I Am Not Shazam / Western Animation

• MTV Liquid Television's original title Æon Flux in the animated shorts, did not originally refer to the show's main character of the female assassin; but rather, the title described the series-concept "eons in flux" as explained by creator Peter Chung. The character later acquired the name "Aeon Flux," when the cartoon became a regular series of its own with spoken parts, thus requiring that the individual characters have names.
• The Boondocks, as people may assume the Boondocks is the name of the protagonist family, they’re actually known as the Freemans. The word “boondocks” is an American expression from the Tagalog (Filipino) word bundók ("mountain"). It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way area considered backward and unsophisticated by city-folk. In other words, the Boondocks is the name of the hood setting of the show.
• The Simpsons:
  • The show title refers only to the Simpson family, not to every character in the show as if "Simpson" was the name of some sort of race the characters are. Characters like Ned Flanders, Moe and Mr. Burns are not "Simpsons" and therefore saying something like "my favorite Simpson is Ralph Wiggum" is an inaccurate statement.
  • The show itself has also spoofed this trope. When Homer tries to entice Mel Gibson to a certain course of action: "Would Braveheart run away? Would Payback run away?" In another episode, it is also mentioned that Homer writes fan letters not to the movie creators but the movies themselves: "Dear Die Hard. You rock. Especially when that guy was on the roof. P.S: Do you know Mad Max?"
    • Spoofed again at the end of the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover episode: after their fight, Peter and Homer reconcile somewhat and Peter says: "You see, I'm a family guy...". Then Homer says: "I understand, I'm a The Simpsons."
  • Also, during a montage of watching movies on stolen cable, Bart says the following: "This is where Jaws eats the boat! This is where Die Hard jumps out the window! This is where Wall Street gets arrested!"
  • "Jump, Free Willy! Jump! Jump with all your might!"
  • "Thank you, Blood and Tears! We were sorry to hear about Sweat..."
  • Ralph Wiggum once said "I'm a Star Wars!" while dressed up as Leia (probably justified since Ralph is a Cloudcuckoolander). Marge says the same thing in a different episode while wearing a Darth Vader mask made out of a paper plate.
  • Homer seems to always have had difficulty distinguishing between movie characters and movie titles. In high school, he tried to get elected student council president with a campaign poster where the headline read "Jaws and Star Wars agrees..."
  • Marge makes a similar mistake, referring to the main character of Showgirls as Showgirl.
  • In the "Treehouse of Horror X" story "Life's a Glitch, Then You Die", Homer tries to pretend he's a celebrity, specifically the pianist from the movie Shine. When asked what his name is, he answers "Uh, Shiny McShine?".
  • In one episode, Homer said "There was this guy that got killed and I think it was in Miami, so CSI Miami investigateded it. Then some family said how much they love The Olive Garden. Then I fell asleep. When I woke up, Letterman was talking to Alias".
  • In one episode, Homer said "Once upon a time, there was a hilarious ogre named Shrek 3."
• Static Shock:
  • The main character uses the alias "Static." Just "Static." The word "Shock" is only found in the series title, and his occasional Catchphrase ("I'm Static, I put a shock to your system"). Even a villain, Shiv, once says, "Take that, Super Shocker, or... whatever-your-name-is!" It doesn't help that in the theme song, he is explicitly called Static Shock. The misconception is widespread enough that when he started showing up in comics again as a member of the Teen Titans, the writers would erroneously refer to him as "Static Shock" at various points. It infuenced his Brazilian Dub Name Change, in which he was called Superchoque (Supershock).
  • The episode titled "Flashback" introduces a time travelling Bang Baby who adopts the moniker Timezone. it's common to find her incorrectly referred to online as Flashback.
• Inhumanoids was named for its villains, rather than the heroes.
• Several Family Guy episodes have In-Universe examples:
  • Peter is at a hospital and wonders if Scrubs works there, as he wants to meet him, and also "Black Scrubs."
  • Peter calls the shark from Jaws "Jaws".
  • Carter Pewterschmidt also seems to be under the impression that Medium's protagonist is named Medium.
  • Out of universe example: One Teletoon Detour promo referred to Peter as "Family Guy" to fit with the rhyming scheme.
• In-Universe example on South Park. Cartman mistakenly refers to Peter Griffin as "Family Guy".
