Clark Kent as a disguise

[Super Monkey]

No that's Wonder Woman, who's TV show made it's debut 1 year after Isis was on TV.

Both are owned by DC comics and there was even a crossover between shows at one point.

[Uncle Mxy]

Maybe I should've planted my tongue more firmly in my cheek...    

When I first saw the "modern" Lynda Carter-as-Diana Prince, I remembered thinking "she has the same disguise as Isis".  

Of course, there's absolutely no way that a stunningly attractive woman in oversized now-retro glasses and hair in a bun is going to be recognized for a stunningly attractive woman with her hair down and a tiara...  uh-uh...  nosirreee...  <laughs>.  The computer was the only smart one in that WW show, I tellya.

To steer things back on subject -- how many women out there would fall for the Kent disguise without hypnotic?  I think women are the real test, inasmuch as they're more likely to check out guys than other guys are.  Do you think that Supes would have to worry about modern-day facial recognition software in use at airports, sporting events, etc.  My hunch is that Clark would be pegged as Superman solely based off the facial characteristics below his eye/nose that glasses don't mask (especially if Frank Quitely drew him ).  There's likely tons of pictures of Supes in a depowered state (e.g. in the post-Crisis universe when he died, or he needed help from the Cadmus folks), so the excuse of "vibrating one's face just a little" wouldn't hold.

[NotSuper]

I'd like to see an Elseworlds story where Superman arrived on Earth as an adult and never adopted a secret identity. It'd be interested to see how different he'd be.

[JulianPerez]

I'd like to see an Elseworlds story where Superman arrived on Earth as an adult and never adopted a secret identity. It'd be interested to see how different he'd be.

Hmmm! Sounds like a fun bit of speculation; let me give it a shot.

Krypton was defined as being a race of beings that were morally upstanding, "possessing a greater capacity for good," in the movie's own words. In the first appearance of Nightwing, when Kandor was re-enlarged on Earth and the Kandorians had superpowers, it didn't go to their heads: "NO! This world belongs to the EARTH RACES!"

And nobody has mentioned yet, but it is interesting to note that on a planet the size of Krypton with a population equivalent surely, to the developed world, there are only a few dozen or so violent criminals worthy of being placed in the Phantom Zone (compare with our own society's problem of prison overcrowding).

So, in that light, it is entirely likely that if Superman came to earth as an adult after being rocketed from Krypton, he would still become a superhero, especially being a son of Jor-El as he is.

But here's some possible points of divergence:

Lois has no competition from Lana, because Lana never knew Superboy in Smallville.

Superman would wear standard Kryptonian clothes (headband, possibly a Jor-El esque sun suit) as there is no Martha Kent to weave him a costume (though his Krypton clothes to earth eyes would be exotic to the point of being a "costume").

As there is no Clark Kent, Superman would never know Jimmy Olsen, however, it is likely the spunky, driven Lois would pursue him just the same, and so he would still make her acquaintance and capture her imagination.

Superman would regularly leave earth much more frequently and for far longer periods to explore space, becoming much more like Mon-El from the Legion; after all, there is nothing keeping him on earth specifically.

And speaking of the Legion, as Superman is far too old to be made into a member, he would never have joined that organization.

Mon-El would have briefly stopped on Earth, and left for space once he recovers his memory, and never have been trapped in the Phantom Zone or become a Legionnaire, living a long, full life when he returns to Daxam.

Luthor's rage was directed against society, not against Superman in particular, and so even without Superboy he would have become a villain. Their relationship however, would be much cooler instead of the rage that Luthor directs at Superman.

The Superman/Batman Team may not have happened the way it did. Actually, what might have happened is that Superman, being an adult with memories of a family on a distant planet, would become allies with another Justice Leaguer with a similar story he can empathise with: the Martian Manhunter, and the Superman/Martian Manhunter Team would replace the Superman/Batman Team.

Superman, growing up on a technological society like Krypton and the son of a scientist, would be a more technical hero; probably using all manner of tiny supertechnology to advance his personal existence.

Superman would not look down on human beings, however, he would have a type of planetary chauvanism that would only manifest unconsciously; he's too nice a guy to be arrogant or aloof. Rather, it would be sort of like Lightray in NEW GODS: "I should be able to modify the device to transmit on your primitive 'television' system...oh, I apologize. Your Earth civilization's achievements are many and great."

