But in theory that is still a valid reason to protect ones secret. If someone tortured Jimmy Olsen or Lana or whoever they could find out secrets against Superman they might not know. Like maybe this bad guy doesn't know Superman can be killed with Kryptonite. Soon as they find out they can then use that new knowledge to help kill Superman. Lana right now just not only learned his identity but also his weakness.
...which makes Lana an unnecessary liability not only to SM, but to his family. Again, there's no point in the hero revealing his identity to civilians, just as its dangerous for villains to learn those secrets. As it stands, Alt-Jonathan kidnapped Lana not because he happened to see her run into Clark on the street, but it was due to his knowing Alt-Lana's relationship to his own father, and simply used that information to exploit / lure SM into a trap.
Some of comic books' greatest stories involved the danger and sometimes lethal consequences of others knowing the hero's true identity, ever proving the point that being a superhero is not some club for the needy to feel they must know everything about another person (when its not their business). Further, the notion that the civilians can "prepare" for the dangers in the hero's life is patently absurd and incredibly unrealistic. They are
regular people living
regular lives. They are not on call / high alert in their lives and no rational mind would expect them to be. Moreover, they are not even on the level of non-super-powered fighters such as Dick Grayson or the Punisher--meaning they have no way to "prepare" for high level and/or super-powered threats.
There's absolutely nothing a civilian can do if for example Darkseid, the Green Goblin, Doctor Doom, Mister Freeze, the Mandarin or anyone else comes a-callin' for said civilian, which the comics have proven in the most tragically memorable ways.
It's not just super villians you got to worry about. Soon as people knows where he lives you have basically doxxed him. You can have reporters and fan and crazy people entering every apsect of your life at all time. Once people find out who Superman is you don't even need Superman to reveal himself to friends. Reporters can connect the dots and let the whole world know and then people start to look into Clark Kent more deeply and see who his friends are.
You also fuck the Daily Planet because with him working their your basically going to wonder just how much truth they have been covering and hiding from the public. Even with people not being killed by a Super baddie you can still really fuck over people and complicate their lives in ways that hurt them.
Well observed. Real human being seem to know that there is a natural reason for separating parts of their lives (particularly if there's an element of risk involved) from the people they know in their private life, as there is always someone ready to exploit that knowledge, and for the superhero, his life is so dangerous--always threatened by the most relentless of foes--that they would not hesitate to harm someone known to be in his private life...which is exactly what happened to Lana in this latest episode of
Superman and Lois.
Clark was badgered by his kids into giving in to their inexperienced "wisdom" and exposing himself to another. If competent writers were handling a plot of this kind, there would most certainly be a price to be paid for Clark being so thoughtless, and adding a new layer of danger to his family.
