X-Men Film Series
"What's a Magneto? ...'Sabretooth'? 'Storm'? What do they call you? 'Wheels'? This is the stupidest thing I ever heard."
— Wolverine
This trope is played with all over the place. Codenames are something of a plot point; it's shown that the concept of a "true name" began with Xavier's eponymous "first class." However, it's originally used in playful jest and doesn't become serious until Magneto insists upon being called by that name at the very end of the film. In later movies, a few mutants seem to adopt codenames as their "true names" as evidenced when Marie changes her name to Rogue or when Magneto asks John what his real name is and he starts calling himself Pyro. Other than that, the codenames are generally used as Mythology Gags or Futureshadowing, and occasionally to differentiate between a person's "regular" self and their superhero/supervillain persona:
- Wolverine goes by the name Logan almost exclusively and even mocks people with codenames. Stryker seems to be the only one who wants to call him Wolverine, which was more of a military-style codename. In the first film, it is mentioned that "The Wolverine" is a nickname he uses in his cage-fighting career, and in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he's inspired to take the pseudonym by a Native American folk-tale his girlfriend recounts to him.
- The codename Professor X is only used twice in both X-Men: First Class and the first X-Men, and Xavier brushes it off. He's more commonly addressed by his professor title, or Charles by those who are close to him.
- Magneto is often referred to as Erik, although usually only by Xavier, Mystique, and Beast.
- Mystique is frequently called Raven by Charles and Hank. But in X-Men: The Last Stand, a captive Mystique takes extreme umbrage at being referred to by her "slave name" of Raven, at least by humans. This apparently glaring contradiction can perhaps be explained by the probable sense of betrayal and/or abandonment Raven/Mystique feels toward Charles and Hank after the events of X-Men: First Class; note that Magneto, her newest and longest enduring confidant (at least until X-Men: The Last Stand) exclusively calls her "Mystique".
- Cyclops' codename is mentioned, but he mostly goes by Scott throughout all of the movies.
- Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde never use codenames in the films. While their comic counterparts went through a few over the years, they usually go by their birth names anyway (a rarity for superhero comics).
- Hank McCoy doesn't go by his codename Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand. He does eventually embrace the nickname that Havok bestows on him just before the climax of First Class, however. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Wolverine calls Hank (who has essentially retired from superheroics due to the X-Men having disbanded) Beast and "Beastie" several times to try and goad him into a fight. He's most often referred to by his given name, though.
- Storm is the lone aversion. She's almost always called by her codename in the films. The only time her real name Ororo is used is when Xavier introduces her to Wolverine, or when Beast greets her in the third film.
- Deadpool is never referred to as "Deadpool" in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and is always called "Wade" or after his transformation "Weapon XI." The closest they ever get is Stryker calling the experimental procedure "The Deadpool." This is averted from his solo film onward, where he gets the name in a manner much akin to his comic counterpart and is referred to as such rather frequently.
- Bobby has no codename in the first movie, introduces himself to Wolverine as Iceman in the second film, and is then called Bobby throughout the rest of the series until a brief moment in which Pyro picks a fight.
- Colossus was referred to by his codename by Wolverine as they walked out of the Danger Room near the beginning of X-Men: The Last Stand. Beforehand, Wolverine calls him Tin-Man as a joke. He does go by Colossus in Deadpool (2016), along with the other X-Mansion resident that shows up, Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
- The name Nightcrawler is only mentioned in X2: X-Men United when Kurt expounds about his time at the Munich circus. In X-Men: Apocalypse, he is introduced in a cage fight as Nightcrawler, corrects Mystique when she calls him "Crawler," and Jean says his codename when she orders the X-Men to "grab hold of Nightcrawler," but mostly goes by Kurt.
- Quicksilver is never called by that name in X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse. He's known simply as Peter.
- Havok is said only once in X-Men: First Class, it's alluded to when Professor Xavier orders him to "Wreak havoc" in X-Men: Apocalypse, but the name is only used once in this film when Mystique recounts their first mission. The rest of the time, he's just Alex.
- Warren Worthington III's codename Angel is never used in X-Men: The Last Stand, but then inverted in Apocalypse, being referred to only as "Angel."
