Does anyone else miss secret identities?

[KurtW95]

You used to have a lot of Marvel characters with secret identities- Iron Man, Carol Danvers, Hawkeye, Captain America etc. Even Thor had a secret identity. And that would add a lot of fun and cool plot elements to the characters. Then around the 2000s, everything changed. Now pretty much every hero in the Marvel Universe has a public identity except for Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Fist and some of the legacy characters created after 2010 or so. And yeah, basically, I kind of miss that element in Marvel Comics today. I understand that some people may think that the concept is outdated and there is no reason to have characters keep them in the 21st century, but like I said before, it adds a lot of story opportunities, masks look cool, it's how the characters were conceived, and DC largely still does it and it works for them. I'm not suggesting giving secret identities to everybody, but I do think reinstating some of the ones that have been lost might help revitalize what has become somewhat stale.

[brettc1]

YES!

But the reason I miss them most is that it kept the heroes humble. It kept them connected with ordinary people who did not look up at them as some kind of god walking among mere mortals.

These a lot of the Marvel heroes are more like super-celebrities. They live in their own little bubble of hero-ness, even sleeping with each other in a kind of bizarre Young and Restless type existence. (Has Wanda Maximoff or Scott Summers ever had a normal human romantic interest? I mean, EVER?!)

Personally I find a lot of them borderline narcissistic, happily oblivious of their dysfunctional, in-bred lifestyle while ordinary people wait for the next alien invasion or super-villain attack to kill millions.

[md62]

My guess is modern writers/editors think secret ID's are silly and don't want to deal with them. And it is ironic that Marvel states their heroes are more "relatable" than DC heroes yet who can relate to someone that is a superhero 24/7? Some like the FF or Dr Strange make sense but I would think others would want to be "normal" at times to get a break from being "on" all the time.

[Matternativ]

I don't miss secret identities one bit. It's cool to keep it for Daredevil or Spidey but it's been overused and with most of them wearing half masks and modern technology being even more modern in comics suspension of disbelief had become very hard in that regard and only made some villains look foolish really.

I like how it's handled in the Marvel Universe were most people just don't give a damn whether their neighbours are super heroes since there are so many of them.

[Carabas]

God no.

That trope often shattered my suspension of disbelief even when I was twelve.
I'm also not a fan of heroes lying to their friends and families for no good reason.

My guess is modern writers/editors think secret ID's are silly and don't want to deal with them. And it is ironic that Marvel states their heroes are more "relatable" than DC heroes yet who can relate to someone that is a superhero 24/7? Some like the FF or Dr Strange make sense but I would think others would want to be "normal" at times to get a break from being "on" all the time.

It's like relating to cops or military people. They don't go home and pretend to be Jim the lawyer or Pete the reporter after hours.

And DC secret IDs tend to be things like billionaires and test pilots and super spies and whatnot.

[Username taken]

I miss the secret identities. It adds a sense of tension to the characters situations.

For example, I've really tried the Captain Marvel runs but the titles have been rather dull. I would rather she get a secret identity of some sort and in turn ground the character. Heck, I've even preferred Iron Man when his identity was secret. For characters like the Hulk and Captain America, it doesn't really matter so much to me but i would much prefer most characters kept their identities secret.

That's why I still really enjoy a lot of DC comics because majority of their characters hide their identities. Part of the reasons titles I really enjoy titles like Ms Marvel and Spider-man is because their identities are secret and they generally find themselves in terrible positions where they can't immediately open up to the people they love (which is something a lot of young people experience).

[KurtW95]

I don't know why suspension of disbelief (for this of all things) would be an issue in the Marvel Universe. This is a world where people who can fly, where people shoot lasers from their eyes, control the weather, shoot fireworks from their fingertips, a world with giant alien dragons, a world with vampires, bikers with flaming skulls, and giant green rage monsters.

[Agent Z]

Aside from idiot plots like heroes missing out on dates, secret identities don't add anything of substance and more for cheap drama then any actual story value.

YES!

