Realistic social traits for superheroes

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by malloyd

And really, if Superman flys in in costume to cash a check, it's not likely the bank officials are going to not recognize him.

The problems would be "Why is Clark Kent depositing this check addressed to Superman in his own account?"

However, there is the issue of banks requiring some form of legally-recognized identification when opening an account. Yes, Superman's birth name being Kal-El is a matter of public record, but did the Federal government and whatever state Metropolis is in this year (Illinois (there's a Metropolis, IL, in real life, on the Ohio River), Delaware, and Connecticut have all been mentioned) issue him a Social Security card (or refugee/immigration card?) and non-driver's ID, respectively, in that identity? Or is he stuck with having to put the money in Clark's account? Is the First National Bank of Metropolis willing to ignore regulations to give Superman a checking or savings account without the government-mandated ID on file?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by malloyd

This comes up in a lot of keep your identity secret scenarios, but isn't really true. Fundamentally a check is an instruction somebody wrote to their bank. You present it to whatever bank it is drawn on and demand it in cash. If you are sufficiently suspicious for the bank to doubt you are the person it is to be paid to, they may contact the account holder, but if he is actually is paying you, he'll confirm you are to be given the money.

And really, if Superman flys in in costume to cash a check, it's not likely the bank officials are going to not recognize him.

True, the issue is with large enough transactions that the IRS wants to be involved. Or Homeland Security.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

The problems would be "Why is Clark Kent depositing this check addressed to Superman in his own account?"

Which he never does. John Smith writes Superman a check. Superman goes to John Smith's bank, presents the check, convinces the teller he actually is Superman, and gets cash. You do not need a bank account to cash a check, the person who *wrote* the check needs an account, but you do not.

For that matter, Superman could endorse the check on the back, give it to anybody he wanted, say Clark Kent, and Clark could deposit it into his personal account. In principle Clark's bank might refuse to release the money until they had contacted Superman to verify that he had signed over the check, but it's not like Clark couldn't ask him to drop by his bank tomorrow to straighten that out.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Refplace

True, the issue is with large enough transactions that the IRS wants to be involved. Or Homeland Security.

All the more reasons for supers to ditch the High-CR modest-Corruption states and go to Technotlilan, Erefia, Jianghu, Khokhlandia, Qarac, or whatever state is considered a popular place for unaccounted incomes this year. In fact, some Stark can probably get a long-term benefit by bootstrapping such a state's infrastructure while simultaneously grabbing much power and wealth as a result in it.