Why Does Superman Wear A Cape

Does superman wear a cape?

Yes,In almost all versions, Superman’s red cape has an all-yellow version of the logo, with a thin black (in the comics) or red (in movies, matching the red color of the cape) line separating the areas. A notable exception is in Superman: The Animated Series, where the logo was absent from Superman’s cape.

What does Superman’s cape represent?

If you think the ‘S’ on Superman’s chest stands for Superman, you’re mistaken.

As proper comic book fans know all too well, amazingly, the huge red letter, known as the Superman Shield, on Superman’s chest isn’t even a letter.

It’s actually a Kryptonian symbol meaning “hope” as well as Superman’s family Crest from his home planet Krypton.

Comic book nerds know it as the insignia of the House of El, with its resemblance to a letter S being merely a coincidence.

The Sun reports that in 2003, DC Comics writer Mark Waid wrote a story entitled Superman: Birthright.

In it, he explains that Superman adopts the logo when he learns it is a symbol for a better tomorrow.

Now all you have to do is sit on that information and hope it comes up in a table quiz at some stage in the future.

Why Does Superman Wear a Cape?

Capes, as it happens, have a pretty storied history. Often worn by the likes of great warriors, generals, commanders and gods, capes connote a certain grandeur – a “ready to throw down-ness. Ella Morton of Atlas Obscura digs into the history of capes and notes that throughout history, capes have been symbols of status, informed legitimate tactics in sword-fighting, lent theatricality to one’s ensemble, and hinted at a self-aware extravangence.

“The cape can be thought of as the tail of a kite as well,” says Professor James Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes. “So if you have a character who is so strong that they could jump a great distance, they could perhaps leap a tall building in a single bound, then you could also use the cape as a signifier of the fact that they’re moving fast through the atmosphere because you could see the cape billowing behind them. So it would give a visual indication of flight.”

What is superman’s cape made of?

Initially it is usually said that his original suit is made from the sheets that covered him as a baby. And thus the original suit is made of kryptonian fabric.

But this is not true in all cases.

For example in John Byrne Superman origin story, when he was sent to the Earth he was still a fetus. A fetus that developed during the trip to the Earth. So when he arrived on Earth he was already a baby being fed by the ship systems.

So that version had no sheets.

In the New 52 the fabric that covered Kal-El was later used as his cape. And his real suit was somey he acquired when coming face to face with one of Brainiac avatars. The kryptonian bio-armor became his suit. It was by far the best suit Superman has had so far in terms of if nothing else its functionality. Seeing it could change shape and make Clark normal clothes appear and disappear. The suit was basically kryptonian nanotechnology at its best.

It was also mainly indestructible.

But going back to the other suits. Superman initially begins with the suit made of kryptonian fabric, but eventually that suit gets damaged and Superman has to make another one. And seeing he doesn’t have anymore kryptonian fabric he makes due with human fabric.

Which isn’t a problem mind you! Seeing that what actually makes most suits almost as indestructible as Superman is his bio-aura. A special unknown aura that extends a few millimeters away from the skin. And any fabric inside that aura becomes protected by it.

The only Superman that I know of that made his own near indestructible suits was Silver Age Superman and All-Star Superman.

All-Star Superman combined many of the Earth toughest materials, like for example diamonds, and use them in combination with other materials to make a near indestructible suit.

Can superman fly without his cape?

In several versions of Superman, including the CW’s Arrowverse, Superman’s cape is actually the blanket that he was wrapped in when he arrived on Earth. He could fly without the cape no problem, and many times in movies he does as Clark Kent when he’s with his parents.

What does superman’s cape look like?

In almost all versions, Superman’s red cape has an all-yellow version of the logo, with a thin black (in the comics) or red (in movies, matching the red color of the cape) line separating the areas. A notable exception is in Superman: The Animated Series, where the logo was absent from Superman’s cape. This was due to the difficulty in animating the S on the flowing cape. In the 2006 film Superman Returns, the logo appeared on the belt buckle in reverse colors (yellow diamond and S with red background pieces) instead of on Superman’s cape. The logo is also absent from Superman’s cape in the 2013 film Man of Steel due to the difficulty of animating a cape with the logo in CGI shots. In the 2011 reboot of the comic book series, on his cape is a black pentagon and S with a red background piece.

