History Main / SecretIdentityApathy

* Franchise/{{Batman}}[=/=]ComicBook/TheJoker:
** In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', Joker starts dropping hints that he knows who Batman really is, and Bruce realises there was a time when he could have figured it out. However [[spoiler:he also realises Joker would have rejected the opportunity, because he doesn't want to think of Batman as being anyone but Batman]].
** ComicBook/TheJoker, as revamped by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams in ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' #251, is the TropeMaker. Prior to that story, the Joker had occasionally tried to learn Batman's secret; O'Neil and Adams, however, had the Joker ambush and knock out Batman by chance, only to refuse to kill or unmask him because that wasn't the perfect end to the conflict between them.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Babidi wants revenge on Piccolo, Goten, and Trunks. Since he doesn't know their names, he has Majin Buu blow up cities one by one and gives a general description to the people of Earth while demanding they show themselves. A man recognizes the description and tells Babidi their names, only for Babidi to say he couldn't care less what their names are and [[ShootTheMessenger kill him]].

* In ''Series/Daredevil2015'', [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] declines to unmask Daredevil even when he has the chance to, because he just doesn't care about the man's secret identity.

* And in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', a BlackComedy series that's not even trying to be a serious adaptation of the comics, Scarecrow unmasks Batman in front of Joker, who is so annoyed that his arch-nemesis is revealed to be "a rich asshole with parental issues" that he melts Scarecrow's head with acid. Pointing out how he always could have done it himself, but "half the fun of [their] relationship was the mystery". Furthermore, when he does rant to Bruce afterward, it's about Bruce's company not delivering an electric car they'd promised, not really anything related to Batman.

** Averted for [[spoiler: ComicBook/ThePenguin, who is utterly livid for learning his family's archrivals really ''are'' responsible for all his foiled schemes, and ComicBook/TheRiddler, who refuses to believe his nemesis is "a superhero ''hobbyist''".]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Parasite learns in his first appearance that Superman is Clark Kent when he absorbs his powers / memories for the first time, later using this to ambush him at home. At the end of this episode we are told that he may have amnesia and has forgotten everything, implicitly including Clark's identity but even including his own, yet in his following appearances he is completely aware of who he is and manages to absorb Superman several times anyway...and for all of this, he never once brings up that he knows who Superman is again, despite joining multiple villain team ups including a '''Superman Revenge Club'''. While this is almost certainly because the writers simply chose to ignore it, in-universe the Parasite must have spent the entire DCAU sitting on that crucial information either because he honestly didn't care, because he liked keeping that secret to himself, or because [[DumbMuscle he's just not the sharpest tool in the shed]].

** ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} and ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} definitely know that Superman is Clark Kent and both have shown up at the Kent farm to antagonise him or attempt to kill his parents...when they are feeling angrier-than-usual with him. For the most part, both being {{Galactic Conqueror}}s means that it doesn't seem to occur to either of them that this gives them any sort of real advantage over him whatsoever, since in the cosmic scheme that they operate his secret identity probably seems very trivial. Both villains usually refer to him either as Superman or as Kal-El, rarely if ever calling him by Clark, which probably gives you an idea of [[PunyHumans what they think of the human race that adopted him]].
* An interesting variant happens in several different [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] issues of ''[[Comicbook/SpiderMan Amazing Spider-Man]]'', where the police consistently refuse to unmask a captured or unconscious Spider-Man regardless of the public's demands...well, J. Jonah Jameson's demands, anyway.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}
** In post-Crisis continuity, ComicBook/LexLuthor refuses to believe ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' even ''has'' a secret identity. The idea that someone with all that power would pretend to be a normal person [[EvilCannotComprehendGood just doesn't make sense]]!

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the Joker starts out demanding Batman remove his mask, but eventually decides that would be boring, and puts a hit out on a man who threatens to reveal Bruce's identity.

* In ''Film/ManOfSteel'', General Zod tracks Superman right to the Kent farm and even though Supes arrives just in time and even leaks out that Martha Kent is his mother, Zod really doesn't seem to care or act upon it, since this info really doesn't affect his main plans and since Superman can't really hide from him.

** Mr. Mxyzptlk is sometimes shown to ''know'' Superman's secret identity, but, being nigh omnipotent and way too alien to the concept of human society, he doesn't understand how important is the alter-ego for Superman and doesn't occur to him to use this knowledge as a weapon against Supes. There's also the fact that it doesn't really mean much to his game with Superman. He's a godlike RealityWarper whose one weakness is something he gave himself to make it interesting. He was never fooled by a pair of glasses, but the kind of things a normal villain might try if he learned who Supes was (kidnap the Kents and blackmail him, throw a chunk of Kryptonite through his bedroom window at night, etc.) is nothing that would interest him.

