Batman was right when he said Superman has the best disguise of all, since the lack of any mask means nobody would think he even has a ‘secret identity.’ But now that DC is rewriting his origin as the Superboy of Smallville, Kansas, a new explanation is needed. And it’s one Man of Steel fans will know already.
In Superman’s New Origin, Clark Doesn’t Hide His Identity
The Teenage Superboy Lets His Smallville Neighbors See His Real Face
When modern comics attempted to explain Superman’s debut in more believable fashion, the solution was a clever one: Clark Kent used his powers to vibrate his face so quickly, no person or camera could get a precise image. At least not until he created an intentional ‘face,’ costume, hairstyle, etc. to be distinctly Superman’s.
While that ability is also employed in Mark Waid and Cian Tormey’s new ‘Superboy’ origin story unfolding in Action Comics, that level of deception and disguise feels too unnatural, too wrong when it comes to protecting Clark’s hometown of Smallville.
And to keep his identity from being revealed, he’s devised a genius strategy to go unrecognized by his neighbors: pretending he isn’t Clark Kent. No really, that’s the whole plan:
“I wanted people to see me coming, not find me in the shadows. And so long as I remembered to act like I was meeting them all for the first time, it worked. People really seemed to like me.”
In Clark’s defense, this strategy does feel like one that could only be dreamed up by a 15 year-old; that in a town famous for its folksy population of hundreds, a set of tights or hairstyle could keep anyone from looking out their kitchen window and noticing that “the Kent boy is flying again.”
This illusion is truly put to the test in Action Comics #1092, when the US Army (led by General Sam Lane) rolls into town, having tracked the “fugitive” Superboy back to Smallville. The townspeople ultimately step forward to defend him, but the unmistakable image of Jonathan and Martha Kent clutching each other in fear is impossible to miss.
So while it may not be explicitly confirmed just yet, it appears this new origin story for Superman agrees with one controversial change made for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
Like Man of Steel, There Must Be People Who Know Superman is Clark Kent
The People of Smallville Keeping Clark’s Secret is More Meaningful Than Being “Tricked”
By tackling the origin of Superman in a modern setting with any level of veracity, Man of Steel was required to answer one question: how could Clark Kent discover his superpowers without anyone in such a small town knowing about it? And the answer was simple, revealing that people actually did know. But they either didn’t understand it, or kept the truth to themselves.
The incident in which some of his classmates “saw what Clark did” in saving a submerged school bus was the beginning, with Clark acting as a guardian angel to enough people for Lois Lane to eventually track his heroics all the way back to an IHOP in Smallville, Kansas. But if Pete Ross knew Clark Kent had superpowers, it stood to reason that secret wasn’t being kept by him alone.
The film doubled down on this theory in its closing moments of Lois “welcoming Clark to the Planet,” and Batman v Superman continued by hinting Perry White had also uncovered the secret. With the new Action Comics origin putting Smallville’s residents front and center, it’s seeming more and more likely that the same unspoken compact is also at work.
The reasons for making the change are demonstrated when the townspeople step between Superboy and the Army, claiming him in the way they would any (Earth-born) member of their community. In the process, urging readers to ask how important is it that nobody know Clark Kent is Superman, anyway? Either way, here’s hoping Clark’s comic “disguise” is more than it appears.
Action Comics #1092 is available now from DC Comics.
- Created By
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Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel
- First Appearance
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Action Comics
- Alias
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Kal-El, Clark Kent, Jonathan Kent
- Alliance
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Justice League, Superman Family
- Race
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Kryptonian
- Franchise
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D.C.