Hidden Capes: The Heroes Behind The Job

What if your greatest strength isn't what people see, but what they don't see? The superhero narratives we grew up watching on Saturday mornings weren't just entertaining cartoons—they were powerful metaphors for our adult lives.

Remember sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, watching X-Men or Superman save the day? These stories continue to resonate because they speak to something fundamental about the human experience: we all have unique gifts that often remain hidden beneath the surface of ordinary life. Like Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet, many of us move through professional environments where our full potential remains unseen or unacknowledged. We take directions from people who might be shocked if they knew our true capabilities and dreams.

What makes the Clark Kent/Superman analogy so compelling is that Clark was the real hero—not Superman. The restraint, patience, and wisdom required to know when to reveal your power and when to hold back is perhaps the greatest strength of all. As Maya Angelou wisely noted, "I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people." Heroism isn't about flashy demonstrations of ability; it's about consistent, intentional effort to improve conditions for yourself and others.

Your greatest superpower remains invisible to others: being authentically you. The thoughts you cultivate, the feelings you honor, and the actions you take—these shape your presence and impact. This isn't about grand, world-saving gestures. It's about bringing your unique talents into everyday situations, stepping out occasionally to demonstrate your capabilities before stepping back in. It's a dance of revelation and restraint that transforms environments through deliberate action and the courage to be seen.

Take a moment to reflect on the superheroes you connected with as a child. There's likely a meaningful connection between those characters and your own innate strengths. Purpose isn't something you find—it's something you do, consistently and intentionally. Join our community to discover how your human mess becomes the process that helps shape your purpose your way.

Chapters

• 0:00 Your Greatest Superpower
• 2:16 Saturday Morning Superhero Nostalgia
• 4:13 Why We Connect With Superheroes
• 9:22 The Clark Kent Superman Analogy
• 15:38 Showing Your Cape Occasionally
• 19:24 Being Your Own Superhero
• 23:37 Final Thoughts: Heroes Make Better Places

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Your greatest superpower is a power that people can't see or they don't know exists, and that is being you and using whatever talent and gift you've learned over the years or what you've come connected to, to bring that out once in a while and to go over it and put it into action, because we need you, I need you, the planet needs you, the planet needs you and, as Maya Angelou said, I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people. I'm Adrian Starks, known as Mr Purpose. I'm a speaker, voice narrator, comic card and superhero fanatic, book lover, martial artist, health enthusiast and just a fellow human seeking purpose. Join me and our guest as we navigate the chaotic journey of life, of what I like to call the human mess, to discover how we can craft and share our purpose. There's no single path, but together we'll explore the diverse perspectives to uncover the tools to help you shape your purpose your way. Let's get it and let's create. Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of your Purposeful Life, and, of course, I'm your host, adrian Starks, and let's get right into this here. Today we're going to talk about the Clark Kent Superman analogy, but I first want to talk about the power of superheroes in our lives. Yes, we think about superheroes for children, but superheroes are actually designed for adults. I mean, after all, they were created by adults.

Speaker 1: 1:36

I remember back in the day I'm an 80s child and we all knew what Saturdays meant, that Saturday morning of waking up, no responsibilities from school whatsoever, and all we had to do was crawl our butts into that living room, turn on that television and guess what? Our favorite cartoon would come on. And for me it was this, and we all knew what that was. That was X-Men. I got my boy Wolverine right here in the background representing and growing up as a child, that was something I looked forward to, and I'm sure our parents, my parents looked forward to it because it gave them a chance to sleep in and not be bothered. But we sat in that living room waiting for that favorite show to come on and we would sit there just immersed into it, waiting for breakfast to come around, and then eventually your parents, my parents, would say get your butt in the kitchen, it's time to eat. So that was like these Saturdays for us, and it brings a sense of nostalgia now about that and I don't know what the kids are doing these days. I don't have any kids, but I know a lot of them are spending time on their phones, on laptops, on tablets, and that's the way of the era right now. I mean, we're in the technological era of doing things, but that good old-fashioned sitting down in the living room and just listening to stuff, watching your favorite cartoon, that was where it was at.

Speaker 1: 3:04

And I want to talk today about the reason why I'm connected to superheroes, because I've always felt as a child that there was a part of me that felt I could do something great for the world, and this is why superheroes were designed. They were people who were considered to be, by society's standards, outcast or not wanted or not not welcomed, or they didn't fit in. But there was something about them, a purpose behind who they were actually, and that was brought out by someone or something, and what I mean by someone. With the X-Men, it was Professor Xavier. He created the school of the gifted that we call it, and I actually I'm going to go, I'm going to deviate here for a bit when I was in Canada, I actually visited the castle where they filmed that school. I'm not sure the exact place where it was. It was, oh, you know what Hold on. It was in Victoria, victoria, british Columbia, and I remember being there and I was so in awe of what I saw Every scene from that school. I could see it there taking place in front of me, and it was just so fun to do that. And I want to give a shout out to a special friend and her name is Katie. Thank you for taking me there during my birthday and I just want to just thank you for that. It was a really powerful gift that I'll never forget.

