In his classic song, "You Don't Mess Around With Jim," Jim Croce tells the listeners about a pool hustler that people should make sure to avoid. He does so by repeating a few rather obvious pieces of information (and then explains how not messing around with Jim is akin to those obvious things), "You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim." Superman's costume was already iconic, but when your outfit actually get memorialized in a hit song, you know you've gone to a whole other level of fame. However, besides knowing not to tug on it, what do people really know about Superman's cape?

Here, we will explain some of the oddest aspects of Superman's cape over its long comic book history. Of course, since it has been around in comic books for eight decades now, that means that there is bound to be some contradictory information out there about the cape, but really, that's just part of the fun of the history of Superman's famous cloak -- seeing which odd little facts have stayed the same and which ones have gone the way of "Superman's powers come from the fact that everyone on Krypton had superpowers" (which was briefly Superman's origin in the late 1940s).

15 I SEE YOUR TRUE COLORS

Soon after launching the Superman feature, it became clear that Joe Shuster was not going to be able to keep up with the demands of drawing a regular comic book feature. This was especially true once the Superman newspaper comic strip also launched and then Superman got his own ongoing series. So Shuster was soon replaced on the strip by artists who drew the strip in his name.

The problem with this is that there were so many artists working on the series that there was a general lack of consistency in how Superman would be drawn. This was particularly true with his cape, which had multiple different designs in every issue. Heck, there was one story where his cape was different colors at different points in the same story!

14 THE GREAT CAPE ESCAPE

The same problem with the color of Superman's costume occurred with the basic set-up of Superman's abilities. Simply put, it is just easier to draw Superman flying than it is to draw him leaping. This is because you don't have to actually alter the figure much when he flies. He can just move around the page in flight and you don't have to keep drawing him jumping up and down.

One artist even decided that Superman was going to be able to use his cape like a hang-glider. This was completely out of nowhere and was quickly abandoned (with Superman gaining the ability to outright fly pretty soon after this). For a time there, though, Superman was just like a flying squirrel! He actually looks pretty cool with the cape like that, but certainly not what you think of when you think "Superman."

13 SUPERMAN MADE IT HIMSELF

Once Jerry Siegel was drafted into the United States military during World War II, things really got interesting, because now not only was there not a main artist on the series, but now there was no main writer, either. So different writers could have different ideas about things, and back then, with the belief that no one would ever be re-reading any given issue, there was little interest in continuity.

However, someone eventually came up with the idea that Superman's cape and his costume were invulnerable because Superman himself developed the material and created his own indestructible outfit. There was not a whole lot of thought put into this concept, as Superman was never shown with this kind of aptitude before this point. It was just sort of, "Trust us, he has it figured out!"

12 IT'S A SPECIAL CLOTH FROM KRYPTON

The idea that Superman invented the material that made up his special costume was such an off-the-wall idea that eventually the writers of the Superman feature came to the same conclusion. Therefore, a new explanation was given for why Superman's cape and his clothes were indestructible. Now the reasoning was that the costume was made out of a special material invented on Krypton.

This was during a time when Superman's origin was very much up in the air and there was still support at DC Comics for Superman's powers coming from the fact that Kryptonians were just inherently super-powered, so that Superman simply inherited their super-powered genes. Since Krypton was a planet filled with super people, it makes sense that they'd have invented a super-powered material for their clothes.

11 IT HAS SUPERMAN'S PROPERTIES

Once Superman's origin was changed so that it was confirmed that his powers only originated once he landed on Earth (due to Earth's yellow sun as opposed to Krypyon's red sun), then the whole "his cape and costume must be super-powered because the people of Krypton were super-powered" idea fell apart. This was then adapted into the first version of the now classic version of Superman's origin.

Now, his cape and costume came from the blankets that Superman flew to Earth in in the rocket ship from Krypton. They thus have the same invulnerability as Superman himself because they, too, gain powers from the Earth's yellow sun. Due to this reasoning, Superman's cape could be torn if Superman was wearing it while under a red sun.

10 LOIS LANE USED IT TO BIND A BOOK

The relationship between Lois Lane and Superman has gone through a wide variety of peaks and valleys over the years. There was a time in the late 1940s where Lois Lane was quite enamored with Superman but was not obsessed with getting him to marry her or to prove that he was secretly Clark Kent. She just was really into him and wanted to express her admiration for him.

That led to an odd story where Lois planned on making a special scrap book for Superman made of their memories together. She planned on using Superman's special cape to bind the book and when she realized that she couldn't cut the cape (why this didn't occur to her earlier is anyone's guess), she just folded the cape up and made the entire cape the binding for the book.

9 DREAM WEAVER

When people put together lists of the weirdest superpowers that Superman has, one that often shows up is "super-weaving." However, we have never actually seen Superman use such a power in the comics. We did, however, see his exact double, Van-Zee, use the power. So it is logical to assume that Superman would be able to do it, as well, but we've never actually seen Supes do it.

That said, we do know that Superman is apparently a skilled weaver, as when Lois Lane took his cape and used it to create the binding of a scrapbook, Superman noted that he could simply just weave himself a new cape. This was presumably at the point in time when the cap was made out of an invulnerable material that Superman had invented himself.

