- The important selling points for superheroes,
especially back in the early days of comic books,
were to fight crime, have a catchy name,
and, especially, wear a costume!
These costumes, aside from being
visually appealing to the reader,
also helped hide the identity of the hero.
But here's a question: do superheroes
even need secret identities?
Let's talk about it.
[MUSIC]
Hello, and welcome to Comic Misconceptions,
the show that takes you into detail about the things
you think you know about comics,
I'm your host, Scott Niswander.
We're going to be doing a little bit of a
different episode today, so let me know
what you guys think about it.
We'll be back to the normal format next week.
Superheroes and secret identities go hand-in-hand.
At least, they used to.
Nowadays, it's perfectly acceptable to have
a team of superheroes without secret identities.
Sure, they might have code names or aliases,
but that's not really to protect who they are.
Some superheroes still do hide their identities
from the public, but it's not as important as it once was.
It seems more like a hassle.
Now obviously there are upsides and downsides
to having a secret identity, but before we
jump into this any further, I think
it's important to define what we mean by "secret".
It's important to note that we're not
going to be using the extremes of the scale,
meaning, if you have a secret identity,
that doesn't mean that literally
you are the only person that knows.
Similarly, when we say you have a public identity,
that doesn't mean that everybody in the world knows.
We'll instead be using the terms to mean
whether the identity of the hero in question
has been confirmed by the media.
Outing yourself at a press conference: public identity.
Revealing your face to a couple friends, family members,
and maybe a few dozen subway riders:
still a secret identity, until one of those
subway riders posts a selfie they took with your
unconscious body online.
Make sense? Good.
Because now I'm gonna tell you why superheroes
need secret identities.
First off, I'm gonna forego some of the more
logical arguments, like
endangerment and destruction lawsuits,
the legalities of vigilante justice,
and how hard it would be to get insured
if you're constantly putting your life at risk.
But I will start with a common argument.
Having your identity publicly known
means your villains know who you are.
Obviously.
When villains know who's behind the mask,
it's only one simple Google search away
from finding a ton more info on you:
Your friends, your family, your job,
the YouTube channels you're subscribed to.
Wink!
With all of that information freely given,
by us to the Internet Gods, villains
can and will attack anytime, anywhere.
Plus, you can probably expect paparazzi
and/or riots outside of your house like every day.
Like just, you've gotta work that into your schedule.
Heck, even if your secret identity consisted of
you telling just a few friends or family members,
there's no guarantee that they themselves
won't turn into villains who now know everything about you.
Think about how many villains start out as
friends, family, or at the very least, acquaintances,
of the hero's school, or professional life.
I might also add that if you do have a secret identity,
don't associate yourself with the hero.
Peter Parker, for instance, has gotten himself
and his loved ones in so much danger,
simply because he totes around the idea
that Spider-Man and him are friends,
or at least, allies.
By making a career out of taking pictures of Spider-Man,
and building Spider-Man's tech,
he essentially paints a target on the back of his head
as one of the few people who can contact Spider-Man;
a problem that he is recently trying to fix in the comics.
See also Batman Incorporated; getting Alfred kidnapped
by the Joker in the "Death in the Family" story line.
It's not a good idea, guys. Just don't do it.
Batman does lead us into our next point, though.
By having a secret identity, you create
lore around the hero.
You become more than just a guy in a mask;
you can become a symbol.
As I've discussed before in an episode about how
Superman's disguise worked, people don't think
that Superman is anything but Superman.
It doesn't make sense for him to have an alter ego
or a day job, because why would he be anything else
but Super...
man?
Alfred said it another way in Batman #24.
He says that people don't want to see who's under the mask
because it ruins the effect.
He likens it to a play, where the actors are
playing their parts so beautifully
that the audience gets transported into a new world
and forgets that they're even watching a play.
In the case of Batman, anonymity helps create lore
around the figure.
Folks might spread around rumors about how
he's actually quite fat, or he drinks
the blood of his enemies.
Children grow up in Gotham thinking,
"Does he even exist, or is this just a legend
"our parents are telling us?"
And that helps cement Batman into the myth of Gotham City
long after Bruce Wayne is gone.
As Bruce himself says in Batman Begins,
"A man is just flesh and blood and can be
"ignored or destroyed, but as a symbol,
"I can be incorruptible. Everlasting."
I think that first part is really important.
As a human being, you're going to be constantly judged
for your actions, even outside of the costume.
If Tony Stark, for instance, has a drunken meltdown
that results in him wrecking his home,
that is directly linked to Iron Man.
The media will catch wind of that and declare
that Iron Man is a threat because Tony Stark is unstable.
If Bruce Wayne has a similar drunken meltdown
that results in him wrecking his home,
that in no way affects how Batman
is represented in the media.
The amazing Mr. Feeny explained it well
when he said this:
"Had press coverage into the private lives
"of past politicians been as invasive as it is today,
"such men as Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy
"might never have been elected president."
He said that in 1996!
Before there was Facebook, or Twitter,
or other social media sites whereon people were
constantly posting things that will get them in trouble.
The point that I'm trying to get across
is that a superhero should be appreciated for their actions
as a hero, and not juxtaposed and compared to
their actions in their private lives.
It's that saying about never meeting your heroes.
Only literally.
There's a fantastic article by Sonia Harris
about the relationship between secret identities,
online privacy, and, quote, "invisible diseases".
Link in the description, if you wanna go check it out,
which you should.
In it, she states that a superhero struggling to
carve themselves out a regular slice of life,
amidst the secret chaos they go through as their
costumed identity, is a powerful metaphor
for those struggling with health issues
that can't be seen on the surface.
I don't wanna get too heavy into it,
but the basic concept is that by overcoming
difficult situations in secret, you become your own hero.
Even if no one else knows the feat you've just accomplished.
Similarly, think of a time when you secretly
did something nice for someone else.
If you can't think of a time, go do something nice
for someone else.
Going out of your way to do something nice for someone else
without taking the credit or expecting anything in return:
that, to me, is what a great hero is.
At the end of the day, it boils down to this.
Having a secret identity that is not
associated with the hero identity protects
you and your loved ones, allows a transcendence
of the hero and what they represent,
and allows you to become your own hero.
- Great point, Scott, but if I were a superhero,
I would tell literally everyone I know.
In fact, I'm doing a whole video on my channel
about why having a public identity
would be totally awesome.
You should check it out.
- That sounds like a challenge, good sir.
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the topic.
What about you guys?
If you were a superhero, would you have a secret identity?
Let me know in the comments.
If you liked this video, please subscribe.
We do comic book videos every Wednesday,
and I don't want you to miss out on any of it.
And definitely be sure to check out Ricky's video
about why he is in favor of a public identity.
Link in the description below.
Actually, we haven't coordinated,
on what exactly we were gonna say, so I'm actually,
I'm super interested to see what his points are.
Once again, I'm Scott, and I'll see you next week
for more things that you thought you knew
about comics.
See ya!
- [Voiceover] A few panels earlier, a young boy
rescued a blind man from being hit by a truck,
while crossing the street.
That canister fell off the truck and hit the young boy
near his eyes.
In other words, it's the exact same scenario that happened
to Matt Murdoch.
That issue of Daredevil #1 never showed us
what the canister of radioactive waste looked like,
but thanks to the Ninja Turtles, we see that
it is indeed a small canister of Ooze.