Why Hide It?

Super C here. A long-running debate that has fallen in favor of the debate asking Wildcat City to stay in the USA or separate forever is the debate asking if it was ethical for us to live as superheroes whose secret identities aren’t a secret, or in others’ opinions, an open secret. The public is to blame for it, however; they knew who we were all the time and confessed it at the time of the incident where Bendraqi and his cronies tried to spread that information in e-mails with viruses attached. (Bendraqi’s memory was since erased due to a freak accident of his own technology revolting on him, and the parrots pecking at his head reinforced that.)

Since then, I’ve required all newest members who use multiple identities to let the public of all that exist, although there are exceptions. Dark Wolf, for instance, has chosen to hide his real name from everybody. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s forgotten it because he was trapped in darkness all those years before Cripto freed him. Another exception is the superhero Magnus Leonis, also known as Aslan Goldpride’s brother, Roxis; he follows the traditional example of one that continues to hide his regular identity from the public, although his nephew and niece found out by accident, but they said it made them love him even more. As a result, though, when it was revealed to the G-52s and only the G-52s, I took a vow that we’d keep them separate and pretend as if we didn’t know anything about that.

Which side of this debate would you place yourself on? Here are the two sides for you to consider on hiding a superhero’s secret identity. If you vote “YES,” meaning you say they should hide it, you might think it’s because it is a way of protecting the identity from all that shouldn’t know about it. (There’s other reasons, but the debaters always use this one as the big one.) If you vote “NO,” like I once did, you might say it’s because it’s a form of lying, and nobody should be dishonest about anything.

In bigger details so that I may use examples of comic book heroes, the purpose of a secret identity is to protect the superhero’s friends and family from becoming targets of his or her enemies, such as Clark Kent (Superman), or to protect themselves from getting arrested by the police, like Spider-Man, although many superheroes have a confidant (usually a friend or relative who has been sworn to secrecy). Most superheroes use a descriptive or metaphoric code name for their public deeds. However, some superheroes, such as those of the team the Fantastic Four, eschew secret identities and are publicly known or even celebrities. There are also rare ones whose true identities are common public knowledge, even with a costumed identity (e.g. Iron Man and Captain America). This last category, in fact, is the one all of us belong to; i.e., everybody knows I am not only the Cat of Steel but also Simon Corrineson, personal trainer and fitness expert. Everybody also knows that Cripto is also rock singer extraordinaire Nathan Knight, frontman of the hugely popular band Furry Fury.

Some characters who experience an actual transformation when changing from one persona to another have a higher than normal potential to have two relatively genuine identities. An example is Dr. Robert Bruce Banner needs to seek genuine calm to prevent transformation into the genuinely raging Hulk.

The Thing is character with a permanently non-conventional appearance but he is in the Fantastic Four, a team that did not pursue anonymity.

Marvel’s Mystique is another example of a character whose unaltered form varies greatly from the normal standards of human appearance. Her unaltered features include blue skin and yellow eyes but her shape shifting and vocal mimicry abilities give her the potential to fit into any required situation. As such, she has no need for a single secret identity.

Many other characters have fixed appearances are more conveniently human. Beyond the fact that they naturally look identical to their powered personas the things with potential to give them away are unguarded expression of their powers, their motivations and their acquired knowledge and these expressions may occur either due to the excitement of novelty or due developed habit, desire or urge.

In the case of Spider-Man, the secret identity of the character remained Peter Parker’s the single identity for a relatively long time. He was well into his high school years when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. He then gained such qualities as a spider sense ringing in his head but, as Marvel continues to portray Spider-Man in his younger years, he never grows very far from his less powerful roots. Why are the police trying to arrest him, anyway?

In the case of Batman, Bruce Wayne was set on the road of a crime fighter from a young age. He had a long term issue with bats when his parents were murdered during his childhood. It is suggested that Bruce Wayne is “the mask” that Batman wears, meaning that Batman is the true persona, hidden by his public image.

In the case of Superman, Clark Kent is raised as a human child who recognizes developing powers at various stages of his development. Over time he acquires high levels of speed and strength, various vision based powers and a relatively high level of intelligence. He also learns of his alien roots and of his noble family background and yet, in several story lines, he then presents himself as bumbling and clumsy and with a presented persona that is mild-mannered with frequent exhibitions of insecurity. In another continuity, where Lois Lane learns that Superman is Clark Kent, he discusses his dual identity with her. “Clark Kent is not a disguise. Clark is who I am, while Superman is what I do.” Not bad for a reporter.

The main difference between us and these aforementioned heroes (apart from them being human and us being furry) is probably lying in the mindset. As I said, I despise lying, and I’ve often felt that hiding your identity is a form of being dishonesty. On the flipside, though, there’s no privacy. We’ve especially seen this with Leo the Patriotic Lion and all the troubles he’s had in life with the bellowing. We’ve seen it with Cripto having to deal with it both ways, as a superhero and a rock star. The press will forever report everything we do, and people are constantly calling on us for favors; at least, that’s the way people assume it would be, but due to the global paranoia of Leo that will go on forever, we don’t have these issues. These are problems that aren’t present with heroes that do hide their identities, but then again, the public is too stupid to figure it out, and if they did figure it out, those heroes would be out of work according to what tradition states. The public begged for us not to quit because of that, and it’s a good thing we didn’t. I feel that Zanta would’ve been so unhappy with us. He and his family have shown us how the world needs us, and without us, it would have fallen to the heartless a long time ago.

So which one are you? Do you prefer heroes who hide their identities or heroes like us that don’t, even though we are the rare case of heroes who use a codename, but our “real” selves are common public knowledge? It’s a fascinating topic of discussion, and it’s one that may require thought. All are welcome to give their input; I’m all ears.

THE END

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Noah and characters (C)  zakavatarz and used with permission
Dark Wolf, Eterna, and other characters (C)  16weeks and used with permission
All comic book superheroes mentioned (Superman, Batman, Hulk, etc.) (C) Marvel Comics and DC Comics