One of the many things Superman received in his redesign when DC Comics called a do-over on their characters with the New 52 was a tweaked costume. Gone were the underpants-over-tights, and instead he was decked out in a sleek, cool new blue suit that had a sort of armoured look to it. And that's exactly what it was, as explained in-universe: in Superman #7, Clark's narration reveals that his outfit is a piece of "Kryptonian biotech" which is, for all intents and purposes, a suit of armour. Which makes sense, because so far as we know, the population of Krypton didn't have much in the way of superpowers. It's only with the Earth's yellow sun that Superman's own latent powers were brought to the surface, one of which being his invincibility. On his home planet, the suit he inherited from his ancestors would be his only form of defence, and - considering it covers his whole body - would do a bang up job. As Superman on Earth, though, it makes...less sense. Because he's Superman. He is bulletproof. He can fly faster than the speed of sound. He routinely gets thrown through buildings. And at no point does he suffer anything more than a light scuffing. So why the heck would he need a suit of armour? Fans have argued that his outfit needs to be as impenetrable as him, since regular clothes wouldn't necessarily take the same amount of abuse as the man beneath them but...eh. We'll just go with it.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
