Hates My Secret Identity

Marinette and Chloé keep buggin' each other.

MJ: What is it with you and Spider-Man?
Flash Thompson: What? He's just awesome, okay? He protects the neighborhood and, you know, he's inspiring. He inspires me to be a better man.
(Peter Parker walks into the room)
Flash Thompson: What's up, dickwad? I thought you drowned.

—Spider-Man: Far From Home

Every Superhero must have a Secret Identity. The reasons are incredibly varied, but they have one.

This is often played for comedy when a Superhuman encounters someone they know in their Secret Identity and reacts according to how that person treats them in their downtime, usually with a Snub.

It’s usually a case of an Alpha Bitch or Jerk Jock doing what they do best, being mean to someone just because they don't like them. Not realizing that the person they are actively victimizing is actually their favorite Superhuman and that there will be karmic payback for what they give out later. Sitcom Archnemesis can also play into this role.

Sometimes the subject may not have superpowers, they may just be famous and have fabricated their more well-known persona so that they can live an ordinary average life when not in the public view.

When played for drama, the superhero might actually be in genuine danger from a villain who hates them in their civilian guise, but indifferent to the cape, though in such cases overlap will likely occur when they either figure it out or simply get tired of the hero interfering with stuff that is none of their business.

Compare Loves My Alter Ego, in which a character is genuinely in love with the superhero persona, but is indifferent towards the Secret Identity. See also Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman, which is when a character has negative feelings regarding the superhero persona but positive ones to his alter ego / secret identity.

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Examples

• Fan Works
• Western Animation

Anime and Manga

• Onidere: Souta hates Saya but is crushing on "Angie".
• Sailor Moon:
  • The title character quickly falls head-over-heels for Tuxedo Mask, but hates Mamoru for always picking on her. This is one reason she brushes off any chance of them being the same even when she temporarily sees through his Clark Kenting. This is unlike the original manga and Sailor Moon Crystal, where Mamoru didn't pick on Usagi, who finds both attractive and often finds herself strangely flustered when she encounters Mamoru.
  • While hate would be a strong word, Usagi's little brother Shingo frequently teases her and the two usually bicker whenever he shows up. By contrast, he absolutely adores Sailor Moon, and is a huge fan.
• Code Geass: During the first season, Kallen idolizes the heroic resistance leader Zero and alternates between anger and disappointment in her classmate Lelouch. She is unaware that they are the same person.

Comic Books

• Batman:
  • The villains Roman Sionis (Black Mask) and Thomas Elliot (Hush) both started out with grudges against Bruce Wayne personally rather than Batman, although the latter only turned to supervillainy after learning that they were the same person. In both cases it is an incredibly petty motive as they each came from wealthy families who knew the Waynes, and were jealous because the Waynes were a genuinely loving family while their own parents were abusive, so they target Bruce purely out of spite for things he had no control over.
  • In Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Wayne is framed for the murder of his girlfriends. The culprits each separately hate him both as Bruce AND Batman, but it’s his Bruce Wayne identity that got him in this mess- Lex Luthor wanted revenge on Wayne since Luthor is now President and Wayne pulled out of his government defence contracts in protest, but he hired the assassin David Cain to do the job, unaware that Cain also had his own grudge both because Cain was one of the mentors Bruce had as a youth, and because the new Batgirl happened to be his daughter Cassandra Cain and he resented that she was working with Batman.
• The original Jem cartoon had a Two-Person Love Triangle between Jerrica, her boyfriend Rio, and her alter ego Jem. The Jem and the Holograms (IDW) comic book reboot subverts that by having Rio initially hate Jem. He sees her as a diva who doesn't do anything for the band. Rio is completely dedicated to Jerrica and freaks out when Jem kisses him. He later reacts poorly when Jerrica reveals her secret to him.
• Legends of the Dead Earth: In Catwoman Annual #3, Bruce and Selina Wayne's teenage son Dick Grayson Wayne despises Batman and Catwoman. He regards them as murderers and thieves who should be brought to justice by Commissioner Joker. Dick does not take it well when he discovers that Batman and Catwoman are his parents.
• PS238: Ron Peterson is this towards Tyler Marlocke/"Moon Shadow". Ron likes Tyler because they both have difficult home lives and Tyler, being non-metahuman, is simiarly troubled by his powers (or the lack of them at any rate). Whenever Moon Shadow shows up, however, things have a tendency to get really bad for Ron and Ron quickly develops a strong antipathy for him. He doesn't take it well to learn the two are the same person, though following an adventure in space and Ron becoming Depowered they end up patching up and becoming friends again.
• Spider-Man:
  • In nearly every version of the franchise, Flash Thompson idolizes Spider-Man, but he and Peter Parker can't stand each other (at first - in the comics, they grow into good friends). Particularly played for laughs in the Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) cartoon: under the pretext of putting Flash somewhere safe, Spidey shoves him into a locker and then comments how petty it was, but fun!
  • Also the case for Gwen Stacy who liked Peter but hated Spider-Man.
  • Not "hatred", but Anti-Villain Black Cat was attracted to Spider-Man and the feeling was mutual, so Spidey decided to unmask himself as Peter Parker...which horrified Black Cat because she only loved Spidey. Some Character Development helped her appreciate Peter Parker as well.
  • In Marvels, Phil Sheldon has nothing but disdain for Peter, specifically because he respects Spider-Man as a hero and hates how J. Jonah Jameson slanders him, and sees Peter as an opportunistic weasel providing fuel to Jonah's vendetta just to earn a dirty buck with his Spidey photos.