Superman would spend more time in the Fortress. Growing up on Krypton, he would be sentimental for that planet all the time.

Martha and Jonathan Kent would still be alive without Superboy to deliver to them that deadly virus.

[Uncle Mxy]

Of course, this all assumes that he was raised on Krypton in some indeterminate way (apart from him having super-character), left in some ship that got him from Krypton to Earth in some relatively-short period of time.  Perhaps it was Kal-El the conspiracy theorist who argued with his mother and father about those explosions that would doom Krypton, where Kal-El was the scientist in the right and Jor-El was the head of the science council that was assuring the world that Krypton was simply shifting its orbit.  He rocketed himself because he was the only one who believed that Krypton would explode.

Or perhaps we could do the Maggin spin on this.  One of the elder Guardians of the Universe thinks that sending baby Kal-El to earth, a baby that could shatter the 8 billion year track record of Sonnabend himself, is like sending an atomic bomb to a world that only needs a little light to show them greatness, and takes Kal-El to raise him himself.  Many moral lessons ensue, with the Old-Timer figuring out his secret that under a yellow sun he is invincible and filters that from him early on.  The other Guardians catch on (perhaps wondering why Abin Sur's power ring didn't detect the superior Kryptonian they assumed had landed on Earth), and decide to defrock the Guardian, henceforth known as the Old-Timer, and arrange for Kal-El to be the sidekick for the GL of 2814.  ("First Kai-ro, now Kal-El...  why do I end jup with these aliens whose names start with K?  Oh well, at least he looks human.", Hal Jordan bemuses.)  Kal-El arrives on Earth with Hal Jordan and proceeds to eclipse him.  He decides to go to Brandeis University to learn about Earth culture, with amusing results, eventually falling for Kristin Wells, a time travelling redhead there to witness the emergence of Superman...

When I read "arrived as an adult", I assumed that he'd been shoved off as a baby, and grew for 20-odd years in a spaceship, maybe having Jor-El's voice teaching him what he/the computers knew.  So he comes out with an adult body but no meaningful social skils nor experience with actually using his body, which may have atrophied while on the ride.  Imagine a Superman that learned to fly before he could walk, that was deeply uncomfortable around people, desperately longing for that voice in his head to tell him how things were that just isn't there, never having had a chance to experience childhood and now being the most powerful man on Earth or something like that.

[RedSunOfKrypton]

To add to the original context of this thread, there are some ways Superman could use his Super Vision and Heatvision to prevent his photos from being taken, at least in this modern world full of DigiCams:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/FutureTech/story?id=1139800&page=1

This brings a question to mind though, how trusting would you be of a Superman who, for some reason unbeknownst to you, could never be photographed or video recorded?

[Uncle Mxy]

This brings a question to mind though, how trusting would you be of a Superman who, for some reason unbeknownst to you, could never be photographed or video recorded?

I'd assume he was radioactive and a menace to society, and publish a story about how his presence damages photo equipment at close range.  

[Captain Kal]

We have that problem now with Nessie in Loch Ness, UFOs, and the Sasquatch/Yeti.

A Superman that didn't photograph would be less of a fact to the general public than more of an urban legend given the absence of photographic proof of existence.  OTOH, since only his face would be blurred -- like the Sasquatch photos -- I'd be inclined to think this would be a drastic public reaction.

The fact is the books do depict Superman being photographed.  This isn't an actual canon problem.

The super-speed blurring effect that Jay and Kal use isn't noticeable but looks like a genuine change in the shape and appearance of their faces.  Barry once used this trick in "The Flash of a Thousand Faces" where he was hypnotized into keeping his secret ID from everyone, including himself.  When his mask was lifted off, his super-speed blurring kept morphing his face into thousands of different looks that the villain had no idea which one was the real one.

Anyway, that Chris Reeves split pic more than proves that super-speed blurring isn't required.  It just takes consummate acting talent.

As a supporting fact, I've seen hospital patients in chronic care facilities with neurological problems, then compared their faces and facial expressions from before their problems.  Their faces and mannerisms are noticeably so different that if I didn't know they were the same person, I might mistake them for being different from who they were before.  A certain muscular laxness or slack-jawed appearance tends to be the after while more dignity and alertness in the eyes is in the before pics.  Surely, a gifted actor could deliberately mimic these mannerisms and muscle control?  Hey, Sean Penn did a pretty good job of it in "I Am Sam".