# Pointless superhero secret identities **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064 "2012-03-07T19:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/41 "2012-03-08T02:14:51Z")
I sit corrected. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/42 "2012-03-08T03:49:09Z")
On the great live action show Los Luchadores, the superheroes (Lobo Fuerte, Turbine and Maria Valentine) have no secret identities. But, being true luchadores, they never remove their masks.\* - except once at the mask repair shop. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/43 "2012-03-08T03:53:53Z")
An interesting case is the late 40’s Marvel (or Timely or whatever it was called then) star [Venus](http://toonopedia.com/venus.htm). She fought crime, but also had a day job using the name Vicki Starr. As Vicki, she was perpetually trying to convince the people around her that she _was_ the ancient goddess Venus and the glam super heroine…but nobody ever believed her! Similarly, there was a very early issue of **the Amazing Spider-Man** in which Spidey is sick, and thus is easily defeated by Dr. Octopus. Holding the subdued hero in two of his arms, he removed his mask to reveal Peter Parker beneath it. No one believed that nebbishy bookworm photographer Peter could really be Spider-man, not J. Jonah, not Betty Brant, not Doc Ock. They all assumed that Peter had simply dressed up as Spidey as a stunt to get pics of Octopus, and that the “real” Spidey was somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levolor_the_Blind)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/44 "2012-03-08T05:57:49Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > No one believed that nebbishy bookworm photographer Peter could really be Spider-man, not J. Jonah, not Betty Brant, not Doc Ock. There’s a Superman story from the 80’s where an employee of Luthor’s figures out that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person, but Luthor scoffs at the idea because he can’t comprehend that how someone wouldn’t want to be Superman all the time. I’ve been listening to some Superman radio serials from the 40s lately. Superman spends a lot of time as Clark Kent investigating bad guys. It is never explicitly said, but the implication I have taken from this is that, while Superman can stop a crime, Clark Kent’s reporting can act against the broader social ills the crimes are a symptom of. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/45 "2012-03-08T06:14:39Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Wasn’t there a storyline where Oliver Queen decides to reveal that he’s Green Arrow, and everyone tells him, “Uh…it was supposed to be a secret? OK then. So that was why you were so shy about putting on your costume.” During the Mike Grell run, the cop that had been working with GA turned up uninvited at Oliver’s home. Oliver: How did you know who I was? 😕 Cop : It was supposed to be a secret? :rolleyes: He stopped wearing the mask after that. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/46 "2012-03-08T06:15:42Z")
I’ve never read a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic, except for the Usaji Yojimbo crossovers, nor seen the movies. Can someone explain why they wear masks? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/47 "2012-03-08T06:33:03Z")
Because they’re ninjas. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/48 "2012-03-08T12:27:06Z")
I recall an Elliot S! Maggin story with Luthor (the Silver Age Luthor, with fantastic super-science inventions and all that jazz) thinking about how trivial it woud be to uncover Superman’s “secret identity,” and how pointless. Luthor maintains several alternate identities himself, and if one were revealed he would just abandon it and use another. His arrogance prevented him from ever considering that Superman might actuall have any emotional investment in another identity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/49 "2012-03-08T14:12:54Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I recall an Elliot S! Maggin story with Luthor (the Silver Age Luthor, with fantastic super-science inventions and all that jazz) thinking about how trivial it woud be to uncover Superman’s “secret identity,” and how pointless. Luthor maintains several alternate identities himself, and if one were revealed he would just abandon it and use another. But before reaching that conclusion and breaking off the attempt, Lex actually narrows it down to a remarkably short list of dark-haired guys with broad shoulders who stand about six-foot-two: _Superman,_ he swiftly reasons, _is probably Joe Namath, Bruce Wayne, or that guy who works with the Daily Planet…_ ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/50 "2012-03-08T14:28:05Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The biggest example I know of are superheroes of a different sort: The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. They keep their identity secret due to a decree from on high (Zordon). But the main reason most superheroes keep secret identities is invalid. It doesn’t in any way protect their loved ones because – get this – the bad guys already know their secret identities, and always have. Also, in some cases the known friends and loved ones of the super identity are at least heavily overlapping the ones for the secret identity, so the bad guys know who to go after even if they don’t know the secret ID. > [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Similarly, there was a very early issue of **the Amazing Spider-Man** in which Spidey is sick, and thus is easily defeated by Dr. Octopus. Holding the subdued hero in two of his arms, he removed his mask to reveal Peter Parker beneath it. No one believed that nebbishy bookworm photographer Peter could really be Spider-man, not J. Jonah, not Betty Brant, not Doc Ock. They all assumed that Peter had simply dressed up as Spidey as a stunt to get pics of Octopus, and that the “real” Spidey was somewhere else. That actually made sense – his fighting was so impaired that he really did look like some ordinary schlub making a really stupid attempt to pass himself off as a superhero. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/51 "2012-03-08T17:14:56Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I’m watching the old Lynda Carter Wonder Woman [online](http://www.thewb.com/shows/wonder-woman) (and you should too - they’re hilarious). I can see no reason whatsoever why she just can’t be Wonder Woman the whole time. > > It also doesn’t say much for our military that those glasses were totally fooling everyone. I’m pretty sure I’d recognize someone as drop-dead gorgeous as Lynda Carter even if her disguise was that rubber suit from American Horror Story. I don’t think that this is ever specifically mentioned in any of the episodes, but I always thought that a great explanation for no one ever recognizing Diana Prince as Wonder Woman would be Amazonian magic – let’s just say that Queen Hyppolyta cast a spell preventing any mortal human from ever “putting two and two together” in regards to Princess Diana’s secret identity. