Of Superheroes and Secret Identities
In the world of comic books, there is a common thread running through the lives of many characters. This common thread is so essential to the story, so compelling to the reader and so unique to the superhero genre – that thread is the Secret Identity. The nearly omnipotent Superman is also
This pattern is repeated in every superhero story from the past sixty years. Even then, the concept was an old one. The dashing and daring Zorro was the cultured and sophisticated Don Diego del la Vega. The legendary Robin Hood was also The Earl of Huntington or Robert of Locksley or other noblemen, depending on the version. For centuries, the minds of readers and audiences have been captivated by disguised heroes, men of valor who none the less hide their identities and lead double lives. Why is this pattern so successful? What makes the secret identity such an enduring concept?
The Superhero
Let’s begin with the unusual, the characteristics that distinguish these men from the rest of the world. In every enduring superhero, there are some common denominators. First is the stance as a hero. These characters, some times willingly, others reluctantly, stand up for good, fighting to protect the innocent and vanquish evil. This may be done generally or specifically. Superman, though he spends a great deal of time in Metropolis, is routinely traveling the world and even goes to outer space to fight bad guys. His general mission is to stand for Truth and Justice, wherever he may be needed. Earth is his adoptive home, and he stands as a champion of humanity. Batman, though a colleague and friend to Superman, generally keeps closer to home, the protector of
Even more territorial is Daredevil, who specifically fights to clean up an especially bad part of
Next, there is the issue of power. Superheroes have varying powers and abilities which uniquely qualify them to fill their self appointed roles. As usual, Superman sets the standard for super-powers. He has superhuman strength, is impervious to nearly all physical harm, he can fly, see through most anything, hear anything, blow freezing and gale force winds, shoot heat and fire from his eyes. Batman, on the other end of the spectrum, has no superpowers. His abilities are the result of intense physical training and study. He is further enabled by an array of technological wonders, from his Bat-mobile to his utility belt; all of these high-tech tools are made available by his immense wealth, inherited from his deceased parents.
Spider-Man has more specific powers. He exhibits the traits of a spider – he can climb walls, shoot webs, has strength proportional to a spider and has a unique sixth-sense (called ‘Spidey Sense’) that alerts him to danger. He often finds himself relying on his high intelligence and scientific knowledge as well. Daredevil, like Batman, is an athlete, highly trained but without the super strength of other superheroes. His powers, rather than significantly augmenting his abilities, instead compensate for weakness. Blinded by an accident, he developed high sensitivity in the remaining senses – hearing, touch, smell and taste. His hearing functions as a ‘Radar Sense’, like built in personal sonar, allowing him to perceive objects and bodies in space, in a sense enabling him to ‘see’. Beyond these heightened senses, he has no superpowers.
Different heroes gain their powers and personas in different ways. Superman is an alien, drawing power from Earth’s yellow sun, like a solar battery. Batman trained and studied, fueled by the childhood memories of his parent’s violent murder. Spider-Man was bitten by an irradiated spider, changing his physiology. Though he developed great powers, it was the preventable death of his uncle which drove him to put on the tights. Daredevil, blinded while trying to save someone from an approaching truck, was both blinded and endowed with super-senses to compensate. His father’s death then led him to study and train, much like Batman.
Each superhero also has a weakness of some kind; each has his own Achilles Heel. Superman is incapacitated by even the smallest piece of Kryptonite. He’s vulnerable to magic as well. Lastly, his relationships with others have often been manipulated. Batman is human, and thus vulnerable to physical harm. (One villain broke his back, incapacitating him for months.) He is also (though only rarely) controlled by those who might expose his secret identity. Lastly, he is also vulnerable to manipulation when the safety of friends and family is at stake. Spider-man isn’t invulnerable, though he is closer to it than the average person. He’ll often leave a fight bruised and bloodied. He too is vulnerable to attacks upon his friends, family and spouse. Lastly, Daredevil, though an exceptional fighter and athlete, is as vulnerable as any other human. He is frequently injured, and his blindness is often a stumbling block, despite his compensatory powers. He is especially vulnerable to psychological pressures, having had multiple nervous breakdowns.
The Secret Identity
In many ways, these weaknesses are given flesh and blood, embodied in the secret identities of each hero. While masked or costumed, these men are incredible heroes, paragons of virtue and valor. They present to the world an intentional mask, one that shows only strength; but like anyone else, they have problems and weaknesses. They have needs and desires that aren’t part of being a superhero.
Superman, though many assume him to be a full-time hero, is also a reporter. He is mild-mannered, putting forward a contrived image of weakness, social ineptitude and meekness. Though this is largely a disguise, hiding his identity as Superman, it is also the life he leads from day to day. It is the man Clark
Batman is a similar case. As Batman, he becomes a mythic symbol, an avenging angel in the form of a bat. He’s harsh, hardened and often violent. As Bruce Wayne, he becomes a carefree playboy, a billionaire with few responsibilities. Again, this persona is as much a disguise as his cowl and cape, hiding his activities as Batman. At heart, Bruce Wayne is a dark, brooding man, tormented by his own personal tragedies and driven to set right the wrongs around him.
