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comics - What makes the world so oblivious to Clark Kent's secret?


Superman's alter ego is Clark Kent. Unlike many other superheroes, Superman dresses up as a human to fit in.


What makes the world so oblivious to Clark Kent's secret; Superman? (In regards his poor disguise).



Answer



Superman has always been a public figure, but he doesn't wear a mask. His entire face is visible to all, and he willingly has photos taken, kisses babies, etc. Batman, Flash, Green Lantern (the Hal Jordan version at least), etc. ALL wear masks to cover their faces. Their masks make people wonder what is beneath them.


Similarly, since Superman doesn't wear a mask, many (if not most) people assume he has no secret identity. This is aided by the fact that he's always been very open about his back story - he's NOT human, just human-looking. He's openly admitted that he is the last survivor of an alien race, and that he's adopted Earth as his home. It is difficult for people to believe that someone with so much raw power, who has been so open, has a secret. They may wonder what Superman is doing at the moment, but they never wonder who he is.


For those who DO suspect he has a secret identity, Clark Kent is not a likely suspect. The only similarities are his hair style and color (though he does subtly change his hair style as CK, when not wearing a hat), basic build, and eye color. Glasses do quite a bit to change the shape of your face, especially when you never publicly remove them.


Then we have the steps Superman takes to make his disguise more effective. Clark Kent almost always wears a suit and tie. He wears a button-down shirt, suit coat, tie, nice pants, and simple shoes. He prefers dark browns or blues, and rarely removes any of his clothing layers (excepting overcoats when appropriate) except around family and close friends. Superman wears a very bold costume, skin tight, with a big, billowing cape. His musculature is evident. This disparity does quite a bit to make Clark Kent's body type look different from Superman's.


Superman is also an accomplished actor, in a limited scope. In essence, he's spent years creating a single persona - Clark Kent - and he can drop into it in a heartbeat. Everything about Clark Kent is different from Superman. Clark has an entirely different posture, different speech patterns, and different word choice. Clark is passive, except when he is actively working on a story, Superman is... not brash, but firm.


From a personality perspective, physical perspective, and presumption perspective, Clark Kent is decidedly NOT a candidate for Superman's secret identity, to 99.99999% of the world.



For everything else, there's Super-Hypnotism.



The blog 'Texts From Superheroes' poses an alternative explanation:


Metallo Learns Lex isn't Stupid


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