Film

• The Legend of Zorro: Alejandro's son Joaquin idolizes Zorro, but thinks his own father is a loser.
• For much of The Bold Caballero, Isabella is attracted to Don Diego; regarding him as amusing even if he is Idle Rich. However, she hates Zorro with a passion; believing that he murdered her father and having vowed to hunt him down and see him hanged.
• The Batman (2022): Just before the climax, the Riddler reveals himself to be a Loony Fan of Batman, viewing the Caped Crusader as an ally in his plan to take down Gotham's rich and powerful - including Bruce Wayne, whose suffering Edward refuses to acknowledge, reasoning that the other boy, even after losing his parents to a thug, still was better off than himself.

Literature

• In Shadow of the Conqueror, Daylen has this issue with almost everyone in the world, but especially Ahrek and Lyrah, who never miss a chance to remind him of his "father's" numerous crimes.
• In Worm, superhero Shadow Stalker sides with Emma in a fight with the person she has been bullying for the last few years, Taylor. Unbeknownst to Shadow Stalker, Taylor is actually Skitter, a supervillain she has fought in costume before, and unbeknownst to Taylor, Shadow Stalker is actually her other bully, Emma's close friend Sophia, which is why Shadow Stalker takes the side she does.

Live-Action TV

• Cybergirl: The Buxton twins are quite specific in explaining how close friends they are with Cybergirl, to Ashley and her Secret-Keeper friends. Jackson plays along with the secret joke, asking them to get him Cybergirl's autograph. Later in the episode, when Cybergirl comes to rescue their mother, the twins greet her with great enthusiasm and she brushes past them without even acknowledging their presence. What they don't see is her smile after she delivers the snub.
• The Flash (2014):
  • Captain David Singh, while he respects Barry's capabilities as a CSI, is still always critical of him, especially when it comes to Barry's tardiness. However, Singh is also one of the Flash's biggest supporters even in the latter's early years.
  • In Season Four, during his debut episode, Barry Allen's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis Ralph Dibny reveals that he is a fan of the Flash. During the climax when Barry reveals his identity to him, Ralph starts lamenting over how he has to hate the Flash now.
• Hannah Montana: Amber and Ashley, who bully Miley, idolise Hannah.
• The Thundermans: Mrs Wong is in the Thundergirl fanclub, but has extreme disdain for Phoebe Thunderman.

Video Games

• Mega Man Star Force: Luna the Class Representative treats Geo like dirt, while admiring his alter ego Mega Man, especially after he saves her from an enemy attack.

Web Animation

• The Cyanide & Happiness Show short "Shark Dad" is about a kid who disrespects his father while idolising the superhero Shark Rad, not realising they're both the same person. His dad eventually reveals the truth to him in the hopes of winning his respect, but the kid suddenly decides that Shark Rad sucks and sarcastically thanks his dad for ruining Shark Rad for him.

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