Originally Posted by
John Venus
I'm not a fan of heroes lying, manipulating, gas lighting or outright mind wiping their loved ones for the sake of 'protecting' them. Hated in Robinson's Starman, hated it in Smallville, hated it in Raimi's Spider-man, hated Wally West and later Daredevil mind wiping everyone after revealing his secret identity in the comics, hated Martian Manhunter mind wiping his detective girlfriend in his ongoing run.
Also for characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, it felt like their secret identities were just them paying fealty to comic book tropes. I was so glad that the movies ditched it. IM may have revealed his secret id in 2006 but more people have seen the movie than read the comic. It was really 'I am Iron Man' and the subsequent solo and team up movies ditching the secret id that really created the sea change with secret id's not being viable.
I think ultimately, it comes down to the character. I think Superman, Batman,, Flash and Spider-man need their secret ID's and there are plausible explanations for how they maintain it. There are story lines that could be told with their identities being outed but I don't think it works as a long term fix. Plus I think there is still some power left in the metaphor of having to hide a part of yourself from the rest of the world. That said, trying to give Wonder Woman and Jay Garrick a secret identity has always felt like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It just doesn't fit. I can however, see WW (and Zee) going incognito like many RL celebrities do to avoid being bombarded by mobs and paparazzi.
There are some characters like Daredevil, Wally West, Oliver Queen, Hal Jordan who can temporarily maintain a secret identity but are either outed by a third party or they decide to unmask themselves which can lead to their own interesting story lines. I don't think Ted Grant can maintain a secret identity either, if Mike Tyson decided to put on a mask and start beating people up on the street you would still know that it's Mike Tyson.
Then there are characters who don't need a secret identity at all, like the aforementioned Wonder Woman, Jay Garrick, Zatanna, John Stewart, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, Aquaman, Mera, Elongated Man, etc.