The Scarlet Pimpernel

Honestly if you haven't heard of it yet...your fucking lazy. These books (15 in all) was released between 1912 to 1923 by Baroness Orczy. There have been loads of plays, and tv shows and movies spanning from the 1930s to just recently in 2000 staring Richard E Grant

Now the reason why I'm bringing it up is because most people haven't figured it out yet. So I'll draw it out for you.
This man (Sir Percy Blakeney) Has been saving people during the Frech Revolution mostly Aristocrats from having there heads chopped off. But only if they deserved to be saved. (Before you read the book...no its not a real or true story even though it is very believable.) He does so in disguise. No one knows its him and he's a master at it. The enemy has never known what the true identity is...until his wife spilled the beans not knowing his identity herself.

Sound familiar...well sort of...the whole idea of having a secret identity was spawned from this very book. If this book hadn't been created there wouldn't be a Zorro, or a Batman. So there ya go...thats my bit of randomness for the day :D