With Superman having revealed his secret identity as Clark Kent to the world, many wondered how people -- be they civilians, superheroes or supervillains -- would respond to the news. Interestingly enough, writer Brian Michael Bendis has also approached the revelation from a slightly different angle, exploring how Superman reflects on their responses.
"And then the villains. Some of which, no matter what they thought about Superman's strength, a lot of them thought of themselves as smarter or clever than him. And this threw that all off. Now, they don't know what to do," Bendis told CBR. "The rulebook has been thrown out, and around the same time that Lex Luthor threw out his rulebook, too. That was separate. That was from [Scott Snyder], but Luthor is working on a different plane, and now Superman's working on a different plane."
"Superman actually says the line in the Villains special, which you haven't seen yet, but he says, 'You know, I guess, really for the first time, neither Lex or I knew what the other was going to do. And that's pretty frustrating,'" Bendis continued. "And then he says, 'And refreshing.' Like, it's both things. So everyone from Lex Luthor to Toyman to Bizarro gets to reflect and react."
Superman revealed his secret identity to the world in Superman #18. Bendis is now teaming up with creators such as Matt Fraction, Jody Houser, Greg Rucka, Kevin Maguire, Steve Lieber, Mike Perkins and Eduardo Pansica on Superman: Heroes and Superman: Villains, two specials that explore how the character's greatest allies and villains react to the news.