In its original inception in Action Comics #1, Superman’s symbol was a letter S with red and blue on a yellow police badge symbol that resembled a shield. The symbol was first changed a few issues later in Action Comics #7. The shield varied over the first few years of the comics, and many times was nothing more than an inverted triangle with an S inside of it.

The shield first became a diamond in the Fleischer cartoon serial Superman. It was black with a red S outlined with white (or occasionally with yellow). The S has varied in size and shape and the diamond shape containing it has also changed size and shape. Extreme examples of this would be the very large logo on the Dean Cain costume from the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and the comparatively small version of the shield as depicted in the 2006 film Superman Returns. It has, in most incarnations, retained its original color, while changing shape here and there. The classic logo is the basis for virtually all other interpretations of the logo.

In the mid-1990s, when Superman’s costume and powers changed briefly, during the “Superman Red/Superman Blue” comic book storylines, the shield changed colors and slightly changed shape, in accordance with the changes in the costume. In 1992’s 75th edition of Vol 2, the logo is shown blood stained, depicting Superman’s death. In 1997’s Superman Vol 2 #123 Superman’s new powers forced him to find a suit that was capable of containing his new abilities. The effective material found to create Superman’s suit, along with being blue and silver, was also courtesy of Lex Luthor. Not only did the colors and powers change, the logo also evolved into a re-imagined “electric” emblem. In the miniseries Kingdom Come, an aged Superman sported an S-like symbol against a black background in a red pentagon.

In the 2000s TV series Smallville, the S symbol originally appeared as a diamond with a vertical infinity symbol (to be similar to the S), in an attempt to make it seem more alien. However, beginning with the Season Six opening episode “Zod,” Clark is given a crystal bearing the S logo in the style of the Superman Returns logo and is seen several times throughout the series and specifically in the season finale when a beam shaped like the logo hits a Phantom Zone escapee. The logo also appeared in the first episode of the series, when the students captured Clark by giving him a kryptonite necklace (which they didn’t know was a weakness) and tied him to a cross-like beam in a cornfield and painted a red ‘S’ on Clark’s chest (standing for Scarecrow, which was what he was meant to be as part of a high school hazing tradition) as a reference.

What is the purpose of superman’s cape?

Why does superman have a cape?

One optionion is :

The cape is used to show direction. His arms were in front because he was jumping. It is one of those misaligned conceptions were people thought that flying people would have their arms and hands in front, but that’s from Superman’s jump. They kept it though because it looks cool since it resembles another cool thing: diving. The hands in front is for streamline insertion into the water. You could argue that is the same way with flying, but in diving the shoulders are around the ears and the head is tucked down. Flying pictures shows the head up and back with head pointing in the same direction as the hands. Real flying people, like Shazam and Supergirl know you fly with one hand balled into a fist and pointed straight up or you fly in a seated position like in a car!

Other Optionion is :

Why Does Superman Wear A Cape? Nobody knows. Not even him. He doesn’t need the cape to fly and unlike Batman he does need it to glide. Maybe he uses it as a head wrap or perhaps a blanket to sleep at night…who knows.

I mean the cape does not give him any super powers or any particular advantages. In fact he can function well without the cape but yet he wears it! That red flowing cape that drives engineers crazy!

Especially when they realize that Superman can actually jump higher and fly faster without all the unnecessary drag caused from his cape flapping around in the wind and colliding with all kinds of air molecules … faster than a speeding bullet? Yeah right … more like dumber than a speeding bullet!

The red flowing cape that his enemies use against him on several occasions to fling, strangle and slam him all around Metropolis. Just check out this 2013 Man Of Steel fight scene where General Zod’s loyalists kick Superman’s behind by using his underwear cape against him.