Spider-man is a different creature in many ways. Peter Parker existed long before Spider-man. Before his fateful encounter with a certain spider, Peter was already a nerdy, bespectacled science geek. He was shunned by his peers, socially challenged, clumsy and unathletic. In receiving his new powers, Peter found himself growing stronger and more coordinated, but when that paired with his lack of personal confidence it led to an irresponsible use of his powers. Personal tragedy led to a new resolve to fight evil and crime, but it did not change Peter Parker as a person. As Spider-man he is a cocky, smart mouthed hero. It contrast to his entire previous life, he became flamboyant with a sense of showmanship and humor. As Peter Parker, he hides his abilities and in many ways looses them. He remains the geeky kid in glasses, still unconfident with others and plagued by bad luck.
Daredevil is another unique character, much like Spiderman. Blinded while saving a blind man, Matt Murdock’s life has been one filled with cruel irony. His boxer father discouraged him from fighting. Once blinded, he found himself both handicapped and empowered by his new heightened senses. This blindness, for many years, shielded him from any suspicion of his alter ego. As a lawyer, he fought for justice, but often saw such justice thwarted by an imperfect system. In many ways, this dichotomy of law and lawlessness, order and violence, between his blind identity and his fearless alter-ego pulls him apart. In recent years, Matt Murdock was revealed to the public as Daredevil, which has led to a myriad of personal tragedy and problems.
True Identity
When dealing with characters who live within two separate identities, the question naturally arises – which identity is the mask and which is the real person? Is he the caped Superman or the bespectacled Clark
The answer is both simple and confusing – it’s both, and it’s neither. Let’s look at Batman for a clearer example. Bruce, as a child, watched the death of his parents, and was irrevocably changed by it. He went on to travel the world and train incessantly in every applicable discipline he could find. For years, under often grueling conditions, he studied and trained, driven by his own demons. Finally, this culminated to create Batman. Is Bruce Batman? Yes, he is. Batman allows a release to the trauma of his childhood. He channels the anger and guilt and fury, he specifically presents an image to criminals, one that is dark, mysterious and vengeful. This is indeed an aspect of Bruce, but has of necessity grown, creating in Batman another person, a related but separate personality. To function as Batman, there must be a division, separating that identity from the rest of his life. When he dons the cape and cowl, Bruce becomes someone else.
Does this mean that Mr. Wayne, the billionaire playboy is the real Bruce? Let me ask another question that would put this in perspective. If Bruce truly identified with his ‘Mr. Wayne’ identity, would Batman even exist? The simple answer is no. Mr. Wayne is just as much a disguise as Batman is. Hiding behind the veneer of a privileged socialite, he intentionally presents an image distinct and separate from Batman, removing himself from suspicion by appearing to be anything but the driven, focused man that he is. It becomes easy to see that Mr. Wayne is not Bruce. Bruce is a person that few people ever see. Only those who know of both identities and can closely observe him as he transitions from one to the other or as the masks fall away when in private, only they see the real Bruce. Bruce is a man with purpose, with a mission. He defines himself by this mission, this personal call to duty. It is in order to satisfy his real needs and motives that he created Batman. It is to protect the means to that mission that he continues to live as Mr. Wayne.
The Johari Window
There is an important psychological concept which deals with identity, one which is especially applicable to these men with dual identities. The concept is known as the Johari window. The concept is simple, that our identities are divided along two lines. The first division has to do with those aspects of our personality that we know of. Some of ourselves we allow others to see, some we do not, hiding it from others. This is the first division – known to others/unknown to others. The second deals with what others perceive about or personality, whether we are personally aware of it or not. Thus, this division is between that which is known to self and that which is unknown to self. This simple concept clearly illustrates that any person has their own hidden aspects to their personalities. This window becomes all the more segmented and fractured as we introduce dual identities.
In many ways, a person who adopts a costumed alter-ego does so in response to their own feelings of helplessness. In their own persona, they feel limited, unable to act, to be who they could be. There is a conscious decision to separate this new persona from their normal life. Superman does it, knowing that his friends and family would be vulnerable; also knowing that should the world know who he is without the cape, any chance for a normal life would be gone. Batman does it to facilitate his vigilante activities, drawing funds and resources from Bruce Wayne, creating a mythic symbol in Batman. His identities serve more as tools, yet at the same time, he finds himself unable to separate himself from his life and actions as either one.
