[Captain Audio]

On a movie discussion board we once looked into the use of body armor by the comic book Batman.
I found one instance early in his carreer where he'd worn soft body armor under his costume during a battle on an airship. Soft concealable armor in those days was made from tight woven layered silk, suprisingly effective when projectiles were of small caliber and low velocity, such as the .32 pistol, not much good against higher velocity rounds like the 9mm except at a good distance wher velocity dropped.
Effective manganese steel armored vests were available since WW1 but were heavy and not easy to conceal.

I also remember several 60's era comics in which the Batman had a number of specialized costumes, underwater diving etc. Albert once filled in for Bruce Wayne by wearing a Batsuit, with fake muscles of course,and with built in aids, such as a device in the boots that let him seem to leap great distances, not sure but it may have also been armored.
I'm not sure but Bruce Wayne may have once impersonated Superman by wearing a similar outfit with built in flying aids and bulletproofed.
Been going on fifty years now so I'm not sure of any details.

If anyone remembers these stories let me know.

Heres a site with a free PDF download of "Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare"
It will give a good idea of what sort of armor an old time crime fighter might wear.

Ironman is all about armor, and an old favorite "the Atomic Knights" used armor salvaged from a museum to fight evil in a post apocalyptic world.

Any others you can think of?
http://www.archive.org/details/helmetsbodyarmor00deanuoft

[JonTheScanner]

The original Blue Beetle's costume looks like it's chain mail.  I can't recall if they ever said it was.  DC's Shining Knight of course wore armor as of course did the Silent Knight, though he was really a knight in days of old.  Shining Knight was essentially a super hero. 

[narfstar]

I believe Captain America originally wore chain m armor

[Captain Audio]

I found that in issue #111 Batman and Robin wore full plate Gothic Medieval Armor after receiving a mysterious death threat. The armor was so heavy they substituted chains for the normal bat ropes.

I've seen images of Captain America in which his costume had the look of scale mail, overlapping scales rather than chain mail.
Some armor of this sort was tested around WW1, apparently it was very effective in stopping bullets but the scales were often torn loose by the impact.

With the use of bullet proof vests by noted "Motorized Bandits" like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, I think wearing body armor might have been expected, and not letting everyone know you were wearing a bulletproof vest was a good way to avoid the assailant just shooting you in the head.

In a Graphic Novel Batman is shot in the chest by a sniper, as he falls you can see that the bullet ripped away the bat insignia on his chest revealing body armor underneath. Batman is thinking, of course I wear a vest, otherwise why wear a target on my chest, you can't armorplate your head.


PS
The early instance of Batman wearing concealed body armor was in Detective Comics #33.

[paw broon]

I enjoyed the Atomic Knights and wasn't the armour supposed to somehow stop the radiation?
There are other examples of armoured heroes but the ones I'm thinking of are in illustrated story papers, so they might be outside this discussion.

[Captain Audio]

I enjoyed the Atomic Knights and wasn't the armour supposed to somehow stop the radiation?

Could be, I think the long term exposure to fallout was supposed to have altered the atomic structure of the steel, making it stronger and possibly radiation resistent.

A Superman Graphic novel I have has some very hot images of Wonder Woman in full Amazon battle armor.
Her previous bullet resistent armor was limited to her wrist bands, which she used to deflect bullets faster than they could be fired at her.

On a historical note American Plains Indians had a trick up their sleeve that the Calvary didn't expect. They would stretch a buffalo hide over a steam pit, the hide would draw up in the center and increase in thickness to about three inches and dry out to a wood like consistency. Shields made from these steamed hides were found to stop a .44 caliber pistol ball at pint blank range, and could slow a .45/70 rifle bullet to non lethal velocity at ranges of several hundred yards.
A Mormon Gunfighter was said to have survived numerous gunfights due to his wearing a thick buffalo hide jacket.

[Astaldo711]

I think they over did it with all the different costumes. Two or maybe three would be good but I think when the toys came out they went haywire. Under water Batman, Jungle Batman, Desert Batman, Arctic Batman, Mossy Oak Camo Batman, Oil Spill Batman, Naughty Nurse Batman...

[Captain Audio]

I vaguely remember some Batman covers with Batman being depicted as in the role of various historical fiction heroes such as Zorro, and as an armorerd medieval knight on horseback, perhaps Ivanhoe.