The Superhero Secret Identity

There is one thing that I have been wondering for quite a while now. I have read comics for a while now and one thing bothered me so much. The heroes ALWAYS keep their job as superheroes a secret from their loved ones. Which to me is just a weird thing to do.

They always claims it's for the safety of their families, which is just BS. The families are always in danger, even if they know about their family member being a superhero. If a super villain would find out your secret identity, your family will be in danger, no matter if they know you are a superhero or not.

I can understand if there are other reasons for why keeping it a secret, but I have yet to find out a valid reason for it.

I want to hear your guys opinion on this one because to me, the keeping your loved ones safe is a horrible reason.

The less people that know a secret the better, whether you love them or not. Just having knowledge about something can put you in far more danger than not knowing at all.

Less people that know less likely for a leak

Erm, it stops your family from trying to interfere with your secret identity or getting in front of important work, thus putting themselves in harm's way. If they didn't know, then they wouldn't try anything unpredictable. Also, them knowing means another way that your villains can get to you through harming them, if they figure out that they know who you are.

Plus the more people that know, the more statistically likely that they will accidently tell someone or let something slip, even if it's your most trusted family members. It's just that simple.

Some people are also in situations where they can't tell people close to them due to societal or personal pressures, so it would be disadvantageous in itself.

the more people know, the more people will talk. heck, even with the small amount of people knowing their true identity, a superhero's family still gets attacked because the supervillain has enough intelligence to piece together clues of their identity. that might look like a good reason to reveal your secret identity but then the loved ones are going to be worried all the time of what you are doing. aunt may had to deal with that after knowing peter parker's secret and his subsequent death in one story.

also the point that they are more likely to interfere with your work if they know what you are doing regardless if they were capable to help in the first place.

I can understand that it will make people worry about you and they might try to make you quit being a superhero. That is in no way a reason not to tell them still. You will still do your superhero work. The family is most likely not going to interfere with it though. They would most likely ask you to not do it, but you will still do it because you want to help people. They will understand that.

Soldiers risk their lives all the time while serving in war zones. Their families know they are putting themselves in danger all the time they are there, and they might wish they wouldn't go. But they support him/her because he signed up for the military to help people that can't help themselves. Superhero does it for the same reason, to help people that can't help themselves, even if it is more dangerous, but the principle is the same.

I can understand that it's a risk it get's leaked. But still can get leaked and smart villains would easily figure out your secret identity, thus still putting your loved ones in danger. The pros about telling them FAR outweighs the bad.

As for you who talked about Peters death. You do know that she would have found out about his death even if she had not known about his superhero gig right? That is how it works. If she hadn't known and she wouldn't have found out he had died and then she wouldn't know where the f*** he was, would make her worry even more.

How is the villains supposed to know your family know your secret identity if the villains doesn't know your secret identity so they can identify your family in the first place?

You must have never heard of the fantastic four, not a secret identity in the bunch

While writers over the years have handled this concept horribly, most people just shouldn't know unless they themselves are in the super business and aren't damsel in distress ( Catwoman, Steve Trevor, etc)

Lets take an example - Spider-man Tells Mary Jane about his secret after getting beat half to death by the sinister six infront of the entirety of New York she's the one who activley risk her life to try and help him, same scenario for Superman, same scenario for The Flash. Now they've caught the villains attention and they start to notice the person their with as the right scars, height, voice of the hero. and Like that you know their secret identity and how to really hurt them.

Not the best example and I for one prefer Loved ones know each other identities ( as that how most relationships are in comics now adays anyway except for relationships with new characters) Point is when you know for a fact under the masks someone who love about is under the mask you do things you wouldn't do for some random hero and doing those things can cause any villain with half a brai to put two to two together...but the concept of hiding identities from significant others and even family has died down alot.

• Hal Jordan Openly lets his brothers and nephews and neices know
• same thing with the Flash when concerning close family members (including his father the short time he came back)
• Nova (Sam) lets his mother know

there are only a few heroes left who don't share their identity with close friends and family and the teenagers mostly don't do it just due to privacy.

i like your positivity but even in the real world, serving to save people is a mixed reaction to a lot of people. sure you will hear stories of people accepting but there are also a lot of people who are bitter to it for a number of reasons. now imagine that in a world where superpowered beings exist and anything can happen anytime, how would you justify the myriad reactions of you doing superhero work to your loved ones ? all we have seen so far in popular fiction are people generally being open minded but how do you react to it when your loved ones don't accept it ? being a superhero in this world has a bigger bearing on everything.

saying "the pros outweigh the bad" is being terribly idealistic on how family members or loved ones can react not to mention being naive on what can get passed around easily.

dying because of an "accident since that is what is told to you" is far more easier to accept than dying because you have a secret life and is generally keeping anyone away from you because you have enemies hounding you. white lies are a thing in our society and some things are better not said. that sounds harsh but you are dealing with the human persona and you can't predict how they will react accordingly on learning the truth. aunt may have shown positive fortitude on learning the truth but it will not be the same on everyone else.

if they find a connection or a weak point, they will exploit it accordingly. remember some of this people are psychotic and has enough capability to do so like what joker did to superman in injustice.

@wacko_from_waco would you let your family know when you start your crusade against crime?

Thanks. Yes. I would and I would be receptive to what they say. At this point I am thinking about starting a Guardian Angel chapter in my area or just starting my own organization. They are still operating, but there is no chapter in my area.

Here's what I'm talking about:

cool! those guardian angels look a bit light on the equipment though right?