History Main / MySuitIsAlsoSuper

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''; the titular character's clothing is extremely prone to damage, as it's the closest thing the animation get have to him getting shoot or slashed.

* Common among the ComicBook/XMen. Kurt Wagner's, Comicbook/KittyPryde's and Jamie Madrox's clothes are {{teleporte|rsAndTransporters}}d, [[{{Intangibility}} phased]] and [[MesACrowd duplicated]] as well. The same goes for whatever they are holding. The {{story break|erPower}}ing potential of this is rarely touched upon. The reason for this is briefly explained in ''Giant-Size X-Men'' #1 as the X-Men's costumes being made of unstable molecules, provided by Reed Richards (see below). Common in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse as a whole, really. [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]]'s suit stretches with his body, for instance, because it too is made of unstable molecules.

* In Homestuck, the Godteir suits are frequently called magic pajamas. Dave says [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006617 here]] "theyre magic fucking pajamas they stay like perma clean or something "

[[folder: webcomics]]
* In Homestuck, the Godteir suits are frequently called magic pajamas. Dave says [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006617 here]] "theyre magic fucking pajamas they stay like perma clean or something "
[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:343:[[SupermanTheatricalCartoons http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snapshot_dvd_09_28_2011_05_21_10_12_24_2940.jpg]]]]

Often [[Main/HandWave handwaved]] by explaining that the hero's gear is magical or otherwise of sufficient durability and strength for them to gain the equivalent benefit.

* In ''OnePiece'', it is explicitly stated that the Logia Devil Fruit powers also make the user's clothing affected by their powers - it transforms along with its wearer. Other powers and even ''{{badass normal}}ness'' also usually affect the clothing: when Luffy inflates to giant size, his clothes grow with him, Chopper's pants pretty much come from the same brand as Hulk's, Sanji's suits do not burn when he sets his legs on fire (with air friction), Zoro's clothes ''do'' rip, a bit, but nowhere to a degree you'd expect from something that was in the path of a sword strike that slices ''buildings'' like pizza.

* In ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', Celty's clothes are created using her ability to manipulate shadows. [[ManipulativeBastard Izaya]] wonders out loud at one point if shining a really bright light on her would leave her naked. (She gets a couple of spotlights put on her in [[BonusEpisode Episode 12.5]] and nothing happens.)

* In the {{DCU}}, the reason why the various [[TheFlash Flashes]] and other speedsters don't burn their clothing - or themselves for that matter - from air friction is that each has an invisible aura around their bodies to protect them. In fact, that's how the Barry Allen Flash first defeated his evil counterpart, Professor Zoom. The villain bragged how he used a chemical coating to protect himself from air friction and Allen successfully bet that his aura was better protection when he starting pushing Zoom fast enough to have the resulting heat overwhelm his coating. Wally West literally had a super-suit made out of the Speed Force that powers all "speedsters".
** In the ComicBook/{{New 52}} relaunch, Barry Allen's super-suit is constructed of metal plates because regular clothes would simply burn off when he ran. The metal in his super-suit reacts differently to the Speed Force.
* ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (Kon-El) had "Tactile Telekinesis" that let him extend a telekinetic field into anything he touched.
** This is directly related to the phenomena that used to protect Superman's costume (see below.)
* GreenLantern's costume/uniform is created by his power ring by simply changing his regular clothes to his uniform. Thus, as long as the ring is working, his work clothes are usually going to look great and clean by default.
* Common among the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}. Kurt Wagner's, Kitty Pryde's and Jamie Madrox's clothes are [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleported]], [[IntangibleMan phased]] and [[MesACrowd duplicated]] as well. The same goes for whatever they are holding. The [[StoryBreakerPower story breaking]] potential of this is rarely touched upon.
** The reason for this is briefly explained in ''Giant-Size X-Men'' #1 as the X-Men's costumes being made of unstable molecules, provided by Reed Richards (see below).
** Common in the MarvelUniverse as a whole, really. [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]]'s suit stretches with his body, for instance, because it too is made of unstable molecules.

