History Main / DarkAgeOfSupernames

* The Norse were not averse to nicknames like this, "Eric Bloodaxe" and "Björn Ironside" being two famous examples. They also cheerfully inverted it at times -- legendary kings such as Ragnar Hairy-Breeches and Ivar the Boneless are remembered alongside men such as Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye. [[note]]This stems from Norse culture valuing cleverness and other non-standard virtues in their heroes -- in this case, surviving a night in a den of poisonous snakes by wearing thick, hairy pants, or being so [[TheArtfulDodger nimble]] in combat as to appear fluid and untouchable.[[/note]]

* Many of the new super people created for ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' embody this trope: Nightstar (Starfire and Nightwing's daughter), 666, Bat-Knight, Black Mongul, [=NIL8=], Swastika, Shiva the Destroyer and Cathedral... This is deliberate, since ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' is a deconstruction of the Dark Age. Minor character Demon Damsel manages to be both this trope and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age of Supernames]], as she's allegedly a rejected candidate for the Legion of Super-Heroes, which is why her name fits the "Lightning Lad"-"Saturn Girl" format.

* ''Grimjack'' of First Comics.

** Reaper players themselves also have a predilection for these kinds of usernames, if the Twitter account [[https://twitter.com/reapernames @reapernames]] is any indication.

* 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 [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar naughty nighttime dreams]] and another who sounds like he wants to spank people?!"

* Lampshaded in ''ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}: Team Achilles'' with a character named "Ripslashbloodclawmaimblade" who smokes a cigar, appears to be made out of sharp stabbing instruments and spouts off the line "That's what I do best. And I'm the best there is at what needs to be done!"

[-[[caption-width-right:289:ComicBook/{{YOUNGBLOOD}}, [[Comicbook/{{Bloodshot}} BLOODSHOT]], [[ComicBook/{{Deathmate}} DEATHMATE RED]], THIS BLOOD'S FOR YOU!]]-]

Part of UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|OfComicBooks}} of {{Super Hero}}es involved making not only their 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.

* Many of the new super people created for ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' embody this trope: Nightstar (Starfire and Nightwing's daughter), 666, Bat-Knight, Black Mongul, [=NIL8=], Swastika, Shiva the Destroyer and Cathedral... This is deliberate, since ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' is a deconstruction of the Dark Age. Minor ''Kingdon Come'' character Demon Damsel manages to be both this trope and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age of Supernames]], as she's allegedly a rejected candidate for the Legion of Super-Heroes, which is why her name fits the "Lightning Lad"-"Saturn Girl" format.

* Supporting ''Comicbook/TheSavageDragon'' 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.

* SelfDemonstrating/{{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.

** There has also been [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiote_(comics)#Other.2C_side_symbiotes 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.

* ''[[ComicBook/Marvel2099 X-Men 2099]]'' had some of the best. Skullfire, Bloodhawk, Metalhead, Meanstreak, Junkpile, and Psyclone. Note that those are all members of the actual X-Men [[note]]though one of them turns traitor almost immediately[[/note]] -- Skullfire in particular is the leader! That said, Skullfire never really used his codename, just going by "Tim" 99% of the time. Apparently even ''he'' knew how 90s that codename it was.
** A notable exception in X-Men 2099 was Serpentina -- Tina to her friends. Naturally, she dies in the third issue.

* ''Hyperkind'', one of the comics in Marvel's "Razorline" imprint (a vanity imprint for Creator/CliveBarker), had three of its four heroes with this sort of name (and the last a borderline case): Armatta, Logix, Amokk, and Bliss. To be fair, there was a certain amount of LampshadeHanging for two of the names, as Amokk was a comic geek, and selected his and Logix's names specifically because that's how they did it in comic books at the time.
** For that matter, the name "Razorline" itself qualifies.

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/SoulsearchersAndCompany'' #6 when the team temorarily become [[NinetiesAntiHero '90s antiheroes]]. Bridget becomes 'Deathstaff', Baraka 'H.O.T.T. Blood', Janocz 'Animal Attraction', Kelly '[[OddNameOut Tink]]', and Peterson 'Kitchen Sink, the Number Cruncher'.

* ''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.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* ProfessionalWrestling (especially in the 1990s) is chock full of these spanning pretty much the entirety of its colorful history, with varying degrees of success, ranging from the surprisingly successful (and intentionally ironic) Wrestling/{{Chyna}}...to the execrable [[Wrestling/FredOttman Shockmaster]]. Wrestling/DustyRhodes, in his stint as GuestHost of RAW, admits his mistake on that one (complete with humorous Wrestling/SantinoMarella reenactment AND Wrestling/ArnAnderson providing the character's voice, in a ShoutOut to tag-team partner[=/=]{{Kayfabe}} brother Ole Anderson's original role), apologetically saying to Wrestling/DGenerationX (another great example of this trope, by the way) "I thought it would work!"
[[/folder]]

* As seen on the quotes page, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] pokes fun at this trope with his [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] fanboy character, [[Characters/AtopTheFourthWall 90's Kid]] and his character, Bloodgun. Though in the later review of ''Darker Creator/{{Image}}'' #1 even 90's Kid concedes that Deathblow is stupid name.