Speaker 1: 4:30

But with that being said, let's talk about the reason why Xavier brought these people together. It was because he knew there was something about them and he wanted to nourish that. He wanted to help them bring out that part of themselves and therefore the X-Men was developed and they were called mutants and they were basically an essence of all different walks of life different sizes, shapes, colors, attitudes, wolverine being one of those attitudes. He's very angry, very aggressive, but it was a reason for that. There's a backstory with him and I'll let you all figure that one out and look that up on your own. But Wolverine had a special place in this group because he was the strength, he was the aggressor, he was the initiator. It was kind of hard to get him under wraps with a team because he was kind of a lone wolf, but at the end of the day, he still needed to be a part of that group, although he didn't feel like he was a part of it.

Speaker 1: 5:31

And this ties into you. You have groups out here that think like you, that feel like you. They're experiencing things like you, and you are not alone in your quest for being purposeful in your life or navigating through the human mess as these superheroes have done, which is why I've loved them so much and use them in right now in my life as examples. You'll see also in the background here the Hulk. He was also another example of a superhero who learned to control his anger and use it for the good. It's a backstory about him, but I'm focusing on Marvel right now.

Speaker 1: 5:59

But let's move over into DC, because my DC people out there are going to say into DC, because my DC people out there are going to say, oh, he is so biased, I can't stand him. And I'm not biased, I like DC as well, but my favorite character out of DC wait for it it's Batman, but Batman for me everybody. Let me just tell you right now Batman, for me, was not really necessarily considered to be the superhero that people are, you know. They know superheroes for the magical powers that seem to be just extraordinary and out of this world. He was just this kid who had a background of a tragedy in his family and he grew up with a lot of money. And he grew up with a lot of money and, with that being said, he had sort of this revenge in the back of his head the whole entire time, but at the same time he also knew that he had to do something for the good.

Speaker 1: 6:51

So it was a mixture of being a vigilante, so to speak, and a superhero, which I think makes a lot of people confused about Batman, because that's why his image seems so dark. It's like he's not the person that's just out here to make the world a better place. He image seems so dark. It's like he's not the person that's just out here to make the world a better place. He's just trying to clean up the mess in the streets in Gotham and getting people the heck out of there. Pretty much is what he's doing, and on top of that he's like I'm going to clean up this mess, and while I'm doing that, I'm going to figure out the reason behind what happened to my parents, and that was something that really drove Batman. He had a purpose, and I'm going to keep saying that word here because it's what we have inside of us that drives us.

Speaker 1: 7:29

So today's topic is about superheroes and you being a superhero because you are one. You're a dedicated human being on this planet and I get it. You go through things and you get lost and you forget about the power of you and what you can accomplish. I have done this many times being back for me in the work world. I'm going to keep it 100 with you. I forget sometimes about what I'm capable of doing, and this reminds me of that when I'm doing my podcasting, when I'm playing the bass guitar, when I'm writing, when I'm reading something, when I'm exercising. It reminds me of the superpowers I have inside of me, and I want to remind you of those same superpowers that you have inside of you, that you can use for the better of your life.

Speaker 1: 8:15

I want to share a quote with you here from Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou, to me, superhero, and she said this I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people. I'm going to say that again. Maya Angelou said I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people. A better place for all people. Some of you right now may not feel like I don't want any grandiose vision of making this world a better place. I just want a better life each day and get through my day-to-day struggle. That's it. You can still do that. But you're also a hero because you everything, or that everything doesn't go your way doesn't mean that you're not significant. There have been times where I've felt very insignificant and people have reminded me how significant I am, and then I just come back to myself and saying, oh yeah, that's right. I'm here to remind you of that. There's a superhero inside of you, and I want to talk about a superhero that we can all follow behind, and that is Superman. And this is the Clark Kent Superman analogy I'm going to bring up today for you.

Speaker 1: 9:41

Speaking of DC, superman is the other person of DC that really was the driving factor for superheroes. On the DC side we had Superman, we have Batman sort of polar opposites of each other, but they still did what they came here to do. Superman was very interesting to me because he was the only superhero that we hear about that other than I'm going to say. Silver Surfer was another superhero of Marvel, one of my favorite ones, actually that came from a different planet of Marvel, one of my favorite ones, actually that came from a different planet.

