Trope Talk: Secret Identities
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Let's talk about the neverending peek-a-boo game that is comics continuity and the state of the secret identity!
Got a favorite secret identity drama moment? Drop a comment about it!
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The best use of secret identities in superhero media was in the DCAU when Lex took over the Flash's body, decided to find out who the Flash was, and had no idea who Flash was once he took the mask off.
I was gonna point that out too; flash isn't rich or that well off. His day job is a CSI lab tech. He's basically as far from the limelight as you can get compared to a rich playboy or a famous reporter lol
Lex: I have no idea who this is
Agreed this was peak commedy, but red please make the bacchae
@@kerricaine And really, how well do you know the appearance of even the most successful newspaperman?
@@RorikH To be fair, if it's a public figure you can google the image nowadays. You don't even need to be famous, just have public posts.
As bad as the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern was, the reveal to the love interest was very funny.
"You knew?"
"I known you since you were 4! I've seen you naked! You think I wouldn't recognize you just because I couldn't see your cheekbones??"
The movie had its moments, and this was probably the best scene in the movie.
Despite how deeply flawed it is, I actually like that movie. The scene where Hal dramatically recites the Green Lantern oath is hype AF
I’d say Green Lantern is a pretty good movie not amazing or anything but still enjoyable in its own right
@@bibigamer502 it's definitely it's so bad it's good 😂😂
That movie got Ryan and Blake to marry later on.
My favorite explanation for why generally-smart people like Lex Luthor and Lois can't figure out Superman's secret identity is because they (particularly Luthor) don't realize he HAS one. They assume that Superman spends all his time as Superman and just flies off somewhere, so that fact that Clark Kent looks sort of like him is dismissed as a coincidence.
Luthor especially often has a quite warped view of Superman, assuming that he looks down on ordinary humans because that's how Luthor would feel if he was a Kryptonian. For all his raw intellect, Luthor cannot understand basic humility and decency.
Yeah, there's one story where a Luthor Corp employee fires up the really big computer which spits out the conclusion that Superman is Clark Kent, only for Lex to fire him and deride it as a conclusion that only a computer could reach because someone with that much power could never lower themselves to pretend to be Clark Kent..
It occurs to me that the problem is that Lex Luthor has too much empathy, in that he can't imagine someone else being that different from him. ;)
Yeah, it really is apparent in all-star superman. Clark interviews Lex and Lex explicitly compares Superman to Clark. Saying because Superman is so great, people like Clark gets forgotten about.
@@spyone4828 being unable to understand how others feel because they're different from the ones you'd have would be a sign of not enough empathy, not too much.
I can't remember where I read it and it might very well have been a fan comic, but I saw a short comic online about this once that was basically just Luthor kind of monologuing in his head while scenes went by. It ended with him deciding that Superman could not have a secret identity and was fooling everyone with his nice guy attitude, why would a God waste time pretending to be an ant. Luthor justified that he needed to take Superman down because he must be secretly planning to take over the world with his powers and alien technology. Then Lutthor says "after all it's what I would do".
I think it actually was a fan comic, but I thought it captured Lex Luthor's mind pretty well. He's a greedy narcissist who would never give up a chance to increase his own power or make himself look better, he can't imagine why one of the few people in the world that he actually fears might be stronger than himself would pretend to be weak. I kind of like that reasoning too even though it might feel cheap, because it gives this villian who is otherwise a rich & powerful genius a fun weakness, I like when the genius characters are blinded by their own hubris.
I think Megamind has an interesting look at what happens when a Superman-level hero (in terms of power) doesn't get a secret identity. Metroman never has to hide his powers like Clark Kent did, because Metroman was adopted into a family that was rich enough to not have to worry about the consequences of having a super-powered kid. But because Metroman never had to hide his powers, everyone knows who he is, and he's always on the clock. He straight up fakes his own death because he gets so burned out from having to be a superhero all the time.
Megamind himself is also an example of someone without a secret identity _getting_ one
Honestly, the “we won’t tell nobody” bit in Spiderman 2 is one of my favorite Spiderman moments. Lots of people see his face, but they respect it because he’s Spiderman, and they trust him! Wholesome!!
"He's. . . just a kid. No older than my son."
To be fair it isn't like they knew who Peter Parker was. All they could do is tell people he's a young man
Yeah I loved that, legit kinda cried some. "He's just a kid," and every one of them protected him for a moment. Because he needed it, because it was the right thing to do, not just because he'd just been saving THEIR lives. Really hits that "who heals the healer?" thing, to me anyway.
That scene always brings me to tears, it's so good
In the novelization, one of that crowd was an ersatz Michael Moore who wanted to expose Peter’s identity. The rest of the train passengers almost lynch him.
Shoutout to the Spider-Man comic where a pregnant woman he saves asks for his first name, "So I can name my son after a good man"
He tells her to name her son Ben
It is then revealed he has done this like 20 different times.
That one put a smile on my face becuase for Spiderman, his uncle is the reason why he is the hero are today....
I wouldn't expect a Drac to post something so wholesome...
An entire generation of bens
I've also heard that this is a Jewish custom to preserve the memory of dead loved ones or something. And also that Peter is canonically Jewish, at least in some continuities.
@@timothymclean "It's a Jewish custom to name children after dead loved ones" is technically true, in the sense that it is also customary for Jewish people to breathe air and drink water
Eve: It's a psychology thing. If you don't expect to see a superhero in your school, you don't see a superhero in your school.
I excpect to see a milion dollar in my home
@@ibrahim5463no, that just means money will AVOID your house
I think they had that as a line from the comics: "Sometimes I do take my glasses off, and you know what people say? You look just like Superman."
@@RorikH Yeah Clark can show up to the office in costume, and everyone would find it hilarious.
I can imagine a Solid JJ skit about one of Spider-Man’s villains (probably the green goblin) threatening Peter and his family thinking he’s just Spider-Man’s biggest fan with a detailed costume and all
danny phantom is actually a really interesting inversion of how the trope is usually done because all of his villains know who he is. all the ghosts know who he is, his name, where he lives. theyll even address him or even threaten him while he looks human. his identity is a secret from the town he lives in, and most crucially, his parents. he is genuinely scared that if his parents find out hes half ghost, he'll be locked in the basement and experimented on. when they point guns in his face, he NEVER takes the chance that they wouldnt hurt him when they realise hes their son. i think it is a fascinating dynamic
One of the main reasons I love the show. It’s actually pretty messed up when you think about it
And in a totally unrelated note, Danny Phantom has a large community of Trans Phans
And it is interesting that none of his ghost enemies who know the thuth, use that as a thead. But then again most of Danny's human allies know how to fight ghost on their own.
To be fair, given that Danny's dad has 2 braincells and they're both fighting for third place, there's a good chance that if Danny revealed himself, then his dad would just assume that he was a ghost pretending to be Danny. Then, it would be the basement, and the experiments, and "where is the real Danny?"
@@blacknorthwind93 I like that about Danny’s enemies. They don’t involve humans in ghost business, unless those humans involved themselves. I think it’s because of how the ghosts view their own existences. The ghosts are thoroughly uninterested in human matters. They’ll do things that amount to playing pranks or the occasional scheme to get power, but mostly it’s just about indulging their whims and codes. It’s all just about killing time for the immortal ghosts. Danny himself is seen as a new playmate, so they keep going to Amity Park for kicks and to get his measure. The only members of Danny’s rogues gallery that don’t do that is his human ones. Freakshow, Vlad, Daniel. They’re all too happy targeting Danny’s family and dragging his secret out into the public.
