Last weekend, the Marvel Comics adaptation Iron Man opened to $100.8 million at the box office, the 10th highest opening of all time. On Monday, the "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" exhibit, featuring the steely gray rubber spandex latex costume that Robert Downey Jr. wore in the film, opened at - of all places - the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Exhibit curator Anthony Bolton is thrilled with the coincidence. Like the world, Manhattan is ready to celebrate the superhero, and consider its fashion contribution as more than one-piece spandex in bold, primary colors.

"This is the summer of the superhero," Bolton said. "We'll see Iron Man, Batman, the Hulk this summer, and Superman is 70 years old this year."

The superfantastic exhibit, open until Sept. 1, highlighted 60 superhero costumes actually worn in movies plus over-the-top, superhero-inspired fashions by big-name designers - including Giorgio Armani, Thierry Mugler, Rick Owens, Nicholas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga and Dolce & Gabbana- who've made a name for themselves playing with body-conscious silhouettes.

Visitors are greeted by larger-than-life stark white alabaster statues of Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman, molded to resemble the Greek gods, much like Hercules and Diana, whose images are throughout the museum - the very icons our modern-day American superheroes are modeled after.

Adding authenticity was the sleek, clean, angular backdrop crafted by Nathan Crawley, production designer for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight - much like the home of the Superfriends, Justice Hall.

Most exciting are the actual costumes from modern adventure movies. There was the faux armored black leather and wool costume that actor Christian Bale will wear this summer in the Batman flick The Dark Knight. The red-and-black-webbed James Acheson design that Toby Maguire wore in Spider-Man 3 was, well, awesome. One of the first exhibits was a hologram display that showed Clark Kent changing into the Man of Steel's red and blue tights, the costume designed in 1976 by Yvonne Blake.

Another theatrical presentation included the revolving, scaly blue costume worn by Rebecca Romijn as Mystique in X-Men.

Armani himself expressed the link between fashion and fantasy at an opening news conference on Monday. The exhibit, he said through an interpreter, "is proof that people can't live without fashion and what fashion represents. These costumes are some of the most memorable."

Also bigger than life was the "Superheroes" opening gala, a celebrity-studded affair. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Vogue editor Anna Wintour chaired the event, with high-profile invitees Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, Beyoncé, and Jennifer Lopez, in post-baby Prada.

Of course, these celebs have a better chance of looking good in body-accentuating superhero costumes than we do. But the idea of a superhero exhibit appeals to the child in us all.

Within the last decade, art museums, including our very own Philadelphia Museum of Art, have been looking for ways to blend pop culture with historic arts. Fashion has been a natural addition, a modern-day art that gets to the core of people's lifestyles, hopes and aspirations.

But the correlations between superheroes and runway fashion were a bit of a stretch.

Armani's webbed chocolate-brown gown seemed out of place. Yes, it was covered with spiderwebs, but he could have been inspired by covens or black magic as easily as Spidey.

But the Catwoman-like leather and silk catsuits in shiny noirs by Gianni Versace, House of Dior, and Dolce & Gabbana translated well into fashion. Of course, Catwoman was not even a superhero, but rather a thief in turmoil.

Her character was indeed the most sexual, though, and since superheroes spring from the imagination of men, she was the most open to interpretation - a victim, thief, dominatrix. Of all the icons, she had the most costume changes. She started off wearing a jumpsuit, which morphed into a skirt, then back to a leather jumpsuit.

Bolton was most successful when he examined superheroes as a metaphor embodying social and political realities.

Each of the heroes was separated into one of nine categories. The Incredible Hulk's ensemble, or lack thereof, was a muscular, green symbol of male virility as seen in football costumes by John Galliano, Bernhard Willhelm and Alexander McQueen.

The Flash's red suit is an example of the aerodynamic body that inspired all things Speedo. The X-Men are modern examples of mutants whose sometimes grotesque costumes represent racial, ethnic and sexual minorities who are often discriminated against and must tap their inner strengths to conquer evil.

In this contentious political climate, most interesting was the examination of superheroes as patriotic in their crime-fighting. These days blind patriotism is sometimes linked with weakness and not thinking individually. But in the 1940s when Flash Gordon and Wonder Woman were created, patriotism was linked to their superhuman strength.

The display showcased the 32-year-old stars-and-stripes suit that Lynda Carter wore in the 1970s CBS Wonder Woman series.

Today, however, the vibrant blue-starred panties were faded to a dull purple, and the cape was a bit worse for wear.

If only the costumes were as indestructible as the myths they clothed.

Contact Elizabeth Wellington at ewellington@phillynews.com. To read her recent work, log on to http://go.philly.com/

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