CNN analyzes the efficacy of Clark Kent's glasses disguise.

[Buried Alien]

CNN analyzes just how Clark's traditional disguise works.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lightning Rider]

Good stuff. Haircut, composure, and voice add up as well.

[Vanguard-01]

It's not just the look, either. Some writers establish that Clark alters practically everything about himself when he's Clark Kent.

I can't remember which issue of which book, but I seem to recall Alan Scott and one of the other JSA-members (I think it was Jay) got into a discussion about secret identities. One of them mentioned Clark and the other (I think it was Jay again) said something like "Clark slouches, wears clothes that are two sizes too big for him, and raises his voice an octave."

All these things add up. It's not just the glasses. It's the fact that the Clark Kent persona is designed to make it impossible for people to note the similarities in appearance as anything more than coincidence.

Barry Allen has a similar trick. He doesn't change his whole personality like Clark does, but he's got one trick that makes it really hard for people to make the connection between "Barry Allen" and "The Flash." Barry is infamous for his tendency to be late. In his own book, people joke that he'd be late for his own funeral. It's a small thing, but it really does help prevent anyone who knows ANYTHING about Barry Allen from making too many connections.

"Yeah, right! Barry Allen, who would be late to his own funeral, is the Fastest Man Alive! Yeah. Sure!"

[Jon Clark]

Interesting.

I've always wanted to see someone create a Superman/Clark Kent type test using as many of the explanations as possible (vocal change, slouching, oversized clothes, glasses....) to walk around an area they are familiar and see if they can fool people.

[Myskin]

In real life the trick would never work. Not for people who are close to him or enemies who constantly keep their eyes on him.

[ManSinha]

In real life the trick would never work. Not for people who are close to him or enemies who constantly keep their eyes on him.

There was a Superboy story where a foe deduced his identity by triangulating his appearances and disappearances - with the modern software available - it would be harder to pull it off unless Clark interacted less with his support cast. The same can be said for Batman as well

[Kid_Quantum]

In real life the trick would never work. Not for people who are close to him or enemies who constantly keep their eyes on him.

I would argue that Chris Reeve showed just how effective it could be.

[Myskin]

I would argue that Chris Reeve showed just how effective it could be.

Quite frankly, no.

[Ascended]

In real life the trick would never work. Not for people who are close to him or enemies who constantly keep their eyes on him.

Im not so sure, honestly.

A few semesters back in my sociology class, we watched a video where someone would ask a random person for directions. In the middle of getting directions, a group of people carrying a large painting would force their way between them, and in the process, the person asking for directions would switch out with someone else dressed the same way.

No one noticed. At most, there'd be a quick double take, and then they'd go back to giving directions.

To keep it interesting, the people doing this study started getting more extreme. They started replacing the person asking for directions with someone from a different race. Then different genders. Then both a different gender and race at the same time.

And still, at most, all they'd get is an odd look.

People see what they want to see.

Clark Kent is socially invisible. No one is going to notice that he looks like Superman because no one notices him in the first place. And no one really believes that Superman has a secret identity either, so they're not looking from that side of things.

Now, granted, in reality someone would get lucky and manage to track the guy back to his apartment. Or that one random person would notice Clark at just the right angle and make the connection. Lex Luthor, if he were half as smart as he's supposed to be, would figure it out within a week. But I think there's enough plausibility to the disguise, in part because it is so obviously silly and in-your-face, that it's perfectly acceptable.

Hell, if Hal friggin Jordan can manage to keep a lid on his secret identity, then so can Clark Kent. Hal's mask doesnt do anything to hide his features that the glasses dont.

[Frontier]

It's not just the look, either. Some writers establish that Clark alters practically everything about himself when he's Clark Kent.

I can't remember which issue of which book, but I seem to recall Alan Scott and one of the other JSA-members (I think it was Jay) got into a discussion about secret identities. One of them mentioned Clark and the other (I think it was Jay again) said something like "Clark slouches, wears clothes that are two sizes too big for him, and raises his voice an octave." "

I think that was actually a talk between Hal and Barry in Blackest Night, with Barry talking about how badly Hal manages his secret identity compared to other heroes .

Unless Johns was just repeating himself from his JSA run.

[Vanguard-01]

I think that was actually a talk between Hal and Barry in Blackest Night, with Barry talking about how badly Hal manages his secret identity compared to other heroes .

Unless Johns was just repeating himself from his JSA run.

Huh. Well, I'll be darned.

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[Frontier]

Huh. Well, I'll be darned.

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At least you had the right idea, with a discussion between a GL and a Flash .

[Myskin]

Clark Kent is socially invisible. No one is going to notice that he looks like Superman because no one notices him in the first place.