* In John Ostrander's run as writer on ''MartianManhunter,'' it's established that the telepathic, shapeshifting Martians wear clothes that are actually bioengineered organisms that shapeshift in accordance with the wearer's telepathic commands.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' the characters couldn't figure out how to morph clothing at first, leading to two occasions when Tobias morphed out of his clothes and demorphed naked. [[TheChick Cassie]] somehow figures out that tight clothing, like spandex or bike shorts, [[MagicPants will morph with you]], so after the first book the characters have standard "morphing suits" they wear under their normal outfits. A later book mentions something about their powers creating a "morphing field" around them, which may have something to do with it.
** Ability to morph clothes is also related to one's proficiency with morphing. Cassie, the best morpher among the Animorphs, is the first to figure out how to morph clothing. Later, the team crosses paths with a young female Andalite who can morph normal, non-skintight clothes due to her advanced skill.

* In the WhateleyUniverse, there is more than one kind of power-set to be [[FlyingBrick a brick]]. One type, as demonstrated by the main character Lancer, is a [[MindOverMatter PK field]] about and through his body, which provides (for him) five tons of motive force and absorbs up to five tons of impact. But the PK field extends slightly past his skin, to protect his clothes. In fact, by the end of Lancer's first term at Whateley Academy, he has learned how to extend his field over objects he holds, as long as they aren't too long. He has a pair of foot-long paper 'swords' in his pocket, and when he extends his field over them, he has short swords that have a PK 'knife edge' that can cut through a LOT of stuff. He has also done a similar trick with a baseball bat, essentially making the bat as indestructible as he is. How's that for Handwavium?

* Comicbook/{{Superman}} has no problem diving into the center of the sun without even leaving scorch marks on his spandex booties, so having bullets bounce off without ripping the material isn't exactly attention-getting. PreCrisis, this was explained by his wearing a "super suit" made from Kryptonian materials. PostCrisis, it was explained that the same force that made his skin nigh-impregnable transferred the quality to skintight costumes (thus allowing for dramatic rips of the cape, as well).
** Similarly, his glasses are fashioned from pieces of the windshield of the rocket that brought him to Earth, so as to allow his heat vision to be used without melting his glasses. Although whether his EyeBeams generate heat throughout their length or only where they converge varies according to artist and writer. He's been shown to be able to generate points of heat within objects ([[http://politedissent.com/archives/2065 heat vision heart massage]], anyone?) while others show parallel holes where his heat vision burned its way in.
** The pre-{{New 52}} canonical explanation is that Superman has a bioaura that protects his suit. He's even extended it a few times to save people.
** In the {{New 52}}, Superman wears skintight Kryptonian armor that is a nigh-invulnerable as he is. Prior to finding the armor, he wore CivvieSpandex that would [[ClothingDamage tear apart]] when he was damaged.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' had costume designer Edna Mode make them (and likely all the other Supers) super-suits that could stand up to their powers and do things like turn invisible in reaction to their wearer doing so.
** One of the [[EpilepticTrees fan theories]] is that Edna is herself a Super, and being able to engineer fabrics with such otherworldly properties is her power, somehow.
** In a [[DVDBonusContent DVD extra]], Elastigirl complains about having to constantly repair her suit.
* In ''Blankman'' the titular character has accidentally invented a way to turn ordinary fabric impact damage absorbent and proceeds to put together a costume in which to fight crime. [[spoiler: Unfortunately he neglects to do this for the costume he puts together for his future sidekick and then neglects to mention this to said person when they finally put it on, most likely for that one reason.]]

* In the myth of [[GreekMythology Heracles]] (Hercules), he kills the Nemean lion for his first labor. Starting with the poet Bacchylides, this lion's hide is invulnerable, so Heracles has to strangle it to death, then [[VulnerableToItself skin it with its own claws.]] He later [[NemeanSkinning uses the hide as armor]], making this trope OlderThanFeudalism.

