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* ''ComicBook/Aquaman1989'' shows Aquaman got his name from prison insults and kept it, also keeping his prison garb as his costume.
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* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers:'' The Vision got his name from a panicked remark the Wasp made on first seeing him, having been given no name by Ultron. Even after he turned good, he stuck with the name.
-->'''Vision:''' Perhaps I am what the Wasp called me... a Vision!
-->'''Vision:''' Perhaps I am what the Wasp called me... a Vision!
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* Modern age ComicBook/PlasticMan got his name from flubbing "[[RubberMan Elastic Man]]", also when asked by a reporter. This is actually a retcon; when the character was created in the 40s, "plastic" was more commonly used as an adjective, before it became more commonly associated with the material "plastic" (so called because it is, of course, plastic - able to be deformed into other shapes). There is a song by Music/TheFall called, "How I wrote Elastic man"; in one verse it says "How I wrote elastic man" and ends with "How I wrote Plastic man" Coincidence?
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* Modern age ComicBook/PlasticMan got his name from flubbing "[[RubberMan Elastic Man]]", also when asked by a reporter. This is actually a retcon; when the character was created in the 40s, "plastic" was more commonly used as an adjective, before it became more commonly associated with the material "plastic" (so called because it is, of course, plastic - able to be deformed into other shapes). There is a song by Music/TheFall Music/{{The Fall|Band}} called, "How I wrote Elastic man"; in one verse it says "How I wrote elastic man" and ends with "How I wrote Plastic man" Coincidence?
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* ''ComicBook/UnstoppableDoomPatrol'': Degenerate calls himself that because that's what the people at Metagen called him.
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* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': When the man once known as Judge Sidney shocked even his fellow Judges with his tendency towards [[HangingJudge executing every single offender brought before him]], they called him "Judge Death" as an insult. The Judge subsequently took the name for his own, and [[OmnicidalManiac lived up to it]].
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* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': When the man once known as Judge Sidney shocked even his fellow Judges with his tendency towards [[HangingJudge executing every single offender brought before him]], they called him "Judge Death" as an insult. The Judge subsequently took the name for his own, and [[OmnicidalManiac lived up to it]]. Of course, given that he started as Sidney [[StevenUlyssesPerhero De'ath]], this wasn't much of a leap.
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** G-Dog got his name after he rescued some folks from being mugged; when they asked his name, Hank the Corgi immediately replied "G-Dog! I'm G-Dog!" (which was the term of endearment Hank's owner used).
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* In Creator/DCComics, ComicBook/BoosterGold got his strange name when he flubbed his own intended name, "Gold Star", along with his college football nickname "Booster", when asked by UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan. He also gave Doomsday his name in ''Comicbook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' when, after Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} caught an airborne Booster, he mentioned that "It was like Doomsday is here!" When Superman confronts him, he says "What did you call him? Oh, yeah: '''''Doomsday'''''."
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* In Creator/DCComics, ComicBook/BoosterGold got his strange name when he flubbed his own intended name, "Gold Star", along with his college football nickname "Booster", when asked by UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan. He also gave Doomsday his name in ''Comicbook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' when, after Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} caught an airborne Booster, he mentioned that "It was like Doomsday is here!" When Superman confronts him, he says "What did you call him? Oh, yeah: '''''Doomsday'''''."
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* ComicBook/{{Invincible}} got his name from a conversation with the school counselor who told him "You're not invincible."
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* ComicBook/{{Invincible}} ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'': The titular character got his name from a conversation with the school counselor who told him "You're not invincible."
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* In Chapter 2 of ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', we see the Beagle Boys evolving from river pirates to who they are today, except they had a bit of trouble naming their group -- throughout the comic they considered naming themselves "the Mardi Gras Gang" (their employer, Porker Hogg, got their masks from said event), "the Dirty Double-Crossing Dogs", and "the Masked Marauders". Eventually, when Scrooge tricked the gang and saved the day, he announced to the nearby government ship, who came to investigate, "These are the awful '''Beagle Boys!'''"
