Hi Sid, I'm in a situation where I might reveal sensitive information
I represent the Milwaukee historical society. Recently, we came into possession of the private documents of a prominent citizen for archival purposes. Upon doing a review of the documents, we discovered a journal that indicated he had actually been a local superhero known as the Bronze Marvel, seen here in a file photo. I apologize for the quality of the image, I think it was improperly upscaled or something, but as far as I can tell he also just looked like that.
The Bronze Marvel hadn't been seen in public since the 1970s, and has no legacy successors or notable rogues, and was never more than a local phenomenon. I kind of blame his appearance for that, as you can see his ability to turn his body to metal was impressive but hardly photogenic. The individual in question passed away within the past ten years, but never revealed their secret identity, nor did they have any next of kin or will dictating how to manage their identity postmortem.
Unfortunately, my training didn't exactly cover edge cases like this, and my institution has no policy in place. Are there established best practices for situations where a superhero's identity has only been revealed after their death? Do we owe the deceased their privacy or do we have a duty to history that supersedes that? What happens if he comes back to life and is somehow young again? There are many questions here that I do not have the answers to, and I would appreciate your expertise. Have you encountered any similar cases that you're at liberty to talk about?
So the answer as to "are there established best practices" for situations like this FULLY depends on what you mean by the word "established".
Because if we're talking about the legal chicanery of inheritance or the like then no, there are no special estate laws in relation to a superhero who dies without having planned for the custodianship of their identity one way or another. Legal organs are REALLY skittish about trying to legislate the pandoras box of secret identities mostly because every other legal outline that's been tried OUTSIDE of letting the superhero community police itself has been catastrophic to say the least. Allowing superheroes to operate in a legal grey zone allows the heroes themselves to behold themselves to the metric that really matters, their ironclad moral precepts and the court of public opinion.
That being said, it's BECAUSE the superhero community is such a self regulated organ based upon bonds of mutual trust and comradery that edge cases like this can get sorted out. Rather than attempting to sort it in house through bureaucratic channels, what *I* can do is I can help you to get it into the hands of the people who can knock on all the right doors.
So, what I want you to do is to pack up everything you think might be "incriminating". The journal that contains the insights to his identity, anything from his estate you think might be related to his heroic career (trophies and the like) and then you are going to mail it HERE to the Perisphere. Our address is public, all you need to do is send it in care of Abigail Mathilda Hunkel with a note somewhere on the box near the label marking it as "Bronze Marvel legacy material". This marks it as museum property so it won't get searched in transit. Just make sure you seal it TIGHT. I'm talking every corner taped shut. Twice. Treat it like you're shipping something illegal. The government would LOVE a peak but can only do it if something "falls out". So give them ZERO wiggle room. This is your most important role in this process I CANNOT overstress it.
What will THEN happen once it gets here is we will keep an eye on it until someone from the JSA can come pick it up (usually Ma Hunkel, it's why putting it in care of her full name is basically a code word). It will then be sorted through the various interpersonal relationships of the superhero community. No matter how obscure or local he was, SOMEONE teamed up with him and SOMEONE knows SOMETHING about where he would have wanted his shit to go. Worst case scenario it will get stored in the archives underneath the Hall of Justice, at which point it will be the decision of any heroes who knew the man personally, or the Justice League at large whether revealing his identity after the fact is a good idea.
This sort of thing happens all the time. When a heroes dies there IS always the chance that it could be temporary. And so it is only with express permission by that person's will that their identity would be revealed right away without getting signed off on by the people who knew and loved them.
OTHERWISE the standing response is to keep the archive on ice for ten years and reveal heir identity THEN. Sort of like changing someone from MIA to KIA after a long enough "search" though in this case its just making sure they don't pop back up in a cloud of magic. If that person should reappear in a form that isn't openly identifiable, then its down to their colleagues to prove it which usually works itself out.
I know it's against the way a lot of the world is programmed to work, where permission is king and written bylaws are the only way to cover your ass. But I promise you there is no way to paperwork our way out of this one. We've gotta go old school and let communal trust relationships handle it.
Just pack it up, send it out in the mail, and know that it is going to be FINE. Because this is what you're going to trust. You're going to trust that Ma Hunkel and the superhero community are committed to doing right by a comrade.
And I trust that more than gravity.
