Super-hero Day Jobs

[j9ac9k]

I was just catching up on "Black Lightning" and had a thought that I enjoyed it more when Jefferson was the principal at the school. It really showed who he was as a man, which informed who he was as a hero, and gave the show more interesting story possibilities than just the hero v. bad guy stories.

Anyway, that lead me to think of which other heroes really benefit from having a job. Some heroes are almost inseparable from theirs - Superman as Clark Kent at the Daily Planet is the clearest example. Hal Jordan was off in space for almost all of "Hal Jordan & the Green Lantern Corps," but Venditti made it impossible to not know that Hal Jordan was a pilot - it's just part of who he is. I think people who don't even follow him know that - as oppose to say, Firestorm - has Ronnie Raymond ever even had a job? I have no idea. There's been a definite shift away from the "hero with a secret identity and day job" trope in recent decades, but for some it still works.

Which other heroes do you feel really benefit, or need, to have their job as an important part of their identity?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Well, there’s Barry Allen who’s a forensic scientist with the Keystone City PD when he’s not busting bad guys as the Flash. Of course, he chose that position as a means to help solve the mystery of his mother’s murder, it’s hard to imagine Barry as anything BUT a cop.

[Raijin]

This has always intrigued me. In my mind, most superheroes don’t have jobs. But I wonder how they get by on a regular basis. I imagine John Stewart still gets his income from the military.

[Frontier]

This has always intrigued me. In my mind, most superheroes don’t have jobs. But I wonder how they get by on a regular basis. I imagine John Stewart still gets his income from the military.

I think he also makes some income as a freelance architect...when he's actually around Earth to do any architecture work .

[Lee Stone]

I remember the Bronze Age was full of heroes dealing with work life and social conflicts while fighting crime.
You'd see them in plain clothes almost as much as in costume.
And they also had a wider range of 'normal folk' supporting characters.

Seems that nowadays 'superheroing' is their job and they only socialize or have romantic interests with other superheroes (or villains).

[Flash Gordon]

I remember the Bronze Age was full of heroes dealing with work life and social conflicts while fighting crime.
You'd see them in plain clothes almost as much as in costume.
And they also had a wider range of 'normal folk' supporting characters.

Seems that nowadays 'superheroing' is their job and they only socialize or have romantic interests with other superheroes (or villains).

I was just thinking about this today. The wealth of character in those stories compared to nowadays where everything is just all costumes all the time.

[Sutekh]

I remember the Bronze Age was full of heroes dealing with work life and social conflicts while fighting crime.
You'd see them in plain clothes almost as much as in costume.
And they also had a wider range of 'normal folk' supporting characters.

Seems that nowadays 'superheroing' is their job and they only socialize or have romantic interests with other superheroes (or villains).

This seems to be a big difference between team books and solo books. Batman and Superman, for instance, have a pretty fleshed out 'NPC gallery' of people like Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Perry White, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, etc.

Characters without significant solo runs, like Vixen or who usually only appear in team books, like Cyborg, not so much, and so their universe seems smaller.

I miss this over at Marvel as well, a constellation of people orbiting the 'hero' and making it seem more like they inhabit a living, breathing world, and not just a painted backdrop of passersby that will never be seen again (or matter at all, emotionally). No Mrs. Arboghasts, no Moira McTaggarts, no Willy Lumpkins, etc. If the non-super-people in our heroes lives aren't killed off, or just written out, they are turned into superheroes, like Jane Foster-as-Thor, or Lana-as-Superwoman, or 'Spider-Gwen.'

[DrNewGod]

I think he also makes some income as a freelance architect...when he's actually around Earth to do any architecture work .

Wasn't John originally only an architect? I don't remember The Marines being part of his back story (or at least, not a prominent part) until the Timm-verse JL toon came out.

[Frontier]

Wasn't John originally only an architect? I don't remember The Marines being part of his back story (or at least, not a prominent part) until the Timm-verse JL toon came out.

I think that's pretty much what happened.

He was an architect and they retconned him into being a Marine to tie-in to his cartoon depiction.

[DrNewGod]

In his first incarnation, half of Firestorm (being a Spider-Man counter-part) was a student, and the other half a nuclear physicist.

Hawkman has been a museum curator. It makes sense as both a gateway to his adventurers, which often involve anceint artifacts and mystical mcguffins, and as a function of his preference for archaic weaponry.

The Atom (regardless of incarnation) is generally a physics professor. That works as his abilities are easily as dependent on his knowledge of how to use his variable mass as his ability to alter his mass.

Vigilante (II) had an especially neat secret ID job. Judge on one side, criminal-stalker on the other.

[byrd156]

Pretty much most of the DC heroes I can think of are better off with a secret identity and a day job. Honesty John, Guy, and Booster are the few characters that don't really need one.

[DrNewGod]

Pretty much most of the DC heroes I can think of are better off with a secret identity and a day job. Honesty John, Guy, and Booster are the few characters that don't really need one.

As created, "being Booster" was Booster's day job.

[byrd156]

As created, "being Booster" was Booster's day job.

I meant more on the whole secret identity side. Booster's job and his heroism goes side by side.