"The face of the kind older brother and the mask of Zero. Which is the real Lelouch?"
— Kallen, Code Geass
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth."
It felt strange, removing her costume. It was like she wasn’t herself. When had she started seeing herself more as Vista than as Missy Biron?
— Worm
"We all wear masks, Spider-Man. But which one is real? The one that hides your face, or the one that is your face?"
"Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. [...] What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak... he's unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race."
— Bill, Kill Bill
"But I am Clark, I need to be Clark. I'd go crazy if I had to be Superman all the time!"
— Clark/Superman, Superman: The Animated Series
Besides, I could do with the time to myself... to sit back and think. It's selfish, I know, but I deserve... Whoa! There you go again, Linda!
There's nothing selfish about wanting to get into yourself for a while instead of thinking about the whole blasted world! I do enough of that as Supergirl — and wasn't the whole reason for this move... to give myself space to be just plain Linda Danvers?
I've been Supergirl for such a long time, it seems. Not that I'd give that up for anything... but I feel like I've totally lost hold of the part of me that doesn't scoot around the universe in shorts and a cape! I've forgotten what it feels like to be just a person... Instead of a symbol!
There's nothing selfish about wanting to get into yourself for a while instead of thinking about the whole blasted world! I do enough of that as Supergirl — and wasn't the whole reason for this move... to give myself space to be just plain Linda Danvers?
I've been Supergirl for such a long time, it seems. Not that I'd give that up for anything... but I feel like I've totally lost hold of the part of me that doesn't scoot around the universe in shorts and a cape! I've forgotten what it feels like to be just a person... Instead of a symbol!
—Supergirl, Supergirl vol 2 #1
"Kara Danvers" is a tool for you to walk amongst the people you protect.
— Director Chase, Supergirl (Rebirth)
"There is no me; I do not exist... There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed."
Dick Grayson: Does Batman live in Bruce Wayne's basement?
Batman: No, Bruce Wayne lives in Batman's attic.
Batman: No, Bruce Wayne lives in Batman's attic.
Now possessing ultimate power, Palpatine had no further need to cultivate two identities. Despite his public title of Emperor Palpatine, he was Darth Sidious in thought and action from this point forward.
"I hear a new apprentice you have, Emperor. Or should I call you Darth Sidious?"
—Yoda, Revenge of the Sith
He is the most powerful being on the planet. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Capable of flying to incredible heights. Yes, everything went so well for him that, for a change, he decided to become a loser, and disguised himself as an ordinary common man. Superman. All of us humans want to be like him, and he, just wants to be like he sees us.
— English translation of the advertising of
Superman by an Argentinian pay-TV channel called Retro, and possibly a Take That! to Bill's quote above
Superman by an Argentinian pay-TV channel called Retro, and possibly a Take That! to Bill's quote aboveThe other one, the one called Borges, is the one things happen to. I walk through the streets of Buenos Aires and stop for a moment, perhaps mechanically now, to look at the arch of an entrance hall and the grillwork on the gate; I know of Borges from the mail and see his name on a list of professors or in a biographical dictionary. I like hourglasses, maps, eighteenth-century typography, the taste of coffee and the prose of Stevenson; he shares these preferences, but in a vain way that turns them into the attributes of an actor. It would be an exaggeration to say that ours is a hostile relationship; I live, let myself go on living, so that Borges may contrive his literature, and this literature justifies me. It is no effort for me to confess that he has achieved some valid pages, but those pages cannot save me, perhaps because what is good belongs to no one, not even to him, but rather to the language and to tradition. Besides, I am destined to perish, definitively, and only some instant of myself can survive in him. Little by little, I am giving over everything to him, though I am quite aware of his perverse custom of falsifying and magnifying things.
Spinoza knew that all things long to persist in their being; the stone eternally wants to be a stone and the tiger a tiger. I shall remain in Borges, not in myself (if it is true that I am someone), but I recognize myself less in his books than in many others or in the laborious strumming of a guitar. Years ago I tried to free myself from him and went from the mythologies of the suburbs to the games with time and infinity, but those games belong to Borges now and I shall have to imagine other things. Thus my life is a flight and I lose everything and everything belongs to oblivion, or to him.
I do not know which of us has written this page.
Spinoza knew that all things long to persist in their being; the stone eternally wants to be a stone and the tiger a tiger. I shall remain in Borges, not in myself (if it is true that I am someone), but I recognize myself less in his books than in many others or in the laborious strumming of a guitar. Years ago I tried to free myself from him and went from the mythologies of the suburbs to the games with time and infinity, but those games belong to Borges now and I shall have to imagine other things. Thus my life is a flight and I lose everything and everything belongs to oblivion, or to him.
I do not know which of us has written this page.
—Jorge Luis Borges, "Borges and I".
"Naturally, Lucas had a better way of summing up the relationship. He said this casually, 'You should think of Palpatine's eyes as contact lenses...' So there's Palpatine's eyes and my eyes and that was very interesting. So, in fact, his face, which is the same as mine, was the unreal aspect. My own face was the mask. And then when I get into the mask, that is the evil person - that's the real face."
Miles Vorkosigan: Dammit, sir, what would you have of me? The Dendarii are as much Barrayaran troops as any who wear the Emperor's uniform, even if they don't know it. They are my assigned charge. I cannot neglect their urgent needs even to play the part of Lieutenant Vorkosigan.
Captain Galeni: Play the part of Lieutenant Vorkosigan? Who the hell do you think you are?
Captain Galeni: Play the part of Lieutenant Vorkosigan? Who the hell do you think you are?