I love how Danny Phantom deals with Danny's secret identity. His entire repeating villains gallery knows exactly who he is, where he lives, and who his loved ones are. They have to, the portal between worlds is literally in Danny's basement. His arch nemesis figures out his identity in like a day. It's his family and peers he hides from and that's just fascinating.
Oh yeah! The show certainly did put its own unique twist to the whole secret identity thing (mostly hiding from the family) and it was pretty neat.
It's kinda like when the only people who can truly hurt are the people you care the most about and what their react/opinion may be (especially if its a negative one). Like Danny's villains are GHOSTS, you can't really hide your secret identity from spectral enemies ('cause like they can phase through walls and see more n junk), but what the heck they gonna do with your secret identity. Haunt ye from the rest of your life?
Meanwhile, Danny loved his family but there was a certain (new) aspect of him that his parents might not accept. He was half ghost and he came from a family of ghost hunters FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. That's when the terrifying question start to settle in: Would they still see him as the same Danny they knew and accept his ghostly side or will they immediately turn on him for what he is?
And since he can't guaranteed the answer without the possibility of getting hurt (or his family getting hurt) it puts him in a REAL tricky situation.
Overall a pretty neat idea from the writers.
That was also how Power Rangers usually handles it.
He fears rejection (& worse) for something he can't control, not physical danger from enemies. Which I think was a big reason it resonated with a general audience, people in general fear rejection & the 'or worse' implication of his parents being ghost hunters spoke to the lgbt kids, the kids who feared telling religious parents they didn't believe, and frankly more things than I feel like listing out at 4 AM. (and then the Phandom ran with it, oh did they run with it to some incredibly dark places😱)
And when Jazz discovers it on her own she actually keeps it to herself, content with waiting for Danny to tell her when he's ready and even covering for him when she could. It was really sweet.
My favorite way a reveal played out was in a superhero tabletop. Everyone on the team used secret identities, but some were less stringent about them than others. My character was a tech-whiz/inventor gal who, among other things kept a journal full of ideas for power suits and other plans to *turn* her "civilian" best friend into a superhero. She knew that friend was super brave and had a great sense of justice, and would obviously make a great hero if only she had powers. The friend was, of course, the secret identity of another member of the team all along. When she eventually found out, her reaction was more, "But- but... what about all my plans?!"
That's kind of cute actually: Wanting to turn your friend into a superhero because you sought their potential only to find out they ARE in fact a hero and you've working with them this entire time. That's a pretty wholesome plot twist.
"I thought you were my Rhodey, but instead you're my Cap," huh. :P
Thats actually really funny and I'm surprised I haven't seen that kind of interaction more often.
That is amazing, just such a fun bit of character story
Superhero tabletops are so fun.
I remember when my character's identity got revealed to her teammate (who is an alien who doesn't understand a lot of Earth customs) after a big battle at her school and she was trying to explain to him why she needed to keep a secret identity, part of which having to do with her being closeted Transfem, the hilarious bit was the teammate completely missing the point and being more fascinated by getting to choose which gender humans can be. Overall just a fun interaction.
The panel with "so our love triangle was just you twice" was just so hilarious. XD
To me, it’s a love V if it’s not connected in a cycle properly.
Loved that energy in Batman: Hush tbh.
@@usmansubhani7482 well in this case, that means... it's a proper triangle 😂
Oh, it gets funnier. Have you heard of the two-person love square? Only really possible when both participants have secret identities, of course.
@@legowerewolf Pretty sure Natural Habitat Shorts just did one of those.
I’d love a realistic interaction
“Hey Vinny, I found out Spider-Man’s real name and where he lives let’s go get him.”
“You want to go to the house of the guy who normally and without fail kick our asses without even trying? That’s stupid Paul.”
"Yeah! And we'll give him an extremely good reason to make sure we never leave."
Do you think he's any weaker without the suit? He not iron man he'll beat you ass naked if he has to.
@@ianjordan8964Hey Iron man also has some moves without the suit.
@@ianjordan8964exactly.
Don’t forget the thick Italian accent
15:33 Imagine a "I knew you were a superhero but this isn't the one that I thought you were."
I remember reading that in a comic or book once. It was quite funny.
I wish I remembered which one it was.
Definitely an underused twist lol
Miraculous teased this by giving Marinette and Adrien different Miraculous gems besides their usual (the Mouse and the Snake), I've read a few fics where the identity shenanigans get even crazier than canon 😂
What about, "I knew you were a superhero before I knew the real you. Before I knew the person you really are and why you do this for a living."?
Long story short (if I worded it wrong), someone who knew that someone they vaguely know is a superhero, but this was before completely knowing, being friends, and understanding why they became a superhero, and revealing it to the hero when they initially wanted to. Basically, it's a twist of "I knew all along" superhero trope.
@@SecretMagicianMary Jane Watson was revealed to have seen Spider-Man climbing out Peter Parker's window before they were introduced, and is why (in the comics) she never made a big deal out of Peter constantly disappearing in the middle of a crisis. At least that was a retcon that might no longer be canon but I like it.
An SMBC comic had a great take on it.
"Lois, I'm really Superman. All those times you thought you were cheating on me, you were being faithful. I'm sorry I caused you so much anguish over this."
"Oh Clark! ...You're Batman too, right?"
"What?"
"Nothing."
It is always fun to remember that in the Marvel Universe the Murphy's law is "If something can go wrong, it will go wrong, specifically to Spiderman"
16:26 "Wayne Family Newsletter Mailing List" needs to be a canon thing. That's just beautiful
I read that like half a second before she said it LOL
I love how Jimmy told Clark he figured it out when Clark ripped their dorm room door off the hinges on the first day of college. We'd seen how much Clark struggles to control his strength when he was nervous in the first episode.
Also loved when Lois had him pretend to be Superman as a practice interview, so he tried to do a Superman voice, then realized his Superman voice is *The* Superman Voice and had to change it again. It's a gag that lasts less than 3 seconds, but it still kills me.
"It's a ple- It's a PLE~ It's a Plea~sure... Miss Lane... ma'am- MISS!"
"I will call myself Ben Kenobi. They will never figure it out, it's foolproof!"
To be fair, it did work
Kenobi is pretty much the Star Wars equivalent of Smith.
He'll always be Old Ben to me even when he's a Padawan
hello there
Family Guy did a great gag on this, where Luke goes "Obi Wan Kenobi? Maybe she meabs old _Obi Wan_ Kenobi"
Bruce Banner is an interesting case because he has a secret identity but not in the typical sense. Bruce is a wanted international fugitive with the power to level cities. Anyone that has heard of the Hulk likely knows that Bruce is The Hulk. However no one expects the super dangerous fugitive to be a dirty hobo. Bruce can walk into a restaurant and eat with what few dollars he’s scrapped up and at worst people are going to be concerned by the dirty man in ratty clothes eating at a table alone.
There are some adaptations where people assume Banner is dead but have heard of the Incredible Hulk because General Ross didn’t publicize the Hulk’s origin
Even if Bruce looked cleaned up, do people even know who Bruce is? They know a guy named Bruce Banner turned into the Hulk, but is his face really known?
@@t.v.rockwell4504 Not really. And (in a lot of adaptations) people assumed Banner was dead.
This is from Immortal Hulk, right?
@@sinisternorimaki Are you responding to me or to the original comment?
