So, how does a pair of glasses divide Clark Kent/Superman? Why doesn’t the world know that Billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne is Batman? These questions have been asked by all comic book fans, and I think I have discovered a perfect answer to them: How are secret identities secret?
First let’s look at something. Pretty much all of the Marvel World knows that Tony Stark is Iron Man. And I would say that the hero with the best secret identity is DC’s Captain Marvel/Shazam, mainly due to his power being that he’s a young boy that can turn into a fully grown man. No one would suspect that, which is why it’s brilliant. But right now let’s look at the hero’s that can’t hide like that, or can reveal their identities to the world.
So, how does a pair of glasses divide the Man of Steel from Clark Kent? The answer is actually quite obvious: Clark Kent isn’t important enough to be a suspect.
We may know who Clark Kent is, but Metropolis doesn’t. Only a select few do, thus hiding in plain sight works as an identity concealer. But let’s he’s walking down the street, and a guy comes up and is just like “Hey, you know you look like Superman!” Readers might say “well no shit!” but that is probably a legitimate reaction. If you see a guy that looks exactly like Chris Evans walking down the street, you’re not going to go up and accuse him of being Chris Evans (unless you have
tourettes or some other mental problem). You at most will say “hey, you know you look just like Chris Evans!” That is how it works in a comic book, as well. The glasses don’t exactly hide him, the fact that no one knows him hides him.
As for Bruce Wayne, he as well is not important enough to be a suspect. Yes, he’s a billionaire playboy, but it’s not like he’s the president or Mayor, most don’t know who their local millionaires are. And even if someone knew exactly who Bruce Wayne was, Batman comes out at night, only showing himself to people who are either low level criminals and victims. And because he only comes out at night, he can never be positively identified at the face, since he is in an all-black suit. That covers most of his face. Plus: Batman doesn’t exactly make public appearances (unless you count Batman and Robin where Batman and Robin show up to a fundraiser for some reason, which you can’t count because that movie sucked!). And as well, normally victims aren’t in a right state of mind, so even if one were to get a split second look, they would be too scared of being cut by the Joker to be like “Hey, that’s Bruce Wayne!”
Something funny is that some people could be easily identified, such as Green Arrow. When he became Mayor in the comics that really brings up how he really does have his face plastered everywhere because he’s Mayor, thus he should be more easily identified. But again, he comes out at night, where’s a hood. Just because you can see everything perfectly on a screen or panel, doesn’t mean it pops out like that in the universe.
It is also important to know that people that need to know identities do know the identities. People like Batman, Amanda Waller, and Lex Luthor, have figured out other heroes identities, but only for their own needs. These are people that would know who Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Peter Parker, or Oliver Queen are. These are the people that would look at Chris Evans look alike on the street and go up and say “Hey, good job in The Winter Soldier!”
Okay guys, so what do you think? Please leave all thoughts bellow, and if you enjoyed the read hit the red thumb! Thanks, peace out.