That's ever superhero not officially working for the government. Technically speaking even Superman often is a vigilante according to law.
Jason
Any point in secret identities?
- Thread starter Replica Picard
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That's ever superhero not officially working for the government. Technically speaking even Superman often is a vigilante according to law.
Jason
And also often here illegally.
I never understood the point of changing in a glass booth.
Because It looks cool and where do you need a phonebooth otherwise for?
In the last comic series, she did tell him. He wasn't too angry but he did feel hurt she didn't think she could trust him like this and led him on like that (here, he loved Jerrica from the start and never thought of Jem as anything but an selfish Diva who was never there for Jerrica) and they ended up separating until he could think things over. Jerrica didn't blame him for it.
We saw a future story set years later where they reconciled.
Yes, but if they knew all along who he was they'd have taken better precautions to protect themselves.
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.
Not sure that was much of a thing in the comics. Superman's go to changing room was usually a storage room at the Planet. One that for some reason had a window.
But Lois was an intrepid investigative reporter. She smelled a story and nothing would keep her from checking into it. Plus she competed with Clark. I don't think there was anything douchey about it.
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".
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.
The weird thing is, Superman never actually changed in a phone booth in the comics except as a joke scene to poke fun at the somehow pre-existing cliche of Superman changing in a phone booth. It's one of those "Elementary, my dear Watson" things that comes from popular perceptions of the work rather than from the work itself. The one time he really did that was in one of the first couple of Fleischer cartoons, so that's probably where the meme came from.
Not as an adult, since the statute of limitations would've long, long since expired. And if he weren't discovered to be a non-native before the statute ran out (or something like that), he could legally claim to be a native. Besides, illegal entry is only a misdemeanor, despite how it's currently being treated by the government.
For that matter, national territory is considered to include its airspace up to the edge of the atmosphere, so if Kal-El's capsule came in at a steep enough angle, then it might not have actually crossed any legally recognized borders between the US and another country.
And Superman was truly an jerk, considering that while he professed to Lois his everlasting love, he kept lying to her. Really, "Truth & Justice".
I'm pretty sure that immigration law doesn't have a statute of limitations, as indicated by a friend's husband who grew up a Dreamer and as an adult got deported to his birth country (that he didn't remember) after a pot possession charge. They're still trying to get him back to her and their 2 kids.
Two advantages Clark has had with that: 1. In most versions of the Superman story he came to Earth early enough that record keeping was too primitive to know that he was born outside of the US. We even think we may have had a President born in Canada and people didn't really realize because of that. And 2. People (government officials, especially) weren't generally militant a*holes about the matter - and once (most versions of) Superman was deputized by the President of the US, that probably completely settled the matter.
In at least one version of the story the capsule he came to Earth in was actually a Kryptonian gestational chamber, so he was, in fact, born in Kansas. I like that version: it let him run for President.
In at least one version of the story the capsule he came to Earth in was actually a Kryptonian gestational chamber, so he was, in fact, born in Kansas. I like that version: it let him run for President.
Post-Crisis continuity. In the same continuity he had been presented as the natural born son of Martha and Jonathan. Right after they removed him from his capsule a massive winter storm came in and kept the Kents stuck on their farm and out of town for several months. When they finally made it back to civilization they simply presented him as their son born during the months of isolation.
^ Rumors to that effect were spread by Arthur P. Hinman, a New York attorney and political opponent of Chester A. Arthur. (Hinman had also tried to stoke rumors that Arthur was born in Ireland and did not come to America until age 14.) But those rumors were never given much credence.
Okay, well, the statute is 5 years after charges are filed, not after the offense occurred. So that wouldn't apply to Clark, I guess.
However, apparently unlawful presence in the country is somehow only supposed to be a legal problem if you then leave and try to come back, at which point you can be barred from reentry. But if you make your presence lawful by some means, then that ceases to apply. Or at least that's how it would work in saner times than ours.
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 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???