Real Stories of Superhero Fetish: Captain Spandex
The thrill of anonymity; the ego-boost of exhibitionism; the look and feel of hard muscle under silky, stretchy material; the fantasy of transformation and power that comes with roleplay: Superheroes have always been a source of immense excitement for me, but it’s very difficult to trace my superhero fetish back to its roots. In some ways, I feel it’s always been with me.
Captain Spandex as Clark/Kal-El
As far back as I can remember, I was devouring Spider-Man and Superman comics, swooning over reruns of the classic Batman TV series, and waking up early every Saturday to watch the adventures of any superhero cartoon within reach. Seeing costumed heroes on the pages of comics, or in animated form, was a thrill. Seeing those same heroes in the flesh, on a TV or movie screen was an obsession.
Once in a while, as I channel-surfed, I would catch Nicholas Hammond as The Amazing Spider-Man, or Michael Gray as Shazam. The stories were always enjoyable, but when Adam West in the Batman TV series or Christopher Reeve in Richard Donner’s film Superman were on-screen in costume, my focus was absolute — I’d watch the hero’s body, comic-made-flesh, as muscles and power radiated under spandex and cape. There was something different about those two that stood out above the rest: they were icons of confidence and power that I worshipped because I felt these were things I lacked in a childhood tainted by alcoholism and abuse. Seeing Batman and Superman come to life meant that they were real in some way, and that their abilities (realistically possible or not) were something I could adopt for myself as a means of escape.
The Captain at rest
I always wanted to be Spider-Man or Superman for Halloween, and once in a while my parents would indulge me. One day, around the age of eight, my siblings and I joined some other kids at our baby-sitter’s place. One of the other kids had come as Batman, in what I (inaccurately) remember as the most perfect reproduction of Adam West’s costume, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Of course, when you have Batman in your backyard, you are obligated to play Good Guys Vs. Bad Guys. That day, I let Batman defeat my pathetic bank-robber of a villain. And perhaps, I gave in a little too easily when Batman pinned me to the ground and held me there. At that age it was just fantasy, but I loved it nonetheless.
I maintained a sometimes-secret obsession with Superman and Spider-Man all through my childhood and teen years, complementing old fantasies with new ones about being treated with super soldier serum, finding Green Lantern’s power ring, or being given Shazam’s powers by a benevolent old man. There weren’t many outlets to explore the obsession, but I tried. How many other pre-teen boys snuck out of the house to see Superman IV in theatres just because the bad guy wore gold tights?
In high school, my childhood fantasies transitioned to sexual awakening at the same time as the late-80s fad of spandex in men’s locker rooms and sports fields spread throughout the continent. I had a crush on a boy in my class that was ramped up to epic proportions when he began to wear long spandex shorts in gym class — the plain black kind, with golden yellow panels on the outside of the legs. I secretly obsessed over him when he wore them and would take the locker next to him hoping that our bodies would accidentally touch. I asked my mom if I could have some of the same kind of shorts, but she said they were for girls. I was left wondering how they felt to wear, and my fantasy side wondered if they gave him extra athletic power… not unlike the alien suit worn by Ralph Hinkley on “Greatest American Hero”.
Once I had linked my school crush with spandex and superheroes, my fate was set. It was sealed when I masturbated for the first time around the age of 14. During that first time, I was overcome by the thrill of wearing a pair of cycling shorts I had secretly bought at a local thrift shop and kept hidden from my mom.
When I began to live on my own in university, I was free to explore my fetish at will. In addition to adopting a steady gym habit -- look good in spandex was always my mantra -- I began to collect pieces of lycra-based athletic apparel. I bought shorts, shirts, wrestling singlets, and a dive skin. By this time I had discovered a number of great communities on the Internet — gearfetish.com and spandex-party.com among them — where other men shared pics of themselves in gear, connected about their fetishes and fantasies, and found kinship with people like me, who until then had never imagined anyone else shared my kinks. My fetishes hadn’t been kept secret from my lovers up until that time, but none of them ever really embraced them; they’d allow online connections with other members of the community, but never fully-accepted coming home to someone lounging on the couch in full-body lycra. I remember a day when my ex suddenly stopped as he came down the hallway and spotted me in gear: “that’s going to take some getting used to,” he said. It was only through connecting with other people from Internet sites devoted to my fetishes that I began to assert my hero complex as a healthy and important aspect of my sex life.
