Does Superman NEED to be Clark Kent Anymore?

[MarvelMaster616]

I was watching Man of Steel recently and I found myself asking this question more than once. I think it's a relevant question to ask, given the evolution of Superman over the past two decades. And I think the recent events of Truth have finally begun to address it, albeit it in a limited manner.

One of my favorite parts in Man of Steel was the early scenes showing Clark just living as a nomad, working odd jobs and never really establishing himself in one job or one place. I think that made him feel like a genuine outsider, which is exactly what he is. He's an alien. And even among other humans, those different from others often live on the outside looking in. I think on some levels, that's the best possible state for Superman to be in. The movie showed how he could help people just living as a nomad. There's nothing about that life that would've kept him from saving the world from Zod or any threat for that matter. I think him being Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter, is somewhat unnecessary now.

I know it's an iconic part of Superman's character, having a secret identity and a career within that identity. But I think it's less pragmatic now than it was years ago and I don't just say this because phone booths are extinct and cell phone cameras are everywhere. I say this because for most of his history, being a reporter had a pragmatic purpose for Superman. It allowed him to keep up with ongoing events in the world, which gave him the opportunities he was looking for to help people. But that world is no more. Now anyone with a cell phone and a Twitter feed can keep up with the major events of the world. Clark doesn't need to be a reporter or worry about concealing his identity, which has always been somewhat of a joke considering his lack of a mask.

I get that being a reporter has been part of Superman's identity for years. However, I think the way he's been going about it is dated. I sincerely hope that the effects of the Truth arc will explore this, especially after he gets his powers back. I really don't want to see DC try and revert everything back to the way it used to be because that way is just not pragmatic anymore. If instead Superman became more like a drifter, working odd jobs and saving the world whenever a crisis arose, that would make him a better character overall. But that's just my opinion. I'd like to open it up for discussion.

[Last Son of Krypton]

At the moment, a Superman without his secret identity seems to work only in elsewords stories.
Mostly due to tradition, the bespectacled Clark Kent will never really go away, at least until, in our society, glasses will not be extinct as the phone booths.

[Ascended]

I think you need Clark Kent. The dynamic between Superman and Clark Kent is one of the most unique and compelling aspects to the mythos. Without it, you end up with a less douche-y Mr. Majestic.

What makes the dynamic great is how they play off each other. Clark Kent is Superman's attempt to understand and pretend to be human. Superman is Clark's attempt to pretend to be a god. The "real" person is somewhere in between. If you take that out, you lose a lot of the nuance and depth the character has. Now, that would make him easier for some writers to understand. And some fans, for whom that nuance goes over their heads, might get behind the change, but it would take away one of the core aspects of the franchise.

It can be done. It can be done well, and in some versions I'd agree that the secret identity doesnt have to be included (Man of Steel, Red Sun,) but overall? Superman needs Clark Kent.

[Ascended]

I do agree with the OP however, that the Clark disguise needs a serious update and overhaul.

Being a reporter in order to keep up with emergencies that needed Superman's attention hasn't worked since the late Golden Age, early Silver Age, when his powers increased. And there are a number of other issues with the secret identity that need to be addressed. But updating the concept of Clark Kent is one thing, removing it completely is quite another.

[Zero Hunter]

I think any character needs a way to be shown living a normal life to really connect to readers. If they are always just the costume it get boring to me. Look at Captain America and how he really has no life anymore outside of being Captain America.

[Jim Kelly]

What the OP describes might be an interesting character--I can think of several characters from the past that had that story as their central concept--the question is whether that concept is Superman.

Of course, these days, rather than introducing new characters with new names, DC simply takes an existing character and attaches a new concept to that character. So I guess this can be done with Superman. And if the whole weirdness of Superman/Clark Kent is going to be abandoned, then another DC character or another publisher can probably pick it up and run with it. All's fair in love and star wars.

But this condition where characters are like costumes you put on a Captain Action doll seems foreign to me. I'd rather stick with characters who own their concepts and will live and die by them. If the Superman concept doesn't work anymore, then I'd rather see it become defunct and then whatever new concepts would have their own names and their own trademarks. But I can see where that isn't going to happen at DC and there's a monetary reason for switching out different character types on the same doll.

[t hedge coke]

Need? Maybe not.

But, looking back, there are probably more Clark Kent moments I love, in comics and elsewhere, than Superman ones.

