History Main / DarkAgeOfSupernames

** During the ''X-Force'' title, a Morlock named Thornn, with feral powers, joined the team, then defected.

* Adam X the X-treme, Hellion, Warpath, Rage, Warstar, Kill Power, Onyxx, Thornn, Darkdevil, Warbird...

** Badrock was initially called a more mild name, "Bedrock," whose CatchPhrase was "Yabba Dabba Doom!" Lawyers from a [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones certain Stone Age town]] resulted in Liefeld and his studio renaming him Badrock, thus invoking this trope.

* Syndrome, the BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' was almost certainly named to evoke this kind of effect, in contrast to UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} naming of the heroes and even other villains like Bomb Voyage or The Underminer.

** In the Hitman Annual, it was mentioned that ''all'' of the Bloodlines-created supers except Hitman had been killed in less than two years. (As Franchise/TheFlash put it, "There's more to this business than putting on a costume and going out to 'be super'.")

* ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} celebrated his own ongoing series by moving to a town named [[HeavyMetalUmlaut Blüdhaven]]. It was described as being close to Gotham (the Bat-Family frequently guest-starred in each other's comics), but was also described unambiguously as more crime-ridden and corrupt than Gotham, although 50+ years of comics never saw Batman so much as chase a purse-snatcher there. Eventually the whole city got destroyed during the ''Comicbook/InfiniteCrisis'' crossover event.

* [[ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} Deathstroke the Terminator]]. A good example of a character managing to stay top-tier despite a name that seems hilariously over the top today. It's probably for the best [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans the cartoon]] stuck with "Slade." Apparently, his name wasn't intended to be quite that bad: in his first battle with the Titans, he was called only Deathstroke to a certain point, and then called only Terminator as if he'd been called that all along. Apparently something went wrong at the editing stage. This was {{handwave}}d by saying his full handle was "Deathstroke the Terminator." You'd think they'd have dropped one name or the other by this point (especially with ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' giving them the opportunity to say that in the [[CosmicRetcon new combined reality]], he'd never been called anything but Deathstroke), but for whatever reason, the over-the-top name stuck. What's even weirder is that DC barely uses Terminator in his full name for [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} obvious reasons]] (despite the character debuting before the movie). But, for some reason, they use it just often enough so people never forget that it was his original name all along.

* Although a mild example, [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Arsenal]] counts. Notably, he started off as "Speedy" when he was a KidSidekick, then became "Arsenal," switched to "Red Arrow" when he joined the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, and then switched back to "Arsenal" when he went DarkerAndEdgier. However, one of the reasons behind Roy's name change was that Arsenal represented that he used other weapons besides a bow, and later, he mastered a form of martial arts that allows him to use anything as a weapon. After the loss of his arm and the death of his daughter Lian in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'', his change back to Arsenal was followed by him completely dropping the bow (his badly designed prosthetic made it unable for him to use a bow like he used to) and switching to knives and some sort of staff on his back.

* ''Comicbook/TheSavageDragon'' supporting character [=KillCat=] is a parody of this sort of thing -- not that it stopped some writers from having him play the NinetiesAntiHero completely straight, though.

** Later, after being separated from the Venom symbiote, Eddie Brock would obtain another symbiote known as Anti-Venom, born of the remnants of the Venom symbiote in Brock's body and his white blood cells with some help from [[ComicBook/BrandNewDay Mister Negative]]. After losing Anti-Venom at the end of ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland'', Brock then is bonded to the Toxin symbiote for a time.
** There has also been [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiote_(comics)#Other_symbiote_characters a host of other, lesser symbiotes]] that have appeared in various Spider-Man and Venom-related books, including Dreadface (a symbiote with MindControl powers encountered by the ComicBook/FantasticFour), the five symbiotes spawned from Venom by the Life Foundation (named Scream, Phage, Agony, Riot, and Lasher), Hybrid (a merger of the aforementioned Life Foundation symbiotes sans Scream), and Scorn (a piece of the Carnage symbiote recovered after its apparent demise at the hands of ComicBook/TheSentry). Like Toxin, several of them are heroic in nature, but they have a habit of being used as CListFodder to advance the plotlines of the "main" symbiotes.
* Night Thrasher (of ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'' fame). Whose name came from his [[FadSuper advanced weaponized]] ''[[FadSuper skateboard]]'', thank you very much. Franchise/SpiderMan once lampshaded this. While fighting alongside Night Thrasher and ComicBook/ThePunisher, he responded to their insults to his name with "Oh please! Insults from someone who sounds like he has naughty nighttime dreams and another who sounds like he wants to spank people?!"

