Yeah, but didn’t the third Robin also figure out who Batman was? I don’t know how he did it, but there’s a referrence to it in the first couple of issues of the Teen Titans redeux when he’s sitting in class after his first weekend at the Titan’s Tower.
Think about it: would you really believe that in the wee hours of the morning Donald Trump was donning garish outfits and fighting crime?
He could never disguise his hair.
Spiderman 2099
After his first encounter with a bounty hunter equipped for infrared tracking, Miguel O’Hara is very careful lay plenty of false tracks in and out of costume. It also helps that a literal cult soon forms around the new Spiderman, and at any given time there are a large number of worshippers around New York dressed in Spiderman costumes.
When Miguel’s mother gives him a long rant about how selfish and and heartless he is and oh why can’t she have a son like Spiderman, Miguel tells her that he is Spiderman. She laughs uncontrollably. He tries to show her the retractable claws in his fingers, but mom is too busy trying to remain standing and fighting to breathe. By the time she quits laughing, he’s given up on telling her.
It was some pretty good detective work, but yeah. He actually figured out that the first Robin was Dick Grayson because when he was very yong, he saw the Flying Graysons perform and was especially impressed by Dick and some of his acrobatic moves. Later, he saw one of those fuzzy videos of Batman and Robin in action on the news and recognized one of Robin’s difficult flips as the same one he saw Dick do in the circus. He connected the dots from there, helped somewhat by the fact that his wealthy parents’ estate was adjacent to the grounds of Wayne Manor. Dick had moved out, Robin went away as Nightwing appeared, Jason Todd moved in, a new appeared then died, and suddenly Batman was by all accounts Robinless again. Tim Drake confronted Dick about this, who then brought him to Bruce, who was impressed by his detective skills but reluctant to take on a new Robin after what happened to Jason. Tim then insisted on becoming the new Robin and eventually got his way.
You forgot a few things:
Kang and Kodos have been observing Earth since it was created 5000 years ago - by God.
Christianity is literally true, but Buddha and Spongebob Squarepants also hold special positions in heaven.
The Rapture occured in April 2005, but nobody noticed.
There exists a dimensional rift outside of Springfield into which MLB Hall of Famer (Ozzie Smith?) has vanished never to return.
Mr. Burns was the leader of a cabal of 1920s supervillains until he forgot to let them out of their secret headquarters and they asphyxiated.
Mr. Burns presented an oversized novelty check to Satan at a televised press conference.
Mr. Burns was portrayed, already an old man, terrorizing children in a 19th century woodcut.
As I said, Halloween episodes don’t count.
I agree with the others you mentioned. But I never intended to list all the weirdness.
Hans Moleman rules a subterranean empire.
Lisa built a perpetual motion machine.
Homer is a semiliterate moron, but can build a self aware robot from junk in the garage (“Give me legs, father. Give me legs.”)
Hank Scorpio rules a large portion of America.
The full version of Moe’s first name has been given as both Mohamar and Mordechai.
In some episodes, Ned is a teetotaller. In others, he loves a frosty beer and even has a bar with taps in his basement.
Ms Hoover teaches third grade at Springfield elementary. At military school, Lisa is given an award for completion of the third grade. In later episodes, she’s still in Ms Hoover’s class, in the third grade.
Actual, living dragons roam little China.
What, you’re saying that’s not true?
Also, a corollary to the Hank Scorpio thing is the fact that Homer is the owner of the Denver Broncos.
Yes, exactly, he’s been seen with Spidey quite often. In fact, sometimes you can get Spidey by asking him to pass a message.
I think it’s Flash Thompson.
Additional notes:
Cap: Steve Rogers is public, I think, but discounted. Cap has revealed it repeatedly. The thing is, Cap is the real identity, now. Steve doesn’t pay the bills, or even have a job all that much anymore.
Barry: Half the Rogues knew who he was, but there were rules then.
Wally West: Public. Famously so.
Wonder Girl (Donna): Secret, but only barely so. Photog, uses superheroines as models often. (Jade, Starfire)
Wonder Girl (Cassie): Secret, mostly because Cassie and Wonder Girl are never in the same place together. Cassie hangs out as WG.
Alan Scott: Recognizable out of costume. There’s a great panel… I forget the comic. But the Sportsmaster is robbing (the bank? the store?) below the radio station, post WWII, and Alan comes over the desk, fist out, and Sportsmaster recognizes him. No idea who he is, though. The reverse aging recently may have also blown his secret ID.
