Maintaining your secret identity

[Morrus]

So the premise:

1. You gain superpowers. For the purposes of this thread, you have Superman's power set and weaknesses--so pretty much upper tier, but with an achilles heel or two.
2. You are compelled, for whatever reason, to use your powers in public on a regular basis, in an obvious way. Let's just say you can't resist helping people.
3. You, for whatever reason, have determined that you need to maintain a secret identity.

The question(s):

1. How long can you keep your identity secret against what we assume are the full resources of your nation (or indeed the world)? What methods do you employ, and what likely defeats you (if anything)?

2. If your cover is blown, what realistically happens to you, and how long can you prevent/avoid whatever that is?

(asking for a friend)

 

[Benjamin Olson]

They'll find you pretty quick, so the real secret is to just keep them from believing it's you when they quickly track you down.

I think the best secret identity strategy would be to loudly insist you are the superhero, and then just lie about everything else all the time, and generally be an obnoxious fame-seeking charlatan. That way, when they immediately track you down they'll just assume you've somehow tricked them into thinking it's you, and go looking for the "real" secret identity.

If your cover is blown you're going to need a lot of legal representation, because superheroes do a lot of collateral damage and folk will be lining up to sue you.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Good questions.

But the answers depend somewhat on whether we’re assuming RW tech & resources or superheroic setting genre-appropriate technology & resources.

 

[Morrus]

Good questions.

But the answers depend somewhat on whether we’re assuming RW tech & resources or superheroic setting genre-appropriate technology & resources.

Yes, real world today. You’re the only fictitious element.

 

[TheSword]

You need to not tell anyone, because it’s the only way to keep a secret.

 

[sevenbastard]

Well a sweet mask, gloves, latex suit and what not to lessen the DNA I leave behind.

Then living the life of a vagabond so every time I fly into action its from a diffrent spot. Take a page from TVs Incredible Hulk ( but maybe not always only hitch hiking somewhere within 15 miles of Los Angeles ( but I guess that could be Korea because im pretty sure MASH is filled on the other side of that hill))

 

[DammitVictor]

I'm certainly not going to be able to maintain my secret identity for very long. Especially if I'm doing good things with my powers.

On the other hand, with Superman's powerset? They still teach physics at West Point; I'm not good at math myself, but even I can look up a high-ranking military officer on Wikipedia and ask them what would happen to their hometown if 300 pounds of Hot Teutonic Sex collided with it face first at a substantial fraction of c.

Superman doesn't need a secret identity to be Superman; he maintains it so that he's free to be Clark. I'm not even psychologically capable of having that problem, and I don't have the moral restraint to permit someone to "hunt" me without publicly and flamboyantly retaliating.

 

[Deset Gled]

They'll find you pretty quick, so the real secret is to just keep them from believing it's you when they quickly track you down.

This. So much modern tech makes the classic "secret identity" harder all the time. Cameras are everywhere. Facial recognition software gets better and better. DNA from a single hair or drop of saliva. Forensic trace analysis. Something as simple as forgetting to turn off your cell phone could give your identity away. Or even just accidentally having a conversation in front of Alexa.

I think the only way to pull it off nowadays is to have a complete double that maintains your "normal" identity when you're off being super. From there, the game is hiding the double when you're being a normal person.

Maybe a secret twin? Robot double? Sci-fi style solid hologram? A ghost friend, time traveller, or another you from an alternate dimension? Let's hope one of those is part of your super power repertoire, because I don't see a lot of other options for plausible deniability once you're inevitably tracked.

 

[monsmord]

Given today's tech, I don't think there's much chance of your secret identity being blown, provided you're smarter than Clark and realize that adding a hat and glasses doesn't amount to a disguise: do your superhero stuff in a mask that defeats facial recognition software, wear excellent gloves, stuff like that. But this also assumes your secret identity hasn't already been compromised by average/bad choices, like having your fingerprints on file somewhere, having donated blood, etc., which could be compared to whatever forensics you've left at a scene.

 

[DammitVictor]

[...] do your superhero stuff in a mask that defeats facial recognition software [...]

Juggalo makeup. Whoop whoop!