Can you buy how Superman hides his identity?

[Jim Kelly]

Clearly there's a need for comics to evolve to match it's audience. I never questioned the secret identity. I never thought he was too powerful. I never thought about the red shorts!! I could accept Superman flying into the future when he was a boy & having adventures with the Legion of Super Heroes. Then he'd fly back to the correct moment in the past. Crazy but I came in at age 5 & just accepted it all. Today's older & more "sophisticated" audience breaks everything down. What was just part of the legend years ago is tough to accept.

I was around seven years old when I started buying my own Superman comics, but I must've known about him since birth. As llitte kids in summer, in our swimming trunks (I'm sure mine were red), we would all tie our beach towels around our necks and jump through the sprinkler, pretending to be Superman.

Is there a significant number of people who only discover Superman later in life? I don't know. If that was the case, I could see why the spell of Superman doesn't hold for them. But for most people, if you have a fantasy when you're very little, that fantasy holds strong through the rest of your life, even though you may have outgrown it and understand that it's not very realistc. Indulging in the fantasy is a way to get back to being that kid you used to be. So there's some kind of high we get from returning to that fantasy.

The only time this doesn't work--it seems to me--is when you're going through adolescence--at least for some teens, in some circumstances. When we're teens, we're going through a phase in our life where we become disillusioned. We may even become angry if we find that those things we used to think as children are not true. We might be so upset that we need to vent our rage about all this BS. And parents have to be enormously patient when they see their lovely children acting like monsters.

But most of us survive our adolescent revolutions and, when we're in our twenties or thirties, we take back the childish things we threw away as teens. And we love them all the more.

[dumbduck]

I was around seven years old when I started buying my own Superman comics, but I must've known about him since birth. As llitte kids in summer, in our swimming trunks (I'm sure mine were red), we would all tie our beach towels around our necks and jump through the sprinkler, pretending to be Superman.

Is there a significant number of people who only discover Superman later in life? I don't know. If that was the case, I could see why the spell of Superman doesn't hold for them. But for most people, if you have a fantasy when you're very little, that fantasy holds strong through the rest of your life, even though you may have outgrown it and understand that it's not very realistc. Indulging in the fantasy is a way to get back to being that kid you used to be. So there's some kind of high we get from returning to that fantasy.

The only time this doesn't work--it seems to me--is when you're going through adolescence--at least for some teens, in some circumstances. When we're teens, we're going through a phase in our life where we become disillusioned. We may even become angry if we find that those things we used to think as children are not true. We might be so upset that we need to vent our rage about all this BS. And parents have to be enormously patient when they see their lovely children acting like monsters.

But most of us survive our adolescent revolutions and, when we're in our twenties or thirties, we take back the childish things we threw away as teens. And we love them all the more.

TMI! TMI! Leave that kind of sentimentality to me! We don't talk about little boys in trunks and capes around here. I get it, I get it. One shouldn't make fellow posters uncomfort-



I kind of lost my train of thought. But. No more talk about trunks. Just no. Trunks are passé.

[Last Son]

Let me just say that I think the glasses works about as well as a man dressed as a bat convincing the criminal underworld that he's an actual giant bat. It probably wouldn't fly in real life, but it's fine for comics and fiction.

[Ascended]

Best post I've seen on this subject. It's only silly or stupid if you choose to see it that way. Well thought out and logical.

btw...not to derail the topic, but I am curious which celebs you spotted in your travels. If you want you can PM me

Thanks. Always thought the secret identity was a weird thing to get hung up on given the rest of the superhero universe. Like, an alien from a distant galaxy, from a world with higher gravity, lower light, scare resources and dangerous environments happens to look like an average white guy? And its the glasses that people cant get over? Just seems odd to me.

