Maintaining your secret identity

I guess this raises the question though - do we have superman's general power set (common to many superheroes), or superman's exact powers and weaknesses?

Because it does change things. Once Kryptonite (specifically) and Yellow Sun/Red Sun (specifically), get into the mix, then things are much more complicated and comic-book-y because that takes it a lot further from the real world.
In the same line of thought, if it is the same strengths and weaknesses as Superman, just because that’s the assumption it doesn’t implicitly follow that anyone (beyond the person affected) would know them. So I can imagine it might be challenging for someone to discover the weaknesses … unless the event that triggers getting the powers also triggers the sudden arrival of kryptonite …
 

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I guess this raises the question though - do we have superman's general power set (common to many superheroes), or superman's exact powers and weaknesses?

Because it does change things. Once Kryptonite (specifically) and Yellow Sun/Red Sun (specifically), get into the mix, then things are much more complicated and comic-book-y because that takes it a lot further from the real world.
How does that apply for red sun / yellow sun? We are still talking about the real world here aside from this one individual, so we only have access to the one sun.

Even finding out about this person being solar powered would be a stretch, since Superman doesn't just power down at night, he has reserves for days. You'd need to trap him for an extended period without access to sunlight before you could even notice that it was affecting him. And that still wouldn't clue you in to the type of sunlight being a factor.
 

It would be virtually impossible to evade capture for long. Think of the blatantly bogus reasons that certain countries use to do things, and voila, you're a "national security threat" or you're framed for doing X, Y, and Z. Or the good old false flag. And every powerful nation will want to put you in the lab to hopefully reproduce your powers and weaponize them.

But a couple factors could help:

One, work at night. Modern surveillance reduces the edge that darkness provides, but it still helps.

Two, have a good hideout, and a good way to get to it. Somewhere you can go for longish periods, and/or be able to up and relocate.

Three, make your good deeds irregular and not-so frequent. Not rare, because you want to help, but not every night.

Four, utilize social media. Work the system to your benefit.

To the last, if you're doing good deeds, having an active social media and being very public about what you're doing could sway the public in your favor and make it politically devastating to oppose you.

You're going to have traps laid for you and I imagine it would be virtually impossible to evade capture for long - say, a few months after going public. Now there are certain powers - like instant teleportation - that would give you a better shot at it. But even Superman...once the "kryptonite" is found, you're eventually going down. At that point your only hope is if the public loves you so much that it is political suicide to keep you captive.

Also, I hate to say it, but not rocking the boat too much will help. Solving only minor to moderate crimes vs. corporate and geo-political stuff will make it less necessary for the ruling class to take you down. But once you start flying Epstein clients into Metropolis Penitentiary and stopping regime changes, you've got a big target on your back. But if you can't do stuff like that, what's the point? You're just a glorified super-cop.

All that said, if you wanted to construct a story or stories about this and be realistic in terms of how the world would react, I think you need a power--like teleportation--that gives a good reason why you aren't just immediate captured and put behind lock and key. Or something like so: You're a superhero named Avatar. When you go to sleep, your consciousness forms a superheroic body. This "avatar" doesn't need to look like you, so no one knows who the real person is. When you wake up, the avatar disappears.
 

Four, utilize social media. Work the system to your benefit.

To the last, if you're doing good deeds, having an active social media and being very public about what you're doing could sway the public in your favor and make it politically devastating to oppose you.
If you've the skills to do so anonymously. I don't know about you, but if I tried it, I'd probably inadvertently leave a trail that could lead any decent security agency right to me.
 


Just "have" one? :D

That's like those lists of how to be successful in business. Step 1: have a million dollars.
Well, it doesn't have to be the Fortress of Solitude or the Bat Cave. If you've got super powers you can probably manage to get a cabin in the woods somewhere.

All of this is contingent on what powers you have. If you're Eleven it is a lot harder than if you're Superman. If you've got teleportation, invisibility, and/or can fly, it is more do-able.
 

I guess this raises the question though - do we have superman's general power set (common to many superheroes), or superman's exact powers and weaknesses?

Because it does change things. Once Kryptonite (specifically) and Yellow Sun/Red Sun (specifically), get into the mix, then things are much more complicated and comic-book-y because that takes it a lot further from the real world.
Well:
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.
But I understand the distinction. There’s literally hundreds of Superman clones out there: Mon-El, Ultra-Boy, Supreme, Titan, Captain Marvel (aka Shazam), Captain Thunder, Gladiator, Hyperion just to name a few. Some are as powerful as Superman, some more, some less.

And even within the character, Supes’ power level and vulnerabilities DO vary over time. So settling on a particular era or general suite of abilities might help focus things.

In most of the post-70s era, Superman was fast enough to effectively confound human senses (a la Professor Zoom’s face blurring technique), even though he never used it. But with the ubiquity with digital camera technology, a RW version of him might try some version of that.
 
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Well, it doesn't have to be the Fortress of Solitude or the Bat Cave. If you've got super powers you can probably manage to get a cabin in the woods somewhere.

All of this is contingent on what powers you have. If you're Eleven it is a lot harder than if you're Superman. If you've got teleportation, invisibility, and/or can fly, it is more do-able.
There’s no reason someone with Kal-El’s powers couldn’t detect a decent vein of gold with his x-ray vision, retrieve it by diving into the earth, and selling it off. He could also (at some power levels) literally mine asteroids for precious metals.

Do it enough times, set up offshore accounts, and your debit card becomes a super power unto itself.
 

There’s no reason someone with Kal-El’s powers couldn’t detect a decent vein of gold with his x-ray vision, retrieve it by diving into the earth, and selling it off. He could also (at some power levels) literally mine asteroids for precious metals.

Do it enough times, set up offshore accounts, and your debit card becomes a super power unto itself.
Sure, but you're also adding extra vectors for people to investigate you. If someone starts selling off large quantities of gold, people (particularly government tax agencies) are going to want to know where they got it.
 

There’s no reason someone with Kal-El’s powers couldn’t detect a decent vein of gold with his x-ray vision, retrieve it by diving into the earth, and selling it off. He could also (at some power levels) literally mine asteroids for precious metals.

Do it enough times, set up offshore accounts, and your debit card becomes a super power unto itself.
And do all this without detection or suspicion? Do you declare this sudden wealth to the IRS?
 

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