Top 10 Superhero Nicknames
10 Wheels (Charles Xavier) If there’s one thing that Marvel films have
successfully done, it’s poke fun at their characters. And while the X-Men franchise
hasn’t been a part of the MCU due to the whole Fox-owning-the-rights-debacle, they’ve
still managed to insert a sense of humour into their characters. Established in the
very first X-Men film by Hugh Jackman’s wolverine, this nickname for Charles Xavier
is one part accurate, one part mockingly cruel. After meeting the Professor, Wolverine mockingly
asks “what do they call you, Wheels?” Fun fact though, the line in the film’s
script was actually supposed to be Baldie, but Hugh Jackman just improvised on the day.
9 Scarlet Speedster While a lot of these heroes on this list have
pretty interesting or comical stories when it comes to how and when they received their
nicknames, the Flash’s is a little, well, more straight forward. He’s a speedster.
Who wears scarlet. Put em together, and you have scarlet speedster. It’s worth noting
that this nickname is more so synonymous with Barry Allen and even Wally West. Jay Garrick
wore red too, but his costume was very derivative of the time he was created in, rather than
Barry Allen’s sci-fi inspired threads.
8 Stretchable Sleuth Keeping up with the alliteration here, the
stretchable sleuth is the nickname of DC’s Elongated Man. When the character was first
introduced in 1960, he quickly became known for his great sense of humour, his stretchy
abilities, and for being one of the world’s greatest detectives. Of course, the title
of the world’s greatest detective belongs to another famous DC superhero.
7 Big Red Cheese Shazam is one of the only golden age heroes
who has powers that let’s him hold his own against the likes of Superman, and many other
heroes who are thought of as superior. But here’s the thing - Shazam’s character
has had always gotten the short end of the stick, and his nickname, the big red cheese,
could be one of the reasons why. Long story short, Shazam is a kid named Billy Batson
whose lured into an abandoned train station and ends up gaining powers from a wizard.
We actually talk a bit about his story in some of our older videos on this channel,
like the top 10 origins stories. Worth a watch. Anyway, back in one of his early appearances
in Whiz Comics #2, he’s given the epithet of the big red cheese by his arch nemesis
Doctor Sivana, which exemplifies the characters highly criticized ‘cheesiness’.
6 Boy Wonder The world’s most famous superhero sidekick,
Robin, is widely known as the boy wonder. But when did that name come to be? Well, turns
out it was part of his conception, with him being called Robin the Boy Wonder in his very
first appearance in Detective Comics #38. Robin the Boy Wonder and the medieval-esque
look of his costume were inspired by the film The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol
Flynn. Later, instead of Robin Hood, his costume would be aesthetically inspired by the ‘robin
bird’, with his iconography following suit.
5 Ripley from Alien 3/Sinead O’Connor (Negasonic) Leave it to Deadpool to really be creative
when it comes to hilarious nicknames. At least, ones that are hilarious to us, but are a nuisance
to the characters who interact with them. So of course, he doesn’t disappoint in his
own self titled feature film when he encounters a young member of the X-Men, Negasonic. Or
rather, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, who, in the comics, is a pretty obscure character.
In the film, she’s accompanying Colossus as a trainee. So how does Deadpool react to
her presence when the two interrupt him from getting his revenge on the film’s villain?
4 Legolas (Hawkeye) Popularized by The Avengers film, poor Clint
Barton has to deal with one of the sillier nicknames out there. Legolas, the elvish archer
character played by Orlando Bloom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. These of course aren’t
the only annoying nicknames Hawkeye has to deal with. As we see with one interaction
he has with Deadpool, the latter character tosses out a series of names at him, all of
which Clint is no stranger too, much to Deadpool’s dismay. Hunger Games. The Girl from Brave.
Ah, the joys of being an archer.
3 Merc with a Mouth If it wasn’t already obvious from a handful
of our previous numbers, Deadpool’s got a mouth on him. So much so that people have
started to refer to him by this trait. The logic behind it is pretty straightforward
too. Deadpool famously never stops talking, so much so that he even breaks the fourth
wall. He’s also a merc, so, you know, there’s that. But the reason why Deadpool’s nickname
gets him a spot at number three is not just because it’s incredibly apt, but also because
of it’s popularity.
2 The Dark Knight In the early days, Batman was synonymous with
the dark - in the panels of the first telling of his origin story, he’s referred to as
an ‘eerie figure of the night’, and a ‘weird figure of the dark’. Due to his
watchful nature and his moral code of ethics, the word Knight was adopted, and the two combined
during the bronze age. While many assume that Frank Miller was the one who coined the term
with the Dark Knight Returns, the first appearance of the nickname is believed to be in the limited
series The Untold Legend of the Batman from 1980, with writer Len Wein using it casually
in narration. Prior to this, he was commonly referred to as the caped crusader, the masked
manhunter and even the Gotham Gangbuster.
1 The Man of Steel Ending off our list with another iconic nickname,
Superman’s man of steel feels as if it’s been around just as long as he has. Which
is actually almost true. Man of Steel debuted in Action Comics #7, in 1938, during the first
year that Superman appeared on comic book stands. The nickname appeared in narration
as Superman was flying out of his apartment window. Interestingly enough, shortly after
that, he would earn another nickname that - although isn’t as common these days - had
a similar ring to man of steel. During the New York World fair of 1939 which had the
slogan “the world of tomorrow”, DC released a comic tie in, which included a superman
story that ended with a cheeky little tagline calling him the ‘man of tomorrow’. Which
stuck.
There we have it friends! Which of these is your favourite nickname? Were there any you
hadn’t heard of before? And, most importantly, what’s your superhero nickname? Let us know
in those comments below! As always, please show us some love if you liked this video
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