* Probably as a reference to the Dark Age of Supernames is Speedball, who changed his name to Penance supposedly to become "deep" and to escape his comedy-character background, because of the [[ComicBook/CivilWar Stamford incident]]. His cat Niels is renamed "P-cat the Penitent Puss" (although while Penance himself was originally intended to be played straight, at least until they realised [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks it wasn't working]], "P-cat" was introduced in a ComicBook/SquirrelGirl story which absolutely ''took the piss'' out of the whole {{Wangst}}y fiasco). He has since gone back to Speedball, and Niels now goes by the moniker "Hairball" in his adventures with the ComicBook/PetAvengers.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain Holocaust is notable for having ''too'' dark a name. When toy company [=ToyBiz=] made an action figure of him, they changed it to the less genocidal Dark Nemesis. This carried over to the comics with a name change to Nemesis. They later switched him back to Holocaust just in time for him to be snorted to death by an evil SupermanSubstitute. Holocaust was originally known as Nemesis prior to the events of ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse''. When ComicBook/{{Magneto}} ripped him apart for killing ComicBook/ScarletWitch, he got a new name after coming back.
* ComicBook/{{Darkhawk}} had an obvious dark age name that sounds rather generic now.

* ''ComicBook/WildCATSWildStorm'':

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/{{Deathmate}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathmate.png]]]]

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/{{Deathmate}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DeathMate.jpg]]]]

** Later, after being separated from the Venon symbiote, Eddie Brock would obtain another symbiote known as Anti-Venom, born of the remnants of the Venom symbiote in Brock's body and his white blood cells with some help from [[ComicBook/BrandNewDay Mister Negative]]. After losing Anti-Venom at the end of ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland'', Brock then is bonded to the Toxin symbiote for a time.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Drifter, the main character of an early [=G4TV=] show called ''Portal'' that took place inside of [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMOs]].
[[/folder]]

See also FadSuper. Contrast TheAdjectivalSuperhero. May prove to be an AtrociousAlias - either in their time if they seem overblown or ridiculous, or later as trends change - and as such can end up as a DorkAge for the character who once bore such a name.

** This trend towards DorkAge names is mocked by the official Transformers wiki as [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Blastification "Blastification"]], which came about almost entirely because toy copyright laws are messy and hard to grasp.

* Website/{{Cracked}} compiled a list of [[http://www.cracked.com/article_14982_9-manliest-names-in-world.html the 9 manliest names in the world.]] It includes Powers Boothe, Stirling Mortlock and Staff Sgt. Max Fightmaster (whom has since been promoted to Sgt. First Class Max Fightmaster).

* ''So many'' ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' names, for [[DarkerAndEdgier understandable reasons]]. Ragnar Blackmane, Night Haunter (real name Konrad Kurze), Doomrider, Huron Blackheart, etc. Ragnar's case even more so, as he comes from a Viking-Age Norse type culture fond of sobriquets and the name itself is a double reference to both his black hair and beard, and the fact that he killed a black Fenrisian wolf as a Neophyte and wears it's pelt.
* In the ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' setting "Freedom City," the "Iron Age" of the 1980s involved the criminalization of super-heroics in Freedom City. Enter FORCE Ops ('''F'''reelance '''Or'''ganization of '''C'''riminal '''E'''limination '''Op'''eratives), a bad-ass team of heroes fighting a no-holds-barred battle against crime AND the authoritarian government. Members include: Kismet, a mysterious mercenary; Network, an elite hacker turned into pure energy; and Nightrage, a super-heroic vampire.

* According to the [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Fiendish Codex II]] the Hellbred race follow this trope. When one comes BackFromTheDead as one they keep their first name, but replace the last with something more infernal. Though, as an entire species of [[TheAtoner Atoners]] they're definitely [[DarkIsNotEvil good]] examples.
* Most of the villains (and more than few of the heroes) in the ''Dark TabletopGame/{{Champions}}''. Of course, the intent of this game was to simulate this genre of comics, so it's entirely fitting.

* ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} celebrated his own ongoing series by moving to a town named [[HeavyMetalUmlaut Blüdhaven]]. It was described as being close to Gotham (the Bat-Family frequently guest-starred in each other's comics), but was also described unambiguously as [[UpToEleven more crime-ridden and corrupt than Gotham]], although 50+ years of comics never saw Batman so much as chase a purse-snatcher there. Eventually the whole city got destroyed during the ''Comicbook/InfiniteCrisis'' crossover event.

* ''So many'' ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' names, for [[DarkerAndEdgier understandable]] [[UpToEleven reasons]]. Ragnar Blackmane, Night Haunter (real name Konrad Kurze), Doomrider, Huron Blackheart, etc. Ragnar's case even more so, as he comes from a Viking-Age Norse type culture fond of sobriquets and the name itself is a double reference to both his black hair and beard, and the fact that he killed a black Fenrisian wolf as a Neophyte and wears it's pelt.

* [[ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} Deathstroke the Terminator]]. A good example of a character managing to stay top-tier despite a name that seems hilariously over the top today. It's probably for the best [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans the cartoon]] stuck with "Slade." Apparently, his name wasn't intended to be quite that bad: in his first battle with the Titans, he was called only Deathstroke to a certain point, and then called only Terminator as if he'd been called that all along. Apparently something went wrong at the editing stage. This was {{handwave}}d by saying his full handle was "Deathstroke the Terminator." You'd think they'd have dropped one name or the other by this point (especially with ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' giving them the opportunity to say that in the [[CosmicRetcon new combined reality]], he'd never been called anything but Deathstroke), but for whatever reason, the over-the-top name stuck. What's even weirder is that DC barely uses his Terminator in his full name for [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} obvious reasons]] (despite the character debuting before the movie). But, for some reason, they use it just often enough so people never forget that it was his original name all along.

