Originally Posted by
Adekis
At the denouement of Morrison's Action Comics, Kal is sitting down with Krypto, bruised but grinning because despite the fact he got the everloving tar knocked out of him, everyone on Earth came together and helped him overcome the threat. He saved the world again, and for once, the world got to save him too.
It's a wonderful contrast, a balance that exists perfectly within Superman. On the one hand, he's a pretty normal man, a kid trying to make it in the big city and to do his best to give back to the community. On the other hand, he's a living legend, the Greatest Hero of them All. And these two forces exist in tandem, in unison, making him the hero we all know he can be.
But when those forces get out of alignment, when people start calling him "Clark" even when he's not wearing glasses, when he starts bowing to corrupt authority, worrying about whether or not he's well-liked, or feels more comfortable hiding his powers than using them openly to help people, then there's a major problem.
When you lose not just Clark Kent and the secret identity, but "mild-mannered Clark" specifically, or at least the broad commitment to that idea, when you lose that fundamental outlet for Kal's everyman side, you often start losing the Greatest Hero of Them All as well, because you start giving those everyman qualities to Superman, which does not tend to improve Kal/Clark as a character, from a holistic approach.