- You know, it can hard to capture the look
of superheros in a live action film.
And while costumes today have generally gotten
much better than their predecessors,
I still kind of cringe whenever I see that a hero
very obviously had to put on eye paint
under their mask or cowl before they went out
to fight crime.
Lots of characters in the comics have their eyes
completely whited out under their masks,
and it makes them look so freaking cool.
But how did that become a trend in the first place?
(upbeat rock music)
Welcome to Comic Misconceptions, I'm Scott.
And this is part four of our four part series
exploring the history behind why superheroes
are designed the way that they are.
If you missed the other three,
I'll put links to them right up in the corner
and in the description below so you can go check them out.
First and foremost, yes,
I am well aware that Arris from Variant
already did this video.
Don't worry, I'm not trying to upstage him
or steal his views.
He already knows I'm making this video.
We're all friends here.
Plus, there's really some interesting history
that he left out of his video
that I think absolutely warrants another go at it.
The initial question I think we should ask
is whether the white eyes are simply
an artistic choice
or if the characters are truly seen that way
by other people in the comics.
An interesting theory I've read
is that drawing someone like Batman, for instance,
with white eyes isn't literally how he appears,
but rather how criminals see him.
And you know criminals,
they're a superstitious and cowardly lot.
This one suggests that interpretations
of the character with regular eyes,
the live action adaptations
or the Arkham games for instance,
are the more accurate depictions.
Batman doesn't really have white eyes
when he puts on his cowl,
but the artists draw it that way
because it's cooler and more menacing.
However, this is not the case.
It's been shown a few times in the comics
that the characters are definitely aware
of their white eyes.
When Wally West became the Flash
he adopted the white eye design into his costume,
which differed from Barry Allen's costume
that showed his true eyes underneath.
Wally even had a conversation with Barry
about the costume choice.
And side note, I know that this wasn't actually Barry,
but rather a time travelling Professor Zoom,
we talked about it here.
Doesn't really impact the video though,
so I'm just gonna go on pretending
like it was indeed Barry.
So, Barry comments on Wally's decision
to add white eyes to his Flash suit in volume two,
issue number 74,
saying that they'll take some time for him
to get used to.
He also adds that he's personally against it
because he believes that people can trust you
more if they can see your eyes.
Not too long afterwards, Wally switches to a mask
that shows his eyes.
He explains in issue number 133 that quote,
"Those white Batman eyes were never
"really him anyway."
This means that characters in the comics
literally do have white eyes when they put on masks.
But this does vary from character to character,
and artist to artist.
Nightwing, Carol Danvers, Green Lantern,
they've all flip flopped between
having irises showing through their masks,
and having blank white eyes.
Even Batman himself has been drawn without white eyes,
most notably by Alex Ross,
who was famous for his realistic painted art style.
Ross always drew Batman with normal eyes.
OK, so that's some information,
but it doesn't really answer the question of why.
Why do superheroes have white eyes?
How did that trope start?
As with the trope of heroes wearing skin tight costumes,
it's believed to have started
with the pulp hero, The Phantom.
The Phantom was the first one
to wear a domino mask sporting white eyes.
And his popularity inspired other heroes after him.
The character's creator, Lee Falk, explained
that he gave The Phantom white eyes
because he was inspired by ancient Greek busts
that didn't show the subject's irises.
He said the look of them made them feel a bit inhuman,
which made for a great addition to his character.
Then I guess the human hive mind
decided that it looked cool,
so everyone started doing it.
Interestingly enough, Greek statues originally
did have irises.
Not only that, but they were painted in full color.
The paint weathered away over time,
and now we just think of them as being
plain white marble.
Another reason why that view persists
is in large part thanks to the archaeologists
who discovered a lot of ancient Greek statues
during the Renaissance.
During that time, solid white marble
symbolized the modern way of thinking.
They could see that the statues they were uncovering
had color, but they were purposefully
choosing to ignore it because
it clashed with their current culture.
This view of Greek art prevailed.
And it now seems really weird to imagine them
as painted in full bright colors
like Brinkmann's exhibit, Gods in Color,
which used light and chemical analysis
to figure out how the statues probably
actually looked like to the Greek's at the time.
And as you can see,
they most certainly had colored in irises.
Nevertheless, the view of the plain white busts
led to Lee Falk getting inspired
to include the white eye design in The Phantom,
which in turned inspired other artists
to incorporate the design into other comic book characters.
And that is why superheroes often have white eyes.
But now I wanna know what you guys
think about all this.
Do you like comic book characters having white eyes
or do you prefer them to show their
plain old peepers naturally?
Click on one to cast your vote.
When you click you'll be taken back to our channel page
where you can watch some more of our
edutaining comic book videos
that explore the history, science, and philosophy
behind your favorite superheroes.
And if you like what you see,
you can subscribe so you don't miss out
on the other videos we put out each week.
So click on an image to vote right now.
I wanna know what you guys think.
Eyes or no eyes?
Vote now.