[MrHashasheen]

To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised they haven't transitioned Clark to being a cameraman or a freelance reporter of some kind. Dude's got speed, flight, strength, invulnerability. He could pop into Syria for a weekend and do a hard-breaking, in-depth story about the refugee crisis and be sleeping at home every night while he did it. And it keeps him far more anonymous than if he was a guy on a byline or a guy on the TV, simply because unless you're getting an award, almost no one really pays attention to the camera guys.

[Jon Clark]

Does Superman need to be Clark Kent? No. As Jim Kelly pointed out in comics today nothing is necessary. Batman can be Dick Grayson or Jim Gordon. Alan Scott can be gay. Thor can be someone other than Thor. Captain America can be a black man whose more famous for having the power of flight. Blue Beetle can be a Hispanic kid in alien armor. The idea that characters actually have to have any consistency with the past is well ... a relic of the past. Now-a-days the character is whatever the publisher/producer tells you it is whether you love it or hate it.

Now if you ask whether Superman should be Clark Kent and not have a 24/7 public identity, then my opinion is that the original Superman concept was perfect. Clark is this overlooked nobody that gets no respect who with a simple changes becomes this dynamic hero who everyone admires. It's Walter Mitty brought to life. It's the core of Spider-man decades before Stan Lee adopted the idea. And it beats the pants off both the Smallville jock writ large that Byrne replaced it with and this new Superman 24/7 we are getting in Truth when it comes to giving readers a way to connect to the character.

Being a reporter can fall by the wayside - although I'd still expect Clark to have some job that let's him both find out about problems needing some super intervention and make an actual contribution to the world. But Superman needs to have a life out of the costume and it needs to be more than a drifter who keeps everyone at arms length.

[Superlad93]

One of my favorite parts in Man of Steel was the early scenes showing Clark just living as a nomad, working odd jobs and never really establishing himself in one job or one place. I think that made him feel like a genuine outsider, which is exactly what he is. He's an alien. And even among other humans, those different from others often live on the outside looking in. I think on some levels, that's the best possible state for Superman to be in.

But a state like the one described above would completely undercut one of the aspects that the character thrives on and remains relevant (particularly in this day and age) with. The idea is that Clark Joseph Kent, birth name Kal-El, stage name Superman is nothing but man with the volume turned up. His is the story of the immigrant or first/second generation. It's the story of a man that's just about as special as anyone else is. Meaning he is both mundane and monolithic. We all have our secret origins or lost kingdoms. The difference is that we fond out ours on ancestry.com, and Clark found his in a space ship. Krypton is Africa, Scotland, Finland, Germany, India, or anywhere that your parents came from (this being said from the perspective of an American so tweak the metaphor as you see fit but you get the point.)

We've all felt a little strange in our own skin from time to time. But that's such a perpetual pubescent ideal to hold onto, I feel. Superman is actually a much more mature concept when you see that it's this guy making it all work as best as he can. His story mixes the mundane and the fantastic is perfect symmetry.

His myth is also topical in that it tells everyone that they have this greater person inside them. That person is brave, strong, and smart. Bill from the next office over pushed a kid out of the way of a bus the other day and now he's back at work like nothing happened. Jessica in accounting told the VP Ted about the great graphics work that her friend Jane does, and now Jane might have a job when she come out of college. And for all those kids who feel too big for their skin? Rip your collective metaphorical shirts open and show the world what you're made up. Show us how brilliant, funny, and brave you are! Maybe weird is okay! Maybe we're all just a plant full of outsiders.

With that said, I'm not opposed to the novelty of a secret identity-less Clark Kent. There are stories there. Stories that I'd like to see told well and with care, but I don't think the idea of normal guy Clark Kent should be disregarded as the ideals of a bygone era. Does there new to be some work done? Yes you could make the argument for that, but it's surely not broken or out of date. Quite the opposite really. We need Clark Joseph Kent to put on his glasses more than ever.

