Superman loses his underpants

Henry Cavill as the superhero

METROPOLIS Fashion victim Superman is scheduled to be rid at last of those naff red knickers he wore over his blue nylon clingsuit for years. After his vulnerability to Kryptonite, this was surely his greatest failure, sartorially speaking. In his new movie, Zack Snyder (300) has dressed him without underpants/overpants to be seen by all. The idea is to make the comic star (star of comics?) look more like the latest interpretation on the printed page. In this movie version, actor Henry Cavill (The Tudors) is seen encased in a different blue but just as tight an outfit as ever - sans calçon (French for sin calzoncillos, Spanish for 'without underpants' - and what a showoff Propsero can be). Cavill replaces Brandon Routh, who played the man from Krypton in the 2006 flop Superman Returns. The new film, called Man of Steel, also casts Russel Crowe and Julia Ormond, as well as Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, who play Superman's parents. Still, the missing underwear continues to be addressed in the social media, apparently splitting opinions if not the material itself. Some reject fooling around with the iconic image, others applaud it, and still others see this as the most ridiculous outfit yet. In fact, the film merely reflects the change of image that has already been published in DC Comics (owned by Warner), who have decided that an update was needed for all its heroes, including Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, among others.