Tuesdays with Media: In Defense of Clark Kent's Disguise

One argument I've encountered with regards to my favorite superhero is that his disguise is silly: he puts on a pair of glasses and now no one recognizes him, not even Lois Lane, someone that he interacts with on a daily basis in both personas.

Clearly just a regular guy ...

The reality is that this a great disguise.  First of all, if you were to see someone flying around in a flashy costume and they weren't wearing a mask, you wouldn't think that person even had a secret identity.  In both the comics and in the movies, the public knows that Superman is an alien, which is why he has amazing super powers.  Even with him looking human, most people would assume that he doesn't have an alter ego.

With that in mind, the average person would associate Superman only with situations that require Superman.  To put it another way, if someone wants to see Superman, they look "up in the sky" for someone flying, not down on the street for someone walking.

This relates to the concept of a "handle" or an identifying characteristic.  Think about when I posted the pictures yesterday of how I look now with a short haircut and a shaved face.  I look so different, that I had several people at Church comment that they thought I was a visitor until they heard me speak.  My face didn't change, but how it was framed by my hair and mustache did.

"That's different," you may say, "your mustache covered your face."  Alright, let's try a different example.

This is a picture of actress Zooey Deschanel:

Ms. Deschanel's face is not obscured in the above picture.  No facial hair, no glasses, not even a hat.  Now look at this:

That's also Ms. Deschanel, just with her bangs swept to the side.  When she wore her hair this way, a lot of people online made a big deal about how she was completely unrecognizable.  And even though I'm know that both pictures are of the same person, I only barely see the resemblance.

So when you take into account both that changing one or two things will make someone (even a famous someone) unrecognizable and that people wouldn't be looking for Superman among "normal" people, you can see that Clark Kent's disguise is actually the most believable part of the story.  Plus, there are other differences he makes between personas: Clark speaks in a tenor voice, while Superman is a baritone; Clark slouches, while Superman stands up straight; Clark wears slightly baggy clothes to hide his muscles, while Superman wears a skin-tight outfit; and so on.

Even though Superman doesn't wear a mask, he's got the best disguise of any superhero.