Hey, it's better than saving the world in your pajamas.
You just accepted the Call to Adventure, and you have everything ready. You just finished your Training from Hell, you know Kung Fu, and you have your trusty katana. But something is missing... wait, are you going to fight in jeans and a T-shirt? Hell no! That's not in The Chosen One's Dress Code! It's time for the Suit Up Of Destiny!
Many heroes are not seen in their street clothes, but you can't have an origin story without the character finding and putting on his trademark wardrobe for the first time. This moment is very important, because these very clothes will soon become a part of the hero's identity.
Common in super hero movies and video game series that involve trademark clothing. The hero putting on his trademark clothing is exciting and is looked forward to. Without them, the hero is not who he is supposed to be. It can lead to a Mundane Made Awesome moment. The best way to know this trope is in play is when you can say "These clothes are going to be very important in this character's life" without guessing. A Lock-and-Load Montage may be included if heavy weaponry is part of the uniform.
Compare and Contrast Unnecessary Makeover, where a girl may get an important makeover around the end of the movie, but no one really thought it was... necessary.
Compare and Contrast Transformation Sequence, where the sequence will be shown again and again when the character needs to change back to this outfit or form, and is kept interesting by the power-up mechanism that provides it rather than the first look at the outfit itself.
Has nothing to do with legendary suiting up, unless one of the character's main traits alongside his outfit is being The Casanova.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Pornchai Sukyod in "Garbage Man
" does this. Like many of these beautiful Thai insurance and phone service commercials, this one is Based on a True Story. His real name is Suphanat Sriyod, and the ad came about after a newspaper photo of him standing next to his mom with a broom went viral.
Anime & Manga
- This occurs in Bleach a few times;
- Ichigo in the first episode after gaining Soul Reaper powers for the first time. Then for a second time after he loses his powers and gets them back.
- Ishida when he reveals he's going to go to Soul Society with Ichigo to rescue Rukia (lampshaded by having Ichigo question his fashion sense). Then for a second time after he loses his powers and gets them back.
- And finally, as part of a reveal, this is used to show that Isshin, Ichigo's father, was a Soul Reaper all along. Apparently for a second time having lost them before and now got them back.
- Code Geass episode 4, where Lelouch first dons the iconic Zero costume.
- Happens in Naruto, when the Minato and Kushina are attacked on the day of their son's birth. After teleporting them both to a safe house, he dramatically casts on his Hokage robe and declares "I'll be right back."
Comic Books
- Robin: After training to the point that Batman deems him ready, and designing a suit for himself that includes armored pants and steel-toed boots with the R emblem a hidden weapon instead of his predecessors' hot pants and pixie boots, the first time Tim dons his Robin costume is pretty satisfying. note
Fan Works
- Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku! has a scene cut where Izuku runs off to the bathroom to put on the costume his mom designed for him, complete with a checklist of every piece of it before the narration declares that it's time for him to be a Hero.
Belt, check. Striped boots, check. Symbol of the House of El displayed proudly on his chest, check. Bunny ear hoodie that was there because he just had to have it in, check. General pattern of green and white running across the entire outfit, check. It was official, everything was in order. It was finally time for Midoriya to be a Hero.
Films — Animation
- In Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, we see flashbacks where Bruce tried a normal outfit and a ski mask. The thugs weren't impressed. Later, only after the love of his life disappears, do we see him constructing and putting on the Bat-outfit. Alfred is taken aback and slightly frightened! Here, just watch it!
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. After spending much of the film in a too small Spider-Man costume he bought at a party store and constantly running from all his problems, Miles Morales finally realizes his potential and accepts the responsibility that he has. He takes one of Peter's old costumes and spray paints it black-and-red, before leaping off a skyscraper and... just watch for yourself.
