Badass Cape

Respect the cape!

"Then he looked over at me, and y'know what he said? 'You can't handle the cape.' And he took it! He took my cape, Skeets! Do you know how it feels when Superman tells you can't handle a cape? Not good..."

— Booster Gold

Capes have the obvious effect of making the wearer look larger and more imposing. Thus artists often use them as a way to make characters look capable, powerful, and in charge. Just look at Batman over there. He wouldn't look half as awesome without his cape.

The reasons for this are many. The color might provide a fetching counterpoint to the rest of their clothes, or else blend with them to give the wearer a dynamic silhouette. It may make them look even bigger than they really are. In the right conditions, they can wave in the wind and look dramatic and striking. Lack of wind can be accommodated with a Cape Swish.

But the main reason for this is that in the days of circuses, the strongmen often wore tights and a cape, thus the association with toughness in characters. The trope was then grandfathered into the present day by Superheroes.

This can apply to any character, whether it be a hero, sidekick, villain, and it doesn't even have to be a superhero setting.

This can also count if the actual capes have some sort of abilities. Thus the capes themselves are badass.

Often overlaps with Superheroes Wear Capes, All-Encompassing Mantle. Does not necessarily overlap with The Cape. May be used as an Improvised Parachute, but contrast Cape Snag.

Compare Badass Long Robe, Badass Longcoat, Black Cloak, Scarf of Asskicking, Caped Mecha, Ominous Opera Cape, Pimped-Out Cape.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• All military squad members in Attack on Titan wear flowing capes which nock at the shoulder; those riding horses all wear capes which, weirdly, move about in perfect synchronization (each cape moves exactly the same on every rider!!)
• Guts from Berserk. Just look at this guy.◊ For all purposes. Dramatic effect, blanket, protecting Casca from the cold, deflecting arrows (yes)...
  • Griffith also wears a cape which is just as long, white, flowing, and unspoiled as his hair but once he becomes the scary-ass rapist demon god known as Femto, he gets a creepy bat wing cape◊.
• Dr. Black Jack keeps a lot of his medical tools in his cape, such as scalpels that he can whip out and throw at people.
• The Quincy in Bleach have white capes except for The Emperor of the Vandenreich Yhwach who wears a black one.
• Captain Harlock wears a cape. Oh boy, does he ever. It's often very hard to tell what ratio of man to cape he is, but he's definitely all pirate.
  • Badass capes tend to be a vital part of badass captains in Leiji Matsumoto's works. Queen Emeraldas herself also wears one of these as does Captain Bainas from Ozuma. Both in turn are distaff counterparts to Harlock.
• Zero from Code Geass. Always has it, even in the middle of battle.
• In Comic Girls, The Hero of Tsubasa's Shōnen is a traditional hero wearing this and Eyepatch of Power. Tsubasa herself sometimes wear both when she acts him out for story writing.
• The battle team of Cyborg 009 forgo the cape in favor of scarves, which still wave about and behind them in dramatically varied lengths to emphasize speed and body dynamics. A way cool appearance!
• In Digimon V-Tamer 01, an Omnimon effectively weaponised his cape by throwing it in the face of his opponents, blinding them long enough to utterly thrash them.
  • Dukemon / Gallantmon from Digimon Tamers is the Ultimate/Mega-Level form of Guilmon merged with its Tamer, Takato, naturally it is a powerful force on the side of good.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Piccolo from Z onwards, one of the best examples of this can be found in the first Broly movie, especially when Piccolo's heroic save of Gohan from certain death (at the time) and he looked pretty damn awesome◊.
  • Piccolo's cape is attached to heavy weighted shoulder pads that he uses it for training and takes it off to fight or show it off. Gohan gets one just like it for the Cell Games. Later, in the film "Broly: Second Coming", Krillin wears Piccolo's cape while saving Gohan. In the film "Resurrection 'F'", Piccolo even uses his weighted cape as to defeat a one of Frieza's Soldiers by throwing it to a bunch of them◊ causing the weight to pull the soldiers (who were all flying at the time) down to the ground, while at the same time removing its weight so he could go all out against the remaining dumbstruck soldiers.
    • Arc System Works did an especially good job making Piccolo's cape so badass in Dragon Ball Fighter Z that it fills up half the screen◊ in his intro.
  • Kami and Dende wear capes in their role as Guardian God of Earth (since they are weaker than the Kais, the Gods of Earth probably wear capes to appear more godly).
  • In addition to Piccolo, Kami, and Dende, various Namekians also wear capes (apparently capes are popular fashion on Namek) though their not as badass as Piccolo's.
  • Young Adult Gohan while very silly clearly believes in The Cape as he wears one as his alter ego Great Saiyanman, ditto for Videl as Great Saiyawoman.
  • Garlic Jr in the, you guessed it, Garlic Jr Saga as well as his original appearance in the "Dead Zone" film.
  • Frieza's father King Cold and his henchman Zarbon also wear capes attached to their Battle Armor.
  • King Vegeta in anime filler, flashbacks in some of the films, and Dragon Ball Super's adaption of "Battle of Gods" ("Broly, The Legendary Super Saiyan" & "Battle of Gods"). Just so badass.
  • Prince Vegeta as a child in anime filler and his childhood flashback in "Battle of Gods" (both the film and Dragon Ball Super adaption). Stopped wearing one as an adult (knowing Vegeta he probably thought he was so much of a badass that he didn't need one).
  • Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero are of the same mold as Great Saiyaman (being created by big superhero nerd Hedo) both have billowing capes. In the Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 DLC we get to see Great Saiyaman team up with the Gammas and kick Cell’s ass with their badass capes dramatically blowing.
• Many characters wear one in Fist of the North Star, but Raoh's take the top spot, as in one occasion it was crucial into saving his life: Rei has launched an attack that would have killed Raoh at the price of exposing himself to a deadly counterattack, and Raoh foiled him by throwing the cape on his face and landing a killing blow while he was distracted. Extra points since Raoh often rides a horse too.
• Nakago in Fushigi Yuugi wears something very similar to a cape.
• Getter Robo:
  • Getter-1's Getter Wing ability is a dramatically unfurling red cape that allows it to fly. Buster Shield is an even more dramatic cape that DEFLECTS LASER BEAMS.
  • Armageddon Getter 1 has something closer to this than a Scarf of Asskicking like usual.
• Integra from Hellsing, but only for formal occasions. Suits her, she looks like a nice lady from the outside but will kick your butt with her fencing swords.
• Hoshin Engi:
  • Bunchou, easily one of the strongest characters in the setting, is covered collar to toes in a long black cape that move dramatically in ways that don't always care about gravity.
  • Tsuuten Kyoushu's, later Youzen's, super paopei, the Rikukonhan, is a long cape with the power to erase completely anything or anyone that get wrapped in it, soul and all.
• Kidou Yuutou from Inazuma Eleven wears a cape and looks badass while playing soccer. It doesn't hamper him to completely Curb Stomp the main team.
