Not All Heroes Wear Capes is a catchphrase used to describe everyday people who do good deeds, indicating that people in reality, rather than fictitious superheroes, are capable of courageous behavior. The phrase is often used in sarcastic or humorous contexts for individuals have done something mundane, foolish or worthy of admiration.

The earliest known usage of the phrase comes from a t-shirt for the computer company Compaq. The shirt features the phrase on an image of a shirt pocket filled with pens (shown below).^[6]

Another early example was posted on the now-defunct blog "ifo Apple Store,"^[1] a news source specifically for updates about the Apple technology company's retail store, on April 28th, 2008. That day, they reported that Apple Store would be updating their uniforms. Among the changes, Apple hardware repair technicians, know as Geniuses, would be receiving shirts that read "Not all heroes wear capes."

Two weeks later, on May 14th, 2008, Flickr^[2] user Dan Moren posted a picture of the shirt. the post received more than 1,700 views in 10 years (shown below).

On April 15th, 2015, Redditor ^[3] SickCambos posted an image macro of Good Guy Greg. The thread was titled "Not All Heroes Wear Capes." The post received more than 21,000 points (88% upvoted) and 275 comments (shown below, left).

The following year, Domino's Pizza's verified Twitter ^[4] account posted an image of Domino's employees with the caption "Not all heroes wear capes. Thanks to our team members around the world. #EmployeeAppreciationDay." The post received more than 90 retweets and 225 likes in nearly three years (shown below, center).

Later that month, on March 19th, competing pizza chain Pizza Hut released a video entitled "Not All Heroes Wear Capes." Within three years, the video has received more than 78,000 views (shown below, right).

On June 16th, 2017, the band Owl City released a video for the song "Not All Heroes Wear Capes." Within two years, the video received more than 4.6 million views (shown below).

On November 2nd, 2018, American record producer Metro Boomin released his debut album Not All Heroes Wear Capes. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard album charts.^[5]