Superheroes Who Wear White (After Labor Day)

If the “don’t wear white after Labor Day” rule applied to superheroes, then here are 8 that refuse to bow to the rules of fashion.

Emma Frost

No one loves a white bustier more than Emma Frost. Whether she’s fighting bad guys (or her own teammates) or teaching students (clearly there’s no dress code at Xavier’s), she’s always determined to work lingerie into her attire. Is it over-the-top? Bigtime. But it’s not nearly as vulgar as her old costume. And besides, everything about Emma is over-the-top. There’s a reason they call her the White Queen.

Fashion Score: 8.

Power Girl

I wasn’t sure I wanted to include Power Girl on this list, because it’s impossible to talk about her attire without mentioning how ridiculous it is. But she’s one of the best known superheroes that wears white, so I caved. She got a much-needed makeover in DC’s New 52 (which also features a white outfit, but one with way more fabric), but the look above is the one she sported the longest.

On the one hand, she’s probably showing less skin than Emma Frost (above). But that big, circular cutout might as well have neon lights outlining it and big red arrows pointing at her chest. We get it: she has super boobs. Too bad that in comics, “sexy” usually equals “slutty.”

Fashion Score: 3.

FF

When Johnny Storm died, the rest of the Fantastic Four decided that a fresh start was needed. The team brought Spider-Man on board and retired their trademark blue “unstable molecules” uniforms for something eye-catchingly different. Adorning clean white outfits (they even made one for Spidey), they left behind the name “Fantastic Four” and remolded themselves as the “Future Foundation.” Things have changed pretty radically since then — Johnny’s back, and the Future Foundation is now a school for heroes-in-training — but the team is still rocking those cool white outfits.

Fashion Score: 9.

Cyborg

Victor Stone is one of the most reliable and mature heroes on DC’s roster. He’s too focused on heroic derring-do to care about things like style or fashion. In fact, his white “outfit” isn’t technically attire at all. It’s metallic parts grafted to his living tissue. Poor Victor didn’t even get any say in what color these machine parts were; they came from his S.T.A.R. Labs scientist dad. Like the rest of the DCU, Cyborg got a makeover for the New 52, and the machine parts of him are still a stark, shiny white. Which means the artists at DC Comics are smart enough to know what fans have known all along: Cyborg looks good in white.

Fashion Score: 8.

Moon Knight

Moon Knight is a monochrome kind of guy. Since he first appeared on the Marvel scene, he’s worn costumes ranging from black to gray to white. He even wore armor at one point. I included him on this list because when most fans think of him, they think of the white costume. Don’t you agree? But I can’t score it very high on the fashion scale because aside from a few crescent moon shapes, it’s just not all that interesting.

Fashion score: 5.

Dagger

Yet another comics super-heroine who’s burdened with an outfit that defies logic (and gravity), Tandy Bowen sports white as a counterpoint to her partner Cloak’s deep black. In Dagger’s case, the brightness of her costume serves an actual purpose: her power is that of light itself, allowing her to create “light daggers” to use as weapons. The silly cutout in the front of her skin-tight suit is roughly in the shape of a dagger, while her partner wears this big cape thing that works as a kind of portal… or something.

Fantomex

A product of the same clandestine program that applied Adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton, Fantomex wears an all-white mercenary type jumpsuit with a white overcoat and ceramic mask. The overall effect is very similar to Moon Knight’s look, only with guns and no hood. In more recent appearances, Fantomex’s outfit has been modified to include zig-zag black lines. I think I prefer the simplicity of his original look.

Fashion Score: 6.

White Tiger

Angela del Toro was the fourth character in the Marvel Universe to bear the White Tiger mantle, though she quickly passed it on to Ava Ayala, who was killed in action not long after being introduced. (She lives on as a recurring character on television’s Ultimate Spider-Man.) Ayala’s outfit was far less interesting, visually, with a full head mask and an overall much simpler, “body sock” look. Del Toro, on the other hand, had some actual style at work, showing off her long black hair, athletic gloves and shoes, a utility belt Batman would approve of, and black tiger stripes that projected a more dangerous, animalistic persona.

Fashion Score: 8.

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