Reboot: Character Portrayal

[TruerToTheCore]

Clark Kent shouldn't be cool nor should be a clumsy idiot.

He should be an average, "shy" guy -- a tool for Superman to fight crime that hides behind business suits and the law --- to expose them. The original purpose of "Clark Kent" was to work at a newspaper so he could get information where Superman is needed in time. But since his powers grew a lot, this fact has to be dropped and substituted with something else. See above.

 

[Webhead2006]

Ya its all about how they want to go about the differences in his clark self, and his superman self. The whole thing whos the mask whos the real identity. Personally i like the take where clark is the real guy an superman is the mask/what he does.

 

[Octoberist]

In the Green Lantern script, Clark makes a brief physical cameo, while the script also refers to Gotham City and Star City as well.

 

[Webhead2006]

ya i seen the first draft myself awhile ago, and pretty much only got up to that point before i had to chance to get any father. But the producers for gl have said they hope to keep various easter eggs in the film if they are able to but we dont know what has changed in the other rewrites to the script it has gone through since then, and if wb will want said easter eggs in the film. But really the easiest thing to get in a film is just a name mention/city mention which wouldnt lead to any major problems.

 

[That person]

Arguably the most mocked aspect of the Superman mythos is the fact that Clark is exactly the same height, build and facial structure as Superman and they're never in the same place, but nobody really makes the connection. His only real disguise is a pair of glasses and, as a Myopiac, I can say safely that the vast majority of people can tell it's you whether you're wearing your glasses or not. So what should be done to throw people off more? Let's get some ideas flowing!

 

[Webhead2006]

Well their is many ways to go about making his clark kent and his superman looks different and all that.

 

[ChickenScratch]

I've read quite a few books on espionage and spycraft and the one constant is that a disguise gets noticed. No disguise works better, simply changing the way you walk, talk and your mannerism are usually enough. You know how many people wearing disguises get caught? Shoes, they never change their shoes yet change everything else.

But suffice it to say, from what I've read on spies and acting, Superman can easily disappear into Clark with a change of voice, how his hair is combed, posture, clothes 2 sizes to large to hide his build. Nobody ever looks at a beggar when searching for a king, our own expectations of who and what Superman is is a better disguise than anything Clark does, he just provides us with something we expect.

 

[Man of Tomorrow]

Just browse through this thread:

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=327239


It's the same issue addressed here.


Suffice it to say, it's not impossible to portray the identity thing in a realistic and believable way onscreen, but it has to be done right.

 

[SuperFerret]

I've read quite a few books on espionage and spycraft and the one constant is that a disguise gets noticed. No disguise works better, simply changing the way you walk, talk and your mannerism are usually enough. You know how many people wearing disguises get caught? Shoes, they never change their shoes yet change everything else.

But suffice it to say, from what I've read on spies and acting, Superman can easily disappear into Clark with a change of voice, how his hair is combed, posture, clothes 2 sizes to large to hide his build. Nobody ever looks at a beggar when searching for a king, our own expectations of who and what Superman is is a better disguise than anything Clark does, he just provides us with something we expect.

BINGO!

This is essentially what Christopher Reeves did in the Donner films.

 

[Ursa]

The glasses could be made by Kryptonian crystals, and when he wears them, makes an "optical illusion" for people.

I'm not sure if this term is correct, english isn't my first language, but do you know what I mean?

 

[ChickenScratch]

That sounds silly.

 

[Gilpesh]

 

[BestGirl]

The glasses could be made by Kryptonian crystals, and when he wears them, makes an "optical illusion" for people.

I'm not sure if this term is correct, english isn't my first language, but do you know what I mean?

Wouldn't that hurt Supes?

 

[DavidTyler]

The glasses could be made by Kryptonian crystals, and when he wears them, makes an "optical illusion" for people.

I'm not sure if this term is correct, english isn't my first language, but do you know what I mean?

One issue of the comics pre-crisis, they showed that this version of Clark had made the lenses of his glasses from the glass in the ship he was sent to Earth in. Something about the lenses and some undefined version of one of his vision powers allowed him to sort of hypnotize people into seeing a little differently than he actually appears. This concept was summarily dismissed as it was more than a little far-fetched.

I would think, however, it wouldn't be such a stretch that he could find lenses that possibly hide how blue his eyes might be or that make his eyes appear larger (or smaller) than they really are.

As to the general question:

I think that most if not all of the people in Superman's world don't believe he is anyone other than Superman. That said, he wouldn't have to try very hard to make the two personalities appear to be different people. Another thing Byrne and Wolfman got right.

 

[Man of Tomorrow]

The only thing I'd want the lenses to do is make his eyes appear brown when he wears them as Clark.


