Superman might be the world's most famous superhero, but Clark Kent is pretty impressive
in his own right. Still, there's a whole lot even the most diehard fans get wrong about Superman's
mild-mannered alter-ego. Here are a few of the biggest misconceptions about Clark Kent.
When it comes to pulling off incredible feats of heroism,
people tend to go with the invincible alien Superman over the demure reporter Clark Kent.
"I'm here to fight for truth, justice, and the American way."
As such, you might think that Kent isn't all that when he's not wearing the red-and-blue spandex.
But the truth is, while Kent's second life as a superhero tends to overshadow
his journalistic accomplishments, that doesn't make them any less impressive.
His byline frequently appears on the front page of The Daily Planet,
arguably the most widely-read newspaper in the DC universe's version of the United States.
And while there aren't many comics about Kent conducting lengthy interviews
and typing at his computer, direct evidence of his award-winning track
record appears in the legendary Mark Waid and Alex Ross comic, Kingdom Come.
The scene in question starts with Kent — who's going by his Kryptonian birth name,
Kal-El — chatting with Wonder Woman outside the Watchtower. Kal-El is halfway through recalling
a recent final encounter with Brainiac when he mentions that some of the villain's circuitry has
been hidden inside a Pulitzer in Clark Kent's apartment. Take note: he says a Pulitzer, not
the Pulitzer, suggesting that, incredibly, Kent might actually have more than one.
One of Superman's constants throughout the character's 80-plus years of history is the
tension between his small town upbringing and his adult life in the fast-paced metropolis
of, uh, Metropolis. As such, whenever someone accuses the concept of Superman
of being old-fashioned, that someone is usually talking about Clark Kent's midwestern identity,
rather than anything specific to Superman as a hero. Indeed, the wholesome, Norman Rockwell-esque
image of the American bread basket that underlies Smallville does scan as a little quaint.
But the Clark Kent character isn't as old-fashioned as you might assume. Take
one of the other constants in Superman's life: the romance between him and Lois Lane. If Kent's
really such a slack-jawed hayseed, then how could a sophisticated, cynical journalist like Lois
be in love with him? It's also worth considering that traveling to unfamiliar countries tends to be
enough to broaden a person's horizons, and Kent's been to a whole bunch of different planets — which
would suggest that his horizons are plenty broad, no matter how simple his upbringing may have been.
So while it may be totally fair to call Clark Kent square in the Huey Lewis sense of the word,
don't go thinking he's a man of the past — because the truth is he's anything but.
Clark Kent's need to keep his superhero identity hidden from the world is one of the most important
aspects of the character — and he's gone to some pretty crazy lengths to do it, too.
So it might be easy to imagine that the world will never really know Superman's secret. But
this all changed in February 2020 with the release of Superman Vol. 5 #18 . In this story, Superman
gets burnt out on keeping secrets, and finally lets the world know the truth: that he's actually
been the Daily Planet reporter and Smallville native Clark Kent this whole friggin' time.
Of course, the status quo is never static for long in the world of DC Comics, so it's impossible to
know how long Superman's identity will remain public knowledge. But until the next continuity
reset or massive retcon changes everything back again, the heroes and citizens of the DC
universe will continue to know that Clark Kent is really Superman…. For better or for worse.
Plenty of people wrongly assume that Batman and Superman are natural adversaries — and the blame
for this misconception doesn't fall entirely on Zack Snyder's shoulders, either. While Batman v
Superman certainly popularized the notion that the two characters hate each other, the pop
culture commentator Chuck Klosterman described their relationship as that of arch-enemies
in a 2007 essay, almost a full decade before the release of Snyder's film. On top of that, the
comics themselves have occasionally pitted the two against each other, in a wide variety of contexts.
And while it's true that Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne have a very complicated relationship,
you only need to take a cursory glance at some more recent Superman stories
to know that the friendship between these two heroes plays a crucial role in the DC universe.
A recent run of Batman even commemorated their bond with a two-part arc, in which
each hero agonizes over the other being far more noble, brave, and kind-hearted than themselves.
They then promptly get over it, go on a double date with Lois and Selina,
and visit a batting cage, where they argue over whether Bruce can land a hit
on Clark's Kryptonian fastball. See? They're practically best buddies.
So here's a question: just how close are Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne? Well, turns out they're such
pals that they've even traded outfits on a handful of occasions. That's right: Clark Kent is Batman!
Well, sometimes. In Tom King and Clay Mann's run on Batman, Bruce Wayne dresses up as
Superman and Clark Kent dons the cape and cowl. This is pretty much their
only option in the moment, as they're trying to meet the costume criteria for
superhero night at the Gotham County Fair without revealing their secret identities.
A glasses-wearing Kent-Batman is exactly as funny as it sounds too, especially when
Lois Lane has to talk him out of using his super-strength to win her a carnival prize.
In another instance, mind-controlling nanites take Bruce Wayne out of action in a 1998 episode of
Superman: The Animated Series, leading Clark Kent to temporarily take up the mantle of the Batman.
"Right here. Look familiar?"
"Bane…"
"Ah, yes, Bane."
Kent and Tim Drake eventually rescue their brooding colleague, and in the process,
prove something long suspected of Superman: That, with the possible exception of the Joker,
he can brush aside the bulk of Batman's rogues gallery without much effort.
