Open Secret / Comic Books

Open Secrets in Comic Books.

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• One story in Astro City centered partly around a country superhero called Roustabout. It was blatantly obvious that he was one of the guys working for a traveling fair, and everybody in town knew it but acted as if it was a complete mystery. They do this because Roustabout is technically a fugitive (he got his powers trespassing on the secret research lab of an evil corporation, and they offered a reward for his arrest) and they like and respect him too much to turn him in. The viewpoint character of the story, a city girl staying with her aunt, considers turning him in, but then realizes something else about him: given that everyone in town knows who he is and haven't done so, what would they do to someone who did try to turn him in?
• In comics where Batman is treated as an Urban Legend, his existence is often this. There's a giant spotlight that gets shined in the sky, major criminals find their way into police hands, many people have seen him, you can see people wearing Batman costumes and merch, and pretty much every superhero has either worked with him or worked with someone who's worked with him. This sometimes gets some mocking, such as in Young Justice, where Robin keeps trying to "hide in the shadows" in broad daylight while insisting he's a myth.
• Daredevil: During Brian Michael Bendis' run, Matt Murdock's Secret Identity was outed. Although the accusation was "officially" fought back, since then everyone knows or at least heavily suspects Matt Murdock is Daredevil, so much so that he had to cease practicing law himself due to the fodder it supplied the opposing counsel. By the time of Mark Waid's run, even Matt himself has stopped caring and he just waves off people saying he's Daredevil with a halfhearted "I'm not Daredevil" that nobody buys. He still can't represent anyone, so he gives legal counsel to people so they can represent themselves.
• When the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four, a character whom the in-universe public knows as Johnny Storm, got his own ongoing feature in Strange Tales starting in issue #101, he maintained a secret identity in his home town of Glenville — the inhabitants of which knew his sister Sue was the Invisible Girl, but ostensibly don't know who the Torch was (the four schoolmates who do know who he is are now out-of-town graduates who were sworn to secrecy). #106 had him discover that everyone knew who he really is, after all, and just respected his privacy.
• Green Arrow's "secret identity" as Oliver Queen. Between his not-particularly-concealing mask and incredibly distinctive facial hair, anyone who's met them both will know that it's him. It doesn't help that Green Arrow is one of the more politically outspoken heroes, which means even his stated philosophies line up with Oliver's. In one case a policeman working with Green Arrow came to his house and, on being asked how he knew his identity, hadn't even known it was supposed to be a secret. His to-be sidekick Mia also recognized him instantly, not least because he was claiming to be a good friend of the Green Arrow. The best he could hope for is people thinking he's got a twin.
• Knight and Squire #2, opens with Beryl at the newsagents, which is being held up by a supervillain who demands to face the Knight, who the newsagent insists may officially be based at Worden Castle, but is never actually there. Once the villain is gone, the newsagent gets Beryl a copy of Total Castle for Cyril and says "If only we knew" who Knight and Squire were to thank them. Then the greengrocers tell Beryl about the supervillain, and she says it's sorted. She later leaves the house in full costume, and her next door neighbour says "Go get 'em, Ber — I mean Squire!" Apparently, the whole town of Great Worden knows Knight and Squire's secret identities, and have collectively decided it's none of anyone else's business.
• Lex Luthor's nature as Superman's most notorious rival falls into this, in stories leaning on his Corrupt Corporate Executive aspect. Pretty much everyone knows that Luthor dislikes Superman, and that any military contract he gets will go haywire and target Superman, and that he's publicly battled Superman a time or two while "under mind control", and that Superman himself has spoken poorly of Luthor, but Luthor manages to cover his tracks just enough to save himself in criminal court. One of the comics leading into Luthor's President Evil run had Luthor go into a restaurant and find that the menu included a number of Superman-based items and one incredibly disgusting Luthor one.
• Spider-Man: Spider-Man's secret identity is like this sometimes, especially in Ultimate Marvel. In one issue, Daredevil (not in costume, of course) walked up to him, at school, to recruit him for a mission. In another issue, the Human Torch and Iceman showed up at school mostly because they were bored (Iceman: "Hey, aren't you—" Peter: "Don't you dare."). And finally, Kong — a jock who deduced it on his own — tells Peter to go help a friend, and when Peter looks ambivalent, he mocks him. "What do you want me to say? Should we have a code? Should I just throw up my hands and say 'Oh, if only Spider-Man were here...'!?" This was lampshaded, parodied and subverted in one issue when he's knocked unconscious and wakes up in the X-Mansion without his mask (they wanted to make sure he was OK); upon learning this, Peter engages in a very long rant about how he's trying to keep a Secret Identity here and is getting a bit sick of everyone somehow knowing that he's Peter Parker... only for them to point out that while they knew what he looked like, until now they didn't know his name. Oops.
• Spider-Gwen was originally just a marketing nickname, as she was known as Spider-Woman in her own reality. Later, her secret identity is outed, and she spends a year in jail. Upon release, she discovers that Spider-Gwen merchandise exists — she's stuck with the name. Any attempt to correct people fails, prompting her to decide she needs a new name. During Spider-Geddon, Miles Morales, thinking she'd been killed, asked if she was a ghost. This inspired her new codename, Ghost-Spider, though the name is pretty much redundant with her secret identity no longer a secret.
• In his own book, Wolverine, Patch is actively concealing the fact that he is, in fact, the title superhero while he is operating in "deep cover" in Madripoor. Of course, all of his contacts know he is Wolverine, though they chose not to reveal this. They figured it is best not to delve too deeply into the private affairs of a walking blender. Not to mention the fact that the "Patch" persona adopted by Wolverine is SUCH a good disguise that apparently all Wolverine needs for this is, you guessed it, an eyepatch. Clearly, NO-ONE (I'm looking at you, Superman) can figure out his identity, save pretty much everyone.

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