Bub (BLM)
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Sept 20, 2019 23:32:33 GMT -5
Right. It's dumb in certain media where there's absolutely nothing different besides the glasses (Henry Cavill, George Reeves), but when done with real dedication like Christopher Reeve, they feel like two entirely different people. Different posture, different hair, different voice, clumsy, kind of a wimp. No one would look twice at that guy in a huge busy workplace like the Daily Planet, and they sure wouldn't notice him going down the sidewalk. there's also the idea that why would basically a god want to lower himself with a secret identity... secondly why would he choose to be a reporter instead of like a politician or powerful CEO. I've always assumed it was his upbringing. He doesn't see himself as a god, regardless of what he can do. He truly sees himself as Clark Kent from Smallville who just happens to be able to do amazing things. Where it gets weird though is that Clark from Smallville is really who he is in the Superman costume, while "Clark Kent" in Metropolis is a character he puts on to keep people off his trail. And the reporter thing is because he thought being a reporter would allow him to hear about all kinds of disasters and emergencies as soon as they came up.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2019 23:35:18 GMT -5
I don't know if this is off thread, but...
Is there some' certain Superman comics where he is more vulnerable than usual or in totally different settings as character? Like Batman in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. I don't know anything about Superman, excluding those short animations I saw as child.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Sept 20, 2019 23:37:51 GMT -5
there's also the idea that why would basically a god want to lower himself with a secret identity... secondly why would he choose to be a reporter instead of like a politician or powerful CEO. I've always assumed it was his upbringing. He doesn't see himself as a god, regardless of what he can do. He truly sees himself as Clark Kent from Smallville who just happens to be able to do amazing things. Where it gets weird though is that Clark from Smallville is really who he is in the Superman costume, while "Clark Kent" in Metropolis is a character he puts on to keep people off his trail. And the reporter thing is because he thought being a reporter would allow him to hear about all kinds of disasters and emergencies as soon as they came up. Well that was my point other people thnk of him that way. I remember something where Lex built a computer that told him who Superman was and it came back as Clark Kent... and he decided that it was malfunctioning for that reason. Supes thinks of himself as Clark Kent from Smallville... not Superman or Cal-El from Krypton.
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dav
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Post by dav on Sept 20, 2019 23:43:33 GMT -5
Right. It's dumb in certain media where there's absolutely nothing different besides the glasses (Henry Cavill, George Reeves), but when done with real dedication like Christopher Reeve, they feel like two entirely different people. Different posture, different hair, different voice, clumsy, kind of a wimp. No one would look twice at that guy in a huge busy workplace like the Daily Planet, and they sure wouldn't notice him going down the sidewalk. there's also the idea that why would basically a god want to lower himself with a secret identity... secondly why would he choose to be a reporter instead of like a politician or powerful CEO. There was a point in the comics where Luthor had an entire project working on the connection on Clark Kent and Superman. When they finally connected the dots to realise that they were the same person, Luthor furiously rejected the project as an abysmal failure. He couldn't comprehend that anyone with Superman's abilities would take on such a lowly position as Clark Kent simply to help people.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2019 0:08:54 GMT -5
First one to bring up that Kill Bill speech that pulls off the spectacular feet of getting the character EXACTLY wrong gets egged
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Post by Joe Neglia on Sept 21, 2019 0:58:45 GMT -5
I don't know if this is off thread, but... Is there some' certain Superman comics where he is more vulnerable than usual or in totally different settings as character? Like Batman in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. I don't know anything about Superman, excluding those short animations I saw as child. Plenty. The Flashpoint series they did a few years ago showed a reality where the US government got hold of Supes as a child and kept him locked up in a lab, deprived of sunlight. When he was rescued as an adult, he was horrifically skinny and weak. Some of the Elseworlds one-shots and series have played with various settings, such as Superman: Red Son's "what if his spaceship landed in Russia instead of the US"
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Bub (BLM)
Patti Mayonnaise
advocates duck on rodent violence
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Sept 21, 2019 1:06:47 GMT -5
I don't know if this is off thread, but... Is there some' certain Superman comics where he is more vulnerable than usual or in totally different settings as character? Like Batman in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. I don't know anything about Superman, excluding those short animations I saw as child. I'd recommend "All-Star Superman". The plot is about a dying Superman and what he chooses to do with his remaining time. It's really good stuff.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Sept 21, 2019 1:08:19 GMT -5