• Éclair from Kiddy Grade combines badassery and gracefulness by Roof Hopping while wearing one, as seen in a flashback.
• In Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Reinhard starts wearing one when promoted to the rank of fleet admiral, as it's part of their outfit both during the Goldenbaum Dinasty and the change of uniforms at the onset of Reinhard's Goldenlöwe Dynasty. Also, Galactic Empire founder Rudolph the Great started wearing one after becoming emperor, with some emperors imitating him and Reinhard wearing his cape in his style during his tenure as fleet admiral Foreshadowing his eventual take-over.
• Played with in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (2005), where Link spends his time before becoming the hero wearing an unflattering cloak. He gets to wear a much better cape after the final battle with Ganon.
• Kain Blueriver from Lost Universe believes this to be the case about himself and he's obviously trying to invoke the trope, though he's regularly mocked for it by others. His partner Milly in particular isn't shy about pointing out that it just gets in the way as a Trouble Shooter. At one point in the dub, he even mentions Captain Harlock by name.
• In Magic Knight Rayearth, the final evolution of the girls' armor (which is no longer uniform but themed to their particular Mashin) gains a very long cape. Although Part II gives them a basic matching armor again, they transform into their caped outfits whenever they use the Mashin.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Fate Testarossa wears one, because she's sort of kinda like a villain. For a while. From a certain point of view. Now she's the only heroic character with a cape (unless you count her good-turned Evil Knockoff).
  • Quattro wears a sleeved, fur-trimmed cape, which makes her a little more imposing with more authority as the last villain to be defeated.
• Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam features Gundam-sized capes that provide two practical purposes; stealth [the capes are black, most of the series takes place in space] and a special coating that lets them absorb a few beam hits before being destroyed, sort of like extra ablative armour.
• My Hero Academia:
  • All Might is the main caped hero though there are a few others who wear them as well, like All Might’s mentor Nana Shimura when she was alive.
  • Izuku has a tattered one that adds to his badass look during his vigilante period.
  • Aoyama as part of his Cant Stop Twinkling outfit
  • Lemillion aka Mirio Togata. He actually uses it as a means of misdirection and it comes in handy when rescuing Eri, a little girl.
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind has master swordsman Lord Yupa whose flowing cape shifts position with each sword stroke; when battling three attackers, the cape hangs from his neck behind him but at the deathstroke, it wraps about his body ala the Shadow! Whoa!
• Half the characters from One Piece.
  • Crocodile, Hina, lots of High-up Marines, even Luffy once (on a cover). Although, theoretically they're not capes, just specially-draped coats.
  • Luffy gets a gladiator cape in the coliseum
  • Shanks and his crew all seem to sport Badass Capes.
  • Sogeking. In fact, the cape is why Luffy instantly knows he's a hero.
  • Diamante deserves special mention as his cape is a solid steel sheet, made to wave in the wind thanks to his Devil Fruit power.
  • The entire Vinsmoke Family have badass capes attached to their Raid Suits, though eldest daughter Reiji's cape is more like snazzy butterfly wings◊. Sanji himself gets a badass cape which grows to comic book size◊ one of the openings.
• Sayaka in Puella Magi Madoka Magica wears a white cape when in her mahou shoujo form, in keeping with her "Hero of Justice" schtick. She still dons one after she becomes a Witch.
• Sawada Tsunayoshi of Reborn! (2004), courtesy of his pet Natsu. Said cape was based on the one used by the founder, Vongola Primo.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Hiko Seijuro's cape helped make him into a badass, even during peacetime. There are springs at the shoulders that exert a counter-pressure on his body in order to maintain not only his strength but the Hiten Mitsurugi style so he won't release all of its power on enemies.
• Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon wears an awesome cape◊, no wonder he's been making the Sailor Scouts weak at knees since 1991. His armored Prince Endymion outfit also keeps a cape (though not quite as wide as the Tuxedo Mask cape).
  • Kunzite is the only one of the Four Kings to wear a cape. It's never remarked upon, but it looks cool. All four Kings wear them in their "Endymion's Guardians" incarnations in the manga.
• In Saint Seiya most of the higher rank characters wear a cape above their armor (clothes), the most prominent examples being the Gold Saints and Poseidon's Marine generals.
• Yuuki from Saki starts wearing one after she Took a Level in Badass for the Nationals.
  Yuuki: I'll show all of you... our prefecture isn't weak at all!!
• Lalaco Godspeed of Space Patrol Luluco wears a red fur-trimmed cape as part of her Dressed to Plunder attire. It's also made out of Life Fibers.
• Maria Cadenzavna Eve from SymphogearG has a black cape that she uses as a weapon and it can alter its size. The cape is also a manifestation of her inner weakness and it deflects attacks.
• Kamina of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann wears a cape that has an affinity for blowing in the Dramatic Wind. Simon later uses it too. It blows dramatically even in space.
  • Kamina is the embodiment of this trope.
  • A humongous version of said cape was also used by the Super TTGL in The Movie. And by humongous, we mean the biggest damn cape ever conceived of in fiction or otherwise.
• Like the Real Life wrestlers he inspired, Tiger Mask wears a tiger-striped cape before jumping in the ring (but not on the ring: he knows it would be a hindrance and that some opponents would try and kill him with it). In the manga the cape becomes badass on his own on two occasions: before his last match in Tiger's Cave underground fighting ring Tiger Mask had the savvy to fill it with dynamite sticks, so when he had to face the bouncers to save Kamikaze's son he neutralized their guns by simply showing them that (they then attacked him with knives, and learned the hard way they were no match for him); and during the Heel World Championship the cape saved him from getting set on fire (Dick the Bruiser had thrown a bucket of petrol on him from behind, soaking both cape and part of Tiger Mask's body, and then a lit cigar. Tiger Mask caught it with the cape, thus avoiding getting set on fire on the spot, and then applied that part of his training where he wore a petrol-soaked sweater that was then set on fire to get rid of the petrol on his body and put off the cape just enough for him to be safe to grab it for use as a weapon).
• Kurogane of Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- sports one from time to time as part of his default Ninja attire.
• While D of Vampire Hunter D is already a badass alone with his skill, his cape only doubles, if not triples that level of coolness. And Meier Link from the second movie deserves a mention as well. He must have studied Batman, because not only could he glide with the thing, he blocked a freaking sword strike with it!
• Adol Christin gets a badass cape near the beginning of the anime Ys II: Castle in the Heavens. What makes it so badass? Well, for one, it's purple. Second, it lets him use magic - specifically, shooting fireballs from his hand. Turns out he uses this more than he does his sword.

