8 Superhero Origin Stories And Their Real World Implications

4) Clark Kent/Superman

The origins story:

Powerful extraterrestrial Kal-El is raised on Earth as Clark Kent, an ‘all-American boy’ who grows up to be a roving reporter as well as the costumed superhero Superman. ‘Kent’ successfully passes as a dorky journo and lives a normal life, while Kal-El’s other alter-ego Superman is embraced by the US government as a hero and protector.

What would really happen:

It’s more likely that Superman’s trajectory once on Earth would resemble a cross between that of Watchmen‘s megalomaniacal Dr. Manhattan and super-powered outcast Hancock. For starters, no one would be buying that ‘Clark Kent’ routine (a pair of glasses are not a disguise), so Kal-El would have to deal with the reality of being an invincible being among mere mortals. Just imagine the corrupting power of that realization on Supes, and how coldly the rest of the world would treat such an entity. At the very least he’d develop a world-threatening God complex.