Speaker 1: 10:15

Superman came from a different planet and came to the earth and he had to learn how to be human, how to blend in with humans, which was his superpower. He was born with being Superman. That was already there, but he had to come to earth and learn how to do something very different, that is, fly under the radar, that is, to not bring too much attention to himself and to blend in with his group. So he chose the Daily Planet of where to work because he loved photography, he loved doing reports, he loved being a reporter, loved doing reports, he loved being a reporter.

Speaker 1: 10:52

But here comes the catch being Clark Kent. He had to really take a lot of crap from people. That's his boss, that's Lois Lane, the woman that he fell in love with eventually. And there was another person too, I think his name was Jimmy. He was like the assistant to Lois, or he was like the assistant trying to come up in the echelons of command and he was trying to sort of like stand in the way of Clark Kent saying hey, I've been here before you, you're the new kid on the block, you get behind me. That sound familiar. When you're in the workplace you have people like that, you're moving up in the chains and you're doing the right thing. You got somebody say I've been here longer than you, so you just need to get behind me. Oh, my goodness, I have heard a lot of that in my lifetime and I'm sure you've heard that. And this is an example of don't let those words get into your mind and don't believe those words. You do, you, and you continue to be better each day.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Now let's get back to Clark Kent. He's in the Daily Planet and he's trying to find where he fits within this category of being human being Superman. And each day he's talking with his parents. They're telling him control yourself, don't use your superpowers unless you really really need to. And Clark's like well, there's just some days. I just want to use it, I can. Just they're like no, you have to be low key about this.

Speaker 1: 12:18

He had to really fall under the radar of being Clark Kent, and he had to take a lot of mess from people, but yet, at the end of the day, he knew what his purpose was. There was a purpose of being in the Daily Planet. It got him right in the center of all the things happening in the metropolitan area. He had access to Lex Luthor, he had access to other criminals, he had access to things that were happening that he could jump ahead of at some point and help. So it gave him another reason to be the person that he is, and that's what's important for us to know today that there's a Clark Kent inside of you.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Wherever you're working right now, wherever you are in your community and in your life, there's a superpower that you have access to, but you may not need to use it every single day, but don't forget that you have it and don't let people make you feel like you don't mean anything, because you are a hero in your own right. And just because you work for somebody or just because you may have people around you that may know more than you or may have more experience than you, doesn't make you less than. And when you're having a tough week which we all do we have those days where we're like I ain't going in today, I ain't got time to deal with this mess today. I'm not going to deal with this person today. They're not going to get on my nerves, they're not going to take my energy away. I done had a great weekend. I ain't doing it on no Monday, come on, I'm just being real. You know you feel that way sometimes and there's some days you're like, well, hey, you know what, I'm not coming in on Friday, they're not going to mess with my weekend. So that's okay to feel that way. It's all right to protect your energy.

Speaker 1: 14:07

But you have a Clark Kent inside of you and sometimes you know people don't see your cape, they don't see what you're capable of, they don't know what you're capable of and they'll talk to you like you're just someone beneath them. Let them talk. Create a healthy boundary. There's words that you can say, that can let people know that, hey, I'm not the one. This is not happening right now. I'm not going to go through this with you and this is just not work. This could be home. This is not happening right now. I'm not going to go through this with you and this is just not work. This could be home, this could be in friendships, this could be in relationships.

Speaker 1: 14:38

Sometimes you got to let that cape come out of the backside a little bit. Let them see what's up. Let them see that, hey, there's a lot to me than what the casual eye can see, and that's why I really love the Clark Kent Superman analogy because it wasn't Superman who was the hero, it was Clark Kent. Because Clark Kent had to be responsible enough to know that he doesn't need to let everyone know who Superman is. You know how hard that is, walking around knowing that you're Superman and having people talk to you like you're just some person off the street. You know how hard that would be. So when you're feeling a certain way and you're feeling like man, I just can't take this. It's because you have that superhero inside of you that's screaming out, and in order to feed that superhero, you have to have some purposeful living, something that you do outside of the things that you need to do. That can. When we have that part of us that allows us to be able to not just save the world but save ourselves, it can make things a lot better for us, and you are in a daily planet called your work, your life, and every now and then it is okay to just let people see that cake. Maybe do a little something. To just let people see that cake, maybe do a little something.

