Superman Costumes History

How the Superman costume has changed through history.

Superman Costumes

People might think Superman's costume is so iconic and recognizable, that it hasn't changed over the years, but that's not the case. The Superman costume history includes dozens of minor, and a few major, costume changes over the seven decades of Superman lore. New artists have often sought to add their own unique touches to the Superman look, adding improvements or creating costumes that are panned by the Superman fans of today.

Given that there have been so many different Superman stories told through the various media, it's natural that Superman has gone through fashion changes. There have been changes to the size and shape of his "S" symbol, changes to the length of the Superman cape, changes in hair style, as well as Clark Kent's musculature and build, over the years. Even in the past decade or so, we've seen the "Bruce Timm Superman" and the "Red-Blue Blur" of the Smallville series, both of which have added an entirely iconic, yet entirely different, Superman visual.

So when you start to the look at all the changes wrought to the Man of Steel's look since 1938, it's a little dizzying. We'll cover all of that and more in a little piece we call "Superman Costume History".

Superman Original Costume (1938)

Superman Costume History The original Superman costume inspired whole generations of superhero attire, with the sweeping cape, all three primary colors and the "underwear on the outside" look. Looking at the first Superman costume, there's one feature that stands out as strange to us Superman fans of the 21st century: the S.

The first Superman chest "S" looked like a bright yellow policeman's badge with a small red "S" in the center. This badge look would be used by later Superman artists for the unique-looking shield design of "The Guardian", another superhero who's come and gone from the history of Metropolis a number of times. Superman's spit curl was present from the beginning, though it was much less prominent in the early years.

The costume probably looks strange because it appeared in comics so little - only the cover of Action Comics #1. Mostly, the original costume was found in the Superman comic strips that came before the comic book. A year later, when Superman had his own title in Action Comics, the yellow badge was replaced by the red triangle that's become so familiar to us.

Superman Costume (The Early Years)

The red triangle costume is the most common, classic look of Superman. Take a look at Action Comics #7 and the "S" symbol was a triangle outlined in red, with a red s, with a yellow background. Still, Joe Shuster was playing around with the Superman appearance in the early days, so you'll see a full yellow triangle with red S, a yellow trimmed triangle with red S and black background (a look I still like), as well as the aforementioned Superman symbol design.

In these early days, Superman's belt went from the hard-to-see red to the bright yellow, and his hair sometimes appears to be slicked back, with no sign of the famous Superman curl. Picture the Clark Kent hair from the 1950's Superman tv show and you'll picture Superman's hair.

Slowly, the Superman costume began to be more uniform, as Joe Shuster acquired his own studio. The red triangle/red S/yellow background costume continues to recur throughout the years. For instance, this is a design Alex Ross prefers, so a number of the famous Superman covers of the past 10-15 years depict this version of the costume.

Fleischer Studios Superman Costume (1941-1942)

Fans of Superman are likely to know of the 1940's Fleischer Studios Superman, which appeared in 9 different cartoons, before Paramount Pictures bought the rights and Famous Studioes finished this particular run of cartoons, with 8 more Superman offerings, from 1942 to 1943. This Superman had a diamond instead of a triangle S symbol, with a yellow outline, red S and black background.

This is a particularly striking Superman look, though the small addition of a little black does give these Superman cartoons a slightly darker tone. Given that these were the early days of America's participation in World War II, that's probably appropriate. I love Lois Lane's design in these movies, though I'll save that for my discussion of the "Lois Lane costume".

Superman's face looks older and harsher in these movies, in my estimation. I prefer the fresh-faced, All-American look of the early comic books.

Superman in the 1940s

During these years, other artists began to depict Superman at times, so slight variations began to appear in the costume. For instance, there are several Superman covers from this period where the Superman cape looks shorter and less substantial, while there are occasions the diamond or triangle on the chest is red, with a yellow S.

