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Capes. When you think about it, they're kind of a stupid addition to a hero's costume, as they're more likely to be a handicap than a help. (With the possible exception of Dr. Strange's cape, which gives him the power of levitation.) Batman, however, when he's fighting five thugs in an alley, runs the risk of being dragged to the ground by someone pulling on his cape from behind. "Ah," you say, "but Batman's cape (along with his cowl) is designed to strike terror into the hearts of criminals, by giving him a fearsome, bat-like appearance from which superstitious, cowardly villains will flee!" Trouble is, if those five thugs in that alley didn't get on their toes the second they saw him, then it would seem the cape isn't quite doing its job now, is it? (Despite how good it looks when billowing out behind him.)
Superman's cape isn't likely to work against him in a fight, mainly because he's just about the strongest man in existence, and besides, it looks good trailing behind him when he's in flight. So Superman's cape gets a pass. But guess what just recently occurred to me? There are quite a few DC heroes who have capes, but not so many Marvel ones. In the Marvel camp, there's Thor and the aforementioned Dr. Strange, but apart from Gladiator, who was an '80s creation (and Marvel's answer to Superman), I just can't, off the top of my head, think of any other Marvel heroes who wear capes. Okay, the Scarlet Witch does, but she was originally a villain (of sorts), and Moondragon (originally), but are there any others?
Sure, some of the villains wear capes, such as Dr. Doom (though in his first appearance it wasn't quite clear whether he was wearing one or not), and Magneto, and I think Baron Mordo does as well, and I bet there are probably a few others, but not, in the main, the heroes. Why is this? Could it be down to Jack Kirby perhaps? As the visual designer of most of the costumes in the MU, generally speaking, he didn't tend to give the good guys capes, and I wonder if it's because he realised a cape on a hero wouldn't be very practical and more of a liability than a benefit. In the case of Steve Ditko's look for Dr. Strange, the cape performs a function, but would a sorcerer need such an accessory in order to fly - surely he could achieve it by his own inherent magical powers? So it's really there to enhance Strange's dramatic appearance.
It would therefore appear (if you have an inquisitive imagination like mine) that Marvel, as well as giving heroes problems and personalities, and making them more realistic, were also issuing a quiet-though-obvious statement that capes were silly and that heroes would be unlikely to wear them if they existed in the real world. Capes were mainly for bad guys because it increased the sense of drama around them, but good guys didn't need them, unless they were Norse gods or mystical magicians (who didn't really require a cape, but it looked good so we'll let that one through).
So whaddya think. Crivs? Am I talking my usual load of old pants, or do you think there might be something to my (hopefully) interesting observations? The comments section awaits your enlightening input. And feel free to name any other cape-wearing Marvel heroes (who have/had their own mag).
One of my all-time favorite sequences in comics was when Captain America briefly became Nomad and was tryng out his new costume and for a brief moment had a cape. It didn't work out.
ReplyDeletehttps://themarvelreport.com/2018/04/bucky-captain-america/nomad-cape-trip/
I don't think I've ever seen that sequence before, RJ, but having just taken a look, that's an example of exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of.
ReplyDeleteThe Vision had a cape and didn't the Black Panther have a cape when he first appeared in FF #52?
ReplyDeleteSo he has, CJ, but wasn't he a bit of a 'baddie' when he first appeared? I think the Black Panther had a sort of mini-cape, not the full shebang. Or am I imagining that?
ReplyDeleteBlack Panther had a kind of shoulder-length cape, yeah.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the hero of the most underrated Marvel series ever wore capes with all his different costumes: Quasar.
Remember, though, DS, that Quasar was a grown up Marvel Boy, who first appeared in the '50s and pre-dated the Marvel Age.
ReplyDeleteWell, his original appearance was based on Marvel Boy, but he's a separate character. And, he has the distinction of his cape having a practical use: the lining of it looked like like a starscape and on one occasion in the fantastic Cosmos In Collision story, he was able to use it as a portal to travel through to another part of space.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember Marvel Boy being reintroduced in an issue of FF back around the mid-'70s, and he was renamed the Crusader (might be mistaken), so I assumed that Quasar, because of the (at first) similarity of the costume, was the same guy. His original look, as you say, was based on Marvel Boy, so the cape goes all the way back to his Timely/Atlas days. I have a number of Quasar's '80s run, but I can't recall ever reading them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he originally looked very similar. Marvel Boy blows himself up in that FF issue, and his wrist bands end up being given to Quasar. His solo series starts very slowly, but builds up to some great stuff. #17 guest stars the Barry Allen Flash (sort of), and #18 is a very odd but really nice story that has a Philip K Dick feel to it. There's also a story where we find out where then-forgotten and obscure characters like Krakoa and Woodgod have been. Pity the series earned such a (in my opinion grossly unjustified) reputation for being bad!
ReplyDeleteDidn't Warlock wear a cape in the early Starlin stories.
ReplyDeleteRip: that Nomad story where he trips over his Cape was a hoot
I've got that FF issue, DS, so I'll have to re-read it and remind myself of what happens. I'm surprised by how out of touch I am with Marvel and DC (particularly DC) characters nowadays. Somewhere along the way they managed to lose my interest - and I love comics.
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I believe he did, McS, but isn't it amazing just how many Marvel heroes in the '60s didn't? Capes seemed to be reserved mainly for god-like characters and villains, I think.