Superhero costumes have becoming something of a sticking point in recent years. For decades the idea that characters would go about their business in brightly coloured spandex was never questioned, the pants-over-tights combo derived from strongmen of the Depression Era America where the genre started. Recently, though, there's been a tendency to be down on the tights. Superman doesn't have his pants over his tights any more. Batman's costume in the comics, games and movies now resembles more of a suit of high-tech military-grade armour than anything approaching a superhero costume. All of which is at least partly the fault of the first X-Men film, where all the characters wore Matrix-inspired black leather suits. Cyclops even chided Wolverine about preferring yellow spandex. Fox's Fantastic Four film doesn't seem to involve costumes, either. So does that mean the X-Men TV series will be devoid of tights?
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/
