Should DC heroes skip the whole secret identity thing?

[Anubis]

Personally, I think it best to do a World's Finest before Justice League.

 

[MadVillainy]

Well that works too. I just didn't like the klutz part.

me neither

 

[Thundercrack85]

Agreed. They could also work in some references and cameos to set up a Justice League film.

 

[Jordacar]

No way, I love secret identities. It's a major element that the Avengers completely bypassed and could set the Justice League apart from them. I kinda hope the DC movies bring secret IDs back in style.

Plus it would give us a chance for us to see that great unmasking scene from JLA: Year One on film.

 

[Man of Steel]

Superman needs a secret identity to protect the ones he cares about. Same with Green Lantern and the Flash. Batman, I don't even know why he needs one, since Alfred is the only one that would be affected.

 

[Red Mask]

You're not really using your imagination if you think it has to work that way.

Example, let's say there's a mysterious anomaly (like in the JL cartoon), you could have Bruce Wayne use his resources to find out what is going on, and Clark Kent (the investigative journalist) notices that, and goes to investigate. Eventually their paths will cross.

There, you just used both characters' normal identities.

And that's just a simple example off the top of my head.

That's boring. You don't bring together a Justice League if it's going to be slow paced. That just means the threat wasn't big enough.

 

[Red Mask]

Well that just sounds silly.

Also, what Thundercrack said. There's tons of different ways to handle it without getting too into their lives. I mean, use your imagination.

Once again, if the threat isn't big enough to bring them in costume at the get go, then there's no need to assemble a Justice League. If the film started with Earth being conquered by Darkseid, and the team slowly gathers with each new hero joining to fight back, then that would work. Otherwise, the threat doesn't demand they even appear other than to just meet each other.

 

[samsnee]

Superman needs a secret identity to protect the ones he cares about. Same with Green Lantern and the Flash. Batman, I don't even know why he needs one, since Alfred is the only one that would be affected.

Assuming Wayne Enterprises is a public company, I assume that shareholders wouldn't want to know their CEO is out at night beating up criminals. Only Batman and maybe Flash make sense to me for a secret identity.

I get that Superman/Clark is who he is, but I don't really need to see a need for Daily Planet Clark anymore, especially in modern times.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I think the secret identity of Clark Kent is a necessity to the Superman character. Bruce Wayne's gotta be Bruce Wayne. Diana can just be Wonder Woman like how Thor is just Thor. Flash would probably be better off with a secret identity, as well as Green Lantern. J'onn, just like Superman, needs to fit in with the humans with an identity that he and the ones around him can be comfortable with. Aquaman doesn't even live on the surface and he's a goddamn king; no secret identity needed.

 

[MadVillainy]

Assuming Wayne Enterprises is a public company, I assume that shareholders wouldn't want to know their CEO is out at night beating up criminals. Only Batman and maybe Flash make sense to me for a secret identity.

I get that Superman/Clark is who he is, but I don't really need to see a need for Daily Planet Clark anymore, especially in modern times.

why not? I dont see the change of times indicate why Daily Planet Clark is unnecessary

 

[Thundercrack85]

That's boring. You don't bring together a Justice League if it's going to be slow paced. That just means the threat wasn't big enough.

Well, first of all, it was a quick, simple example, secondly, why does a movie have to be fast paced? You can't have a slow paced story about the reveal of a global threat and the Justice League coming together? This isn't a DC animated movie, it's a two and a half - three hour big budget film. You don't have to constantly move at break neck speed.

Also, how is that even slow paced? By that logic, most of these movies are slow paced.

 

[Anubis]

I'm sayin'.

Assuming Wayne Enterprises is a public company, I assume that shareholders wouldn't want to know their CEO is out at night beating up criminals. Only Batman and maybe Flash make sense to me for a secret identity.

I get that Superman/Clark is who he is, but I don't really need to see a need for Daily Planet Clark anymore, especially in modern times.

why not? I dont see the change of times indicate why Daily Planet Clark is unnecessary

Yeah, I mean, despite the fact that print is dying, it ain't dead yet. There's still lots of investigative journalists doing their thing in papers. Particularly the big ones. New York Times. The Washington Post. And in this fictional universe, The Daily Planet. Still a perfect place to hide out.

 

[DrCosmic]

Superman, Batman and Flash aren't really the same without their secret identities. Having private lives is a big part of the character. Should The Amazing Spider-Man skip the whole secret identity thing? I should hope not.