Speaker 1: 16:20

I remember there was an episode on the Lois and Clark Adventures. That's a great series, by the way. It was starring Dean Cain and Terry Hatcher, I believe. Hopefully I'm saying her last name correctly, or if it may be a different last name now, I don't know, but those two were my favorite characters. I had the biggest crush on Terry too. Wow, she was gorgeous Still is but that show itself really depicted Clark Kent in a very unique way, and there was an episode where he didn't even have to put on this cape. He just said you know what, screw this. And he did some laser beam thing to fix something, and it was kind of like that situation where he didn't really have to do that, but he did it anyway because it was something that he felt like this is going to get addressed a lot faster this way and no one saw it right.

Speaker 1: 17:14

Every now and then, it's okay to show your stuff. Don't hide behind what you have. You know your abilities. Every now and then, it's okay to show your stuff. Don't hide behind what you have. You know your abilities. Every now and then you're going to have to, you know, maybe show something that's powerful about you. And this can come up in a conversation, telling your supervisor, your boss, what you want, asking for more, asking for more opportunities. This can be that relationship where you're tired of being walked over like a doormat. You just say you know what. I am lifting this doormat up and I'm going to throw it away. That's a superpower, too, of understanding your self-worth.

Speaker 1: 17:48

Another superpower is your creativity. A lot of you have creativity inside of you. You're born with it. It's just that over time we lose that. Earlier in this segment I talked about growing up as kids on a Saturday morning and watching cartoons and letting our imagination fly. But when we become adults we lose that. We start thinking that we got to be serious and yes, we have to be serious about our responsibilities in life but that child inside of you called the creative process. It never goes away. It just gets buried and we have to find a way to resurrect that part of us. You have to start dating yourself, learning more about yourself. There's a lot of people out here you're so curious to learn more about other people than you are yourselves. I have been this way. I've been so dedicated in my younger process of life to know more about the person I was talking to, and dating to the point to where I lost myself. In those situations, I lost my superpower, that is, my personal power of being me, and I had to save myself. I had to become my own superhero in order to get that self back to where I am today.

Speaker 1: 19:00

And you have a superhero inside of you, and this is not just something to make you feel good. This is something to wake you up a little bit, because I'm going to just say this there are a lot of things going on right now, a lot of things happening, and we can get lost in it. There's too much information swarming around us and we're consuming the wrong information. That's causing us to go into a fear state of not being able to take control of our own personal lives, and you lose your superhero that way. Clark Kent knew he was Superman even when people didn't, and I'm telling you that you have to realize who you are and who you are becoming and who you will be. Your thoughts are everything, feelings are everything, and your actions reflect those thoughts and feelings, and your actions change your presence in your environment. Think about every superhero that you've come to enjoy growing up. Write those down, who were the superheroes that you gravitated towards and why, and then you'll start realizing that wait a minute there is a connection between me and this superhero, and that will give you some reassurance of what your capabilities are on this planet.

Speaker 1: 20:15

It's okay to enjoy the things that we enjoyed as kids and if someone tells you, hey, you know what you're too grown for that, say you know what I'm too grown for you, because obviously you have a very limited way of thinking. Children have a very wide range of thinking. That's why they're unstoppable and fearless, but as adults, we learn that there's certain things that we have to be mindful of. But getting back to the situation of allowing yourself to enjoy your life, to be your own superhero, to figure out what your special powers are and to start exercising those in your environment, start exercising those in your workplace. Start exercising those in your workplace, start exercising those in your relationships and you'll come to find out that, whoa, I am powerful and, just like Clark Kent, you can blend in.

Speaker 1: 21:09

But there's a point in time where you got to step out. You have to show people what you're all about, show the world what you're about and then step back in. It's like a dance Step in, step out, step in, step out, because your greatest superpower is a power that people can't see. That's where I'm getting at here. Your greatest superpower is a power that people can't see or they don't know exists, and that is being. You can't see or they don't know exists. And that is being you and using whatever talent and gift you've learned over the years or what you've come connected to, to bring that out once in a while and to go over it and put it into action, because we need you, I need you, the planet needs you and, as Maya Angelou said, I'm going to end on this quote again. And as Maya Angelou said, I'm going to end on this quote again I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people. By you being here, you're making this world a better place. By you doing what you came here to do and being purposeful about that, you make the world an even better place, and purpose is not something you find, it's something that you do.

Speaker 1: 22:26

Have an incredible week, everyone. Thank you for listening to your Purposeful Life and I'm your host, adrian Starks. Download this podcast on your platform of choice. Join me on my social media channels and be a part of the your Purposeful Life community. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and hit that like button. With a purpose, come on now. Remember, your human mess is the process. Let's help you shape your purpose your way.