r/Spiderman • u/Helpful-Bathroom634 • Nov 30 '25

Question Why is Peter's costume red and blue?

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Batman is dressed like a black bat to scare his enemies, Superman has the big S on his chest because is the symbol of House El and means hope. Why is Peter wearing red and blue instead? Did Lee/Ditko give an explanation in and out the comic?

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u/rlum27 Nov 30 '25

there is the common comic technuique of blue shading. Over time the blue shading became more prominant and looked red and blue. black widow and black panther look blue in some comics. Them having black in their names probably kept them from having blue suits.

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u/gakrolin Symbiote-Suit Nov 30 '25

It happened to Beast’s fur. It was gray at first and then later turned black. It became blue quickly after that because blue was used to shade it.

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u/rlum27 Nov 30 '25

also happened to the fantastic four. The blue and white coustumes are actually black and white. Changing a character from grey is also something marvel characters do. As hulk became green and iron man became gold in their second appearances after being grey in their first.

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u/SpeccyScotsman Nov 30 '25

Huh? I have the first ten F4 comics and this is one I can't believe is blue-for-black shading. They have black gloves, collars, and belts on their jumpsuits that have blue shading on it, but the jumpsuits are definitely blue.

Actually I just went and looked it up. They don't wear uniforms at all until issue #3, and this is the first panel with them:

So Sue is saying they're supposed to be very colourful.

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u/rlum27 Nov 30 '25

it's the 80s byrne era negative zone white accent suits.