Comic book fans all know Clark Kent wears his Superman costume under his street clothes – allowing him to rip open his shirt dramatically to reveal the famous “S” emblem whenever the Man of Steel is needed. This does, however, raise an obvious question – exactly what does Clark do with his regular outfit when he takes to the skies as Superman?
It’s a problem that many superheroes have to deal with, often in creative ways. Some, like Iron Man, can wear their regular clothes underneath their armored costumes, essentially reversing the “costume under street clothes” dynamic. Others, like Spider-Man, keep their clothes in a backpack or web pack and stick them to a handy wall until they’re ready to switch back (although Peter does find that a lot of his clothes tend to get stolen this way).
Considering Clark Kent has a limited clothing budget on his reporter’s salary, he probably doesn’t want to just throw away his suit and tie whenever he goes into action, so how does he manage to save his clothes? As it turns out, Superman’s Silver Age comics actually provided an answer which gave Clark a great way to hide both his regular clothes and his superhero outfits in some very creative places. During the Silver Age, Clark Kent made sure all of his clothes – not just his Superman suits – were designed out of a special super-compressible fabric. This allowed him to essentially squish even a full-size suit into the shape of a tablet. Superman could then hide his street clothes in a hidden pocket woven into his cape, keeping them safe and out of the way while he went off to save the day.
Once the clothing tablet became exposed to air, it would quickly expand and Superman could don his suit and glasses (which he also kept in his super pocket) and resume his Clark Kent activities. Essentially, Clark used the same trick that the Flash did with his ring (which he used to also store his super-compressible superhero suit in). However, since Superman used this trick on his regular clothes, it proved even more useful since it kept him from sacrificing an expensive suit in the name of justice.
(Indeed, considering Superman apparently had some super-tailor skills that allowed him to sew together any outfit out of super-compressible fabric, one wonders why he didn’t open a side-business and introduce his own clothing line. Even if his only customers were the Justice League and other superheroes, he could make a fairly substantial profit.)
Naturally, Kent’s Superman costume was also made out of super compressible Kryptonian fabric, which gave Clark some fun options when he needed to hide it in places other than under his clothes. In Superman #296, Clark went to a Karate class with Lois and realized he’d have to remove his regular business suit. To keep himself from jeopardizing his secret identity, Clark removed his Superman outfit beforehand, compressed it into a bite-size tablet, and then stored it in his mouth.
That’s right, Clark Kent turned his Superman suit into what basically amounted to a super tic-tac (one can only hope he remembered to use mouthwash). Later, Clark seemingly lost his powers and wound up in the hospital. Needing to leave without raising suspicion, he removed the compressed Superman costume from his mouth, allowed it to expand to full-size, and then donned it so he could just walk out of the hospital as Superman.
While a seemingly minor problem, the issue of hiding one’s street clothes (or superhero costume) has inspired many superheroes to adopt some creative tricks over the years. Clark Kent’s methods, however, earns points not just for innovation but for the sense of fun writers and artists obviously had with the properties of his super suit. Modern versions of Superman have resorted to more mundane methods of costume quick changes, but long-time readers probably still love his Silver Age style.
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