Who's to say he received this new spell during a time when he could read his spellbook? His superhero spell could have modified when his identity was revealed, not because of some contingency planned into the spell, but because his identity was revealed against his will.

Narratively I'd say it's 50/50 that Elliot was routinely reading his spellbook. Not reading his spellbook would be a decent catalyst for character growth, on the other hand it'd be funny having him reading his spellbook only for it to be completely ineffectual.