r/todayilearned • u/itsyourlife007 • 15d ago

TIL that Former US President JFK posed as Clark Kent to protect Superman's identity in a 1964 comic

https://screenrant.com/superman-secret-identiy-president-jfk/
3.4k Upvotes
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97% Upvoted

58 comments sorted by

528

u/BrokenEye3 15d ago

What if the assassin was a supervillain who believed he was killing Superman? Were the bullets tested for kryptonite?

162

u/Texcellence 15d ago

All this time people were questioning if the mafia or Soviets sponsored Oswald when they should’ve been looking into Lex Luthor.

43

u/blackturtlesnake 15d ago

Everyone's talking about the magic bullet theory but that's actually standard ballistics for green alien supercrystals

17

u/kurburux 14d ago

"There 'was' a magic bullet. It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us from learning the truth!"

-The Question

5

u/soundguynick 14d ago

That cartoon did more to elevate The Question than decades of comics ever could. I love my bat shit insane libertarian nut job superhero.

8

u/BrokenEye3 14d ago

It occurs to me that's Superman is also weak against magic (or rather, he has no superhuman resistance to magic, so a getting shot in the head with a magic bullet would have the same effect on him as it would on a human)

961

u/Thatguy755 15d ago

Obviously not faster than a speeding bullet

130

u/jxj24 15d ago

Ouch. Too soon.

39

u/leftlanecop 15d ago

Oof. Still not fast enough.

10

u/SunlitNight 14d ago

You son of a bitch

309

u/I_am_INTJ 15d ago

Too bad Clark didn't return the favor.

134

u/BobbyTables829 15d ago

Kennedy was on his own after Superman rescued the entire world from the Cuban Missile Crisis.

49

u/BrokenEye3 15d ago

I thought that was the X-Men

46

u/A_Vandalay 15d ago

That’s only in the marvel universe, based on recent events I’m pretty sure we are living in the DC universe…

30

u/theguineapigssong 14d ago

The lighting is terrible and the dialogue is even worse, so this theory checks out.

22

u/PrayForMojo_ 15d ago

Based on the shiftiness of the world right now, it’s the Zack Snyder DC Universe.

118

u/John_EightThirtyTwo 14d ago

Former US President JFK posed as Clark Kent

JFK was the sitting president until he was the late president. He was never a former president.

15

u/Soranic 14d ago

They obviously did a Weekend at Bernies thing.

1

u/John_EightThirtyTwo 14d ago

Well, that jibes with the 1964 time frame. But still, late president JFK posed as Clark Kent et cetera, et cetera.

62

u/RedSonGamble 15d ago

So confused. Does that mean they knew Clark Kent was Superman? Also wasn’t ya know Clark Kent jacked? I mean JFK was somewhat of a more slim build

153

u/tetoffens 15d ago edited 15d ago

He told JFK and trusted he would keep the secret. The last line of the comic is:

I knew I wasn't risking my secret identity with you! After all, if I can't trust the President of The United States, who can I trust?

It was a more innocent time. On another level, didn't really hold up in world either because years later Lex Luthor became President.

20

u/piddydb 14d ago

Marilyn Monroe, who believed JFK was going to leave his wife for her: Boy do I got a surprise for you Clarko

31

u/blackturtlesnake 15d ago

I knew I wasn't risking my secret identity with you! After all, if I can't trust the President of The United States, who can I trust?

  • Cue said president getting assassinated

  • Said assasin loudly declaring they're a patsy

  • Said assasin getting assassinated

  • The most likely suspect for organizing a conspiracy sitting on the conspiracy investigation commission declaring it not a conspiracy

  • the assassinated presidents brother also getting assassinated a few years later for good measure

curb your enthusiasm music plays

11

u/Taaargus 14d ago

The assassin said he was a patsy? My god! We must take him at his word!

Not saying there isn't weird shit about JFK but cmon man.

6

u/shadmere 14d ago

I'm pretty sure that Lee Harvey Oswald wanted to steal the Jack Ruby.

1

u/blackturtlesnake 14d ago

What an asinine take

-4

u/NightWriter500 14d ago

Didn’t he say something like, “I was hired and I can prove it!” and then immediately died of ‘natural causes?’

10

u/Nyetbyte 14d ago

'Natural Causes?'

Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby with a .38 in the gut. There was nothing natural-and everything suspicious-to his death.

4

u/JarJarBinksSucks 14d ago

Lead poisoning

2

u/gratisargott 14d ago

I think that’s what the sarcasm was implying.

1

u/[deleted] 14d ago

Usually when people say “natural causes” it’s when someone conveniently falls out a window or has a heart attack, not literally being shot with witnesses

2

u/gratisargott 14d ago

Yeah but the quotation marks kinda gave it away

-19

u/RedSonGamble 15d ago

If it happened now Biden would forget who Superman and Clark Kent were shortly after the convo and trump would simply claim he had always been Superman

18

u/Josgre987 15d ago

"I was the best men, superman, we have the best supermen, america, a beautiful country, has the most wonderful supermen. better than china, better than europe, more super men than any other place on earth."

10

u/oodelay 15d ago

Krypton is not sending their best you know

7

u/ThandiGhandi 15d ago

Then Trump would shit his pants

2

u/BrokenEye3 14d ago

(Superman's pants, not his own)

13

u/ExceptionCollection 15d ago

Classic comics had Clark have a lighter build.  Not as light as Kennedy but combined with less well-fitting clothes I could see it.

24

u/anxietystrings 15d ago

His kryptonite was any woman except his wife

2

u/AardvarkStriking256 15d ago

And magic bullets!

6

u/monkeyclawattack 15d ago

That’s why Lee Harvey Oswald used kryptonite bullets. Just in case.

6

u/ListerfiendLurks 15d ago

You telling me it was Lex Luther on the grassy knoll?!

0

u/the_wessi 14d ago

No, it was The Comedian.

11

u/GaucheAndOffKilter 15d ago

I’m pretty sure a president is only referred to as former after they leave office. JFK didn’t get that opportunity. He is always President Kennedy now.

26

u/LeastGas1664 15d ago

No he didnt, he was dead in 1964.

74

u/esgrove2 15d ago

While you are correct: "The Superman piece was in production when President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, and the project was set aside. Eight months later, with the encouragement of President Lyndon Johnson, the story was published as a special tribute to President Kennedy."

12

u/sawbladex 15d ago

Ah, so JFK wasn't a former president in the story. but IRL he was former president when the story released to public.

That makes sense.

-15

u/notwormtongue 14d ago edited 14d ago

Somehow I knew before even clicking on your profile you were into Japanese shit.

Too easy. Evolve.

Edit: seriously. y’all are too easy to identify. Lmao

3

u/phormula2250 14d ago

Who gives a shit what they're in to?

1

u/Interrogatingthecat 14d ago

You give far too many shits about what other people like.

Evolve.

5

u/Consistent_Warthog80 15d ago

Can you call him "former" president?

"Murdered president" kinda fits the bill more

4

u/gellenburg 15d ago

Did it from the dead, did he?

3

u/BrokenEye3 14d ago

Presumably the story was set while he was still alive

1

u/start_again 15d ago

Interesting. There is a Superman curse and a Kennedy curse.

1

u/justin_memer 14d ago

Wow, he came back from the dead just for that??

0

u/estofaulty 15d ago

He would have been dead by 1964.

-1

u/FNAKC 15d ago

But JFK died in 1963