Absolutely not. Donner's Clark is almost a parody of the Silver Age Clark Kent, a total exaggeration and the Donner movie(s) is also the reason why people these days think that the pre-crisis Superman is dumb.

However, in the George Reeve Superman series there is almost no difference between Superman and Clark Kent (which means: both were tough, unlike what we got in the 90s when Clark Kent AND Superman were super-whiny).

In the Superman radio show Superman comes to Earth as an adult.

QUOTE: Bruce Wayne trained for years, then one day decided to put on a costume and become Batman. Peter Parker spent his entire life as a normal kid, then gained super-powers and became Spider-Man. Prior to Man of Steel, Superman was ALWAYS super-powered. Before he was Superman, he spent a lengthy career as Superboy. Prior to Superboy, he had adventures as Superbaby. From the time he could talk, he was a Super-hero. He even called himself Superbaby before he called himself Clark Kent. In that continuity, Superman came before Clark Kent.

Exactly.

Things like Superman moaning for Krypton and thinking of himself as "Kal-El" are later additons to the mythos. But the "Clark Kent as disguise" dynamic was always there before the reboot. The Golden Age CK was despised by Lois and really just a shell and tool for Superman. It wasn't until guys like Maggin came that "Clark Kent" became a more important aspect of Superman's personality.

Edited by Friedrich Thorben on 09 January 2010 at 6:23pm

Yes, he started as Clark Kent -- but he lifted the car as soon as he arrived on Earth. So we can savely assume that he never was a normal boy, not at one point of his life. Clark Kent, Superman, Kal-El, these are just names. The difference of JB Superman is that Superman was just a like any other boy until some point and he still is when he isn't "playing" Superman. So he basically became just a regular guy who happened to have superpowers.

Edited by Friedrich Thorben on 09 January 2010 at 6:28pm

In the Bronze Age they explained Clark Kent by hinting that he kept this identity to honour his dead foster parents. But basically he was Kryptonian, which grew into almost ridiculous dimensions ("Great Rao!"), to be honest.

In JB reboot Superman was more a job / burden and Clark Kent considered himself to be "just a farmboy" (funnily enough, in the Silver Age his parents didn't even own a farm, they owned a store).

Edited by Friedrich Thorben on 09 January 2010 at 6:49pm

QUOTE: Quote: Only as Clark Kent can he truely relax. Of course, in the stories I grew up reading, Clark Kent was never relaxed, He spent most of his time trying to thwart Lana and Lois's schemes to expose his secret identity.

I'm sure he had a nice breakfast or two with Ma and Pa.

Paulo, you can't hate that costume worse than the Bat Nipples version can you? Yeesh.