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Who has the most interesting, most believable, or simply best secret identity in comics?
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If this seems very DC-heavy, it is so for two reasons: (1) I'm more familiar with DC than other comics companies; (2) DC superheroes, more than any other company's superheroes, tend to have secret identities, with emphasis on the word "secret".
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I went with Helena...just because her secret ID is so key to the character. Her Huntress gig plays so much off of her personality...it's like Selina, where the mask is merely a functional tool and not an alternate persona.
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Quote:
klinton said:
I went with Helena...just because her secret ID is so key to the character. Her Huntress gig plays so much off of her personality...it's like Selina, where the mask is merely a functional tool and not an alternate persona.
Plus she's hot.
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Quote:
Jeremy said:
who is John Smith?
See..... you don't know.....now that is a good secret identity.
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I picked Bruce Wayne.......cause nobody and I mean nobody knows that he is Batman. 
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That's exactly why I didn't pick Peter Parker.
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Peter Parker has the worst secret identity. He's the same person with the suit on or off.
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you don't think the mask works huh.
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Parker's got the worst secret identity because all his enemies find out what it is.
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Who cares. Imagine being him, Peter Parker, in high school. F'ing all the hot chicks and being Spider-Man. Imagine f'ing MJ over the bed. Paint that picture in you perv minds. Sounds good to me. Clark Kent has to be the worst. Sure, Spider-Mans villains know who he is but how dumb a Supermans villains? They can't figure him out? Please. lol
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I went with Parker and Banner. Parker because he's the best 'everyman' in superhero comics. Banner because the entire Hulk concept is fascinating. Hulk is an embodiment of Banner's repressed emotion. That's the kind of concept superhero comics were meant for.
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I mostly went with Marvel heroes, because on the whole I don't find DC's heroes secret IDs very believable. Maybe I'm just too familiar with them.
John Smith is Red Tornado. TTT's idea of a little obscurity...?
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Quote:
Jeremy said:
who is John Smith?
I know Red Tornado uses the name John Smith, but its not a secret identity just a name he used to adopt his daughter.
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Yeah I voted for the Bat.......I mean Clark Kent's disguise is what...glasses?
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Quote:
rex said:
Peter Parker has the worst secret identity. He's the same person with the suit on or off.
you could argue that thats the very reason it could be the best.
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Just a question for everyone: What makes a good secret identity? Is it originality, believability, an interesting occupation, an interesting cast of characters, or what?
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It seems like the focus in the Silver Age was the occupation. Every hero with a secret identity had to have a productive and interesting career in step with the times (the 1950s/1960s) -- case in point: half the characters were scientists (the Hulk, the Atom, the Flash, etc), which was a career in demand during those Cold War days.
During the golden age, half the characters were millionaire playboys (the Batman, Hawkman, Green Arrow, etc), during a time when people just wanted to forget about the poverty of the Great Depression and fantasized about the lives of the fabulously wealthy.
It doesn't seem like the career is all that important any longer. Or is it?
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Careers always have to be flexible for superheroes.
There would be no point making them a 9-5 office or factory worker as they either wouldnt be able to do any superheroing during the day,or they would get fired for constantly dispearing!
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Quote:
The Time Trust said:
Just a question for everyone: What makes a good secret identity? Is it originality, believability, an interesting occupation, an interesting cast of characters, or what?
I find the idea a little ridiculous. I know the rationale for wearing a mask and calling yourself a funny name, but in this day and age with DNA testing, security cameras, fingerprinting, and all the other CSI stuff, so you really think even Batman would have his ID preserved?
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A secret identity is maintained so the hero can have a normal life, at least some of the time. Think of how you would want to have friends, a job, dates...this makes life bearable for the hero, who would otherwise have no time to rest or enjoy life.
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Quote:
Fused said:
Quote:
rex said:
Peter Parker has the worst secret identity. He's the same person with the suit on or off.
you could argue that thats the very reason it could be the best.
But you would be on the losing side of the arguement.
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Quote:
PrincessElisa said:
Yeah I voted for the Bat.......I mean Clark Kent's disguise is what...glasses?
Yeah but he fools the world with just a pair of glasses! (Posture and other stuff too)
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It's a three way tie:
The best secret ID from a conceptual standpoint is the golden age Clark Kent, because it embodies and originates the entire "everyman and the hero within" dichotomy that so many others have tried. In fact, as I have said before, it was probably the single thing that makes Superman the famous character he is. Too bad DC let Byrne and others remove it.
From a logical standpoint, the best secret ID is Bruce Wayne because (a) he has a fully realized psychologial motivation for what he does (his parents' murder) and (b) he has a somewhat reasonable explanation for how he can do (ie, he's rich).
From a characterization standpoint the best secret ID is the 1960s Peter Parker because he was the first secret ID where you identified with the civilian ID as much, if not more, than the super one. Furthermore, Parker worked beautifully as a secret ID in the 1960s because he represented puberty and the confusion of being a teenager.
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I tend to agree with G Man... Clark, Bruce and Peter have the best secret id's...... In real life, if I took off my glasses, everybody would still recognize me....only in comics can ya become an entirely different person by removing your eyeware!!! And remember..this is comics..not real life...that is why the masks work..... 
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