And the government wouldn't dedicate a lot to such investigation
. If anything, they would dedicate a lot more to that investigation than Lois due to fear, paranoia, a desire to control Superman, etc.
Being one of the "better reporters" doesn't mean **** when you have all the resources the government has. Plus the government has many investigators just as good as Lois or better.
Yes. Yes it does mean a great deal. Seeing as how it was Lois' personal leads and sources that she developed that led her to Clark in the first place. She didn't pick up a trail that EVERYONE had seen the patterns of and was working on, at least based on what we're shown in the film. She put the pieces together herself in a certain way...and had the trust of Clark and Martha at the end in order to get anywhere with her lead. There's no guarantee that the government would be able to do the same given the changed circumstances.
The government's journey would be easier and faster. Furthermore, the government has way more evidence by the end of the film than Lois did at the beginning of the film when she tracked him.
I'm starting to question whether you know what evidence actually is and how investigations work. Nothing the government has at the end of the film is anything resembling concrete evidence. "The bad guys landed around here" is not remotely evidence pointing to Superman's identity.
Smallville being protective of Clark's identity is entirely speculation and is not in the movie. Even if that is the case, Lois still managed to get information out of them and find out about Clark Kent.
Well, if we're just going to poo poo anything that's not in the movie, that kind of torpedoes your argument then, doesn't it?
What
? Of course he would remember and share that information. He wants to find Superman and considers him dangerous due to not being controlled, as shown in the film.
Hmm. Possibly. Can you prove it? How do you know the general doesn't trust Superman a little more after he tells him that he's American as they come and that he grew up in Kansas?
It is called "pulling the pieces together". Smallville would be the first place in Kansas they would investigate based on the film's events. Any suspicious story or records they find (i.e. Clark's bus rescue as a kid, the rumors going around, possible lack of birth records, etc.) would be thoroughly investigated.
But the problem is that you assume that they would get this information in the same way that Lois did and that this is the way their investigation would unfold.
Lois has a new co-worker who looks a lot like Superman (the military has seen his face up close so you can't use the "blur" excuse) who will presumably have a partnership and/or romantic relationship with in the future. They did investigate Lois and found out that she did in fact knew who he was even if she didn't tell them. She would continue to be investigated in the future to see if she ever comes in contact with Superman while not in the suit.
What's your point? As far as what Clark and Superman look like, at some point you and others are going to have to use your imagination a bit regarding the whole "Clark looks like Superman" thing and accept that it's just a staple of the mythology. I'm sure that they will build some other checks into his secret identity as well.
They tracked them down to Smallville specifically and later found out they wanted to terraform Earth. That combined with Superman stating he grew up in Kansas would make Smallville the very first place that would be investigated.
Given that a battle took place there, Smallville is probably going to be investigated regardless. I'm not denying that Smallville will likely be investigated. I'm saying you cannot assume their investigation will yield the identity of Superman.
As for why there wasn't military presence there, it was because the Kryptonian ship got there too fast (in comparison with human ships). It was about a minute or two. By the time they would announce anyone to be there, the Kryptonians would have already landed.
I see. So then...why wasn't there military/police presence there during the aftermath of the battle in Smallville (other than the cop who clearly just gave Lois a lift)? Why weren't various agencies combing the exact site the Kryptonians landed at right away?
A) The police officer clearly knows who the Kents are. Lois specifically asked him to take her to the Kent farm and then he saw Superman in full costume with the house destroyed.
Which proves nothing except that Lois asked to go to the Kent farm, and the police officer might have seen Superman and the house destroyed.
B) He saw her yelling "Clark!" then running directly to Superman and then flying away with him.
I've already addressed this. A, it's an assumption, and B, this still doesn't prove anything. It's not solid evidence.
C) Sorry but I call BS on that. She yelled it out loud and the police officer was right there.
As I recall, the officer was not really "right there". He was at the road, and she was more or less halfway to the farmhouse.
Call BS all you want. You cannot prove your theory.
The original glasses disguise from the comics as-is had enough logic and imagination for people to buy it.
No it doesn't. It's incredibly silly. And didn't you suggest that if they investigated Lois' friends, Clark's identity would be revealed because people could compare Clark to Superman visually?
MOS took a "kinda unlikely but I can buy it" concept and turned it into a "how the **** can't they figure who Superman is" concept. "Horrendous" is the perfect word that describes the way they handled Superman's identity in the film. Nothing more, nothing less.
No, MOS didn't deal with the concept of the secret identity at all, really. It just showed why Clark would need one in the future.