An almost always overlooked cool thing you can do with a secret identity - the one antagonist who knows and doesn't weaponise it, share it with others and may actually take steps to help preserve it in a pinch. There's a whole number of tropes that cements in a way almost nothing else will: honorable villain, "i want to beat you, not destroy you", frenemies, or just some random point of pride.
A villain who knows and doesn't use/reveal that information gets a whole pile of characterisation handed to them for free on a platter.. and potentially a whole pile of mystery if they don't share their motive for doing so.
So someone like deathstroke I'm guessing?
The Joker has kinda become this from the New 52 onwards, knowing Batman's secret identity, but not giving a crap.
The only times it did make an impact were the big stories where Joker decided to bring their conflict to an end (Endgame and The Joker War). In the latter, he basically stole the entire Wayne fortune.
This has actually been Hugo Strange's shtick from day 1. That he knows Bruce Wayne is Batman is, like, 90% of his narrative purpose.
I love this, and I love the possibilities for an honourable villain to have a line like ‘The Batman is my enemy, I have no quarrel with who you say pretend to be during the day Bruce.’ Actually I can totally hear someone like R’as Al Ghul say something like that.
The villain wants to defeat the hero, not their civilian persona.
As Linkara pointed out in his video of things wrong with Civil War, the worst part about Peter's reveal there was the fact that he was led to believe that he had to reveal himself to the public when it would later be revealed superheroes would have needed to reveal to the government and not even that, but SHIELD specifically. So it was nothing more than a publicity stunt that ruined Peter's life once more and led to the assassination of Aunt May and added another stamp to his status quo card (Two more and he gets a free sundae to enjoy while grieving about losing everything yet again)
Writing prompt: a superhero just got their superpowers and needs to scrub away all the data they have on any and all websites before someone doxxes them
Bonus points, they do everything by the books, but there's some stubborn hold outs so they have to get a super-hacker on their side who thinks they're trying to drop off the face of the earth to avoid criminal charges or being found by the mob or something.
Sounds easy for a technopath, pretty difficult for literally anyone else. A character with control over technology just erasing their entire digital footprint instantly sounds like a super cool intriguing and mysterious plot thread, especially if they were well known in some way or even internet famous so people know of them from the internet but suddenly all record of them vanish and everyone is left wondering if it was a Mandela effect or collective delusion.
They have two separate social media accounts, for themselves and their hero identity, and mess up posting on the wrong account
Like Spiderman posting under Peter's account like "Man, is it me or is the Rhino getting dumber?"
@@bluecanine3374 No one finds that post from Peter to be that suspicious as everyone is aware of public villain antics, but it does get popular and people are a bit surprised/impressed to see Peter sass like that; unfortunately it gets a little too popular and Rhino gets pretty pissed and tries throwing a car at Peter.
Wearing The Cape.
The lying a whole lot page irl:
Interviewer- "can you explain this two year gap in your resume?"
Interviewee- "I was... Uh... District Manager at Toys-R-Us... And you can't verify it so it's not worth putting on the resume!"
Interviewer- "Oh yeah, I worked at Blockbuster when I was in college. I get it."
Plot twist: the interviewer is/was also a vigilante and they’ve immediately clocked that the other person is one, too.
@@animeotaku307 *The small balding man walks out of the room with a completed questionnaire and a full page of notes. He gets to his office, takes some padding out of the waist area of his shirt, and straightens his back. His slight limp goes away completely. He picks up a landline phone and dials a number that he knows by heart. "Director Fury, I got another one."*
"Superheroes cause a lot of collateral damage, and we don't want to get our butts sued" - Clobberella AKA Turanga Leela
Came here to say that, but you beat me to it! 😂
“Bender, aren’t you usually on the supply side of crime?”
Heh, would like to see how OSP thinks about, say, the Dirty Pair and Damage Control.
@@michaelandreipalon359 The Lovely Angels are very good at their job, unfortunately they also have a bit of a history with collateral damage, which has earned them a less than stellar nickname.
I want to see a character with copy abilities like Rogue or Amazo or a Skrull set up a superhero impersonation service where you can hire them to copy your abilities and pose as you for a set amount of time. Haven’t had a real vacation in years? Job interview you can’t have interrupted? Suspect your rich villain nemesis is getting close to figuring it out? Just call the Superhero Impersonator Service!
Why Rogue? She doesn't shape-shifted most of the time.
@@emanuelrojas2 She can put on the suit and copy the powers. That's enough for a lot of heroes in full body suits, especially with makeup/wigs and movie prosthetics. She wouldn't be able to pass for The Hulk, but she could pull off Spidergirl, Batgirl, etc.
I love this idea so much
Honestly, for heroes like Batman Daredevil, Captain America Heroes who rely on primarily on gadgets or whose abilities don't really go too far away from you could expect a normal person to be able to do. You just need someone similar to Taskmaster. Show them your fighting style lend them your costume and gadgets. Remember to pay them well, and you're basically set
I find Superman fascinating with the secret identity thing because I think some of the best Superman stories are the ones that handle his humanity more so then “what big strong world ending threat is he gonna handle today”. I love seeing Clark struggle with the balance of being raised like a human/with humans and then learning more about his kryptonian heritage and how that clashes with one another with how he views himself
I still think the greatest subversion of this trope was when Lex Luthor winds up in the Flash’s body only to realize he hasn’t the faintest idea who he actually is.
Which is kinda weird. You'd think he'd be out to get Flash personally for separating him from Braniac and with his resources he could have found out who he was in under a week...
@@justinjacobs1501I assume it's because most criminals don't want to deal with Flash since he's almost impossible to deal with.
@@aliteralmoth2243yup. In the comics it’s canonical that most villains avoid the Flash after the Joker was literally kicked out of the city before the joke even took off.
The realistic version of this is that nobody would be very interested in unmasking someone, because there's no chance of recognizing who they are anyway. But then the whole trope kinda collapses, what's the point of writing in a secret identity if it never comes up.
@@jbutler8585 because there's no chance of recognizing who they are anyway, unless it's a well known person, like bilionaire bruce wayne for example.
My absolute favorite identity reveal comes from “Beware the Grey Ghost” from Batman the Animated Series. Bruce Way e grew up watching The Grew Ghost as a kid, and looks up to Simon Trent the man who played them. Batman and the Grey Ghost go on an adventure and stop a terrorist plot, and along the way Bats shows Trent a shrine to the Grey Ghost he keeps in the Bat Cave. He tells him that the Grey Ghost was his hero, both expressing his admiration and showing Trent that his work as an actor managed to inspire actual good in the world.
After the story wraps up, Simon Trent is signing autographs for his fans, and Bruce says verbatim what Batman had said to him previously, basically letting him know that he was Batman all along. Simon Trent just gives him a smile. It’s genuinely really heart warming that Bruce knew that this guy was a good man who would keep his identity a secret.
*"So it wasn't all for nothing..."* Gods, I can't fathom on how I ADORE this episode. Even if one isn't a Batman 1966 fan, this ep is guaranteed to tug at one's heartstrings!
That was a really good episode. It's really cool that they got Adam West to voice Simon Trent, making the episode a way of saying that, without the 1960s Batman show, their animated series never would've happened.
10:33 The moment I saw this image I immediately remembered the interview with Elastigirl at the start of the Incredibles.
"Can you see me in this at the supermarket? Come on. Who'd want to go shopping as Elastigirl?"
I think my favorite secret identity interaction is the post-credits scene in Spiderman: Homecoming where the Vulture gets asked who Spiderman is and (knowing full well who he is and knowing that Peter Parker was very recently dating his daughter) says he has no idea rather than put his own family in danger.
