Batman And Wonder Woman Costume Backpacks May Herald The Fashion Future

The golden age of the costume hoodie seems to be drawing toward its inevitable decline as one manufacturer embraces what may very well be the future of more-casual-than-but-also-maybe-more-intense-than-cosplay superhero fashion: Costume backpacks. Leading the way in this potential timeline are Batman and Wonder Woman'packs manufactured by BioWorld Merchandising, known for producing novelty apparel like belt buckles, t-shirts and the aforementioned costume hoodies based on scads of major pop culture properties.

While completely devoid of flight capabilities, the Batman costume backpack pairs what seems to be an adult-sized backpack with cloth wings, a chest strap emblazoned with Batman's yellow oval costume emblem (made famous in part by the 1989 live action Batman film), a waist strap decorated with fabric resembling the Dark Knight's signature utility belt and a fabric cowl complete with pointy bat ears. Throw in a black long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and boots and wearers could essentially pass as an Elseworlds version of Bruce Wayne who attended public schools and learned to fight crime with a geography book, a TI-82 graphing calculator and a brown bag lunch containing bologna and cheese sandwiches and a really sweet daily note of encouragement from Alfred that he threw away before his friends saw it and felt strangely guilty about as an adult. Alfred loved you and you enough to write on your napkin, Bruce!

The Wonder Woman backpack seems to stray from its comic book inspiration considerably more than the Batman model by trading true-to-costume design for, well, putting things than look like other things where backpack pieces go. Admittedly, it'd be hard to work bullet-proof bracelets into a backpack design, but popping WW's tiara onto a a waist strap like a belt buckle doesn't quiet pop the same as Batman's utility belt. Most confounding are the Disney Princess totally generic princess-like poofy shoulder pad wing things that wearers can opt to sport. They don't look like anything Diana would rock, exactly, but maybe one of the Star Riders would?

The Batman and Wonder Woman costume backpacks are due out in July at specialty shops for about $45 and $35 a piece, respectively. Big Bad Toy Store and other retailers are currently taking preorders, although you may want to behold the actual models in action at a convention or something before stepping into a brave new future where form, function and DC superheroes dance precociously. If you went to school at any point during the '90s, you'll also want to consider that both backpacks are essentially pointless unless you wear BOTH straps as directed, no matter how cool you think it is to just sport one.