History Main / DressedInLayers

** ''ComicBook/IronMan'': Tony Stark, for much of his career, had to wear the entire chest piece under his clothes to keep his heart going. In one early adventure, he took this a step further, [[PaperThinDisguise successfully hiding his identity]] on a long commercial airline flight by wearing a trenchcoat and fedora over his armor. The ''grey, bulky'' Iron Man armor, even!

** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Peter Parker]] always wears his costume under his clothes, though he's sometimes shown having his costume in his backpack. He's also one of the few superheroes who can rival Superman with the iconic shirt open reveal. And his daughter, Comicbook/SpiderGirl does it too once or twice.

* In the first season finale of ''Series/{{Hawkeye|2021}}'', the Hawkeyes attend a formal dinner party in an attempt to thwart the assassination of [[spoiler:Kate's mother]]. Yelena Belova is there to kill Clint. throughout the episode, each of them get their outerwear removed to reveal their costumes underneath.

** ComicBook/IronMan'': Tony Stark, for much of his career, had to wear the entire chest piece under his clothes to keep his heart going. In one early adventure, he took this a step further, [[PaperThinDisguise successfully hiding his identity]] on a long commercial airline flight by wearing a trenchcoat and fedora over his armor. The ''grey, bulky'' Iron Man armor, even!

** Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} in all his adaptations:
*** In [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks the Silver Age]], writers would occasionally go to great lengths to {{justif|iedTrope}}y and explain how he could hide his cape under Clark Kent's dress shirt, or fit shoes and socks over his Superman boots (the usual answer was something like "super compression.") For the record, while operating as Superman, he kept his Clark Kent clothes in a hidden pouch of his indestructible cape.
*** Subverted in ''ComicBook/Millennium1988'' when [[Characters/SupermanSupportingCast Lana Lang]], controlled by the Manhunters, tried to expose Clark as Superman by ripping open his shirt in the Daily Planet offices. As it turns out, Clark is thanking his lucky stars that he happened to not be wearing his supersuit that day and so Lana was stunned to find only his bare chest.
*** In ''ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac'' Clark is talking to [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]] when his super-hearing senses an emergency. Quickly he rips his shirt, revealing his costume beneath.
** Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} usually. Sometimes shown having his costume in his briefcase.
** ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Hal Jordan used to wear his uniform under his clothes in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}}, but he eventually realized he does not have to bother when he can simply use his power ring to change his clothes into that outfit.
** When Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}} appeared in ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl 2009}}'' #14, both girls enjoyed a pleasant (and normal) night at Characters/{{Batgirl}}'s college campus. Later, [[ItMakesSenseInContext after the sudden appearance of 24 Draculas]], the two realized that they would need to cut their night-off short and save the day. Supergirl [[ClothingDamage ripped off her top]] to reveal her costume beneath it, then turned to Batgirl:
--->'''Supergirl:''' Aren't you gonna... you know...\\

** Notably averted by [[Characters/TheFlashBarryAllen Barry Allen]], ComicBook/TheFlash, who kept his costume compressed in his ring. When released, the costume expanded to full size. Perhaps implausible scientifically, but it allowed Barry to wear ordinary clothes and avoid this trope... except that every once in a while, they indicated that the Flash followed this trope ''in reverse''. Supposedly, the Flash wore his costume ''over'' his regular clothes, which themselves were somehow super-compressed to give him his usual "skintight costume" appearance! Most fans [[FanonDiscontinuity sensibly ignore]] these occasional revelations, particularly since the hero is more than fast enough to change clothes and hide his regular outfit... or, heck, even ''run home'' and neatly fold his clothes before putting them away in his closet, without missing a beat.
** Characters/{{Batgirl}} had an unusual variation on this trope in her earliest adventures. Barbara Gordon wore clothes that would be ''converted'' into parts of her Batgirl outfit. For example, her beret unrolled to become Batgirl's cowl, and her reversible skirt, when removed, became a cape. After a couple stories, the writers evidently noticed certain flaws in this arrangement (most notably, the requirement that Barbara always wear pretty much [[LimitedWardrobe the same exact outfit]]), and in later stories either showed her changing at home, or didn't go into detail about how she managed to change elsewhere.

