Catchphrase / Comic Books

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Comic book characters frequently have highly hammy catch phrases.

It's EXAMPLIN' TIME!:

• Action Girl in Action Girl: "Action is everything!"
• Asterix's Obelix: "These Romans are crazy! (Ils sont fou ces romains!)", frequently adjusted to complain about whichever nationality is being parodied in this particular issue. (Oddly, this phrase is spoken by Asterix on the inside cover of the French hardbound editions).
  • "By Toutatis", "By Belenos", and "By Belisama".
  • "I am not fat! "
• Avengers Assemble! - Usually Captain America, but other characters use it as well.
• Batman:
  • Quickly, To The Batmobile!
  • This ends now.
  • I'm Batman.
    • And when they were trying to be Darker and Edgier, “I’m the Goddamn Batman!”
  • This is my city.
  • In Grant Morrison stories his catch ... noise is "-hh-". This sigh can represent impatience with his allies' methods, irritation that they're second-guessing him or trying to get him to socialize, or even grudging respect. He also uses it where other people might laugh. Similarly, Damian Wayne has "-tt-", usually directed at Dick Grayson.
    • In the same stories, Damian Wayne has "-tt-" for the same effect. Like father, like son indeed...
  • Jim Gordon has "I didn't think you'd come tonight" or some variation of it. Batman shows so often you'd wonder why he doubts him.
  • When Harley Quinn is introduced by her full name Harleen Quinzell, she'll often offer this phrase.
  Harley: Call me Harley. Everyone does.
  • The Riddler likes to deliver his riddles with the phrase "Riddle me this!"
  • Bane likes to crack people's backs with the phrase "I will break you!"
  • Kite Man says "Hell Yeah!" a lot. The origin of this catchphrase though, is far sadder than you'd expect.
• Blue Beetle:
  • Ted Kord's trademark laugh - "Bwahaha!" - is so recognizable that it definitely qualifies as a catchphrase.
• Captain Underpants:
  • "Tra La LAAAAAAA!"
  • "Never underestimate the power of underwear!"
• Daredevil's nemesis Bullseye: "Bullseye."
• In the Disney duck comics by Carl Barks and others, Scrooge McDuck has several catchphrases.
  • “The Beagle Boys! The terrible Beagle Boys!”
  • (when swimming in money) “I like to dive around in it like a porpoise! And burrow through it like a gopher! And toss it up and let it hit me on the head!”
  • (when he thinks he’s lost all of his money) “I’m only a poor old man!”
  • There’s also a standard narration caption that appears near the end of many Scrooge adventures: “So Uncle Scrooge gets all of his money back, and things are again as they were!”
  • Scrooge, on how he made his money: “I made it by being tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties! And I made it square!” This line was only used once by Carl Barks, but it was so memorable that other writers (e.g. Don Rosa) turned it into a catchphrase.
  • The Duck Avenger/Paperinik, in both his normal and Paperinik New Adventures incarnations is frequently introduced monologuing to himself ("All the best superheroes do") saying "By day, this is my city. By night, the city is mine." He backs it up too.
• Doctor Strange: By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!
  • Parodied in the new Doctor Strange: The Oath miniseries with By the Hoary * &(^ing hosts!
• Dylan Dog: Judas Dancer!
  • Daryl Zed, the eponymous character of a comic book inspired by Dylan Dog in the meta episode "Witch Hunt", uses the exclamation "Jehoshaphat Jumper". The same exclamation is used by Dylan himself in an Alternate Reality Episode "The Dark Days".
• The Thing of Fantastic Four has two: "It's clobberin' time" and "wotta revoltin' development".
  • And referring to himself as "the ever-lovin'' blue-eyed Thing" and "the idol o' millions."
  • Then there's his oft-mentioned "sweet Aunt Petunia" (no connection to the other, considerably un-sweet Aunt Petunia). She eventually appeared in person, and in defiance of expectations, it turns out she's an attractive young woman. Presumably, there are some big age gaps in the Grimm family...
  • Actually, it's established that Petunia was Ben's aunt by marriage and that her husband, Ben's uncle, was several years older.
  • The Torch has "Flame on!"
  • Doctor Doom has several variations of the cry RRRRRIIIIIICCCHHHHAAAAAAARRRRDDSSS!!!
    • Also, "Bah!"
  • Reed Richards himself has the rarer (but skyrocketing-HSQ-guaranteeing) "I'm beginning to have an idea."
• Grid, the Crime Syndicate's Evil Counterpart of Cyborg, tends to say "have a nice day" after following orders in Forever Evil (2013).
• Green Arrow: Fatcats
• The Green Lantern mythos has these coming out of the wazoo. There are nine different Lantern Corps, each with their own Oath (Though Orange and White haven't had theirs revealed and Indigo's is gibberish).