As progress from my exercise regimen increased, so did my confidence. I began to use exercise as an excuse to wear spandex in public, taking up running and cycling and almost any other activity that provided an excuse to wear my favorite pieces of clothing. All of these items were cherished, but were never really close to what I really wanted — a Superman costume of my own. Many years later, once I graduated and started working a steady job, my regular habit of trolling eBay for cheap spandex revealed a decent Superman costume that someone was selling. I didn’t hesitate to bid, and I won the item. A few weeks later, I raced home from work and suited up for the first time, shaking with extreme excitement as I literally transformed into the same hero I’d idolized growing up. Looking in the mirror, I felt invincible, confident and irresistibly sexy. Within days I was addicted to the thrill of being Superman, and shared that thrill by adding superhero pics of myself to my online profiles.
Captain Spandex in iconic spider skin
People liked my spandex and superhero pics, which made me post more, which attracted more attention and views. In turn, I was encouraged to post more explicit pictures, merging my sexuality with every possible combination of gear that I owned, and occasionally adding props such as heavy chains. All of this activity in the online community led to longstanding friendships and online roleplays, live one-to-one webcam sessions, and more. I was loving it, and I began to make a bucket list of other costumes I wanted: Spider-Man, Shazam, Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Canuck, Cyclops, Wolverine… any hero that dressed in head-to-toe spandex became a hero whose skin I wanted to inhabit. I began to call Halloween my Annual Spandex Festival, and my friends got used to seeing me out in public as Superman, Spider-Man, or Wolverine. During these outings I discovered the pure joy of being a masked crusader in public. Anonymity freed me from feeling judged, and comments from strangers fueled my addiction even more. (“Not many guys could pull off Superman. You totally do.”). These days, comic conventions provide additional opportunities to suit up as a hero for a day, and as excuses to cross additional heroes off my costume list. I do it whenever I can. I most recently donned my really-good Spidey suit to a big comic expo in my hometown and had the time of my life. It justified working on two new Spidey-variant suits to wear to future cons.
One of the advantages of being a gearfetish.com member is the exposure to all kinds of other fetishes and kinks. Throughout my late 20s, my interest in spandex, superheroes, and muscle grew to encompass bondage, dominance, submission, leather, and more. My assertiveness about my own online persona, a growing expansion of leather-only events into “all-fetish” events, as well as my willingness to try new things, eventually connected my alter-ego and online handle Captain Spandex with a leather fetishist and kinkster that I met on recon.com. Our one night stand — involving latex and superhero gear, of course — soon blossomed into something more significant, and almost four years later the two of us are happily married and celebrating everything about each others’ kinks and fetishes.
That brings us to the current day, where Captain Spandex continues to post to Tumblr, connect with other heroes online, and thrives as a husband whose sexual adventures often include spandex, hero gear, dominating (most of the time), or being submissive (occasionally), and bondage. The good Captain’s super-strength is derived from his celebration of muscle, exhibitionism, and brightly-colored spandex in all its forms. My superhero alter-ego and his kinks do not define me, but they are deeply ingrained and kept close to the surface — skin-tight and oh-so-deliciously concealed under a business-like demeanour. My body thrums with the heartbeat of a hero. As far as Captain Spandex is concerned, real heroes still wear tights.
Editor's note: We are proud to introduce Captain Spandex, and active community member and ongoing contributor to How to Kill a Superhero. You can follow Captain Spandex on Tumblr. Want to share your own story of superhero fetish? Please email your entry to au@howtokillasuperhero.net and write "Guest Blogger" in the subject.
The Hottest Superhero Costume of All Time
We want to hear from you, the readers, on a very important question about superhero fetish.
What do you think is the hottest superhero costume of all time?
Your answer can come from three sources: Comics, TV and Movies. It's all fair game. Please link us to the image, too. And tell us why this particular superhero's costume is just so damn erotic for you.
Here's a few classics to get your minds and your libidos going. Leave us your entry in the comments!
Photo Gallery: Mid-Atlantic Leather 2015
Mid-Atlantic Leather in Washington DC is renowned as one of the best leather and kink events in the U.S., and with reason. It brings together wonderful people from all parts of the world, it's intimate yet large enough to feel big, and it's hot as fuck! Here's a gallery of some of the sights we caught this year. This year Pablo Greene organized MAL's first Superhero Fetish meetup, and we have included those photos, too.