* Some [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-life_superhero Real Life Superheroes]] have names like Razorhawk, Insignis, Ghost, Ha!, Oni, and Silver Dragon (making up a team called the Black Monday Society); there's also Dark Guardian, Mr. Xtreme, Phantom Zero, Crimson Fist, Geist, Shadow Hare, Mr Ravenblade, Lucid, Catastrophe, and Death's Head Moth.

[[quoteright:289:[[ComicBook/{{Deathmate}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DeathMate.jpg]]]]

Part of UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|OfComicBooks}} of {{Super Hero}}es involved making not only their [[NinetiesAntiHero appearance, morality, and demeanor]] DarkerAndEdgier, but also their names. Heroes born during the nineties ditched the SomethingPerson NamingConventions and took a page from NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast, using names both scary and trite.

** One of the Good Ol' Boys is [[SpellMyNameWithAThe very insistent]] on people using his full codename, "The Man Called Vengeance". [[TheNicknamer Fantastico]] generally calls his 'Vengie' or just 'Larry', much to Larry's consternation.

See also FadSuper. Contrast TheAdjectivalSuperhero. May prove to be an AtrociousAlias - either in their time if they seem overblown or ridiculous, or later as trends change - and as such May end up as a DorkAge for the character who once bore such a name.

See also FadSuper. Contrast TheAdjectivalSuperhero.

* A lot of the Bad Seeds (children of supervillains) at SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse: Render, Thrasher, She-Beast, Techno-Devil, Damien Faust...

** Give a set of empowered teenagers the chance to name themselves and it's pretty much inevitable that some of them would choose names like these. It is surprising that more don't, really.

* The short-lived Marvel UK sub-universe had the ComicBook/{{Warheads}}, ComicBook/MotormouthAndKillpower, Comicbook/DeathsHead, Death Metal, Death Wreck (the last three versions of the same character), Hell's Angel (later Dark Angel, following a lawsuit by [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Hell's Angels]]) and Genetix. Oh, and a number of these appeared in a comic called ''Overkill''.

* Deathblow. His old teammates from Stormwatch include Hellstrike and Backlash; The original ''Stormwatch'' was surprisingly light on this in general -- unless you count "single normal word" types like Fuji, Winter, and Synergy.

* A couple years before Marvel used the name, Creator/MilestoneComics also had a villain named Holocaust. He even had his own miniseries, ''My Name Is Holocaust'', which indeed it was... until it wasn't. For reasons not entirely clear (InUniverse, Comicbook/{{Static}} surmises "Someone just got around to seeing ''Film/SchindlersList''"), Holocaust changed his name to "Pyre". (Perhaps, as with the Marvel example, the name was just ''too'' dark?) In 2010, however, Holocaust turned up again in ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'', using his original name.

* The short-lived Marvel UK sub-universe had the ''ComicBook/{{Warheads}}'',''ComicBook/MotormouthAndKillpower'', Comicbook/DeathsHead, Death Metal, Death Wreck (the last three versions of the same character), Hell's Angel (later Dark Angel, following a lawsuit by [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Hell's Angels]]) and Genetix. Oh, and a number of these appeared in a comic called ''Overkill''.

* The short-lived Marvel UK sub-universe had the Warheads, Motormouth, Killpower, Comicbook/DeathsHead, Death Metal, Death Wreck (the last three versions of the same character), Hell's Angel (later Dark Angel, following a lawsuit by [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Hell's Angels]]) and Genetix. Oh, and a number of these appeared in a comic called ''Overkill''.

* ''ComicBook/WildCATS'':

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} was originally an homage (or ripoff, depending on who you ask) of an 80s [[Franchise/TheDCU DC]] character with a [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] name, Deathstroke the Terminator (already mentioned, by the way), since you do the "Deathstroke" in the "Deadpool." Deadpool (or dead pool) is an actual word that technically fits the character, even if it does sound very 90s-ish.

* ''So many'' ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' names, for [[DarkerAndEdgier understandable]] [[UpToEleven reasons]]. Ragnar Blackmane, Night Haunter, Doomrider, Huron Blackheart, etc. Ragnar's case even more so, as he comes from a Viking-Age Norse type culture fond of sobriquets and the name itself is a double reference to both his black hair and beard, and the fact that he killed a black Fenrisian wolf as a Neophyte and wears it's pelt.

* Even the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} went through this phase. Traditionally a bastion of SomethingPerson names, the '90s-era reboot turned Lightning Lad into "Live Wire", Triplicate Girl into "Triad," Colossal Boy into "Leviathan," Princess Projectra into "Sensor," and so forth. When the series was rebooted ''again'' in 2004, most of the new names went by the wayside, and the SomethingPerson codenames returned to the fore.