Another fascinating thing about the Justice League cartoon is that (spoilers for a 20 year old show) they actually managed to have one of the original seven have a secret identity the entire time that we the audience had no idea about. Hawkgirl was leading a double life as a Thanagarian spy that she was actively hiding from everybody for the whole show and we didn't know until it got revealed to the world.
One of the super rare instances where a superhero's identity reveal put the audience in the "shock and betrayal" position instead of the hero's POV
Bit of a tangent, but I love how the show Young Justice made it a point that some of the top-tier villains knew the civilian identities and stepped in to prevent another villain from blowing up a gathering that includes retired heroes, the spouses of heroes, and the children of heroes. I always love the idea of villains realizing that its in their best interest that heroes aren't motivated to give up the moral high ground.
yeah, going after the family of superheroes is explicitly labelled as "The nuclear option", and now I really like the idea of some superheroes having a group of assassins trailing their family not to harm them but to protect them.
@@RiverRapids11235 Or even Villians protecting the families because, god forbid, The Flash takes off his weights and get's serious. Or get Batman to go back on his "No Killing" and "No Guns" policy and turns onto DCs version of The Punisher.
@@RiverRapids11235 I'm pretty sure it's called "The Refrigerator Option" in canon.
A good example of why Superman need a secret identity is Metroman from Megamind.
He was raised and lived as a Superhero 24/7. His entire life is dedicated to him being a Superhero and nothing else. But there is only so much one could take living like that when they're just...human, Metroman isn't a bad person by any means, but he couldn't bring himself to always be Superhero that everyone expected him to be, and so he quit.
Clark might be mentally stronger and could take it more than Metroman, But he may have end up the same way eventually without his secret identity.
This! A solid example of a deconstructed Superman without having him be evil!
He stopped being a superhero because he was just *burnt out*. It was honestly great, and as I get older, more and more relatable.
@@UrpleSquirrel I wouldn't even call it burnt out, just changed as time has gone on. His nemesis was a (mostly) harmless doofus who avoided causing any real harm to people and the pageantry had run its course. Him and Megamind had basically been putting on a 2-man stage show for decades that everyone but Metroman was still enjoying. His yearning for something different as he entered his middle-age years, to be a musician (despite not being good at it) is very real.
7:03 Something a few different iterations of Batman has done that I really like is that most people just *assume* Batman has super powers. Which is all the more reason why he needs to keep his identity secret, people wouldn’t be as afraid if they knew he was just a regular human that was really smart and had really good tech.
There was an episode of The Animated Series where the villain of the week had an invisibility device, and at one point they're trying to make a getaway by making their car invisible. They speed past a couple of civilians while Batman is holding onto the roof of this invisible car, and one of them says "I didn't know he could fly!"
That reminds of one of the animated movies where Green Lantern was shocked about Batman not having any powers; it was during a conversation in a sewer but that's all I can recall about it.
TBH I’d argue that Batman’s superpower is his intelligence (and his money, but mostly his intelligence).
@@wilbertsledge3454
He thought Batman was a vampire
GL: "Looks like some one didn't get their true blood."
BM: "I'm not a vampire."
Honestly Batman being a vampire makes a lot of sense if you're a superstitious crook living in the dark cloudy Gotham.
It explains why he likes bats and disappears, and hangs out in the dark and shadows and mostly comes out only at night. And dresses goth.
Idk, I think I'd feel WORSE if I found out the guy always stopping was just a normal guy in peak physical condition. I mean, before that I'd have the excuse I was fighting a literal superhuman, but NOW? Now I got constantly beaten and twarted by Joe Schmo who just works out.....
One webcomic that i thought did a unique take on the secret identity is Hero Killer. It's about a villain called Hero Killer who fights super heros on a quest to find out why the hero league killed her sister. She basically has 3 separate identities, one is a villain, one is just a regular girl who works at a cafe, and her 3rd identity is a superhero who works for the hero league basically as a way to get close enough to the super heros to get information spy thriller style.
Woah
I’m glad that people still remember internet safety. I often feel like the only person who has no social media or internet profile with my real name or any legal personal information beyond my phone number. I don’t particularly hide my virtual trail, but it’s not out for display.
5:47
I actually prefer the new Thor because he genuinely feels like he is doing this because he wants to. He is fascinated and enjoys being a hero for people who can't defend themselves. He's already humble. Mildly egotistical but still humble. He wants to help people.
“Egotistical” is the wrong word, I think. “Immodest” is more fitting.
@@arcahmwinters70 Right, cause he doesn’t need to. He’s Thor. He has jack shit to prove to anyone.
Ah, reminds me of good old Aquaman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Sure is quite an improvement to his Superfriends iteration, and not too cynical a la his DC Animated Universe counterpart.
I actually wish they'd stuck with the original concept. Imagine Donald Blake facing Thor's kids who feel they have a claim on their late father's hammer.
@@seamusburke639 What? His whole deal is proving every day he's worthy to wield his hammer lol. He just (in most adaptations) already does that through the actions he would have already taken as an individual without a strangely near-sentient war weapon watching your every move.
_Looking in mirror, catching breath_
"Lex, you're having a difficult day."
_Gets an idea, smirks._
"If nothing else, I can at least learn the Flash's secret identity."
_Removes mask, looks back in mirror, and frowns_
“I have no idea who this is”
Meanwhile at the legion of doom’s bathroom
Dr. Polaris: aren’t you going to wash your hands
Wally: no because I’m evil
@@maxgray2807 Dr Polaris' horrified expression was perfection.
Before you even answered the question of why Superman needs to be Clark Kent, I literally said out loud, "Because he is Clark Kent." So I was really happy when you made the exact same point. 🙂
Omg i literally did the same!
You should watch the superman detail diatribe, Red knows her Supes
my favorite secret identity has to be Green Goblin from Spectacular Spider-man. the guy plays so many mind games about who he is constantly keeping people -- especially those familiar with the Spider-Man mythos -- guessing. going so far as to fake a limp and *break his own sons legs* and even hiring the Chameleon just to keep us guessing
also is funny you bring Green Lantern, because by virtue of actually being several people sharing the job, they all approach the secret identity differently:
- Hal Jordan weaves between "it's what Super heroes do" & not wanting to get in trouble with the USAF
- Guy is a mega show-off so he actively presents himself as Green Lantern
- Kyle is an artist & tried to have a secret identity but his Art Style is so recognizable he failed comically at it
- John Stweart doesn't see the point in hiding he's a space cop
"Superman is not who I am it's what I can do" best explanation of the character
I'm quite partial to "Superman is Clark Kent's customer service voice."
There's a Superman in all of us. That's the trick.
It’s how the character is now. For the early comics and the George Reeves series, it was, “…and who, disguised as Clark Kent…” Superman was the real person, and Clark Kent was a wimp with a high-pitched voice whom Lois Lane always treated with contempt. Even the Christopher Reeve movie has a lot of this. The reverse came with the John Byrne “Man of Steel” reboot and the “Lois and Clark” TV series. (The dumb part of the latter is that Clark Kent shows up in Metropolis wearing glasses before he’s even invented the Superman identity.)
@@gerstelb glad it is then. The latter interpretations are so much better
We do see what happens when Batman gets unmasked in Arkham Knight at least in some form. He’s immediately seen as almost less threatening by the criminals and even the mayor tries to get Bruce arrested.
