Does Superman lie?

[daBronzeBomma]

Yes, he lies.

All day, everyday.

Both to protect his secret identity, and his considerably less powerful loved ones from the potentially severe reprisals of his enemies.

FFS, see what happened when Luthor figures out Clark's secret in DAWN OF JUSTICE: both Lois and Martha were immediately kidnapped.

People always yap about "Truth, Justice, and the American Way", and they always hound the American Way part as problematic when really it's the truth that Supes does not stand for in its purest form.

But there's never been any doubt about the justice part.

[Kuwagaton]

I do think he stands for truth and the American way ideally, which is not literal. The absolute truth can empower his enemies and the complete American way is a paradox without end.

Justice is represented in say, giving Lena back after Lex gave her up. He doesn't just define the concept by his convenience.

But as we're focusing on truth, with the exception to his wife Lois I don't believe anyone is entitled to the truth of his existence. I don't think there's a reason someone like Jimmy "deserves" to know.

[williamtheday]

DC Database tells of Superman V.1.176: Superman's Day Of Truth. All Kryptonians must tell the truth on a holiday honoring Val Lor, who spoke out against invaders who enslaved Krypton.

[Ascended]

I wish they'd use those old Kryptonian holidays and traditions more often. It's a fun way to dig into that side of Clark's life, and it can put him in fun situations. Superman trying not to lie for a whole day? That's a fun story, it's a different kind of complication and threat than he's used to, and it bring out a side of Superman that, for my money, is ignored far too often.

[hellacre]

Yes he does.

The problem is not blending in or protecting others. It is using it for personal gain...awards, headlines, not telling his employer, disappearing off the job,his wife writing stories on him ...trying to shape public opinion but neither himself or his wife giving full disclosure so when it comes to ethics...they pretty much are on shaky ground. You cannot be acting as if you are for Truth when you fail to put the mirror on yourself, especially for a character who tends to preach at others about morality. He has little excuse to be honest other than it is to stay in his comfort zone because many other heroes have loved ones too and they are open and don't hide. The only reason he has to lie is because DC wants him at the DP. Outside of that there is really no vital reason, he could not be Clark and Superman given where we are with the superhero genre. Even the way DC have him be a reporter feels dated.

[Adekis]

Superman lies constantly. I do not think this is a controversial claim. If you live a double life, you're lying to somebody, probably to most people who ever meet you.

[TaliaJoy]

Yes he does.

The problem is not blending in or protecting others. It is using it for personal gain...awards, headlines, not telling his employer, disappearing off the job,his wife writing stories on him ...trying to shape public opinion but neither himself or his wife giving full disclosure so when it comes to ethics...they pretty much are on shaky ground. You cannot be acting as if you are for Truth when you fail to put the mirror on yourself, especially for a character who tends to preach at others about morality. He has little excuse to be honest other than it is to stay in his comfort zone because many other heroes have loved ones too and they are open and don't hide. The only reason he has to lie is because DC wants him at the DP. Outside of that there is really no vital reason, he could not be Clark and Superman given where we are with the superhero genre. Even the way DC have him be a reporter feels dated.

Good! I know it's hypocritical of him and all that, but everything you mentioned is pretty important to Superman being an interesting character to me. It's nice that Superman has an area of his life where he's actually looking out for his own interests and personal gain, and it's not a bad thing at all for Superman to have flaws. As far as the writing about himself thing goes, while it's obviously an ethics violation, I would like to assume he's trying his best to be unbiased (even though obviously you can't rid yourself of bias completely, especially when you're THAT close). If he's really being purposefully manipulative of the truth, I would certainly have a problem with that, but while my knowledge of Superman canon is lacking, I would assume that he doesn't do that (except maybe on extremely rare and unusual occasions where he believes it's for a good reason). And yeah, being Superman helps him get some sweet headlines, but every good reporter makes use of their connections

I know that some people want to get rid of the Daily Planet and even Superman having a secret identity at all, but to be honest, that would very severely decrease my interest in the character. That's just the way it is for me - this may sound weird, but I only ever got interested in Superman because of Clark.

