This thing of Clark Kent taking off his glasses and nobody recognizing him...

[Jim Kelly]

Jim, I don't think anybody is "bent out of shape" about this. And how would what you're positing manage to fool facial recognition technology?

Putting a mask on Superman is out of the question, obviously. I think it just needs to be said that among his powers is the ability to alter his features to some degree. Clearly he doesn't alter them drastically when he takes off his glasses, but enough to fool people.

I think that's all you need to do.

So you're unwilling to give up that No-Prize.

I think that this is an accepted notion. But you don't need it explained in comic books or movies. People should be able to figure it out for themselves. In fact, that's better. It's always better when the audience fills in the details for themselves, instead of the storytellers getting bogged down with trivial details.

As for facial recognition, I don't think that's a fool-proof technology. And it wouldn't be a problem for Superman to fool the system. I used to always mistake Susan Sarandon for Lesley Ann Warren but that never threatened either woman's career--if they really are two different people.

[Ascended]

And I live in Los Angeles and have seen some celebrities who weren't getting noticed by anyone else. But that's a false analogy. All it takes is for ONE PERSON to recognize Superman as Clark Kent, and it's all over. His secret identity is gone. He has to have a way of making himself unrecognizable.

IF they can prove it. Otherwise, its just "So you think that dopey looking guy with the bad haircut and mustard stain on his tie is Superman? Where are your meds at, dude?"

Lois writes an article and outs the secret, thats one thing. Some random dude on the street? That's not exactly a credible source.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Charlotte Finn, who generally has a lot of great Superman stuff on her tumblr and twitter accounts (she also runs, or at least used to run, the absolutely amazing Film Critic Superman twitter account, easily the best non-Morrison Superman stuff of the decade thus far) posted how she'd handle it were she in charge of the Superman line, which is how I'd probably go with it and works as well as anything:

"One thing I forgot to mention in this conversation with wizard072 is how I’d tackle the super-elephant in the room of Superman lore, the question writers try and fail to grapple with: how does a pair of glasses fool the world, especially in an age where there is a camera in everyone’s pocket?

"I struggled surely as anyone, because if this question broke the best writers in the biz, what chance do I have? But I think I finally stumbled on an answer, and it’s this: never explain it, and in fact, hang a big ol’ lantern on how we’ll never explain it.

"Have Clark fool fingerprint scanners. Have him fool voice analysis tests. Have facial recognition software visibly sort Superman and Clark Kent separately. Have people try every trick you can think of to connect the two and then have Clark Kent just stroll right through them with not a single break in his stride. Finally have one of them, exasperated, ask Clark how he does it. What’s his secret?

"And Clark gives a perfect little Superman wink, and says 'if I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret any more.'

"Let people theorize on how he does it, but make it clear: there will be no official canon answer and we will actively oppose one as surely as we oppose a canon origin for the Joker, and for the same reasons. What people think they want and what they actually want, in this case, are two different things. We want to solve the mystery, but honestly, I see a lot more value in keeping Superman’s glasses stored inside the mystery box."

[Xhatch]

Haven't been reading Truth. But if everyone knows that Superman is Clark Kent, then all he has to do is get a new secret identity. If the glasses is all it took to fool people, then "clark" can get a new life and just become a different person living in Metropolis. He could be a truck driver or anything really!

[Trey Strain]

IF they can prove it. Otherwise, its just "So you think that dopey looking guy with the bad haircut and mustard stain on his tie is Superman? Where are your meds at, dude?"

Lois writes an article and outs the secret, thats one thing. Some random dude on the street? That's not exactly a credible source.

Somebody recognizes that Superman is Clark and posts side by side photos of them on the Internet. Soon it goes viral.

That's how it would happen. You don't even need the advanced science of Luthor or Brainiac to out him. Anyone could do it, and would do it pretty quickly.

[Trey Strain]

I've explained how to fix the problem, simply and cleanly. There no need for anyone to resist that approach, unless they can come up with a better one.

[adkal]

Somebody recognizes that Superman is Clark and posts side by side photos of them on the Internet. Soon it goes viral.

Like the ones of Keanu Reeves or Nicolas Cage being immortal/vampires?

[Trey Strain]

Like the ones of Keanu Reeves or Nicolas Cage being immortal/vampires?

All it would take is the accusation going viral. Once that happens, it never goes away. Clark Kent would have to vanish.

[adkal]

Realistically, though, how many pictures of Clark Kent (reporter) are there out there (in the DCU)? In all likelihood, it will be 'hardly any'. There might be a profile picture on the Daily Planet website, and maybe on something like the DCU-equivalent of Linkd-In (which is probably the same picture as the DP one), and maybe (pre-FP) on the sleeve of one of his books, but, other than those, there probably aren't many pictures of him around.