Real Stories of Superhero Fetish: Ifitz
We are proud to bring you the latest real story of superhero fetish today by Ifitz. This series of essays brings to you the stories of real members of the superhero fetish community.
If you want to send us your story of superhero fetish, please email your entry to beastwithin0808@gmail.com and write "Guest Blogger" in the subject. And don't forget that author Pablo Greene's book series How to Kill a Superhero tells a fictional tale of a man with a superhero fetish.
My Superhero Fetish: Ifitz
The task of cataloguing and tracking my superhero fetish seems daunting but for some reason a sixteen year old me felt it necessary to actually write this down on a piece of paper. As if twelve years ago I knew this would eventually come to fruition: you will one day write about your fetish. Truth be told, my obsession with superheroes is complicated and walks hand in hand with my other major fetishes, obviously spandex, but notably wetsuits and athletic shoes.
It all began when I was six. I had gotten out of bed to get a drink of water, or something and I walked by the living room where Mom was watching Melrose Place. I wish, and have tried everything short of buying the DVDs to try and track down the scene, but a group of the guys on the show were wearing wetsuits, full body wetsuits. I was mesmerized, even at six, what were these suits, why did it stir something so deep inside me and why did I want to be one of these guys so bad?
It was the seed to everything that would happen after. In truth, while I associate that moment with the birth of my fetish in many ways I see it as the birth of my sexuality. It was men wearing these suits and while as a child I simply wanted to be one of them, a small part, possibly just a retrospective adult part, wanted to be with them.
At that age I was also watching the old Spider-Man cartoon on TV and my best friend Aaron had all the comics. He even went as Spider-Man for Halloween one year and I was quite jealous. Another guy in my kindergarten class also dressed as Spider-Man, I insisted he come to my birthday party and when he couldn’t I was devastated. In hindsight I think I only liked him for his Halloween costume. I had had an ear infection that year, and had to wear earplugs to swim classes. The plugs were held in by a red Lycra swim cap, which I realized looked kinda like Spidey’s mask when pulled down over my face. I still have it, and until I get an actual Spidey mask, will serve as my Spider-Man mask.
I also watched Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers when I knew my mother wasn’t watching; she though it was too violent. I just thought it was cool, the way the teens had secret identities and when they became these amazing heroes, they got to wear these cool suits. These cool, spandex suits. It didn’t occur to me, but again, it was all about the tight stuff. Jason was my favorite and even at six I thought he was attractive. I kept it secret but felt it was perfectly normal for a boy to find Jason attractive, I’m sure all the boys at school did.
I had written a comic about the adventures of Spider-Man and Jason the Red Ranger; crudely drawn and not at all taking into consideration that the two had nothing to do with each other. I often acted out my adventures and they always ended the same: Spider-Man would get captured, tied or chained to my bed, tortured as he withered in his suit. I didn’t attach anything sexual to this, yes I was erect, but with no understanding of sexuality I figured it was normal, every boy did it. I never thought anything of the spandex or the bondage either; it seemed normal to me.
I did this until I was 10, by then however, I started to notice boys. Often a cool pair of athletic shoes, often on older boys made me really excited. I think this is why I have a type (athletic, older), but I started to notice it wasn’t normal. And neither was my obsession with Spider-Man or the Red Ranger. Yet I loved it and still acted it out. By my double-digit years I was drawing new Spidey suits, using my next-door neighbor, ironically also named Jason, but this time one in high school, as the model. In hindsight as well, he became my type: tall, lean and blonde. I wrote out his adventures, and when I was alone, I acted them out, all of them ending the same way: Jason would be captured, bound up in some way and tortured while he writhered in his suit. I was starting to keep a list of all the bondage and torture scenes I found strangely attractive: the water suction scene from The Princess Bride was huge, as was a scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation where La Forge is kidnapped and brainwashed; too many scenes to mention.
In 2000 I was watching the summer Olympics and they kept mentioning a sensation named Ian Thorpe and this full bodysuit he wore. As if it were bad enough I was curious about the men wearing trunks, leggings and sleeveless bodysuits, there was a guy wearing a full bodysuit?