• Animaniacs refers to all of the main characters on the series, as heard in the theme song (a take-off on "Looney Tunes") and this promo from The Hub starring Pinky and the Brain. The Warner siblings, as the de facto main characters, are the ones frequently associated with the term, and are thus called "the Animaniacs" in much of the print merchandise and even some Kids' WB! spots, as does Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
  • In an infamous example, an episode of Jeopardy! had one question where the "correct" answer was "Who are the Animaniacs?" and one contestant was counted wrong when he answered "Who are the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister?"; during a commercial break the judges realized they were in the wrong and awarded the contestant the money he should have gotten in the first place.
  • The kid that always talks about Randy Beaman is not Randy Beaman. His name is Colin.
• G.I. Joe is not the name of any one character, but the name of their organization. The subtitle "A Real American Hero" doesn't help much either, as it implies "A" and "Hero" as in "Singular" instead of "Heroes".
  • And that's not at all helped by the fact that in the original 1960s G.I. Joe toy line, he was just one guy. And in the 1970s reboot, he was the leader of the G.I. Joe team.
  • There was a character called "G.I. Joe" in the Real American Hero continuity: General Joseph Colton, the "original G.I. Joe" who had been given that codename in the 1960s when appointed by John F. Kennedy to create what would later become the G.I. Joe team that we all know. However, Colton was a relatively minor character in the comics and didn't appear in the cartoon at all, so not many casual fans know about him. He does appear in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, where he is a major character.
  • Some of the commercials for G. I. Joe toys used the phrase 'Real American Heroes' -and then the show would come back on with 'A Real American Hero.'
• The surname of The Berenstain Bears isn't "Berenstain" it's "Bear". Berenstain is the surname of the series' creators.
  • In the Berenstain Bears' Breakfast Oatmeal episode of Sprout Diner, Bean refers to the Bear family as the "Berenstain family."
• The heroes of Thunderbirds are International Rescue. The Thunderbirds are their five (eventually six) primary vehicles. The trope, however, was carried into Thunderbirds 2086 and the live-action adaptation, where the heroes were indeed referred to as "The Thunderbirds".
• In-Universe on Futurama—when Fry has to write an episode of Single Female Lawyer to appease invading aliens he has characters refer to protagonist Jenny McNeal as if "Single Female Lawyer" was her actual name.
• From a commercial that aired on [adult swim]:
  In a World… of sex and spaceships, only one man has the onions! His name... is Futurama!
• In Steamboat Willie, Willie is the name of the steamboat, not an old name for Mickey or Pete.
  • The title was also meant to be a play on the then-popular Buster Keaton film Steamboat Bill Jr.
• Similar to the Static Shock example, Batman Beyond is not the name of the future Batman. He's still just called Batman.
  • Though later, in Justice League Unlimited, they finally did a Title Drop to reveal the project that ended up creating Terry was "Project Batman Beyond". The Batman himself is still never called this, though.
  • Averted by the overseas renaming as "Batman of the Future". Lame name, but accurate.
  • The Justice League that appears in Batman Beyond is called the Justice League Unlimited, while they're just called the Justice League in Justice League Unlimited.
• Parodied by Beavis And Butthead when they commented on Hole's "Violet" video. They repeatedly referred to Courtney Love as "this Hole chick" because they thought that was her name.
  • The same gag happened on their commentary for "This Love" by Pantera (probably referring to Phil Anselmo). Butthead wonders if Pantera's dad "kicked his ass when he was a kid" and it goes on like that for the rest of the skit.
  "Dammit, Pantera! This beer is warm! Get me another one."
• Bob's Burgers features an in-universe version in "O.T.: The Outside Toilet", where it turns out that for years, Teddy has apparently assumed that Bob's last name is "Burgers", not Belcher.
• On an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Space Ghost and guest Denis Leary have the following exchange:
  Leary: And I'm Denis Leary, master of the universe.
  Space Ghost: Master? I know one or two guys who might disagree with you...master!
  Leary: Like who?
  Space Ghost: Yoda.
  Leary: Okay, who else...?
  Space Ghost: [pause] Star Wars.
• Generator Rex is the series. The guy is just Rex. Though in one episode when trying to think up a theme song for himself he refers to himself as "Gen Rex."
  • Incidentally, the song itself is a Shout-Out/parody of Alternate Universe series Ben 10's theme song.
• Many people think that Man of Action Studios is the pseudonym for a single person. It's the name used by a quartet of comic book writers (Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle) when collaborating on animated projects such as Ben 10.
• On The Venture Brothers, vampires are vampires, but all black vampires are Blaculas.
  • Jefferson Twilight somewhat justifies it by saying he doesn't know the politically correct term for a black vampire ("Africa-American vampires" doesn't work because sometimes they're British).
