I had issues with that speech.

I understand that and I totally agree that it had no place in that movie, nearly ruining a perfectly good scene. But it resonated in that I always thought of the glasses as the disguise.

And while I'm on the subject of Morrison's JLA, I came across this great bit again--probably the best insight into Superman and Batman's motivations:

Superman is trapped inside the "Primoridial Destroyer," and succumbing to overwhelming despair as Batman tries to shout him out of it via the Martian Manhunter's telepathy.

Superman: "All we've ever done is try to save Krypton and Mars, save our parents and loved ones over and over again, but we never will ... we never did."

That's completely what I believe is rattling around in their subconsciousnesses,

Haven't seen Kill Bill 2 yet (missed it in the theatres and I'm too lazy to get a video rental card) but I'm with victor and Frank on this one. That's not QT's POV, that's a villain's POV.

The key one being that it's wronger than wrong?

Oh, wow, I don't agree with that at all.

I haven't actually seen KB I or II. I always *meant* to.

I felt that the only reason the speech was in the movie was for QT to raise his geek flag.

What's so wrong about it? I don't think I agree with the fact that Clark is Superman's critique of the human race, but I can definitely see Clark being the disguise, rather than vice-versa.

Particularly since, in order to be Clark, he has to put on the zero-prescription glasses. The stuff about Clark being Superman's critique, blah, that's just taking stuff too seriously. But the idea that he is Superman more than Clark, I can go with that.

Mainly because he was Clark before he was superman. What, fourteen? fifteen? years of his life was spent as Clark Kent. That's formative, that's identity building. At the end of the day, when he wants comfort or to keep Lois safe or whatever, he goes back to the farm and Smallville. It's where he stashes Kon. He chose to become Superman, to use his powers for good and saving the world, yadda yadda, but I don't think he would ever lose himself in the ideology of Superman. It would destroy him on both ends if he did. He's Clark Kent, the guy who hides superman--not Superman, the hero that hides Clark Kent.

Either way I guess it's a matter of perspective. I think Clark became more of the disguise when he started developing his powers and had to maintain his identity behind his 'glasses'.

But the idea that he is Superman more than Clark, I can go with that.

See, I don't. But then, I don't think they're all that different, either. Hate to keep going back to JLA, but in the scene where Bruce and Clark reveal their IDs to the rest of the team (in Mark Waid's run)--even dressed as Bruce Wayne, Batman is definitely Batman, whereas Clark is terribly nervous and insecure about the situation.

And of course, the argument can be made that BOTH of those sides are the complete person, and that neither is entirely an act.

In the story following the aforementioned one, the JLA were seperated from their hero selves and their secret identitites. Clark's split was more along the lines of human and Kryptonian, whereas Batman's "hero" self was a sort of uncommunicative void, and Bruce Wayne was every bit the fop Bats' alter ego is, but with a deep-seated, near psychopathic rage that repeatedly bubbled up. Plastic Man (of all people) nailed him in one:

PLASTIC MAN: "Everyone figured that when you split Bruce Wayne and Batman, you get a fop and a lunatic. Which is true. But not like we thought. The murder of Bruce Wayne's parents--that's what created Batman. That's the memory that drives him. But it belongs to you."

BRUCE WAYNE: So ... so angry... at night...

PLASTIC MAN: And getting madder ... in more than one sense of the word. All that rage and no place to put it. No training to use it. So you it just just eats away at ya more and more until they lock you up.

It should be noted here that Plas, too, was suffering--separted into what he was, a cold, calculating gangster and basically a buffoon. Waid's story here showed that the splits weren't all that black and white, that the hero IDs were what allowed most of them to cope with their own damage.

PLAS (Continues from above): Until you and Rayner and me are fightin' over a pudding cup in the psycho ward.