But the reason I miss them most is that it kept the heroes humble. It kept them connected with ordinary people who did not look up at them as some kind of god walking among mere mortals.

These a lot of the Marvel heroes are more like super-celebrities. They live in their own little bubble of hero-ness, even sleeping with each other in a kind of bizarre Young and Restless type existence. (Has Wanda Maximoff or Scott Summers ever had a normal human romantic interest? I mean, EVER?!)

Personally I find a lot of them borderline narcissistic, happily oblivious of their dysfunctional, in-bred lifestyle while ordinary people wait for the next alien invasion or super-villain attack to kill millions.

This is an issue applying to most superheroes from the Big 2 regardless of whether or not their identities are secret. How often do the Titans or Green Lanterns interact with normal people these days?

If a writer wants a hero to interact with a normal person, they'll write that story.

I don't know why suspension of disbelief (for this of all things) would be an issue in the Marvel Universe. This is a world where people who can fly, where people shoot lasers from their eyes, control the weather, shoot fireworks from their fingertips, a world with giant alien dragons, a world with vampires, bikers with flaming skulls, and giant green rage monsters.

Those things are acknowledged as unusual. Secret identities in the 21st Century are pretty much an impossibility not to mention more hassle than they're worth.

[Digifiend]

YES!

But the reason I miss them most is that it kept the heroes humble. It kept them connected with ordinary people who did not look up at them as some kind of god walking among mere mortals.

These a lot of the Marvel heroes are more like super-celebrities. They live in their own little bubble of hero-ness, even sleeping with each other in a kind of bizarre Young and Restless type existence. (Has Wanda Maximoff or Scott Summers ever had a normal human romantic interest? I mean, EVER?!)

Personally I find a lot of them borderline narcissistic, happily oblivious of their dysfunctional, in-bred lifestyle while ordinary people wait for the next alien invasion or super-villain attack to kill millions.

Scott actually has - Madeline Pryor. Which caused some drama when Jean Grey was resurrected at the start of the first X-Factor series!

[Somecrazyaussie]

Scott actually has - Madeline Pryor. Which caused some drama when Jean Grey was resurrected at the start of the first X-Factor series!

But does that count since she is a clone of Jean?

[Somecrazyaussie]

Scott actually has - Madeline Pryor. Which caused some drama when Jean Grey was resurrected at the start of the first X-Factor series!

Double post.

[MindofShadow]

No, it is stupid outside the couple of characters that it works for sometimes. Sometimes.

[responsarbre]

I'm curious as to the thinking behind why so many Marvel heroes all lost their secret IDs around the same stretch of time in the 00s.

I tend to like the idea of the secret identity. Though I guess it's a little hard to believe for some heroes; I think Tony Stark's secret was bound to get out at some point.

[Killerbee911]

I don't know why suspension of disbelief (for this of all things) would be an issue in the Marvel Universe. This is a world where people who can fly, where people shoot lasers from their eyes, control the weather, shoot fireworks from their fingertips, a world with giant alien dragons, a world with vampires, bikers with flaming skulls, and giant green rage monsters.

Suspension of belief doesn't mean stupid we can believe in crazy stuff because of that is the rule of the place but you can't trick yourself into believing stupid and domino mask in real life doesn't fool anyone so suspension of belief is gone out the window. Also the biggest user of the trope secret identity used pair of glasses.

Secret identities are fine but in a world with spy drones and satellites, cameras everywhere and DNA testing it hard for the trope to hold up as well as it did in past and if the writers are going to make it work they have try a lot harder. And Domino Mask doesn't work we can tell when stuntman is in the costume and when real actor is in the costume. If your good friend dress up in a domino mask you would know it is him. When what they are making us try to belive is so out of the realm of beliveable then suspension of belief can't save it.Henry Cavil in glasses looks like Henry Cavil

[brettc1]

Scott actually has - Madeline Pryor. Which caused some drama when Jean Grey was resurrected at the start of the first X-Factor series!

As noted above, she was some kind of weird Jean Grey clone. I considered her briefly before putting down Scott's name, but there it is.