Does anyone else miss secret identities?

[Agent Z]

The vast majority of stuff from The Big Two is stuff "we have seen play out dozens of times before in pretty much a completely identical manner." If you're tired of it, as Dragonschi said, it's probably time for a new hobby.

This thread was started by someone complaining that secret identities weren't used as often in Marvel as they used to be. Shouldn't "it's time for a new hobby" apply to them as well?

[phantom1592]

You used to have a lot of Marvel characters with secret identities- Iron Man, Carol Danvers, Hawkeye, Captain America etc. Even Thor had a secret identity. And that would add a lot of fun and cool plot elements to the characters. Then around the 2000s, everything changed. Now pretty much every hero in the Marvel Universe has a public identity except for Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Fist and some of the legacy characters created after 2010 or so. And yeah, basically, I kind of miss that element in Marvel Comics today.

I find it interesting that Marvel specifically used to have the philosophy that the most important parts of the 'heroes' was the man under the mask. Anyone could throw on a Spider-man costume or Captain America costume... but nobody could ever truly replace Peter Parker or Steve Rogers. Daredevil was Matt Murdock, the poor kid done good whose unselfish attitudes saved a blind man but cost him his sight... a lawyer who defends the innocent and fights crime at night...

Peter Parker... aunt May... Daily Bugle... JJ Jameson... Robbie Robinson... etc. etc. all were what MADE Peter parker the hero that everyone loved.

Once that's all stripped away??? First the secret IDs went away, then the social circles, then anything outside of the mask... then the mask can be passed around to whoever you want... because once a hero is nothing but action shots then sure, ANYONE can be Captain America and we can have a dozen Spider-men running around.

I understand that some people may think that the concept is outdated and there is no reason to have characters keep them in the 21st century, but like I said before, it adds a lot of story opportunities, masks look cool, it's how the characters were conceived, and DC largely still does it and it works for them. I'm not suggesting giving secret identities to everybody, but I do think reinstating some of the ones that have been lost might help revitalize what has become somewhat stale.

Secret Identities SHOULD be MANDATORY. The Incredibles hit the right notes on that subject. Heroes NEED to be able to take off the mask and be regular people on occasion. They need to go grocery shopping. They need to walk the dog occasionally... They need to find a date and hope that nobody is going to sniper them from 6 blocks just to be a jerk to you... They need to not have lawyers showing up every time a supervillain throws you through a car...

In this day and age, Secret Identities should be any heroes #1 concern. Now some people like Nick Fury has and always will know everyone's secrets... and Punisher has a military file AND been arrested multiple times... but the average guy on the street shouldn't know who Captain America or Daredevil or Hawkeye is.

[Carabas]

The vast majority of stuff from The Big Two is stuff "we have seen play out dozens of times before in pretty much a completely identical manner." If you're tired of it, as Dragonschi said, it's probably time for a new hobby.

Okay, but this is the sort of thing I absolutely hated even the first time I saw it play out. Decent people who are supposed to be heroes are not supposed to act that way.

[KurtW95]

I find it interesting that Marvel specifically used to have the philosophy that the most important parts of the 'heroes' was the man under the mask. Anyone could throw on a Spider-man costume or Captain America costume... but nobody could ever truly replace Peter Parker or Steve Rogers. Daredevil was Matt Murdock, the poor kid done good whose unselfish attitudes saved a blind man but cost him his sight... a lawyer who defends the innocent and fights crime at night...

Peter Parker... aunt May... Daily Bugle... JJ Jameson... Robbie Robinson... etc. etc. all were what MADE Peter parker the hero that everyone loved.

It is kind of baffling. But I guess that's why they think it's okay to suddenly introduce new characters that take the identities of characters that have been around forever. And yeah, that was Stan Lee's philosophy.

[comicscollector]

Yeah it´s disapointing that now some new and even classic super heroes do not have secret identies anymore.
The juggling of the secret identity and the duties of the heroes being heroes is fun to read and add more thrills to the stories making them more interesting to read.