And then there he was. And there I was. I watched every swimming event that Olympics in hopes to catch Ian in his suit. He was eighteen and I was fourteen but he was all man in that suit. Commanding and dominating and the hottest thing I had ever seen in the world. I put a picture up on my wall, telling my mom he inspired me because we shared a first name. He inspired me other ways. But it wasn’t just the Thorpedo that got me hard; triathlon debuted that year at the games and the gold medal went to a Canadian named Simon Whitfield. Fit and wearing a sexy suit, the moment he came down to the finish line, ripped through that tape and showed off the man that he was. He was so hot and I was hooked on athletic gear.
In 2002 the first Spider-Man movie came out. I wanted to see it, Spider-Man had been my favorite superhero growing up and at that time I didn’t see it as a sexual attraction, it was a superhero thing. But still, in the back of my mind, something told me there were other reasons I wanted to go. There were, and these reasons followed me home from the theatre. I was a late bloomer, so I started jerking off about that time (I was fourteen), but it seemed a spandex thing, not a superhero thing.
Until Fantastic Four came out.
I was addicted to Chris Evans as The Human Torch. He was so young and hot, still is; but that blue suit was like crack to a hormone fueled boy. He was perfection, perfection coated in tight blue spandex. I was into superheroes, and by this point superhero films were in vogue. Much of the time not wearing spandex, but the genre ran parallel to the real rise of the Internet; I found out so much more about superheroes, the spandex costumes they wore and the guys who were into them.
I remember seeing Superman Returns in 2007. Brandon Routh and his suit mesmerized me, but when seeing the movie, I was confused. I loved it (one of the few that do even with its issues) but at the climax, when Lex tortures him, I got very aroused. I wasn’t sad at his pain I was excited by it. I had the same feeling when watching the climax of Spider-Man 3 but I was into Spider-Man, a lot! It was expected, I had already jerked off to the images I had seen of the blacksuit. Plus Venom, the bondage, the destroyed suit, James Franco… Superman was new. I mean I had fantasized about Dean Cain from Lois & Clark but this was new. It wasn’t until recently that I really understood why and moreover, accepted that my mind and body had these reactions, sometimes in the theatre.
As the decade came to a close and the 2010s began it was an interesting time for me. As a film studies student I was big into the genre but sexually, I was addicted to the men in the roles and the suits they wore. I was always kinky and my fantasies of tying them up torturing them was huge and only grew as time went on. In 2008 I bought my first wetsuit, in 2010 my second. By 2011 I was buying shoes I was into, that turned me on, and by 2012 I was making enough money to be able to buy legit gear like Under Armor, which can we just say, is God’s gift to guys into spandex. Moreover, the guys who wear it are God’s gift to spandex fetishists.
I’m 28 and finally living on my own, finally buying the gear I wanted most of my conscious life. I’m getting sports suits and super suits. And it makes me feel like a man. In truth my fetish took me to places I’ve never dreamed of, possibly because I never knew they existed. I know someday I’ll have to find a man to equal me, someone who spent their childhood imagining the jocks at school or the heroes of the big screen were tied up. Teenage years imagining the boy next door had a secret double life in spandex. They acted it out alone, as did I, but someday it’ll be great to have a partner. Until then, I’m going to love the gear that gets me going. I hope you’ll all join me, brothers in arms.
P.S. Paul Rudd as Ant-Man is my wallpaper right now and I can’t get enough of it!
Real Stories of Superhero Fetish: Helpless Hero
We are proud to bring you the latest real story of superhero fetish today by Helpless Hero. This series of essays brings to you the stories of real members of the superhero fetish community.
If you want to send us your story of superhero fetish, please email your entry to beastwithin0808@gmail.com and write "Guest Blogger" in the subject. And don't forget that author Pablo Greene's book series How to Kill a Superhero tells a fictional tale of a man with a superhero fetish.
My Superhero Fetish: Helpless Hero
My fetish is an intersection of three fetishes – spandex, superheroes and BDSM. My ideal scenario is to play a spandex-clad superhero who gets into trouble. Over the years I have met a few dozen guys who share the same or similar fetish, and there probably are many more.