The 'problem' only exists because we're privy to the secret - we're privy to it, and it's 'so obvious', that some people end up doing a Tempus.

Pre-Crisis there were Superman lookalike competitions, and even an actor who played him in the movies and looked so much like him that he doubled for him on some adventures. He had a look-alike in Kandor (so did Lois), and Bruce Wayne looked like him, too (a theme that kicked off the World's Finest maxi series over a decade ago).

And the scene Manduck mentioned is an absolute must see:

https://youtu.be/BIaF0QKtY0c

The voice, the slouch, the shoulders...

[adkal]

All it would take is the accusation going viral. Once that happens, it never goes away. Clark Kent would have to vanish.

Those accusations have gone viral...Cage and Reeves are still around

In our world there are so many people who make a living being a celebrity look-alike, in the DCU Clark having a passing resemblance to Superman would fall in that category.

Henry Cavill was at a party with some of his friends from Jersey (he wasn't directly invited by the host as she didn't know him but was one of the 'bring a friend' tags). Most of the party-goers didn't recognise him, and the host later (a week or so after the party) commented about how 'hot' Cavill is, and one of her friends told her about him being at the party...she had no clue.

[Ascended]

Somebody recognizes that Superman is Clark and posts side by side photos of them on the Internet. Soon it goes viral.

That's how it would happen. You don't even need the advanced science of Luthor or Brainiac to out him. Anyone could do it, and would do it pretty quickly.

Oh, well if its on the internet it must be true.....

I dont think that's a great argument. Hell, some random dude posting such a thing would likely make people dismiss it out of hand. It can go right next to the tabloid papers with their headlines of "Fat Superman pumping gas" and "Batman has Ambush Bug's love child!" and "POTUS really a Durlan spy intent on stealing our ice cream secrets!"

If all you're trying to point out is that the secret identity requires a big leap of faith, well, we knew that. And plenty of reasons have been given in comics to explain how Clark gets away with it. Personally, I agree with DoT that its not something that needs a ton of attention. It is what it is, and people will either buy it or they wont.

Oh, as for the facial recognition software, I always figured that Clark either A) alters the musculature of his face slightly, like he used to do way, way back in the day, B) has a ghost program from the Fortress that counteracts things like facial recog tech, C) vibrates fast enough to blur his image, like he used to do back in the day, or D) doesnt actually have his face on file anywhere (no driver's license, passport, ect) so all anyone would have to work with is street cameras, and that basically makes it impossible to create a 100% match.

[Trey Strain]

Those accusations have gone viral...Cage and Reeves are still around

In our world there are so many people who make a living being a celebrity look-alike, in the DCU Clark having a passing resemblance to Superman would fall in that category.

Henry Cavill was at a party with some of his friends from Jersey (he wasn't directly invited by the host as she didn't know him but was one of the 'bring a friend' tags). Most of the party-goers didn't recognise him, and the host later (a week or so after the party) commented about how 'hot' Cavill is, and one of her friends told her about him being at the party...she had no clue.

You're making a false analogy. There are no vampires to be unmasked. If there really were a Superman, people would wonder who he really was. Nobody wonders who a vampire "really is."

[Trey Strain]

Oh, well if its on the internet it must be true.....

I dont think that's a great argument. Hell, some random dude posting such a thing would likely make people dismiss it out of hand. It can go right next to the tabloid papers with their headlines of "Fat Superman pumping gas" and "Batman has Ambush Bug's love child!" and "POTUS really a Durlan spy intent on stealing our ice cream secrets!"

If all you're trying to point out is that the secret identity requires a big leap of faith, well, we knew that. And plenty of reasons have been given in comics to explain how Clark gets away with it. Personally, I agree with DoT that its not something that needs a ton of attention. It is what it is, and people will either buy it or they wont.

Oh, as for the facial recognition software, I always figured that Clark either A) alters the musculature of his face slightly, like he used to do way, way back in the day, B) has a ghost program from the Fortress that counteracts things like facial recog tech, C) vibrates fast enough to blur his image, like he used to do back in the day, or D) doesnt actually have his face on file anywhere (no driver's license, passport, ect) so all anyone would have to work with is street cameras, and that basically makes it impossible to create a 100% match.

(A) is pretty much what I suggested. Give him the ability to do that.

[Jim Kelly]

It's been "proven" that Nicolas Cage is a vampire and yet he still walks around in public. Go figure.



Idris Elba Provides Additional Proof That Nicolas Cage Might Actually Be A Vampire

[phantom1592]

Jim, I don't think anybody is "bent out of shape" about this. And how would what you're positing manage to fool facial recognition technology?

His kryptonian biology rejects Facial Recognition software. Or they could bring back that 'really close' forcefield that protects his clothes that prevents the tech from getting a lock on it.

Clark Kent is a nobody and is never subjected to facial recognition... or he'd have some explaining to do.