MOS mishandled the Daily Planet introduction... and while the whole slouching hiding in plain sight thing has been addressed in comics, it still stretches credibility, especially in a room full of reporters. I think MOS2 will drop the ball on that, they've set themselves up in a really bad way. If Justice League is next they'll probably just have to breeze over that part.

That's boring. You don't bring together a Justice League if it's going to be slow paced. That just means the threat wasn't big enough.

Well, if the threat doesn't require some thought and discussion and research, then the movie is stupid. There's a balance, between building up the threat in dialogue and spectacular action. You need both. Having a big giant physical problem that just needs to be hit a lot in order to be fixed is a bad idea.

 

[Red Mask]

Well, first of all, it was a quick, simple example, secondly, why does a movie have to be fast paced? You can't have a slow paced story about the reveal of a global threat and the Justice League coming together? This isn't a DC animated movie, it's a two and a half - three hour big budget film. You don't have to constantly move at break neck speed.

Also, how is that even slow paced? By that logic, most of these movies are slow paced.

You have several characters all trying to share screen time. If they don't each get sufficient time to develop their character then they are not important enough. So watching them in their secret identities instead of displaying their powers takes away from the action. Nobody has know who the Flash is under the costume. We just need to know he's the Fastest Man Alive.

Once again, if the threat isn't big enough to have them appear in costume and fight, then it doesn't warrant assembling them as a team. But if the story is about Superman or Batman forming a team to free the Earth from alien control then it fits. Some of them might not have become superheroes yet, or some may have been captured at the start. We become introduced to each new member as the journey progresses.

 

[Red Mask]

Should The Amazing Spider-Man skip the whole secret identity thing? I should hope not.

Spider-Man is not in a superhero team. He's the only main character leading the story.

Well, if the threat doesn't require some thought and discussion and research, then the movie is stupid. There's a balance, between building up the threat in dialogue and spectacular action. You need both. Having a big giant physical problem that just needs to be hit a lot in order to be fixed is a bad idea.

If the crisis isn't clearly a major threat then there's no reason to bring so many superheroes together at all. It might as well be this is a day in the life of one superhero who happens to learn he or she is not alone in fighting for justice.

1. Superman meets Batman one day.
2. Batman meets Green Arrow the next day.
3. Green Arrow partners up with Black Canary and Green Lantern the next
   day.
4. Green Lantern meets Martian Manhunter the next day.
5. Martian Manhunter encounters Aquaman later.
6. Aquaman teams up with Wonder Woman later.
7. Wonder Woman meets Superman in the end. Superman no longer feels alone.

In that scenario it doesn't even matter who the vilains are because we're just seeing these heroes meet one another. It could be anybody.

 

[Thundercrack85]

You have several characters all trying to share screen time. If they don't each get sufficient time to develop their character then they are not important enough. So watching them in their secret identities instead of displaying their powers takes away from the action. Nobody has know who the Flash is under the costume. We just need to know he's the Fastest Man Alive.

Once again, if the threat isn't big enough to have them appear in costume and fight, then it doesn't warrant assembling them as a team. But if the story is about Superman or Batman forming a team to free the Earth from alien control then it fits. Some of them might not have become superheroes yet, or some may have been captured at the start. We become introduced to each new member as the journey progresses.

What if we want more than a popcorn flick with nothing but action?

Some of the best Justice League episodes were the slow ones that focused on the individual characters.

 

[Anubis]

Spider-Man is not in a superhero team. He's the only main character leading the story.



If the crisis isn't clearly a major threat then there's no reason to bring so many superheroes together at all. It might as well be this is a day in the life of one superhero who happens to learn he or she is not alone in fighting for justice.

1. Superman meets Batman one day.
2. Batman meets Green Arrow the next day.
3. Green Arrow partners up with Black Canary and Green Lantern the next
   day.
4. Green Lantern meets Martian Manhunter the next day.
5. Martian Manhunter encounters Aquaman later.
6. Aquaman teams up with Wonder Woman later.
7. Wonder Woman meets Superman in the end. Superman no longer feels alone.

In that scenario it doesn't even matter who the vilains are because we're just seeing these heroes meet one another. It could be anybody.

God that sounds like a terrible movie.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I still think it could be something as simple as Batman and Superman investigating the same lead.

Or if you want to have some fun with the identities, you could have something like Bruce Wayne agreeing to give Clark Kent an exclusive interview. Have them sit down, and Bruce just tells Clark what's going on (so and so is up to something), and that he knows he's Superman, and then Clark in turn tells Bruce he knows he's Batman.

