Why I Hate Superman

[Joe Kalicki]

Not to mention the countless times Clark and Superman have been seen and photographed together, through all kinds of trickery, including shpaeshifters Martian Manhunter and Supergirl posing as Superman.

 

[Gothamite]

Not to mention the countless times Clark and Superman have been seen and photographed together, through all kinds of trickery, including shpaeshifters Martian Manhunter and Supergirl posing as Superman.

Good point, but those types of solutions don't really work in universes such as the movies or the TV shows where there aren't neccessarily any other superheroes, though.

 

[ourchair]

A very good point that only modern and Golden Age writers seem to get/have gotten. It's really annoying in the Silver Age how so many criminals/supporting characters try to find out Superman's secret identity. How can they even know he has one?!

I agree with you and Bass.

Superman, as far as the interior universe of the comics are concerned, is an icon. He's just so darned super, that the notion that someone THAT super would feel the need to actually masquerade as someone as ordinary Clark Kent seems patently absurd, as John Q. Public would reasonably assume that Superman is just super 24/7.

 

[Zombipanda]

I agree with you and Bass.

Superman, as far as the interior universe of the comics are concerned, is an icon. He's just so darned super, that the notion that someone THAT super would feel the need to actually masquerade as someone as ordinary Clark Kent seems patently absurd, as John Q. Public would reasonably assume that Superman is just super 24/7.

Word. He's Superman. Everyone probably just assumes he spends his free time fighting space lobsters.

 

[ourchair]

Word. He's Superman. Everyone probably just assumes he spends his free time fighting space lobsters.

"So what do you think he does in his spare time, anyway?"

"Oh, I'm sure he has hobbies like everyone else."

(Meanwhile in the Garage of Solitude)

"Alright guys, this song is going to be in D minor, but there're going to be some key changes, so try to keep up."

"Keep up? That's easy for you to say, Mr. 9 Minute Solo."

"Shut up Zod! You're just the drummer! Don't make me put you back in the Phantom Zone!"

"You're so ****ing punk, Kal-El!"

 

[Zombipanda]

"So what do you think he does in his spare time, anyway?"

"Oh, I'm sure he has hobbies like everyone else."

(Meanwhile in the Garage of Solitude)

"Alright guys, this song is going to be in D minor, but there're going to be some key changes, so try to keep up."

"Keep up? That's easy for you to say, Mr. 9 Minute Solo."

"Shut up Zod! You're just the drummer! Don't make me put you back in the Phantom Zone!"

"You're so ****ing punk, Kal-El!"

Those dudes could cosmically **** up a hotel room.

 

[Doc Comic]

I completely agree with both Joe and Bass. Nobody at all would assume that Superman has a secret identity. I mean, Lex Luthor processed evidence in 1986 and a computer said that Superman was Clark Kent, but Luthor said incredulously that nobody with Superman's powers would live as an ordinary man, let alone a weak reporter.

Superman has also done a great job of creating his own identity for him. Everybody knows he's from the planet Krypton, everybody knows he's Kal-El and the last of his race (depending on the continuity). Nobody would think that he runs around as a human.

 

[ourchair]

Superman has also done a great job of creating his own identity for him. Everybody knows he's from the planet Krypton, everybody knows he's Kal-El and the last of his race (depending on the continuity). Nobody would think that he runs around as a human.

Excellent point.

I also like Bass' analogy with Bill Gates.

Seriously, I mean sure Clark Kent looks a lot like Superman, but there're so many broad shouldered, square-chinned fellas out there that the similarities may be obvious but you'd actually have to have REALLY good reasons to start thinking they are the same person.

We all know a guy who looks like a celebrity, "separated at birth" and all that, but very few of us actually get up to them and accuse them of lying and going on a campaign to repudiate their attempts to deny that they are that celebrity.

To a lesser extent, how many of us have had our friends tell us "we saw a guy who looked exactly like you five states from here!" My girlfriend's best friend insists I have a doppelganger in Singapore, and even though we've never been seen together, doesn't mean anyone accuses me of having a secret life in Singapore.

The point is, facial similarity is SO common that you'd have to go out on a limb to prove that it's more than just that.

 

[J. Agamemnon]

Excellent point.

I also like Bass' analogy with Bill Gates.

Seriously, I mean sure Clark Kent looks a lot like Superman, but there're so many broad shouldered, square-chinned fellas out there that the similarities may be obvious but you'd actually have to have REALLY good reasons to start thinking they are the same person.

We all know a guy who looks like a celebrity, "separated at birth" and all that, but very few of us actually get up to them and accuse them of lying and going on a campaign to repudiate their attempts to deny that they are that celebrity.

To a lesser extent, how many of us have had our friends tell us "we saw a guy who looked exactly like you five states from here!" My girlfriend's best friend insists I have a doppelganger in Singapore, and even though we've never been seen together, doesn't mean anyone accuses me of having a secret life in Singapore.

The point is, facial similarity is SO common that you'd have to go out on a limb to prove that it's more than just that.

WEll see, if you're paranoid enough to think clark kent was superman, you grab a gun despite his claims and shhot him to see if he bleeds. As paranoid as lex is sometimes, you'd think he would come to a conclusion. I mean he's smart enough to believe that there was an pre-crisis counterpart posing as him during infinite crisis but he refuses to believe clark kent could possibly be superman? That makes no sense.

 

[Doc Comic]

WEll see, if you're paranoid enough to think clark kent was superman, you grab a gun despite his claims and shhot him to see if he bleeds. As paranoid as lex is sometimes, you'd think he would come to a conclusion. I mean he's smart enough to believe that there was an pre-crisis counterpart posing as him during infinite crisis but he refuses to believe clark kent could possibly be superman? That makes no sense.

Clark has faced that problem quite a few times, actually. There have been various explanations for Clark not getting found out in that case. In one instance, Clark was temporarily without his powers, and so he bled like an ordinary person.