** ComicBook/TheAtom originally had an inverted version of this trope. Namely, his costume is worn ''outside'' his civilian clothes, but it's a special tough material stretched so thin, it's invisible. Only when he shrinks significantly does it become visible.
** When Tim Drake was still Characters/{{Robin}}, he wore the tunic and pants portion of his Robin suit under his civilian clothes on occasion, though he normally just carried it in a hidden inner pocket of his backpack. The only times he's seen with it on under his shirt it was on days he didn't have school so presumably he didn't wear it at school where the risk of it being noticed by people who knew him was higher.

* Spoofed multiple times in Italian ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'' comics featuring Paperinik, Donald Duck's superhero alter ego:
** Near the end of a story, Paperinik got dipped by marking ink. The defeated villain started bragging that at least he'd expose Paperinik's secret identity, as his face was covered in ink too... At which point Paperinik revealed he was wearing a full body suit, [[LatexPerfection including his face, mask, and hat]], over his costume.
** More often Paperinik disguises himself as Donald for some reason and wears a Donald suit over his superhero costume.

** [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]]. Though he's sometimes shown having his costume in his backpack. He's also one of the few superheroes who can rival Superman with the iconic shirt open reveal. And his daughter, Comicbook/SpiderGirl does it too once or twice.
*** In very early Spidey stories he notes that he specifically designed the costume for this - putting the join between the gloves and the arms high up so that they wouldn't be exposed if his sleeves ride up, for instance.
** ComicBook/IronMan, for much of his career, had to wear the entire chest piece under his clothes to keep his heart going. In one early adventure, he took this a step further, [[PaperThinDisguise successfully hiding his identity]] on a long commercial airline flight by wearing a trenchcoat and fedora over his armor. The ''grey, bulky'' Iron Man armor, even!
** [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]] used to wear his suit ''and his shield, strapped to his back'', under his civilian clothes. This got {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the ''[[ComicBook/SpiderHam Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider Ham]]'' series, where Captain Americat did the same thing. Peter questions this and Cap says "My tailor is ''very'' good."
** ComicBook/Spiderman2099 used to wear his suit under his work clothes in the first volume, but subverts it on the second and thrd, where his "regular clothes" are actually a holographic projection over his costume.

* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'', Ali wore more revealing clothes to school this way, hiding them under clothes that her strict Muslim parents approved of (such as long skirts).

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-> ''"It was brisk. I dressed in layers"''

* ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'': Lupin wears a Zenigata disguise over his regular suit and a diving suit over both of them.
* Played for Laughs in the ''Anime/DragonballZ'' movie ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan'' and ''Anime/DragonballSuper'' when Goku, having to wear a fancy suit, gets the chance to ditch it and is revealed to be wearing his Turtle School gi underneath.

---> '''Supergirl:''' "Aren't you gonna... you know..."\\
'''Batgirl:''' "Not unless you wanna see my bra."\\
'''Supergirl:''' "Does it have a bat on it?"\\
'''Batgirl:''' "I assure you that it does not."

** When Tim Drake was still Characters/{{Robin}} he wore the tunic and pants portion of his Robin suit under his civilian clothes on occasion, though he normally just carried it in a hidden inner pocket of his backpack. The only times he's seen with it on under his shirt it was on days he didn't have school so presumably he didn't wear it at school where the risk of it being noticed by people who knew him was higher.

* Spoofed multiple times in Italian ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'' comics featuring Paperinik, Donald Duck's superhero alter ego:
** Near the end of a story, Paperinik got dipped by marking ink. The defeated villain started bragging that at least he'd expose Paperinik's secret identity, as his face was covered in ink too... At which point Paperinik revealed he was wearing a full body suit, [[LatexPerfection including his face, mask, and hat]], over his costume.
** More often Paperinik disguises himself as Donald for some reason and wears a Donald suit over his superhero costume.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei wears her regular clothes under her ceremonial robe.

