How long can Clark hide his identity?

it's a depends on the audience whether they wanna accept or not.
if they are harsh and nitpicking, nothing can work for them. because superman and clark kent is the same person.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but facial recognition software, and common sense, can see past glasses, right?
 
I think even with common sense, it would just be hard for people to believe Clark is Superman. Simply because you don't expect the guy that can topple mountains, to work as a Journalist. Or really do any regular job. You'd look at him and be all like "Is that... Is that Superman? Nah, can't be. No way he'd work here."
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but facial recognition software, and common sense, can see past glasses, right?

Right...

And the glasses thing is supposed to be just gimicky.. you're supposed to just accept it...

I really have no problem with it, because this is a fantasy... superhero one at that... so, there're bound to be some things that you just need to 'accept as is' and enjoy the movie...

What's funny to me is that some fans actually think it's a good disguise in reality...
 
I think even with common sense, it would just be hard for people to believe Clark is Superman. Simply because you don't expect the guy that can topple mountains, to work as a Journalist. Or really do any regular job. You'd look at him and be all like "Is that... Is that Superman? Nah, can't be. No way he'd work here."

I think that would be true if Zod hadn't let the world know that Cal was "hiding" in humanity and living a life as a normal person trying to blend in. Everyone knowing that he's purposely keeping a low profile and trying to blend in would naturally conclude he probably is working a "regular" job. I think people would look more closely at the unassuming and reserved than you think.
 
Right...

And the glasses thing is supposed to be just gimicky.. you're supposed to just accept it...

I really have no problem with it, because this is a fantasy... superhero one at that... so, there're bound to be some things that you just need to 'accept as is' and enjoy the movie...

What's funny to me is that some fans actually think it's a good disguise in reality...

Agreed. And I both accept and embrace it. :yay:
 
But since he comes out of hiding and isn't wearing a mask, it is fair to assume that most people will believe he gave up hiding altogether.

Think about it, the general population does not know he was sent as a baby, they only know he has been hiding on Earth. There is no reason for anyone to assume he came to earth a helpless child who needed parents to raise him. He displays god like powers, it probably won't even occur to him that he ages like a human.

All that being said, it will take the same suspension of disbelief that it always took. The writers have to be thoughtful in how they handle it and other than the residents of Smallville and the military, it was handled pretty well in MoS. The cop who take Lois to the farm is reasonably out of ear shot and Clark turns away from the cop, Perry and crew are at a distance where they do not get a clear view of Superman's face, etc.

If you layer in the military potentially knowing that leads actually to the possibility of the govt having his back and actually running interference for him...could be some interesting developments from that angle...
 
There is a thing about hiding in plain sight. With Superman having announced himself to the world there's really no logical reason for people to assume he'd suddenly go back to doing meaningless jobs, if anything people would assume he's associated with the government more than anything else. The few who do know he's Superman, what good does it do telling anyone?
 
Or maybe the whole world should know, but just pretend not to know. I saw something, was it a Robot Chicken Episode, a comic strip, I don't know, where a villain comes and says "I discovered Superman's secret identity! He is Clark Kent!" And all the other villains are just like "Yeah, we know. But we pretend not to know, so he keeps working his job and is out of our way for 8 hours of the day." :funny:
 
But since he comes out of hiding and isn't wearing a mask, it is fair to assume that most people will believe he gave up hiding altogether.

Think about it, the general population does not know he was sent as a baby, they only know he has been hiding on Earth. There is no reason for anyone to assume he came to earth a helpless child who needed parents to raise him. He displays god like powers, it probably won't even occur to him that he ages like a human.

All that being said, it will take the same suspension of disbelief that it always took. The writers have to be thoughtful in how they handle it and other than the residents of Smallville and the military, it was handled pretty well in MoS. The cop who take Lois to the farm is reasonably out of ear shot and Clark turns away from the cop, Perry and crew are at a distance where they do not get a clear view of Superman's face, etc.

If you layer in the military potentially knowing that leads actually to the possibility of the govt having his back and actually running interference for him...could be some interesting developments from that angle...

In this day and age we can be tracked, trace easily. Once our photo is tagged online, facial recognition kicks in and then any cctv camera hooked up to their server will find him - but, it's the movies.

In my mind, a few people in smallville know the 'secret' like the priest, cop etc - you have to 'hope' lois had a quiet word with the cop or that the cop simply didn't realise.

The military will be after him, i would love this to play out in sequel..

Lex standing over some intern's shoulder as they show all the evidence of who kal el could be - they have a few leads and one points to clark - Lex takes a good look, bingo... Lex can use this against clark - he can truly be his worst enemy if he reveals to clark he knows.