* ''GURPSSupers'' had an advantage called "Costume", which provided the benefit to superhumans of an outfit that was not harmed by powers and changed with shape/size shifters; essentially, it acted as an extension of the character's skin.

* In the ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', biofiber is an artificial multi-cellular colony organism that tends to grow in a film only two cells thick. The resulting "fabric" is extremely tough for its weight and will accept dyes of a specific formulation only. Biofiber possesses a small measure of cellular mobility, making a tight-fitting garment of biofiber self-fitting to a certain extent, and its natural biological defenses mean that in large part its self-cleaning. However, it is the fabric's interaction with the exotic metabolisms of metahumans that make it truly amazing. After a short period of acclimation, biofiber adapts to energetic or metamorphic powers. Thus, a costume made of bio-fiber can stretch, grow, or shrink with its wearer, and will not be incinerated, frozen, or otherwise harmed by the energetic emissions projected by its wearer.

* The provided image is from the FleischerStudios [[SupermanTheatricalCartoons Superman Theatrical Cartoon]] "The Mechanical Monsters". In context, the scene has Supes just saving Lois from being dipped in molten lead, only for the mad scientist of the short to pour a whole vat of the stuff to try and kill them both--cue Superman saving Lois by ''using his cape to deflect it''.
* In one episode ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', Dingo makes friends with a grey goo entity made of nanobots, and it decides to fuse itself with his power armor. From then on he wears armor-shaped grey goo instead of actual armor, and it retains its intelligence and amazing abilities.

* In Manga/{{BlackCat}} sweeper clothes are custom made with best possible technology and can take great amounts of damage. A raincoat can protect its wearer from stone-melting fire. Not to the extent of their [[MadeOfIndestructium weapons]], though.

* Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'s costume is apparently more prone to rips than most, but still keeps his ability to cling to walls. A sub-example is some artists being picky enough to suggest while his ability to cling works through a skintight costume, this shouldn't work if he's wearing shoes.
** The black outfit Spidey wore at one point takes this trope's name literally, mostly because it really ''is'' more organic.
*** Within [[VideoGame/TheAmazingSpiderMan the tie-in video game of]] ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'' if the player is attacked frequently, the suit will begin to show tears, eventually getting shredded and Peter becoming bruised and bloodied.

* When the UltimateMarvel counterpart of Giant-Man grows, he winds up naked, and his 60-foot costume was confiscated when he left the Ultimates, leading to embarrassing publicity when he has to grow in public during an unsanctioned rescue attempt. Oddly enough, when Wasp later has to become a giant, her costume grows with her.

* ''{{Hancock}}''. The titular character is constantly suffering ClothingDamage, which is realistic, he's invulnerable, and his clothes aren't. However, when Ray supplies him with his costume, the leather is never shown to take any damage. Presumably, based on Hancock's own comments about how tight it is, he has a "force-field" similar to Superman's.

* [[Literature/DresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] has to regularly spell his [[TrenchcoatBrigade duster]] to keep it bullet/claw/fire/etc-proof. It comes with all sorts of cool side effects - you can clean slime off it by ''throwing it in a fire and then peeling the hardened slime off'', it can shrug off most conventional attacks, it's waterproof because of the kinetic defenses, but it still ''breathes''. [[ShoutOut Sufficiently advanced technology]], his ''[[TakeThat ass]]''. Most of his accessories have also been known to be spelled - including a bear amulet with stored energy, his original kinetic ring, and his ten newer triple-linked kinetic rings. He's griped that he doesn't have the skill or money for the materials to make the enchantments more permanent, [[InformedAbility as some of]] the Senior Council does.

* ''[[MutantsAndMasterminds Mutants & Masterminds]]'' runs mainly on the RuleOfFun, thereby neatly absorbing this trope, although a possible alternative rule is to allow characters to have a typical 'indestructible' costume for one equipment point (since [[MutantsAndMasterminds Mutants & Masterminds]] works on point buy and one character point will buy 5 small pieces of equipment, such as a mobile phone or handcuffs).