* Literature/{{Spenser}} occasionally notes a minor variation on this, noticing when someone's gun breaks the line of their suit, or commenting on how someone's clothes must be very well-tailored to successfully ''hide'' the gun.

* ''Series/{{MANTIS}}'' had the titular hero throw on [[ConspicuousTrenchcoat the classic comic book overcoat and wide-brimmed hat]] over his costume at one point in the pilot, which worked to get the drop on some mooks at night and in heavy rain.
* In the first season finale of ''Series/{{Hawkeye|2021}}'', the Hawkeyes attend a formal dinner party in an attempt to thwart the assassination of [[spoiler: Kate's mother]]. Yelena Belova is there to kill Clint. throughout the episode, each of them get their outerwear removed to reveal their costumes underneath.

* In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver]]'' the player is required to disguise themselves as a Rocket Grunt to enter the Team Rocket controlled radio tower. TheRival appears and, recognizing them, removes their uniform. In the game the player simply reverts to their default sprites (somehow managing to hide their hat under it); in the COPIOUS amount of fanart of said scene... [[RuleThirtyFour not so much]].
* Mickey and Riku in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. At various points, they both tear off their full-length hooded trenchcoats to reveal their civilian clothes underneath. This is a canon side effect of putting on the coat. It automatically causes the clothes worn beneath it to change to those seen in-game and to include a pair of black gloves and boots. If gloves are already being worn, then they will change to the black set.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', the female Forsworn armor covers less than the default underwear.

* The underwear bottoms in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' go all the way down past the knees. If a character wearing the Loincloth -- a scrap of fabric that barely covers the crotch -- were to remove it, they would now be vastly ''more'' covered than they were a second ago.
* Parodied in the ''VideoGame/LegoDimensions'' level based on ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoBatmanMovie'', in which Dick can tear off his Robin outfit to reveal the Nightwing suit underneath it, and then rip ''that'' off to reveal the Robin suit again. When Batman asks how he can wear long pants under short pants, he replies "I don't know!"

* Spoofed in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'', which can be seen [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1344#comic here.]]

* Phase in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse wears his costume under his [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] uniform every day during winter term (because of Team Tactics class) and dislikes it. He has to wear a larger school uniform to go over everything.
** This is actually quite common at Whateley. [[note]]As is wearing {{Utility Belt}}s and carrying several holdout weapons and other CrazyPrepared type stuff, in part because of the frequent outbursts of violence on campus, and in part to get around the 'only bring what you normally carry' rule for the Combat Finals[[/note]] Glorianna even wears her costume when she goes out shopping in Boston (which did prove useful when they got attacked, though she quickly finds that a LeotardOfPower isn't necessarily the best thing to run around in [[ExposedToTheElements during a Massachusetts winter]]).

* Played for laughs during the Nordverse skits on ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', where Cryptonic Override routinely rips off her sunglasses to reveal another pair of sunglasses underneath.
* Parodied in the ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' rematch between Sonic and Mario. The fight begins with Mario enjoying the beach wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks, until Sonic starts an argument with him for taking his spot. After a brief tussle over it, Mario decides to get serious by ''ripping off his bare skin'' to reveal his trademark overalls underneath.

* ''Film/JamesBond''

* Examples from the 1966 ''Series/Batman1966'':

* In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver]]'' the player is required to disguise themselves as a Rocket Grunt to enter the Team Rocket controlled radio tower. TheRival appears and, recognizing them, removes their uniform. In the game the player simply reverts to their default sprites (somehow managing to hide their hat under it); in the COPIOUS amount of fanart of said scene... [[Rule34 not so much]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' characters used to do this before superheroics were outlawed, and they did it again at the very end, with the very last shot of the film being Mr. Incredible imitating Superman's iconic use of this trope.

** Also parodied in "Fry Cook Games". When [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick get on the wrestling ring, [=SpongeBob=] tears off his clothes to reveal a Speedo. Patrick then tears off his clothes to reveal... a business suit, which he then tears off to reveal his Speedo.