Film — Live-Action
- Iron Man: Tony Stark, being an engineer, has to go through three versions of his suit. First there is the armor cobbled together out of twisted wiring and spit, then the prototype suit that Tony first goes flying in, and finally the trope comes into play with the third model. He sees something bad happening on TV and there is an extended sequence of him putting on the finished red and gold model. When that helmet clips into place, you know he's ready to save the world.
- Men in Black. The scene where J puts on his Men in Black uniform for the first time, provides the page quote.
And it's even given an ironic echo in the sequel when J has to track down K and bring him out of retirement;J: It's time to put it on.
K: Put what on?
J: The last suit you'll ever wear...um...again. - Dragonball Evolution when Goku finally puts on his iconic orange gi.
- Name a superhero movie where this doesn't happen.
- Subverted and played straight in Captain America: The First Avenger. Subverted the first time Cap appears in his iconic costume, as there's nothing dramatic about it — he's popping up on stage in a garishly bright outfit for a bond rally. Later, the trope is played straight after Cap gets his shield and suits up to raid a HYDRA base, revealing a more practical (and subdued) version of his uniform.
- Interestingly; the actual act suiting up itself has so far been averted for DC's recent film adaptations of it's two most iconic heroes. In the case of Batman- in the original run, he was already Batman when the film kicked off. For the Nolan's Batman Begins, Bruce is seen testing various elements of the suit - but we never actually see him strap in the finished product, the first clear look we get is after he presents himself to the mobsters. Same more or less applies to Superman, in Man of Steel, Clark is shown his suit and the scene immediately cuts to him dramatically walking out into the Arctic with it already on, cape billowing into wind and all.
- In Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eggsy donning his suit for the first time signals the start of the climax.
- Turbo Kid: The Kid dramatically suits up in Turbo Rider's outfit. In the process of triumphantly lowering the helmet onto his head, he realizes that it's all rotten and gross, so he triumphantly lowers his old helmet into his head instead. Luckily, he'd already painted it to look like Turbo Rider's helmet, so it fits the rest of the outfit.
Literature
- In Children of the Lens, when Clarrissa Kinnison finally brings herself to wear the Gray Lensman uniform she's entitled to.
- In the Heralds of Valdemar series, graduation from a Herald-Trainee to a full Herald is marked by a simple wardrobe change from the grey Trainee uniform to Heraldic Whites.
Live-Action TV
- The Book of Boba Fett: The episode "The Tribes of Tatooine" show Boba being dressed in traditional Tusken clothing after being inducted as a member of the tribe.
- Smallville:
- Clark Kent tried to have such a moment in the Season 10 opener "Lazarus" but it was aborted by Jor-El.
- Happens for real in "Finale", only we never actually see Clark Kent in the Superman suit.
- Almost every Doctor, from the Third onwards, in Doctor Who gets at least several moments to choose, dress, and walk around in their new Iconic Outfits to let the audience get a visual feel for exactly what kind of Doctor they are going to be.
- The final flashback of the How I Met Your Mother episode "Game Night", aka "Barney Begins". Bonus points in that it's not only the first time Barney suits up, but also the origin of his catchphrase "Suit up!"
Video Games
- Assassin's Creed:
- Ezio is a perfect example in Assassin's Creed II when he puts on his father's robes and weapons for the first time. He never changes clothes for the next twenty years.
- Averted in Assassins Creed IV, where Edward puts on the clothes of an Assassin he just killed because it seems like a good idea at the time.
- Link is doing this increasingly often in the Zelda games.
- First started in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker when Link is given the Hero's Clothes for his birthday. It's not very exciting.
- Corrected in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess when Link first returns to his human form and is revealed to be The Chosen One. Link simply stands there, but the camera action and the music made standing there awesome.
- Played with in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Link starts out in an engineer's uniform and only changes his clothes to blend in with the guards prowling around the castle. Unlike Wind Waker Link, he doesn't seem to have much of an opinion about his new look. Zelda, on the other hand, isn't so crazy about it.
