#millennial superheroes
Bad: Superhero whose secret identity is just staggeringly obvious, but nobody picks up on it for various implausible reasons.
Good: Superhero whose secret identity is just staggeringly obvious, and everybody “knows”, but in spite of countless people’s best efforts nobody can actually proveit.
It was easier to hide your identity before smartphones and social media became ubiquitous. Older heroes have to dodge left and right and bend over backwards to avoid being definitively found out, but younger ones grew up in this atmosphere so it comes more naturally to them. It’s not that they’re better at keeping secrets, they’re just better at cultivating their dual lives, keeping them separate, maintaining plausible deniability without rousing suspicion.
“Would you tell me if you’re the Nightshade vigilante? Because you’re always staying out late and coming home super early.”
“I told you, I got stuck with the night shift at the drive thru. You’ve come through my line like a dozen times!”
“Yeah, but you can’t possibly work every single night.”
“Have you met my boss? He’s such an asshole.”
“Seven days a week?”
“Fifty weeks a year. It’s bullshit, I only get paid part time because they only schedule me 39 and a half hours. I need to find a better job, but this’s the only job that fits my schedule, I can’t work during the day, I can’t miss class.”
“You work so much, but you never have any money.”
“Rent, car payments, loan payments, hospital bills. Get off my ass, I’m poor, you don’t have to rub it in my face.”
“I didn’t- I’m not- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just worried about you, you’re always covered in bruises.”
“I have hemophilia, I can show you my meds if you don’t believe me.”
“I’m sorry, I’ll drop it.”
“Thank you, now it’s late, and I have to go to work.” (parkours out the third story window in a spandex onesie)