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/52 "2012-03-08T19:01:05Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > I don’t think that this is ever specifically mentioned in any of the episodes, but I always thought that a great explanation for no one ever recognizing Diana Prince as Wonder Woman would be Amazonian magic – let’s just say that Queen Hyppolyta cast a spell preventing any mortal human from ever “putting two and two together” in regards to Princess Diana’s secret identity. [del]I think this was canon in the comics briefly, when Heinberg was writing the book. But it was Circe who did it IIRC.[/del] No, wait, I’m remembering wrong. A co-worker figured it out when the next writer took over. Of whom am I thinking? Oh, yeah, they tried that in Spider-Man of all things. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/53 "2012-03-08T19:43:45Z")
From an episode of _Teen Titans_: Beast Boy: But what about my secret identity? Raven: What secret identity? You’re green. On the other hand, the other Titans apparently didn’t learn his real name until much later, which kept them from giving him grief over being named “Garfield”. I don’t think he had a secret identity in the comics, either. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I’ve never read a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic, except for the Usaji Yojimbo crossovers, nor seen the movies. Can someone explain why they wear masks? They don’t have hair to soak up or divert blood from wounds to the scalp/upper face, so they wear the masks to prevent blood from running into their eyes in the middle of a fight. (Okay, not really–I have no idea if they ever offered a reason beyond “Ninjas!”, but it at least _sounds_ sort of plausible.) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/54 "2012-03-08T19:59:18Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > From an episode of _Teen Titans_: > > Beast Boy: But what about my secret identity? > Raven: What secret identity? You’re green. > > On the other hand, the other Titans apparently didn’t learn his real name until much later, which kept them from giving him grief over being named “Garfield”. > > I don’t think he had a secret identity in the comics, either. In the comics, he had previously been a TV child star on a science-fiction show, in which he used his powers. So the whole world knew who he was. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/55 "2012-03-08T21:29:07Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > I don’t think he had a secret identity in the comics, either. He actually did for a while. In his early days with the Doom Patrol, he wore a purple mask that looked like a real face, so that people wouldn’t connect the green kid who hung out with them as civilians with the green kid who hung out with them as a hero, so they wouldn’t get in trouble for child endangerment. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/56 "2012-03-08T21:39:18Z")
Green Lantern : I’m not sure why any members of a police force should wish to conceal their identities, but it sounds a bit fascist to me. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/57 "2012-03-08T21:45:47Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Green Lantern : I’m not sure why any members of a police force should wish to conceal their identities, but it sounds a bit fascist to me. For most GL’s the mask is just a part of the uniform and everybody knows who they are. IIRC I have an issue where Boudicca visits her mother, who has been telling everybody about her daughter the Green Lantern. It seems to be just the Lanterns of Earth’s sector who have secret identities. ETA Except Guy of course. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/58 "2012-03-09T01:20:45Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > In the comics, Stark Industries funded much of the Avengers’ operations, IIRC, including damages. He actually set up the Maria Stark Foundation (named after his mother) to fund the Avengers, so that his own financial vicissitudes wouldn’t affect the team. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > There was also that time during the “Armor Wars” storyline where Stark publicly “fired” Iron Man. He even created a “Randall Pierce” person who The Guy Hired to Play Iron Man all those years ago. Stark thought ahead about this stuff. > [@cochrane](#): > > Also, aren’t the identities of the Fantastic Four, Reed and Sue Richards, Johnny Storm; and Ben Grimm widely known in their fictional universe? Yep. This was because Stan could wanted to try having superheroes with no secret identities, just to be different. > [@DocCathode](#): > > OTTOMH Ben had no living relatives when he became the Thing. Johnny and Sue only had eachother. Reed’s father later turned out to be alive and in another dimension, but as far as he knew Reed had no living relatives when the FF formed. > > There were no relatives to protect. In addition to Franklin Storm, mentioned upthread, Ben’s paternal uncle Jake and his second wife Petunia live out in Arizona or somewhere. The big joke was that for years Ben made Aunt Petunia sound like a crazy old lady, and she turns out to be this young dish that Uncle Jake married late in life. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/59 "2012-03-09T01:32:26Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > In addition to Franklin Storm, mentioned upthread, Ben’s paternal uncle Jake and his second wife Petunia live out in Arizona or somewhere. The big joke was that for years Ben made Aunt Petunia sound like a crazy old lady, and she turns out to be this young dish that Uncle Jake married late in life. There really is an aunt Petunia? I always assumed she was just a figure of speech. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064/60 "2012-03-09T01:33:30Z")
I think that, beyond the plot point, the meta-marketing trick is to allow the everyday average teen fan to imagine, “Yeah…I could do that. I could be Norbert Nobody during the school week and on weekends I could be Major Mayhem, the hero who spreads confusion amongst street gangs and organized crime. I’d have a shield like Captain America’s and a hammer like Thor’s and…” —G! But he’s nobody’s hero. Saved a drowning child… Cured a wasting disease… . Geddy Lee (Rush) . _Nobody’s Hero_ . Different Stages [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-superhero-secret-identities/615064.md?page=4)