Highlights
- Nightwing's secret identity is forcibly unmasked, leading to a series of hardships and personal loss.
- Superman reveals his secret identity out of a commitment to truth, sparking consequences and potential changes to his character.
- Daredevil's identity is leaked to the press, causing chaos in his personal and superhero life, though his name is later cleared.
If there's one thing most superheroes traditionally dread, it's having their secret identities become exposed to the world. Most heroes want their identities kept secret to stop their gallery of villains attacking their homes and loved ones, targeting the people they care about most just to get to the hero. Most heroes adopt a secret identity to protect those close to them, but what happens when these identities are exposed?
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Recent years have seen a noticeable downplaying of this concept thanks to the popularity of The Avengers and the MCU, in which secret identities take the backseat in favor of action and a lack of consequence. Since the early noughties, most of Earth's Mightiest Heroes have adopted a more casual approach to maintaining any secrecy, something that was reflected in the films where it was common knowledge from near the get-go who characters like Captain America and Iron Man were. Regardless, for those who wished to maintain a level of incognito in their double lives, losing their secret identity - whether by choice or by force - has often proved to have devastating consequences.
5 Nightwing Was Forcibly Unmasked To The World
Forever Evil #1
Forever Evil, a major 2013 event in DC Comics, saw Dick Grayson get put through the wringer. In a game-changing moment for the original Robin, the Crime Syndicate publicly unmask him, revealing his true identity to the world in the process.
As if that wasn't enough, the unmasking followed being captured and ruthlessly tortured by the Syndicate, adding up to one of the worst days of Dick Grayson's life. That year in general saw Nightwing endure a lot of hardship, from a falling out with Bruce Wayne to losing to discovering his parents' killer was still out there, DC's writers seemingly wanted Grayson to suffer throughout 2013. Bizarrely, despite Dick Grayson's status as Bruce Wayne's ward during his adolescence, it appeared next to no one traced Nightwing back to Wayne after his unmasking.
4 Superman Revealed His Secret Identity Due To His Principles
Superman (2018) #18
During the Silver Age of Superman's adventures, the concept of his secret identity being outed was frequently teased. This was largely thanks to Lois Lane's relentless pursuit of the truth in regards to the Man of Steel.
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In modern continuity, though, the Son of Krypton has largely kept a lid on his alter-ego. That was, at least, until 2018 when Superman decided that due to his determination to uphold the truth, he needed to be honest with the world. Publicly confirming that Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same, subsequent stories examined the ramifications of Superman's decision. At one point, DC's polarizing 5G plans would've seen Kent get phased out for a Jon Kent-focused series. When the 5G reboot fell through, a gradual return to the Superman status quo was initiated, with his secret identity being restored via memory-wiping shenanigand.
3 Daredevil Had His Identity Outed By The Press
Daredevil (2002) #32
Frank Miller's classic Born Again saw the Kingpin discover Matt Murdock was Daredevil. Two decades later, Brian Michael Bendis upped the ante, as a federal investigation into the Kingpin led to an FBI agent leaking the truth about Murdock to a newspaper.
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While Daredevil's alter ego has frequently been in danger of getting outed, few story arcs considered the dangerous ramifications of such a scenario more thoroughly than during Bendis' 2001-2006 run. From supervillains coming after him in his day-to-day life to people he's saved as Daredevil asking him out on dates, Murdock's life was turned on its head in all areas thanks to the news leak. While a successful lawsuit later largely cleared his name and returned his life to normalcy, Daredevil's never-ending feud with the Kingpin has reared its ugly head on this front in the years since as well.
2 Batman's Identity Is Exposed By Superman's Tweet
Injustice #28
In the DC Comics Elseworld of Injustice, Superman and Batman's friendship becomes a distant memory after The Joker is murdered by Superman for causing the destruction of Metropolis and the death of Superman's wife and unborn child. Superman becomes a fascist and seeks to take over the world to stop crime. Batman opposes this, and the two come to blows, with the world of superheroes and villains forever changed.
In an effort to stop Batman from interfering, Superman decides to expose Batman's identity, and eventually sends out a post on his social media platform, simply posting "Batman is Bruce Wayne". The world reacts in shock to this post, and Bruce Wayne is forced into hiding to resume his identity as Batman, and stop Superman's reign.
1 Spider-Man Lived To Regret Taking Off His Mask
Civil War #2
Mark Millar's Civil War was a seminal event in Marvel Comics history that saw longtime pals and stalwart Avengers Captain America and Iron Man lock horns. Caught in the crossfire was Peter Parker, who initially sided with Tony Stark.
Part of joining Stark's team involved Spider-Man publicly unmasking. In one of the more shocking Marvel moments of the noughties, Parker went ahead with exposing his secret identity to the world. In turn, his whole life is turned upside down when he has a change of heart and defects to Captain America's side. The controversial story saw both a massive upheaval in Spider-Man comics and an uncharacteristically villainous depiction of Tony Stark. Ultimately, Parker's public identity was short-lived, as the dastardly Mephisto offered a deal to essentially retcon the story and restore Spider-Man's secret identity in the much-maligned One More Day.