Spiderman dons a mask, ostensibly, to protect his loved ones. There is, however, a different effect. By wearing a mask, he hides part of himself from the world. Hiding his face and identity, he is suddenly free to be as confident and assertive as he wants. The anonymity of Spiderman lets him shed the worry and the learned weakness that, as Peter Parker, he lived with daily. That weakness then becomes its own disguise as Peter Parker tries to hide his identity as Spiderman. Because Peter has always been Peter, this lack of confidence becomes further ingrained, making it a larger part of him while, at the same time, the cocky confidence of Spiderman becomes a part of him as well.
Here in lies the appeal and the problem of superheroes and their secret identities. People experience life through their experiences and actions; these shape much of our character and self-concept. However, our self-concept is also largely determined by ‘reflected appraisal’, what others think of us. By presenting the world with two wildly different images, the reflected appraisal received by the men behind the masks and glasses is wildly contradictory, at opposite ends of the personality spectrum. They see themselves as simultaneously weak and strong, powerful and frail. Where the average person could reconcile between the two, realizing that they are a mixture of both weaknesses and strengths, these men are forced to identify alternately with each extreme, and make each extreme a separate part of them selves. They make a personality that is strong and another that is weak. As they fill those two roles, the roles become further separated; the one becomes stronger, the other weaker. The man, however, lives as both. His experiences and actions shape him, often contradicting each other.
As this continues, there are two possible outcomes that allow the man to cope with this dichotomy. The first option is to further separate the two lives, to continue to try and live a life that is both weak and strong, increasingly so in each way. The man’s life, and soon his mind, becomes increasingly fragmented. The polar opposites that pull him in different directions may actually cause a full split between the two identities, leading the hero to truly be a different person when wearing the cape or mask. This fracturing of the life and psyche either destroys the man or leads him to the next coping method. The second option in dealing with two lives is to blur the lines between the two. Instead of the man being both hero and non-hero, he becomes a heroic man that still has problems. Instead of changing with a mask, he fills each role as the same man, in a different uniform. The secret identity becomes stronger, more confident. At the same time, the superhero persona finds itself dealing with the doubts and weaknesses of the alter-ego, thus being weakened or at least distracted.
What does this mean for you and me? Why do we identify so strongly with these conflicted men? The answers lie again in the Johari window. Each of us, to one degree or another, hides ourselves from the people around us. Maybe it’s a strength we hide, maybe a weakness. There is an entire half of us that the world doesn’t see, but that is undeniably there. Some hide bad habits or inadequacies, presenting a strong face. Others, in an attempt to be accepted, hide their abilities and strengths, feeling that if they are too talented or too brilliant, others might feel inadequate or overwhelmed. Others hide their strengths to avoid the responsibility that comes when others know what you are capable of.
As we see superheroes give life to both halves of their personality, we feel an inner yearning. We feel within ourselves repressed stirrings toward greatness. Our own desires to do something and be something are strengthened as we see or read about these men who do so in a highly visible, incredibly able way. As we see the trials and difficulties their own weak halves experience, we relate, feeling trapped by the realities of day to day life. We see that these men are just as weak as we are, they get snubbed by coworkers, they get over charged at the store, and they deal with traffic and telemarketers and clogged toilets, just like we do. As we see the normalcy of the mundane, we know that their ‘normal lives’ are just like ours. On some level, we ask ourselves – ‘If they still deal with normal life, but they can go out and do all of these things, why couldn’t I?’ We see the manifestation of their hidden strengths and we reflect on our own.
Though we would rarely voice it, we often think about just how much we could really do. We know that we’re stronger than we let ourselves be. We know that we wish we did more good. We look at our own mundane problems and we think ‘if only’; if only I had superpowers, if only I could do this or that, maybe if. We want to be more than we are, but we look around ourselves and see the obstacles. We want to be better neighbors, but worry that our self-image might be threatened. We want to show others our talents, but know that if others see them, they may call upon them; we may have to use them when we don’t want to.
Why are we so bound by such thoughts? Marianne Williamson summed up the whole of the matter in a now famous quote, one often inaccurately attributed to Nelson Mandela, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Why do we love superheroes? Because they help us remember that we can be something more, something better than we are. They help us to dream of our own potential, and they lead us to examine the mark we will leave in the world.
"Contemplate the workings of this world, listen to the words of the wise, and take all that is good as your own. With this as your base, open your own door to truth. Do not overlook the truth that is right before you. Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also learn from holy books and wise people. Everything - even mountains, rivers, plants and trees - should be your teacher." - Morehei Ueshiba
"To gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence; to subjugate the enemy's army without doing battle is the highest of excellence."
For the past few weeks, I have been busily preparing drafts of query letters and book proposals for Project Superhero. During this time, I've been consulting with many individuals who have a working knowledge of the business, and from their advice and comments, something important has become quite clear. Project Superhero is too big to tackle at once.