2025 T-Shirts
At San Diego Comic Con this year, DC announced that they would be selling the first official merchandise tied to the upcoming Superman movie. This included a t-shirt and a pin with the new shield. Immediately after the convention, they put shirts and hats up on the DC Shop only for them to sell out very quickly. They added a separate variant of the shirt to the DC shop soon afterwards.
This gives the DC Shop two different shirts. One called “Theatrical Logo” and the other called “S-Shield”. Fans online also noted that Hot Topic was also selling a shirt with the new shield they are calling the “Superman Crest”. Three Superman shirts that, at first glance, look very similar. Let’s dive in.
I was lucky enough to get the “Theatrical Logo” shirt from the DC Shop before it sold out. I also got the Hot Topic “Superman Crest” shirt for comparisons. The Superman Super Site posted a picture of their “S-Shield” version to their Facebook feed. Now, with some decent information, we can compare.
First up, we have the two I have in my possession. We can see several differences quickly. In the photo, I have the Hot Topic “Superman Crest” above with the “Theatrical Logo” below. The “Superman Crest” shirt has the standard shield in place of a garment tag, a normal crew neck opening, and a slightly lighter color. Harder to see is the quality of the material. It is a thicker, rougher cotton than the DC Shop “Theatrical Logo” shirt. It also fits a little bit more snug, possibly due to the thicker material having less stretch. The “Theatrical Logo” has a larger, rounder neck opening with the new shield as the tag. The blue is slightly darker, and the material is thinner and softer.
Notably, the actual printing of the shield is different. The “Theatrical Logo” is more of a marketing-style logo. With more texture and a shine to it. Folks at my local comic shop like the shine. The “Superman Crest” Hot Topic shirt is printed more like a standard Superman shirt that many people already have. No extra shine or texture to it. If you are looking for one to go along with a collection of more traditional Superman shirts, the Hot Topic might be the one to go with.
The DC Shop “S-Shield” shirt, while not in my personal possession, looks very similar to the Hot Topic “Superman Crest”. It has a regular Gildan shirt tag, but this could be specific to this larger size. In photos on the site, the shirts have the new shield tag. Notably, this version has copyright and trademark information along the bottom of the shield, which I don’t love. Interestingly, this also can’t be seen on the pictures on the DC shop. These shirts are print-to-order, so the photos wouldn’t be 100% accurate, and that makes me assume the example here is standard. The benefit of this is they have it in many colors if that’s something you are looking for.
For me, one of the most important things about a Superman shirt is where the S rests on your chest. Because of the smaller neck hole on the Hot Topic “Superman Crest” shirt, I much preferred where it sat. The “Theatrical Logo” sits a little too low for my tastes. The overall length is comparable between the two.
I may have too many Superman shirts, and this isn’t even all of them. Top to bottom in column one is a generic S, Electric, 2025 Hot Topic “S-Shield”, 2025 “Theatrical Logo”, Superman Returns, Man of Steel, and ’78. Column two has a distressed S, another generic S, Curt Swan style, slate George Reeves, color George Reeves, black and white George Reeves cape, and finally Batman v. Superman.
August 19, 2024 Design Superman 2025