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| Last Updated: Jun 14, 2008 - 9:44:13 AM |
Everyone knows that Clark Kent is Superman. Everyone that is aside from
the majority of people in the world that he inhabits. In the past
careful attention was placed on creating a gap between the two halves
of
Kal-El's
earthly identities. Over the past decade a lot of that illusion has
faded away. Here are a few reasons why I believe that the Man of Steel
is due for an "Identity Crisis" of his own.
-
Superman's friends and team mates are too casual/careless with the info
- All DC "Heroes" seem to be on a first name basis.
They all seem to quickly exchange cape names for given names as soon as
they think all
mundane
people are out of earshot. This has become a way to show intimacy with
each other. This isn't surprising considering how much many of them
have been through together. What is surprising is that no one (
mundy) has over heard any of these conversations.
- We can't assume that all heroes are equal. Many of
them after-all are mostly human. Characters fall from grace on a
regular basis. Almost all are subjected to high stress situations
daily. It's becoming hard to believe that there hasn't been at least
one leak somewhere down the road. There are simply too many points of
failure.
-
Superman himself has become complacent.
- He has been given the luxury of being able to be himself most of the time. Between his time with the
JLA
and his time with Lois (and now Christopher) he is more infrequently
around people who don't know his secret. Once you have a convergence of
his caped and non-caped self I believe this would make it harder for
him to convincingly exhibit a different personality while "playing"
Clark Kent.
- It's highly unlikely that he has been
able to speed off in a streak of light as many times as he has without
someone noticing at least once.
- In
a recent issue of Superman he was able to rebuild his apartment into a
ultra high tech luxury suite. Wouldn't this force people to draw a few
inconvenient associations with Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Superman?
- His
desire to help may subconsciously trump his desire to stay secret.
Superman is the definition of selflessness. It's been pushed to the
point where he truly believes that he can save the world from any
situation.
-
Superman has many brilliant/desperate villains who could probably figure this out.
- Many
of Superman's enemies resent him deeply because of his near
invulnerability. Some of them attempt to find physical weaknesses
within him to exploit. With everything that has been attempted and
failed against him over the years it's just a matter of time before
someone decides to put a little resources into the question of who is
behind the cape?
- Paragon was able to detect Superman from a distance. It's safe to assume that there is someone else that could do the same.
-
Lex had a hate-on for Clark Kent for a while it's surprising that he hasn't put all the pieces together yet.
-
The public has changed.
- Modern
people expect higher quality information. The era of the cold war has
ended. People want to know what's going on in the world around them.
It's not good enough to know that the President is looking out for your
best interests, or that the stuff they put in the food is safe to eat.
A space man flying around in blue and red tights might raise more then
one question from a few cynical citizens.
- If there was the smallest hint of who Superman might be it would have the potential to reach viral status on the Internet.
- Although
a large percentage of the population would honor and respect Superman
there are bound to be outcasts. In modern society people who are on the
fringe are bound to find and gather with like minded people. It's not
too hard to imagine the existence of a anonymous group who would
attempt to take down Superman using the only weapon they have,
information technology.
The idea for
this article came from reading Superman #674. Many dangerous identity
moments occurred all within the 22 page issue. I offer this not as a
critique of
Busiek's
lack of focus on the issue but as a suggested path for future story
lines. The damage to Superman's secret identity is already clear in the
current continuity. It would be very interesting to see these issues
addressed in a future story arch.
Related Articles:
Superman # 677
DC Universe Special: Superman: Mongul
All Star Superman # 11
Superman/Batman # 48
Superman's Best Known Secret
Superman/Batman # 47
Tangent Comics: Superman's Reign # 2 (of 12)
Superman #676 Changed
Superman Unplugged
Artist Scott Stewart Soars With Superman
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