“All those times I could have been saving lives,” he continues relentlessly,” but I let them die because I was too busy protecting a life that didn’t even really exist. You were right in your article, Lois. You said the world needed Superman.” He lets out a shuddering breath and his eyes flutter closed to hide whatever it is (anguish, resignation, defeat) smoldering in their clouded depths. And then he drives in the final nail. “But it doesn’t need Clark Kent.”
Dammit. My allergies are flaring up again.
All that time at dinner, smiling, watching his family. Clark Kent is the mask now, a charade acted out for his family and for Jimmy.
It's a good thing that Lois (or Lois as she was) has a slight tendency to cry foul on that kind of BS.