And I've met....let's see....Martha Stewart, that guy from 300, whatshisname, Gerard Butler or something? Some chick from Jersey Shore (J-Wow I think her name is?) and her boyfriend or husband or whatever....Pearl Jam's Eddie Veter.....whose name I think I've been spelling wrong now I think of it....and a few others that escape me. I've worked in a major tourist town on the East Coast for years and have met a lot of people that way; we've had Obama visit (missed him though, which made me sad), the Bush family has a house there, as do several other famous families....John Travolta has a place......I've met the entire 2009 (I think it was 09 anyway) Cavaliers NBA team, Larry Bird, Steven King, Eva Longoria (spelling the name wrong, but she's a tiny little brunette actress. Got a funny story about her that isnt at all on-topic and makes me look like a moron.). And most likely several others who I didnt recognize at all. Its not something I pay a lot of attention to, honestly.

[Cypher]

TMI! TMI! Leave that kind of sentimentality to me! We don't talk about little boys in trunks and capes around here. I get it, I get it. One shouldn't make fellow posters uncomfort-



I kind of lost my train of thought. But. No more talk about trunks. Just no. Trunks are passé.

I do have a question though, if we can all accept that Superaman hides his identity with a pair of glasses and a hair change, why is it so hard to accept something like trunks being a comic book thing as well?

[GrandKaiser]

I do have a question though, if we can all accept that Superaman hides his identity with a pair of glasses and a hair change, why is it so hard to accept something like trunks being a comic book thing as well?

Because they look stupid, glasses can look really sexy sometimes

[Lax]

I haven't read solo Superman in a while, but I recently heard that his identity will become public knowledge post Convergence. Now my questions is, were you ever able to buy how he hid his identity. Do you really think that a change of clothes, glasses and messier hair would be enough to keep people from recognizing him?

Never.

In a world where people actually want to know who Superman is, that woefully inadequate method of hiding being able to do the job is laughable.

Then again, I've never bought into the idea that Lex Luthor is a credible threat to a competent Superman either.

[Cypher]

Because they look stupid, glasses can look really sexy sometimes

Intelligent post.

[Slaughter]

Superman can easily do the Jay Garrick-style vibration so that his face blurs and nobody can make out the features.

I think the biggest threat to the secret identity these days is facial recognition software. Fend that out (the glasses may be key here) and we can avoid stuff like people putting Superman photos on facebook and getting asked if its their friend, Clark Kent.

Luthor would probably the one that would most easily find out... except that Lex Luthor doesn't even believe Superman has a secret identity. Luthor is so blinded by his pre-conceived notions of what a Superman would do, that he can't see past them. He only found out twice - the first when Manchester Black implanted it into his mind (Smallvile Dossier) and later, when he found out through the Godlike powers of the Zone Child at the end of The Black Ring.

Kenny Braverman only found out when he got some scientific info on Superman and compared the facts he knew about both Clark and Superman - didn't help that at the time, he kept trying to kill Clark but Superman was somehow always there foiling him.

Manchester simply noised about with his telepathy until he found out, pretty sure he found out from telepathically probing the Kents.

Darkseid knew, but then again he is a god.

I would dare say that Green Arrow and Batman are bigger offenders here - especially after Forever Evil, with Grayson's ID being revealed. Didn't Bruce Wayne admit he financed Batman or was that wiped with the reboot?

[Powerboy]

I was around seven years old when I started buying my own Superman comics, but I must've known about him since birth. As llitte kids in summer, in our swimming trunks (I'm sure mine were red), we would all tie our beach towels around our necks and jump through the sprinkler, pretending to be Superman.

Is there a significant number of people who only discover Superman later in life? I don't know. If that was the case, I could see why the spell of Superman doesn't hold for them. But for most people, if you have a fantasy when you're very little, that fantasy holds strong through the rest of your life, even though you may have outgrown it and understand that it's not very realistc. Indulging in the fantasy is a way to get back to being that kid you used to be. So there's some kind of high we get from returning to that fantasy.

The only time this doesn't work--it seems to me--is when you're going through adolescence--at least for some teens, in some circumstances. When we're teens, we're going through a phase in our life where we become disillusioned. We may even become angry if we find that those things we used to think as children are not true. We might be so upset that we need to vent our rage about all this BS. And parents have to be enormously patient when they see their lovely children acting like monsters.

