The Occasional Solipsist

I just came across an article on the worst superhero names across the Marvel and DC pantheons, and had to chime in with my two cents.

The article itself is tellingly short; mine would have been a lot longer. I love comics and superheroes, but lets be honest here: Over 80 years of comics has given the world some seriously bad superheroes to champion. One would think that the worst of them would be more recent, as writers run out of names, but that isn't necessarily the case.

Here's the original article, and here are some of the ones I would have went with:

Mr. Fantastic (Marvel) Yes I know that he's from the Fantastic Four, but that does not exempt him one bit. I've always thought this to be the least awe-inspiring superhero name going, and add that to his lame-as-hell stretching powers, and you've got the top of my list.

UltraMan (Marvel) No points for originality here either. Other ways they could have gone and made the same bland impact: GreatMan and SpectacularMan.

Toxic Avenger (Marvel) Proof that terrible character begets equally terrible movie adaptation.

Giant-Size Man-Thing (Marvel) Too. Much. Double. Entendre. Must... Move.... On.

Matter-Eater Lad (DC) Just try not devolving into juvenile giggles with this one.

Ferro Lad (DC) Ferro Lad? Apparently this guy had the power to transform into living metal, I guess a la the X-Men's Colossus. But Colossus is a cool name and Ferro Lad sounds like some wannabe that works at a travelling carnival. Ergo he makes the list.

Captain Victory (Pacific) With names like this, its easy to see why you've never heard of this publisher before

Hourman (DC) Combine a superhero popping vitamins and using a catchphrase of "His power grows by the hour", and this might just be the lamest one going.

Labels: comics