On Earth, superheroes can soar through the air and swing through the urban jungle like Tarzan. But when costumed crime-fighters go into deep space, they often need a ship to zoom around in. Here's a round up of insane and awesome superhero space vehicles.
Note: This doesn't include most of the actual "space heroes," like the Guardians of the Galaxy or L.E.G.I.O.N. or whoever, who obviously have spaceships up the wazoo. Just famous superheroes whom you might not think of as flying a spaceship, necessarily.
Batman
Batman has actually flown a number of spaceships over the years. Here he is flying around with Damian in an issue of Batman and Robin (via Scans_Daily):
Here's his Bat-flying saucer, from JLA Classified #1 (via Comic Vine):
And apparently that was sold as a toy at one point:
But also, Batman has a space shuttle (in Superman/Batman, also via Comic Vine):
And in at least one issue of Brave and the Bold, Batman has a very different spaceship:
Also, in his various animated TV shows, Batman has owned a few spaceships. Notably, there's this one from The Brave and the Bold:
Also:
What Bat-ships did we miss? Let us know!
Sure, Superman can fly through interstellar space without any ship or anything. But maybe he doesn't feel like it sometimes. In any case, there were definitely some issues of DC Comics Presents back in the 1970s or early 1980s where Superman has his own space cruiser, in case he wants to haul his friends around with him. All I could find online were these toys, however:
Superman's Space Sled:
Superman's Space Cruiser:
Green Lantern
Like Superman, Green Lantern can fly around in space without any ship. But for a while in the mid-1980s, Hal Jordan's Green Lantern was banished from Earth by the Guardians, and he actually lived aboard a space cruiser. And in the short-lived Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Hal and his friends also flew around in a big starship. (There's also the fact that Abin Sur, Hal's predecessor, flew around in a big starship for some reason.)
The Fantastic Four:
Unlike some of these other heroes, the Fantastic Four are tied to spaceships, since their origin involves flying through space. But they also have some pretty neat space vessels (via Snark Free Waters, Comics And, Comic Book Herald and Bronze Age Babies):
The X-Men
The X-Men fly into space a lot, when they're dealing with the complicated affairs of the Shiar Empire. Or fighting the Brood. Or zooming off to deal with the Breakworld and its terrible breakdancing schemes of planetary destruction. (Images via Capns Comics, Rokk's Comic Book Revolution, Writeup.org):
The Avengers
Seems like the Avengers mostly borrow ships from other people when they go to space. Like Starfox, whose dad Mentor supplies a ship for them to get to the Skrull Throneworld. Or Tony Stark/Iron Man. Or SHIELD. (Meanwhile, what is it with H-shaped spaceships in the Marvel universe?) Images via SuperMegaMonkey and Scans_Daily.)
The Incredible Hulk:
Here's the ship he gets sent off to the planet Skaar in, in "Planet Hulk" (via Scans_Daily):
And here's another ship the Hulk zoomed around in:
The Justice League:
For a long time, they had the Watchtower, which was technically a Moonbase (or sometimes a satellite), but it had some maneuverability in the TV show, I believe:
And here's Wonder Woman piloting a mid-1990s version of the League around in a nice spaceship, via Scans_Daily:
Random Other Heroes:
Also in 52, Starfire, Adam Strange and Animal Man zoomed around in a spaceship, which you can glimpse below:
For more reading, check out superhero vehicles, more superhero vehicles, superhero headquarters and H.G. Giger's Batmobile.
The Most Intrepid Superhero Spaceships