* Usually averted in anime, but mainly due to the fact that it [[ClothingDamage makes room]] for {{fanservice}}.
** Example: in ''BusouRenkin'', the alchemic warrior Ikusabe's spear Gekisen allows him to instantly regenerate any injury, even one that completely disintegrates his body. This regeneration does not, however, extend to his clothes, with the end result that Ikusabe usually ends up fighting completely naked after being blown up a couple of times.
* In ''{{Utawarerumono}}'' Karura quickly breaks any ''normal'' sword she is given. Since this is anime the solution is to get a {{BFS}} as a FullPotentialUpgrade.
* Completely averted in ''{{Claymore}}'', where it isn't rare to have a Claymore walking barefoot and or with a broken armor because, unlike the titular warrior their equipment doesn't [[HealingFactor regenerate]] or [[RubberMan stretch]]. Played straight and justified with their sword.
* Mixed usage in ''DragonBall'', sometimes a big beam attack damages clothing, and sometimes it doesn't. Notable instance in Goku's first fight with Vegeta, Goku's shirt is burned off by an energy blast from the former, yet latter in the fight, Vegeta's armor doesn't have any damage from him taking a planet destroying energy blast, but later shows that it can be cut with an ordinary katana.

* A common exception is {{Wolverine}}. His healing ability lets him recover from things that melt his skin off (such as orbital re-entry in one JossWhedon issue), but his costume stays gone. A recent issue saw him take a nuclear blast from Nitro at ground zero; he recovered in short order despite being ''reduced to a skeleton'', but he had to spend the entire next issue fighting in the buff.
** This one goes back almost to the very beginning of his existence - one of the earliest issues of X-Men he appeared in had him blasted by a fireball that burned off most of his clothes and roasted him. So he beat the crap out of the nearest {{mook}} and stole his outfit.
** Of Course Wolverine is still often susceptible to the modesty retaining powers of MagicPants (technically Magic Remains of Former Pants...)
** Sometimes, but just as often his pants get destroyed too. He just happens to find new pants almost immediately after a naked brawl.
* NighInvulnerable Fairchild of ''{{Gen 13}}'' often finds her costume shredded by attacks, with a good deal of {{Fanservice}} resulting, as well as the occasional {{lampshade}}.
* SheHulk has often been the butt of this trope's joke. There is a partial handwave in that much of her clothing is made of unstable molecules or is "approved by the Comics Code Authority" (for modesty purposes) however she often loses items of clothing that she is fond of during fights. Her shoes are a full handwave, however. A 6'7" woman with a body weight of close to 700 pounds needs some nigh-indestructible Jimmy Choo's. Hers are made with Adamantium heels.
* Superboy (Kon-El) originally had his tactile telekinesis protect his clothes, but in recent years as he grew more and more into his Kryptonian powers, he relied less on it and more on natural invulnerability. This, coupled with the fact that his last costume was just a t-shirt and jeans led to rips and tears. In a relatively recent story arc in Action Comics (written by ChuckAusten, but let's forget that part), this trope was subverted entirely by Kon hilariously losing bits of clothing as he progressed through a fight with a ton of Superman villains, from battle damage (tearing, napalm, an exploding gas tanker...) It ended with him wearing only his underwear. (Apparently, he's a briefs man).

* In the ''Film/FantasticFour'' movie, a lot of attention is paid to how:

* This happened in the StarWars book ''[[JediAcademyTrilogy I, Jedi]]'', when the titular Jedi is caught in a massive firestorm of explosives. He just absorbs all the energy (sending most of it straight up in a PillarOfLight) and his lightsaber is made of sterner stuff than most objects, but nothing is left of his clothes except a distinctive smell.