• Generally averted in Transformers. "Transformer" is generally accepted as the species name for the Autobots and Decepticons (at least when the two factions aren't considered a race in and of themselves). Some incarnations, however, prefer to use the term "Cybertronian", referring to the robots being from the planet Cybertron. Lampshaded in Transformers: Animated.
  Sari: "What are you?"
  Bumblebee: "Well, I'm an Autobot. Actually, I'm a Cybertronian."
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: In regions where the first installment of the series isn't called Avatar: The Legend of Aang, there are those who call Aang "Avatar", as if that is his given name, or Avatar Aang (which, while his official title, is used very little in the show).
• Looney Tunes and Tiny Toon Adventures do not refer to the characters, just to the no-continuity cartoons themselves.
  • Furthermore, Merrie Melodies was a separate cartoon series that used the same characters as Looney Tunes but was focused on music (hence the name), but most people refer to any cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig et al. as a "Looney Tunes" short. To be fair, though, Merrie Melodies would shift away from the music focus over time and eventually become indistinguishable from the Looney Tunes shorts aside from the different names and the opening and ending titles.
    Friz Freleng: "I never knew if a film I was making would be Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies, and what the hell difference would it make, anyway?"
  • Space Jam and Space Jam: A New Legacy are exceptions, where the characters are referred to as Looney Tunes. This relates to the fact that they are Animated Actors who are aware that they star in Looney Tunes cartoons. However, in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, they are not referred to as Looney Tunes even though they are Animated Actors.
  • Taz-Mania isn't the name of the Tasmanian Devil, it's just Taz.
  • The first Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird cartoon ever to pair the two characters together was called "Tweety Pie" and therefore a lot of people call the character "Tweety Pie" instead of "Tweety Bird" (or just "Tweety").
• The main character of Invader Zim is simply Zim. While he gives himself the title of "Invader", he isn't really one. At the very least, the title was revoked after he screwed up on the first invasion attempt.
• One website referred to Scrooge McDuck as "DuckTales." There are also some who refer the main cast of characters as ''DuckTales. It's not the name of the squad, it's the name of the show that tells tales about ducks.
• A lot of people who aren't super-familiar with Moral Orel call Orel "Moral." The name of the town is Moralton, and the early episodes (at least) are about Orel learning morals. Creator Dino Stamatopoulos says this is one of his pet peeves, saying "You don't call Dennis 'Menace'."
• Given that they don't really have an official group name, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fit this. They're usually just known as "the turtles" or "the ninja turtles". The 1987 cartoon is a notable exception, as they are called by the name several times, most notably Splinter in the pilot as he finishes explaining their backstory.
• Robot Chicken had a skit where a woman reveals to her parents that she is dating Frankenstein's monster, referred to as "Frank/Frankie", and her father constantly thinks he's a monster trying to attack them. By the end, the daughter gets married to him, and the mother tells the father "I'm so proud of you finally coming to terms with our daughter marrying Frankenstein", and the father gets mad, saying "Franken-STEIN? He's Jewish?", and shooting at their car. Granted, this could count as Rule of Funny, but it's still an example nonetheless.
• Miraculous Ladybug: The heroine just goes by Ladybug. Miraculous isn't her civilian name; that would be Marinette. Miraculous refers to the jewels that a Miraculous Holder uses to transform with their Kwami. The only time the phrase is used is when Marinette uses Lucky Charm to purify an enemy as she gives a Title Drop. This might be why some regions instead call the show Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.
• "Frightmare" is only the title of a third season episode of Danny Phantom, not the name of its villain. The episode's villain is named Nocturne.
• "Time for Timer" was a series of public service announcements aired on Saturday mornings on ABC during the 1970s and 1980s. The character Timer is often erroneously referred to as "Timer the Cheese Guy", most notably by Family Guy and Robot Chicken, due to the famous "I Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese" segment. The Robot Chicken sketch even states that Timer is made of cheese, as he complains in court that Chester Cheetah of Cheetos "hankered for a hunk of [his] ass!" In truth, Timer represents the sense of "time" in a human being (one's internal body clock that people with sleep issues often talk about). He's from an ABC Afterschool Special called "The Incredible, Indelible, Magical Physical, Mystery Trip", but the PSAs ran long enough for an entire younger generation of kids to come along who hadn't seen the original special and only knew him from the announcements.
• Scooby-Doo: Every now and then, you'll see people — usually those who haven't seen it in a while — refer to the main characters as "the Scooby Gang" or "the Mystery Gang". They're actually called "Mystery Incorporated". This misconception extends to works like the Supernatural crossover, where the Winchesters refer to them as the Scooby Gang.
