Yor Forger

My son and I watch an anime called ‘Spy x Family’.  It’s a spy comedy and that doesn’t really cover everything, but it’s enough for now.  The general plot is the guy is a spy who needs to create a fake family to do his latest job.  He gets his daughter from an orphanage and has no idea she’s really a telepath.  For a wife, he meets Yor who needs a fake husband because the country thinks unmarried women of her age are suspicious.  She’s really an assassin.  All three are hiding their identities with only the daughter knowing the truth of their situation.  Anyway, let’s talk about an aspect of Yor.

The part I want to touch on is that her training as an assassin has made her practically superhuman.  Her physical and combat abilities are on par with Captain America if not more due to the comedic nature of the show.  Yet, she has to portray herself a regular person to maintain her cover.  She works in a government office as a secretary and is socially awkward due to being an assassin for most of her life.  Her strength slips out when she reacts quickly, but she has to be ‘normal’ for most of her screen time.  When she does demonstrate her abilities by accident, she passes it off as self-defense classes or something mundane.  The comedy part here is that the cautious, attention-to-detail spy she’s fake married too believes her because he’s been a spy since childhood.

Now, we’ve all seen characters who have to hide their superhuman abilities.  Comics are filled with secret identities where they have to pretend to be normal.  Superman and Spider-Man are two of the biggest examples.  This means there is a long-standing tradition of this kind of thing.  You would think in the day of social media where nobody has secrets, it wouldn’t be common in fiction.  It still is and I can think of a few reasons why.

1. There is an inherent tension when a character is trying to keep a secret.  Verbal ones are fairly easy to hide because you simply don’t say them.  It becomes more difficult when it’s a physical ability that is easy to activate and utilize.  For example, a character with superhuman strength always has the risk of slipping and being too powerful in front of others.  This would reveal their true identity and point their normal life in jeopardy.  Superman, Spider-Man, and Yor are all noted as having to live holding themselves back.  Still, all you need is one slip and a bad explanation.
2. As far as ‘Spy x Family’ goes, hiding a superhuman ability can create the opportunity for comedy.  There will be accidents to remind readers they can do these things or situations where they have to act.  Not to mention times when they get to cut loose, but that’s typically when they don’t have to pretend to be average.  The comedy of the actual accidents stems from having to explain it or seeing the reactions of the witnesses as well as their rationalizations.  You can get away with some ridiculous excuses too if you establish this is a comedy.
3. Similar to #1, you also have a future plot point in your pocket.  This would be when they actually reveal their true nature.  Whether it be on purpose or by accident, you can have them be exposed.  Then, you get a new storyline with them living a new life out in the open.  Be warned though that this is something that cannot easily be undone.  One of the most infamous attempts in comic history was ‘One More Day’.  Spider-Man’s secret identity had been revealed and Aunt May ended up getting shot.  Mary Jane makes a deal with Mephisto to make everyone forget Peter is Spider-Man, but she sacrifices their marriage so that it never existed.  Marvel wiped out decades of history and pissed fans off with this move.  So, DO NOT have a reveal unless you’re willing to stick with it or have a simple, non-nuclear fix.

Personally, I like this plotline, but I grew up on comics during a time when secret identities were the norm.  Even the X-Men would go out in civvies and blend in unless they were Beast or Nightcrawler.  I liked the idea that a hero could have a normal life because it increased the sense of their danger.  It was a physical thing, but they had so much to lose by either dying or being exposed.  This meant, they had to act quickly while also thinking about consequences.  Not a lot of people are able to do that these days.  Maybe they couldn’t before and I’m just realizing it now.  Hard to tell.