Can't see Batman dispatching Doomsday so easily, can you? Time to up the ante, Bruce.
Ask someone the most important difference between Clark Kent and Superman, and they'll
probably tell you it's the fact that Clark Kent wears glasses. It's also pretty well known that
this flimsy little disguise is enough to fool everybody Kal-El meets. But some people have
seen through the disguise — such as one particularly sly resident of Gotham city.
During Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle's engagement, Kent expresses some reservations about meeting
his buddy's new fiancé. After all, revealing his secret identity to a former super-criminal
seems like a pretty risky bet. But Lois lets her husband know that Selina seems naturally gifted
at figuring out people's secrets, and that the chances are she already knows who Kent really is.
The very next page finds Batman and Catwoman watching over the Gotham City skyline.
The feline fatale quickly confirms Lane's suspicions, wryly pointing out that a little
hair gel and a pair of glasses isn't quite the foolproof disguise that Clark Kent thinks it is.
Though Catwoman is far too insightful to fall for Clark Kent's silly glasses routine,
it's worth pointing out that pretty much everyone else does. In Grant Morrison and
Frank Quietly's All-Star Superman, for example, even those nearest and dearest to Kent can't
seem to put two and two together. Lex Luthor, allegedly the smartest man in the whole world,
looks a glasses-less Kent right in the face and makes no connection whatsoever.
In another scene, the staff of the Daily Planet watches as Kent stares down a powered-up Luthor.
When it becomes obvious that this is actually Superman confronting his nemesis,
Jimmy Olsen simply suggests that Superman has disguised himself as Clark Kent.
Of course, you could argue that it's hard to recognize a god-like superhero
when he's standing next to you at the water cooler, and some people do look
totally different when they're wearing or not wearing a pair of glasses. Still,
though, you'd think that some of the world's greatest reporters might have caught on by now.
Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns might be a pretty great comic, but it
was the worst thing to ever happen to Clark Kent's reputation. This iconic comic book
story sees a Ronald Reagan-esque United States president order Superman to bring in Batman,
whose tactics don't fall in step with the government's new anti-vigilante regulations.
Batman quite rightly accuses his Justice League co-founder of spinelessness in the face of… well,
basically anyone with a badge or a flag. Thus, one of the most famous superhero stories of all time
successfully makes the point that the most famous superhero of all time is kind of a chump.
But while The Dark Knight Returns portrayed Kent as deferential and servile,
he hasn't always been the kind of guy who has to do whatever authority figures tell him. In fact,
Superman has brought down President Lex Luthor on a few different occasions, and in one instance,
he even goes full Man of Steel and outright fries Luthor's democratically-elected brains.
And then there's Justice League Unlimited: The macro-plot of this 2004 animated series revolves
around Superman refusing to play ball with high-ranking government employee Amanda Waller.
So don't go thinking Kent doesn't know how to play the rebel when it suits him.
Still, you've got to hand it to mid-1980s Frank Miller: Only he could convince the world that
Superman would attack Batman because the President thought Batman was fighting crime too hard.
Clark Kent is the original Superman and the default Superman, and no one's
ever gonna make the case to the contrary. But he's not the only Superman. In fact,
during DC's line-wide Future State event, Clark Kent isn't Superman at all.
Instead, that designation belongs to Jonathan Kent, Clark's son with Lois Lane.
Overall, though, Clark has had an easier time hanging onto the exclusive use of his famous
alias than some of the other heroes out there. But let's not forget the brief
period following Clark's "death" in the '90s, in which Steel, Hank Henshaw, Conner Kent,
and the Eradicator were all briefly and unofficially considered "Superman."
In one of the most memorable chapters of Superman: The Animated Series, Bizarro
also successfully passes himself off as the genuine article... for about a day.
"How? How could he? I'm Superman! Me… Me!"
Still, nobody apart from Clark seems able to hold down the gig for very long. So does
this mean that being Superman is more difficult than, say, being Spider-Man?
Well, who could say? But a whole lot of people have been Spider-Man over the years,
and only one man seems able to pull off being Superman. Something to consider, don't you think?
To most people, the names "Superman" and "Lois Lane" seem like natural
bedfellows. The ABC series Lois & Clark only strengthened that connection in the '90s,
and 2021's CW series Superman & Lois is likely to do the same.
But Clark Kent and Lois Lane haven't been romantically involved for the
entirety of their respective fictional existences. As many readers may be aware,
Clark's high school sweetheart and ongoing semi-platonic gal pal is actually Lana Lang.
Sporadically throughout the last roughly 40 years worth of comics,
Superman has also gotten romantically tangled up with Princess Diana of Themyscira .
In fact, Superman and Wonder Woman have far more in common than Lois and Clark — or Diana and Steve
Trevor, for that matter. But every time these two heroes get together, sooner or later, they usually
end up back with their traditional partners. Maybe that's just because those characters need to
periodically reset to their status quos. Or maybe it's because Wonder Woman and Superman always get
to know each other as superheroes, and neither can live up to those hyper-idyllic first impressions.
But Lois? Well, she first meets him as Clark Kent,
a regular ol' joe from Kansas — so her expectations for their relationship are
just a little more grounded. Probably makes for a simpler date night, too.
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