And then bright blue as Superman with them off.


Routh's eyes were too blue through the glasses.

 

[The Guard]

I like the idea of Clark just adjusting his mannerisms, posture, voice and clothing as Clark/Superman. I don't think we need any optical illusions, hypnosis, color changing eyes, etc.

I think half the point is that you should be able to see Superman in Clark every so often, and wonder why people don't see it. That's the charm of the secret identity, not that he literally becomes someone else visually. It's about people not looking because they don't care enough to. I don't think it literally needs to appear to be two different people. Just two different personalities, if that makes any sense.

 

[That person]

The only thing I'd want the lenses to do is make his eyes appear brown when he wears them as Clark.


And then bright blue as Superman with them off.


Routh's eyes were too blue through the glasses.

I agree that the lenses should be darkened. Also it'd be interesting to see some padding in Clark's clothes so that he seems a bit chubby as opposed to his muscular physique showing through like in SMR.

 

[\S/JcDc\S/]

Jor-el could do it through the \S/ suit instead of Clark's glasses. When wearing the suit, only those that have a strong connection of who he is completely, will know him. Such as his parents. Lois then would not start to notice anything unless she falls in love with the person (Clark).

Jor-el could tell him, he must learn to live amongst the humans, becoming one of them to understand humanity. Then when he has grown, the Superman suit could be presented in the FOS. It would be explained its properties, will protect the ones he loves from others that wish to exploit his abilities.

ya ya, long shot but a more sci fi approach

 

[DavidTyler]

I like the idea of Clark just adjusting his mannerisms, posture, voice and clothing as Clark/Superman. I don't think we need any optical illusions, hypnosis, color changing eyes, etc.

I think half the point is that you should be able to see Superman in Clark every so often, and wonder why people don't see it. That's the charm of the secret identity, not that he literally becomes someone else visually. It's about people not looking because they don't care enough to. I don't think it literally needs to appear to be two different people. Just two different personalities, if that makes any sense.

I'm a hundred percent with you on this. I used to love those George Reeves moments where he'd give us the little wink to the camera. I know that isn't what you're referring to but, by the same token, there were times when George's 'Clark' would be saavy and aggressive but those around him wouldn't make the connection. I want any modern Clark to be the same way.

Again - it's not that Clark needs to create a 'mask' to disguise his two personnas but that the average person thinks that Superman is Superman all day and wouldn't have a need for a secret identity. Therefore, they wouldn't be looking at Clark - or anyone for that matter - as a possible 'other' identity for the man in the red cape.

 

[Christmas]

I always suspended my disbelief by assuming that, in live action at least, seeing superman in person is a near miraculous/surreal sight for most people. Holy crap that man is FLYING!! Just total unreality becoming real before your eyes.

As for Clark Kent, people overlook the greatness that lies within an ordinary person.

How Lois could sleep with Superman and have his kid but never figure it out or be told by clark for that matter is really hard to believe though...

 

[Wheels]

Apparently Superman was so good in the sack it caused Lois to have selective memory loss.

 

[Webhead2006]

I would love to see next time around if its a reboot we see the whole separation of clark/superman in a different and logical way that we havent really seen on screen before.

 

[NotFadeAway]

So I was watching True Blood tonight, and it hit me. I'd really like to see a Clark Kent that is pportrayed in a similiar manner to the Sam Merlotte character, with the appropriate changes and more of a sense of humor.

 

[Webhead2006]

Could u explain that character a bit fade?

 

[Timstuff]

How many people really know what Clark Kent looks like? He lives in a world with a Lex Luthor, a Superman, various rampaging maniacs pretty much daily! How many people are going to to stop and look at Clark Kent, whether he's bumbling or not. I always liked how they put it in Batman/Superman when Supergirl got there and their looking at the Superman memorial statue, this majestic brilliant gold statue of this larger than life character with the most straight forward symbol of our nation and all the ideals that we hold near and hope to spread to world perched on his forearm and she looks at him and says "This is how they see you?", "no wonder they never figured it out".

Frankly there is no reason why Clark Kent needs to be anything but an average man. He should be clumsy, we all are. He should be goofy, we all are. He should be shy, most of us are. That doesn't mean he can't be sarcastic or funny or charming. It just means he should appear normal. Yeah he puts on the glasses as a distracting feature, he changes his body language, he weakens his voice. He does after all work in the bull pen at one of the top newspapers in the country, not only that but he's one of the star reporters of that paper. Those people are the professionals at sniffing out the news but even they seem him as if he were a god. He is omnipresent to them. They have no reason to suspect he is ever anyone but Superman. They trust him completely. The believe in him. To them, to everyone, Superman could never be Clark Kent.

Hear hear!