SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Could superheroes hide their identities today?

Joined: Aug 28 2011 Posts: 537

I don't think they could with TMZ and big brother. Prove me wrong.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 04:15 pm

What the fuck does this have to do with movies?

Also, superheroes are fictional, so they do not have to exist in the real world.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Dec 26 2011 04:16 pm

Realistically, they never could in a real world of yesterday.

Consider Awesome Man, Crusader for Justice. He takes down Dastardly Dude and throws him to the cops. The cops are probably want to question him too, because in general, it's not legal to be a vigilante. He's probably committed a few crimes in the process too, like breaking and entering and vandalism. Insurance companies are gonna come down, and want Awesome Man to pay up for his share of the damage. Lawyers are gonna want to sue him, or have him testify against Dastardly Dude, and in the second case, DD has the right to face his accuser. The IRS is going to see the Awesome Jet and Awesome Belt and wonder just how much unpaid taxes are in Awesome Man's bank account.

And this gets even worse if Awesome Man has actual super powers. Now he's a threat to national security. The Feds are gonna want to know who he is. They may or may not let him go free once they find out.

Quite simply, Awesome Man is gonna have every cop, auditor, insurance agent, collection agency, FBI, CIA, Special Forces, and (scariest of all) IRS agent on his ass wherever he goes. And that's not even counting fanboys, paparazzi, and enemies. And he will be a top priority.

Could he hide from them? Sure. I mean, it took them years to find Osama. But being a superhero implies you're going out and doing some superhero-ing every now and then. You're gonna be out for people to see. It's only a matter of time before they find you. They'll notice that Joe Awesome, Pizza Delivery Guy is never around when Awesome Man is.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

It would totally depend upon the super power.

Superman would not be able to conceal his identity, but at the same time, he couldn't be contained without some kryptonite.

Batman would be fucked. In this day and age, even with his wealth and if he wore a full face mask, he just couldn't avoid the US government if they set out to figure him out.

Posted: Dec 26 2011 06:27 pm

Hell with facial and voice recognition software and other stuff like that it would be hard for them to hide an identity. Even if they could only see your eyes and mouth on your face they could use that plus your body size/shape to potentially figure out who you are. Even if they just got close with a superhero like Batman they might get a list of people who could be him and narrow it down based on likely financial ability to afford all his gadgets and shit to figure him out.

Realistically though I'd be surprised if even in the old days no one could have figured it out with a little effort. Shit Superman didn't even bother to cover up his face, how did no one have any idea who he was? You'd have to imagine there were times where Batman got his ass kicked and was walking around all gimpy the next day too. No one put two and two together and realized that after that battle the guy behind the mask would be a little fucked up the next couple weeks or so?