Obviously written in a more clever fashion than I just spelled out.

 

[SKSpawn]

When watching Man of Steel, I really thought they were going to ditch the Clark Kent persona, or at least the reporter aspect of it, and was excited by the idea of losing that part of the character as I feel it's gotten a bit outdated and pointless, especially these days when Superman has no real family to protect (in The New 52, both his parents are dead, he's not with Lois, etc) and he's too powerful to really hurt in the same way that Batman is, so he may as well ditch it and retreat to the Fortress whenever he needs to be "alone" or whatever.

Going on from that, I have a feeling that Superman's guise as Clark Kent may be exposed or otherwise compromised in Man of Steel 2, somehow, and I can see further DC films treating secret identities in the same way as Man of Steel and Green Lantern - the general public are unaware of their real identity, but friends and loved ones can easily tell who they are and it's made something of a joke. I could see the Flash's identity being compromised by the Rogues or the Reverse-Flash easily enough, but for characters who wear full or half-face masks, they kind of have to have a secret identity or else they may as well run around maskless throughout the entire film unless they can find a way to explain why they wear a mask but don't have a secret identity like the Avengers have done on film.

 

[Lead Cenobite]

When watching Man of Steel, I really thought they were going to ditch the Clark Kent persona, or at least the reporter aspect of it, and was excited by the idea of losing that part of the character as I feel it's gotten a bit outdated and pointless, especially these days when Superman has no real family to protect (in The New 52, both his parents are dead, he's not with Lois, etc) and he's too powerful to really hurt in the same way that Batman is, so he may as well ditch it and retreat to the Fortress whenever he needs to be "alone" or whatever.

Wasn't that pretty much the way things were from 1938 to 1986?

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Superman, Batman, and The Flash should keep their secret identities intact

Green Lantern can go either way

Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter don't need a secret identity

 

[MadVillainy]

^^this.

 

[Bad Superman]

Keep'em. . . . . next thing you know, revisionists/modernists will want cape-less heroes because for them capes will be too "Renaissance". . . . . .

 

[Shikamaru]

I'm really surprised at the number of people saying that Batman and Superman's secret identities are unimportant to them. That is simply false. It is very crucial to their character.

Bruce Wayne is one of the richest men in the world and Wayne Enterprises is one of the most successful American companies up there with LexCorp. Bruce being publicly open about him being Batman would not only lead to the downfall of the company but Gotham would also suffer. Gotham's first family, the Waynes, has been with Gotham since its inception and is one of the main families that keeps Gotham's economy running. On top of that, the whole world knowing that Batman is just some rich guy would completely take away from fear and suspense of the Batman. Originally, the people of Gotham believed Batman to be a monster and an urban myth and even years after his debut when it became more and more clear that Batman was human, most people still believed that there is more to Batman than just gadgets and fighting styles; that there is something unnatural about him that makes him such an intimidating presence. Criminals knowing that Bruce Wayne is who hunts them down every night would completely ruin all of that.

As for Superman, Clark Kent is very crucial to who he is as a person. One of the important aspects of Superman that MOS got spot on is that despite him not being human, Superman is still a human before he is a Kryptonian. He was raised as one of us his entire life. His moral values that shape who he is come from the Kents. He respects his Kryptonian heritage, but he is not defined by it. At the core, Superman is a moral American man from Kansas and like all other humans, he needs human interactions to make him happy and get him through the day. Batman even said at one point that "Clark is the most human out of all of us". This is also part of what makes the Batman/Superman dynamic so interesting. You would expect the demigod (Superman) to be less human than the man with no powers (Batman) but in reality, the demigod is the more human of the two on the inside and the human is the more monster of the two on the inside. Clark's identity also adds to the Superman/Lex dynamic. Both Superman and Lex are essentially gods on earth, though in different ways. Prior to Superman's debut, Lex was the god of Metropolis, having done a lot for the city and with LexCorp Tower towering all other buildings in the city. However, what separates Superman from Lex is the fact that despite being a god, Superman has no ego and does not consider himself superior to humans. When one of Lex's employees in the comics once thought Clark Kent was Superman and informed Lex, Lex thought he was insane because he could not comprehend the idea of a god like Superman wanting to be human and to live among ordinary humans.

Flash's secret identity is also crucial to his character. Flash is meant to be an everyman and is the most everyman superhero out of the main 7. His secret identity is crucial to him as well.