What if Superman were to reveal his identity to the world?

[Infinity9999x]

If Superman did reveal his identity would it be that bad? For Clark and Louis I mean. With Spider-man it's a little differnt because...well, he's not Superman. I mean, this is Superman we're talking about. Aside from some of his very powerfull villans, how many of the bad guys would be going, "yeah, now that I know who Superman is, I want to go to his house and try to fight him, and get him really pissed at me!"

If Louis was killed, then Superman would also probably either go nuts, or pull a Kingdom Come and abandon humanity.

 

[drastic_quench]

Yeah, I hope that wouldn't happen to Louis. Louis is a Saint.

 

[yenaled]

He'd stop being Clark Kent. That's about it.

 

[LadyVader]

There is no point in Superman revealing his identity since most people don't even think he has a secret identity. He is just Superman.

One could argue that Kal El's insistance on living a double life means less time for him to save people, and so that ultimately he's being selfish, but given that the DCU is filled with superheroes, Clark can afford to be Clark.

 

[Spike_x1]

If Superman did reveal his identity would it be that bad? For Clark and Louis I mean. With Spider-man it's a little differnt because...well, he's not Superman. I mean, this is Superman we're talking about. Aside from some of his very powerfull villans, how many of the bad guys would be going, "yeah, now that I know who Superman is, I want to go to his house and try to fight him, and get him really pissed at me!"

If Louis was killed, then Superman would also probably either go nuts, or pull a Kingdom Come and abandon humanity.

Some of them might not go directly to his house, but yes, most of them would attack places associated with his personal life. The Daily Planet building would be a pile of rubble within an hour of Superman's reveal. A few of his radiation-based enemies would probably pull a Kingdom Come and nuke Kansas all to hell.

And the chaos would only spread from there.

 

[The Question]

Exactly. And hell, they could team up and distract him. Metallo starts atacking the Daily Planet. Superman shows up to stop him. The Parasite goes to his apartment, kills Lois, and waits there with a few others to beat the crap out of Supes when he gets home.

 

[Dwarf lord]

Would it really make sense for the character? Because unlike Spider-Man, the glasses/reporter Clark Kent is just what Superman is in his "free time." Clark Kent really is who people see put on the cape and costume and fight crime. That's the real Clark Kent. So, why would he reveal his identity?

 

[The Question]

It's not that simple at all. He was Clark Kent long before he began putting on a costume and fighting crime. He wasn't born Superman.

 

[Dwarf lord]

It's not that simple at all. He was Clark Kent long before he began putting on a costume and fighting crime. He wasn't born Superman.

Yes he was. The Clark Kent of Smallville is more or less what Superman is. The Clark Kent of Metropolis is the mask.

 

[The Question]

No, he wasn't. That's severely over simplifying things. A person can't be born a hero. They become one over time.

 

[Dwarf lord]

No, he wasn't. That's severely over simplifying things. A person can't be born a hero. They become one over time.

Well, he wasn't born a hero per se, but as Clark Kent he was tought his values that Superman took on. Clark Kent wasn't always the bumbling idiot he is in Metropolis. The Clark Kent of Smallville had more in common with Superman than witwh Metropolis Clark Kent, thus creating my thesis that Metropolis Clark Kent isn't the real Clark Kent, that's Superman.

 

[bulok]

I think the main drawback to Superman revealing his identity is that he would have no privacy. I don't think there would be any extra threat to his family.

I mean seriously, if you were Superman's enemy, you'd know that the man is pulling his punches. That most of his fights (with the exception to Luthor) is either apprehension or prevention. Unlike the Spiderman vs Green Goblin fights, Superman stops villains from committing crimes against humanity and not just his person.

A villain would think twice before making it personal with Superman. Knowing his full potential and power, I would not want to piss the guy off. So yeah, I don't think there would be any more threats on his family if he revealed his secret but he wont have the privacy he seeks.

 

[The Question]

Well, he wasn't born a hero per se, but as Clark Kent he was tought his values that Superman took on. Clark Kent wasn't always the bumbling idiot he is in Metropolis. The Clark Kent of Smallville had more in common with Superman than witwh Metropolis Clark Kent, thus creating my thesis that Metropolis Clark Kent isn't the real Clark Kent, that's Superman.

That's still severely over simplifying it. People, by their very nature, arte complex individuals with many different aspects to their persoanlities. None of these aspects are any more truthfull than the others. Also, Clark is not an idiot. He may have been known for his clumbsyness in many stories, but he has never been an idiot. He's a very well respected jurnolist and novelist.

I think the main drawback to Superman revealing his identity is that he would have no privacy. I don't think there would be any extra threat to his family.



