What's Separates Superman From Clark Kent? It's Not Just the Glasses, We Promise.

Almost everyone - fans and fellow characters - teases Superman about his terrible secret identity, which is just made up of a pair of glasses and a civilian outfit. Just about every superhero needs a secret identity, and some may claim that Clark Kent's isn't all that clever, but Superman's disguise isn't anywhere near as bad as people like to claim.

The Clark Kent secret identity has been around for decades - as long as Superman himself, in fact, who debuted in 1938's Action Comics #1 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster - and people have been mocking it for almost just as long.

A lot of people can't wrap their minds around the idea of no one being able to figure out that Superman and Clark Kent are the same person with just a pair of glasses standing between them. Especially when Clark's glasses get knocked off, which has often happened due to how clumsy he is. But artist Frank Quitely, known for All-Star Superman with writer Grant Morrison, perfectly demonstrates how body language adds to Clark's disguise.

Superman's Secret Identity Has a Lot Going Into It - Including Posture

Artwork by Frank Quitely

Clark Kent's secret identity was never just his glasses. There are tons of details that go into the secret identity of Superman, and having a pair of glasses is only one of the very basic visual elements. If one stops to give this criticism more than a few seconds of thought, it's shown that there's really no reason to believe that Clark's secret identity wouldn't work. Quitely demonstrated this best by showing that Superman doesn't just "wear glasses," as demonstrated in artwork recently posted to Threads. He also changes his hairstyle as well as his posture, being much more slumped over than Superman.

Many superhero genre tropes and characters have been parodied before, such as how useless Aquaman's powers are or how Batman only beats up the homeless and mentally ill. But it's hard to imagine anything that's been parodied more than Superman's choice of disguise. To protect his secret identity, Superman simply throws on a suit or a regular shirt and tie and dons a pair of glasses. Despite how these costuming choices don't really obscure his face, they fool everyone, and it turns out there are a few good reasons why.

The other big reason that people wouldn't recognize Clark Kent as Superman is the simple fact that there's really no reason to. Superman is pretty open about who he is and where he comes from. It's fairly common knowledge among citizens of the DCU that he's from Krypton, and he hangs out with the Justice League. There's really no reason to believe that Superman does anything but that. It's hard to imagine why someone with all that power would "waste his time" working at a newspaper. It's an absurd idea and one that people wouldn't instantly believe. There's just no reason to think that Superman is anything other than Superman.

People Wouldn't Have Any Reason to Believe That Clark Kent Is Superman

Page from Superman Adventures #57 by Dan Slott, Cameron Stewart, Terry Austin, Marie Severin, and Phil Felix

The other major argument against the believability of Superman's human disguise that people like to throw around is that Superman looks just like Clark Kent. But that's not really a major indictment of the quality of his secret identity. There are tons of people in the world who look like other people. People have made entire careers out of impersonating celebrities. Some people have made a good living off of impersonating Abraham Lincoln, a man who has been dead for over a hundred years. But no one confuses these impersonators with the real thing.

People also vastly overestimate how easy it is to recognize people. There are countless news stories about how celebrities trim their bangs or shave their beards and are instantly unrecognizable. There are entire galleries that people amuse themselves with before and after images of celebrities with haircuts. It's not unreasonable to assume that Superman and Clark Kent would be equally hard to recognize. Especially when Superman is often higher up or moving quickly as he flies through the skies of Metropolis.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the DC Universe is, frankly, a bizarre place. There are wizards and robots and aliens and all kinds of absurd characters. Clark Kent continually disappearing at the same time as Superman or always getting "locked in a closet" or avoiding certain death isn't that weird in the context of the larger universe. In the DC Universe, people regularly come back from the dead and cosmic gods come down from the sky and obliterate the entire multiverse. Clark Kent being a little weird isn't that big of a red flag.

Clark Kent As Superman Simply Isn't Believable

Why Would Someone Who Can Fly Need A Day Job?

There have been numerous times in Superman media - the comics and otherwise - where Clark has attempted to reveal his secret identity to someone, only for them to completely dismiss him. Even with his chest puffed out and his glasses removed, people just don't believe that Superman and Clark Kent are the same. It's not just the persona that Clark puts on; the idea that someone as powerful as Superman would spend time as unassuming Clark Kent is just absurd. There's quite literally no reason for Superman to do that.

Superheroes pretty much exclusively have secret identities to keep their loved ones safe. Batman spends time as ditzy Bruce Wayne so people don't figure out his true alter ego and go after Alfred or the Bat-Family. Likewise, Spider-Man wears a mask to protect Mary Jane and Aunt May. But people already go after Lois Lane constantly for her own heroic work as a journalist. Aside from Superman's parents, he doesn't really have anyone to protect. Superman's secret identity is much more for himself than it is for other people. He uses it to try and have a normal life, which is unthinkable for most people who live that normal life every single day.

Superman Has One of the Best Secret Identities in the Superhero Genre

No One Would Ever Think Clark Kent Is Superman

Clark's desire to live normally is one of the greatest aspects of Superman's secret identity. No one would possibly believe that a person that powerful would waste their time pretending to be weak. It's one of the biggest reasons that Lex Luthor rarely figures out Superman's identity, as he simply can't believe that someone this powerful would spend most of his time pretending to be a working human. With all of this in mind, there's really no denying that Superman doesn't have one of the worst secret identities - he has one of the best.

All-Star Superman is available now from DC Comics!

Source: co_mixed