Why do superheroes wear costumes?

I thought I'd go ahead and answer a common question: Why do superheroes wear costumes? Part of the answer to that happens to be the reason that many of them also have secret identities.

For one, people with super powers tend to be larger than life, and a costume is symbolic of that. These godlike abilities draw attention anyway, so the costume is just a continuation of that attention-drawing.

Part of it is also psychological. If a bad guy saw Bruce Wayne charging at them, he'd probably laugh himself silly - but if he saw Batman charging towards him, he may soil his pants in fear. The costume also often reflects a change in personality for the hero in it - an alter ego, in other words.

Peter Parker, Clark Kent, Steve Rogers, Karen Starr. Just the names of regular folks. But Spiderman, Superman, Captain America, and Power Girl are another matter. When they don the costume, they also put on a different personality, and one that is more likely to get attention and respect from the bad guys.

And of course, part of the reason for superheroes to wear costumes is to protect their families, friends, and others that know their secret identity personally. If the bad guys knew a hero’s secret identity, they would kidnap or even kill their families or friends in order to get to the hero, because often the villain is that unstable.

That’s why you folks know nothing about me as Andromeda the busty superhero chick other than what I tell you. It’s for the protection of people I know. Basically then, we have to function as vigilantes – as outside the law.

Of course operating in such a vigilante fashion has its own problems, because a lot of what a hero does to stop a villain depends heavily upon the hero’s own moral code. If the hero has the moral code of a Captain America or Superman, then few problems arise on questioning their intentions. But if it is a hero with the moral code of The Punisher, then it gets problematic.

However, if it weren’t for our secret identities, we might not do what we do. These secret identities and vigilante ways are a compromise for our services. We do want to help, but we also want our loved ones out of harm’s way as much as possible. Wouldn’t you do the same in such circumstances?