* And in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', a BlackComedy series that's not even trying to be a serious adaptation of the comics, Scarecrow unmasks Batman in front of Joker, who is so annoyed that his arch-nemesis is revealed to be "a boring billionaire with parental issues" that he melts Scarecrow's head with acid. Pointing out how he always could have done it himself, but "half the fun of [their] relationship was the mystery". Furthermore, when he does rant to Bruce afterward, it's about Bruce's company not delivering an electric car they'd promised, not really anything related to Batman.

** Another supervillain, Dr. Universe, later captures Spinnerette and [[ItMakesSenseInContext uses his genetic infusion device to save her life]], leading to this exchange:

* Comes up again in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' when Commissioner Gordon twice ignores the idea of learning who was behind the mask, stating only he knew who saved his family and later all of Gotham: The Batman. By the second time, however, it's all but stated he knew exactly whom the Batman really was, it just didn't matter anymore.

* And in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', Scarecrow unmasks Batman in front of Joker, who is so annoyed that his arch-nemesis is revealed to be "a boring billionaire with parental issues" that he melts Scarecrow's head with acid. Pointing out how he always could have done it himself, but "half the fun of [their] relationship was the mystery". Furthermore, when he does rant to Bruce afterward, it's about Bruce's company not delivering an electric car they'd promised, not really anything related to Batman.

** Mr. Mxyzptlk is sometimes shown to ''know'' Superman's secret identity, but, being nigh omnipotent and way too alien to the concept of human society, he doesn't understand how important is the alter-ego for Superman and doesn't occur to him to use this knowledge as a weapon against Supes.

* And in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', Scarecrow unmasks Batman in front of Joker, who is so annoyed that his arch-nemesis is revealed to be "a boring billionaire with parental issues" that he melts Scarecrow's head with acid. Pointing out how he always could have done it himself, but "half the fun of [their] relationship was the mystery". Furthermore, when he does rant to Bruce, it's about Bruce's company not delieering an electric car as promised.

* And in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', Scarecrow unmasks Batman in front of Joker, who is so annoyed that his arch-nemesis is revealed to be "a boring billionaire with parental issues" that he melts Scarecrow's head with acid. Pointing out how he always could have done it himself, but "half the fun of [their] relationship was the mystery".

* And in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', Scarecrow unmasks Batman in front of Joker, who is so annoyed that his arch-nemesis is revealed to be "a boring billionaire with parental issues" that he melts Scarecrow's head with acid.

** Mr. Mxyzptlk is sometimes shown to ''know'' Superman's secret identity, but, being nigh omnipotent and alien to human society, he doesn't understand the need for an alter-ego and doesn't occur to him to use this knowledge as a weapon against Supes.

* In ''Film/ManOfSteel'', General Zod tracks Superman right to the Kent farm and even though Supes arrives on time and even leaks out that Martha Kent is his mother, Zod really doesn't seem to care or act upon it, since this info really doesn't affect his main plans and since Superman can't really hide from him.

* WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker has this overlap with AntiClimacticUnmasking. A flashback shows how the Joker [[spoiler: kidnapped and tortured Tim Drake into a version of himself]], discovering Batman's identity in the process. However, it's strongly implied from how he sets everything up that he still views him as Batman and would keep the secret to himself for his own amusement.

* Implied in WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker. A flashback shows how the Joker [[spoiler: kidnapped and tortured Tim Drake into a version of himself, which made him reveal Batman's identity in the process. Despite mocking his DarkAndTroubledPast, he still views it as an AntiClimacticUnmasking and continues referring to Bruce as Batman, also hinting that he would rather keep the secret to himself for his own amusement.]]

** Logically speaking, ComicBook/{{Carnage}} likely knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, as the symbiote is both the offspring of ComicBook/{{Venom}} (who absolutely knows) and at one point was bonded with Peters' clone Ben Reilly, when the latter thought he was the real Spider-Man. Carnage almost never brings this up though, so it is ambiguous if he doesn't know or simply doesn't care- Carnage after all being ForTheEvulz incarnate might regard this as irrelevant to his goals of bloodshed and chaos.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', most of Danny's villains already know his secret identity from the start; he's well-known in the Ghost Zone for being half-ghost. However, in the episode Flirting With Disaster, Technus warns Danny against transforming and battling him in the open by motioning to a security camera, saying that Danny has a secret identity to protect. Technus is already taking advantage of Danny's civilian identity in this episode, so his reasons for stopping Danny from fighting is to screw with him and his new girlfriend Valerie.

** In most versions of the mythos, it's stated that this is Commissioner Gordon's opinion on Batman's identity. In fact, in the ''[[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand No Man's Land]]'' storyline, Batman tries to regain Gordon's trust by revealing his identity, but Gordon refuses to look at him after the DramaticUnmask, stating that if he ''wanted'' to know Batman's identity, he could have figured it out years ago, and even cryptically saying, "And for all you know, maybe I did."

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2007'': Despite having Wondy's secret identity as Diana Prince tossed in his face Nemesis (Tom Tresser) does nothing with it, even though it's his job at the time to track down and help imprison Wonder Woman.