Or is he?

Who is the Shadow?
The Shadow is a super hero. Who like many super heroes fights crime in New York City. Behind the mask of The Shadow is a young wealthy man known as Lamont Cranston, also known as Kent Allard.

The Shadow was originally the alter ego of Lamont Cranston, wealthy playboy whom at some stage in his life journeyed to the Orient where he learnt the power to cloud men's minds in that he had powerful mass hypnotic powers. On the radio this took the form of being able to appear invisible (which was handy for a radio show). This power was not used to any great extent in the pulp novels, where he relied more on his guns and his mastery of disguise...  Later on in the pulp novels it was revealed that in fact he was NOT Lamont Cranston, but in fact aviator Kent Allard whose plane crashed in the Orient, and that he took the disguise of Lamont Cranston... Even later on it was suggested that in fact the body of Kent Allard was found in the wreck of his plane in the Orient and that The Shadow was neither Lamont Cranston or Kent Allard!