"And thanks for writing to us, Bruce. But the point we think you missed is . . . if Spidey (or any other hero with a secret identity) decided to share his secret with somebody, the danger does not lie in the fact that that person may spill the beans . . . but the fact that one more person's life is in jeopardy because of that knowledge. What we're trying to say is . . . if one guy has a secret, the responsibility is to himself only. If he shares that secret, he is putting that other guy's life in danger. So you see, Spidey's reasons are not motivated by fear of exposure, but fear for the life of somebody close to him! Clear enough, pal?"

I wouldn't want to be Bruce Banner in that type of situation, considering that the Hulk is, in fact, dangerous. Could lead to serious fear on the part of the public.

I preferred the pretense that Iron Man was merely one of Tony Stark's employees. It made him more "anonymous." 

At least Spider-Man's identity is still secret, as is Daredevil's.

But it's been part of the genre of comics for EIGHTY years. Maybe that's a tradition worth keeping... same as the one that heroes don't kill, although that one has changed a bit of eight decades, granted. (At the beginning, Superman and Batman were known to kill... and then they didn't.)

One of the biggest reasons for secret identities is that so few super heroes actually started out as their super selves. The exceptions are such as Superman, Thor, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the X-Men (all of whom have perfectly fine other reasons to have secret IDs.) 

I cannot think of very many heroes who gained powers without remarkable permanent  physical changes who decided to stop being the "selves" they had been for all of their lives. Maybe most of the Fantastic Four? But even they continued being Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and Johnny Storm - it just wasn't a secret. But Johnny was shown to try having a secret identity (which failed completely, granted.) 

But being Hal Jordan or Matt Murdock for twenty-odd years doesn't suddenly stop; those lives go on, regardless of other changes. To put it another way... your Aunt Maddy didn't change because she had to start using a wheelchair all the time. She was still Aunt Maddy, not "Wheelchair Woman."

If somebody like Green Arrow or Daredevil gets "outed," then stop wearing the restrictive mask!  But, preferably, all writers and editors should resist the temptation to "stir things up" by revealing the identity of the masked hero they are (temporarily) working on.

The cinematic Iron Man is the best example of this issue.  He outed himself at the end of the first movie--which seems to have led to his comic book counterpart doing the same--and then as early as IRON MAN III had his Malibu home destroyed by missiles, almost killing him, the woman he loves, and a bystander!

A smart super-hero, who regularly makes enemies of homicidal super-beings, should never reveal his identity--it's just not smart!

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Or he's an Inhuman.

Capes also are something shared by royals and supers.  Sort of blurs the line on these individuals who we raise up as better than "normal folk."