In 1944, DC Comics, following the lead of Disney when they trademarked Mickey Mouse, trademarked the Superman image and Superman symbol. This new trademarked symbol became the standard Superman costume over the years, so a great deal more uniformity was involved in drawing Superman.

That's not to say there weren't subtle changes to Superman's depiction in these years. Files from the 1947 Siegel & Shuster lawsuit against DC Comics shows that Whitney Ellsworth, the Superman editor at the time, suggested Joe Shuster change the way he drew Superman in the mid-Forties, because he thought certain poses of Superman flying made the Man of Steel appear to be homosexual. I'm not joking.

Some of these letters may have been part of a paper trail DC Comics was laying in the event Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster took DC to court, which they eventually did. Of course, DC Comics retained the rights to Superman and crafted the image of Superman in the intervening decades. Still, one artist had the most to say about how people viewed Superman over those decades: Curt Swan.

Superman Costume: The Curt Swan Era

Curt Swan became the most famous Superman artist, due to his long tenure drawing the Man of Tomorrow. Swan drew his first Superman comic in 1948, with Superman #51. While he drew mainly other comics for the next several years, Curt Swan took over the regular duties on "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen" in 1954. From this time until the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, Curt Swan was the regular artist on one or more of the Superman monthly titles.

This meant that Curt Swan's Superman became the image of Superman that most Americans had. When Christopher Reeve took over the role for the Superman movies, he tried to emulate the Superman figure envisioned by Curt Swan. For a collaboration of two comic greats and Curt Swan's swan song as a Superman artist, check out the 1986 storyline "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", written by Alan Moore and drawn by Curt Swan, which ended the story of the Silver Age Superman.

Superman Costume: The John Byrne Era

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Comics decided to re-boot the Superman comic. Gone was the nigh-omnipotent Superman who could move the planet out of its orbit, and in was a more personal, human Superman who had to wear an oxygen mask to fly in space. John Byrne, famous for his work on the Fantastic Four and his art in the classic X-Men era of the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and the "Days of Future Past" storyline, came over to launch the new series with a mini-series retelling of Superman's origin, "The Man of Steel".

This called for a slightly more modern Superman look, though most of the costume changes were to the supporting cast. Lois Lane was given short hair and 80's corporate female attire. Lex Luthor traded in his purple-and-green jumpsuit or his big green power armor for the business suit of a corporate CEO, and he became fleshier, to show that he was a corporate fat-cat.

While the John Byrne Era (about 2 years) was great in and of itself, the new Superman wasn't quite sustainable. Within a few years, we would see several radical changes in the Superman costume and even powers, as well as the (gasp) death of Superman.

Superman Costume in the 1990's

To boost sales, DC Comics had Superman die in a 1992 storyline, the company instigated "The Death of Superman" storyline. This led to several variations of Superman appearing, including the Cyborg-Superman, the Last Son of Krypton and Kid Metropolis. Each saw a variation on the Superman costume, though none depicted Kal-El.

When Superman returned, though, he had grown his hair longer. The long-haired Superman remained for much of the 1990's, until his wedding with Lois Lane, when Superman trimmed his hair specifically for the event. This is a sign that Superman, or Superman writers and editors, went through something of an identity crisis in the 1990's. This was the era of the "Superman Black" costume, which Superman wore during his return from the death state. The 90's was also the era of the "Superman Red"/"Superman Blue" storyline.

Alternate Superman Costumes

There have been all kinds of alternative Superman looks over the years, including the Bizarro-Superman, who has been a recurring Superman opponent since 1958. There's also the Golden Age Superman, who tended to wear a classic version of the costume and have patches of white hair. Since there have been alternate world Supermen, there have been countless alternate Superman costumes. Among these are the Kingdom Come Superman, along with the various Elseworlds Superman costumes.

Of course, there's the Brandon Routh version of Superman from the "Superman Returns" film. The "S" in this version is quite small, while the red cape is at full length, down near Superman's ankles, showing the final evolution of the Superman cape - which has tended to get longer as time has gone by.