But most of us survive our adolescent revolutions and, when we're in our twenties or thirties, we take back the childish things we threw away as teens. And we love them all the more.

I get that.

When I was a little kid, I loved the Adam West Batman. He was my introduction to the character. Then I got to be an all-knowing teenager and hated that version of the character. Then a few years went by and I realized how great it was.

As a kid, you just accept that Superman puts on a pair of glasses to hide his identity and flies by "force of will". Then you hit a stage where you proclaim it all ridiculous and there needs to be believable explanations. But "believable" depends on your level of knowledge. Explanations I find believable, a more scientifically knowledgeable person might laugh at. It's no different than being a kid. In some ways, kids are smarter about it. As my friend's little girl proclaims, "It's just make-believe. We're just pretending."

We just get so cynical and so "rational" that we get preoccupied with trivial stuff to the point we can't even enjoy it any more.

[manduck37]

I have no problem buying how Superman can hide his identity. Everyone always wants to say that they would figure it out or it's so obvious, but people simply aren't that observant. Just ask anyone in law enforcement how reliable witness testimony is. Clark could fly in through the window of the Daily Planet, in a Superman t-shirt and start moving furniture around with one hand and people probably wouldn't notice. How often do you notice your co-workers? Could you tell if someone wore the same outfit to work twice in the same week or even two days in a row? People are wrapped up in themselves and what they need to do through out their day. Has your wife, fiancee or girlfriend ever yelled at you for not noticing her new haircut? That's someone that you live with.

Even people who know Clark pretty well or work with him at The Planet wouldn't notice. They all have their own jobs to do and their own lives to worry about. So setting ego aside with that "I'd never be fooled!" mentality, the reality is people are focused largely on themselves and not the world around them. It's how we survive. No one would notice or care about Clark.

Another point, how often to people really get a good look at Superman? Maybe if he's giving an interview on the news or something, but has he really done that all that often? You'd see a blur or perhaps him flying overhead. Maybe you'd see him in a fight in Metropolis, but you'd be getting evacuated from the area and Superman would be in motion. It's not like Clark is always standing around next to a photo of Superman or a tv with Superman on it.

[Powerboy]

I have no problem buying how Superman can hide his identity. Everyone always wants to say that they would figure it out or it's so obvious, but people simply aren't that observant. Just ask anyone in law enforcement how reliable witness testimony is. Clark could fly in through the window of the Daily Planet, in a Superman t-shirt and start moving furniture around with one hand and people probably wouldn't notice. How often do you notice your co-workers? Could you tell if someone wore the same outfit to work twice in the same week or even two days in a row? People are wrapped up in themselves and what they need to do through out their day. Has your wife, fiancee or girlfriend ever yelled at you for not noticing her new haircut? That's someone that you live with.

Even people who know Clark pretty well or work with him at The Planet wouldn't notice. They all have their own jobs to do and their own lives to worry about. So setting ego aside with that "I'd never be fooled!" mentality, the reality is people are focused largely on themselves and not the world around them. It's how we survive. No one would notice or care about Clark.

Another point, how often to people really get a good look at Superman? Maybe if he's giving an interview on the news or something, but has he really done that all that often? You'd see a blur or perhaps him flying overhead. Maybe you'd see him in a fight in Metropolis, but you'd be getting evacuated from the area and Superman would be in motion. It's not like Clark is always standing around next to a photo of Superman or a tv with Superman on it.

If we go with the idea that Superman is always blurring his face and the glasses are just part of a meek personality Clark projects, that's fine. But I take Superman to be the hero who says, "Look. I'm not hiding anything. You can see my face" and the trick is that it's as Clark that he's wearing a mask.

Really, it's no more unbelievable than a character wearing a mask that covers just the area around the eyes.

I remember walking into work one winter wearing a ski mask. Everybody said hello to me by name and I jokingly said, "Drat, I knew that secret identity stuff didn't work in the real world."

Of course it wouldn't work in the real world. It's absurd. But it's part of the magic and charm of the super hero setting. The fact that we're even debating it shows how monotonously "realistic" we feel the need to be about it.