Superheroes With Shoulder Pads

What is the true purpose of this superhero accessory?

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97 Comments

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JonesDeini

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Edited By JonesDeini
@Grim said:
"i always imagined Cable in the future running and shooting and taking crazy dive-roles on rocky terrain.... but ive considered it pretty stupid on everyone else. The mans a freaking tank, and it makes sense for him.
 and certain armors make sense if you have shoulder mounting accessories or something. or solar panels. Thats healing the world and saving it.
  the only other proper use i see is the fear factor. Batman has worn the creepy shoulder spikes from time to time, and you know it works cuz.... well, he's batman.
 lol. i have that same Darkhawk issue, and a handful of New Universe comics. wow.

The Giant Boots are (hopefully) never coming back. But i'd love to see more fingerless gloves... and Ray-bans. It always cracked me up when someone showed up to a superhero fight to save the world in $100+ shades. What job do you have that allows you to fight crime and afford expensive glasses that are constantly being broken? "

So much hilarity. Shoulder pads, like many things in the 90's, existed for the sole purpuse of being...EXXXTREME!!!! 
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King Quisling

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Edited By King Quisling

Personally.... I like shoulder pads. I should add some to my attire.

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ArtisticNeedham

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Edited By ArtisticNeedham

I think the early 90's fashion was very influenced by the late 80s, sort of a spill over.  If you look at shows from the early 90s (like Fresh Prince or Saved by the Bell) their clothes, to me anyway and I'm not very into fashion so I don't know, looks 80s to me.  So maybe the costume designs in comics were still heavily influenced by the 80s too.  And speaking of 80s fashion returning, I have noticed that too.  floresent colors, parachute pants, checkered shoes (which I have).
Maybe the success of characters like Cable and X-Force influenced all the costume designs back then, like how after Dark Knight and Watchmen comics started becoming darker, maybe after Cable characters started having bigger shoulder pads.  Plus Rob Liefield (spelling?) was a major artist during the early to mid 90s right?  Drawing lots of big, very in the spotlight, comics with fellow Image artists Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Eric Larsen, etc.  Maybe they all had influence on eachother's designs and in turn all their art impacted the industry as a whole.  I don't know.

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As a character note, maybe its because Cable came from a post Apocalyptic future where he had to carry everything he owned at all times on him.  So he would carry all his weapons, strapped everywhere he could, including his shoulders.  The shoulder pads were to help him carry bullets and weapons on there, maybe.  Maybe the padding was to protect him, while he was carrying a large heavy gun and bullets and bombs, strapped to his shoulders.




I got issues from Marvel's New Universe when I was young from Toys R Us, HA! 
Or what about when Spider-Man got a shoulder pad... and a robot arm?
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Pouches are here!
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Earth-1610 Ultimate
Earth-1610 Ultimate



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Deadpool with parachute pants
Deadpool with parachute pants
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Iron Apollo

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Edited By Iron Apollo
Yay! Finally a video with the three of you having discussion. I miss the daily video reviews, it was my favorite part of comicvine!
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Wattup

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Edited By Wattup

Maybe it's an American thing. I never saw any members of Alpha Flight with shoulder-pads.

USA! USA!

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deathdisco89

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Edited By deathdisco89

I would want shoulder armor, not necessarily pads. 

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Radread

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Edited By Radread

 Much like shoulder pads for women were designed in the 80s to keep women's bra straps from hurting them. I see the whole 90s shoulder pads as a reason to keep heavy weapons from bothering the various character's backs.
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ArtisticNeedham

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Edited By ArtisticNeedham
@Wattup:
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Fantasgasmic

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Edited By Fantasgasmic

Shoulder pads should be gone forever. But I think some people are talking about military are talking about epaulettes. There is a difference. Epaulettes are purely decorative/ may connote rank and are worn atop the shoulder; generally they are small and don't add any mass to the shoulder. Shoulder pads are big and padded they are supposed to have some practical use, be it protection, or making you look more intimidating.

As far as the worst fashion trend, I don't know if it has a specific name, but I'm gonna call it the "face-sock" or "face-glove." It's more than a headband but less than a mask. These were everywhere in the 90s, they serve absolutely no protective or practical purpose. They tended to be used to make people's hair independent of their heads. Examples below.
Gambit may be the most well known face-glove wearer, and one of the few hold-outs today. 
Gambit may be the most well known face-glove wearer, and one of the few hold-outs today. 
 Havoc was clearly taking fashion advice from Gambit
 Havoc was clearly taking fashion advice from Gambit
        Firestorm's face-glove stops you from wondering where his head ends and the fire starts
        Firestorm's face-glove stops you from wondering where his head ends and the fire starts
   
 Shatterstar wearing one of his many face-gloves
 Shatterstar wearing one of his many face-gloves



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Bestostero

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Edited By Bestostero

Shoulder pads are cool.

