This comment was posted in the GL movie masters thread and started me thinking. I think we all agree that capes look good, but there are times when they are not practical. The Incredibles used the one scene with Edna to make that point. The inherrent problem with capes is that they give your super strength opponent something to grab onto to swing you around into things like walls, mountains, and planets with. Now in Superman's case that isn't as bad of a problem because he can generally take it. Batman not so much so. Another example is the LSH. In the beginning many of them had capes. This was clearly a fashion statement that thankfully faded out by the 70's, but those few that kept capes were subject to artists who did not know how to handle the cape with that characters powers, most notably Princess Projectra and Shadow Lass. Both could have used their capes as extensions of their powers, much like Raven does. The only other Legionaire who could get away with a cape was/is Phantom Girl. Simply by phasing, she takes that potential weapon away from an opponent.

This then is to say that I am not entirely opposed to the idea of capes, and with a costume that a cape compliments, as with Raven, Parallax, or Batman, I am willing to accept susspension of disbelief, but at the same time there are just certain characters that capes do not work on.

CCC.