Comic Books

• Asterix: According to Asterix, the ancient world considered red capes as indicators of office...Vitalstatistix, Getafix, Caesar, and Cacofonix (plus any visiting druid or chieftain) were hardly seen without such.
• Batman:
  • Batman wore his cape this way long before it was popular.
  • Robin always wears a cape. So does Red Robin. Nightwing doesn't. The presence of a cape has been given several justifications in canon beyond the theatrics; it contains armor, allows gliding and you can grab someone who's falling from the roof of a train.
    Nightwing: Huh. Makes me rethink the cape issue.
    • Humorously when Nightwing took over as Batman for a while, he complained about how impractical the cape is, whining to Alfred that despite lightening it three times, it still felt like he was "wearing a circus tent on his back".
    • Robin (1993): Tim modifies the cape to be longer and black in contrast to his predecessors' waist length yellow capes, and over time develops a way to run electricity through it should it be grabbed and detached so that it clings to whomever tried to nab him with it in addition to using it as a bullet resistant glider.
  • Barbara Gordon -a. k. a. Batgirl- and Helena Wayne -Earth-Two Batman and Catwoman's daughter, a. k. a. Huntress- also wear their capes this way. It's to be expected since Batman trained them.
  • Batman Forever had Batman covering himself with his fire-proofed cape in order to shield himself from the flames of a burning building that Two-Face trapped him in. Only Batman could have pulled this off.
  • Batman's cape is so awesome that it has the ability to change size. (Particularly evident in Batman: The Animated Series or The Batman) When he's investigating for clues inside, the cape comes down to his knees, but when posing on a rooftop dramatically, it grows longer than his whole body. Now that's badass!
  • In one adventure with Arsenal, Batman shielded them from an explosion with his cape -which was made of triple-weave kevlar.
  • Batman also uses the cape to make himself appear more intimidating, which given his Terror Hero style suits him well.
  • Batman's cape serves various utilitarian uses
    • Gliding: Extended into a bat-winged shape to slow his descent while jumping vast distances or high heights.
    • Flame retardant: Robin issue 100 states his capes are nomex fire resistant.
    • Breaks up his form: Thus making a more difficult shape to determine for bad guys to fire at.
  • Catman wears a cape that he claims is enchanted to give its wearer nine lives (though whether that means it lets them reinvent themselves, resurrects them, or heals them from mortal injury (or all three) is not made clear). However, it's never made explicitly clear whether it can actually do this, or whether Catman only believes it can.
• Black Panther: T'Challa wore one during the Priest run, drawing some comparisons to Batman, especially in that it had varying lengths (the length is actually adjustable).
• Cloak and Dagger (Marvel Comics): Cloak, of course, is a cloak rather than a cape. In fact, he's nothing but a cloak. He's also otherworldly, dark, and conflicted. Cloak's Evil Counterpart Ecstasy manages a costume that is both this and Stripperiffic at the same time.
• The Defenders: Eric Payne, Devil-Slayer. He wears an item called a Shadow Cloak (looks more cape-like or cloak-like, Depending on the Artist) that can teleport himself and others across space and to various dimensions, and from which he can draw out various weapons from other places or worlds. Its main limitation is that it can't handle items or people exceeding 1,000 pounds at once. Sword? Yes. M-1 tank? No.
• Democracy: All the Spartans wear red capes and they are the most fearsome warriors in the Ancient world.
• Doctor Fate: Both Fate and Strange's capes are often shown billowing about as though they're enchanted to fluctuate in size and length, which is likely for both characters.
• Doctor Strange: The eponymous surgeon and Master of the Mystic Arts possesses his Cloak of Levitation, a red, gold-trimmed cape that flows down past his knees and allows him to fly. It has defense applications, as seen on occasions where it shielded him from mystical or mundane attacks. It can also be controlled by Strange telepathically to act as another pair of hands, occasionally restraining or distracting adversaries. Though not as obviously sentient as its Live Action counterpart, the Cloak has occasionally demonstrated some levels of free will, at least once hiding and getting Strange to chase after it as a game.
• Donjon: There is the Cloak of Fate - not so much a cape as a sort of robe, a rather worn-looking thing covered in a garish skull motif, which however is completely indestructible and shields its wearer from all harm.
• Etrigan: The Demon Etrigan wears a cape that gets extra cool points for being tattered and ripped on the ends.
• Fables: The Witching Cloak, which makes its wearer all but invulnerable, is (nearly) indestructible itself, and allows its wearer to teleport anywhere (even between worlds), carry huge loads, and change form.
• Fantastic Four: Of course, one of the most famous cape-wearers in comicdom is Doctor Doom. The golden cape clasps he wears suggest it really is a cape rather than a cloak, and that the hood is not in fact part of it.
• Johnny Saturn: Imposing characters such as Utopian and Tactical have badass capes. Elect, the original superhero, wears a cape over a cloak! Of course, he is the source for a great many characters in the Johnny Saturn/Spire City World.
• Martian Manhunter: The Martian Manhunter usually sports an impressive cape. He can't be said to wear it because it, like all his clothes, is a part of his body, justifying why it never gets caught on anything.
• Hellcat: Hellcat briefly wore a Shadow Cloak during a stint with the Defenders. She eventually decided it was more trouble than it was worth and folded it in on itself until it disappeared.
• The Mighty Thor: Thor usually wears a big red cape.
• New Gods: Mister Miracle has a large green cape. The original MM costume was that of a circus performer, which explains its presence, but when Scott Free took up the mantle, his cape was for more than just looks. It's been an Improvised Parachute and a portable shield and shelter against all sorts of attacks. Its size means that it can be wrapped around the wearer (and maybe another person or two) to provide all-round protection if needed.
• Moon Knight: Moon Knight being basically Marvel's Alternate Company Equivalent of Batman, has his hood extend into a long white cape.
• Paperinik New Adventures: Even Donald Duck can look bad-ass in a cape, as he proved as Paperinik. In his more dramatic moments, you can sense the inspiration from the Batman himself.
• Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt (2019) plays with the trope. Most of the superheroic characters avoid wearing capes (one very short hooded design aside), being pragmatic modern types who would doubtless find them cumbersome. However, Thunderbolt, a grandiloquent jerkass Reality Warper, wears an over-ornate costume including a swirling cape.
• Phantom Lady: Phantom Lady wears a green one that contrasts her bright yellow bathing suit. Pretty badass, if not much for stealth.
• Quasar: Quasar, who is effectively Marvel's Green Lantern. His cape, it's full of stars...
• The Sentry: The Sentry wears a blue cape that tends to billow dramatically.
• Shazam!: Captain Marvel has a really special cape of his own: it's relatively short and looks great slung over a shoulder, displaying its markings.
• Spawn: The cape even has a life of its own! Not to mention a name and even a tribe: Leetha of the Seventh Tribe of K. She is the entire outfit, the cape being only one of her body parts.
• Spider-Man:
  • Mysterio usually has a purple cape to go with his 'fishbowl' and green outfit, which both help negate the cheesiness of the headgear and let him look more, well, mysterious. He's also got eye-shaped clasps attached to hold it on that can even shoot lasers.
  • Spider-Man 2099 even has a cape with a tattered webbing motif. It's not just for looks - he can glide with it, despite it being maybe three square feet of fabric.
• Supergirl: All versions of Supergirl wear a flowing, awesome cape. Even her Red Lantern uniform in Red Daughter of Krypton included a badass, red-and-black cape. In Supergirl Volume 2 #20, her long, flowing, indestructible cape allows her glide when she can't fly. And in Supergirl (Rebirth), her cape is so badass than she uses it to deflect burning rocks.
• Superman: Superman, duh. Not so much badass as just plain awesome, though. Plus, in some incarnations, it's said that the entire planet of Krypton wore badass capes.
• V for Vendetta: V. He's so badass, he's an anarchist.
• Watchmen:
  • Hollis Mason recounts that Dollar Bill's cape got him killed: It was caught in a revolving door when he tried to prevent a bank robbery, making him an easy target for the gun-toting robbers. What makes it even more tragic is that the costume was designed by people sponsoring him for public appeal. Mason speculated that if he had designed it himself he might have realized how bad an idea it was.
  • Mason also considered wearing a cape himself when he first became a masked vigilante but found it got in the way.
  • Oddly, both Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice wore capes easily twice the length of Dollar Bill's, yet never seemed to suffer any consequences. Just lucky, presumably.
  • The more modern Ozymandias nonetheless wears a cape without apparent problems. However, he is arrogant and grandiloquent enough to like the effect, and skilled enough to avoid problems with it.
• X-Men:
  • The Master of Magnetism, Magneto, rocks an imposing purple/red cape in almost every incarnation.
  • It seems that this is genetic; both of Magneto's magical descendants (His daughters, Scarlet Witch, Polaris and his grandson, Wiccan) rock dark-red cloaks/capes. (Wiccan's is a badass tattered cloak)
  • In an issue of New Mutants where Magneto fought the Avengers, we learn that his cape is laced with metallic fibers that his magnetic powers allowed him to use in order to break Hercules' grip on him.
  • Storm, most of the time. Her capes are usually also attached to her bracelets, to the point where it's practically a definitive piece of her design. Since her flight powers are based on wind, the cape presumably helps provide lift.
• Zita the Spacegirl. The title character isn't a superhero, but the cape is part of an outfit she acquires shortly after being transported to an alien planet.