Same thing in _Injustice 2_ (the comic, not the game). Batman's identity is revealed and he has a moment where he glares at someone, and he's rebuffed when the other person comments it's hard to be intimidated when you know who's under the mask.
Except for The Riddler, who thinks the whole thing was a trick by Batman to frame an innocent billionaire.
Considering Joker kills the people who want to tell him who Batman is, sometimes... yeah no, even if I would know I would stay away from that... then again I would stay away from Gotham as a whole...
To be fair, he can STILL kick your ass, you just see his facial expressions now, the threat factor isn't gone
I still love that Riddler refused to believe it
One of my favorite examples of this trope is Matt Murdock vs Daredevil. Because Matt is a lawyer, he does help people the right way so to speak. He created daredevil to right wrongs Matt couldn’t. He keeps both in one part to protect those around him but also because both do good. Just different types.
I would add that Daredevil is breaking the law, and if Matt = DD ever became known, Matt would be disbarred and thrown in jail.
@@marieroberts5664 Plus Matt has the perfect way to say he's not Daredevil. How would he he a crime fighting superhero? He's blind!
He has also had legal issues to be a defense attorney if he's publicly known or suspected. See the Mark Waid run
16:52 "you can't put that toothpaste back in the tube" I was literally brushing my teeth when I heard this line. Spooky.
1:48
Using internet privacy to introduce the secret identity trope was already impressive. Pointing out a possible causality between the two is genius.
It's important to note how much the hero gains or loses if he has a secret identity or not.
Superman grew up as Clark Kent. He'd always be Clark Kent, no matter how godly he ends up becoming.
Thor grew up as Thor. The decade he spent as Donald Blake might as well be 5 minutes compared to a millenia he's lived as Thor.
The moment Lois figures out Clark is Superman in the My Adventures with Superman series is hilarious and very relatable. Having him randomly exit the room while the news talks about Superman saving people, while Lois is having none of it is so funny 🤣
To be honest, Superman getting by with just glasses as his disguise isn't all that implausible. Considering how easy it is to make yourself unrecognisable with a shave and a new hat, how many people would honestly link a handsome reporter from The Daily Planet to someone they only see wearing a brightly coloured suit?
It is kind of how like so many people meet Tony Hawk and will comment that he looks like him, but never make the connection that they are actually talking to Tony Hawk.
It's also because Superman/Clark Kent isn't all that remarkable looking. Yes, he's tall, muscular, and handsome with jet black hair and blue eyes but so are a few hundred other guys in Metropolis.
Heck, so does Bruce Wayne(intentionally drawn so) that they can disguise as each other when needed.
Also classic comics Clark deliberately slouch and wears clothes a size too big. So he feels smaller and scrawnier that muscular Superman standing straight in a skin tight costum.
Body language is a huge part of how you're subconsciously perceived, and when he's Clark Kent, he carries himself differently from when he's Superman.
Friends of mine didn't recognize me because I shaved.
There was an episode of He-Man that this made me think of. Skeletor captures the entire royal family to lure He-Man into a trap. The Queen gets away. She take her space shuttle out of a museum to free her family. She gets off one shot and frees Adam before Skeletor springs the trap to stop her. Adam transform and saves everyone. Afterwards Adam asks his mother why she freed him instead of anyone else. In the current DVD/Bluray release she says "A mother knows what her son is capable of, always." I, on the other hand, have an old VHS recording of the episode when it first aired. Her response is "There's a fictional hero that I was fond of as a child. Remind me to tell you about him someday. You two have quite a bit in common. Although, he was farmboy from Kansas and not a prince."
One of the reasons Captain America: Winter Soldier remains my favorite MCU movie, on top of the whole espionage thriller vibe and the acknowledgement that the Good Guys of WWII did some very shady stuff post-war (even calling out Operation Paperclip by name), is that the villain plot revolves around using the lack of privacy in the internet age to impose an authoritarian regime and systematically eliminate anyone that the algorithm identifies as exhibiting behavior that could even theoretically make them a threat to the regime in the future.
Man, I really wish the MCU and even other Disney stories like Gravity Falls, Amphibia, and The Owl House were this deliciously grey and grim yet also subtly optimistic and hopeful amidst the darkness in their storytelling. Even I think Civil War felt like a downgrade because The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier are just SO GOOD!!!
People who say Peter/Clark/Marinette/any other superhero should _"JuSt tElL tHe TrUtH"_ will *never* understand why PRIVACY is a basic human right,or why JoCat & Jacksfilms getting _doxxed_ is a CRIME!
Or they've never donated money and suffered the consequences. I mean you really got to make sure you're anonymous when you do that Even if it's only like $5 or you're just going to be absolutely flooded😂
Um actually
Martian manhunter did develop a secret identity by the end of the justice league show.
He realized he needs to learn more about being human and could only learn that by living among the humans.
And it works, he even sounds more human after just a few months and genuinely finds happiness
It’s honestly one of my favorite things about the finale
Edit: also, in terms of secret identity reveals, I think Arrow did it best. Flash told everyone in the world but Oliver was very selective and each one (especially early on) felt really impactful and emotional
I like how in comics he has a bunch of hidden identities/aliases to help him in his hero & detective work. Plus one is just a cat lol.
@@guardiantree8879 a cat? Was he someone’s pet? imagine the trauma of realizing your cat is a Martian!
@@justinbuergi9867It’s been a while, but I believe he was a stray cat that was friends with a homeless girl at the time.
@@guardiantree8879 now that legit sounds adorable.
I'm so happy that you showed that Danny Phantom clip. To this day, I still look back on Jazz keeping Danny's secret as one of the best superhero, and SIBLING, moments in a superhero show.
Something to note about Peter Parker's secret identity, is that he started as a 'mysterious performer' right when the existence of Mutants were being proven on TV news broadcasts. Part of the reason he didn't reveal his powers was do to this fact, people didn't like Mutants at that time. Now in the modern version, Peter needs to hide himself away because he made so many villains.
It's also why I like Iron Man: Armored Adventures. Watch the show if you get the chance, but they do the whole "Iron man is a secret identity" really well, having his identity be revealed over time, but they also messed around with the villains having secret identities. The Mandarin has a secret identity, one that the audience knows, but the characters don't learn about who he was for a while. It's a decent show and displays why secret identities might be needed.
Let's not forget the hero named Nobody, who was secretly the king of Ithica, Odysseus; even if only secretly for like an hour
Not to mention that was followed by an identity reveal that went... not well.
And ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves.
@@claran3616 Ah another Epic the musical enjoyer
The only flaw with "I've known the whole time" is that I feel bad for the person who's making themselves emotionally vulnerable enough to reveal their deepest secrets to their loved ones...only for it to get blown off by the other party like they were being stupid or overdramatic. If that happened to me, I'd never want to open up about anything ever again.
I don't think it's usually portrayed as them blowing them off. It can be, but usually it's done as a supportive thing so that the character who's been hiding the identity realizes they don't need to be afraid to share information with the person who's known the whole time. Usually it would come as a huge relief to the person who's finally opening up to realize that the person they're telling this to not only already knew but never judged them for it so they're not going to judge them for it now either.
@@darcieclements4880 Especially since, the person to revealing to is someone very very close the hero and so a person they have a huge emotional investment in thier opinions and feelings. Usually the worry in those situations is 'is my best friend I have known for the last 2 years going to suddenly hate me once they know" kind of thing which is a major emotional hurdle to overcome. So when the best friend responds positively and reassuringly, its a huge burden and worry lifted.
It's all about how it's handled.
