Color Animal Codename

REHD DRAEGUNS!

"Fox Publications was the poverty row of comic books, their superheroes all completely and utterly derivative. I once asked the creator of the Blue Beetle, their most important character, what on earth inspired him to create this character named after a bug? He told me in two words: Green Hornet. (laughs) Well, there you go!"

— Jim Steranko, Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle

Codenames are cool. From superheroes to soldiers, spies to secret agents, many people agree that having a codename is an easy way to up your coolness factor... as long as it's not actually an Atrocious Alias, of course. Two particularly common ways of having a codename for your character is by using either a color or an animal. But who's to say you can't combine both?

Most Writers Are Human, and as has been noted before, most humans are very reliant on their sense of vision, making it easy to see (pun not intended) why many writers would opt to give their characters a color-based codename. Animals, meanwhile, can obviously be found everywhere on Earth, and the history of humanity's relationship (whether positive or negative) with animals go back millennia, in both real life and mythologies from all over the world. It's no surprise then to find important characters choosing a name (or being given one) based on a particular animal that might fit their personal motifs. It also helps that both the concept of colors and animals each come with their own cultural associations and stereotypes, thus increasing the appeal to writers who wish to include some form of symbolism in a character's codename.

This also applies to groups of characters or even organizations, many of which may purposefully choose a specific color-and-animal combination to evoke certain ideas and imagery. It also applies to objects of great importance, especially if they come with their own symbolic values. Expect to see a lot of the usual animals popular for their badassery like the Noble Bird of Prey, Panthera Awesome, or Noble Wolf. In Speculative Fiction, more fantastical animals (such as dragons) might be used instead.

Note that this does not cover cases where the color-and-animal combination describes the character, as opposed to being a name for that character. For example, the 'red dog' in Clifford the Big Red Dog doesn't count because Clifford is a (big) red dog; here the color-and-animal combination is a descriptor of who, or rather what, Clifford is. On the other hand, the character Akainu (aka inu literally translating to "red dog") from One Piece counts because it is used as that character's codename. In a similar vein, this trope does not cover cases where an animal character is called by their literal coloration and species; that falls under A Dog Named "Dog". To illustrate: the pink panther called The Pink Panther does not count, but the diamond called Pink Panther does as it is intended to be a catchy and evocative name for a plot-relevant object.

See also Color Character, which is specifically about masked characters adopting a color-based alternative name. Like that trope, this trope may or may not be Colour-Coded for Your Convenience. Sister trope to Adjective Animal Alehouse, as the practice of naming bars, inns, and taverns often (but not always) employs this particular naming scheme. A subtrope of both Colourful Theme Naming and Animal Theme Naming.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The titular character of Black Cat is called that to tie in with his bad luck themes, as he is number XIII in the organization Chronos.
• The eponymous character of Golden Bat, notable for being a bat-themed superhero character introduced all the way back in 1930, eight whole years before Superman and nine years before Batman.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • In Stardust Crusaders, one of the playable baseball teams in the Fictional Video Game Oh! That's A Baseball is called Red Dragons, as seen on the page image.
  • Enrico Pucci of Stone Ocean has the Stand named Whitesnake — which is indeed white, but otherwise humanoid in appearance. Also doubles as a Musical Theme Naming to Whitesnake.
• In One Piece, the Marine Admirals all have this as their Nom de Guerre. The first one we meet in the story is Aokiji (Blue Pheasant), the second is Kizaru (Yellow Monkey), and the third is Akainu (Red Dog). The animal halves of their codenames are a reference to the three animal companions of the Japanese folktale Momotarō, which adds an extra layer of Religious and Mythological Theme Naming. Later on we also meet Fujitora (Wisteria Tiger) and Ryokugyu (Green Bull) after the timeskip, as replacement Admirals for the now-resigned Aokiji and the now-promoted Akainu.
  • There are also the characters who were considered for the position of Admiral, Momousagi (Pink Hare) and Chaton (Brown Pig).
  • Shiki from the movie Strong World has the epithet Golden Lion.
  • After the Time Skip, Luffy gains a new fire-based attack, dubbed Red Hawk. The Gear-3-enhanced version is called Red Roc, a roc being a mythical bird creature from Arab folklore.
• There's the Classy Cat-Burglar Crimson Scorpion from Steam Detectives.

