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  1. #1
    BAMF!!!!! KurtW95's Avatar
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    Default Does anyone else miss secret identities?

    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 I understand that some people may think that the concept is outdated and there is no reason to have characters keep them in the 21st century, but like I said before, it adds a lot of story opportunities, masks look cool, it's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.
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  2. #2
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    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.
    Last edited by brettc1; 07-30-2018 at 04:17 AM.
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  3. #3
    Uncanny Member Digifiend's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by brettc1 View Post
    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!
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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digifiend View Post
    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?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Digifiend View Post
    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.

  6. #6
    Invincible Member MindofShadow's Avatar
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    No, it is stupid outside the couple of characters that it works for sometimes. Sometimes.
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  7. #7
    trente-et-un/treize responsarbre's Avatar
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    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.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by MindofShadow View Post
    No, it is stupid outside the couple of characters that it works for sometimes. Sometimes.
    This. I’m not even fond with it over at the DC Universe but I get why it’s kept around.

    I could see it working for some characters spoof characters like Hyperion, maybe Sentry and Ironman or Doctor Strange who is doing the surgeon thing now but most of the other main universe characters I wouldn’t care for it for.

    Definitely not interested in Carol having a secret identity if she got a job military based or as a covert agent I’m game for but I don’t want Captain Marvel to be the hero while Carol Danvers be the secret identity type thing. There’s enough at this point parodying her off other characters keep the stuff that makes her unique.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digifiend View Post
    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.
    If ten years of recording The Young and the Restless for my mother have taught me anything, it's that characters in serial dramas are always happily in love...until they're not

    “The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views...which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.” - the 4th Doctor

  10. #10
    Astonishing Member Knives's Avatar
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    Street heroes should keep their identities secret as they would normally be the first to suffer revenge from villains who would chase after their family and friends. But famous heroes or members of the Avengers' main team or groups like FF secret identities are a waste of time since most of these heroes have resources, the money or the government on their side either as government agents or as military.

    The biggest problem is that the technology of the marvel universe makes it impossible for someone to hide their identity for a long time. It would be extremely difficult to do this in the real world with so many surveillance cameras or radars and in the marvel universe you can even use magic to discover this kind of thing.

  11. #11
    Mighty Member Mike's Avatar
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    Yes.
    Very much so.
    Secret Identities added another layer of drama to the characters.
    Today's writers seem to lazy to try and work in a secret identity.

  12. #12
    Ultimate Member Tycon's Avatar
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    No, not really.

  13. #13
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    Secret identities actually forced writers to be more creative as regards character building and the generation of genuine tension within the characters overarching story.

    My two cents.

  14. #14
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ed2962 View Post
    He has a bodyguard, but he and the bodyguard are never in the same place at the same time and nobody even questions well what's the bodyguard's real name...
    This reminds me of when Bethany Cabe met Iron Man for the first time and she called out how terrible a bodyguard he looked on-paper .
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr MajestiK View Post
    Secret identities actually forced writers to be more creative as regards character building and the generation of genuine tension within the characters overarching story.

    My two cents.
    I also think to some degree it led writers to get more creative with the supporting cast in terms of how they were relevant to a heroes life without necessarily knowing their identity.

    Now either everybody knows you're identity or is actively involved in your Superhero life.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr MajestiK View Post
    Secret identities actually forced writers to be more creative as regards character building and the generation of genuine tension within the characters overarching story.

    My two cents.
    Quoted in agreement.

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