What's Clark Kent without his suit... or the ability to fly? That's a question that DC fans rarely asked themselves prior to the premiere of Smallville almost two decades ago. It turned out that a younger Clark without the suit can be more interesting than a mature Clark with the iconic outfit he's only been known for.
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Creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar stuck to their popular "No tights, no flights" rule for most of the series. And even though Clark didn't wear the full Superman suit until the series finale, plenty of little details were put into the Kryptonian's outfits during the show's 10-season run.
Clark Starts Of With Superman's Traditional Colors
From the first to the eighth seasons, Clark's fashion sense remains mostly the same. He doesn't possess the tights yet but he mostly wears a red jacket and a blue t-shirt or vice versa. These are the traditional Superman colors.
When he starts saving people in Metropolis while wearing this outfit, he becomes known as the Red-Blue Blur. This is because Jimmy's first photograph of him shows a speeding man who leaves behind red and blue colors. Despite his job being high risk, Clark is unwilling to don a proper superhero suit just yet.
Office Attire At The Daily Planet
In the season eight episode "Infamous," Clark begins working as a reporter for the Daily Planet. He, thus, stops wearing jackets, jeans, and t-shirts, and opts for a more official look.
Clark's new job mostly requires him to wear shirts, dark suits, and ties. He has a pair of black-rimmed glasses with thick lenses too, which he first reveals to Lois. They give the impression that he is short-sighted. However, this is far from the case since Clark has the best vision on Earth. When he begins stepping out more to cover news stories, he wears the glasses more often.
Clark Goes Dark
During the early stages of season 9, Clark goes by the name the Blur. After the tragic events of season 8's "Doomsday," he drops the red and blue look for a black look since he is mourning the death of Jimmy.
He now has a cape-like trench coat with a House of El symbol on his chest. While wearing this outfit, he abandons his human life and focuses on the training sessions with Jor-El. The costume has some similarities to the one worn by General Zod when he possesses Lex Luthor. It's also the costume that Clark wears in the Return of Superman DC comics.
The Brown Jackets
Clark seems to have passed by a store and bought a light brown Carhartt jacket at some point in the series. He wears it on a couple of occasions when he is not saving lives.
During the first eight seasons, he wears the jacket a lot more. In the first season, Clark also owns another brown jacket that has fur at the collars. The brown jackets fit well into the rural Smallville environment. When he starts spending more time in Metropolis, the jackets kind of disappears.
Clark Returns To Red And Blue
Clark ditches the dark look when Cat Grant says that the public is paranoid of superheroes in costumes. Grant also adds that the public needs a hero who doesn't move in the shadows since that is considered villain-like activity.
Clark thus returns to the red and blue jacket. He gets a red jacket which has a Mark Of El on it. One half of the mark is on each side of the jacket. Underneath the jacket, he has a blue shirt, the same one from his Red-Blue Blur look. He soon begins performing saves in the costume, making the public happy again.
The Costume Martha Makes
Martha makes a costume for Clark that has a blue low-collar long-sleeved shirt. The shirt has a diamond-shaped, yellow shield emblem on the chest. This is the Mark of El.
There are also blue pants, a yellow belt, red boots, and a red cape. Since Clark still has doubts, Jor-El keeps the costume for in in the Fortress of Solitude. When Clark finally acknowledges all his powers and masters them, Jor-El unveils the suit. It is then presented to the hero by Jonathan's spirit.
"Superman Returns" Costume
The suit that appears in season 10's "Lazarus" and "Finale, Part 2" is the same Superman costume worn by Brandon Routh's Clark Kent in the movie Superman Returns.
The producers of the series, worked in collaboration with Warner Bros. and DC Comics to procure the suit worn by Brandon Routh in Superman Returns. Executive producer Bryan Peterson said they preferred it over the one worn by Christopher Reeve in the '80s, saying: "It just didn't quite fit with our world."
Different Versions Of The Letter 'S'
Clark's Superman costume has the S shield on the front and the back. A couple of other Superman costumes lack the S at the back. It can be noted that the versions of the iconic S shield on the front and back are slightly different. The S on his chest is exactly similar to the one on the Superman Returns costume. It has red and yellow coloration.
The S on Clark's cape is similar to the one on his Blur jacket. The edges are a bit thicker, making it visible even from far away. The color hue on it is also a bit more saturated than the one on the chest.
Tom Welling Never Wears The Full Suit
Actor Tom Welling can be seen with the upper half of the suit twice. There's the time he gets close to the Air Force One plane and checks on Lois. There's also the time he rips off his shirt to reveal the suit underneath.
Fans of the show might not know that Welling never wore the suit in its entirety. In the closing moments, views can see Clark flying with the suit but the scene is computer generated. According to Welling, the series mostly avoided going the suit-direction due to the high cost of stunts and visual effects.
Two Different Capes?
There is a discrepancy in Clark Kent's capes in the series. The cape seen in the box earlier in the series is bright red in color. It's also made of cotton-like material.
However, when Jonathan Kent's spirit hands over the suit to Clark Kent, the cape is dark red and appears to be made out of leather. According to the show's storyline, the cape isn't altered at any point. It can thus be assumed that this is indeed a continuity error that occurred thanks to the introduction of the Superman Returns costume.