* ZigZagged on {{Smallville}}. Clark got thrown into a furnace once and emerged completely in the buff, but then later his clothes are shown surviving exploding buildings.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' has no problem letting you dive into lava with a bag full of paper notes, fur armor and a wooden staff. As long as you get out before the lava kills you, there's no economic hardship, and even if it does take you out, the worst you have to pay for is repairs for the armor.
** You pay the same cost for repairs (10% of all your equipped items durability) regardless of how you died (lava, falling, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou being mauled by wildlife]]).
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' where during the course of the game, Bats suit gets tears and rips as the player passes certain scripted areas, a few examples are when Harley Quinn drops an elevator on him, and when Batman is thrown back by an exploding safe (these are cinematics but it also occurs during portions of the gameplay).

** Especially {{egregious}} in ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}'', in which for the entire game you wear a watertight diving suit. No matter what happens, it never stops being watertight. Of course, big daddies are made by [[BodyHorror melding the subject's insides to the armor itself]], if they weren't made to endure what rapture dishes out, they'd probably spill out like soup if they ever got gashed enough.

* Subverted in ''SamuraiJack'', the titular character's clothing is extremely prone to damage, as it's the closest thing the animation get have to him getting shoot or slashed.

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*** In the ''TalesOfMajEyal'' variant, using various area effect spells to get rid of anything lesser than an ego/artifact level item is a very efficient method to deal with the increasingly high number of item you'd consider worthless as you level up.

->''Your suit can stretch [[RubberMan as far as you can]] without injuring yourself, and still retain its shape. Virtually indestructible... yet it breathes like Egyptian cotton!''
-->-- '''Edna Mode''', ''TheIncredibles''

* ''TheIncredibles'' had costume designer Edna Mode make them (and likely all the other Supers) super-suits that could stand up to their powers and do things like turn invisible in reaction to their wearer doing so.

* In ''OnePiece'', it is explicitly stated that the Logia Devil Fruit powers also make the user's clothing affected by their powers - it transforms along with it's wearer. Other powers and even ''{{badass normal}}ness'' also usually affect the clothing: when Luffy inflates to giant size, his clothes grow with him, Chopper's pants pretty much come from the same brand as Hulk's, Sanji's suits do not burn when he sets his legs on fire (with air friction), Zoro's clothes ''do'' rip, a bit, but nowhere to a degree you'd expect from something that was in the path of a sword strike that slices ''buildings'' like pizza.

* In Manga/{{BlackCat}} sweeper clothes are custom made with best possible technology and can take great amounts of damage. A raincoat can protect it's wearer from stone-melting fire. Not to the extent of their [[MadeOfIndestructium weapons]], though.

* Pretty much every ''FinalFantasy'' character. The Ribbon you're wearing to protect from status ailments isn't so much as scratched by a ten-foot iron meteor dropping on you.
** An especially egregious example is the duel of Cloud and Sephiroth in ''FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren''. The duelists slice sections of skyscraper in two, or tear them to pieces, but their swords themselves survive the impact. Granted, Cloud's sword has to be over 30-50 pounds of solid, fine steel, but his opponent is using a long, thin katana! Then again, KatanasAreJustBetter...

*** This one goes back almost to the very beginning of his existence - one of the earliest issues of X-Men he appeared in had him blasted by a fireball that burned off most of his clothes and roasted him. So he beat the crap out of the nearest {{mook}} and stole his outfit.

* Subverted in ''{{Nox}}''. If you don't take care of your weapons and armor, they will break. If take your armor off and leave it on the lava, it won't sink, it'll just quickly lose vitality, then break. There are only really three types of items that never break: potions (despite being made of glass), the clothes that came from PC's home world with him and the CosmicKeystone.