Fan Works

• In The Silmarillion story A Boy, a Girl and a Dog: The Leithian Script, Luthien wears a magical jet-black cape which serves as a spell-booster.
• Child of the Storm has Thor, wearing his classic red cape.
  • Doctor Strange wears the famous Cloak of Levitation which, combined with his Glowing Eyes in his first two onscreen appearances (as himself), adds to his eerie persona. Later, when he dials down the eerie aspect, it just adds to his flair for drama.
  • Wanda Maximoff initially wears one, which billows dramatically during her first on-screen appearance - backlit by a pillar of flame which starts tearing through an army of the undead. Later, like her boyfriend Harry Dresden, she takes up the Badass Longcoat, to the point where the Cloak of Levitation refashions itself into a red Badass Longcoat when she inherits it with the position of Sorcerer Supreme.
  • In the sequel, Clark eventually and inevitably ends up in his classic caped outfit - though the cape was originally a conjured blanket after, for various reasons, he ended up naked.
• A Crown of Stars: Daniel, God-Emperor of Avalon, royal ass-kicker and real nice guy, wears a dark blue-and-red cape to match his gold-trimmed blue armor.
• In Hellsister Trilogy, Satan Girl wears a flowing dark-red cloak which enhances her sinister aura.
• In Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail, Chloe gains an artifact called "The Cloak of Marchosias and Wepawet" (mostly shortened to the first name) that is a red cloak with a wolf hood. While Chloe was already a Badass Adorable Action Girl for fighting opponents with a pipe, the cape makes her more of a badass because it gives her nifty abilities like casting fire, turning into a wolf, flight and an extra arm with it serpent tail.
• In The Institute Saga, Magneto has a long, flowing crimson cape which is actually made of metal.
• Last Child of Krypton: Shinji is Superman in this crossover and wears Superman's iconic red cape which makes him seeming larger and more imposing.
• Gadget Hackwrench's twin sister Widget from The Nowakverse, introduced as the "Gray Mouse" in Under the Bridge, wears a black cape to conceal her mechanical left arm.
• In Of Quirks and Magic, Izuku gets his own Cloak of Levitation, styled exactly like Dr. Strange's but fitted to his size and dyed emerald green. It's as feisty and intelligent as the Cloak that appears in the MCU but is affectionate towards its owner when it isn't silently bickering with him over their mistakes or beating him over the head for keeping it in a backpack all day.
• In The Pirate Pegasus, Korsan sports a large black cape to not only look good, but to also hide his deformed wings, any weapons behind his back, and his mechanical back piece from frontal view.
• Pony POV Series:
  • Trixie, as in canon, especially as she's Took a Level in Badass. She also justifies it, as she can use it for trickery.
  • The Crusaders get new versions of their capes during the Rumor's Arc. They were made by Entropy herself to protect them and have several features to that effect. They retain their power after the Rumors are beaten, which provides the Crusaders with extremely effective shields. Since they have Entropy's power when Scootaloo wraps her cape around her hoof and punches Goatcord with it, it makes him Ret-Gone.
• In The Rainsverse, the Elements of Harmony provide their Bearers with very nice all-weather cloaks in colors matching the Elemental gems.
• Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: Asuka -Supergirl in this crossover- wears Supergirl's classic red cape. She looks more intimidating and more dangerous as wearing it.
• Takamachi Nanoha of 2814: Tuxedo Kamen's cape, which can also function as a weapon.
• The Teacherof All Things has Taichi's yellow cloak in the original V-Tamer story. He returns to the Digital World with his cloak when he once again takes up the mantle after his brief retirement.
• Inverted in With Strings Attached. To hide his permanent metamorphosis into a muscular winged demigod, John gets a magical cloak that makes him look like his skinny normal self. It's mostly a pain in the ass for him, as it snags on things, it's hot, and it gets smelly.

Films — Animation

• Weaponized in The Adventures of Tintin (2011) with pirate captain Red Rackham; in his Out of the Inferno introduction his cape catches fire, so he uses it against Sir Francis Haddock.
• Brave: Fergus' cape appears to be made of bearskin.
• The title character in Hercules wears a blue cape after completing his hero training. During his battle with the Hydra, the cape is ripped throughout the battle and torn to tatters by the end.
• Deconstructed in The Incredibles, along with many other superhero tropes. Edna points out the inherent danger of dragging a long cloth behind you in rather gruesome ways. Syndrome's death is caused by his cape, reminiscent of Stratogale's earlier.
  "No capes!"
• Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent. She's in a setting where a cape would be justified. But what she has is so over-the-top it gives her a difficult time moving around.
• In The Transformers: The Movie, Starscream wears a cape for his coronation, to his rare credit he wears it well◊.

Films — Live-Action

• In France, the name for Swashbuckler films is "films de cape et d'épée", literally "cape and sword movie", referring to the two essentials ingredients of the genre.
• Dollars Trilogy: The Man With No Name's poncho is the definite western example.
• As a result of Dracula, capes tend to be a stereotypical item for a vampire to wear. Thank you, Bela Lugosi.
• In Dracula Untold, Vlad's Armor features a bright red cape that he wears during his climb to the Elder Vampire's Tomb.
• Etienne Navarre of Ladyhawke is the film's unequivocal hero, yet dresses like a stereotypical villain. Naturally, he looks extremely badass in his ensemble, and sports a magnificent flowing black cape with red lining to complete the look.
• In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Aragorn eschews the Badass Longcoat he's been wearing for the whole trilogy for some kingly armor and a long, black-and-red cape.
  • Before that, he spent much of the adventure wearing an elven cloak like the rest of the Fellowship, but the cape on his King of Gondor getup is much more badass.
  • There's also the Men of Rohan, who have this as part of the uniform.
• Lampshaded in Love at First Bite: "It's the cape. Chicks dig the cape."
• Man of Steel / Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice / Justice League: Seems to be standard issue for Kryptonians of high rank as Jor-El, Zod and Faora are seen wearing some. And, of course, there's Superman himself, and just to make Supes cape extra snazzy it's all CGI. Zod gets a special mention for his fur cape. And there's Batman's cape, of course.
• In The Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman's cape isn't just for making him look imposing. Made of a special "memory cloth" that can form rigid shapes when electrified, Batman uses it as a hang glider (of sorts).
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation is possibly the most literal example out there: Not only does it look cool, but it possesses a semi-consciousness and is actually better in combat than the hero himself. (Particularly the up-close-and-personal type of fighting — fancy a cape wrapped around your head, slamming you into the floor?) It's also the biggest Spotlight Stealer in the film. It may be the only badass cape more badass than its wearer.
  • In Avengers: Infinity War the Cloak not only protects Strange from Ebony Maw but it follows him to space and in Final Battle it even covers the Infinity Gaunlet, annoying the hell out of Thanos. Even when it gets ripped by the Titan, the Cloak of Levitation still works afterward. Earlier, during the Let's You and Him Fight between the Avengers and the Guardians, it takes on Drax... and wins.
  • Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home has a pretty damn fancy cape complete with little lights. He even gets prima donna about it when his henchlady Victoria is ironing the cape, in preparation for a potential meeting with the queen.
  • The capes in Thor were specifically designed with badass billowing in mind, and it shows. Tony Stark, however, is not impressed in The Avengers.
    Iron Man: Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?
  • Thor's cape is so cool, it inspires Vision to have◊ one in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
  • Hela from Thor: Ragnarok has a particularly silky◊ badass cape.
  • Adam Warlock fittingly as a Flying Brick has a particularly cool one in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it gets torn from while fighting Drax however and he doesn’t bother getting another one even after becoming a hero for real.
• The Mysterians wore capes along with their bitchin' motorcycle helmets. When earth scientists visited their domed spaceship, they were presented with capes as well to accommodate "temperature and atmospheric differences" (i.e., it's cold).
• Star Wars:
  • Darth Vader. That is all.
  • Subverted with Krennic in Rogue One. While he has a cape, unlike Vader's, it responds realistically to the wind and similar inconveniences, giving the impression that he's far less powerful or secure than the Emperor's real high-ranking minions.
  • Kylo Ren trades the dark hooded shawl for a cape in The Last Jedi, though like Krennic he just lacks the intimidation factor compared to dear Annie Skywalker.
  • Solo: Lando has a closet full of capes on the Falcon, one of which Qi'ra uses as part of her disguise to allow her into one of the Kessel mines.
• Magneto's in the X-Men Film Series, as part of his supervillain outfit.