Love the trope of somebody coming out, and all their friends look at them with confusion, "Wait, you mean...you were in the closet?"
@@darcieclements4880 I feel like my reaction would actually be fear, because it means I haven't been hiding it well enough.
superman is one of the only secret identity examples that I find super interesting, since he is arguably both people authentically. he doesn't have a secret identity, he has two separate identities
This reminds me of one of the cuter romcom plot twists i've seen in a while.
HIM: So...i've been lying to you, i'm not really a genius artist. [braces for the big "OMG, it's like i don't know you at all, i feel so betrayed" speech]
HER: Yeah, i know; you weren't exactly subtle about hiding it that first day. I just figured you'd tell me about it when you were ready. And anyway, you've been making art since then, which means you're an artist. Let's go finish our quest!
After that, so many romcom reveals just seem silly by comparison.
This trope can lead to one of my favourite types of arc when the secrets get gradually revealed the more the hero trusts a loved one. It's simple, but very effective at showing how trust has grown.
Yeah, it's just very sweet when a character cares about someone so much they want to open up every aspect of themselves despite the risk. Young Justice (1998) does this with Robin, and what makes his face reveal to the rest of young justice even better is he just does it unprompted while they're hanging out, long after they've accepted it wouldn't happen, instead of during the several previous fights he had with them because his friends didn't think he trusted them when they trusted him with their secret identities
Also, supervillain secret identities. A lot of the plot drama works the same, but reveals don’t nuke the status quo.
The Vulture reveal blew my socks off.
Man, I just remembered that myself. The car ride afterwards was so tense and uncomfortable because we had only just gotten the reveal, it was really well done.
I'm in secret identities for supervillains make a lot more sense because they're kind of trying to not get caught and most real criminals are also trying to not get caught.
The fact that he nailed Spiderman's secret identity to around that scene is such a good use of the trope. You don't normally see the villain having enough common sense to put it all together just by hearing all the times the hero disappeared
I would like to point out that Aunt May was shot with a NORMAL BULLET and yet NO ONE in the Marvel universe could help him. Not even DOCTOR STRANGE WHO USED TO BE A SURGEON AND WAS THE SORCERER SUPREME! Also, technically mephisto isn't the devil...but he might as well be. I REALLY hate One More Day
Hell, he could've gone to the X-Men to do it. They have a state of the art surgical suite that can remove the bullet
@@sev1120 i think he tried that
Clark is more important to a good Superman story than Superman punching the bad guy.
The one that always gets me is when he stops the girl from jumping off the building. If I recall he's got 1-2 days left to live in this story, and despite everything else he drops it all to help one person in crisis. Not by a villain, but by their own life crashing around them.
An all-powerful deity like "Superman" wouldn't do that. Clark Kent would.
I think what works well is the relationship between Clark and Lois.
Lois is the one pushing for the big scoops and her articles to make an impact and to change the world.
Clark on the other hand seems more interested in the human interest stories, the little tales about individual people and their simple trials and tribulations. It's not that he doesn't care about the bigger stuff but he's in a unique position where he can affect those bigger issues directly as Superman. In constrast, it's simple stories that keep him grounded and help him realise what he's ultimately trying to protect amongst the battles with alien terrorists and giant robots.
This is where the conflict comes between Lois and Clark comes in. He likes her because with the little power she has she's doing her best to help everyone, yet she can't stand him because he's always focused on the small issues rather than the big picture, unlike Superman who she adores for being the opposite.
thats why i liked smallville in the early seasons.
Love the Danny Phantom footage because 1) The "Jaz Finds Out" arc changed me as a kid and 2) His reason for maintaining his identity includes "everyone I know- including my loved ones- has a non zero chance of trying to kill me about it"
Also I know she leaves out obvious examples on purpose sometimes cause there isnt much to say or to let the comments talk about it, but I am shocked by the lack of Ladybug AND the lack of SpyXFamily (though the latter isnt a superhero story and the vid is very superhero based)
11:45 Reminds of that scene in the JLU episode "The Great Brain Robbery"
Lex in Flash's body: (looks in a mirror) At least you can find out the Flash's secret identity. (unmasks) ...I have no idea who this is.
I will say
Most of the people who don't keep secret identies either
A)have communities built around their normal "super" identity
Or
B)being incredibly lonely is a big part of their character
Beast Boy: But, what about my secret identity!?
Raven: What secret identity? You’re green.
You brought up Spider Man and all I could think was, "Great, One More Day again." I just want Peter to be happy for a while.
It's true. And that's the part of Spider-Man that is a bizarrely deep rabbit hole. WHY does Spider-Man have a secret Identity? Red gives the simple obvious reason, but... when you look deeper... Spider-man has very little other than his family to protect... and multiple reasons to not be secret.
I wonder if the lessening of secret identities in media is also due to how much the internet has changed our proximity to famous people.
Before you could only ever see celebrities in their polished magazine shoots or on television where they'd be all done up and such, so I suspect that it would've been much easier to keep a private life if you just went about your day looking plain and normal.
random thought but one of the many reasons I love the umbrella academy (particularly the TV show - at least before s4 lol) is that they get their superhero identities first - in many ways the point of the story is them figuring out who their so called ‘secret’ civilian identities are WITHOUT the code names, numbers and domino masks
It’s a fun reversal of the tropes. A bit different from an alien pretending to be a human because superheroes are people first. It’s like trying to figure out what was supposed to be behind the mask. Exploring themselves rather than hiding behind a superhero alter ego.
Wait, whats that about season 4? I didnt watch it because I was disappointed with how lame S3 was, is S4 worse????
@@selahanany5645
That's the common opinion.
@@kjj26k What happened?
@@selahanany5645Well i haven’t watched it either so I can’t give a comprehensive recap but for one thing, Five and Lila got together for some reason. Also they all erased themselves from ever existing to save all timelines or something
I've had to explain to friends multiple times that VPNs only affect a very small part of your internet privacy and security. Obfuscation of your IP address doesn't help you much when you are using a legal name on the internet
So basically VPNs are only a sticking plaster to a massive wound?
I also tell my friends that if you dont use multiple and in places where you dont frequent there's not really much point, if ISPs and governments really want to they can still track your data down since you are still wired to them in your home WiFi
I love the way they do the identity reveal in persona 5 because the whole game your party stresses the idea that they should keep their identity a secret, meanwhile the protagonist reveals their identity -not on their own accord btw- because the 20+ confidants you hang out with find out by rank 10 but because rank 10 is the strongest bond you can have with a person in that game they all agree to keep it a secret.
The web serial worm does really interesting things with secret identities, and specifically with how they're able to be maintained. People, heroes and villains both, are strongly inclined to play along the "unwritten rules" that includes not going after loved ones or secret identities, because the whole cape community- once again, heroes and villains both- are likely to go after you for breaking those rules and make you no longer a threat. And the justice system is, in many ways, much more lenient to criminals who do agree to play by the rules.
Yay, another Worm fan
Every time a superhero trope talk comes up I wish there was a Worm reference or two in it... alas. That book has redefined how I see the superhero genre, and I always feel a little bit let down by discussions that don't mention it. (Granted, it's niche as heck so I certainly don't *expect* most people to know it, but still.)
Another thing that's changed over time regarding secret identities is that many writers started to realize how really f**ked up is for the superhero to keep their identity secret from their love interest as the relationship becomes more and more serious.