  • The unofficial catchphrase of the Blue Lantern Corps is "All will be well", following the example of their leader, Saint Walker.
  • Likewise, the unofficial Orange Lantern catchphrase is "Mine".
  • Hal Jordan has "Green Lantern's got this." as his own personal catchphrase.
  • Whenever a new Lantern is selected the rings have their own little catchphrase: "[New Lantern] of [Native Planet], [reference to their capacity to engender the emotion the Corps is based on]. Welcome to the [Color] Lantern Corps."
  Hal Jordan of Earth, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.
• Groo the Wanderer
  • "Now Groo does what Groo does best!" (Which is usually beat up the wrong guys everyone in sight)
  • "Did I err?"
  Someone: As any fool can plainly see ...
  Groo: I can plainly see that.
• Guardians of the Galaxy: 95% of the time, "I am Groot!" is the only thing you'll hear Groot say.
  • "I really hate all this cosmic $#!*"
• Hawkeye: Clint Barton in Hawkeye (2012) has "Okay... This looks bad."
  • Also "Aw, (insert object here), no"
  • And the Slavic gangsters who serve as those runs' primary antagonists use the word "bro" to a memorable degree, practically treating it as punctuation.
• John Constantine the Hellblazer:
  • "Bollocks" (sometimes with exaggeration; Bollocks!)
  • "Me" instead of "I", "Meself" instead of "Myself"
  • Bloke...
• Oh Crap.
• From Garth Ennis's Hitman: There's Bueno Excellente's "heh heh heh. Bueno." And Baytor's "I am Baytor!"
• The Incredible Hulk:
  • HULK SMASH!!!
  • HULK! IS! STRONGEST! THERE IS!
    • "IS" optional.
  • You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
    • LEAVE HULK ALONE!
  • On one occasion, as his smarter and more-amoral "Joe Fixit" persona:
    "Rest assured, gentlemen—Hulk will smash."
  • His true self, The Devil Hulk, has a catchphrase of his own that he utters from time to time:
    "The night is my time."
• Iznogoud: "I want to be Caliph instead of the Caliph!" This has even become a common phrase in France to refer to someone who is overly ambitious. Iznogoud would occasionally turn this into a Mad Libs Catch Phrase; for example, in "The Giants' Island", when he and Wa'at Alahf become, respectively, a bishop and a knight in a game of Human Chess, the vizier grumbles that he wants to be king instead of the king.
• Jet Dream: "Jet-a-Reeno!"
• Judge Dredd:
  • Dredd himself has "I am the law." However, a Walter the Wobot strip from before this really caught on insisted that Dredd's catchphrase was "Drokk it!" Dredd also has a shorter catchphrase: "Court's adjourned."
  • The Dark Judges have several, including "You cannot kill what doesss not live", "The crime issss life! The ssssentence issss death!", and Judge Fear uses "Gaze into the face of Fear!". That last one didn't work so well on Dredd.
  • Anderson has "Grud on a greenie!"
• Kingdom:
  • "Get whet."
  • Tougher and tough."
  • "Your mouth is full of wrong/strange!"
• Zombo: Zombo will casually ask everyone he meets "Can I eat you?"
• Luke Cage has "Sweet Christmas!"
  • His sometimes associate Misty Knight, in her position as the current coordinator of the Heroes for Hire, now has "Hello, hero. This is Control. Are you for hire?" This has already seen a number of variations in the still-new series, usually courtesy of Paladin. "Answer me this, hero: are you for hire?"
• Alfred E. Neuman of MAD: "What, me worry?"
• The Maze Agency: "It's as simple as gravity."
• Metal Men: : Mercury would like to remind you he's "the only metal that's liquid at room temperature!" (He's not.)
• Nexus would occasionally say, "This calls for hyper-speed!" The first time he said it, the comic's letters page had readers complaining it was corny, and Mike Baron had to point out it was supposed to be a joke.
  • Mezz and his band frequently said "Vootie!" and "Klacktoveedesteen".
    • In tribute to Nexus, Chris Claremont character Joyboy would occasionally cry, "Vootie!" in between unintelligible babble.
  • Dave of Thune: "What it is."
• German detective Nick Knatterton: "Kombiniere..." ("[I] deduce ...")
• Nikolai Dante: "I'm too cool to kill."
• Nova
  • "It is imperative that you pay attention at this time..."
  • "Blue blazes."
• Paperinik New Adventures
  • For the hero himself, as listed above, "By day, this is my city. By night, the city is mine."
  • Xadhoom often says "Let's dance" before unleashing hell upon her enemies. The story Metamorphosis plays with it in the climax by showing a flashback to Xadhoom before her Super-Empowering having fun with her partner, Xari, by imagining that their offices were a ballroom. In the flashback, she asks him "What do you do in a ballroom" only for it to flash back to the present where she asked the same question to an evronian.
