Exaggerating? Only in the comics, but even then it seems to only extend to the Spider-Folks. The X-Men and Fantastic Four have never had a secret identity. Captain American and Iron Man lost theirs. In both the comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe, Peter Parker used magic to erase his secret identity from the world, MCU Spidey going the extra mile and erasing his other identity as well. (Wonder how he gets food?) In fact in the MCU I don’t think anybody started out keeping their identity a secret except for Spider-Man. Tony Stark dropped the closest he had just before the closing credits, while the comics did it in the most narratively lame way possible because the writer didn’t care. Even then I saw the fading of secret identities in the Marvel Comics universe (the real 616).
I’m not going to get into the secret identity debate. We all have our opinions, and this article already covered that debate. I’m pro secret identity but that doesn’t work for every hero. The Fantastic Four maintaining them wouldn’t be the same. Thor outright gave up his secret identity, and somehow what they did to Donald Blake after that was inhuman. I didn’t realize Odin was as terrible to humans as his Olympian counterparts outside of the God Of War Games. The question isn’t should Spider-Man (and the rest of the Spider-Colony) keep their alter egos. We have our thoughts, but we’ve seen what happens when Peter at least doesn’t maintain his.
Instead, I’m asking why is it only Peter? Why has Marvel and their writers made the decision to let Peter have his alter-ego, even when Doctor Octopus is running around in his body, and not anyone else? In the MCU he’s it. I’m just kind of confused.
We know the main reason Peter’s secret identity matters to him. His powers don’t (normally) shut off, so he’s not necessarily powerless as “Peter”. He doesn’t get out much and he’s not allowed to have a relationship past the current writer anymore. He wants to protect Aunt May, who’s dead in the MCU and either dies or ends up in the hospital every few years in the comics. They had to recton an Aunt May death with an actress hired by Norman Osborn just to put her back in play before the comics version of “One More/Brand New Day”, because apparently his loyalties to his wife, which they wanted to get rid of, wasn’t enough. Personally, I think Aunt May has run her course in the comics, though it is nice to see her back in extended media covering Peter’s early career. That’s the only reason to have her in the comics, really.
So what happens when Aunt May is dead, and the Spider-Marriage is still out of play? In the MCU Peter ditches his identity for the sake of Michelle (I’m not calling her MJ because she’s not Mary Jane Watson, she’s Michelle Jones, a totally different character) and Ned “I never read a comic so I don’t know what he’s supposed to be like and never heard of Harry Osborn” Leeds. However, they don’t even remember Peter Parker or their friendship outside of some…I don’t know, muscle memory or something. I haven’t watched any of the movies since Homecoming for the same reason I don’t watch My Adventures With Superman. They got the title character right and messed up everything else. (Tom Holland does a pretty good job with good writing.) My point is, nobody remembers their connection to him and nobody would know about his friendships after the memory wipe if they didn’t read his mind. So that didn’t help Michelle in the latest Brand New Day.
And nobody else needs a secret identity? Tony Stark was dying and wanted to protect his company from the ever increasing number of rivals and commies who wanted to take or destroy Stark Enterprises or whatever name he’s going under now. (Stark Solutions is still my favorite period and I wish that had gone on a little longer, but status gotta quo so the next writer can change it “forever”.) Thor was weaker as Donald Blake. Steve Rogers after the war and the unfreezing losing his identity makes sense. You’d think with no Nazis to care his family would be safe (did he even have any?) and working under the radar benefitted the original Captain America. He was even open about his asthma, at least in the PSA comics. Yes, you can find secret identities in the comics, but usually they’re minor characters and I would list some except I wouldn’t be surprised if they became public knowledge after the last time I checked. If they’re not world known it’s because nobody in the Marvel Universe cares.
By the way, the whole Superhuman Registration Act situation doesn’t count. By then most of the big names were already public, and Spider-Man didn’t have to give his identity out to the world. This information was kept in a SHIELD database. Peter just had to tell SHIELD, not the whole world.
Lightening that up made Peter look AI for some reason.
The MCU is a whole other situation. Again, if you don’t know who the Scarlet Witch is, you don’t care. Ant-Man wrote a book. Steve Rogers was public knowledge after the war and I’m pretty sure Sam Wilson didn’t even have a secret identity when he was The Falcon, nevermind as Captain America’s Hand-Me-Downs. Thor never had a secret identity. We came into both green Hulks after they were public knowledge and the Red Hulk first transformed in front of everybody. Tony didn’t want to lie anymore after what his company had been involved in without his knowledge because he was focused on partying and designing. Kamala Khan’s dad tells everybody who will listen that she’s Ms. Marvel and please buy her merch. No other hero bothers maintaining an alter ego. They’re just not famous enough out of their suits.
This time it is only Peter keeping his identity a secret. Why? With every other hero exposed, and nothing else about Peter’s world matching the source material due to Sony being idiots, why is he any different in the MCU? Assuming that’s also a Sony decision and not Disney-owned Marvel Studios, what was the thought behind it? I’m talking from a meta prospective, from outside the storylines of the MCU. Aunt May’s dead. Michelle and Ned are only tied into this because Peter wouldn’t let them go and move on, otherwise Jean Grey In Name Only wouldn’t have tried to her Michelle to attack him. If Peter had just moved on she wouldn’t have been in danger and he wouldn’t need to hide his identity, since nobody remembered they knew him at all, nevermind that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
I’m not mad or attacking anyone. I’m just curious from an out of universe story perspective. If every other hero lost or never had a secret identity, especially in the movies and streaming shows, why bother keeping Peter’s? There must be a reason, but what is it? They’re dying off in the comics. While there are good reasons to maintain an alter ego, it’s not like any of the writers of the other heroes care? Peter gets exposed for a few issues and then magics it all away. Is this another example of not understanding Peter as a superhero along with his wife, not being miserable, and not having relationship problems because of some “Parker luck”? Is it because they see it as a way to torture Peter but never seem to? In the comics, how does that extend to Miles or Silk, or any of the Spider-Kids? I’m totally in favor of keeping Peter’s identity a secret. I’m just curious why he’s the only one they bother giving it to when Marvel has stripped them from almost every comic and every movie hero?
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