superhero fashion you would never seen

A decade ago when "The Matrix" reinvented the superhero film, Costume Designer Kym Barrett redefined its iconography. Eschewing briefs and head-to-toe spandex, she dressed the film's main character, Neo, in blank sunglasses and a sweeping black duster that doubled as a minimalist cape. The costume revolutionized the traditional superhero in both silhouette and color.

"The Green Hornet" features another superhero Barrett clad in nearly civilian clothing. But in "Spiderman Reboot," which will be released this summer, Barrett contends with the classic superhero costume paradigm in the wake of three highly acclaimed Spiderman films.

The notion that superhero play may serve developmental purposes is the crux of my second concern about the banning of superhero play. The idea that play is important for the development of young children is a familiar one for early childhood educators. Pretend play is believed to be critical for healthy emotional development in young children. This belief has been used to explain the importance of involvement in superhero play (Carlsson-Paige & Levin, 1990; Curry, 1971; Ritchie, Johnson, & Zita, 1982; Slobin, 1976; Walder, 1976). While this notion is well established in the child development literature, no empirical research has directly examined the developmental relevance of superhero play.