    Evronian: You... dance?
    KABRAAAAAAAAM
• Patsy Walker had "Cheese and crackers!", which even resurfaces in her heroic persona Hellcat.
• In Peanuts, Charlie Brown has "Good grief!", "Rats!", and "I can't stand it... I just can't stand it!" Lucy has her "Augh! I've been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs!" rant.
• Reverend Jeremiah Hatch from The Question lamentably laments your lamentable lamentation.
• Parodied in Runaways. Victor believes the group should have a catchphrase and begins spouting out all the Marvel character's famous lines. Niko informs him that their catchphrase is "Try Not to Die."
  • They also have "Runaways, run away!"
• Sam & Max: Freelance Police: Sam often says to Max "You crack me up, little buddy." This is changed around a lot though, usually changing parts with "You bust me up, little pal.", though in a western-themed strip it became "You crack me up, ya mangy yella tailed varmint."
  • Also: "Where do you keep that (Noun), Max?" "None of your damn business."
  • Sam's "Can't think of a reason not to..." after Max asks to bust up the place.
• Secret Warriors: HAIL HYDRA
  • Deadpool's sidekick Bob: Agent of Hydra will also spout this and other propaganda such as "HAIL HYDRA! Cut off one limb and two more shall take its place."
• Shazam!:
  • Captain Marvel: "Holy Moley!" "Doggone!" and of course, "Shazam!"
  • Dr. Sivana (pre-Crisis, when he was still a funny villain instead of a creepy one) would gleefully soliloquize about how he was "the most evil little wretch the world has ever known!" followed by his trademark laugh, "Heh! Heh! Heh!" "You big red cheese" (which means he's smelly like a fart, as in "cutting the cheese").
  • Black Adam: "For Kahndaq!" and, just like Captain Marvel, "Shazam!"
• Jack Point from The Simping Detective has one that comes in two parts. There would always be one person in every story who would end up asking Jack, "What's your point?" to which he'd always respond, "Comes right after the 'Jack.'" After this, something totally awesome would always end up happening.
• In the Sin City series, if Marv ever says to you, "Now that there is one damn fine coat you're wearing," you're going to get said coat taken from you, along with any parts you have.
• Spider-Man:
  • With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.
    • "With great power comes great responsibility", That's the catchphrase of old Uncle Ben... If you missed it, don't worry, they'll say the line, Again and again, and again! - "Weird Al" Yankovic, "Ode to a Superhero"
  • My Spider-Sense is tingling.
  • Not really official, but he has used the phrase "it's web-slingin' time" more than once.
  • "The old Parker Luck."
  • During his second stint as the Green Goblin, Harry Osborne had the catchphrase "Gotcha!", used when Spidey realized he was behind a given plot (Harry's main motivation in this period being simply to mess with Peter's head).
  • Mary Jane: "Face it, tiger, you just hit the jackpot!"
  • The Daily Bugle: "Spider-Man: Threat Or Menace?"
  • Aunt May: "That awful Spider-Man!"
  • Flash Thompson, back when he was a jerk jock: "Hey, Puny Parker!"
  • "We are Venom."
• Strontium Dog:
  • The Gronk: "Oh, my poor heartses!"
  • Wulf: "Sorry, old cucumber" and "VOORM!"
• Superlópez:
  • Superlopez's "Cachis la Mar!" (a family-friendly "Holy shit/crap!")
  • "Un café con leche y un croissant"("One latte and one croissant"), "Un billete para el Masnou, ida y vuelta" ("A return ticket to the Masnou"). See Running Gag below.
  • Inspector Holmez has three: "Hmmm... sospechoso, sospechoso..." ("Hmmm... suspicious, suspicious..."), "¡Todo el cuartelillo a los coches!" ("Everyone in the barracks, get into the cars!"), and his habit of asking anyone in sight for peanuts (even though he has never actually been seen eating any).
  • Luisa's "¡Que te doy un bolsazo!" ("I'll hit you with my bag!") and "¡Medianía!" ("You Mr. Ordinary Guy!").
• Superman: This looks like a job for...^note This and many other familiar catchphrases are from the radio show.
  • "Up, Up, and Away!"
  • "Great Krypton!"
  • "Great Rao!"
  • Clark used to say "Great Scott!" He may have been starting to say "Great Krypton" and then covering up for himself, or perhaps this is something Pa Kent used to say.
  • And, very occasionally, "Craters of Wegthor!" (Wegthor was one of Krypton's moons. This phrase never caught on. Can't imagine why...)
  • Perry White: "Great Caesar's ghost!" and "Don't call me chief!"
  Jimmy Olsen: "Right, Chief!"
  • Ahem. Three Words: KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!
