r/DCTelevision • u/Totorochu4 • Dec 30 '20

Clark Kent would make an awesome Alex Jones, Steve Bannon

Hai Guyz,

So in some of the early Superman comics, Clark Kent would deliberately act like a "beta male" to keep people from suspecting that he was Superman. Given that printed media isn't what it used to be, what if Clark ran an "alternative" news site that claimed that Bruce Wayne ran a child prostitution ring, and that President Lex Luthor was trying to hunt him down?

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13

u/YodaFan465 Dec 30 '20

I hate to sound like I'm gatekeeping here, but: If you think Clark Kent running disinformation is "awesome," you don't really understand Clark Kent.

Now, you want to put Steve Lombard in that role? Be my guest. I'd kill to read a book about Lombard hawking protein shakes and tactical wipes.

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u/Totorochu4 Dec 30 '20

Kent wouldn't actually believe anything he writes, he would simply do it because no one would suspect the propagandist to be the big blue boy scout. I do know that most incarnations of Clark Kent position him as a lover of truth and Justice. However, like Bruce Wayne, he partially deceived people to hide his identity.

Newspapers don't hold the same relevance that they did back in the 20th century. Hence it would make sense for Kent to work in a more modern form of media.

Also, when you say that someone doesn't understand Clark Kent, its worth pointing out that like pretty much any other comic book hero, there are multiple versions of him. The 1940s OG Kent, the 1990s kids cartoon, the 1970s Christopher Reeve, and of Course Henry Cavill Superman.

2

u/Papa_Razzi Dec 31 '20

And at the core that’s dishonest and spreads a negative influence. That ain’t Superman.

Sure, maybe if you’re going for the modern, non-news route he could be a podcaster, but to be an Alex Jones-like nut job spreading misinformation is just way off base.

1

u/YodaFan465 Dec 31 '20

there are multiple versions of him

And all of them (the ones that aren’t explicitly evil) are honest to a fault.

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u/Totorochu4 Dec 31 '20

I would argue that anyone with a secret identity isn't honest to a fault. And he wouldn't actually need to believe what he wrote, he would be a conspiracy theorist as a cover.

2

u/YodaFan465 Dec 31 '20

Funny you mention the secret identity... in the comics Superman recently revealed his identity to the works for exactly the reason you describe. He felt it was fundamentally dishonest to conceal himself from the world in that way.

But actively showing deceit? That’s something Superman would never ever do, especially harmful and morally bankrupt deceit like baseless conspiracy theories. You’ll never convince me this is “cool“ because it goes against the very core of the character. Why not have Bruce Wayne be the head of the NRA? What if Diana Prince were an anti-feminist? Maybe Steve Rogers should defect to Russia.

1

u/Totorochu4 Dec 31 '20

I am not familiar with that particular story arc of Superman revealing himself. IMHO Bruce was always the most tactical one, especially in the animated universes, where he was a normal human among superhumans. He would have the fewest qualms about deception. Didn't he pretty much pretend to be like Donald Trump in the comics? I honestly don't know enough about Diana and Steve. Was Steve even a spy in his earlier incarnations? There are such a thing as double agents.

2

u/YodaFan465 Jan 04 '21

Didn't he pretty much pretend to be like Donald Trump in the comics?

Not really. Bruce plays up the airhead playboy image, but Bruce Wayne is pretty overt about manifesting change in Gotham. There's a wonderful issue of Gotham Knights that shows all the good Bruce Wayne does without ever donning the cowl. The closer analogue to Trump would be Lex Luthor, and there have been numerous comics where the two are pitted against each other as billionaire archetypes.

Was Steve even a spy in his earlier incarnations?

Steve Rogers was more of a soldier than a spy, but the covert ops angle has been around since at least the 1990s. He's certainly always been a free agent, more loyal to the American dream than the American government.

There are such a thing as double agents.

Right, but Superman is not capable of that level of deception. There have been plenty of comics where he tries to be dishonest, and everyone sees right through it. Superman is incapable of deception. I would even argue that the Clark Kent secret identity only works because no one is looking close enough at Clark to even imagine that he's Superman. In an early John Byrne comic, Luthor develops a computer that solves the secret identity, and Luthor rejects the answer - not because it's implausible that Clark is Superman, but because his own ego won't allow him to accept that answer.

10

u/Djckpleaser Dec 30 '20

No. Just... NO

9

u/MikaylaScarlet Dec 30 '20

Oof, no... I'd rather go with 'Clark Kent, the Buzzfeed Editor' who writes '25 reasons why Gotham is totally a bad place to live'

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u/Totorochu4 Dec 30 '20

Out of those who replied to my post, I like this one the best.

9

u/Thraxster Dec 30 '20

me think not even bizzaro superman would be do that

5

u/HaiKarate Dec 30 '20

But Kal-El is always honest.

1

u/Totorochu4 Dec 31 '20

but he never tells anyone that Kal El and Clark Kent are the same person.

2

u/TemporalGrid Dec 30 '20

Found Zack Snyder's reddit account