Obviously they shouldn't just share such a big secret with anyone they have a crush on or just started dating but Peter Parker asked Mary Jane to marry him three different times and two of them were when he believed she didn't know he was Spider-Man and he had no immediate intention of telling her, and Superman and Flash both told their respective love interests their secret identities on their HONEYMOON.
Really imagine that for a moment. You are in a relationship with someone, you're being more and more invested in both them and the relationship as you fall more in love, you start making a future together and changes in your life, all while they never let you know about this MAJOR other half of their life that will ABSOLUTELY eventually effect you. You have no idea that this person is doing something daily that could result in them being suddenly killed, meaning you are given no time to emotionally prepare for that possibility and no choice in getting to decide for yourself if that is a risk you are willing to take. You're not given any warning about the kind of dangers you might face or the people who might come after you as a result of being so close to such a person.
You are essentially not being treated like an equal to this person. You are just an addition to their life, not a partner in it. One to whom they can just pick and choose for you what's important for you to know at their convenience.
This all is one of the reasons why over time various superheroes who have relationships with civilians have it either retconed that their partner knew the entire time or the relationship is rebooted and they are given the identity reveal much earlier.
Yeah, that's always been a not morally great part of superheroics--supervillains largely wouldn't care. There's a reason that being a superhero tends to interfere with one's love life even if ibe finds someone understanding and even if one isn't overall worried about them potentially become a hostage or other victim.
It does make me wonder, however, many pieces of media have pointed out that only other moral option is keeping your dating pool to other superheroes (or supervillains). That has its own issues as well as an air of isolation and loneliness to it.
THIS! The only story I can actually think of that deals with this issue properly is Invincible, and most fans HATED Amber for having this exact issue, even though it is a WAY more reasonable issue to take than the standard "I can't believe you lied, I thought we were friends" bit.
@@MusicoftheDamned This is the same logic the wealthy use to insulate and isolate themselves from everyone else. Can't risk mingling with the poors and normies where you might risk consequences. Better to just stay with your own kind.
This. Fucking this!
A really interesting way to play this could be that the hero is being cagey about proposal, acting very uncomfortable whenever their partner brings it up, precisely because of this- but they can't talk through why without revealing their identity. It probably does end with them revealing their identity to their partner, but it would be a fun way to get some interesting drama and characterization out of it
One great example of the "I've known all along" reveal variant is from the recently-released JRPG Trails Through Daybreak (stop reading here to avoid minor spoilers).
By day, she's famous movie star Judith Lanster. By night, the noble Phantom Thief Grimcat steals from the rich and gives to the poor. But in reality... every single person who's seen them both in person knows that Judith is Grimcat. It's a paper-thin disguise, which does nothing to hide her very distinctive hair. People even tell her this, and casually talk to her about her other job, and she persistantly refuses to acknowledge that anyone else has found her out. It gets to the point where the narration text has to correct itself when she joins your party while under guise: "Judi- *ahem* The Phantom Thief Grimcat has temporarily joined your party."
Wow, no mention of anything from Avatar the Last Airbender, no Blue Spirit or even the Painted Lady, I am impressed with your restraint.
There's also an element in many heroes, such as Superman, of their dual identities allowing for anonymous philanthropy. They don't want glory, they do good because they want to do good.
In my opinion, the "death" of the secret identity has less to do with social media privacy norms than the existence of social media.
In the early days of superheroes, it would be pretty unremarkable for someone to successfully live a double life. But in the era of West End Caleb, where even people living single lives are at risk of having random people in the street collect random bits of information around you that random people online can use to pry open your personal life before hundreds of millions of eyes, it's just not plausible that some high school student whose alter ego is a nationally-famous superhero could keep their famous identity and their personal identity separate for long. It would require nigh-perfect stealth and vigilance every time he switched from one identity to another, and that nobody get suspicious about the superhero-shaped holes in his schedule.
I mean, it's also not plausible that some high school student who got bit by a spider would get superpowers. But that's a bit less concrete to most people.
6:01 I really liked how the incredibles movies deal with the question
Basically the government powers that regulate superheros heavily encourage the supes to have a secret boring life behind the mask in order for them to unwind from being superheros 24/7 and forget about who they are saving, sorta like a secret vacation your boss slipped under the counter for you, this generates a lot of conflict in the series because for a lot of supes their hero identity is their way to unwind or even their main identity and living a civilian life is the boring day job they have to unwind from
I feel like you're misremembering the plot of Incredibles. Superheroes are made illegal and are put in witness protection. At the start of the movie, yeah, they've got secret identities. The rest of the movie's conflict is the fact that they were legally mandated to give up being heroes.
@@SoulQueenoD I was talking about how it was before the ban, there's even a series of clips in the Blu-ray version of the film where the supes that were killed by capes talk a little bit about their backstory and one of them starts ranting about how "people want to see who is behind the mask but there isn't a 'behind the mask', I'm a superhero and that's it"
"A more traditional early secret identity is in _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,_ since, through the magic of chemistry, mild-mannered Dr. Jekyll gets to indulge in his worst impulses in the form of the unrecognizable Mr. Hyde; free of the consequences of his actions.. until it all catches up with him and bites him in the ass"
I think I relate to Jekyll/Hyde more than most people do. And more than I probably should.
One example of the partial transition away from secret identities is the third blue beetle, Jaime Reyes. In most versions of his story, Jaime’s family is fully aware of his identity. Aside from standard family in danger stories, some of the drama comes from the fact that his family love him anyways but aren’t always fully supportive of his superhero life. They just don’t really have a choice in the matter since it’s a mildly murderous alien costume bonded to him in such a way that it would kill him to remove it.
Worm has a pretty good take on secret identities. Everyone has one, and with a few exceptions, no one tries to discover them. The reasons for this are straightforward realpolitik; secret identities give capes, particularly villains, a safe haven that encourages them to hold back. Supervillain identities are revealed twice in the book; the first time leads to several city blocks getting destroyed, the latter ends up killing one of the most important heroes in the USA. It's not a perspective that applies to every superhero universe, but it's an interesting one!
Ah, I was wondering when someone would mention "Worm"! One of the unique things about the story is that rather than omitting secret identities as most modern superhero deconstructions do, they are instead built up as one of the major linchpins of the setting. The cape world of "Worm" has a very uneasy relationship with the rest of society, and anonymity is one of the essential lubricants needed to keep the mechanisms of both worlds running. As a result everyone, both hero and villain, treat breaches of identity as incredibly serious transgressions; the only people who opt out of the game of masks are groups like New Wave, who make "publicly accountable family of superheroes" their brand identity, or the Slaughterhouse 9, a roving troupe of superpowered serial killers who have never met a social norm they didn't enthusiastically violate.
However, while secret identities are incredibly important in "Worm", they are generally not fully-fledged dual identities in the classic comic book sense. Right at the beginning of the story we see Taylor trying to balance her civilian life with her new identity as a supervillain, only to abandon her civilian identity - school, her father - to commit herself to the cape life full-time. Taylor makes this decision for a bunch of reasons, but among them is the simple fact that she doesn't have enough time and energy to satisfy the demands made by both her lives. Time and again in "Worm" we see that everyone in the cape game is in it full-time. If anyone maintains a civilian identity, it's usually a vestigial thing that only exists because they need to use their legal name for some reason. One hero maintains her civilian identity so she can operate as the civilian head of a major cape organization while avoiding accusations of conflict-of-interest, while a bunch of villains own businesses under their civilian names as a way to launder money and have an identity with a clean record. The teenage heroes go undercover as civilians in high school, but it's something of a farce; all of them are on a pipeline to the adult hero organization, and there's no pretense that they can choose to opt out of the cape life and go to university or trade school or whatever. (There's also a whole apparatus of legal and social pressures pushing superpowered people out of civilian life into either organized heroism or villainy, but that's another story.)