Is Clark Kent even a legal US Citizen?! Yes. He was adopted and naturalized through that. I'm more confused how just a pair of glasses fools everyone. Pre-Crisis, it was revealed that he did two things to pull this off: He used the glasses to emit a low-level eye-ray that caused people to see Clark slightly different from what he actually looked like, and as Superman, he (when around people in public) very slightly vibrated constantly, so recording devices always had a bit of blur to them, even when he was standing still. Post-Crisis and definitely Post-New 52, I have no idea. I think they usually operate on acting for him, the glasses distorting his eyes a bit, ill-fitting clothes, and just people not really having much reason to suspect Superman has a secret identity. He's told papers he's an alien, he appears so fast and solves stuff and flies away, they could probably be forgiven for thinking he just is Superman 24/7, kinda like how in comics, Negaduck says to Darkwing that he never bothered to establish any kind of secret identity, he's just Negaduck constantly.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2019 1:27:22 GMT -5
Great suggestions, I'll do little research about all of 'em. Thanks.
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cosmo
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Post by cosmo on Sept 21, 2019 1:56:24 GMT -5
Yes. He was adopted and naturalized through that. Pre-Crisis, it was revealed that he did two things to pull this off: He used the glasses to emit a low-level eye-ray that caused people to see Clark slightly different from what he actually looked like, and as Superman, he (when around people in public) very slightly vibrated constantly, so recording devices always had a bit of blur to them, even when he was standing still. Post-Crisis and definitely Post-New 52, I have no idea. I dont know legal,but can you adopt a baby you cant prove whete it is from? Also wouldnt people check him and discover he isnt human as a baby for the adoption?
They could probably just say that they'd come home one day and found the baby on their doorstep.
And someone could correct me if I'm wrong, I think the Smallville show might've also had Lionel Luthor pull a few strings at the adoption agency as a favor to the Kents and have the whole "where did Baby Clark come from?" discussion swept under the rug.
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Post by mcmahonfan85 on Sept 21, 2019 1:58:56 GMT -5
Does he? He's Kryptonian, they might look completely different than human prints if they even exist at all. I know Lex got Zod's in Batman v Superman, but he also created Doomsday with the corpse, so that's not exactly 'canon'. how dare you say the Snyderverse isn't canon! Zack Snyder's genius depiction of the DC characters was in keeping with how their various creators originally intended the characters to be (or at the very least, how the creators would have intended if they were halfway competent) RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT!!!
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Sept 21, 2019 2:41:05 GMT -5
Yes. He was adopted and naturalized through that. Pre-Crisis, it was revealed that he did two things to pull this off: He used the glasses to emit a low-level eye-ray that caused people to see Clark slightly different from what he actually looked like, and as Superman, he (when around people in public) very slightly vibrated constantly, so recording devices always had a bit of blur to them, even when he was standing still. Post-Crisis and definitely Post-New 52, I have no idea. I think they usually operate on acting for him, the glasses distorting his eyes a bit, ill-fitting clothes, and just people not really having much reason to suspect Superman has a secret identity. He's told papers he's an alien, he appears so fast and solves stuff and flies away, they could probably be forgiven for thinking he just is Superman 24/7, kinda like how in comics, Negaduck says to Darkwing that he never bothered to establish any kind of secret identity, he's just Negaduck constantly. also psychologically people view people in power as taller than they actually are. If you asked someone how tall Clark was vs. Superman they'd undoubtedly give you different answers.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Sept 21, 2019 2:43:40 GMT -5
I think they usually operate on acting for him, the glasses distorting his eyes a bit, ill-fitting clothes, and just people not really having much reason to suspect Superman has a secret identity. He's told papers he's an alien, he appears so fast and solves stuff and flies away, they could probably be forgiven for thinking he just is Superman 24/7, kinda like how in comics, Negaduck says to Darkwing that he never bothered to establish any kind of secret identity, he's just Negaduck constantly. also psychologically people view people in power as taller than they actually are. If you asked someone how tall Clark was vs. Superman they'd undoubtedly give you different answers. Particularly with the slouch. I like that he went up in a comic once to the rooftop, opened his shirt and realized a construction guy was there, who opened his shirt to also have a Superman "shirt" on underneath, saying "hey, me, too, between us. We don't wanna look like a couple'a tourists!" It was a pretty cute gag and sorta outlines Metropolis' relationship with Superman.