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* In Chapter 2 of ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', we see the ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'': The Beagle Boys evolving evolve from river pirates to who they are today, except they had a bit of trouble naming their group -- throughout the comic they considered naming themselves "the Mardi Gras Gang" (their employer, Porker Hogg, got their masks from said event), "the Dirty Double-Crossing Dogs", and "the Masked Marauders". Eventually, when Scrooge tricked the gang and saved the day, he announced to the nearby government ship, who came to investigate, "These are the awful '''Beagle Boys!'''"
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* The Comicbook/NewWarriors got named when a random reporter referred to them that way, and Night Thrasher hurriedly announced they'd be sticking with that before any of his team could come up with anything more embarrassing.
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* The Comicbook/NewWarriors ComicBook/NewWarriors got named when a random reporter referred to them that way, and Night Thrasher hurriedly announced they'd be sticking with that before any of his team could come up with anything more embarrassing.
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* Subverted in ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade''. A reporter asks Kara if she is some kind of Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}. Later she chooses to call herself Supergirl, but she gave no indication she got her name from that random reporter.
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* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** Subverted in ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade''. A reporter asks Kara if she is some kind ofComicbook/{{Supergirl}}. Supergirl. Later she chooses to call herself Supergirl, but she gave no indication she got her name from that random reporter.reporter.
** "ComicBook/TheUnknownLegionnaire": Since the masked hero will not tell the Legion of Super-Heroes his name, Cosmic Boy decides to call him Unknwon Boy for the time being. Since he has not his own identity, the mysterious hero has no issue going by that nickname.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** The 80s reboot has Superman get his name when Lois Lane writes an article about a mysterious "Superman" who saved a flying aircraft.
** ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'': Booster Gold gave Doomsday his name when, after Superman caught an airborne Booster, he mentioned that "It was like Doomsday is here!" When Superman confronts him, he says "What did you call him? Oh, yeah: Doomsday."
** Subverted in ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade''. A reporter asks Kara if she is some kind of
** "ComicBook/TheUnknownLegionnaire": Since the masked hero will not tell the Legion of Super-Heroes his name, Cosmic Boy decides to call him Unknwon Boy for the time being. Since he has not his own identity, the mysterious hero has no issue going by that nickname.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** The 80s reboot has Superman get his name when Lois Lane writes an article about a mysterious "Superman" who saved a flying aircraft.
** ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'': Booster Gold gave Doomsday his name when, after Superman caught an airborne Booster, he mentioned that "It was like Doomsday is here!" When Superman confronts him, he says "What did you call him? Oh, yeah: Doomsday."
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* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'': The term "The New Scum" was coined by presidential candidate Gary "The Smiler" Callahan as an insulting reference to Spider Jerusalem's audience; the term was appropriated to a degree during the scandal that broke out after Spider leaked that outburst to the public.
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* Hollis Mason of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' was given the sarcastic nickname "Nite Owl" by a co-worker irritated by Mason's early bedtime. At the same time, he was looking to become a "costumed adventurer," but was stuck for a name...
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* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': Hollis Mason of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' was given the sarcastic nickname "Nite Owl" by a co-worker irritated by Mason's early bedtime. At the same time, he was looking to become a "costumed adventurer," but was stuck for a name...
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* ''Comicbook/XMen'' has this via RetCon--originally the villains known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were just supposed to be {{Card Carrying Villain}}s, but the series' GrayingMorality made this odd when they were reworked into {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s. The new explanation is that they've adopted that name as a form of ThenLetMeBeEvil. Notably adaptations, including ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen,'' simplify things by [[AdaptationNameChange renaming them]] as just the Brotherhood of Mutants.
* ComicBook/YoungJustice -- somehow surfaced when team {{Cloudcuckoolander}} ComicBook/{{Impulse}} tried explaining to the press that he, Comicbook/{{Robin|1993}}, and ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} weren't the Comicbook/TeenTitans, but "just us".
