Attending to basic questions may yield a fresh perspective on the Synoptic ‘Son of Man’. How does the term function, for example, in the narrative logic of Mark's Gospel? The paper argues that: ‘the Son of Man’ serves essentially as a paradoxical incognito. It belongs to a whole pattern of speech that the Markan Jesus employs to resist disclosure of his identity as ‘the Son of God’. And it allows Jesus – a systematic theologian might say – to conceal his person while he reveals his work. If valid, this literary-critical result is not without implication for our historical understanding of the term.