What secret would cause the most damage in your world if found out?

For what I've built most so far, anything about Stephen Hammonds' real nature. Because the whole premise of him as a superhero is predicated on merchandising, marketing, and hostile takeovers of his benefactors' opposition, he creates his own supervillains to defeat. It'd not only destroy his reputation and most likely result in a disastrous breakdown, but it'd also dismantle his benefactor's organisation and therefore a significant amount of the region's employment due to just how deep their corruption runs. It'd most importantly shatter the reputations of every other superhero.

See, his benefactors may be (extreme) white-collar criminals, but they made head-work on supporting metahumans through supporting Hammonds. One of the two largest figureheads of the community being revealed as an arrogant man saving people from the destruction he himself enacts would not only irreparably damage views on powered individuals, but also return all superheroes to being seen as people playing self-serving angles.

/r/worldbuilding Thread