Thor and Dr. Strange image with my caption

Looking over the Marvel Comics characters of the 1960’s, very few Heroes wore capes on their costumes.

Of the group only Dr. Strange and Thor wore capes. That’s it. Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-men, Hulk, etc. no one else got a cape.

Was it Stan Lee who approved the character design, while keeping out what he didn’t like? Or was it random chance that it ended up that way? I can’t say either way.

But it looks like if you were a Marvel hero then, you had to earn a cape!

Thor had a cape probably for a very obvious reason. A cape can give a quality of being regal and noble. By having a cape, it played up on Thor and his grandeur. Which is very fitting for a character.

Dr. Strange in his first appearance did not have a cape. Then he wore a blue cape which went with the rest of his blue costume. It did not stand out, and it really wasn’t that interesting. I guess they noticed that, because then Dr. Strange got his classic red with yellow trim cape. I must admit that cape look is very unique and stands out in a good way. It was not a generic cape of one color just thrown on. This cape enhanced the look of the character.

Why did Strange get a cape? Probably because he deals with magic, and in real life the so called magic act, the people always use capes. It is just a natural pairing, so it fit for the character. And having a cape as I mentioned really did enhance his look.

A lot of villains like Dr. Doom and Magneto had capes. But it’s very common for a villain because it can add a sense of arrogance and grandeur. Which is very fitting for a villain to have.

But of all the Spider-Man villains of the 1960’s only Mysterio had a cape. That’s it for the Spidey villains. Why him? I have no idea. Why does he wear a fishbowl over his head?

Now look over at DC comics and almost everyone their has capes! It looks to me like they just followed the Superman mold, and gave their heroes capes with no thought put into it. With the exception of Batman, most of the other heroes wear capes that are not functional or have a reason for being their.

A list of some of the DC heroes who wear capes are:

Superman, Batman, Spectre, Dr. Fate, Hourman, Martian Manhunter, Golden Age Green Lantern, Red Tornado, Supergirl, Robin, Captain Marvel, Power Girl

I started this post asking why did few Marvel heroes wear capes? I don’t have any inside information or know the answer. I just know that the Marvel heroes as a group look really cool together, whether they wear capes or not.

Feel free to share your views about capes, do you like them or not?