What could be an alternative way of hiding a superhero's identity, besides a mask?

Question

I'm working on a story, and I've been wondering if there was any possible alternative to the traditional mask/costume cliche outfit, while still being effective at hiding a person's identity...especially in this age of easy access to cell phone cameras and Youtube. If not, I'm still looking for some sort of contemporary update to the whole costume standard.

Answer 1

--Have super-powers that implicitly hide the identity. Things like super-speed, sensory illusions, mind control, shapeshifting....even just plain *invisibility* would work. Or...powers that tend to interfere with electronic means of surveillance, like security cameras and cell-phone cameras.

--Have your heroes wear a logo or badge or something that has a holographic component. You know how in some of the _Superman_ or _Green Lantern_ comics these days, some artists will do a "floating" image that "pops up" off of the chest? That.

The idea behind something like that would be that it reflects light around, acting as a glare source and a major deterrent to flash photography.

--Go public! Don't *try* to hide your identity in the first place! ^_^ *lol*

No, this doesn't have to be quite as flagrant as what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did back in the day with the Fantastic Four, in terms of making the heroes openly and publicly heroes and *celebrities*, but....

Consider that *Buffy*, from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, never wore a mask or hid her identity either. She didn't go around *telling folks*, sure, but she didn't actively *hide* her activities either. The idea is that "people only see what they *want to* see", meaning if something is weird enough or "out there" enough, like say seeing people in tights, flying, people will have a habit of ignoring it or at least deliberately trying to put it out of their minds. As in, they try to file it under "I don't *wanna know*" because ordinary people are rather busy with their *own* lives, right?

--Or, if you really *insist* on secrets...you could pull what Kirkman did in _Invincible_ with the government agents and stuff. Have a fairly *big* government plot to slip a minor drug or toxin in the water supply, that renders people unable to see one *very* narrow and specific color, say one *exact shade* of purple....and then color and light up everything you want "hidden" in that color. Granted, this takes a fair bit of work and skullduggery for the so-called "good guys". ^_^

--Or....you could have your super-hero team already composed of police officers, fire/rescue personnel, and paramedics who would just *show up* in their work clothes--like they are supposed to--and do their thing openly. ^_^ The idea being that a) they're already supposed to be there, and b) that any heroics they *do* are already going to get confused with the mundane requirements of *their jobs*. Not to mention, at least with police officers there already *is* a bit of a work culture of "covering each other's tracks", so to speak. It should work so long as nobody gets killed or anything too massive and flagrant.

--And that is the big thing in general. The more you keep your heroics street-level and "real", the easier it gets to play with the identity thing and the ways and means of keeping it more (or less) secret. What's doable for _The Watchmen_ becomes less so for say, Son Goku from _Dragon Ball Z_.

--As for uniforms....do what you feel is right for your characters. Really, some hero types do better with bright, iconic costuming, while others really are better off in "work clothes", meaning trench-coats and things with pockets and zippers and such. If your art skills can hack it....or if your artist is up to it, here's what I would do....

First do the most cheesy, traditional superhero costume possible....then do a Bryan Hitch job on it. Meaning, do a realistic, ultra-detailed version of it in the manner of that artist, including seams, pockets, zippers, buckles, shoelaces, whatever is necessary to re-design the Captain Cheeseball outfit into something a *real person* could buy and assemble in the *real world*.

Then do the most subdued, realistic uniform possible....and make a cartoon out of it, reducing it to the barest of basics.

Somewhere in between those two extremes you will find what works for your character in terms of uniform, both in terms of work clothes (as a hero) and casual clothes (as a civilian/wannabe normal person).

I hope this helps....I have a few more ideas too. ^_^ Email me if you'd like to know more.

Thanks for your time!

Answer 2

In the case of movies or TV, I would argue that it's because the actor potraying the character wants people to see their work and know it's them. -Look to the two Fantastic Four movies to see what I mean. Michael Chiklis, the guy who plays the Thing, gets quite a bit of screen time out of make up. The same is true of Tobey Maguire, who plays Spider-man. Look how many times his masks rips or he performs unmasked in the movies. As far as the comics are concerned, some heroes have public identities (e.g. The Elongated Man, The Fantastic Four, and half the superhero community after their Civil War event). Others disguise themselves in different ways. Superman does his hair differently, the Golden Age Flash always mildly vibrated his head at superspeed so no one got a clear look at him. It does seem far-fetched that a hero wouldn't wear a mask to conceal their identities and not be recognized (Lois Lane is a brillant investigative reporter, but never figured out Superman's identity), but we are also talking about a world where people fly, lift cars over their heads, and shoot beams out of their eyes...

Answer 3

Depends on whether this hero is the superpower type or the gadget type. If he/she is superpowered, then you could make the disguise be an application of one or more powers, as many people have said.

If your hero is more the Batman type, then you might consider a device that manipulates light (hologram-like) in order to obscure the face.

Being able to temporarily scramble devices such as cameras would be useful too, and could be accomplished either by powers or gadgets. After all, tests have proven repeatedly that facial recognition does not work so well. Eliminate any photographic record, and people will assume you are anything from Captain America to a little Indonesian store clerk.

Answer 4

Three methods that have been done are for a hero with superspeed to vibrate his face at sucha speed as to blur its features (the golden age Flash), to have the hero in a wig of a differant color (Black Cannary), or for a shape changer to use a totaly differant form in hero and secrect identities (Martian Manhunter). Other methods could include mind control or hipnosis or not even using a secret indentity. Another good idea would be fot the hero to be formemed from 2 or more people and in merged hero form have a mix of the traits of each.

Answer 5

Besides the obvious ability to actually change his face and body structure (Fantastic 4's Mr. Fantastic), how about:

a "light translucent" mask that doesn't make him look like he's wearing a mask, but only generalizes his/her face.

a superhero whose face glows. Photos/videos can't seem to capture it, and most people can barely look into his/her eyes.

conversely, have his/her cell structure to his/her face one that doesn't reflect light but absorbs it so that the superhero seems to have only the silhouetted outline of a face (not as fun to draw though, i'm sure).

constantly changing face of other faces as in the animation "Scanner, Darkly" using rotoscope

there's probably more...

Answer 6

Beside sunglasses, make up, and mask, you could also try eye covering hairstyles or wearing a wig or even try hats.

Sometimes my friends will dress up completely different from what they normally wear and they look like different people.

*shrugs* Depends what his normal job is. Maybe more info?

Answer 7

a bum,begger. a person with low self esteem/low morales/does not want to live. opposite from super hero. the above is to not draw attention to him/herself of being able to perform superhero abilities.

Answer 8

shape shift -- maybe morph. People are so self-involved that they would never even notice a shape shifter. mp3 players, palm piolets, cell phones -- shift & go Mr. Superhero.

Answer 9

superman's disguise is nothing more than a cheap pair of glasses. think about it.

maybe a fake beard, or a wig and contacts?

Answer 10

the technology of the invisible cloak is real:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/invisibility-cloak.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12961080/

he can use a cream or a transparent mask to deflect light instead of reflecting it.