[KurtW95]

Gonna repost the poll again for people who missed it. Current tally is 74% (14 votes) miss secret identities and 24% (5 votes) don't.

https://www.strawpoll.me/16181043

[Tiamatty]

I don't miss secret identities, especially since they're actually still a thing for plenty of characters. What I miss more is heroes having personal lives. I don't think a secret identity is actually needed for that. Steve Rogers doesn't need a secret identity to have an apartment, to hang out with neighbours, to date a civilian. Even if he's just getting coffee, a hat and sunglasses work well enough for plenty of celebrities.

The other big thing I miss is broke superheroes. I want a hero who has a part-time job they hate. ****, give me a Millennial superhero, working a part-time job to pay off student loans while living with their parents. That's what I want to see. Instead, every hero these days seems to have some sort of independent income that comes out of nowhere. The ones who do work all have really high-profile careers that make them plenty of money. It's a shame that writers have abandoned broke-ass heroes.

[Agent Z]

I don't miss secret identities, especially since they're actually still a thing for plenty of characters. What I miss more is heroes having personal lives. I don't think a secret identity is actually needed for that. Steve Rogers doesn't need a secret identity to have an apartment, to hang out with neighbours, to date a civilian. Even if he's just getting coffee, a hat and sunglasses work well enough for plenty of celebrities.

The other big thing I miss is broke superheroes. I want a hero who has a part-time job they hate. ****, give me a Millennial superhero, working a part-time job to pay off student loans while living with their parents. That's what I want to see. Instead, every hero these days seems to have some sort of independent income that comes out of nowhere. The ones who do work all have really high-profile careers that make them plenty of money. It's a shame that writers have abandoned broke-ass heroes.

Low income heroes were never really depicted with a whole lot of authenticity. It often involved ignoring the fact they had abilities or tools that would have made their financial problem non-existent, making light of working jobs people hated or just not realising that juggling superhero work and a low income job would be impossible. Spider-Man falls into all three categories.

[leokearon]

Low income heroes were never really depicted with a whole lot of authenticity. It often involved ignoring the fact they had abilities or tools that would have made their financial problem non-existent, making light of working jobs people hated or just not realising that juggling superhero work and a low income job would be impossible. Spider-Man falls into all three categories.

yeah, also they constantly try to get jobs that didn't interfere with their heroing.

[Killerbee911]

In looking over things I realized that in Marvel I don't care about it but in DC I find myself caring a little tiny bit about it. I mean Marvel has Spiderman and Daredevil as the only guys who stories really depend on it, Thor,Cap America and Marvel, Hulk,Iron Man work perfectly fine without some huge focus on Secret Identity. Where as in DC they still milk the trope to death which is fine because more of their stories have that in the setting and I think Green Lantern and Superman could easily drop the secret identity and the books would be fine. I think Civil War might have taken some of the importance off secret identity in Marvel but I look over the book and it was still only Spiderman and Daredevil that mattered everyone else could have got unmasked it and wouldn't really matter. I think you can develop a good support cast and ground hero as real person with doing secret idenity.

And a note Marvel has very few Domino mask Patriot,Stature,Ms marvel, and Winter Soldier.

[DragonsChi]

Here’s some more change I’m throwing in.....those who are saying guys like Captain America can go out and hang with “normal” friends without a secret identiy and not think he will not be bombarded with fans, attacked by villains, or have said “normal” friends hunted down to be kidnapped or killed are suspending more belief than someone trying to concel their identity with a domino mask.

At least with mask the person is activily trying to avoid being discovered so his friends or family wont get hurt.

[ed2962]

I find it interesting that Marvel specifically used to have the philosophy that the most important parts of the 'heroes' was the man under the mask. Anyone could throw on a Spider-man costume or Captain America costume... but nobody could ever truly replace Peter Parker or Steve Rogers. Daredevil was Matt Murdock, the poor kid done good whose unselfish attitudes saved a blind man but cost him his sight... a lawyer who defends the innocent and fights crime at night...