Jay: Secret, but most of his rogues are dead or don’t care. Those who do care have found out once in a while.
A lot of DC villians are ‘professionals’. They know the best way to do a job is to avoid the hero. No sense going after them.
Hm. Hal: Spectre period confuses things. Everyone forgot him.
Kyle: Secret. Crab mask good for some things.
Robin: Secret, maintained.
Nightwing: Another one where the civilian identity is a mask, and discardable, re: when he became a cop.
Batgirl (Cassie) No real personal identity.
Batgirl/Oracle (Babs) Kept. Even her partners don’t know who she is… though they might now recognize her if seen again… but not as Oracle. As “that girl Batman brought to have the entire A-List perform surgery on. Batman cares about her.”
Zatanna: Life as a heroine may be vaugely secret, no secret ID.
Hawkeye: Again, no secret ID to be kept. No job, except as Hawkeye.
Dr. Strange: Secret ID, surprisingly. The fact that Dr. Strange is a magician is a secret except to professionals. Most people know of him as that retired doctor.
X-Men: While they have no life outside the costume, they maintain secret IDs. They’ve retired to their ‘real life’ on occasion. Bobby as a CPA, Scott as a pilot. Kitty, too, usually as a student.
FF: No secret ID. Ben Grimm in human form is not easily identifiable by the public.
So, we’re winding up with some few true secret-IDs like Peter Parker and Clark Kent, where both lives are real.
Some public IDs.
And a lot of professional heroes who don’t publicize their name, but it doesn’t really matter one way or another.
That and most Flash villains don’t kill. Rainbow Raider, Mirror Master etc want wealth and fame. Even if they do learn the Scarlet Speedster’s secret, they’re not going to put explosives in his kitchen. Instead, he’ll open his fridge and find a mirror that slows him to normal human speed or a magical Twinkie that turns him into a frog.
At the time, Flash villians were among the few that did kill, as well. Grodd, of course, and most notably, Zoom.
Which led, for those who didn’t follow, to the Trial of the Flash, after Barry snapped Zoom’s neck. After all, Zoom had killed Iris, Barry’s wife, (Yes, she survived) and later tried to kill Fiona, Barry’s fiancee.
What, you never wondered why Batman’s mask had those long, long ears?
Actually, there was a pretty good Flash story arguing just the opposite. In the first few years of Wally’s comic, a bunch of Barry’s Rogues Gallery had a “reunion” that Wally attended. Toward the end of the issue, one of the villains comes right out and says that most super villains are idiots. Words to the effect of “Look at us. It’s insane how much power we have. We can control the weather, transmute elements. We could have set ourselves up as gods. Instead, we spent all of our time trying to take out one guy.”
For the sake of completeness, the pre-Crisis issue in which it’s reveled that Superman’s Clark Kent glasses let him unconsciously hypnotize people is Superman #330 (Dec. 1978).
I did say most. I recall Abracadabra (disguised as Zoom at the time) casually pushing a button so that the prison he had the Rogues in would constrict and kill them all.
Of course why Zoom didn’t just kill Barry to begin with is beyond me. Zoom was also from the future. He had studied Barry’s life
Back To The OP
Crisis gave us one earth. Zero Hour (I’ve heard. Didn’t bother to actually read it) gave us one and only one time line. The Kingdom returned all the old multiple earths and timelines.
Carnage
At the end of the first Carnage story arc, the Carnage symbiote is absolutely destroyed. Of course, it comes back later. But, what bugs the hell out of me is that I have never seen them even attempt to explain why it wasn’t dead or how it came back. I accept that many comic characters will seem to have died only to return later. But, I want an explanation. EG In the fine Timm Batman cartoon, Clayface seems to die after his first appearance. But in the last seconds, Batman realizes that Clayface faked his own death. We see two quick scenes confirming this. In a return visit, Clayface disintegrates and falls into the ocean. His body dissolves, and Batman and the rest assume he’s dead. In another episode, Clayface returns explaining that some chemical or combination of chemicals in the ocean restored him (Considering the dumping practices of most Gotham businesses, this is more plausable than it seems).
In Venom-Lethal Protector, eggs are extracted from the Venom symbiote and fused with humans. All the new symbiotes die at the end of the series. They turn up, very much alive, in another miniseries.