Thomas Gounley

TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Last fall, for the first time, employees of Springfield-based company Class Glass were asked to dress as superheroes while washing windows.

The job was at the children's hospital in Columbia. With limited time to prepare, the employees obtained outfits from a rental shop near the University of Missouri campus.

"You can imagine they were kind of frat-quality costumes," Class Glass owner Justin Hess recalled Tuesday.

On Thursday, Class Glass was back on the job. But Hess had planned ahead and ordered online.

"This time, we kind of went a little further and got theater-quality outfits, to better play the part," he said.

Employee Niall Tucker became Spider-Man.

Jacob Stockstill gave way to Batman.

David Franklin was suddenly Captain America.

And Hess transformed into Superman — something of a practical decision.

"To be frank, I do powerlifting," Hess said. "I'm bigger than average for costumes. It was the only thing I could find that would fit me."

The four spent Thursday morning visiting about 30 kids in the hospital and autographing pictures. Then it was off to dangle on the side of the building, cleaning the surface the patients watched them through.

Beforehand, Hess estimated the job would take about five hours. He said he'd been workshopping a line: "When we don't have crime to go fight, we fight grime." He said his wife told him it was cheesy.

Class Glass was founded in 1981. Hess, after working for the company for years, purchased it in late 2015.

When asked, Hess admitted superhero costumes are a little bulkier — and thus hotter — than ideal for a late May job. But he didn't want that to come across as a complaint.

When Class Glass was at the MU Women’s and Children’s Hospital last fall, Hess said, the kids were "just excited." The window washers were a brief break from reality.

"Whatever they had going on in the day, good or bad, was just forgotten," he said.

Hess — who has a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old himself — also found himself looking at the parents that day. He saw the same relief there as well.

"They weren't thinking about what was wrong with their kids for that moment," he said.