Thread by @ElieNYC

Top 5 alter egos who have to WORK to make the super hero work:
1. Bruce Banner
2. Bruce Wayne
3. Matt Murdock
4. Peter Parker/Miles Morales
5. Bill Batson

1. Hulk is a completely different character if Banner is a dick as intended (Ed Norton) or fundamentally nice (Mark Ruffalo). Both *can* work but they have to link.
2. Wayne is more compelling than Batman when done right.
3. Murdock is a lot like Banner, actually.

4. You know how important Peter or Miles is because you see how Spider-Man just hits all different depending on which one you're rolling with.
5. Billy as the kid is what make Shazam actually fun.

Not Applicable: Diana Prince, Steve Rodgers, Tony Stark.
All of these "alter-egos" are exactly the same as their super hero versions, just with different clothes. Thus, you don't need these people to exist as "normal" humans in the real world, b/c that's not their jam.

A note on Clark Kent.
So.... you know how in Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino does this whole monologue about how Clark is Superman looking down on Earthlings? I think big Q has it wrong.
Clark IS the character. SUPERMAN is the alter-ego. And that's the trick...

Because Superman is boring and one dimensional and totally OP and it makes NO SENSE that he's out there stopping street level violence instead of WARS BETWEEN NATIONS like Iron Man.
But Clark is interesting and the movies that work focus on him.

So I could say that Clark is the *most important* alter-ego but in my (admittedly drunk) head right now I'm married to the proposition that Superman is the alter-ego and he sucks.... and that's why I wrote the thread.