I mean seriously, if you were Superman's enemy, you'd know that the man is pulling his punches. That most of his fights (with the exception to Luthor) is either apprehension or prevention. Unlike the Spiderman vs Green Goblin fights, Superman stops villains from committing crimes against humanity and not just his person.



A villain would think twice before making it personal with Superman. Knowing his full potential and power, I would not want to piss the guy off. So yeah, I don't think there would be any more threats on his family if he revealed his secret but he wont have the privacy he seeks.

Superman rarely pulls his punches with many of his villains. The Parasite is probably one of the more powerful (non magic/cosmic) metas in the DCU. Every blow against him makes him stronger. Rudy is fully aware that he is capable of beating Supes to within an inch of his life and takes great pride in this fact. Besides, Metallo's strength level is roughly on par with Supes, Bizarro is just as powerful as Supes in every way, and Riot can simply make ten thousand copies of himself and dogpile on Supes. Any one of them, with full knowledge of who Supes really is, would use it to their advantage in the most terrible ways.

 

[Spike_x1]

A villain would think twice before making it personal with Superman. Knowing his full potential and power, I would not want to piss the guy off. So yeah, I don't think there would be any more threats on his family if he revealed his secret but he wont have the privacy he seeks.

...


... But most of his villains go out of their way to try to make it personal with Superman.

Despite what the generally uninformed populous believe, many of Superman's rogues do, in fact, have the raw power to go toe-to-toe with him and have a decent shot at victory, or at least the capacity to easily annihilate an entire city block during the course of a fight.

 

[Dwarf lord]

That's still severely over simplifying it. People, by their very nature, arte complex individuals with many different aspects to their persoanlities. None of these aspects are any more truthfull than the others. Also, Clark is not an idiot. He may have been known for his clumbsyness in many stories, but he has never been an idiot. He's a very well respected jurnolist and novelist.

Sometimes things are simple... Look, English majors have written thesis' on the nature of Superman, yet it is all based on perception. There is no one truth or answer to the question, "What is Superman?" But in the iconic comics, the Clark Kent that everyone knows isn't the real character. So in essence, he reavealing his identity would be just putting a mask on to the public. The inner character is Superman.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

If Superman did reveal his identity would it be that bad? For Clark and Louis I mean. With Spider-man it's a little differnt because...well, he's not Superman. I mean, this is Superman we're talking about. Aside from some of his very powerfull villans, how many of the bad guys would be going, "yeah, now that I know who Superman is, I want to go to his house and try to fight him, and get him really pissed at me!"

If Louis was killed, then Superman would also probably either go nuts, or pull a Kingdom Come and abandon humanity.

Louis


Superman's Gay

 

[The Question]

Sometimes things are simple... Look, English majors have written thesis' on the nature of Superman, yet it is all based on perception. There is no one truth or answer to the question, "What is Superman?" But in the iconic comics, the Clark Kent that everyone knows isn't the real character. So in essence, he reavealing his identity would be just putting a mask on to the public. The inner character is Superman.

Why should the "iconic" stories be the ones that matter? Superman pushing the planet around is pretty iconci, but I really don't think he should be doing that in the comics anymore. Clark Kent is a very real part of Superman, as Superman is a very real part of Clark Kent. He's alot more complicated than what you describe.

 

[Harlekin]

Superman should never reveal his identity. That simple.

 

[Mee]

Superman should never reveal his identity. That simple.

I agree. And Spidey shouldn't have either.

 

[batnkevlar]

What if when Clark revealed his identity, Lex has a twisted sense of honor in which he would only attack Superman as Superman, not as Clark Kent, and using his influence, make sure that the other villains did the same... that leading to a sorta war within Superman's Rogues, with lex killing some off as a sort of example...

 

[Super Mark]

I remember when Big Blue once said, Clark is who I am. Superman is what I can do.
Pre-C, Post-C, I don't know, but it helped "humanize" him for me. He may not be human, but he's still a person. He needs a life. And the point about endangering everyone he knows is a concern.

As for Peter Parker, due to the annoying habbits of certain editors, they can easily undo his revelation. Like it never happened.
Mark

 

[Mee]

^They should undo the whole Spider-Totem thing while they're at it.

 

[The Question]

I liked the Spider-Totem. I thought those stories were really cool.

 

[Whirlysplat]

I don't think Supes Villians would care about Lois. I think Darkseid would know Clark was Supes if he wanted etc.
I don't think anything is to gained revealing his ID anyway unless DC want to go the Miracleman messiah/benevolent dictator route. Supes is not a Messiah or benevolent dictator, so I feel that would be an error.

- Whirly

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Not to mention the Superman-as-world-dictator angle has been done with about half of the many Superman clones out there already.