* The Norse were not averse to nicknames like this, "Eric Bloodaxe" and "Björn Ironside" being two famous examples. They also cheerfully inverted it at times -- legendary kings such as Ragnar Hairy-Breeches and Ivar the Boneless are remembered alongside men such as Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye. [[note]]This stems from Norse culture valuing cleverness and other non-standard virtues in their heroes -- in this case, surviving a night in a den of poisonous snakes by wearing thick, hairy pants, or being so [[ArtfulDodger nimble]] in combat as to appear fluid and untouchable.[[/note]]

* A lot of BlackMetal stage names; Necrobutcher is a standout.
** A great deal of metal subgenres tend to fall into it. Black Metal is one of the more subdued. Older ones include death metal, doom metal, and thrash metal. Others include grindcore and its spinoff pornogrind.

* ''The Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'': Oh my, were there several. Some players just couldn't get over the fact that the games were supposedly running under [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] ideals and not Dark Age ideals. Ballistic, Ambush, Battlecat, Twilight, Recoil, Fracture, Fusillade, Shift, Flux, and Ablaze are just a random ten, and those are the ''heroes''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'': Deathshot, Riptide, Badrock, Combat, Psi-Fire, Psylence (sometimes Psilence), Bloodwulf, Diehard, Wylder. Creator/RobLiefeld was one of the big popularizers of this trope, and probably helped everyone get sick of it too.

[-[[caption-width-right:289:ComicBook/{{YOUNGBLOOD}}, [[Creator/ValiantComics BLOODSHOT]], [[ComicBook/{{Deathmate}} DEATHMATE RED]], THIS BLOOD'S FOR YOU!]]-]

* Parodied in Penthouse Comics' ''Captain Adventure'', with the villainous Team Supreme. Comprising of Manpower, Red Rogue, Edge, Bloodskull, Death Killer, Blazing Fury, and Hotblood, they speak in meaningless pop culture references and end their every sentence with {{Tradesnark}}. Leader Manpower is not impressed by Captain Adventure. I mean, he doesn't even have any facepaint or giant guns!

* 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.

** 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 the Flash put it, "There's more to this business than putting on a costume and going out to 'be super'.")

* 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 ComicBook/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.

* ComicbBook/TheMaxx, whose series, was ironically, phenomenal. In his own book, the Maxx [[{{Crossover}} met]] The Pitt, an Image character who starred in a rather less distinguished (and shorter-lived) comic.

* ''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 Franchise/{{Superman}} {{expy}}. 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.

* Penance -- not the Marvel character who used to be Speedball, nor the young woman with diamond-sharp skin from the 90s X-kids team Gen-X.
* The ''ComicBook/WildCATS'' in Warblade, Grifter, Maul, Zealot, etc.
** Also poked fun at in ''ComicBook/WildCATS'', when Ladytron asks someone "what's up with this kill-hell-death-blood name thing?" Naturally, the other guy makes fun of the name "Ladytron," and hijinx ensue.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''FanFic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami'': Despite not having anything to do with superheroes, it has this in a big way, with {{Original Character}}s having names like "Blud," "Dusk," "Khaos," and TheUnpronounceable "TIOSEFAJ."
[[/folder]]

** Taken to the point of self-parody with the anti-hero protagonist of ''Guilty Gear'', Sol Badguy. It's a tribute to [[Music/{{Queen}} Freddie Mercury's]] '''sol'''o album, ''Mr. Bad Guy'' (Creator/DaisukeIshiwatari ''[[AuthorAppeal really]]'' likes Queen), but the in-universe explanation given in ''Xrd'' reveals that Sol didn't choose the alias for himself. "Sol" was [[MeaningfulRename bequeathed upon]] [[spoiler:Frederick]] by [[spoiler:Slayer]] because of the former's passionate nature, whereas "Badguy" comes from reports of an unknown "bad guy" dismantling numerous underground criminal organizations during his journey. [[AppropriatedAppellation It stuck.]]

** The minor character Soothe, a projective {{Empath}} and FormerTeenRebel, used the codename 'Riot Act' during her Whateley years. Her girlfriend pokes fun at her about it now.

* ProfessionalWrestling (especially in the 1990s) is chock full of these spanning pretty much the entirety of its colorful history, with varying degrees of success, ranging from the surprisingly successful (and intentionally ironic) Wrestling/{{Chyna}}...to the execrable Shockmaster. Wrestling/DustyRhodes, in his stint as GuestHost of RAW, admits his mistake on that one (complete with humorous Wrestling/SantinoMarella reenactment AND Wrestling/ArnAnderson providing the character's voice, in a ShoutOut to tag-team partner[=/=]{{Kayfabe}} brother Ole Anderson's original role), apologetically saying to Wrestling/DGenerationX (another great example of this trope, by the way) "I thought it would work!"

* 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." (He has since gone back to Speedball, and Niels now goes by the moniker "Hairball" in his adventures with the ComicBook/PetAvengers.)

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/SoulsearchersAndCompany'' #6 when the team temorarily become [[NintiesAntiHero '90s antiheroes]]. Bridget becomes 'Deathstaff', Baraka 'H.O.T.T. Blood', Janocz 'Animal Attraction', Kelly '[[OddNameOut Tink]]', and Peterson 'Kitchen Sink, the Number Cruncher'.

* Despite not having anything to do with superheroes, ''FanFic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami'' has this in a big way, with OriginalCharacters having names like "Blud," "Dusk," "Khaos," and the unpronounceable "TIOSEFAJ."

* ''So many'' ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' names, for [[DarkerAndEdgier understandable]] [[UpToEleven reasons]]. Ragnar Blackmane, Night Haunter, Doomrider, Huron Blackheart, etc.

** Give a set of empowered teenagers the chance to name themselves and it's pretty much inevitable.

* By the time the later 90s rolled around, even Image was conscious of this trend. That's probably why a bunch of criminals burst into uproarious laughter when the team Bloodpool told them their name.