Supermansunderpantsgate Begins

Superman ain’t got no underpants on!

?
Seriously. They’ve ditched the red trousers for Superman: Man of Steel as evidenced by this (and other) on-set pics, much like Supes has ditched ’em in Crisis on Infinite Reboots. While I’ve gone on record as saying the Superman suit is so iconic it doesn’t need to be messed with — and I stand by that — frankly, I’m more concerned about the idea that the movie will be about another DC hero moping around for 105 minutes before deciding to do something superheroic in the last act. Would I prefer Superman wear his underwear outside his tights? Yes. But if I had to choose to worry about that or the possibility of Man of Steel being yet another origin story for the world’s best known superhero, I’m worrying about the latter.

Incidentally, the argument that superhero tights were meant to invoke old circus strongmen and thus are no longer culturally valid holds no water with me. Yes, while it’s true that was the origin, frankly superheroes hold a much more significant role in pop culture than turn-of-the-century circus folk. We’ve been associating outside underpants with superheroes for 80 years. It’s become its own thing. Sure, it’s fun to see superheroes handled more realistically, but it’s also just as fun to see them handled like superheroes, too. In summary, underpants.