappeared mystically when he made his transformation, and reappeared the same way. (That was a lot easier than trying to find a phone booth his size to change in!) Everybody knows about Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan, who went about naked. Wolverine has occasionally gone ‘native’ about the forest wearing only his short hairs.

Historically, there were others. It is not a new phenomenon. In the 1940’s Blackout was covered with thick black fur, which made him ‘invisible’ during ‘blackouts’ when the cities turned out all their lights so enemy Nazi bomber pilots couldn’t see where to drop their bombs.

You didn’t really think that the Beast, or Iceman, or Silver Surfer, or Nova, or Captain Atom were actually wearing shorts, did you…? That’s just editorial license, so parents don’t complain about nudity in the comics. They are covered with fur, ice, galactic ‘glaze’ (whatver that is) and x-ionized metal, respectively.

The Metal Men wore no clothes—okay, they were robots and weren’t fully anatomically correct, anyhow.

Plastique was (very briefly and inadvertently) a naked supervillainess. (When she first appeared, trying to take hostages for political reasons at a TV studio, she wore a costume covered with bombs. Firestorm the Nuclear man turned her clothes to oxygen, and while she was humiliated on TV, he disposed of the bombs.)

So, rest assured, not all heroes wear tights!

7 FEB 07, 1941 hrs, GMT.

Answer 2

Officially, it's because it gives greater field of motion, and less chance of getting caught on anything, tangled around anything and there's no excess fabric to feel funny and "distract" the superhero. I read this in the Elliott Maggin novelization of KINGDOME COME, which featured batman talking about it. Really, I think it's a byproduct of mediocre artists back in the day trying to show that the guys are big and muscular. If you look at ACTION COMICS#1, you'll notice that Superman's entire outfit is not necessarily skintight. He merely fills it out impressively. I think as the genre became more stylized, you started to see more snug-fitting clothes, until it became the convention.

Answer 3

1. When Superheroes first came about, such as Superman, the costumes were based on circus strongmen, wrestlers, and athletes of the day, most of whom wore some type of athletic "tights".

2. To grab attention from readers, artists designed colorful costumes in the form of tights.

3. For the characters such as Spider-Man and others who kept their identities secret, they often wore their costumes underneath their clothes, and the costume tight design also offered movement.

Fortunately, artists are FINALLY removing the whole tights concept, and making characters more reality based, as reflected in movies such as X-Men and Batman Begins. The Fantastic Four's costumes are explained in the movie, and while tight-fitting, aren't exactly tights and have a valid reason for their design. Superman will probably be the one character whose costume will remain the same, as will Spider-Man.

Answer 4

Because superheros and heroins look so sexy in them tights. Besides pantyhose are so thin they run so much - just think of your favorite superhero running while flying at the same time.

Answer 5

They're drawn that way to show off physique, look out-of-the-ordinary, and presumably the characters wear tight clothing for the sake of practicality. Baggy clothes aren't meant for running or flying.

Answer 6

Tights are non-restrictive clothing.

Answer 7

Because tights are easiest to draw.

Answer 8

It makes their costume easier to conceal under their street clothes and they do not restrict movement, thus allowing forgreater mobility in fighting.

Answer 9

To hide the cottage cheese thighs. Cellulite !!!

Answer 10

Who knows? maybe they like people looking at their butts/and or packages