* This has become the default way of explaining why superheroes have their superhero names: somebody in the media giving it to them. The 80s reboots of both ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman have them get their names this way.
* ComicBook/YoungJustice -- somehow surfaced when team {{Cloudcuckoolander}} ComicBook/{{Impulse}} tried explaining to the press that he, Comicbook/{{Robin|1993}}, and ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} weren't the Comicbook/TeenTitans, but "just us".
* This has become the default way of explaining why superheroes have their superhero names: somebody in the media giving it to them. The 80s reboots of both ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman have them get their names this way.
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* ''Comicbook/XMen'' ''ComicBook/XMen'' has this via RetCon--originally the villains known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were just supposed to be {{Card Carrying Villain}}s, but the series' GrayingMorality made this odd when they were reworked into {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s. The new explanation is that they've adopted that name as a form of ThenLetMeBeEvil. Notably adaptations, including ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen,'' simplify things by [[AdaptationNameChange renaming them]] as just the Brotherhood of Mutants.
*ComicBook/YoungJustice -- somehow surfaced ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'': It happened when team {{Cloudcuckoolander}} ComicBook/{{Impulse}} tried explaining to the press that he, Comicbook/{{Robin|1993}}, ComicBook/{{Robin}}, and ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} ComicBook/{{Superboy}} weren't the Comicbook/TeenTitans, ComicBook/TeenTitans, but "just us".
* This has become the default way of explaining why superheroes have their superhero names: somebody in the media giving it to them. The 80s reboots of both ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman have them get their names this way.
*
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* Marvel D-list superhero Characters/{{Darkhawk}} got his name from a crazy old hobo. Before that, he'd seriously been considering calling himself "Edge-Man".
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* Marvel D-list superhero Characters/{{Darkhawk}} got his name from a crazy old hobo. Before that, he'd seriously been considering calling himself "Edge-Man".
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* UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|of Comic Books}} [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]] gained his name when a reporter interviewing him noted Central City's mysterious new hero "sure caught that guy in a flash...what did you say your name was?" Barry responds, "you just said it--the Flash!" It helps that Barry also idolized UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} Flash, Jay Garrick. ''ComicBook/Earth2'' paid homage to this, when that world's version of Jay Garrick uses his newly-gained super speed to save a young couple from some RodentsOfUnusualSize, saying he'll do it "in a flash". Since he's moving at super-speed, they don't properly hear him, but they do pick up on the word "flash", which they recount to a news crew. Ergo, Jay calls himself The Flash.
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* ''Franchise/TheFlash'' has this happen a lot:
** The original Flash, Jay Garrick, got his name from a passing remark his girlfriend's dad made. Up until then, he hadn't bothered calling himself anything while superheroing.
** UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|of Comic Books}} [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]] gained his name when a reporter interviewing him noted Central City's mysterious new hero "sure caught that guy in a flash...what did you say your name was?" Barry responds, "you just said it--the Flash!" It helps that Barry also idolized UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} Flash, Jay Garrick. ''ComicBook/Earth2'' paid homage to this, when that world's version of Jay Garrick uses his newly-gained super speed to save a young couple from some RodentsOfUnusualSize, saying he'll do it "in a flash". Since he's moving at super-speed, they don't properly hear him, but they do pick up on the word "flash", which they recount to a news crew. Ergo, Jay calls himself The Flash.
** The original Flash, Jay Garrick, got his name from a passing remark his girlfriend's dad made. Up until then, he hadn't bothered calling himself anything while superheroing.
** UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|of Comic Books}} [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]] gained his name when a reporter interviewing him noted Central City's mysterious new hero "sure caught that guy in a flash...what did you say your name was?" Barry responds, "you just said it--the Flash!" It helps that Barry also idolized UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} Flash, Jay Garrick. ''ComicBook/Earth2'' paid homage to this, when that world's version of Jay Garrick uses his newly-gained super speed to save a young couple from some RodentsOfUnusualSize, saying he'll do it "in a flash". Since he's moving at super-speed, they don't properly hear him, but they do pick up on the word "flash", which they recount to a news crew. Ergo, Jay calls himself The Flash.