Not really. That's part of the problem. Clark is a man with very strong social relations (Lois, Jimmy, Perry and - to a degree - Lex). And the very same people - who are journalists, that is people who supposedly are accustomed to recognizing people in the distance - have even stronger social relationships with Superman, who is the most famous person in the world. Quite frankly, it doesn't make sense that they don't realize that Clark and Supes are one and the same (and it doesn't make sense with Hal Jordan, either... Even if GL's field of operation seems to be space rather than earth).

By the way, now that I think about that, no Superman adaptation (movie, TV series) really gave an idea of a socially invisible Clark Kent. For the most part, Kent is represented as a socially awkward man with a very dated hairdo or, well, Superman with glasses. No director experimented with any directorial choice which could make Clark unnoticeable to the viewers, in order to make the Clark/Superman thing believable to them, too. It could be an interesting directorial challenge. But I digress.

[JAK]

In most movies, they do just play him as "Superman in glasses".

But there are several things at work with Superman. Here's my take:

Clark wears flats, Superman's boots (not always the case) would have a heel so the effect of height difference is even greater than slouching alone. Glasses and a hair change really do make a big difference - we bumped into friends of ours while my wife and I were dressed as Lois and Clark (we'd just come from a local comic convention) and it seriously took them three minutes and us saying who we were before they knew. They thought we were Jehova's Witnesses, lol.

Beyond even changing one's vocal register, there's also changing the pattern and certain pronunciations. Nothing too out there, just enough to make Clark's speech less "solid" than Superman's.

For the face, people tend to have a "resting" face - something they make when not doing anything at all. For Clark and Superman, these would also be quite different. After awhile, the suit he wears would make it an automatic tick that he wouldn't have in the other suit. Emphasizing or compensating for a slight overbite can make a person's face seem much shorter/longer, respectively, and that also has an effect on how they're perceived when seen. Clark's eyes would be generally "wider" and would be so when emoting, Superman's more of a squint (I like that just for the Shuster nod alone).

The glue for all of this, though, would be that Clark and Superman have been seen together at various times, and he makes a point of doing smaller things "as Superman": getting a pretzel or hot dog, etc. If people see him doing things now and again as Superman, they won't even think about a secret identity.

As for technology/etc, Superman would just have to be very vigilant and too fast for detection (when he wanted to be). I will say, though, I kinda liked the idea they had for the Post-Crisis Superman where Lex was given evidence and his own ego prevented him from believing it.

[Myskin]

In most movies, they do just play him as "Superman in glasses".

But there are several things at work with Superman. Here's my take:

Clark wears flats, Superman's boots (not always the case) would have a heel so the effect of height difference is even greater than slouching alone. Glasses and a hair change really do make a big difference - we bumped into friends of ours while my wife and I were dressed as Lois and Clark (we'd just come from a local comic convention) and it seriously took them three minutes and us saying who we were before they knew. They thought we were Jehova's Witnesses, lol.

Beyond even changing one's vocal register, there's also changing the pattern and certain pronunciations. Nothing too out there, just enough to make Clark's speech less "solid" than Superman's.

For the face, people tend to have a "resting" face - something they make when not doing anything at all. For Clark and Superman, these would also be quite different. After awhile, the suit he wears would make it an automatic tick that he wouldn't have in the other suit. Emphasizing or compensating for a slight overbite can make a person's face seem much shorter/longer, respectively, and that also has an effect on how they're perceived when seen. Clark's eyes would be generally "wider" and would be so when emoting, Superman's more of a squint (I like that just for the Shuster nod alone).

The glue for all of this, though, would be that Clark and Superman have been seen together at various times, and he makes a point of doing smaller things "as Superman": getting a pretzel or hot dog, etc. If people see him doing things now and again as Superman, they won't even think about a secret identity.

As for technology/etc, Superman would just have to be very vigilant and too fast for detection (when he wanted to be). I will say, though, I kinda liked the idea they had for the Post-Crisis Superman where Lex was given evidence and his own ego prevented him from believing it.

I appreciate the effort. But no, it wouldn't work. Not on a daily basis, not with someone as famous as Superman is and not with people who are equally close to Superman and Clark as well.

And while I am at it, about Byrne's Luthor story: Byrne had an interesting idea, but IMHO he wasn't able to develop it properly. As far as Luthor knows, Superman could be a sleeper for an alien invasion or an emperor on Mars and a secret agent on earth at the same time. There are a lot of reasons Luthor shouldn't have discarded the computer's discovery in the first place. He didn't appear blinded by his own narcisissim, just stupid.

IMHO the truth is very simple: the secret ID works as long as the writers forces it to work. That doesn't necessarily mean that this plot point is vaguely believable in a real-world situation, and it doesn't imply that the readers must be necessarily convinced by the writers' attempts (generally speaking, I am not).