Comics / Spotlight

Superman's Best Known Secret

By Andy Doan
May 20, 2008 - 21:38

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.

1. 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.
     
2. 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.
     
3. 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.
4. 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.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12