Peter Parker... aunt May... Daily Bugle... JJ Jameson... Robbie Robinson... etc. etc. all were what MADE Peter parker the hero that everyone loved.

Once that's all stripped away??? First the secret IDs went away, then the social circles, then anything outside of the mask... then the mask can be passed around to whoever you want... because once a hero is nothing but action shots then sure, ANYONE can be Captain America and we can have a dozen Spider-men running around.







Secret Identities SHOULD be MANDATORY. The Incredibles hit the right notes on that subject. Heroes NEED to be able to take off the mask and be regular people on occasion. They need to go grocery shopping. They need to walk the dog occasionally... They need to find a date and hope that nobody is going to sniper them from 6 blocks just to be a jerk to you... They need to not have lawyers showing up every time a supervillain throws you through a car...

In this day and age, Secret Identities should be any heroes #1 concern. Now some people like Nick Fury has and always will know everyone's secrets... and Punisher has a military file AND been arrested multiple times... but the average guy on the street shouldn't know who Captain America or Daredevil or Hawkeye is.

Celebrities, cops, prosecuting attorneys, etc all deal with these things. I think certain types of heroes who are basically vigilantes and are regular people when they aren't being heroes need secret IDs. But when you're on the Avengers or the Doom Patrol and your main thing is fight Kree-Skrull Wars, secret IDs are pretty pointless.

[ed2962]

"Blast It!" double post

[ed2962]

It is kind of baffling. But I guess that's why they think it's okay to suddenly introduce new characters that take the identities of characters that have been around forever. And yeah, that was Stan Lee's philosophy.

But his point was that the personalities were more important than the powers. Stan and Jack's first big hit were heroes who didn't have secret IDs.

[Custodes]

Hell yes.

You know, one i really consider to be a hero is Peter Parker. He's one of the very few left to actually still go around and stop crimes in the streets, helping people.

I miss when superheroes fought crime instead of just each other.

I also miss when the supervillians they did fight weren't always just trying to take over or destroy the world. Does nobody rob banks anymore?

I posted one comment and did mostly reading in this thread but I have to say this... no offense meant to those who disagree.... but the majority of the comments being made against secret identities are a reflection on why a lot of the stories in the comic industry are steadliy becoming so lack luster compared to several previous stories in the past. (That I wasn’t even a live to read when they came out)

When did “this doesn’t make sense” take so much presidents over “this story is so much fun” ? There are certain elements in SUPER HERO comics you have to just accept won’t make sense. Thats the whole fun of it! People firing lasers out of their eyes and little kids jumping off of buildings in their pajamas is place where certain elements shouldn’t be over thought. Its part of the genre if you are against that element so deepily then truthfully that individual is probably interested in the wrong genre and need to start to looking into other hobbies.

Reading into certain elements of a genre that has been core to said genre since inception doesn’t show a flaw in the genre but a flaw in the individual choice of entertainment.

2 Cents thrown

You guys got it right. Celebutante heroes, on Instagram and Facebook, earning living from followers are lame.Those are not modern heroes or heroes at all. Secret identities are harder to keep but, more important than ever. Not just for reader's fun but, for survival of super heroes in the world of the government trying to control everything. And lack of privacy.Just because, it is harder to remain private does not mean one should give up. I suppose stealth abilities would come in handy nowadays. And the night even more of a friend, like it is to villains. That is one of the reason why I loved the Siege Perilous. I wouldn't want to have most of my thoughts erased temporarily or forgotten by going through it but, not being able to be videotaped, or
recorded or photographed has it's benefits. I could give up the phone, like a snap of the fingers. Keep a "slat" for research, texting, e-mail and information. Turn off that GPS or leave it at home.