Literature

• Luke Cahill of The 39 Clues gets one of these after he begins work as a royal advisor. It has no special powers but adds to his menacing appearance.
• The eponymous Cape of Mandator from Dennis Jürgensen's book. It holds a pocket dimension in its folds!
• Dragaera's Morrolan e'Drien. Vlad thinks he just wears it to look cool, and frankly, he's probably right.
• Wardens in The Dresden Files have gray cloaks as their uniform, and dear god can they be badass.
  • This is even more cool because they are enchanted so that they never become stained or dirty, including the mention that blood splattered on the cloaks during combat just flows off the fabric. This means that no matter how hard or dirty the fight, a Warden's cloak of office is always recognizable to ensure their authority.
• Pontius Glaw from Eisenhorn, in his final "form", wears a cape so badass it's made of many, many small blades. When a Redshirt gets in the way of the cape, he... crumbles. Sort of.
• Erast Fandorin often wears a cape. It's nothing extraordinary, really; this is late 19th century Russia. Still, notable for the movie version of State Chancellor, wherein he uses said cape to catch bullets.
• Forest Kingdom: Deconstructed in the spinoff series Hawk & Fisher; the Battle Couple are obliged to wear capes as part of their Watch uniforms; however, Hawk hates his because it gets in the way during fights. He puts up with wearing one for Fisher's sake but seizes any plausible opportunity to "accidentally" abandon or destroy his (smothering fires, ditching it when it's pinned to the wall by a crossbow bolt, etc). A subversion, as going capeless doesn't diminish Hawk's Badass Quotient one bit.
• Deconstructed, then Reconstructed at the end of Discworld's A Hat Full of Sky. The sheer, shimmering, midnight-black cape that hiver-Tiffany acquires from Zakzak can billow and flutter dramatically like nobody's business, but it's completely useless for keeping you warm and dry, and far too fragile for a working witch to wear. A billowy cape is useless for all practical purposes, but it looks really cool. While part of being a witch is putting practical matters first, part of being a human being is caring at least a little about impractical things like coolness.
• In Legacy The Tale Of The American Eagle it is standard fare for St. Theodore's protectors American Eagle and Sparrow, with the added benefit of being able to harden into a glider through use of electrical currents and smart fabric.
• Malazan Book of the Fallen: When he is introduced in Midnight Tides, Scabandari is wearing the scaled hide of a K'Chain Che'Malle Matron as a cape. It is so freshly acquired that still glistens with the Matron's natural oils.
• The eponymous Mistborn of the Mistborn trilogy wear these. They have all sorts of nifty adaptions that just make them so freaking awesome. They are the status symbol of the 'verse.
• John C. Wright's Mists of Everness features two instances of this: Azrael de Gray, also referred to as "That crazy guy in the pimp outfit," and Pendrake, who either wears this or an especially floaty Badass Longcoat.
• A Practical Guide to Evil: Catherine's "Mantle of the Woe". She first gets the - rather plain looking - black cloak as a gift from her mentor, the Black Knight. The cloak makes her more resistant to magic, to the point that at one point, a spells slides off of her "like water on a duck's back". This is only the beginning - after each victory over a foe, she takes to sewing a stripe of their banner on her cloak, which makes it highly recognizable and intimidating. These banners include a wind - from a fairy noble - and even Diabolist's soul. The cloak is now widely recognised and noted as an artifact in the making.
• In Shadowboy, Jack wears one, though the wind doesn't always cooperate.
• In Shadowdemon, Jack (and his cape) make a return appearance.
• In The Shattered World, Kan Konar the cloakfighter is a badass because of his cape. His fighting style is one that traditionally employs the cloak as both a weapon and a defense: it's got razor-sharp bone shards in its hems, blinding-bright phoenix feathers concealed in its lining, and a strangling-cord clasp. And that's just the start of what it's good for.
• In Soon I Will Be Invincible, supervillain Dr Impossible admits that his cape gets in the way during the inevitable fight scene, and is uncomfortable in hot weather, but feels that the psychological advantage imparted by a dramatically billowing cape outweighs the disadvantages.
• In Starfighters of Adumar, Red Flight ends up wearing Adumari clothing and Wes Janson, the showman of the group, goes with a massive cape with glowing nebulous shapes on it. Later, in a fight, he whips it off and uses it to entangle his opponent's weapon, later grousing that he liked that cape. His friend assures him that they'll find him something even more flashy.
  • His replacement cape has embedded flatscreens, which he uses to display a chorus line of dancing Jansons.
• The eponymous Space Pirate in Laszlo Hadron and the Wargod's Tomb wears one with sound-dampening tech over his armoured spacesuit. His nemesis Morgan doesn't like it nearly as much.
• The Shadow is one of the oldest examples in superhero fiction, combining it with his hat and cloak and his Scarf of Asskicking.
• Before Batman, Superman or virtually anybody else... Zorro!

Live-Action TV

• Often parodied in The Boys (2019), as the Vought-sponsored supes sometimes wear capes but oftentimes are put into situations to seem less cool.
  • Homelander has a long cape with the American flag on it, but it flops around when he's not using his powers and he has to move it out of the way whenever he has to sit down. In Season 3 there’s an Incredibles moment where Soldier Boy grabs Homelander by the cape while he’s floating, pulling him down to earth before swinging the super douche into a wall◊.
  • Starlight's first costume has a white cape, and it displays her potential as a powerful rookie superhero, but the higher-ups at Vought take it away and make her wear a stripperiffic leotard.
  • Stormfront wears a dark cape, and it gets burnt to a crisp when she is curb-stomped and roasted alive by Ryan.
• The hero of NBC's The Cape, naturally.
• The Third Doctor from Doctor Who has a cape to go with his ensemble and is the most agile and action oriented incarnation.
• The episode "Kicking Bishop Brennan up the Arse" in Father Ted has Bishop Brennan storming the house with his cape billowing excessively behind him after he recovers from a shock and realises that Ted kicked him earlier.
• A lot of characters in Game of Thrones wear them, including the Kingsguard, the Night's Watch, and a lot of characters from the North. Robb Stark stands out in particular, being a peerless general who wears a magnificent fur-lined cape in almost all of his scenes after his crowning. He even dies wearing a particularly elegant one. Members of the City Watch of King's Landing are known colloquially as "gold cloaks" because of their conspicuous gold cloaks. Roose owns a very dashing fur cloak, complete with a subtle Cape Swish in Season 2. He also fought with his men as can be seen with the blood on his face. However, this is defied by Bronn, who insists a cape slows you down in a fight. The Northmen have even an iconic style of capes and cloaks secured by belts crossing on chest. Nowadays, when you see these X-belts, you immediately think "Game of Thrones!". Daenerys wears a travelling cloak during her time conquering the slave cities and she has several half-cape ensembles once she reaches Westeros. Stannis is frequently seen with one.
• Xena has one in her debut trilogy in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, it's gone by the time her proper starts perhaps because it looked too villainous.
• In the Mork & Mindy episode 'Watcher of Earth,' an alien named Xerko came to Earth and challenged Mork to a battle. Before the battle, he put one of these... only to tear it off in an exaggerated twirl.
• Power Rangers:
  • Those who grew up with the series will remember the Magna Defender from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy who had this and an awesome horned helmet along with a Cool Sword and pump-action energy rifle/shotgun.
  • The Magna Defender could also count as a Legacy Character in series, the season was in anyway.
  • What, no love for Power Rangers Mystic Force? Six of them had capes in ranger form and the core five had them as part of their team uniforms.
• Super Sentai, Power Rangers' parent series, featured capes in its first two series, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger and J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai. The trend would be resurrected later on with Mahou Sentai Magiranger (the basis for Mystic Force mentioned above) and Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger (for the former of the two teams).
• The heroes of the Ultra Series don't wear capes as part of their standard outfit with the exception of Ultraman King who is a near omnipotent Physical God, but in scenes showing the Land of Light, the Showa Ultramen are often seen wearing big red-and-silver capes. It's explained in Expanded Universe materials that they're a symbol of status and experience among Ultra warriors. However they still throw them off the moment they go into battle most likely because how impractical they are in combat scenes.
• Wonder Woman (1975): Wonder Woman occasionally transformed into an outfit with a flowing American themed cape. It first appeared on "The Last of the Two Dollar Bills".

