That´s it! I think Kal-El never really thought about that. In the movies I always had the feeling that he doesn´t see himself as a real person in his Clark Kent persona. But why? He was raised as Clark Kent and was nearly of age when he got the information about his origin. Even the comics have changed this approach to Clark Kent and made him a real person, but in the movies it´s still the same problem.
Well, that was a conscious choice he made when he gave Lois the amnesia kiss, I think. From then on, he was Superman, Kal-El, not Clark Kent. He kissed his own humanity away when he decided that he could not be honest with Lois anymore, and never share himself again with a human woman.
EDIT: But DSDragon is right, too. The movies were made before Clark had become the real person, and back then, people were
not expecting Clark Kent to be the "real" person behind Superman. Practically everybody expected Clark to be the shallow disguise. But I remember this time, the late seventies, and I remember it felt as if the people who owned the Superman franchise wanted to make a decision about who their hero really was. Was he the the godlike guardian of humanity, untouched and unsullied by human affairs? Or was he primarily a very good
man who was struggling to balance his personal life and love with his duties as Superman? I remember waiting so eagerly for Superman II, which, I felt, might resolve many of these questions. There was a lot of speculation going on. Would Superman choose to live his life with Lois from now on? Would love and human concerns play much a larger in his lfe from now on? The answer we got from Superman II was a resounding no. I felt as if this movie wanted to give us the final answer as to who Superman is, and the answer was, he is not Clark Kent.
And by the way, Dandello, I have also wanted to ask about the title of this fic. I have also been thinking about airplanes. But maybe we should read the "plane" as in a plane of reality, as DSDragon suggests?
I so, so much appreciate that you are addressing the choices that Superman made in Superman II and in Superman Returns, Dandello!
Ann