  • Some people refer to Mystery Incorporated as the "Mystery Machine", which is the name of the van the characters roam around in (an understandable mistake since the van's name is printed on its side, making it look like a company logo of sorts).
• Squirrel Boy: Some misremember Rodney's name as Squirrel Boy.
• Captain N: The Game Master notably has Kid Icarus, who's canonically known as Pit in his home series. This is actually intentional, being a mandate from Nintendo to help kids more easily find the game that's being promoted.
• The Loud House, in a weird inversion, is mistakenly identified as Lincoln Loud by some kids.
• The Fairly OddParents!: Some kids or adults who grew up watching the series refer to it as "Timmy Turner".
• Teen Titans (2003): Terra's real name isn't "Terra", but many fans accidentally treat it as such. It's merely her superhero alias, though her real name is the phonetically-similar "Tara Makarov". To be fair, her real name (just like nearly every other character's) is never stated in the show.
• Young Justice (2010):
  • The team of Young Justice (2010) is not called Young Justice. In fact, the secret covert-ops group doesn't have a name at all, and is called simply "The Team." The confusion stems from the fact that there was a team in the comics called "Young Justice," and Superboy was a member, along with Robin III, Kid Flash II, and an archer chick with who is kinda-sorta but not really connected to Green Arrow. But it's a case of similar names; the cartoon isn't an adaptation of the comic.
  • Carrying over into the revived series, Young Justice: Outsiders- technically, there is a team called the Outsiders, but it is not the Nightwing-Halo-Geoforce-Forager ensemble, nor is it Batman's squad of Metamorpho and Katana. It's the team Beast Boy founds about two-thirds of the way through the season, though the title is actually referring to how all three teams are "outsiders" in the sense of operating outside Justice League auspices, rather than that group specifically.
• Angelina Ballerina: The titular character's real name is "Angelina Mouseling", though many parents and non-fans refer to her as "Angelina Ballerina". The sequel series The Next Steps gets this wrong too, with the titular character calling herself "Angelina Ballerina" in the introduction to every episode. That said, though, in the episode "Angelina's New School," the other characters do refer to her correctly as "Angelina Mouseling." Some of the books that began releasing in or around 2020 also have other characters refer to her this way, as well as the books themselves doing so in the narration.
• Dora the Explorer: While many older viewers refer to her by the title of the show, which isn't wholly inaccurate seeing as some characters do give her the title "Explorer Dora", she actually does have a full name: Dora Marquez, though it's admittedly mentioned infrequently.
• Rainbow Brite: This is flip-flopped, as the titular character's real name is Wisp, but she took the nickname Rainbow Brite when she entered Rainbowland. As her real name was only referenced in the pilot, some parodies will insist that her name really is Rainbow Brite.
• The main protagonist of Wallykazam is Wally Trollman, not Wallykazam, which is his CharacterCatchphrase.
• Infinity Train: At no point is the train ever actually called the "Infinity Train". The title is only referencing the infinite possibilities it has.
• Big Nate: Nickelodeon itself refers to the main character as "Big Nate" in promotional materials, even though he is never called that In-Universe — in fact, it wouldn't even make sense to do so, as the "big" comes from a childhood nickname the author called his big brother, while the character in question doesn't have a younger sibling.
• Higglytown Heroes aren’t the kids and Fran. The Higglytown Heroes refers to the various workers around the town.
• Parodied in the second episode of season 6 of Rick and Morty, where Summer is doing a Die Hard while not knowing much about the movie at all. She keeps referring to herself as "Die Hard" to the villain, seemingly believing that's the main character's name (until she reads a book explaining the plot).
• Many people refer to the main protagonist from 12 oz. Mouse as "12 oz Mouse". His name is actually Mouse Fitzgerald (or Fitz for short).
• Flip-flopped with Sofia the First. The titular character is referred to "Princess Sofia" in-universe, and "Sofia the First" is merely her royal title. This hasn't stopped non-fans from insisting her name really is "Sofia the First".
• The protagonist of Rolie Polie Olie is Olie Polie. He never is referred to as Rolie Polie Olie.
• Subverted in Solar Opposites. The title of the show is simply a play on words with the concept of the alien family being stuck on Earth. However, beginning in season 2, Terry starts to refer themselves as such, usually to queue up the Catchphrase, “The Solar Opposites are Etc.” Later episodes even have them use “Opposites” as a surname.
• Classic Disney Shorts: The Mad Scientist from The Mad Doctor is named Dr. XXX, not the Mad Doctor. Later incarnations do refer to him as The Mad Doctor, in part because XXX has different connotations today.

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