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Sparklykiss

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Edited By Sparklykiss

Oh man, I want G-man's shirt!

I think the bigger the shoulder pads, the safer you are from headshots. You know, just shrug your shoulders up and tuck your head in, like a turtle!

As for powersuits, I think women wore them to have a broader frame and appear more masculine to fit in with their male counterparts. That, or it was an effort to make their waists appear smaller to be more attractive to the men. I have no idea, I just know that powersuits are pretty darn ugly.

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NightFang3

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Edited By NightFang3

This is very hilarious.

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gmanfromheck

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Edited By gmanfromheck
@Mr. Kamikaze said: 

" Norm wears that shirt a lot.... :P "

He has a few of 'em for some reason.

@Sparklykiss said:
" Oh man, I want G-man's shirt!"
"Robots in disguise."
 
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tbpinkfloyd

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Edited By tbpinkfloyd

They need to redesign Cable's outfit to make it more practical and gritty. More of a soldier and less of a super mutant

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Wattup

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Edited By Wattup
@tbpinkfloyd said:
" They need to redesign Cable's outfit to make it more practical and gritty. More of a soldier and less of a super mutant "
Why bother? He's dead. 8 )
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Supachicken

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Edited By Supachicken
@Iron Apollo said:
"
Yay! Finally a video with the three of you having discussion. I miss the daily video reviews, it was my favorite part of comicvine!
"
I agree, more video goodness please ;p
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Outside_85

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Edited By Outside_85

Well they can protect your shoulders from falling objects and for characters like Cable who seems to lean forwards so much, they are a functioning shield, gun platform and probably beer containing fridge to boot.

 

Btw...gogo Babs for tackling Tony :P

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KumoriKunoichi

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Edited By KumoriKunoichi

shatterstar?

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They Killed Cap!

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Edited By They Killed Cap!


Pads need to stay dead...

 

Kickers Inc...that made me laugh

 

The piece of costume that needs to die is Batmans Cup in Batman Inc. All of a sudden Batman is worried bout gettin kicked in the jewels since his return from the grave.

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tompaterson

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Edited By tompaterson

Is that a Yogcast t shirt your wearing? :P

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darkwolverineUSMC

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Sometimes they look cool, sometimes they look tacky, depens on who's rockin'em.
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bringdeath

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Edited By bringdeath

Ok Im pretty sure this is a comment all the time but BABS IS SMOKIN HOT!
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CATPANEXE

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Edited By CATPANEXE

pouches, shoulderpads, straps...come on people, when are we going to stop judging them for what they wear huh?

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jazzblade

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Edited By jazzblade

awesome t shirt tony!

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LazyMan

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Edited By LazyMan

Then there was that awkward phase Captain Cascader also had in the 90's

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Also to the right is G Man in the late 90's
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ssejllenrad

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Edited By ssejllenrad

90s were just full of em shoulder pads. Even in Japan. FF7 anyone?

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thomasonfa

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Edited By thomasonfa

Would Spawn or Mortal Kombat Characters count? To be honest, they never left. They seem to make characters appear more intimidating.

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sparty-dbq

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Edited By sparty-dbq

When I think unnecessary shoulder pads, the first thing I think of is DBZ.



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Emperormeister734

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Hey certain people make the look for shoulder pads, Cable was born to wear em

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RedheadedAtrocitus

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@.Mistress Redhead.: Epaulettes are what those are :).  In essence they are an old relic of decorative styles military officers wear.  Not so much in First World military commands anymore (i.e. United States) but VERY popular among Third World military officers and dictators (i.e. Libya's Qaddafi).  Ceremonial dress accessory in other words, but yes, real popular in the day.  
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ZagZagovichX

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Edited By ZagZagovichX
@Babs:
Also in Napoleon times army was trained to know how to dance and do ballet-like synchronized marching (which eventually led to unrest in Russian czar's army). Fashion really was important but also they didn't have shoulder pads. And ironically french kind of made army focus more on the practical aspects of uniforms when combat focus shifted to ambush and sabotage. I just can't see shoulder pads coming back in style. They are way too silly and have no purpose.
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.Mistress Redhead.