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* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'':
** The Samaritan got his name when he first arrived in the twenty-first century. After saving a crashing plane, he was swarmed by reporters and people thanking him, at which point he claimed he wasn't a hero, "just a good samaritan".
** The Samaritan's ArchEnemy Infidel took his name from the insult his enemies had hurled at him countless times across the centuries.
* ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica's ComicBook/TheAtom got this name for his short stature. He kept it after he became a vigilante.
* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo:'' Doctor Dinosaur got his name during his first encounter with Robo, when Jenkins [[BigDamnHeroes burst in on him about to cut Robo to pieces]] over an insult, and declared it "some kind of doctor dinosaur?" Dinosaur had just moments ago been told by Robo his "given" name was utterly unpronounceable, and would just make people think he had something stuck in his throat.
* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'': [[SuperZeroes Butterball]], one of the most pathetic heroes of the Marvel setting got his name from a rather surly [[Characters/MarvelComicsTaskmaster Taskmaster]] taunting him about his weight. Evidently it stuck and became his official name.
* ''ComicBook/{{Bamse}}'': CorruptCorporateExecutive Krösus Sork ("Croesus Vole") apparently adopted "Krösus" as his given name based on an ironic derogatory nickname in school (as TheUnfavourite, he never had any money). AFAIK, we have never seen his real name - but an earlier version of him was called "Sigge", so [[WildMassGuessing presumably]] he was Sigmund Sork or something.
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
** Characters/{{Ba|tmanBane}}ne got his name after a warden called him one after he killed while still a child, in prison:
---> "He is a bane to everything holy!"
** During his college days, [[Characters/BatmanTheScarecrow Jonathan Crane]] would spend all his money on Psychology Books and thus dress shabbily, so his class mates would call him "scarecrow".
** [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] himself, according to ''The Man Who Laughs''. This is initially what the media calls him, since they don't know anything about him except for his clown-like appearance -- he loves the name and decides to embrace it.
** In some versions of his origin, [[Characters/BatmanThePenguin The Penguin]] took his alias from an insult the bullies at school used to taunt him with.
** ''ComicBook/BatgirlYearOne'' retcons Characters/{{Batgirl}}'s origin by stating Barbara Gordon got her name during her first encounter with Killer Moth. When the villain ranted over killing "Batman, Robin and Batgirl", she knew that she would always be "Batgirl" and not "Batwoman".
--->'''Killer Moth:''' This just gets better and better! I get to kill Batman, Robin and Batgirl, all in the same night!\\
'''Barbara Gordon:''' (thinking) And so it became official. Now I am "Batgirl"... forevermore.
* ''ComicBook/BigBangComics'': Reid Randall created his blue and grey costume and equipped himself with a pair of nightsticks to defend his family's garment factory against mobsters who threatened to burn it down. Confronting them in the warehouse, one of thugs said "It's some kind of night watchman". Reid immediately decided to adopt that as his superhero name. Recalling how he and his brother used to play knights as kids, he announced "That's Knight Watchman...with a 'K'!"
* In Creator/DCComics, ComicBook/BoosterGold got his strange name when he flubbed his own intended name, "Gold Star", along with his college football nickname "Booster", when asked by UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan. He also gave Doomsday his name in ''Comicbook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' when, after Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} caught an airborne Booster, he mentioned that "It was like Doomsday is here!" When Superman confronts him, he says "What did you call him? Oh, yeah: '''''Doomsday'''''."
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsMarvels Captain Mar-Vell]] made his debut when he stopped a killer robot sent by his own superiors in the Kree army that was sent to KillAllHumans. During the battle the robot kept addressing him by his rank and name "Captain Mar-Vell". Bystanders misheard and assumed that Mar-Vell was a new superhero named "Captain Marvel". Mar-Vell decided to go along with it. Used again with his ComicBook/UltimateMarvel incarnation, Marh-Vell. When interrogating him, Carol Danvers hears his name as "Marvel", and thinks he's a new superhero (and a Native America to boot). In fairness, with his armour, he does look like a superhero.
* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} was a mocking name Matt Murdock received back in school for not playing sports. Later parodied in a ''ComicBook/MiniMarvels'' comic.
* Marvel D-list superhero Characters/{{Darkhawk}} got his name from a crazy old hobo. Before that, he'd seriously been considering calling himself "Edge-Man".
* The UrExample with the DCU was the entire, original ComicBook/DoomPatrol. The press gave them superhero handles, which they initially rejected as "freak names," but eventually embraced. (Though they never called ''each other'' by those names.)
* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'': Bigby was nicknamed TheBigBadWolf by his bullying brothers as an insult because he was tiny as a cub. He grew up to be big and powerful and took that name for his own.
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'':
** [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour The Thing]] got the idea for his codename when [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Sue]] had called him such after he first transformed.
** Stretched to the breaking point for the Impossible Man. The Thing, amazed by [[GreatGazoo the new alien's metamorphic powers and glib attitude, says the alien is "impossible", as in exasperating.]] The narration automatically claims it as a moniker, calling the alien the Impossible Man.
** Inverted with Marvel's adhesives-based villain The Trapster, who ''started out'' calling himself Paste-Pot Pete! [[NeverLiveItDown/MarvelUniverse He's regretted it ever since, as everyone uses his old name as an insult and ignores the new one.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|of Comic Books}} [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]] gained his name when a reporter interviewing him noted Central City's mysterious new hero "sure caught that guy in a flash...what did you say your name was?" Barry responds, "you just said it--the Flash!" It helps that Barry also idolized UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} Flash, Jay Garrick. ''ComicBook/Earth2'' paid homage to this, when that world's version of Jay Garrick uses his newly-gained super speed to save a young couple from some RodentsOfUnusualSize, saying he'll do it "in a flash". Since he's moving at super-speed, they don't properly hear him, but they do pick up on the word "flash", which they recount to a news crew. Ergo, Jay calls himself The Flash.
* According to ''The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix'', Comicbook/XMen enemy [[Characters/XMenMarauders Mister Sinister]] got his name from the curses of his dying wife. Appropriately enough for a guy who became a supervillain in the 1800s, you don't get more gothic than that.
* In ''ComicBook/TheGoon'', the StreetUrchin gang The Little Unholy Bastards take their name from an insult that the EvilOrphanageLady called them once.
* ''ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers'': In her debut, [[GenderBlenderName Good Boy]] got her alias when a couple of villains started attacking her neighborhood. She confronted one of them, who, upon watching her transformation into a werewolf, realized he had stepped in it and could only reply, "Uh--g-g-good boy?"
* ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'':
** In ''The Wonder Year'', Oliver Queen gets dubbed Green Arrow when a stoner drug dealer he busted on his first outing gives a TV interview in which he refers to "this big, green arrow dude" who came out of nowhere.
** In his UsefulNotes/GoldenAgeOfComicBooks origin, "Birth of the Battling Bowmen" in ''More Fun Comics'' #89, when Ollie and Roy Harper first meet and use their archery skills to stop a gang of criminals, one of the crooks says "Golly, that kid's speedy" and another says "Watch out for the big guy, he shoots a mean, green arrow". The two start using these as nicknames for each other, and adopt them as heroic identities at the end of the adventure.
--->'''Ollie''': And we've been fighting ever since, Roy, under the names those thugs unconsciously gave us.
* ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'' get their nickname from a comment made by a guard as Lt. Hunter is leading his new recruits out of the stockade:
-->'''Guard''': Don't turn your back on 'em, sir! Those hellcats are the dirtiest lot we've ever had!\\
'''Hunter''': Hellcats, huh? Maybe the Japs will find that out, too!
* ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} villain Ira Quimby was called IQ by his criminal associates not only because of his initials, but [[IronicNickname as an ironic statement about how stupid he was]]. When he discovered a trinket that gave him incredible intelligence, he decided to keep the name.
* It's often said that Batman gave [[Franchise/TheFlash Bart Allen]] the codename "ComicBook/{{Impulse}}" as a warning. This is actually a {{retcon}}; he created it himself during ''Comicbook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'' (though all-but-confirmed in his second appearance a month before and reinforced a few issues later in the main ''Flash'' ongoing), a fact even his [[Creator/MarkWaid creator]] forgot.
* ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'':
** When Bruce Banner first turned into the Hulk, nobody else realized, besides Rick Jones. And so, a superpowerful being of unknown name and origin destroyed the military base while leaving it. The soldiers deployed to locate and kill the creature, and one unnamed soldier said, "We've got to find that... that [[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Hulk?r=75&src=ref&ch=dic hulk!!"]]
** Similarly, when Betty Ross first saw the Gamma-transformed Emil Blonsky, she described him as "some kind of... abomination!" Guess what his supervillain name became...
** The ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' ContinuityReboot attempt had the Hulk and ComicBook/IronMan do this to each other when their origins were mashed up into a single storyline. (Tony used the H-word when he first saw the mutated Banner, and the Hulk liked the sound of it; the other side was just applied HulkSpeak.)
** In ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', the titular new alter initially just goes by Hulk. It's only during his fight with the Avengers when he overhears Thor remarking on his nature that he identifies himself.
--->'''Hulk:''' Hh. 'Devil Hulk'. Works for me.
* ComicBook/{{Invincible}} got his name from a conversation with the school counselor who told him "You're not invincible."
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': When the man once known as Judge Sidney shocked even his fellow Judges with his tendency towards [[HangingJudge executing every single offender brought before him]], they called him "Judge Death" as an insult. The Judge subsequently took the name for his own, and [[OmnicidalManiac lived up to it]].
* In Chapter 2 of ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', we see the Beagle Boys evolving from river pirates to who they are today, except they had a bit of trouble naming their group -- throughout the comic they considered naming themselves "the Mardi Gras Gang" (their employer, Porker Hogg, got their masks from said event), "the Dirty Double-Crossing Dogs", and "the Masked Marauders". Eventually, when Scrooge tricked the gang and saved the day, he announced to the nearby government ship, who came to investigate, "These are the awful '''Beagle Boys!'''"
-->'''Beagle Boy 1:''' "The Beagle Boys"! Catchy! Simple, yet elegant!\\
'''Beagle Boy 2:''' Not bad! Rolls off the tongue!
* ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' artist Don Martin created ''ComicBook/CaptainKlutz'', whose name derived from the insult ("You Klutz!") of a robber he captured by accident. (Young Ringo Fonebone had actually been attempting suicide when he landed on top of the fleeing crook.) When a police Captain asked for his name, the dazed Fonebone replied, "I'm a Klutz, Captain." Perhaps not a pure example, as Fonebone was briefly amnesiac, and actually thought it was his real name, at least at first.
* The Comicbook/NewWarriors got named when a random reporter referred to them that way, and Night Thrasher hurriedly announced they'd be sticking with that before any of his team could come up with anything more embarrassing.
* Modern age ComicBook/PlasticMan got his name from flubbing "[[RubberMan Elastic Man]]", also when asked by a reporter. This is actually a retcon; when the character was created in the 40s, "plastic" was more commonly used as an adjective, before it became more commonly associated with the material "plastic" (so called because it is, of course, plastic - able to be deformed into other shapes). There is a song by Music/TheFall called, "How I wrote Elastic man"; in one verse it says "How I wrote elastic man" and ends with "How I wrote Plastic man" Coincidence?
