Ratatouille: In the opening TV segment about Gusteau, Ego appears with a title listed under him as "the Grim Eater".
Sleeping Beauty has Maleficent, the "Mistress of All Evil" whose status as such is never questioned despite her having apparently given the title to herself. In fact, even the marketing materials for Maleficent make use of the title despite how little it fits her characterization in that film.
Turning Red: Mei becomes known as "Panda Girl" after her giant red panda form becomes popular.
The Blue Max, is set in and around one of the Flying Circuses. Richtofen himself is a supporting role, as is his almost-as-famous brother Manfred.
Il Duce, the aged assassin and father of Connor and Murphy from The Boondock Saints. So badass that he can trick an FBI agent into thinking he's six guys with a gun apiece instead of one guy with six guns.
Clint Eastwood's protagonist in the Dollars Trilogy is an interesting variation on this trope. Known to fans as "The Man With No Name," in-universe it's unclear whether he actually has a name or not. By the last movie (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), Tuco (The Ugly) has given him the nickname "Blondie", but it's still acknowledged by other characters that his real name is unknown. He's called "Joe" in A Fistful of Dollars and "Manco" in For a Few Dollars More, but both are names also given to him by other characters.
In Edge of Tomorrow, Rita is a legendary battle queen known as the "Full Metal Bitch" and "The Angel of Verdun".
Antonio Banderas' character in the El Mariachi franchise is simply known as 'Él' which means 'Him' on Spanish.
Downplayed in Five Weeks in a Balloon, where Sir Henry mentions once that he was formerly known as "The Scourge of the Desert" and never brings it up again.
Hero and the Terror: Simon Moon has been dubbed "The Terror" by the press for his grisly series of murders.
The 2003 film Holes, as in the literature example, features "Kissin' Kate" Barlow.
The Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen is known both as 'Girl on Fire' and 'Mockingjay'.
Among the Inglourious Basterds are The Bear Jew and Aldo the Apache. Another Basterd, Utivitch, is known as "The Little Man", much to his dismay. And on the side of Nazi Germany there's S.S. Colonel Hans Landa "The Jew Hunter".
Will Stoneman, the dogsled-racing title character in Iron Will.
John Wick: John is known as "Baba Yaga", AKA "The Boogeyman" within the criminal underworld.
Viggo: Well, John wasn't exactly the Boogeyman. He was the one you sent to kill the fucking Boogeyman.
Godzilla has had numerous subtitles throughout his incarnations: God of Destruction, Champion of Monsters, God Incarnate, and Giant Hydrogen Bomb Monster among others, but his most well-known by far is the King of the Monsters. Interestingly, this, his most famous Red Baron, is mostly exclusive to the United States. Allthreeentries which include the phrase were initially released there.
Anguirus is the Killer of the Living and the Fierce Dragon Monster.
Rodan is the Giant Monster of the Sky, Crimson Monster Bird, and the Airborne Monster.
King Ghidorah is the Three-headed Monster, the Astro-Monster, Monster Zero, Emperor of the Cosmos, the Golden Demise, or, more menacingly, The King of Terror.
Mothra is The Thing, Supersonic Giant Moth, God of the Sea, and most well-known,note Though, Newer Than They Think, having only debuted on-screen in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)Queen of the Monsters (since Mothra is second only to Godzilla in number of films she starred in among all Toho kaiju).
Ebirah is the Sea Monster, Giant Shrimp Monster, or the Horror of the Deep.
Varan is the Unbelievable.
Mechagodzilla is the Cosmic Monster, the Bionic Monster, the Cyborg Monster, Silver King of the Monsters, and Anti-G[odzilla] Weapon.
Hedorah is the Smog Monster and the Ninja Monster.
Minilla is the Son of Godzilla and the Naughty Prince.
Baragon is the Subterranean Monster, Fierce King of the Underground, and God of the Earth.
Dogora is the Space Monster.
In King Kong (1933), King Kong is referred to either as Kong or as the Eighth Wonder of the World, never actually called King Kong in the dialogue.note This is justified, since the movie was originally going to be called simply "Kong".
Gamera is known as the Invincible, the Friend of all Children, the Guardian of the Universe, the Last Hope, the Absolute Guardian of the Universe, and the Brave, depending on the movie.
Gyaos is the Supersonic Monster and the Shadow of Evil, to name some.
In La Scoumoune, the nickname of mobster Roberto Borgo (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is "La Scoumoune", because he brings bad luck to his enemies since he's a master at Quick Draw ("scoumoune" was an old Southern French slang word for "bad luck").
Deconstructed in the Ritchie-inspired Layer Cake however. The unnamed protagonist notes how much he loathes wannabe gangsters who try to make themselves renowned with badass nicknames such as "The Duke", basically placing a bullseye on their backs and drawing the attention of the authorities — not a good option for a criminal who is just in it for the profit.
Looper gives us "The Rainmaker," the new kingpin who is moving in and closing a lot of loops. Towards the end of the film, the truly horrifying reason for this ominous-sounding epithet is revealed.