Comic Books

• DC Comics has their fair share too:
  • Not unlike Spider-Man, Batman has a number of examples of this trope:
    • Red Robin, aka the third holder of the Robin identity Tim Drake.
    • Speaking of Tim, while "Redbird" was originally the name Tim gave the car he used as Robin post-Flashpoint it was used as a second hero identity by Damian Wayne.
    • Black Bat, the second identity of Cassandra Cain (the second Batgirl).
    • Warren White, who goes by the supervillain name The Great White Shark.
    • Two characters have used the villain name Black Spider, the first one crossing over with Captain Ethnic.
  • Black Canary, one of DC's premier martial artists and whose canary theme comes from her signature Canary Cry.
  • The three characters who have donned the name of Blue Beetle throughout the years, as well as other Beetle-characters like the Black Beetle.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Diana has a number of villains all under the name of Silver Swan.
    • Wonder Woman (1942): Diana fought a villain named the Crimson Centipede in the Silver Age.
  • Bronze Tiger of Suicide Squad fame.
  • Firestorm (DC Comics) features villains named Black Bison and Silver Deer.
  • Aquaman's villain Black Manta technically counts, and even doubles as a Captain Ethnic (although his ethnicity wasn't revealed until ten years after his introduction).
  • DC has two characters that go by the name of Golden Eagle. The first is a superhero related to Hawkman. The second is... a member of a white supremacist group called the Aryan Brigade.
  • Birds of Prey featured a minor villainess who used the codename White Canary.
  • Silver Monkey, a rogue of Green Arrow.
  • The White Lionesses are a deadly all-female group of martial artists Richard Dragon has fought.
  • Member of DC's Freedom Fighters Black Condor. The JL of China would face the Freedom Fighters of China, one of its members being codenamed Blue Condor.
  • DC's Batmen of All Nations had Raven Red.
  • Member of Justice League International Crimson Fox.
• Marvel Comics seems to like this trope a lot:
  • Spider-Man is famous for his many animal-named characters. Some notable examples:
    • Black Cat, his off-again on-again Love Interest who had luck-based powers for a little while. She teeters between being an antivillain and antihero, depending on the story.
    • Silver Sable, who like Black Cat is a female antihero (sometimes antivillain) and occasional love interest for the Wallcrawler.
    • Scarlet Spider, an alternative spider-identity often taken up by clones of Peter Parker such as Ben Reilly and Kaine.
    • There's also the criminal Black Tarantula.
    • Taking Alice in Wonderland as inspiration, there's White Rabbit.
    • For a more mythical flavor of 'animal', there's also the Green Goblin and his many variations.
  • The various characters who have held the title of Black Panther combine this with Captain Ethnic, as does the supporting character White Wolf.
  • Marvel Comics has had a number of women who have used the name Black Widow over the years, the most notable being Natasha Romanov. Zigzagged Trope in the sense that the animal's name isn't 'widow', it's specifically the 'black widow' (spider), which incorporates a color into it.
  • Eric O'Grady's LMD, the third Ant-Man, took the codename of Black Ant eventually.
  • There's a family of Puerto Rican legacy superheroes who all go by the name White Tiger.
  • The newest member of the Black Order is called Black Swan.
  • In an example of using an animal appendage as a name, the Philippine hero Red Feather from the Triumph Division mentioned his codename comes from a bird.
  • Korea has the superheroine White Fox, who takes after the legend of the gumiho.
  • Squadron Supreme has Blue Eagle among their ranks.
  • Marvel Comics also has several Native American heroes who go by Red Wolf.
  • There are a number of characters who have held the name Red Raven, the first two being father and daughter superheroes while the third is a Wild West villain whose real name is... Redford Raven.