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has Link don the iconic green tunic and pants when sent out to go save Zelda. The headmaster says it was this year's version of the Knight uniform and mentions how good the color suits Link.
- Performed by Jango Fett in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. After being captured and tortured by a Dark Jedi, he's rescued by Zam Wessel and, once he drives off the Jedi and checks on the injured Zam, Fett has a badass Suit Up scene before he finishes the hunt.
- Issac has a pretty cool one in Dead Space 2 when he buys his first engineering suit, changing out of the straightjacket that he woke up in. After the suit up, he smiles slightly and the player knows that it's finally time to get down to business.
- The Medic from Team Fortress 2 does this in the Meet the Medic video. He pulls a Hero Shot right afterwards, as if he wasn't already awesome enough.
- Agent 47 from the Hitman Series does this several times, most notably in Codename: 47 when he puts on his suit for the first time, and then again in Silent Assassin, after he takes off his gardener's outfit and dons his Suit to resume his line of work.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, the game opens following the return of Phoenix Wright after his disbarring, prompting a pretty awesome suit-up complete with leitmotif.
- The Doom Slayer in Doom (2016), after breaking out of his bonds and killing the zombies trying to eat him, reclaims his iconic Praetor Suit. We're not shown much of the actual suiting-up, as everything is in first-person and we're treated to some Hellish flashbacks. We do get to see him put on the helmet (also in first-person).
- In Super Robot Wars X, when Lelouch finally emerges from his Heroic BSoD in Stage 18, we're treated to a shot of him putting on the Zero costume, once more throwing away his identity to become a symbol of freedom.
Webcomics
- In The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, Dr. McNinja does this after he seemingly dies in a space shuttle explosion.
- In True Villains, Xaneth gives Sebastian a Fashionable Evil outfit when Sebastian becomes a Villain Protagonist, which Sebastian finally starts wearing after confronting his heroic sister. Somehow, Xaneth had the outfit ready before Sebastian ever planned to join him, thanks to a Stable Time Loop engineered by his patron God of Knowledge to prove that they're meant to be working together.
Web Original
- Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: While Dr. Horrible technically already has a costume, the sequence of him dramatically donning a new darker-feeling red-and-black version of it after going from villain wannabe to full supervillain still has this vibe to it.
- In Maximilian Christiansen's series on Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Assist Me, Wesker does a very badass one here.
- Atop the Fourth Wall: Linkara gets one at the end of his "Ghost of the Machine" story arc. After reflecting that he had been doing this work for over five years, he decides it's time for a change. He discards the brown suede jacket, reddish plaid shirt, grey t-shirt and jeans that had become his Iconic Outfit and, after an awesome montage, steps out with his usual Signature Headgear, a white dress shirt, brown waistcoat and tie, brown pants with his magic gun on a belt holster, and a dark brown Badass Longcoat with a mantle, all with an overall effect of what it would look like if Harry Dresden decided to cosplay as the Tenth Doctor.
- He gets another at the end of the Tenth Anniversary story arc, "The Clone Saga". Deciding it's time for another change, he ditches the previous outfit, goes through another montage with the same awesome music, and finally emerges with his hat, a blue dress shirt, brown jacket and tie, black pants and shoes, and a light brown scarf and a nifty pin with his logo on the jacket's lapel, essentially fusing his two previous outfits and making another couple of additions. "Here's to the next ten years."
Real Life
- This happens in Real Life when military personnel put on their uniforms for the first time.
- Graduation and wedding gowns also count, even though they are (usually) only worn one time.
- Nuns wear clothing specific to their status: aspirants wear street clothes, then postulant (rank beginner), novice, professed nun (2-3 years) and solemnly professed (vows for life) all have their distinctive habits. Some orders have novices wear wedding gowns for their first profession solemnities. The ceremonies in which they change their outfits are moments of profound emotion.
- In a number of Christian denominations, newly ordained clergy are dressed in vestments specific to their rank after the actual ordination takes place, be it deacon, priest, or bishop.
