When I was a kid, I was very into comic books, and in the last couple years I have been getting back into them. But I’ve had a problem that has been lingering in my head for a few years now.
When I was young, I watched Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and there was an episode where they did this thing where Superman went to China and back for Chinese food in a matter of about a second. It’s a trick they tend to do with any speedster, the old-fastest gun in the west trick, but there are some logistic problems with this scenario.
The first problem is this: Are we supposed to think that Clark/Superman has Chinese currency ready to go on him? Also where does he keep it in his supersuit?
Assuming that he doesn’t have cash, he must have a Credit card. Alright, so the episode is 20 years old, so I’ll assume that back then they didn’t have the intense type of fraud security that they do currently (have you ever forgot to let your bank know you’re going out of state? Your card gets shut down pretty fucking quick).
Even by early 90’s security standards, if you saw a credit card paying for the newspaper in Metropolis, America, and then within fifteen minutes a payment for a romantic dinner for two in Beijing, this would set off a couple of red flags. Either, DC’s Capital One fraud prevention team is grossly incompetent, or they know Clark is Superman.
Are they just so respectful of what he’s doing that they’re keeping his secret? Are they building enough evidence to blackmail him?
I have to imagine characters like The Flash, and Supergirl are dealing with the same issues. Afterall, one of the few things that they allow the characters to ‘take advantage’ of their powers for personal use is in this particular manner. It is the kind of thing that doesn’t offend the audience, and so there are little examples of it.
On the other side of the issue, wouldn’t Barry Allen be able to figure out who The Reverse Flash and any other speedster is by the same logic? Just get access to suspicious credit card activity, and cross reference the data with his suspects?
There is another option, the anti-fraud team is neither incompetent, nor do they know his secret, but instead they’ve issued Superman his own credit card. This may be the only reasonable answer, which answers another issue from DC’s properties.
This is why Batman has a credit card in Batman and Robin. You know, you thought it was just a cheesy joke from worst Batman movie, but perhaps it’s actually part of the lore. Maybe the entire Justice League has been given credit cards, by some credit card company that felt they deserved some form of monetary reward or resource (this has to be the case, because obviously Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent have social security numbers and credit scores, but Batman and Superman can’t, not to mention how would they report their incomes).
So here is what I’m saying, either Batman and Robin is ACTUALLY the most logical film in the entire DC Comics history, or there is a gaping plot hole in the rest. That’s a fair statement right?
What do you think about superheroes and their financial statements? Let me know in the comments.