Magazines

• Analog: The February 1942 cover prominently displays a muscular man wearing a blood-red cape with his back to the audience, firing a weapon of some kind into the distant background. This imposing figure has his head turned around to glare at the audience.

Music

• Doctor Steel is sometimes seen wearing a black PVC cape.
• Ichiro Mizuki singing "Ima ga Sono Toki Da" "CHANGE GETTER!!"
• The video for Pink Floyd's song "High Hopes" features … well, you can't doubt that cape's epic. Anyone know how they were able to keep cranes and such out of the shot? There's NO way that guy could walk in that thing without some help.

Myths & Religion

• One of Manannan Mac Lir's magical items in Celtic Mythology is a cloak of mists which could make the wearer invisible, or make sure that two people would never meet again.

Pinballs

• Magneto proudly waves his cape in Stern Pinball's X-Men.

Pro Wrestling

• In the relatively early days of the National Wrestling Alliance, Baron Karl von Schober often paraded around in a cape.
• El Santo's second most iconic accessory, after his mask.
• Jushin Thunder Liger, being an animated superhero turned professional wrestler and all. That, and being a shameless attempt to replicate the success of Tiger Mask.
• Path Finder in AAA has one for his entrance attire, as does Último Dragón in the same promotion and the Toryumon system, which started in Mexico.
• ECW's superhero and "innovator of offense" Super Nova.
• The Undertaker took up a cape during his "Ministry of Darkness" phase.
• The Hurricane and Mighty Molly, by virtue of being superheroes of The Cape variety. At least until Molly turned on Hurricane to take his hardcore championship belt.
• Generalissimo Takada, lead his Monster Army against Fighting Opera Hustle with his overwhelming charisma, unparalleled superpowers, incomprehensible wealth, Cool Shades and a spiffy cape.
• Austin Aries started taking one up in Chikara, as did The Colony.
• Wrestling savant Eugene at times decided not to emulate his favorite wrestlers, but to be Superman, and thus wore a cape.
• Thanks to Bruce Tharpe, wrestling fans got to see cape bearers Rob Conway and Satoshi Kojima feuding in the NWA and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
• In a likely nod to Conway and Kojima, Santana Garrett took to wearing a cape after winning NWA's World Women's title, and then proceeded to put on her best Ultimo Dragon impersonation by winning as many belts possible.
• Lady Frost comes to the ring in a cape so long and wide that her Pretty Proper partner The Savage Gentlemen Victor Benjamin has to carry it to prevent snagging, not that he minds.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition introduced the "Cloak of Billowing" as a common magical item in the sourcebook Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The only function it serves is that that wearer can make the cloak billow dramatically more or less at will.
• Often present in leader characters in Warhammer 40,000. Also more than a few slightly odd examples, as many of the factions wear Powered Armor, the standard form requiring a power plant backpack. So most capes are tailored to pin to the shoulders but must have space cut out to allow the backpack to plug into the armors, also constricting the cape down to right about the waist. In some instances, they just pin the cape to the back of their (enormous) pauldrons, avoiding a complexified cut, but leaving the cape hanging a bit low on the back. Capes are just one, but perhaps the most common, of a few unusual uniforms worn over power armor, others include robes, togas, and in one case a lab coat of human leather (worn by a guy so evil and insane that he makes the rest look better in comparison).

Theatre

• Death from the Takarazuka Revue adaptation of Elisabeth wears one during Saigo no Dansu/Der letzte Tanz. He has his angels take the cape off (because the song involves some choreography that would be hampered by the cape) and then put it back on as he makes a dramatic exit, complete with Cape Swish.
• It's traditional for the peers in Iolanthe to wear these in act one. Tolloller and Mountararat ditch them for tailcoats in act two, but the rest of the peers usually keep them.
• Oodles and oodles of capes are also in the various adaptations of The Rose of Versailles Zuka has put on over the years. It has been joked that Yamato Yuuga (the aforementioned Tuxedo Mask) learned how to work her cape from playing André in BeruBara.
• As mentioned above in the entry for Sailor Moon, Yuuga Yamato's Tuxedo Mask in Sera Myu has one. Add copious amounts of Cape Swish, profit from Fangirl squealings.

Toys

• In LEGO Star Wars, Jedi minifigs are often depicted with capes instead of their usual cloaks. Obviously this is because a cape is a lot easier to depict in Lego form.