As you can see from the end, even Disney Incredibles know better! And that is that capes are a no no for any serious super heroes. But yet Superman wears it…

Maybe because he is so freaking strong that he does not realize all the disadvantages of having a cape. I mean he defeated Doomsday and even beat the Flash in a race,so why take off the cape? Maybe it’s because he has always worn one? And that might actually be it, because all fiction aside…a lot of our businesses are like Superman with his useless cape.

We have systems just like he has his red cape, we don’t know why they are there or what purpose they serve, all we know is that it has been there from the start so why change it. Even when the illogicality hits us straight in the face we just stick with the red capes not realizing how much they slow us down. How much they hamper us.

If you have ever been to the Atlanta International Airport (I have been but it was a sad experience I almost missed my flight and my luggage did not make it to Nigeria), you will notice something peculiar. It consists of 7 concourses, concourse A, B, C, D, E, F and … not G. The next concourse is actually T, not only that but concourse T comes before concourse A. Which makes no sense at all, but why the illogicality? Why not make concourse “T” concourse “A” and re-arrange all the others to follow a logical A-B-C-D-E-F-G order?

The answer is as complex as Superman’s Cape. The illogical naming of the Atlanta concourses is a thing of legacy as described by David Zweig in his awesome book Invisibles: The Power Of Anonymous Work In An Age Of Self-Promotion. In the book, David inquired from Jorge Cortes the assistant director of Design Planning and Development at the Atlanta International Airport. Here is a summary of his findings:

“I later emailed … to get an explanation for why “T” was first used and why it still in use now. Alas, the reasoning behind it is so layered and opaque, all I can say is succinctly is that it’s the result of repeated airport redesigns, additions and renamings dating back to 1980!”

Notice those words “repeated,” “layered,” “opaque” and “1980.”

All of them relate to that one thing that kills businesses and organizations, red cape systems that have become established simply because they were used repeatedly in the past and are now so enmeshed in layers and layers of opaque bureaucracy that is hard … almost impossible to remove … to change. So the company just flies along with the status quo, too un-bothered to realize or acknowledge the detriments of an illogical legacy systems.

But the red tape cape phenomenon is not just limited to Atlanta…it affects us here in Nigeria.

One of our many red capes are roundabouts.

We build roundabouts all over the country especially in Lagos. Despite the fact that it has clearly not worked in controlling traffic. I mean just check out Falomo at rush hour or one of the many Lekki roundabouts and you will understand the problem with roundabouts! But who dares get rid of the roundabouts? No one!
It is ingrained in our system, likely from the British who gave it to us in the early 1900′s. And boy have wee held on tight to it. Building roundabouts everywhere even when the evidence shows that it makes no sense to do so. I mean just consider the roundabout at Allen Avenue!

Where do I start?

Growing up Allen Avenue was the hit spot, the Adeola Odeku of the Main Land. But today due to population explosion Allen Avenue is packed … so packed that a permanent concrete barrier has been placed to prevent cars from making u-turns in the middle of Allen Avenue. In fact the only way you can turn is via two roundabouts at either end of Allen.

The more interesting roundabout of the two is the one close to Adeniyi Jones.

But before I start, let me explain that a roundabout is meant to function independent of traffic wardens. But this is Nigeria where the roundabouts get so congested that we need traffic wardens … not 1 but several of them. But what makes this particular roundabout crazily “red cape” unique is the fact that it has traffic lights in it! I have never seen a round about with traffic lights in it. The first time I entered that roundabout I was confused … I thought it was prank or some sort of joke. But it was real!

Why build a round about with traffic lights in it? What’s the point? Why not just remove the roundabout and replace it with a fully functional junction with traffic lights. And why do we still build roundabouts! The answer is simply this…just like superman’s cape, like the concourse “T” at the Atlanta International Airport and like many others things hampering businesses, it happens because of legacy, because that’s the way people have done it in the past.

Great leaders, great entrepreneurs are the ones bold enough, crazy enough to question the red capes and take them out of their organizations … because we like Superman don’t need capes to fly!