Like many guys, the roots of my superhero fetish goes back to my childhood. I watched the original Superman TV series in the ‘50s, as well as the Batman shows in the ‘60s. The episodes I remember most are ones where the hero was in distress – Superman weakened by Kryptonite, for example, or Batman tied up. The most memorable time I have ever spent in a movie theater was watching the scene in the original Christopher Reeve “Superman” movie in which Lex Luthor hangs a big chunk of Kryptonite around Superman’s neck and pushes him into a pool. I still love that scene to this day. And Christopher Reeve posing in his Superman costume is, to me, one of the most beautiful men ever.
For most of my life I was either in doubt or denial about my sexuality, and I didn’t make a connection between sexuality and my interest in superheroes. I thought I was alone (not to mention slightly crazy) in my interests. I used to feel allone, because I never heard or read of anyone who felt the same about superhero fetsih, and I assumed I was the only one who felt this way. That reinforced the notion in my mind that I was somehow perverted or unique in my interests.
But in the mid-1990s, I got access to the Internet and its communities. I used to visit various chat forums, Yahoo groups and specialized web sites that no longer exist. It was in those places that I saw pictures and stories of guys who have interests just like me. What a rush that was. I was able to express my interests, understand them better, and learn about guys who felt things remarkably similar to what I was feeling. What’s more, the rise of online commerce sites meant I could purchase what previously I had only dreamed of having – superhero costumes and other spandex gear that were of much higher quality than what I found previously in local costume shops during the run-up to Halloween.
Over time, I acquired a Superman and a Spiderman costume, along with spandex items like singlets, Speedos and full-body spandex suits. I wore them around home, acting out favorite fantasies, and taking pics of myself in gear that I shared online.
My first in-person experience occurred when I met a guy on-line who was into wrestling and seemed open to my fantasy about being a superhero in trouble. (This was before websites existed that catered to very specific fetishes, like Spandexguys and GearFetish.)
I went to his house, where I put on my Spiderman costume and he wore his wrestling gear. I had no experience in wrestling, but that didn’t stop me. We wrestled all afternoon, and I lost every match, after which he taunted me, called me names and occasionally would unmask the defeated hero. Eventually I was drenched in sweat and had a hard-on that wouldn’t quit. It was awesome, and confirmed every inkling I had about my fetish interests -- that playing a superhero in trouble was something that satisfied a deep (if somewhat unexplainable) desire within me.
After that I had occasional in-person meetings with other guys, but most were not very satisfying from the perspective of my fetishes. Usually they just didn’t share (or even understand) what I was after. This may sound weird, but while my fetishes have a very strong erotic element, I am not into it for sex. I simply get a rush from being in costume and role-playing a superhero in trouble.
Over the years, in addition to costumes of well-known superheroes, I assembled an array of spandex body suits, and for each of them I created a superhero character of my own imagination. I found websites that specialized in spandex and/or superhero fetishes, and I hired photographers to take pictures of me in costume and gear. I also put together and posted online photo stories depicting my heroes getting into trouble.
Still, my in-person exploits were few and far between. One day, I came up with an idea – what about a dominatrix? I figured dominatrixes are experts in making fantasies involving BDSM and role-play come true.
This proved to be a breakthrough idea. I arranged a session with a woman, explaining that I wanted her to capture and humiliate Superman. I was very upfront in telling her that I was gay and explaining my fetish interests. The experience turned out to be better than I could have imagined. Her role-playing and verbal skills were excellent, the setting was great, and we hit it off immediately. I got exactly what I wanted, and she found she really enjoyed defeating superheroes.
One aspect of the session exceeded my wildest dreams. First, a little background about my dreams:. There’s a dark side to my fetish. I enjoy seeing superheroes not only get into trouble, but also hurt or even killed. It’s just fantasy, after all. They always return to play another episode. As we were role-playing Superman vs. an evil villainess, she continued to press Kryptonite against the hero. She was really into it. And I realized that she wanted to kill Superman. Well, this is what I had hoped for but was afraid to tell anyone for fear of looking too weird or sick. So, Superman met his end – I was ecstatic and she was thrilled, too. After that, we had many others sessions. The characters and scenarios differed, but the format was pretty much the same – a superhero lured into a trap, captured, tied up and tortured. My ultimate fantasy.
Want to share your superhero-fetish story with us? Email your entry to beastwithin0808@gmail.com and write "Guest Blogger" in the subject.