Or... Bruce has beaten every one to it and worked it out, he has manipulated 'government files' on a server so that the dimensions of clarks face have been distorted, so that links to clark can never carry through, plus, his CV now has wayne industries on it - the intern rings up, lucious fox answers with a smile and confirms clark has indeed been on the pay role as an empoyee in the marketing department and was in said 'location' during the distraction.
 
So no one wants any magic to the mythology of Superman...

Sigh.

That said, I always kind of liked the whole "Superman vibrates slightly in public to keep his features blurred" explanation from the comics in the late 80's.
 
All these "disguises" / tricks are terrible. No wonder they just go with the glasses.
 
So are we to assume the military will know superman and his secret identity? If lois could figure it out i'm sure the millitary could and he even told the general the home state he grew up in.

I mean i'm assuming Clark Kent would probably be under constant supervision while he's in metropolis. I wonder if this will play a role at all?
 
To be fair, only Swanwick (sp) knows that. It's not inconceivable that even if he did figure out exactly who Clark is that he'd keep it to himself.
 
After the MOS events, the government could tell the public he's full-time Superman cooperating with them. The government asks Lois for all her contacts and they track down the people to make them stay quiet. The military would want to keep Superman close and in secret for a variety of reasons: they may look at him as weapon and they don't want anyone else to find out things about him before they do plus he's a national asset. More importantly, they would want the public perception to be that they are in control of Superman. They would try to manage Superman as much as possible, but Superman isn't going to be their puppet 24/7 so they arrange to protect his identity allowing him to have a life outside Superman.

In the meantime, there would be a debate whether Superman is a savior or the cause of the destruction and how much he can be trusted. Lex could expose the government's actions as a conspiracy and play up people's fears.
 
I think they will handle it the same way they did in The Dark Knight. Have someone figure him out and get on his case, only for Superman to somehow silence him, perhaps by saving his life. That way the film acknowledges the difficulty of keeping his identity secret but doesnt let it become anything bigger
 
It is a lot easier for Clark Kent to keep a low profile than Bruce Wayne.

Clark Kent probably doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

His superhero activities also don't require any equipment that could lead back to his civilian identity.
 
Anyone else feel the secret identity aspect in this movie is going to be a big problem in the sequel? With everything that happened in the film, I felt the end scene of him showing up as Clark Kent rang very false. In using a realistic tone for the film, him keeping a secret identity feels totally unconvincing for several reasons;

1. After that fight, everyone in Smallville knows who Clark Kent is now.
2. Perry and Jenny clearly sees Lois and Superman kissing after the battle.
3. Superman actually tells the army guy that he grew up in Kansas, making it extremely easy to find out who Superman is.
 
After the MOS events, the government could tell the public he's full-time Superman cooperating with them. The government asks Lois for all her contacts and they track down the people to make them stay quiet. The military would want to keep Superman close and in secret for a variety of reasons: they may look at him as weapon and they don't want anyone else to find out things about him before they do plus he's a national asset. More importantly, they would want the public perception to be that they are in control of Superman. They would try to manage Superman as much as possible, but Superman isn't going to be their puppet 24/7 so they arrange to protect his identity allowing him to have a life outside Superman.

In the meantime, there would be a debate whether Superman is a savior or the cause of the destruction and how much he can be trusted. Lex could expose the government's actions as a conspiracy and play up people's fears.

Since when can gov keep a secret as big as this. If lois can track him down so can others. In the real world he would have been exposed a long time ago.

BUT this is a movie so its ok to play along with the premise of his secret identity
 
Well crap, I don't know how in my searching I missed that other identity thread.
 
It's weird. I've seen a lot of people using the realistic setting as a defense for a lot of the things that happen in the movie, but when it comes to his secret identity, they flip and say "it's just a movie".
 
This is one of my major gripes with the movie. I feel that Goyer has written himself into a corner with this. If Lex is introduced as an antagonist in MoS2, he must surely know who Clark is given his resources and intelligence. Although a skillful writer can do plenty with Clark's identity as an open secret, I'm not confident that Goyer can address this without help a la The Dark Knight in the sequel.
 
Posted the below in the Lighthouse's other thread:

This is one of my major gripes with the movie. I feel that Goyer has written himself into a corner with this. If Lex is introduced as an antagonist in MoS2, he must surely know who Clark is given his resources and intelligence. Although a skillful writer can do plenty with Clark's identity as an open secret, I'm not confident that Goyer can address this without help a la The Dark Knight in the sequel.
 
I couldn't believe it when Superman actually told the guy he grew up in Kansas. The army is using a drone to find where Superman lives, they can certainly find out who he is with that little nugget of info.
 

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