[hellacre]

Clark's reasons to work as a reporter in a newsroom is pretty outdated. And will continue to be become more so as journalism and reporting of news has changed. As OP says, Superman has no reason to work at the DP to keep up with news. He has a FOS. I assume with the best tech. There is the JL statellite. Plus simply log onto the net, have a mobile phone, and you can get news breaking via soical media. And then the guy has super senses. Seriously? He can just home on newsfeeds. DC/WB seem to not even address the ethics of him writing Superman pieces or the DP doing it as well. Something needs to be done eventually. I liked the blogging as it gave him some independence or let him be free lance. He could be reporting on more social issues, trying to highlight the plight of the down trodden, refugees, dispossssed, mentally ill... heck even reporting on the state of the earth in different parts of the world and the need to educate people on climate change etc. Least that way he is not pimping himself as Superman or using his abilities to advance himself and is genuinely writing in a way to try to change the world and it would offer him intellectual challenges as Clark. I liked the reason Soule has said why he chooses to write but the motivation for his writing in the past has all been mostly not very relevant nor ethical. Nowadays some heroes too have dispensed with secret ids and seems to me makes life very easy. But Clark Kent is not forever anyway. Can't be. His aging compared to others makes the secret ID something that DC has to challenge anyway if they really want to evolve the character.

[Superlad93]

I do agree with the OP however, that the Clark disguise needs a serious update and overhaul.

Being a reporter in order to keep up with emergencies that needed Superman's attention hasn't worked since the late Golden Age, early Silver Age, when his powers increased. And there are a number of other issues with the secret identity that need to be addressed. But updating the concept of Clark Kent is one thing, removing it completely is quite another.

This is why I think Superman/Clark should just be a reporter/writer because that's his passion. He probably hopes to get a book deal someday.

[Superlad93]

But Clark Kent is not forever anyway. Can't be. His aging compared to others makes the secret ID something that DC has to challenge anyway if they really want to evolve the character.

Superman and every other comic character is either immortal or the age backwards every 15 years or so. Clark Kent is just as ageless as Superman.

Though there's always been great story (on offs or possible futures) in the idea of Clark having to "die". These stories mean more when Clark Kent is an actual person with an actual life and he must now die and be "reborn" as Superman. But as I said before they're all basically immortal because they're made out of paper.

[Ascended]

This is why I think Superman/Clark should just be a reporter/writer because that's his passion. He probably hopes to get a book deal someday.

Ever since Clark wrote that fiction novel back in post-Crisis (somewhere between his resurrection and the end of the Triangle Era) I've thought that should be his thing.

Let Clark Kent be a novelist who still writes a fist-full of articles a year for the Planet as a freelance or part-time reporter. He can write articles that expose corruption and shed light on social injustices, ushering in real, lasting change, and also write novels that inspire people and spark the imagination. He can still swing by the Planet and see Perry, Ron, Cat, and the rest of the Planet staff (he still works there after all) but if he doesnt show up for staff meetings no one bats an eye or questions it. It retains just about all of the trappings of his supporting cast and the purpose Clark serves in the narrative, without the restrictions.

Clark loves writing. And he loves the power that reporting has; its ability to change the world (just look at Watergate) in ways even Superman cant. But having to punch a clock every day means finding increasingly silly excuses for his (often long) absences.

[Superlad93]

Ever since Clark wrote that fiction novel back in post-Crisis (somewhere between his resurrection and the end of the Triangle Era) I've thought that should be his thing.

Let Clark Kent be a novelist who still writes a fist-full of articles a year for the Planet as a freelance or part-time reporter. He can write articles that expose corruption and shed light on social injustices, ushering in real, lasting change, and also write novels that inspire people and spark the imagination. He can still swing by the Planet and see Perry, Ron, Cat, and the rest of the Planet staff (he still works there after all) but if he doesnt show up for staff meetings no one bats an eye or questions it. It retains just about all of the trappings of his supporting cast and the purpose Clark serves in the narrative, without the restrictions.

Clark loves writing. And he loves the power that reporting has; its ability to change the world (just look at Watergate) in ways even Superman cant. But having to punch a clock every day means finding increasingly silly excuses for his (often long) absences.

That sounds fantastic! But I'm tron because the idea of Clark having a 9 to 5 like any other person is such a fantastic part of the character. It's like sure you can bench press a truck but Perry White still hold your rent money in his hand. But then again having a book deadline could do roughly the same, no? I'm not sure. On the one hand you could mirror the writers and artist who make his adventures possible as he'd have milestones and deadlines to meet on the regular, but on the other he has a lot of that 9 to 5 quality taken away with his added freedom. It's a head scrather.

But one this is for sure: the written word is Clark's passion that he can call his own.