One part of secret identities I enjoy that often goes underreported is in the implicit increased/decreased difficulty that some superheroes have in maintaining their secret identity versus others. Basically if the character is a nobody and goes unmasked, there’s a chance that they simply won’t be recognized and can recover from said reveal. Meanwhile other characters who are highly identifiable are screwed the moment anyone sees them without a mask. It’s not explored as much as I’d like, but it has the potential to provide nuance to how different heroes navigate their secret identities (Say, Batman needs to emphasize the personality differences between Bruce Wayne and Batman, while Spiderman can get away with being a more confident version of Peter Parker and not an entirely different persona). It also makes me like Daredevil in particular cause he has the worst possible secret identity combo of ‘needs the secret identity to not have his life ruined’ and ‘would be very easy to identify if unmasked as Hell’s Kitchen’s premier blind lawyer’.
Robin Hood did occasionally adopt single-use secret identities -- but it was the reverse of the norm. He anonymized himself to compete in an archery tournament (but blew his cover by being improbably good at archery past the point needed to win but believably not be a legendary archer). So he was adopting a secret identity not so much so that people wouldn't know his real name, but so that he didn't have to act as Robin Hood for a little bit. Then again, the Samaritan (a character who is a pretty clear homage to Superman) has a secret identity for the same reason: the secret identity isn't his real name, it's just a thin shell of civilian life to let him do things that, if he did them as Samaritan, would draw too much attention.
Secret identities of that sort show up in mythology, too. In Greek myth, they show up on two levels: first, gods would occasionally go out amongst the people disguised as 'fellow humans' to see how people were treating each other (as opposed to how they treated gods who could smite them into next week on a whim); second, as Semele found out, every time they appeared to humans in person, they were essentially Clark Kent-ing them *hard* because their true forms were so potent and transcendent that they would literally reduce a person to ash (or be similarly damaging) at close range.
It's always kinda surprising that whenever secret identities come up, the x-men straddle every line posable by having daily lives, fighting robots or other mutants in public, only two of their number being able to become unrecognizable ect.
My favorite explanation for secret identities came at the beginning of The Incredibles, where Helen said she didn't want to go shopping as Elastigirl.
Basically, secret identity is a way for people to present themselves in a way that the society accepts, while hiding certain aspects that are seen in a way that could negatively affect how they are treated.
In the real world, neurodivergent people have done this in a form of masking, which by personal experience, is very exhausting.
The "so our love triangle was just you twice" thing is literally the plot to the Bollywood movie Rab Ne Bana De Jodi (God Makes the Match). It is a treat to watch Shah Rukh Khan switch between the Clark Kent-ish Surinder and the Johnny-Bravo-but-Indian alter ego Raj.
Reminds me of one of the early issues of Astro City. Basically, a regular crook discovers a superhero’s identity by pure chance. So he starts considering selling the secret to supervillains, but of course supervillains can’t really be trusted and would kill him as soon as he talked so that they would keep the secret. What’s worse, he’s terrified that the superhero in question saw him and might be trying to silence him. In the end, he realizes his best option is to just leave town
I really liked how in that one episode of Batman Beyond with the sleazy reporter who found out that Bruce and Terry are Batman, Bruce admits that he always expected that he'd be found out one day.
Red breaking out the Nelson v. Murdock gut punch was both expected and caught me off guard. Need to go cry about that episode....
…wait, the opening WASN’T a VPN Ad plug?!
Another interesting part of secret identities is the rare times (Like Martian Manhunter in JL/JLU) where an existing “out” hero takes on a secret identity, in MM’s case as a way to connect with other people rather than just spend his life on watchtower duty
“All my life I’ve been afraid, Lois. Afraid of people knowing the truth about me. Afraid of them rejecting me and even if they didn’t, still losing them. I’ve been afraid of everything I can’t control.” -Smallville Clark Kent
I've been really craving this kind of episode from your channel for a while now. But now that we have it, I realize we didn't really learn anything new, we're all such huge nerds that we probably already knew this stuff...
But your doodles are always a treat!
People can be shockingly oblivious if they don’t know they should be looking for something.
This is uncanny, I have just a few minutes ago been looking up tropes related to secret identities on tv tropes and when you guys posts this video.
There was a comic where vulture unmasked an injured spider-man and was angry that he was losing to a nobody for years.
This is one of the parts of Danny Phantom that I like the best. He too has a secret identity, but for none of the standard reasons. All his villains know who he is, and nothing comes of that really. Their problem is largely with him, so they fight or capture only him. His family are largely left alone unless there are specific circumstances. The reason for his secret identity is he isn’t safe from his own parents, his ex girlfriend and the town he lives in at large. The ghost hunter’s son is a half ghost. The ghost fearing town fears him. His secret isn’t at threat from the creatures he fights, but from the normal people around him. And that would be an amazing source of conflict and drama if the show ever had the balls to actually talk about it, but sadly it was a kids show. Which is why there is such a strong fandom for it to this day. People love looking at the “What if”s and thinking about the questions the show poses and never answers. Half the fanon is built off glossed over topics and throwaway jokes because we wanted to know what if.
Ben 10 was a neat case of this. His identity was a secret for years and then suddenly one day it became public knowledge and after that Ben and his family had to deal with the consequences for a long time.
Yeah, that season of Ultimate Alien was a big deal...but even as a teen, we should saw it coming. After all, we see how the future go and with how Ben 10000 was a big reason why alien able to live along side with human openly...
Not to mention Max in season 1 trying to keep his identity as a retired regular plumber but somehow knows a little too much about Aliens, "the watch" and the villain who is after it. To the point of saying the villains name in a moment of panic.
What definitely helped him keep his secret identity for so long (with the general public at least) is that he changes so drastically that people probably assumed he was a team of alien heroes, and they'd never imagine them all to be a 10-year-old kid. With the villains, most of them only knew Ben as 'that kid' and not by his family name. And those who did probably never went after his parents because the trio were on a road-trip, so it would take too long for them or the trio to get back to Bellwood to deal with it.
I personally love how Dumbing of Age's Amazigirl plays with the secret identity. *Spoilers for the comic ahead*
In that comic, Amazigirl and her "secret identity" Amber are entirely different people, caused by a trauma-induced split personality. They also have a pretty explicitly Hulk-Banner relationship, where both halves see the other as a burden to deal with. Amber sees Amazigirl as a manifestation of her worst impulses and Amazigirl sees Amber as an emotionally fragile mess that keeps handing off her problems. Funnily enough, they're both shown to be right.
But whereas most superheroes are shown as, y'know, superheroes first and secret identity second, Amber is the character we mostly know in the comic. It is, after all, a comic about going to college...ostensibly. Instead of having a Superman who we occasionally see as Clark Kent, we have Amber who we occasionally see as Amazigirl. We get to see that commonly joked about storyline about a superhero in their day-to-day life because the comic is overtly about that day-to-day life. Instead of a hero harping on about how their secret identity is a hinderance and a weakness that could be exploited, we see the secret identity groan about what a pain in the ass it is to wake up in a park cause your alter-ego had to punch a criminal. It's great.
3:42 Please do a full video about "The Count of Monte Cristo" Red! :)
The Count is still filming his revenge video against Red for being shelved a few Halloween specials ago 🤣
And Gankutsuou as a parallel.