Fan Works

• In the Russian Star Wars Fan Film F.O.R.S., all agents of the eponymous secret Government Agency of Fiction have aliases consisting of a color and a bird name. When they rope the protagonist into investigating the Force sensitivity outbreak in modern-day Moscow, he is assigned the codename "Black Penguin", while his direct supervisor is known only as the "Pink Duckling".

Films - Live-Action

• Black Hawk Down: The eponymous Black Hawk is a type of military helicopter that the US army used in the battle the film is about.
• Central Intelligence: A mysterious traitor to the CIA is known to call themselves the "Black Badger". During the film, one of their contacts mocks the melodrama of this by alluding to the notorious "honey badger don't give a f***" meme.
• The Cheap Detective: The characters mention their nicknames while talking to each other. Colonel Schlissel is the Black Fox, Paul DuChard is the Silver Wolf, Marlene DuChard is the White Swan. Also Played for Laughs: two minor Nazi officers are called the Gray Rabbit and the Blue Chipmunk.
• DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story: When Globo Gym enters the dodgeball tournament, their team name is the Purple Cobras. Their intimidation tactic consists of two body slaps followed by finger fangs and a hiss.
• The Pink Panther: The pink diamond with a panther-shaped flaw is called... well, take a guess.

Literature

• Accel World: The main character's avatar is named Silver Crow. There was also his predecessor Chrome Falcon.
  • The spinoff Accel World / Dural: Magisa Garden has Orange Raptor.
• There were a couple of classic pulp heroes by the name of the Black Bat, a bat-themed vigilante with more than a passing resemblance to the popular DC superhero.
• The Discworld Thieves Guild Diary advises Gentleman Thieves to adopt a codename like the Grey Panther or the Silver Fox. And not the Pink Red-Bottomed Baboon or the Brown Duck-Billed Platypus, which don't convey the right tone at all.
• Two of the three books in the Sister Pelagia series are titled White Bulldog and Red Rooster (Red Cockerel in the USA).
• In A Song of Ice and Fire, a few formidable warriors go by similar names, often drawing some connection to their own personalized sigils like Prince Oberyn Martell; the Red Viper, Ser Brynden Tully; the Black Fish, and Daemon Blackfyre; the Black Dragon. Grey Worm plays with this; he was given that name by his masters, which was supposed to be demeaning but became an Appropriated Appellation.

Live-Action TV

• The Amazing Extraordinary Friends: Has the Old Superhero Green Termite who acts as amentor to the new generation of superheroes: whether they want him to or not. Green Termite is not a particularly intimidating name, but he himself admits he was always more of a Sidekick than a superhero.
• Blackadder: Prince Edmund was a cowardly spare heir in the Plantagenet household. In order to make himself sound tougher, he adopted the moniker of the Black Adder, which became the family name of his various hapless descendants.
• Game of Thrones:
  • When slave boys are conscripted into the elite soldier corps known as Unsullied, they are given demeaning names - such as Black Rat and Red Flea - to remind them of their inferior status. When Daenerys Targaryen liberates all 8000 of them and requests that they choose a leader from among their own ranks, Grey Worm is selected, and he chooses to keep the name because it was the one he possessed when he was set free.
  • Ser Brynden Rivers, a.k.a. the Blackfish, was so named for his brother calling him a Black Sheep and in reference to their family sigil being a trout.
  • Prince Oberyn Martell is known as the Red Viper, due to his cunning and expertise with poisons. No connection to his sigil, though.
  • Jon Snow is dubbed the White Wolf after being crowned King in the North, though he's never actually called by the name afterwards.
• Legends of the Hidden Temple: All the team names fit this trope: Red Jaguars, Blue Barracudas, Green Monkeys, Orange Iguanas, Purple Parrots, and Silver Snakes.
• Super Sentai: One of the default naming schemes for teams follows this pattern:
  • Choujuu Sentai Liveman has Red Falcon, Blue Dolphin, Yellow Lion, Black Bison, and Green Sai (Rhino).
  • Choujin Sentai Jetman has Red Hawk, Blue Swallow, Yellow Owl, Black Condor, and White Swan.
  • Tokumei Sentai Go Busters: A movie shows an alternate version of the team with Red Cheetah, Blue Gorilla, Yellow Rabbit, Gold Beetle, Silver Stag, Green Hippopotamus and Black Puma.
  • Zig-Zagged in Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: has Shishi (Lion) Red, Ookami (Wolf) Blue, Oushi (Bull) Black, Chameleon Green, Kajiki (Swordfish) Yellow, Sasori (Scorpion) Orange, Washi (Eagle) Pink, and Koguma (Little Bear) Skyblue. However, the team theme isn't actually animals but Constellations, and two members avert this by not being based on animal constellations: Tenbin Gold (based on Libra the Scales) and Hebitsukai Silver (Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, rather than the serpent itself). The Sixth Rangers are also exempt as they don't include colors in their titles of Ryu (Dragon) Commander and Houou (Phoenix) Soldier.

