That's an interpretation, but not one I agree with. Superman was born Kal El, with the potential to be Superman on a planet with a yellow sun. However, he grows to maturity as Clark Kent, so that is his chief identity and how he sees himself. He knows Kal El is his birth name, but the only parents he ever knew were Jonathan and Martha Kent, and he is their son Clark. Superman is a name he uses to operate as the world's protector, if for no other reason than to protect friends and family from reprisals. The timid personality (pre-Crisis) that Clark presents to the world is his mask. Superman is Clark with that mask stripped away; the man he was inside the privacy of the Kent home. He uses the name Superman and the uniform to set himself apart from Clark, as protection for those around him for whom he cares. Really, following Tarrantino's logic, there is no reason for him to be Clark, since the Kents are gone. If Clark was Superman's critique of the human race, why would he spend so much time doing mundane things and asking people to consider him just another man? It extends to his Justice League colleagues. There (again, pre-Crisis) he is always called Clark, not Superman (except in public), nor Kal El. Clark; it's his name and his identity.
No, Superman is Clark Kent when he wears a suit and tie and when he wears the red and blue costume. He is an adopted son of the human race and considers himself more human than Kryptonian (as illustrated in multiple stories involving other Kryptonians). As with many adopted children, his origin did not determine his outcome; rather, it was determined by his adopted family environment. The Kents gave him a loving household, where honesty, compassion, caring, and service to others were stressed as virtues. These values shaped him into the hero he became far more than the powers unleashed by the yellow sun and his alien DNA.
"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"
reply
share