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@RedheadedAtrocitus said:
" @.Mistress Redhead.: Epaulettes are what those are :).  In essence they are an old relic of decorative styles military officers wear.  Not so much in First World military commands anymore (i.e. United States) but VERY popular among Third World military officers and dictators (i.e. Libya's Qaddafi).  Ceremonial dress accessory in other words, but yes, real popular in the day.   "
Was it just a symbol of rank? or did they vary depending on Officers positions? 
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Beomoose

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Edited By Beomoose

Hey, i totally have that shiny Darkhawk!


Oh, and Darkhawk needed the pads. Without, he looked too much like like a gymnast.
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RedheadedAtrocitus

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@.Mistress Redhead.: That's actually a great question.  Usually epaulettes designated someone who was an officer in the military since it would distinguish them from the enlisted ranks.  Sometimes they designated the varying rank of the officer, but that was usually done by the shoulder mark, which was more keen in displaying an officer's rank.  In a way then what you asked is the case, that it was a way to symbolize rank.  What is interesting though about what I said is that usually they are indicative of ceremonial militaries, which usually are just there to literally look pretty and good at parades and ceremonial functions.  Usually Third World countries are big on these kind of armies and often the ranks are filled with soldiers and officers who wear them.  To my knowledge I don't think officers of an active army has gone into an offensive battle with epaulettes in well over a century, and with good reason since they are no longer practical wear and furthermore hardly serve any camouflage capacity.  We can thank the First World War for changes like that.  What is even more interesting is like I said, usually dictators or tyrants of certain nations wear them on their shoulders in ceremonial capacities.  By the way, that is a GREAT picture of Napoleon!
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.Mistress Redhead.

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@RedheadedAtrocitus said:
" @.Mistress Redhead.: That's actually a great question.  Usually epaulettes designated someone who was an officer in the military since it would distinguish them from the enlisted ranks.  Sometimes they designated the varying rank of the officer, but that was usually done by the shoulder mark, which was more keen in displaying an officer's rank.  In a way then what you asked is the case, that it was a way to symbolize rank.  What is interesting though about what I said is that usually they are indicative of ceremonial militaries, which usually are just there to literally look pretty and good at parades and ceremonial functions.  Usually Third World countries are big on these kind of armies and often the ranks are filled with soldiers and officers who wear them.  To my knowledge I don't think officers of an active army has gone into an offensive battle with epaulettes in well over a century, and with good reason since they are no longer practical wear and furthermore hardly serve any camouflage capacity.  We can thank the First World War for changes like that.  What is even more interesting is like I said, usually dictators or tyrants of certain nations wear them on their shoulders in ceremonial capacities.  By the way, that is a GREAT picture of Napoleon! "
wow thanks! 
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sifsclub

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Edited By sifsclub

Babs said "Yeah, you would think"

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spystreak

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Edited By spystreak


many uses

hold Ammunition

protection from projectile weapons

weapon mount

hidden booster pack for flight on each side

hidden knife storage

cloaking device storage

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deactivated-5a162dd41dd64

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@Backflip:  That's an epaulette. Just one.

Shoulderpads are traditionally employed for two reasons- to make whoever's wearing them look like they have better-defined shoulders (benefitting those whose shoulders are more sloped), and possibly to make the wearer look more intimidating. Some characters, like Power Girl and Sephiroth, sport shoulder decorations, like epaulettes.
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Leon_Dissada

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Edited By Leon_Dissada

it does look kool dont get me wrong on that but i like the regular spider man better. hes just not the same when hes decked out with weapons like that

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csl316

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Edited By csl316
@sparty-dbq said:
" When I think unnecessary shoulder pads, the first thing I think of is DBZ.


No Caption Provided

"
This.
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ninjamurai

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Edited By ninjamurai

one thing is for certain, shoulder pads are most often used for good!

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ImperiousRix

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Edited By ImperiousRix

The talk about ladies and shoulder pads reminded me of this...


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NXH

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Edited By NXH

Oh my god. A video about shoudler pads?! Come on Comic Vine! Please bring back Unscripted!

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theberserker

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Judge Dredd

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Xshinobi

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Edited By Xshinobi
@sparty-dbq said:

When I think unnecessary shoulder pads, the first thing I think of is DBZ.

No Caption Provided


Those look awesome. And no I'm not joking. 

Personally I love shoulder pads. I know this isn't comic book related but pads like these are epic:

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deactivated-5c97835f97617

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@G-Man:  Dalek t-shirt  
freakin' sweet
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Obtrusive

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Edited By Obtrusive

In the new gears of war they have all kinds of armor, except on their heads and arms.

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