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Post by Feyrhausen on Sept 21, 2019 3:29:06 GMT -5
I dont know legal,but can you adopt a baby you cant prove whete it is from? Also wouldnt people check him and discover he isnt human as a baby for the adoption? They could probably just say that they'd come home one day and found the baby on their doorstep.
And someone could correct me if I'm wrong, I think the Smallville show might've also had Lionel Luthor pull a few strings at the adoption agency as a favor to the Kents and have the whole "where did Baby Clark come from?" discussion swept under the rug.
In the Byrne reboot a blizzard kept the Kents isolated for a couple months after they found Clark. They claimed Martha had been pregnant and had the baby then. Because of prior miscarriages they had kept the pregnancy secret.
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on Sept 21, 2019 5:02:58 GMT -5
Different writers have intro'ed the idea that he has some sort of latent hypnotic ability to where perception of him as Clark vs him as Kal really is different.
Ultimately though, you don't really have to explain or rationalize the glasses any more than you do laser eyes or freeze breath. There's nothing there that makes sense "logically". No amount of reasoning is going to make it make rational sense. You just roll with it for the story's sake.
The glasses work because they do.
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Post by Hobby Drifter on Sept 21, 2019 8:30:29 GMT -5
Yes. He was adopted and naturalized through that. Pre-Crisis, it was revealed that he did two things to pull this off: He used the glasses to emit a low-level eye-ray that caused people to see Clark slightly different from what he actually looked like, and as Superman, he (when around people in public) very slightly vibrated constantly, so recording devices always had a bit of blur to them, even when he was standing still. Post-Crisis and definitely Post-New 52, I have no idea. I dont know legal,but can you adopt a baby you cant prove whete it is from? Also wouldnt people check him and discover he isnt human as a baby for the adoption? I want to say that, at some point, the story was that the Kents played it off like Clark was their natural born son, delivered during a snowstorm or something like that.
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chrom
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Post by chrom on Sept 21, 2019 9:07:06 GMT -5
Luthor tried something like that to discover his identity and refused the results when he got them.
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on Sept 21, 2019 9:12:03 GMT -5
Also keep in mind all of the Superboy stuff came later. When we first meet Superman, he's already a grown man in Metropolis. Siegel and Shuster didn't really delve into how the Kents explained adopting him cuz it wasn't really a factor in the stories they were telling.
Plus it was the 30s, stories were a lot less concerned with the logic of every plot point back then. "How did Denham and crew get Kong to New York? The boat they came in couldn't have held him." It just did, that sort of thing.
Also also, Superman's story is very much a reflection of the Moses story. Moses's adoptive parents found him in the Nile. No one really asked any questions Granted, Johnathan Kent wasn't Pharaoh. Now that might be an interesting story.
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r.
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Post by r. on Sept 21, 2019 10:46:25 GMT -5
I'm more confused how just a pair of glasses fools everyone. In the recent 'Reign of the supermen' animated feature, without spoiling any of the plot, They had Martian Manhunter morph into Superman and appear on TV with Clark claiming he had rescued him.
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Post by mike1287 on Sept 21, 2019 11:30:43 GMT -5
There have been quite a few stories where someone (or something) has dressed up as either Superman or Clark Kent so the two could appear at the same place at the same time to prove they were different people; most infamously President Kennedy.
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