  • Technically he only said it once, but he must say it in every single retelling of the event — Jor-El: "Krypton is doomed!" Usually while thumping his fist on a table for emphasis.
  • Supergirl's was "Good gosh!" and "Hope, help, and compassion for all."
  • During The Death of Clark Kent, Conduit had the catchphrase, "I know."
  • Parodied in Bizarrogirl:
    Bizarrogirl: Shhhh. You am too loud. Me am trying to have party, but me hate loud friends—
    Supergirl: That's too bad! Because I like making noise. (thinking) So not my best catchphrase.
  • When Mister Myxzptlk is tricked back into his home dimension, he'll often have enough time to say "aw, nuts!" before he goes.
• The Tick:
  • SPOOOOOOOOOOON!
  • Not in the face! Not in the face!
• Tintin's Captain Haddock: "Billions of (blue) blistering barnacles!" and "(Thousands of) thundering typhoons!"
• The Mighty Thor had a few oft-repeated (if not overused) catchphrases back in the Silver Age, including calling Thor - and tons of other people - "a warrior born." "So say we all" also got repeated use as a semi-formal response from groups of Asgardians.
• Transmetropolitan'':
  • Spider has several, but "I hate it here" is probably the only printable one.
  • Spider's editor Mitchell Royce has "Where's my fucking column?"
• In the U.S. Acres comic, most of the time when Orson would discover something, he would say "Hello, what's this?"
• In V for Vendetta, "England prevails" for the Norsefire party.
• Watchmen: Rorschach has "Hurm" and "must investigate further."
• In the German comic Werner: Many.
  Brösel: And I said, "Werner, don't do that!" But HE doesn't listen.
• Wonder Woman, in the old days, would say "Suffering Sappho!" This was writer William Moulton Marston's tongue-in-cheek Take That! to Moral Guardians who claimed she was secretly a lesbian, and it fell out of use when Marston left the book. She had about a half dozen similar exclamations that lasted her throughout the Silver Age, though, including "Great Hera!", "Thunderbolts of Jove!", "Neptune's Trident!", and "Shades of Pluto!" Nowadays, she is more likely to say "Great Hera!" or "Holy Hera!"
  • Her original sidekick Etta had "Woo woo!", though at times this approached a Verbal Tic
• X-Men:
  • "To me, my X-Men"! - Charles Xavier, though Cyclops booted him from a leadership position due to Superdickery and took the catchphrase up himself.
  • Wolverine has "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice."
  • Beast
    • "Oh my stars and garters."
    • "Yes, oh fearless leader." (usually followed by Cyclops saying "Why do you keep calling me that?")
    • And "What in the name of little green apples?"
    • He went through a phase where he was fond of Hitchhiker's Guide references, as well.
  • Layla Miller of X-Factor has "I know stuff". In latter comics, she doesn't even need to say it herself, others say it for her.
  • Colossus has "By the White Wolf". Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, he was known to say "Lenin's ghost" or "Lenin's beard".
  • Storm's fave expression: "Goddess!"
  • Nightcrawler: "Ungaublich!" (German for "That's incredible!")
  • Cannonball: "Ah'm nigh-invulnerable when ah'm blastin'", and any possible linguistic variation thereupon.
• "YABBA-DABBA-DOOM!" by Youngblood (Image Comics)'s Bedrock, before he was renamed Badrock.
• Xadhoom may transformed herself into a Physical God and spent every minute of each day from then to avenge her race, but she never forgot when she was simply Xado, a scientist that loved dancing. Her battle cry is:"Let's dance!".
• Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! has "Leapin' Lettuce!"
• The Silver Surfer: "To me, my board!"
  • This got meta in Dan Slott's 21st-century Surfer series. New pal Dawn Greenwood assumed from the catchphrase that the board was named "Toomie" - and now it is. The Surfer, usually stoic, got a genuine belly laugh out of it.
• Galactus: "Galactus hungers!"
• Aaron Stack the Machine Man, at least after his alien abduction-induced depresson: "My robot brain needs beer." He also started calling humans "fleshy ones."
• Whenever Uatu the Watcher appears, the first words out of his mouth are usually, "I am the Watcher!"
• Stan the Man in his columns and letters pages has "Excelsior!" "'Nuff said!" and "True believers!" as well as alliterative nicknames for everyone on the Bullpen's staff.
• The Maxx: "I am the Maxx."
• Rom: Spaceknight: "Gods of Galador!"
• Death's Head (Marvel Comics): Death's Head ends every other sentence with, "Yes?"
• Namor the Sub-Mariner: "Imperius Rex!"
  • Golden Age Namor was fond of adorable sealife-based curses, especially "Sufferin' Shad!"
• Metamorpho: "Blue blazes!"
• Teen Titans: "Titans together!"
• Darkseid: "Darkseid IS!"

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