8 SUPERMAN'S VERSION OF THE FANNY PACK

An amusing aspect of the growth of any given character is that things that did not occur to the original writers suddenly become "important" issues for later writers, leading sometimes to some strange story ideas. For instance, when Superman first began, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster did not seem to give any thought as to where Clark Kent's work clothes went to when he turned into Superman.

Later writers, however, felt that they had to explain what happened to all of that stuff, so they came up with the idea that Superman's cape had a secret pouch in it that kept all of Clark Kent's stuff nice and safe, including his eyeglasses! Of course, this just led to people wondering, "But how could they all fit in there without his cape bulging out?" Which led to the revelation that Superman could super-compress material to make it fit into the small pouch.

7 IT'S TOO HOT TO HANDLE

During the time when the writers really weren't sure what the deal was with Superman's cape and costume, there was a fascinating story where Lex Luthor actually tried to attack Superman by using his cape and costume against Superman! You see, Luthor took a spectroscopic examination of Superman's costume and discovered that certain wavelengths of light could actually trigger properties within Superman's cape!

Once Luthor activated his plan, Superman's cape began to emit a great deal of heat, making Superman suddenly become a super-menace!! In the end, Superman defeats Luthor and his gang and adds at the end that he has taken preventative measures so Luthor can't do anything to his cape or costume in the future. Sure sounds like he's bluffing, Luthor!

6 LAVA, FOR ALL YOUR DRY CLEANING NEEDS

Once you have established that Superman's cape and costume can't be destroyed, it starts to bring up interesting questions, like, "Okay, then how does Superman wash his clothes?" You would not normally think that many kids reading the comics would really care that much how Superman washed his clothes, but for whatever reason, there were a number of examples provided over the years.

One story showed Superman cleaning his cape and costume by letting it be struck by lightning. In another comic, Jimmy Olsen used a acetylene torch to burn away any dirt on Superman's costume. The most bizarre example, though, occurred on a visit to the Fortress of Solitude where we learned that Superman has a pool made up of molten lava that he swims in to clean off his costume!

5 DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME

Superman's cape has astonishing properties. Since it is indestructible, that also means that it has an elasticity beyond anything that you could normally imagine. Superman has stretched out his cape so that it could serve as a giant canopy to rescue people in it. He's also expanded his entire costume to become a giant beacon before.

The question becomes, then, does Superman's costume just naturally stretch? The answer to that was solved in a few different stories where it was made clear that the only way that his cape could stretch the way that it did was because Superman was using his super-strength to do so. Someone not as strong as Superman would not be able to get it to stretch out like that.

4 FLYING IN STYLE

When Superman's Fortress of Solitude was introduced, it came with it some problems of its own. For instance, once you have established this place in the middle of the Arctic and that the only person who can make it there through the cold is Superman (hence it being his fortress of solitude), there was a desire to have him share the place with others. After all, the guy has a pool made out of molten lava! What good is that if no one can see it?

So that's where the cape came into play, as it became the standard delivery system to the Fortress, as Superman would wrap people up in his cape and fly them to the Fortress, with his cape keeping them warm. It's a nice thing to do, but it's also a rather odd way to travel.

3 SUPERMAN HAD A LOT MORE CAPES POST-CRISIS

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, John Byrne changed everything when it came to Superman's powers. Now his costume was just literally cloth. However, Superman's powers worked on an almost psionic level, where he generated a small aura that surrounded his body and treated clothing (or people) tight to his body the same as if they were part of his body.

Thus, when his cap was close to his body, it would be invulnerable like him. When he went further away, like when it was floating in the wind, it would become vulnerable. Thus, explosions would often tatter his cape, leading him to have to replace his cape constantly. Luckily, his mother was alive in the Post-Crisis continuity, and she seemed happy to sew him new capes all the time.

2 A TRAGIC MEMENTO

Superman's cape played a major symbolic role in one of the most famous Superman stories of all-time, 1992's "Death of Superman." An alien monster known as Doomsday was tearing through the countryside as it set its site on Metropolis, destroying anything in its path. It tore right through the Justice League, leaving it to Superman having to stop him on his own. In the battle, Superman's costume (and cape) were torn up as Superman succeeded in killing Doomsday, but died himself in the process.

The cover to Superman #75 featured the torn cape and Lois Lane kept the cape as a tragic memento of her fallen fiancé throughout the follow-up series, "Funeral for a Friend." No one seemed too upset about Lois just absconding with Superman's cape. It must have seemed pretty weird to them all, especially as Clark Kent was also presumed dead in Doomsday's rampage.

1 HE'S WEARING A VILLAIN'S CAPE

After the death of Superman, the Superman titles went to a brief hiatus for a few months before returning with "The Reign of the Supermen." Four new characters debuted, three of them claiming to be the real Superman. There was a young clone of him. There was a more Kryptonian "Eradicator" version of him. And there was a Cyborg version of him (plus there was an armored hero who had been saved by Superman during Doomsday's rampage).

In the end, it turned out that the real Superman was being kept in a rejuvenation chamber. He showed up to help stop the Cyborg Superman, who turned out to be a villain. In the final battle, Superman gained his powers back (they went away while he was being revived) and he defeated the Cyborg Superman. Supergirl turned his revival matrix clothes into his costume, but the cape was just taken right from Cyborg Superman. Yep, he just rocked a supervillain's cape for quite a while!