Take the 2-minute tour ×

In the movie Man of Steel Superman somehow finds his iconic costume in the 20,000 year old ship, which looks more modern than the dress that Jor-El wore. And it bears the symbol of his House. Can anyone explain what such a modern dress (by Krypton's standards) is doing in a 20,000 year old ship?

share|improve this question
I'm not sure why you think that it's a modern dress. Kryptonian fashion? –  coleopterist Oct 17 '13 at 7:05

8 Answers 8

When Jor-El jumped to retrieve the cortex he stripped off his outer clothes and wore a black "activity suit". My impression was that the SuperSuit was a customised version of this design (notice that many of the Kryptonians did indeed have cloaks). As to whether it's more modern - that's difficult to answer without knowing the details of Krypton's fashion, there's no reason why it couldn't have been an amalgamation of Krypton/Earth styles.

As to how it appeared on a ship 20,000 years before Clark arrived on earth. Jor-El's consciousness ran the ship, given this was a seeding ship (and could so grow Kryptonians) it's not unreasonable to assume that it could clothe, feed and supply them too! My assumption was that the ship made the suit to Jor-El's specifications.

share|improve this answer
Jor-EI's consciousness did not appear in the ship until Clark inserted the cortex. –  Mathew Foscarini Jul 20 '13 at 16:02
@MathewFoscarini does that present a problem to my answer? –  Liath Jul 21 '13 at 8:13
No it's not a problem. Jor-El's consciousness was in the cortex, because he appears a second time on board General Zod's ship when the cortex is inserted into the controls. The big question is how and why is the seed ship on Earth in the first place. –  Mathew Foscarini Jul 21 '13 at 13:52
@MathewFoscarini great thanks, wasn't sure if you were disagreeing or expanding. Thanks for the classification to my answer –  Liath Jul 22 '13 at 6:29

I personally don't believe the ship created the suit....

After Jor-El's death, Lara places his clothes (including the family crest or 'S' symbol) in a display case that closes up...

I like to think the superman suit on the 18,000+ year old ship, was the clothing of one of the El family ancestors, that was part of the exploration into the stars and died in the process.

I think the suit was just the clothing at the time and was possibly placed into a display/storage case like Jor's was by Lara. Maybe Kryptonian ceremony of remembrance?

I believe the Consciousness of Jor-El simply 'presented' the suit to Kal rather than creating it.

This seemed better to me, as it shows how proud Jor-El is of Kal, to pass the suit down...and how the family crest of 'hope' would mean something worn on Kal...a badass protector of earth.

share|improve this answer
An interesting take on it +1! –  Liath Jul 3 '13 at 7:07
you forget the perfect fitting for Kal-El? –  kicker86 Jul 4 '13 at 6:08
Hmm, thats true. A coincidence that it fits?...then again, does it fit? its pretty damn tight. haha –  chase Jul 5 '13 at 0:30

A comic was released before the movie in which it was shown that a member of house El (Kara El) was on that space ship which was sent to explore other worlds thousands of years ago but crashed due to damage taken by it during fight between Kara Zor-El and Dev-Em which also explains presence of skeletons of kryptonions whose cryogenic pods were shut down by Dev-Em.


share|improve this answer

In the movie, Krypton, the invasion on earth, and the archive history all show a similar design in terms of costume. Many of them have cloaks, as well as symbols and runes prominently displayed. Being a colonial ship, the Kryptonian craft was shown to be highly developed in terms of provisions and functioning. Further, Jor-El's consciousness was the one controlling the ship. Thus, it can be fairly assumed that the suit was 'constructed' by the ship as per Jor-El's programming, which he then presented to Kal-El. It was Jor-El's key that contained all the coding and consciousness that gave the design to the suit.

It might just be an assumption, but since the Kryptonian technology gave out the idea of simple mechanisms and entities giving rise to complex implementations (the 3D faces or projections etc.) the ship created a suit as per the programmed instructions.

This also can provide the simple answer to why the suit perfectly fit Kal-El.

share|improve this answer

When Jor-El is talking to Kal-El in the ships control deck. Remember, the scene where he's explaining Kryptonian history in 2 minutes or less? He explains to Kal-El that several ships, "like this one" were sent out to explore the stars.

Kryptonian civilization has been around and intact for 1000s of years. The ship was a colonization ship from a time when they aspired to live among the stars beyond the bounds of Krypton.

I hope that answered your question.

share|improve this answer
How exactly does this explain the presence of the costume? –  coleopterist Oct 17 '13 at 7:10

Simple. Like Sirithil stated, but simply put; when Clark placed his key that came with to earth, inside the ship that was already there it uploaded Jor-El's AI and the AI had the ship to make the suit.

share|improve this answer

Jor-El's consciousness was uploaded into the ship's computer by Kal-El's command key. The AI-that-was-Jor-El used the ship's systems and resources to fabricate the suit while they were walking around talking, at which point he gave it to Kal-El. The ship was old but functional; Jor-El was not, neither was the AI based on his mind, and the suit was brand-new.

share|improve this answer

The reason why it has the costume is even weirder. See 1 of you was right ( for a bit). there where 1000's of seed ships send out. for exploration en colynisation. this is one of those ships. why it has the suite. is simple geuss wich blond niece of a certian alien is/was on the ship. kara zor-el aka supergirl. why it looks like a man suite. 1 size fits all spandax? its all in the preqeul comic for man of steel movie

share|improve this answer

protected by coleopterist Nov 28 '13 at 18:47


Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?