Video Games

• Ezio in Assassin's Creed 2 has a cape that actually does something - it decreases his notoriety so he doesn't get in near as much trouble with the law.
  • Specifically, there is the Plain Cape which is just for looks (the default cape, and completely plain as the name says); the Medici Cape which sets infamy to 0 (guards still react to suspicious behavior, but Ezio's infamy will never go up) when in Florence or Tuscany by identifying him as an ally of the Medici family (even when Savonarola is in control); and the Venetian cape which does the same for Venice and Romagna by showing his alliance with Agostino Barbarigo. The first cape is obtained along with the rest of the Assassin equipment while the other two are obtained during the story.
  • The Carnevale outfit comes with a cape and mask. Unfortunately, it is only worn during the Carnevale sequence of the game. Also, being the most visually elaborate cape, it does absolutely nothing.
  • One "secret" cape is the Auditore Cape, obtained after giving Maria 100 feathers scattered about Italy. It's also the least useful cape in the game, actually setting infamy to maximum in all cities.
  • On a more practical note, all capes help to conceal some of Ezio's weaponry when he's walking in public, specifically the hidden blade, which has a prominent and visible Assassin symbol on the wristguard despite being a "hidden" weapon.
• Batman: Arkham Asylum. Not only does it look badass, but it also lets you glide, either to cover ground quickly or to kick someone in the face and you can slap someone in the face with it to stun them. Fun fact one developer at Rocksteady spent two years crafting Bats's cape making sure it was fluid as possible and tuning the wind effects to it so it would be extra badass.
• Rendain from Battleborn wears a high-tech one that's made up of several floating shard-like pieces. In his boss fight, he's able to form a Whip Sword from it.
• Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night can equip some really badass-looking capes with various magical effects. One even lets the player customize exactly what it looks like.
• Magus in Chrono Trigger wears a cape that looks really cool when he levitates.
  • Flea, on the other hand...
• Dark Souls:
  • Knight Artorias in Dark Souls DLC has the tattered remnants of a blue one when you fight him. He's considered one of the biggest badasses
  • Dark Souls II has a lot of capes, from Benhart and Creighton's grey ones to the ragged white stuff hanging off the Heide Knights to the red cloak of the Drakeblood Knights, but the two that are probably most notable are the dark red cloak on the Drangleic set (since it's found quite early in the game and has really good stats) and the black cape on the King's Set (since Vendrick is so important to the story).
  • Dark Souls III has another plethora of capes, including the Fallen Knight, Sellsword, Black Hand, Drang, and Exile sets, but the biggest roles are played by those of the Abyss Watchers, the first Lord of Cinder you fight (they're a dull purple and, given the Abyss Watchers' job, covered in black Abyssal stains), and the red one sported by Slave Knight Gael (which, in the second phase of his boss fight, is wreathed in blood-coloured fire and deals contact damage).
• Valvatorez from Disgaea 4 has one.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • Throughout the series, Tiber Septim, founder of the Third Cyrodiilic Empire, and his ascended god form, Talos, are both typically depicted as wearing one. This is especially true in their Nordic depictions.
  • In Skyrim, the legendary Nordic hero Ysgramor is depicted with one in his statues.
• EXTRAPOWER: Sharkungo and Zophy both gain a cape to go with their hero upgrade in Attack of Darkforce. For Zophy his upgrade is optional, but he'll still appear with one when rescuing a pair of children in Washington DC. In Star Resistance, Sharkungo claims one at the end of his route, having defeated and earned the respect of Blue Armour, to go with his resolve to form the Star Resistance.
• Many Final Fantasy characters love their capes, hero and villain alike. More prominent in the earlier games which took place in medieval settings with Yoshitaka Amano as the designer, once Final Fantasy VII hit and the series shifted to a modern setting designed by Tetsuya Nomura, the characters prefer to use Badass Longcoats. However, capes still appear.
  • Most noticeable in Dissidia Final Fantasy, where every character from Final Fantasy VI and earlier has some sort of cape in at least one of their outfits. The most Badass Cape arguably belongs to Golbez of Final Fantasy IV — it's so large it passes into All-Encompassing Mantle, whirls, flares, and flaps in the air with every movement he makes, and his block and intro animations are Cape Swishes.
    • And for downloadable content, Cloud and Zidane don capes, Cloud's from Kingdom Hearts, Zidane from the finale of his own game. Cloud's Kingdom Hearts cape is so badass it has become an Iconic Outfit.
  • Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.
  • Odin also sports one whenever he appears.
• Practically every Lord character in Fire Emblem has one, with few exceptions. There doesn't seem to be any particular purpose behind them, save for aesthetics. Ike claims it's there if he needs something to sleep on in a pinch but he's a mercenary rather than a lord.
• Nearly every tier 3 promoted character in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn have capes. The ones that don't have capes have long flowing robes or coats, both of which behave like capes anyway.
• Grant from Garou: Mark of the Wolves is a hulking Karateka who sports a cape.
• Invoked in Helldivers with the titular Space Marines, who receive a cape as part of their uniform after completing their training, which only 21.3% of trainees survive. Though it's likely for propaganda purposes as in practice caped Helldivers still die in droves.
• In Immortal Souls, Desmond has a long red one attached to his Power Armor, seemingly as a marker of him being the leader of his otherwise identically-armored Knights Templar.
• The original Sequel Hook in Kingdom Hearts II and its Final Mix showed the main characters of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep sporting capes on their Keyblade Armor. However, due to the PSP's power meaning that having the capes in the game proper would have caused lag during co-op play, they didn't appear there. The HD 2.5 ReMIX version retains the lack of capes despite being on more powerful hardware, although it does add a scene at the end of Terra's story where his Lingering Will sprouts a cape out of nowhere, retaining continuity with its Superboss appearance in II Final Mix. This cape continues into Kingdom Hearts III, and by the end of the Re Mind DLC, all three characters have the capes.
• Meta Knight of the Kirby series wears one that can turn into bat wings.
  • And when he throws it off... you're screwed.
  • Daroach of Squeak Squad has a stylish red cape and hat.
• Legacy of Kain has both Kain, who in his Elder form wears his red symbol cape tied across his chest and Raziel who, in a gruesome variation of the trope, has the remains of his ruined bat-wings hanging off his back.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ganon/Ganondorf, the King of Evil, wears a flowing red cloak in most of the games. In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past he uses it to shield his eyes after Link lights up the room.
• Gades, the Sinistral of Destruction, wears one in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals and Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals.
  • Dekar's concept art depicts him wearing a cape. He doesn't get one in-game in Lufia II, but does in Lufia: The Ruins of Lore.
• In Malicious, your badass rune-inscribed cape is also your weapon, as it can shapeshift into a bunch of different forms such as fists, swords, wings, and more.
• Several characters across the Mega Man series sport these, such as Sigma and Bass.EXE.
• Big Bad vampire Night of Wallachia from the Type-Moon fighting game Melty Blood uses his cape as his primary weapon.
• The Colonels of the Pigmask Army in Mother 3 wear an 'Awesome Cloak' that Lucas can equip if they drop it after battle.
• Persona 4: Arena has Akihiko Sanada, who seems to have traded his shirt for a cape at some point on his worldwide training expedition.
• The Dragon-type trainers in the Pokémon games, most notably Lance, have a predilection for these. Lance seems to be able to make his billow at will. Capes, and clothing that can act like capes (such as Cynthia's jacket), seems to be commonplace for champions as most are depicted with them.
• RuneScape has a variety of normal capes that every player can wear, but there are some special ones that stand out, like the Fire cape which is made out of lava and has its own animation, and is given to players who beat the second hardest boss in the entire game. Also it has the Skill capes, given to players who max the level in any skill, which has the ability to increase the skill level of the player who operates it to 100 temporarily and come with their own emote.
• Demon King Nobunaga in Sengoku Basara. He even uses it to attack people.
• While you could never get a good look at it, Dr. Robotnik in the 16-bit Sonic the Hedgehog games sported a yellow cape like Mario's.
• Agent 3 picks up one of these for their appearance in Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion, complete with a tattered end. Naturally, it has the Inkling language version of the number 3 on its back.
• Star Stealing Prince has The Original King, the Big Bad and Final Boss of the game, who wears an Eldritch Abomination as a cape.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic. Although not quite as common as the Badass Long Robe, there is quite a lot of gear that feature these. They're generally meant for the Force using classes, but some are moddable so with a little effort, even a smuggler or soldier could wear these.
• Given the 'strongman' description above, is it any surprise to hear that Street Fighter's Zangief has an opening animation where he starts standing shrouded in a cape, then flings it away?
  • M. Bison wears a cape as well, which he sometimes wears during actual fights.
• Mario in Super Mario World has a cape that allows him to fly, and which can be used to deflect projectiles in Super Smash Bros..
• Super Robot Wars: Original Generation gives us Trombe, a giant robot with an equally giant Badass Cape. One of its' attacks involves ripping the cape off and throwing it at an enemy to conceal their vision before blowing them away with its' twin hand cannons.
  • The Vysaga also wears one, complete with plenty of dramatic swirling and whatnot.
• In the Telepath RPG series:
  • At the Psy Academy, a student's cape more or less has the same role as a belt does in martial arts, first students have a red cape, then a blue cape and then a black cape while professors have a white cape. In the first game, your character has just earned their black cape. By the time you reunite in the second game your friends Guy and Anya have theirs. You can also snark at another classmate for still being a blue cape after the four-year Time Skip between chapters 1 and 2.
  • Knights also wear a cape, standard mechanic soldiers wear gray ones, mechanic captains and marksmen wear red ones and the Psy Academy guards wear white ones.
  • In Servants of God the Hero wears a brown cape while Griffin and Ravinale guards wear white ones.
• Utsuho from Touhou Project is a nuclear-powered hell raven that wears a starry night cape over her wings. Fellow Final Boss Byakuren also wears a cape, if a considerably less mind-bending one. Then there's Wriggle, but, as a stage one boss, she's not exactly badass, with the cape merely standing in for her insect wings.
  • From the PC-98 era is Yumemi Okazaki, who wears a black and red cape.
  • Sekibanki wears a red cape and mantle large enough to obscure the tenuous connection between her head and neck.
  • Toyosatomimi no Miko wears one in Touhou Shinkirou ~ Hopeless Masquerade.
  • Touhou Shinpiroku ~ Urban Legend in Limbo introduces Sumireko Usami, whose cloak has runes inscribed on its interior.
• The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang: Spike's main attack is his cape, which he spins around to whack enemies. If he spins too much at once, he starts to spin out of control and creates a massively damaging vortex - although it leaves him dizzy and vulnerable for a few seconds.
• In A Witch's Tale, friendly vampire Loue has one, though it's more pronounced in CGs and the Optional Boss fight with him.
• At low and middle levels, the capes in World of Warcraft often adhere to this trope; the longer the cape, the more badass the wearer is likely to be (as long capes can't be worn by low-level characters).

Visual Novels

• In Umineko: When They Cry, Endless Sorcerer Battler wears one after Taking a Level in Badass.
• Yo and Bo of Yo-Jin-Bo wear capes "because they are cool," and frequently mock Jin's fashion sense because he doesn't wear one.

Web Animation

• Dreamscape: The Master of the Dammed's cape is white, and the only article of clothing he wears. (Unless you count his mask.)
• Ruby, of the titular RWBY group, wears a beautiful, insanely long red cape that would be very difficult to walk with in Real Life (to the frustration of many cosplayers.) It's okay, though, because the series' setting runs on Rule of Cool and there's a lot of Dramatic Wind in her trailer to make said cape flap around and look pretty. She even wears it with her school uniform, which nobody comments on.
• In Shrapnel, Reznya has a patterned serape that she wears when in the dust, directly inspired by Clint Eastwood’s outfit in the Dollars Trilogy. She lets Potato borrow it when they visit Candlesmoke.

