A fixture of superhero stories is the concept of a “secret identity,” and often enough, a “day job” that the hero holds. To merely keep up appearances, to gain privileged access or information, or even just for the money, like a “regular” person…
And often enough, I’ve noticed, they aren’t especially good at their jobs.
Maybe they have a lot of unexplained absences, or they deliberately keep a low professional profile and pass up chances for promotion. Or their heart just isn’t in it—or all they’re really good at is cracking superskulls.
So…I’m wondering, what supers buck the trend?
I can think of a few billionaire supers who own their own companies, but this varies—many just inherited their position/wealth, and don’t seem to do much beyond delegate the day-to-day operations while they spend the money. And this varies between iterations of the characters, to boot (Tim Burton/Michael Keaton’s Wayne, for example, actually seemed to be a pretty sharp, ethical CEO. The Nolan/Bale Wayne, on the other hand, pretty much let his company run into the ground. Repeatedly).
After that, I’m stuck. Can anyone else name any superheroes who’re successful at non-superheroic employment?
Peter Parker always got the scoop. Same with Clark Kent. Well, Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne did the best for themselves. Only the Silver Surfer can live without a SI and not die from hero’s lurgy.
Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) was also (at the very least) a multi-millionaire. I don’t even remember how he got it…whether it was inherited or if he earned it somehow.
She-Hulk was a lawyer, and at least a competent one.
Black Canary was a florist (IIRC) and her shop was open for a long time, so she must have been pretty good.
Elongated Man was a PI when he wasn’t officially heroing, and he also was fairly good at it.
Wasn’t the Atom a physics professor? He had tenure, I think, so he must have been at least competent.
ETA: These are all Earth-1 versions for the DC folks. I never did figure out how the Marvel multiverse works anymore.
I’m curious at your assertion, most of the time superheros are perfectly fine at their day jobs, many (the entrepreneurs esp) are spectacularly successful.
Well, Clark Kent frequently posed as a bumbler, as a clown who always “just missed” the big story he was supposed to be covering.
That inspired David Carradine’s famous monologue in Kill Bill (Tarantino suggested that Clark Kent acted like a cowardly klutz because, deep down, that’s how he saw human beings- as weaklings and fools).
I honestly can’t think of a single one. Some, like Superman, piss off their bosses by disappearing at random times, but make up for it by being extremely good at their jobs.
Some can’t hold down a job because they can’t keep up the schedule with their split duties, but there’s never any indication that they suck at their jobs in general.
He was really nice to that little old lady but I question his clear violations of employee guidelines and that whole “throw the boss through walls” approach to workplace disagreements is also a bit iffy.
Matt Murdock (DareDevil) is a good lawyer.
Tony Stark has lost a dozen versions of his company but always rebuilds bigger & better.
Same for Bruce Wayne. I guess the losses are a result of the superhero job, not incompetence.
Reed Richards is one of the smartest men on the planet, iirc in the Ultimate Universe he has a large number of copyrights on inventions that are used daily.
Peter Parker (Spidey) is a good photographer, and also pretty smart. He now has a good job at a lab.
Carol Danvers (Miss/Captain Marvel) is an ace pilot.
In fact, I think that most of them are pretty good at the things they do/did.
If only that hero thing wouldn’t mess up their lives they’d be fine.
In Batman Beyond, Bruce loses control over most of his company.
Didn’t Stark also keep losing control of his company? At least the new movie makes it seem like that’s about to happen.
Is Clark Kent really a good reporter? Is he really looking to inform the public with excellent journalism? Because it seems like he uses his job mostly to know where problems are and then to manipulate stories to hide his identity.
Marvel’s heroes tend not to have day jobs beyond superheroing: the Fantastic Four, most of the Avengers, the X-Men, the Defenders, etc. It’s rarer to find a Marvel hero who needs a secret identity than one who does (like Spidey.)
The Martian Manhunter (as John Jones) was a more-thancompetent police detective. It helps when you can read minds.
Aquaman and Namor were/are competent Atlantean monarchs, but, y’know, keeping the plot interesting required frequent dethroning.
For what it’s worth, when Thor was holding down a job as Doctor Donald Blake, he was a staggeringly competent physician – to the point where the writers would make a story interesting for the lower-powered heroes by having the big guy busily saving lives as a frail and brainy surgeon: he simply wouldn’t leave the operating room to fight crime until after he’d finished treating the patient on the table.
Back when they tried to make him a TV reporter, it was established that he was an award-winning newspaper reporter. He would often use his super speed to write up what happened to Superman and get the stories to the paper. The 40s Lois Lane used to complain all the time about how he would scoop her.
In general, Silver Age heroes worked at jobs where they could go off on their own unsupervised (reporters, police, or too rich to need to work), and where their superhero abilities helped with their jobs.