Klar Kent sighed. The role each of the chosen El males was handed was as much a constriction as an honor. It was nothing less than having to protect a world and, very often, a universe.
One had to become two men, and to pretend one had nothing to do with the other. It was not as easy a thing as one might expect. The third Superman had to pretend his Kent-self had been killed, and to take up the name of Jon Hudson. The fourth Superman's identity had been revealed during a monorail accident. One Superman had simply abandoned his secret identity, becoming a full-time Man of Steel until his son was old enough to succeed him. More than once, a Superman had suspected himself of becoming quietly schizophrenic.
One had to become two men, and to pretend one had nothing to do with the other. It was not as easy a thing as one might expect. The third Superman had to pretend his Kent-self had been killed, and to take up the name of Jon Hudson. The fourth Superman's identity had been revealed during a monorail accident. One Superman had simply abandoned his secret identity, becoming a full-time Man of Steel until his son was old enough to succeed him. More than once, a Superman had suspected himself of becoming quietly schizophrenic.
"I tried to decide whether Clark or Superman is more important... and realized that to do away with one would be to kill half of myself— whoever I really am!"
— Superman, Who Took the Super out of Superman?
"I can do something that only two other people can do. I can, I can, you know what I can do, and when I do it, it's like nothing you could ever imagine, if you haven't ever done it before. I can fly through space fast enough to reach the Sun and back inside a day, easy. I can lift just about anything, maybe including the Earth. I can punch through solid steel and laugh off bullets. The whole world knows the other me, Mom, and the other me has done so much good. So much. But then... But then I have to say the word again, and I'm just me. Plain little old Mary Batson again. And I've got to hide it, pretend, make believe I'm not the other me. Somebody might come and kill you and Jives for revenge, or kill me before I could say the word. Not that they haven't tried!"
"But I need being Clark— I need a private life just like anyone! In the past, I've tried assuming other identities— But it just didn't work! Clark Kent is as much a part of who I am as Kal-El of Krypton is! Ma and Pa Kent... The way they raised me... My boyhood in Smallville— They made me what I am— And I'd sooner die than give it up!"
— Superman, Action Comics #524
"I've wondered why I become alive only as the Batman. Now I know that Bruce Wayne is a hollow man, a convenient disguise."
Superman: You know, I do other things. I mean, besides being Superman.
Lois Lane: You do a great Clark Kent impersonation. You almost had me fooled. Wait till I tell him about this.
Lois Lane: You do a great Clark Kent impersonation. You almost had me fooled. Wait till I tell him about this.
Bruce Wayne: Batman's just a symbol, Rachel.
Rachel Dawes: No, no, *this*... is your mask. Your real face is the one that criminals now fear. The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
Rachel Dawes: No, no, *this*... is your mask. Your real face is the one that criminals now fear. The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
Terry: Tell me something—why were you so sure those voices weren't coming from you?
Bruce: Well, first, I know I'm not psychotic.
Terry: I hope your other reason is more convincing.
Bruce: And second, the voice kept calling me "Bruce." In my mind, that's not what I call myself.
Terry: What do you call yourself?
[Bruce just looks at him for a moment]
Terry: Oh, yeah. I suppose you would. [Batman voice] But that's my name now.
Bruce: Hmm. Tell that to my subconscious. [walks off]
Bruce: Well, first, I know I'm not psychotic.
Terry: I hope your other reason is more convincing.
Bruce: And second, the voice kept calling me "Bruce." In my mind, that's not what I call myself.
Terry: What do you call yourself?
[Bruce just looks at him for a moment]
Terry: Oh, yeah. I suppose you would. [Batman voice] But that's my name now.
Bruce: Hmm. Tell that to my subconscious. [walks off]
"Your mask is amazing. I wish you could have seen me in mine. Isn't it funny? All everyone wants to do is unmask you, but they're missing the point. You and I both know... I'm looking at the real you right now. My mask allowed me to be myself completely... No shame... No limits..."
— The Riddler, The Batman (2022)
[The three place their hands on the Lasso of Truth.]
Wonder Woman: Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Queen Hippolyta.
Superman: Clark Kent. Kal-El.
Batman: Batman.
Wonder Woman: Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Queen Hippolyta.
Superman: Clark Kent. Kal-El.
Batman: Batman.
"Anyway, now Batman has a dream sequence where the world is taken over by evil Superman and this is where we see dream Batman using a gun to kill people. And people like to say, "Oh well, it's a dream sequence so it doesn't really count" and I'm not even joking when I say that that's still too far for me. Batman is the kind of guy whose inner voice refers to himself as Batman!... He is so deeply connected and devoted to his insane core values that I can't see this and think it's anything other than ridiculous!"
Harvey Dent: [To Batman] So is it true? Bruce?
[Beat]
Two-Face: [Laughs] Don't answer, then. We know the truth.
Harvey Dent: You aren't Bruce Wayne. Jim Gordon and I, we didn't strike a deal with Bruce Wayne.
Two-Face: And it's sure as hell not Bruce Wayne waiting on the rooftops each night.
Harvey Dent: This is who you are. See, we get it, "Bruce". It's not the face you're given...
Two-Face: It's the face you choose.
[Beat]
Two-Face: [Laughs] Don't answer, then. We know the truth.
Harvey Dent: You aren't Bruce Wayne. Jim Gordon and I, we didn't strike a deal with Bruce Wayne.
Two-Face: And it's sure as hell not Bruce Wayne waiting on the rooftops each night.
Harvey Dent: This is who you are. See, we get it, "Bruce". It's not the face you're given...
Two-Face: It's the face you choose.