Radio

• The titular character of the immensely-popular The Green Hornet, most notable today for the 1960s TV series that launched the career of Bruce Lee in the West.

Tabletop Games

• Mutants & Masterminds:
  • The White Lion is the Freedom City counterpart of Black Panther.
  • Halt Evil Doer!:
    • The Red Leopard is the counterpart of Black Panther.
    • The Crimson Tarantula is the counterpart of Black Widow.

Video Games

• Darius: The game's Player Character is Silver Hawk, and one of the Recurring Bosses is Red Crab, which is exactly what you think.
• In Digimon World 2, there are three Guard Teams which most of the characters are a part of, and the player character must choose to join one of them at the beginning of the game. Two of the teams are named Gold Hawk and Blue Falcon, with the third one - Black Sword - being the odd one out. However, the Gold Hawks in Japan are actually called Silver Cross, thus making the Blue Falcons the only true example of this trope in the game.
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has the Gray Fox, the mysterious head of the Thieves Guild.
• The eponymous three houses of Fire Emblem: Three Houses are all named in accordance to this trope: Black Eagles, Golden Deer, and Blue Lions. The fourth DLC-exclusive faction borders on this, being the Ashen Wolves — it really depends on whether you think "ashen" qualifies as a color or not.
• The vehicles in F-Zero are mostly named after animals or animal appendages, and many of them also combine it with a color. This includes the Blue Falcon (piloted by none other than Captain Falcon himself), the Golden Fox, the Red Gazelle, the White Cat, the Green Panther, and the Black Bull (piloted by Black Shadow himself).
• In the Metal Gear series, Frank Jaeger was codenamed "Gray Fox".
• The Red Dragon in Mortal Kombat is a criminal syndicate founded by the half god Daegon. The Black Dragon, which Kano is a member of, is a splinter group founded by Red Dragon members who disagreed with the code of honor of the Red Dragon.
• Street Fighter IV has Crimson Viper, a CIA agent investigating S.I.N.

Western Animation

• Cow and Chicken: When Chicken, Flem, and Earl attempt to break into the girl's bathroom at night, Chicken takes the codename "Red Rooster" when communicating by radio.
• DuckTales (2017): Black Heron invokes this trope: On the one hand, she's an actual black heron, while on the other hand, she's a villainous super-spy, so her name is definitely meant to invoke these types of codenames.
• Dynomutt, Dog Wonder: The Blue Falcon.
• El Tigre: White Pantera, the alter ego of Rodolfo Rivera.

Real Life

• Several real-world political parties are named like this, most famously the Black Panther Party who share their name with the popular Marvel superhero.
• Google Shared Documents can be set to an anonymous mode, where it randomly selects a color/animal codename for each participant (ex, Green Monkey, Magenta Platypus, etc.).

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