The world of Mad Max is this trope personified. Between Imperator Furiosa, Gyro Captain, Immortan Joe, the Bullet Farmer, Ironbar Bassey, the Doof Warrior, the People Eater, the Toecutter, the Dag, the Keeper of Seeds, Lord Humungus, the Nightrider, Mudguts, Dr. Dealgood, the Valkyrie, the Splendid Angharad, and many, many others, it's like humanity collectively decided that the post-apocalypse was free license to badassily rename everything and everyone. Even the eponymous Max Rockatansky has his share titles bestowed upon him (some admittedly better than others). Usage of actual, normal names is so rare that in Mad Max: Fury Road the revealing of a character's given name becomes an emotional moment in at least two points in the film's plot.
For the most part, the Marvel Cinematic Universedoesn't use codenames. All the Avengers are at least as well known to the public by their real names as their codenames (other than Thor, because that is his real name). But it does have one example in the Winter Soldier. For bonus points, he's The Dreaded and a Hero Killer, and for more bonus points, the nickname came before people found out that he has superpowers. And he's definitely better known as that than by his real name, James Buchanan Barnes.
Godzilla, of course, is still called "King of the Monsters", only now he has to defend that title from a certain three-headed dragon.
Mothra is for the first time officially referred to onscreen as "Queen of the Monsters", acting as Godzilla's counterpart and greatest ally- as well the new title of "Master of the Skies".
Rodan now has the more impressive title of "Fire Demon", as well as "One Born of Fire" and "Titan of Winged Fury".
In addition to being called "Monster Zero", Ghidorah also gets the lengthy "Death Song of Three Storms", "Living Extinction Machine", and the less lengthy and more descriptive "One Who is Many".
Kong, who has also been added to the mix, has "The Mountain Who Thunders Death", "Guardian God of Skull Island", and "King of the Primates". His arch-enemy, the alpha Skullcrawler, has "Skull Devil".
The Mighty Ducks: Gordon Bombay's story leading a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits who were dead last halfway through the season out of nowhere to win the Minnesota State Peewee championship in the first movie earns him the nickname the "Minnesota Miracle Man" by the time the second one rolls around, getting him tapped to be Team USA's coach for the Junior Goodwill Games.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? has the main characters meet George "Babyface" Nelson, an actual historical gangster and bank robber. He doesn't like his nickname.
Often invoked in Guy Ritchie movies. Snatch. has Boris the Blade (aka Boris the Bullet-Dodger aka Boris the Sneaky Fucking Russian) and Bullet-Tooth Tony; Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels features porn king and local gangster Harry Lonsdale aka Hatchet Harry (a name he's quite partial to himself) and his enforcer Barry the Baptist, so named because he "drowns people for Harry". And that's just a few.
Avi: "So, what do I call you? Bullet? Tooth?"
Bullet-Tooth Tony: "You can call me Susan if it makes you happy."
The Rocky series featured a few. For example, Apollo Creed was The Master of Disaster, The King of Sting, The Dancing Destroyer, and The Count of Monte Fisto.
Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa himself. "Rocky" is itself a nickname for Robert, and a common one for fighters (Marciano, Graziano)
Creed's inspiration, Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, was apparently so impressed that he regrets never having called himself The Master of Disaster. Instead, he is known as "The Greatest".
Shanghai Express: Donald is shocked to discover that his ex-girlfriend Madeline has become a high-class prostitute. As she puts it, "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily".
Shot Caller: Any inmate with any notoriety has a nickname: Jacob (who used to be a businessman) is "Money", Frank is "Shotgun", the mid-level glasses-wearing Aryan is "Bottles", the Aryan chapter leader is "The Beast", etc.
In Smokin' Aces, everyone assumes that The Swede must be an incredibly badass Professional Killer, because he goes only by "The Swede." Subverted, in that it turns out he's a heart surgeon, not an assassin.
Star Wars: All of the Sith are given a new name at their initiation, which they use in lieu of their real names. Dooku is a notable exception, as he wanted to be a Villain with Good Publicity, and people would respond better to "Count Dooku" than "Darth Tyranus."
In the Legends continuity, General Grievous was born Qymaen Jai Sheelal, but changed his name after becoming a cyborg.
Obi-Wan "The Negotiator" Kenobi.
Deconstructed in Unforgiven. English Bob has his personal biographer W. W. Beauchamp writing a dime novel that labels him as The Duke of Death. Little Bill mispronounces duke as "duck", and even when corrected calls him "The Duck" from then on. Later Bill fills in Beauchamp on what really happened in the exaggerated stories he's put in his novel.
Many orcs in Warcraft (2016) have imposing nicknames. Doomhammer and Blackhand stand out.
Inverted in Wild Wild West. The ex-Confederate General "Bloodbath" McGrath doesn't seem all too proud of his nickname, and he really doesn't like being called "The Butcher of New Liberty", seeing as he got that dubious title for the annihilation of a free slave town he didn't actually commit.
