Maintaining your secret identity

[MarkB]

Whilst I agree, I doubt it would be truly permanent or that they'd bury you beyond the metaphorical unless you'd basically declared war on them (in which case deploying Kryptonite against you would be very hard, unless you were pretty naive - it reliably works on Supes largely because he is both somewhat naive and even when he suspects a trap, is a truly good and self-sacrificing person, so us easily manipulated into willingly putting himself in situations where it can happen), and maybe not even then! Because the sheer temptation of your power, and the overweening hubris of huge number of politicians (my evidence: the world today, and the leaders of about 30-50% of countries) means that, sooner or later (probably sooner, i.e. within a decade or three at most), someone is going to think they can make a deal with you, or that you agree with them already. That's one thing the comics have pretty consistently gotten right - no-one that powerful and potentially useful is going to stay "buried", and people are going to dig up those they think agree with them (for an amusing if slightly off example, see the comic where British white nationalists dig up King Arthur and are like "Help us cleanse Britain of non-whites!" and his reaction as a Romano-Celt is "MUST KILL THESE ANGLO-SAXON INVADER FILTH").

The smart move would thus be to kill you (Supes) if things had gotten that bad but... I'm not sure that'd actually be possible, even with Kryptonite - more expert Supes-heads can probably say.

One thing to bear in mind with this you-as-ordinary-person-gets-superpowers scenario is that if a kryptonite equivalent does exist, you probably don't know about it. Neither does anyone else initially, but between you as average guy with powers versus a whole world's worth of secret research projects, chances are you won't be the first to find out.

And while Superman may only fall for some of those kryptonite traps due to naivety, he generally only survives them due to plot armour, which you don't have. In practical terms, following up kryptonite exposure with a double-tap to the head will likely end you.

 

[jian]

But do they want to?

It's absolutely in the interests of any agency that regards itself as protecting a specific nation-state (like MI5/6 or the CIA and other US intelligence agencies) to get someone of that power "on-side" with them. I don't see any situation where they don't bend over backwards to basically do anything they can to have a "super-patriot" working for/with them. And if this Supes is already basically doing what they want, and has told them to piss off, that means leaving Supes alone. So they'll probably not only do that (whilst observing from a respectful distance), but also work hard to protecting Supes from being interfered with/uncovered by others (for as long as that is in their mutual interest).

This would of course be the approach of any sensible government but I’m really not sure there are many of those about in these troubled times. Sadly I can’t think of a modern government about whom I’d be even slightly surprised when it turned out that they’d tried to blackmail Superman by threatening his family or even with an explosive Kryptonite collar. The overwhelming motivation of modern governments seems to be to centralise power and control all available resources.

 

[Morrus]

I think it’s important to remember that while Superman is said to be “invulnerable” he’s not. He’s just very tough. He can be beaten by brute force—you just need a lot of it. He can survive one nuke, but that almost kills him. A bigger nuke, or a second nuke, would probably do it. While that is not an easy or practical solution, it is a logistical question of directing enough force at him.

And, absent kryptonite and magic, red sunlight weakens him, and he needs yellow sunlight to recharge. Those are two vectors which can be used. Again, difficult, but it’s been done many times in the comics, TV, and movies. Don’t forget that Supergirl, who is more powerful than him, was captured and imprisoned for years in that Flash film. It can be done.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think it’s important to remember that while Superman is said to be “invulnerable” he’s not. He’s just very tough. He can be beaten by brute force—you just need a lot of it. He can survive one nuke, but that almost kills him. A bigger nuke, or a second nuke, would probably do it. While that is not an easy or practical solution, it is a logistical question of directing enough force at him.

And, absent kryptonite and magic, red sunlight weakens him, and he needs yellow sunlight to recharge. Those are two vectors which can be used. Again, difficult, but it’s been done many times in the comics, TV, and movies. Don’t forget that Supergirl, who is more powerful than him, was captured and imprisoned for years in that Flash film. It can be done.

To be fair, Supergirl's only more powerful in some continuities (mostly TV and film from the last decade). But fair enough, I do think the Flash film is one of them.

 

[Vael]

Hmmm, well, if it were me ...

I don't expect I could remain hidden for long, because my idea of "doing good" would definitely cause some political ripples and upset some very powerful organizations. As stopping an ongoing invasion and a genocide would probably be items 1 and 2 on the list. And 3 and 4 and 5 and ...

So, I guess I'd have to have a political part and have to build some organizational backing myself. Make it less about padding and more about having the clout to resist organizational efforts to unmask me. Also, make this point: