In alphabetical order....
Angelo Bend, Angle Man
I wonder if he's from a certain town in Oregon?
Dr. Charles McNider, Doctor Mid-Nite
I wonder if there's any reason he didn't start calling himself Dr. Midnighter? Maybe that would have tipped off the bad guys a bit too much? Although that didn't stop a certain atomic captain....
Elizabeth "Libby" Belle, Liberty Belle
...That's about it.
Elsie Dee
(LCD) She's a robot girl.
Frank Einstein, Madman
He was brought back to life.
Jack Russell, Werewolf-by-Night
Not "Terrier-by-Night."
Jubilation Lee, Jubilee
Not exactly a pun, but an appropriate name, considering her firework powers and code name.
Julio Richter, Rictor
A guy with the name "Richter" with earthquake powers. As J. Jonah Jameson once said, "What are the odds?"
King Faraday
According to his backstory, his dad was fully aware of the pun.
Norrin Radd, Silver Surfer
Maybe? "Radd"... like, as in "rad"? Because surfer? Was "rad" slang in the 60's?
Roy G. Bivalo, Rainbow Raider
To everybody who ever joked "Who the heck is this Roy G. Biv guy?", this is Roy G. Biv.
T. O. Morrow
He creates tomorrow's inventions today! As well as T. O. Morrow's inventions.
William I. Zard, the Wizard
Again, that's about it.
And without further ado, the Top Ten!
10: Any Funny Animal Parody Superhero
Even from the heyday of Daffy Duck, the names of animal parody Superheroes have been amusing (to me, at least). Duck Twacy, Stuporduck, that's just two of many. Particularly, Marvel and DC's self-parodies, the Justice Barn and the Spider-Ham universe.
I mean, get a load of some of these names:
- Supermanatee
- Captain Americat
- SHAZ-HAM
- Ducktor Doom
- Wonder Wombat
- Iron Mandrill
9: Vanisher Ah, the Vanisher. A two-bit, low-rent gimmick villain with only one trick: teleporting. This character's real name? Telford Porter.
Telford "Telly" Porter.
Yeah. I love how brazen it is. I don't know if this is Stan Lee not giving a crap, just having a bit of fun, or both, but you have to admire a writer who creates a guy named "Telly Porter" and expects them to carry an issue as the main villain.
8: Damian Wayne The fourth (or fifth?) Robin, Damian Wayne is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul of the League of Assassins, who is herself the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, the former leader.
Ra's al Ghul is... um, some language I don't know, but it roughly translates to "The Head of the Demon."
Damian. Demon. Demon's Head.
Yeah. Again, I appreciate how brazen this is. Telford Porter is a creation of the 60's, but Damian was created just a few years ago. Before Batman's son became an official part of DC continuity, he was referred to in alternate universe stories as Ibn al Xuffasch. (Son of the Bat) Now, they just come right out and call him Damian Wayne. Gotta love when comic companies try to get away with this, eh? Actually, I do like it when they can succeed at this sort of thing.
7: Nathaniel/Allen Adam Thanks to an atomic incident, Captain Adam became the glowing guardian of good, Captain Atom. Say them quickly, and there's no audible difference between the two.
How could anyone ever keep a secret identity when your code name sounds exactly like your real name? Captain Atom decided to call himself "Cameron Scott," that's how.
...As a civilian. "Cameron Scott" is a terrible superhero name.
6: Mr. Miracle Mister Miracle, a creation of comic legend Jack Kirby and one of the New Gods, is the world's greatest escape artist, and was a child slave on Apokalips, which explains why he got good at escaping. His keeper, an evil old hag named Granny Goodness, christened this constantly-escaping child...
Scott Free.
And yes, it was supposed to be an ironic pun in-universe. And that's why this unsubtle name is all the way up at number 6, it's actually acknowledged in the comics themselves, unlike Telly Porter.
...Why do I keep coming back to that one?
5: Batman Villains
Sometimes, it seems like a punny name is a prerequisite for being a Batman villain.
Case in point:
Mary Louise Dahl, Baby Doll
A former child actress with a disorder that keeps her looking like a child.
Deever & Dumfrey Tweed, Tweedledee & Tweedledum
Yet more Alice in Wonderland-obsessed people.
Victor Fries, Mr. Freeze
It'd be ironic if "Fries" were pronounced the same way as "french fries," rather than being a homonym for "freeze."
Temple Fugate, Clock King
A pun on "tempus fugit," or "time flies."
Humphrey Dumpler, Humpty Dumpty
When you name your son "Humphrey Dumpler," you're just asking the other kids to start calling him "Humpty Dumpty" at school.
Roscoe Chiara, the Black & White Bandit
A pun on "chiaroscuro," an art technique.
Edward (E) Nygma, the Riddler
Legally changed from Edward Nashton.
Julian Gregory Day, Calendar Man
A pun on the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
Harleen Quinzel, Harley Quinn
A pun on "harlequin," which the Joker notices right away.
Speaking of him, let's talk about his aliases.
No backstory's been officially given, but in the Tim Burton film, they gave him the original name of "Jack Napier," a pun on "jack-a-napes." Not only that, he likes to give himself punny disguises in the comics, including "Joe Kerr."
Why am I putting all of these at number five? Because the puns are inconsistent at best. Some are great, some are "meh." They average out as... well, average.
4: Kite-Man I'm going to admit right off the bat that I don't think this is actually a "pun," per se, but I appreciate the wordplay.
Kite-Man is a D-list joke of a villain who uses kites as a gimmick (what a shock). His real name?
Charles Brown.
If you don't get the joke yet, allow me to show you this image.
If you still don't get the joke, you probably never had a childhood. I don't know about you, but I appreciate the reference,and it's my list.
3: The Vell Family Both Marvel and DC own characters with the "Captain Marvel" identity.
Marvel's first character with the title was actually and alien with the name of
"Captain Mar-Vell."
Cute. Got a whole Captain Adam/Atom thing going.
But that's not all, he had a son named Genis-Vell, and a daughter named Phyla-Vell. If you don't get it yet, you probably aren't a sciencey person. Let's just say I eagerly await a son of Phyla's by the name of Ordus.
2: Magneto Our last "sophisticated" pun, let's get to Magneto. Originally, he was called "Magnus" by his pals.
So that's kind of punny, even though Magnus means "strong," and actually has nothing to do with magnets. Later, he was given the secret identity of Erik Lenscherr, and this is what was used in the movies. But in the comics, his true name was eventually revealed as Max Eisenhardt. If you don't speak German, that's Max "Iron-Strong." If you don't speak Latin either, that's "Greatest Iron-Strong." A perfect name for a master of magnetism, right? This one goes so high up because it's both subtle and blatant. The only one more subtle and more blatant is number one.
1: The Spot Now, his name's not Tim Spot, or Blake Hall, or anything. It's better.
Johnathon Ohnn was a scientist, who was trying to duplicate the teleportation abilities of the Dark Dimension. Instead, he opened a hole to a weird universe of half-light, and half darkness. Eventually, he gained control of these dark holes, and uses his wormhole powers to commit crimes as the Spot!
Have you figured it out yet? He's quite literally...
Johnny Ohnn, the Spot.
And that's why it's at number 1 for me. Because it's perfectly innocuous, until you say his real name with his code name. I only realized this pun earlier this year, and I facepalmed right then and there. The 15-year delay I had in getting the pun makes this one of the sneakiest puns I've ever encountered, because they never actually outright say "Johnny-on-the-spot."
Well, that's the end of my list, and the end of this particular brand of nonsense!
See you next time for another brand of nonsense!
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