Just thought it'd be interesting to ask Wonder Woman fans about this.
Just thought it'd be interesting to ask Wonder Woman fans about this.
I feel like it's kind of become Wonder Woman's thing to call Superman "Kal," and it's a good way of distinguishing her from practically everyone else in his life who would be more likely to call him Clark.
And it works as far as the Trinity since Bruce calls him "Clark" while Diana calls him "Kal," so it shows that both are close to Superman in different ways and understand him on different levels.
I think Kara is probably the only other person in his life who regularly calls him Kal, and she has the most reason to of anyone.
I prefer Kal-El to Kal. But I don't think Diana should call him Clark or Kal-El. She should call him Supes.
As long as she doesn’t call ‘my love’, I’m fine.
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
Okay, how about χάλυψ (Ancient Greek for Steel, pnonounced khálups).
It probably depends upon the iteration of Superman.
If it's the Superman who feels that Kal-El is the best expression of his actual identity (i.e. a mix of his "civilian" disguise as Clark and his "superhero" persona as "Superman"), then I like Diana calling him by his "true" name of Kal-El. As someone who speaks the truth, it seems appropriate that Diana would recognise that both Clark and Superman are a disguise and that Kal-El is the "truth" at the core of who Superman is.
But, if it's the version of Superman who considers "Clark Kent" to be his true self, then it seems ... inappropriate of Diana to call him anything other than his preferred name. I doubt Superman would call Diana "Di" or "Princess" if she'd told him that she preferred to be called "Diana". So, really it comes down to Superman's preference.
Clark, all day long.
Clark grew up as Clark. He found out about the Kal-el thing later. But in his head, how he'd refer to himself, is Clark. That's his name, and with more relevance to Diana, that's his truth. Calling him something else feels out of character for Diana. It would imply, to me anyway, that she doesn't really know Clark very well.
She'd call him Kal-el in front of the uninitiated, so to speak. That's where the Kal-el thing is useful to Clark, as a more personal name without giving up his biggest secret.
Pretty much agree with Agent 86 here: it depends on Superman's self-identity, which changes depending on the writer.
Given the exploration on Superman's identity that Tom King did in Heroes in Crisis (which to me was one of the few really interesting and insightful things to come out of that comic), I think Diana could be used as a useful shorthand for gauging his mental status. She can naturally switch between calling him Kal, Clark, and Superman depending on how he thinks for himself.
I'd prefer she call him "Spaceman", with the caveat that he in turn call her "Princess", only they both say those terms sarcastically when they're annoyed with the other.
How is a name your own truth? In most cases, we get our names from other people. In the Man of Steel's situation (in current continuity), he got all three names--Kal-El, Clark Kent and Superman--from other people. He was saddled with those names. Who's to say that they are true for him?
Aftrican-Americans have often changed their names, because the family names they have are considered slave names and not true to their own heritage. Lady Gaga selected her pseudonym, so maybe that has greater truth for her than Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. The super-heroes who do choose their own names and aren't simply labelled by the public, maybe they are living their true self.
She called him Kal for so long and became so ingrained with her I tend to prefer that just due to familiarity. It was the one thing that bugged me when they finally got together in the New 52...she called him Clark more often. Small detail, but just a minor quibble.
"They can be a great people Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you. My only son." - Jor-El