->''Your suit can stretch [[RubberMan as far as you can]] without injuring yourself, and still retain its shape. Virtually indestructible... yet it breathes like Egyptian cotton!''\\
-- '''Edna Mode''', ''TheIncredibles''

** Miguel O'Hara, [[{{Marvel 2099}} Spider-Man 2099]], wears a suit made from the above mentioned unstable molecules. However, being from the future, the material has entered the mainstream market, though he comments on how expensive it is to have a wardrobe solely made of that (civvy clothes too). His Spider-Man costume was actually something he already had in his closet from a recent Day of the Dead festival just in case things got a bit too rowdy.

* in ''Literature/TalesOfAnMazingGirl'' the main character suit is kevlar. It cuts down on replacing it, or modesty disasters. Not that it always works but it helps.

* In ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', Celty's clothes are created using her ability to manipulate shadows. [[ManipulativeBastard Izaya]] wonders out loud at one point if shining a really bright light on her would leave her naked. (She gets a couple of spotlights put on her in [[BakersDozen Episode 12.5]] and nothing happens.)

* [[DresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] has to regularly spell his [[TrenchcoatBrigade duster]] to keep it bullet/claw/fire/etc-proof. It comes with all sorts of cool side effects - you can clean slime off it by ''throwing it in a fire and then peeling the hardend slime off'', it can shrug off most conventional attacks, it's waterproof because of the kinetic defenses, but it still ''breathes''. [[ShoutOut Sufficiently advanced technology]], [[TakeThat his]] ''[[TakeThat ass]]''. Most of his accessories have also been known to be spelled - including a bear amulet with stored energy, his original kinetic ring, and his ten newer triple-linked kinetic rings. He's griped that he doesn't have the skill or money for the materials to make the enchantments more permanent, [[InformedAbility as some of]] the Senior Council does.
** In ''Changes'', Lea amps Harry's defenses up significantly, to his slight chagrin and awe. During the ensuing battle, it takes so much damage that when the enchantments wear off (at ''noon'' - she's a fairy godmother from ''' Winter ''', after all), the whole thing collapses into shreds.

** In the {{New 52}} relaunch, Barry Allen's super-suit is constructed of metal plates because regular clothes would simply burn off when he ran. The metal in his super-suit reacts differently to the Speed Force.
* {{Superboy}} (Kon-El) had "Tactile Telekinesis" that let him extend a telekinetic field into anything he touched.

* Averted in ExHeroes, where Saint George has to get his jacket fixed after getting shot.

Contrast with DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength, where the hero tends to forget that not everything is as super as them. See also RequiredSecondaryPowers. Also contrast ClothingDamage, when the inability of the (usually female) hero's equipment to survive disintegration leads to FanService.

* ''[[TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse Aberrant]]'' has the "Attunement" Background, which protects everything within the immediate (and we mean ''immediate'') radius of the character from powers such as growth, self-immolation, and shapeshifting. One dot is enough to protect their clothing; five dots is enough to protect another person.

* ''[[TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse Aberrant]]'' has this in addition to the 'Attunement' example above, in the form of a [[AppliedPhlebotinum form of living silk-like fibers that bond to the Nova in question]] called Eufiber.

* The costumes of the Comicbook/FantasticFour are explicitly made of "unstable molecules". Even beyond that, though, the Invisible Woman transfers whatever makes her invisible to anything she picks up, the Human Torch can flame on while carrying a paper PlotCoupon, and the Thing doesn't always turn instrumentation into dust.

* In the short-lived "Threeboot" version of the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}, it's established that Brainiac 5 had a very hard time designing a version of the Legion flight ring that would triplicate with Triplicate Girl when she used her powers.

* Non-superhero variation; the Ealing Studios movie ''The Man In The White Suit'' stars Alec Guinness as an inventor who creates a fabric that's not only completely indestructible but impervious to stains. He explains that dying agents can be introduced to the polymers before they're fully formed, and that heat can be used to cut the fabric. Subverted in that the textile companies want to prevent this fabric from being made because it would put clothing manufacturers and laundries out of business. Further subverted when [[spoiler: the fabric ends up decomposing due to being exposed to the air.]]