All that said - I definitely wouldn't like it if it really was the case that ALL of Clark's success comes from his connection to Superman. I can get being unhappy with that. So I think it's important that the perks he gets from being Superman only represent a relatively modest percentage of Clark's success. It's also worth noting that sometimes being Superman can have a very negative effect on his career, so I like to think it's somewhat balanced out in the end.

[Shriveling_memo]

I always thought that apart from maybe writing the article on superman to get the job at daily planet, he never writes stories on himself. That way he never crosses the line.

Also I dont think he likes about not being Clark, he just says hes superman.

[Adekis]

I always thought that apart from maybe writing the article on superman to get the job at daily planet, he never writes stories on himself. That way he never crosses the line.

I don't think that actually holds water if you look at the majority of Superman incarnations across various media, but I admit I have more respect for New 52 Clark's journalistic integrity than any other version of Clark - he doesn't owe his job to writing about Superman, he's very uncomfortable writing about Superman, and even when he does have to write about Superman, he catches flak from the boss for always focusing on "the real heroes," people like fire fighters or civilians who risk their lives.

Understand, I really don't think any other version of Clark is as good about that. Golden Age Clark frequently pisses off Lois by scooping her on Superman stories, Silver Age Clark writes about Superman on the reg as well, and post-Crisis Clark explicitly uses his position in the media to manipulate how the public feels about the Man of Tomorrow, which is questionable, at least. Nor do I think post-Flashpoint Clark is less of a liar in his personal life than other Clarks are. I just think he's got more journalistic integrity.

[Kuwagaton]

I always thought the article from Adventures 443 best summed up his writing.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon...._QL80_TTD_.jpg

[TaliaJoy]

Yeah, I kinda like the idea of Clark trying to compensate for his conflict of interest by purposefully trying to "undersell" Superman a bit in his articles. I wouldn't consider it necessary or anything, but it's an interesting idea. Could also be to protect his secret identity, though in most continuities Clark is obviously supportive of and a friend to Superman anyway, so it might not make as much sense or work as well in that context.

I do remember in the episode of Lois & Clark with the heat wave, Clark kinda did that. People were speculating that Superman's absorption of the sun's rays was causing the heat wave, and Clark (seeming to feel guilty about the possibility of it being true) wanted to write about that, but Lois criticized that idea as being slanted against Superman. I definitely wouldn't complain about more instances like that happening.

On an entirely different note, if you do want to go with the norm of Clark happily writing about Superman, you could explore his motivations of why he thinks that's OK. It might be a sort of arrogance - a belief that he's so devoted to the truth that he doesn't need to worry about being biased. Another motivation is that he thinks it's for the greater good to create a positive image of Superman in the public eye and build their trust. Neither of these motives are exactly "good", but as stated earlier, I don't think Superman being a flawed individual is something to shy away from.

[Ascended]

Like Adekis, I don't like it when Clark writes about himself.....but that's what Clark does 95% of the time. I loved that the New52 tried to get away from that.

But since he does write about himself, I figure it's part of his big picture plan. Clark's not just trying to inspire people to some vague notion of morality; he's got a specific goal and endgame for the human race in mind. He wants us to catch up to that bright, shiny future he saw as a kid with the Legion. He can't drag us there, because that's self-defeating. But he can show us the way. And while Superman might be the guy who saves the planet and stops the monsters, it's Clark Kent who changes political policy, roots out the corrupt in power, and forces a spotlight on issues and problems everyone would like to ignore. So if Clark writes about Superman, and that helps bring humanity a little closer to the future Clark has picked out for us, he probably sees it as a non-issue. It's a violation of journalistic integrity, but in his mind necessary for winning the Never Ending Battle.

I'd still rather Clark not write about himself at all, but I can see how it'd be something he would do and think it was acceptable.