• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Any point in secret identities?

And Superman was truly an jerk, considering that while he professed to Lois his everlasting love, he kept lying to her. Really, "Truth & Justice".
When did he do that? I think in the Silver and Bronze Age (The Jerk era ;) ) they weren't all that exclusive.
 
When did he do that? I think in the Silver and Bronze Age (The Jerk era ;) ) they weren't all that exclusive.
Probably I exaggerated a little bit, still it seemed to me a serious thing whatever it was between them. So serious that she needed to break up with him


Even Luthor was upset when he heard the news. :guffaw:


So, I'm not sure how to define their relationship, but surely it was past the point of "flirting" :shifty:
 
I find it so funny how commercial products and services change over time. When using a public pay-telephone you were enclosed in a an elaborate private type of stall, complete with closing door, ensuring your conversation was private. Then it got to the point where it was just a phone with some minimal outer covering to keep it from getting rained on or pooped on by birds.

And that's crazy that Superman changing in a phone booth become so iconic and common knowledge, yet it only happened once in a Fleischer cartoon. And what was Popeye doing in a Superman comic???

And now people walk around with their own personal phones on speaker subjecting the entire world to "personal" conversations.
 
When using a public pay-telephone you were enclosed in a an elaborate private type of stall, complete with closing door, ensuring your conversation was private.

Except in the early decades of telephones' existence, when there was probably an operator listening in.
 
797539.jpg
Oh, the Superman-Popeye cross-over no one asked for.
 
Probably I exaggerated a little bit, still it seemed to me a serious thing whatever it was between them. So serious that she needed to break up with him


Even Luthor was upset when he heard the news. :guffaw:


So, I'm not sure how to define their relationship, but surely it was past the point of "flirting" :shifty:
Off and on.
 
Superman was a complete dick to Lois in the silver age, constantly playing really shitty tricks on her and screwing with her head, usually "just to teach her a lesson".

#NotAllSupermans


Jason
 
If there were not secret identities for superheroes then the heroes would either get bullied by the government or shown as being very subservient to the government (or really renegades) and also without much of a different personal life, none of which are good depictions to have, let alone for every hero.

Aunt May still ends up in danger.

Maybe every 100 issues instead of every 6.

In the first Spider-Man movie, Peter keeping his ID a secret from MJ and Aunt May didn't keep them safe.

It did for some 6 months, it eventually didn't because his identity was discovered and him not doing so from the general public wouldn't have made them more safe.
 
Maybe the thing isn't that secret identities from the public at large are bad, but not telling your loved ones IS bad. Nothing good comes from lying to THEM.

A reasonable middle ground.

Except that doesn't work given that Superman hangs around with Lois, Jimmy, etc. as much as Clark does. It only makes sense if the superhero never interacts with the same people as the civilian identity, which usually doesn't happen because of the economies of storytelling. Lois would get kidnapped anyway, and tortured on the grounds that she might know Superman's identity. So keeping her in the dark only protects Superman, not her.

In general, superheroes should let their loved ones know so they can protect themselves. Keeping people ignorant never makes them safer.

Hasn't Jimmy Olsen sometimes been shown as not such a good person, as trying to exploit his connection/closeness to Superman even without being so close as to know his identity? Smallville Pete Ross did knowing his secret. Clark could fear that with people who are friends and decent but not above temptations and Clark could view that as a strong temptation.

And even morally good characters can make errors in judgment, like Lois revealing his identity to her father, thinking he'll be decent to him and instead him hunting him.

Superman was truly an jerk, considering that while he professed to Lois his everlasting love, he kept lying to her.

The Modern Age (post-Crisis) Superman comics, I believe, had Clark not telling of his powers until she agreed to marry him because he wanted to know she loved Clark rather than the powers, maybe that's too much insecurity but I think it's a pretty valid decision and depiction.
 
The Modern Age (post-Crisis) Superman comics, I believe, had Clark not telling of his powers until she agreed to marry him because he wanted to know she loved Clark rather than the powers, maybe that's too much insecurity but I think it's a pretty valid decision and depiction.
That's pretty shitty, too, though, if you think about it: For one, the Clark he was pretending to be was a cover, so she couldn't know the real him, but also, sure, being in a relationship with a superhero could have serious perks, but it could also prove to be a real pain in the ass, with him flying off to go save someone or stop a crime at inconvenient times, or with supervillains trying to kill her and their family. Would it really be fair to have her decide to love him or marry him without knowing all of that relatively upfront? (I mean, I get not telling everyone he dates, but it should probably be part of the "going exclusive" phase of his dating.)
 
The Modern Age (post-Crisis) Superman comics, I believe, had Clark not telling of his powers until she agreed to marry him because he wanted to know she loved Clark rather than the powers, maybe that's too much insecurity but I think it's a pretty valid decision and depiction.
And from a narrative point of view, all the secret identity stuff wasn't more sustainable. In the Pre-Crisis stories he constantly humiliated Lois and made her doubt her sanity while she tried to figure out if Superman and Clark were the same person. Readers were no longer just pre-teens who thought the girls have cooties. All the concept was now simply offensive.
 
That's pretty shitty, too, though, if you think about it: For one, the Clark he was pretending to be was a cover, so she couldn't know the real him

In that version normal journalist Clark was his real self, even though Superman was also his real self (although a little bit more of an act), not just a cover.

but also, sure, being in a relationship with a superhero could have serious perks, but it could also prove to be a real pain in the ass, with him flying off to go save someone or stop a crime at inconvenient times, or with supervillains trying to kill her and their family. Would it really be fair to have her decide to love him or marry him without knowing all of that relatively upfront?

Well hopefully most people wouldn't mind some inconveniences, less time together, if it the reason was saving lives but yes given those dangers to her and her family she should know before she married him and he did tell her after they were engaged but before they married, that timing is questionable but any would be, that's probably the best way to be fair to both of them.

And from a narrative point of view, all the secret identity stuff wasn't more sustainable. In the Pre-Crisis stories he constantly humiliated Lois and made her doubt her sanity while she tried to figure out if Superman and Clark were the same person. Readers were no longer just pre-teens who thought the girls have cooties. All the concept was now simply offensive.

I haven't read a lot of those so I don't know the circumstances or tone but if it was because she was ruthlessly trying to figure it out in order to expose him people do have a right, even from journalists, to a personal life, even secrets, especially if the secret is just that they go around helping people pseudonymously.
 
Last edited:
In that version normal journalist Clark was his real self, even though Superman was also his real self (although a little bit more of an act), not just a cover.

Yeah -- as Clark put it in Lois & Clark (which was very much based on the post-Crisis Byrne stuff), "Superman is what I can do. Clark is who I am."
 
I haven't read a lot of those so I don't know the circumstances or tone but if it was because she was ruthlessly trying to figure it out in order to expose him people do have a right, even from journalists, to a personal life, even secrets, especially if the secret is just that they go around helping people pseudonymously.
loisspankingdisplay.jpg


errrrrrrrrrrr....
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top