Public Identities.

[johanirae.livejournal.com]

Hiya kindly experts at the comm...

I'm currently drawing up some stuff for the christmas challenge, and I was wondering something about public identity and our favorite men.

After new Avengers got formed, after Extremis, but way before Civil War, in regular Marvel canon:

1) Is it public knowledge that Tony Stark is Iron Man? Because in some comics it seems that it is... but I read in Extremis that it was still hidden...

2) Is it public knowledge that Steve Rogers is Captain America?

Just wondering... please help!

Comments

The writers are lazy

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

Tony announced that he was IM way back in 2002 (before the SOD job, I believe), then he did it again for the SHRA (people will hit me with a clue by four if I'm wrong).

Captain America is tricky in that other people have been Captain America (US Agent for example, that Jack Walker guy?). But... I don't know myself.

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

Steve was unmasked in 2001 for sure. There was a series dealing with the 9/11 attacks and at one point Steve is on TV and is all "America didn't kill this guy *remove mask* I did"

Now whether anyone knew before then and he was just making a point or whether that was an official unmasking, I don't know.

In the Secret War trade paperback I have (which is about Nick Fury being stupid, not the Beyonder)the SHIELD notes say Captain America's identity status is public, and the trade is came out in 2005 and I think it's collecting a story for 2004-ish.

So my guess is that at least 2001- on Steve was known as Cap, before that no idea at all.

[crimsonquills.livejournal.com]

The status of Tony's identity is weird. He keeps going public and then taking it back, or saying that someone else is wearing the suit now. During the pre-Civil War New Avengers, his identity is supposed to be secret. But most people in the superhero community can be assumed to know that it's him, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to have an ordinary person believe that it's him, given past evidence, even if he's denying it.

[jynx.livejournal.com]

*points* What Crimson said. There's also the time he b rainwashed everyone with a satellite to forget he was Iron Man. People got piiiiiiiissed with him (people by the name of Cap)

[tavella.livejournal.com]

There are levels of secrecy, too. My general memory of Steve is that it started out not secret (since it had been long revealed after the war who had served as Captain America), and then there was a gambit with a fake body to make it secret again; but it was never secret to his close hero community friends. He had enough of a secret identity that he worked as an artist (for his own comic at one point), a cop, and so on, and there were occasional 'you didn't trust me' events when non-hero friends found out. They mostly forgave pretty quick, but Connie, who he was dating, did break up with him over it.

Then in 2001 it was revealed again, and he pretty much gave up having a private identity. He worked for SHIELD, when not being an Avenger.

Tony was secret to everyone, including friends (and when they found out, there was accompanying angst.) Well after he had revealed it to his friends, he went public, then a few years later pulled the mind wiping satellite maneuver to wipe it out again. I think close friends mostly found out again fairly quick, and then he's been public again for most of the 2000s.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

Steve's never really had a secret identity post-unfreezing, in that Captain America's identity was already public knowledge at that point. Back during WWII, though, he spent his out-of-costume time pretending to be "Private Rogers," an ordinary soldier (at least, at the beginning of the war, he did). He's also concealed his identity as Captain America from people on various occasions, but this mostly consisted of saying "Hi, I'm Steve Rogers," and leaving out the "yes, that Steve Rogers, the one who's Captain America." Needless to say, this tactic never worked well.

Tony's identity as Iron Man was a secret from the general public until late in Volume 3 (around 2001-ish), when it was accidentally revealed. He then regained it at least partially by lying kind of a lot post-Disassembled ("I've totally given up being Iron Man! Yes! Totally! Not me in the costume, lalala!") and then publically revealed it again during Civil War.

[bethany-cabe.livejournal.com]

Like Elspeth says, Steve was generally known but as far as I can tell most people nonetheless didn't know what he looked like. I have tonnes of my dad's old comics from the seventies when Steve was still trying to be an artist and such, and I can remember one scene in which he's sitting in a reception room with a secretary waiting to see some guy about his portfolio and she didn't have a clue who he was. His Avengers communicator goes off, Steve waits until her back is turned before leaping out of the window and tearing off his civilian clothes to reveal his costume, and the secretary humourously turns back to see the empty room + open window = omg he killed himself! If only I'd realised he was so desperate for the job! (sob). I have a memory of someone - an Avenger, presumably, but not in costume - calling him Steve Rogers while he was dressed as Cap back in the sixties, and Steve was all like "I don't know how you know that name, but inside knowledge won't help you!" (Proceed to hilariousmisunderstanding!fight between heroes). 2001 (our time) is when it got admitted openly and publically once and for all, though. Which I applauded; there was really no point to Steve having a secret identity.

Tony, as mentioned, complete yo-yo. Back in the day he would admit he'd been Iron Man only when saying "But I'm not now, honest," or when making inventive new use of satellites for mind-control purposes, but he went public just prior to becoming secretary of defense. The reason for the hasty backtrack post-Disassembled is because Joe Quesada can't edit for shit, and on asking Warren Ellis to write him a six-part story didn't bother giving him any information on the character whatsoever or, indeed, correct him when he received the script (a term known as 'editing' in some circles, and a job I erroneously assumed was part of the role of Editor-In-Chief; but we live and learn.) Warren Ellis, unfortunately, had read about three Iron Man comics ever from the sixties where Tony's identity was secret, he made weapons with his company and he had some sort of shrapnel-based cardio problem. He therefore marred an otherwise very good story (the Extremis run) with a random retcon of Tony's medical history (he's now never had an artificial heart or a transplant, supposedly), a random angry mob outside SE (despite Tony being a notorious anti-military philanthropist for years) and a random reinstatement of Tony's secret identity (hastily blue tacked onto the end of Disassembled, probably when somebody considerably more qualified than Joe Quesada stepped forward and pointed out the monumental inconsistency.)

Of course, from Joe Quesada's point of view the sudden secret identity was distinctly fortuitous, since it meant Mark Millar could add even more "drama" to Civil War by having Tony Stark publically announce being Iron Man. Well done, Marvel. Classic story-telling, there.

Sorry, this just became a bit of an anti-Quesada rant.