User blog comment:Jacknapier10/Superheroes Wear Tights?/@comment-4652104-20130521185316

There are three basic reasons why most heroes wear tights, capes and so on:

1. Comfort. As it was said, tight bodysuits are practical for h2h combat, flight, acrobatics and so forth. It also usually covers the face and hides your identity.

2. "Superheroes wear costumes" ~Scott Summers. The thing is, you want people to know you're a superhero. For any number of reasons. To strike fear into regular criminals, to focus super-villains' attention on yourself, to simply let people know who you are, to look better on TV.

3. Intelligent molecules, which take on many of the features (and powers) of the wearer. In fact, most costumes are made of these. For some reason, it seems impossible to make anything other than tights from those. Possibly because they are skin-tight by nature.

The exceptions include: characters who go naked or half-naked (Hulks, Tigra, Namor and his kin, Thing); characters who gain their powers from their clothes (Dr Strange, Venom) the Hood), particularly power armor (Iron Men of all kinds), this also includes simply wearing armor or modern combat suits and suchlike for protection (various knights, the Punisher); sometimes attire is connected to their powers (Cloak). These are all practical reasons to wear something other than tights.

There are also characters who do not wear costumes for ideological reasons. Usually it is either cause they do not want to be seen as a typical superhero (Luke Cage, Pete Wisdom, Prof. X) or simply because they enjoy their (usually extravagant) clothes (Emma Frost, Elektra). Finally, there are characters who belong to an alien group or race and whose clothes are simply typical for their culture (Thor).