- X2: X-Men United: Lady Deathstrike is never used except in marketing. Her real name (Yuriko) is only mentioned in passing.
- X-Men: The Last Stand: Played nearly straight with Jimmy as his profile indeed shows his alternative alias of "Leech", but he's never called that by anyone, nor does he refer to himself as such.
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- Sabretooth is only called "Victor" throughout X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
- The Blob never gets called by that name. The best we get is a Mythology Gag where he mistakes Logan's "bub" for that name, and sees it as an insult.
- The name "Gambit" is used a few times, although it's stated to be a prison nickname he was given by Stryker's guards.
- X-Men: First Class:
- Darwin from First Class is actually a nickname which happens to fit his powers, and his real name (Armando) is never referenced.
- It gets a bit tricky with Angel Salvadore (not to be confused with Warren Worthington III's Angel); in the comics, her real name and codename are both Angel, but she takes the codename "Tempest" when she loses her powers and gains Powered Armor. In the movie, though, she explicitly states that Angel is a stage name.
- The Wolverine:
- Played straight with the adamantium Powered Armor that is not explicitly called Silver Samurai. The moniker of Silver Samurai was named after a suit of samurai armor that serves as a Legacy Character for the Yashida generations.
- Played with for Viper, who never calls herself "the Viper" but does says she's a viper. For legal reasons, her other moniker "Madame Hydra" does not come up, due to Marvel owning the rights for HYDRA.
- Played straight with The Hand (mainly linked to the Daredevil / Elektra franchise, and ownership of those rights reverted back to Marvel before the film was finished), who are referred to as "The Black Clan" and led by Harada.
- Wolverine does use his codename, however.Shingen: What kind of monster are you?!
Logan: The Wolverine!
- X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Free Mutants never have their real names used (with the exception of Bishop). Of course, in the comics, he's a strange case; from the future and known only as Bishop for the longest time, he eventually took the name Lucas Bishop. Which we should consider his "real name," and if either is what his momma named him when he was born, is hard to know.
- Deadpool: It's a plot point that villain Ajax is actually Francis, with the title character only calling him by the given name to mock Ajax afterwards. Inverted with his henchwoman Angel (Angel Dust in the comics), who never gets a proper name. Just for fun, Deadpool introduces himself to the taxi driver Dopinder as "Pool, Dead." After that, Dopinder consistently refers to him as "Mr. Pool" and even adds him as a contact on his phone this way. Virtually everyone else, however, are referred to primarily by their codenames; even Non-Action Guy Weasel is referred to almost exclusively as such.
- X-Men: Apocalypse:
- The title villain is never called by anything other than given name En Sabah Nur, although there's a Mythology Gag to the name he adopted in the comics ("Where ever this being was, he would always have four followers who he would imbue with power." "Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.").
- Inverted by Psylocke, who is only called by her codename.
- Logan:
- Laura is never actually called X-23 in the film, and even Pierce calls her Laura. For one thing, because of Adaptation Distillation she's no longer the X-23, but just one of a series of mutants created under the X-23 project (as a Mythology Gag, she's X-23-23). The only time we see X-23 used is when Logan is skimming through the Transigen documents Gabriela stole, and it appears on the kids' medical files.
- Zig-Zagged with Logan himself. Gabriela addresses him as Wolverine a couple times, (though mostly to be sure she's talking to the right guy) and Pierce almost exclusively calls him by that name. One of the Reavers can also be heard crying "The Wolverine!" when Logan attacks them during the final battle. However almost everyone else in the film, including Charles and Caliban, simply calls him Logan.
- Inverted with Rictor: His real name, Julio Richter, is never used (though they sound close enough it could go either way).
- Averted altogether with X-24 who doesn't have a real name.
- Deadpool 2:
- Pretty much the only person who calls Russell Collins "Firefist" is Russell himself; Deadpool calls him by his real name and Cable refers to him primarily as "the kid". Also, Yukio is apparently in the "Jean Grey" category of not even having a codename. Otherwise, like the first film, the sequel mostly averts this trope.
- In fact there's an inversion for many of the characters. With the exception of Peter, the various members of X-Force are only ever referred by their codenames (Domino, Shatterstar, Bedlam, Vanisher, and Zeitgeist), while Cable is never called Nathan Summers.