Webcomics

• Kinnabre from Alice and the Nightmare has a large red cape that gives him an authoritative aura befitting the commander of Rougina's military forces.
• In Bad Machinery after a 10-Minute Retirement Lottie decides to mark her return by trading in her puffer jacket for a cape. The dramatic effect is somewhat marred by it being a blanket tied around her neck, but it is long and black.
• Coga Suro: Steve seems fond of using a cape in his superhero persona; two out of his three costumes have featured one. The first costume's cape was once used to help entangle an opponent.
• Hunters of Lecia in Crimson Knights have these. Erikr, Itham, Nevio and Mot also acquire ones after they're forced to flee to the north following Brennus Cliff's destruction.
• In El Goonish Shive, Lord Tedd wears a red cape but otherwise goes shirtless.
• The members of the Society of the Free Mind in An Epic Comic wear these with the symbol on the back.
• Humans in Girl Genius tend to favour a good Badass Longcoat instead, but Maxim and Jenka both sport capes as part of their everyday wear, and they are certainly both badass.
  • Violetta also has one occasionally, particularly in her first appearance in Castle Heterodyne.
• Quinn-Tain in Harkovast wears a dramatically flowing, dark red cape.
• Burk of Hero Oh Hero is introduced wearing one of these (and using it as a parachute, no less). It sadly becomes a "casualty of war" later.
• Homestuck:
  • Eridan Ampora sports a rather badass purple cape, complete with High Collar of Doom, as well as a rather badass scarf. He was introduced shooting a giant white whale with Ahab's Crosshairs while riding a flying seahorse.
  • Exaggerated with Orphaner Dualscar, Eridan's ancestor. Just look at him.
  • Later Dave gets one, after ascending to God Tier. Even he's surprised how protective he is of it.
• Jenny Nowhere in Jenny and the Multiverse sports a royal-blue one with a sapphire clasp, complete with a High Collar of Doom.
• Demon Hunter Kain: Liana's cape, which appears to have been ripped up in combat.
• In Moon Crest 24, Drake and Derek both wear red capes. However, Derek's is all worn and ragged and he stops wearing it as his whole vampire uniform gets trashed and then frozen in time.
• Mars from Nebula has one, which is constantly billowing dramatically despite the lack of wind in space.
• Never Satisfied:
  • Most of the competitors' outfits^note Ana's, Broom Girl's, Lucy's, Sylas', Tetsu's in the fourth test round.
  • Rin Soga's uniform as head of the guard.
• The Order of the Stick
  • Redcloak from is named after his.
  • Also popular with bards, General Tarquin, and the paladins of the Sapphire Guard.
  • And also with Loki, who has one that may or may not be made out of fire.
• Superheroes in Sidekicks get given capes that have a superpower imbued inside them upon being promoted into a superhero.
• Dante from The Story of Anima wears a long green cape that cuts an imposing figure. It also makes a handy decoy to blind enemies.
• Tower of God: Rak Wraithraiser. Not that a 4m bipedal alligator with a 5m spear would need an imposing red cape.
• Waterworks: Connie makes herself a cape from a towel. Oh yeah. Now you're a hero.

Web Original

• The very first post of Ask Gaming Princess Luna has the titular character pull this off.
• Sailor Nothing has the Dark Generals wear black opera capes, although their originals in Sailor Moon wore reasonably practical military uniforms.
• Shroud, in the Whateley Universe. But she's animated matter, so she can really make her cape billow since it's part of her.
• Several superpowered individuals in Worm wear capes (surprisingly few, given that one term for superpowered individuals is "cape"). Most of them are either notably powerful or otherwise "deserving" of the cape (such as Eidolon), but others (including Skidmark) are pointedly not. At one point, Taylor notes that few capes can actually "pull off" wearing a cape.

Web Videos

• A Running Gag in Downton Wars — Bates wears a cape believing it's cool, but Anna finds it ridiculous and Thomas says the coolness is "debatable". Although given that both of them are Sith Lords, they may just be trying to rile Bates up. Jedi!Isobel actually thinks it's "rather fetching".

Western Animation

• On the debut episode of Beetlejuice, we first see Lydia riding her bike home wearing a blue-green cape. Not so much badass as it was rather adorable.
• Castlevania (2017) has Dracula◊, of course. Trevor has a pretty awesome Game of Thrones-esque fur trim cape too, it even stays mostly intact after getting hit with the Cyclops's Eye Beam — however, he discards it soon after. In Season 3, Trevor wears a cool black one reminiscent of Dracula's cape.
• The title character of Cybersix wears a long, flowing one that dramatically blows behind her while she's Roof Hopping during the night.
• Darkwing Duck considers this a basic part of being a crimefighter, along with his hat and mask.
• Parodied in The Fairly OddParents!. Dark Laser tries to lure Timmy to the side of evil and one of his arguments is that he gets to wear a cape and that "chicks dig the cape". Laser himself also does look much more menacing with his cape.
  • Don't forget Timmy's hero look from the special "Abra-Catastrophe!"
• In Kulipari: Dream Walker, Darel has taken to wearing a light blue cape to signify his role as the Blue Sky King.
• The Owl House: Eda makes a Witch's Wool cape for Luz as a present in the penultimate episode of season 1. Witch's Wool is noted to often be used in making cloaks due to it's Anti-Magic properties giving the wearer resistance to powerful spells, so it actually does serve a purpose beyond looking cool.
• In Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders many characters are wearing capes, but only the baddie, Lady Kale, has a truly badass one: huge, flowing in Dramatic Wind and motion, and used by her in a theatrically evil manner. (Not so much badass when it lands over her head, though.)
• Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls has a long purple cape that is almost always billowing menacingly to the side when he's threatening the girls, even in scenes where they're not outside and there can't be any wind.
• Quick Draw McGraw's alter ego, El Kabong, wears a black cape. Sometimes a mask, sometimes not. However, in the opening sequence to Yogi's Treasure Hunt, he appeared at the end, giving Dick Dastardly a good old El Kabong.
• Featured in SheZow as Guy Hamdon accidentally puts on Aunt Agnes' ring (with the letter "S" on it), he transforms into a feminine superhero (in the pilot episode whom he had a pink tiara-like headband on his head and a pretty in pink badass cape).
• SWAT Kats villain Dark Kat has a huge cape.
• In ThunderCats (2011), Big Good King Claudus wears a black and silver cape that billows in every Sword Fight.
• Vampyro of Wakfu has a very valuable self-flapping cape.

Real Life

• Julius Caesar always put on his red cape before going to battle himself.
• Players in the National Football League wear capes in cold weather. Easier to put on and off with all the gear, but Rule of Cool also has something to do with it. However, during the NFL's millennium decade, those are replaced with long-sleeved sweatshirts in cold weather worn over their football jerseys (especially Tim Tebow).
• Franklin D. Roosevelt wore capes to accommodate and/or camouflage his braces and wheelchair, but the coolness of the total effect is not to be denied.
• Reds with Rockets experienced a shortage of Badass Longcoats during World War II, but instead greatly valued their waterproofed shelter-halves, which could be this trope◊ - or a tent.
• Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac always puts on bejeweled, decorated capes, cloaks, scarves, shawls, and ponchos before performing on stage.
• The US Marines mess uniform includes an optional cloak.
• During the Francoist era, certain units of the Spanish Civil Guard wore cloaks long enough to reach their ankles and wide enough for them to wrap themselves with.
• In 1949 the British Interplanetary Society designed a lunar spacesuit that looked like a Knight in Shining Armor and included a cloth of silver cape that the Bold Explorer could wrap around himself for thermal regulation.

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