Originally Posted by
NotSuper
Years ago I probably would have said "yes, he does need to be Clark Kent," and while I do think that he needs to have BEEN Clark Kent (both as a child/teen and Clark Kent, Reporter), I don't think it needs to be his status quo any more.
I think the concept of Kal having lost the Clark Kent identity (which should be presented as a tragedy in its own right, something akin to Miracleman making a headstone for his alter ego before transforming for the final time) and having to find a different way to interact with humans (and super-humans) opens up more possibilities than it closes. One could always revisit past stories of Reporter Clark Kent, maybe even having Superman himself reminisce about the simpler days. Superman could spend more time in space, becoming a galactic hero as much as a terrestrial one, not needing excuses to justify long spans of time away to Clark's civilian friends and colleagues, and he could still write, both through pen names so no one knows it's Superman, as well as himself. He could be a super-powered Doc Savage, having every kind of adventure imaginable, unbound by civilian life. And as for Superman needing time to "relax," he still could, either lightly disguised on Earth, or chatting with aliens on another planet (I imagine a cosmopolitan galactic city-state where aliens of many different races all live, in a pluralistic culture, where each had their had customs but also had shared values as a city-state), who don't care he's Superman or an alien. Even just writing this makes new ideas come to me, you could really do much more and still have him recognizably being Superman. And for people who still dig the secret ID, there would be other worlds and characters, since DC seems willing to bring those alternate Supermen to the forefront rather than hide them away in the toy box--there's even a married Lois and Clark in the main universe(!), and that version of Superman could make a Clark-like public persona--the possibilities are endless.
Believe it or not, I didn't intend to make this reply as supportive of the "no secret ID" as it sounds, but as I was writing it I started to get into the idea more and more.