* Arseface from ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', after hearing Cassidy say he has "a face like an arse" and then seeing his father shoot himself. He takes up his new moniker in a straight send-up of many classic scenes:
-->- "Uh wuh huh vuhhyuh uh Juhh Cuhh! Vuhhyuh fuh uh bluh uh muh fuhh! Uh uh uh huh uh fuh luh uh uhh -- ''suh buh uh!'' Uh wuh becuhh '''Uhhfuhh!'''" (I will have vengeance on Jesse Custer! Vengeance for the blood of my father! And if I have a face like an arse -- ''so be it!'' I will become '''Arseface!''')
:: It's worth pointing out that Arseface [[DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch doesn't actually know what the word "arse" means]].
* In ''ComicBook/PS238'', the MostCommonSuperpower isn't big boobs, it's [[FlyingBrick F.I.S.S.]]. CuteBruiser Julie is the eighty-fourth of these documented and as such feels a little inferior until she gains some [[CharacterDevelopment confidence]]. She then registers "84" as her official hero name, possibly because [[ShroudedInMyth Moon Shadow]] was the first one to call her that.
* In ''ComicBook/PunisherNoir'', Detective Martin Soap nicknames the mysterious vigilante who's been wreaking havoc on the Manhattan underworld "The Punisher", after a popular radio drama he theorizes inspired the man. He's partially correct -- our protagonist took a few pages from his favorite radio show when he started his RoaringRampageOfRevenge, but he never really had a name for himself before he heard the one Soap gave him.
* A member of ComicBook/SgtRock's Easy Company was mockingly called "Ice Cream Soldier" -- he was inexperienced and notorious for both "melting down" (panicking) and "freezing up" in tense combat situations. He adopted the name proudly after he saved the whole company from two oncoming German tanks during a heavy snowstorm, and it came to refer to his new cool demeanor and comfort in cold weather.
* ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'': Captain Marvel first got his nickname, ''Big Red Cheese'', from his ArchEnemy Dr. Sivana, but it was quickly adopted by both his friends and his fanbase.
* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'', Dr. Eggman creates a [[TheVirus Metal Virus]] that [[UnwillingRoboticisation roboticizes]] organic life. Sonic dubs them Zombots ([[ZombieApocalypse zombie robots]]) due to their [[TheSoulless soulless]] behaviors, and Eggman starts calling them that himself, admitting it's catchy.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade''. A reporter asks Kara if she is some kind of Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}. Later she chooses to call herself Supergirl, but she gave no indication she got her name from that random reporter.
* In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'', the term "Autobot" originated as an insult directed at all Cybertronians. Orion Pax started a movement to reclaim it, and it ended up being used for Sentinel Prime's and Zeta Prime's security forces; when the Decepticon movement began JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, Orion Pax - now holding the Matrix of Leadership and calling himself Optimus Prime - formed the heart of his army from those security forces.
* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'': The term "The New Scum" was coined by presidential candidate Gary "The Smiler" Callahan as an insulting reference to Spider Jerusalem's audience; the term was appropriated to a degree during the scandal that broke out after Spider leaked that outburst to the public.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel''
** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': The names that the mutants use, both on Xavier and Magneto's side, are a new naming system of their own design, that names them after their mutant abilities rather than after an ancestor.
** ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan''
*** Ultimate Mysterio explained it this way: "'But you can keep calling me Mysterio. I like that. I would have never come up with that name myself but it's out there now... and I like it.'" [[spoiler: This may have been a ruse by Ultimate Mysterio, who was revealed to be an android controlled by the mainstream Mysterio.]]
*** Also Spider-Man himself. He needed a stage name in the wrestling arena, so he chose the name "The Spider". The announcer fixed it on the fly, and gave him the name "Spider-Man". Peter complained for a moment, but then he liked it.
* Hollis Mason of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' was given the sarcastic nickname "Nite Owl" by a co-worker irritated by Mason's early bedtime. At the same time, he was looking to become a "costumed adventurer," but was stuck for a name...
-->"'Nite Owl.' I liked it. Now all I had to come up with was the costume."
* ''Comicbook/XMen'' has this via RetCon--originally the villains known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were just supposed to be {{Card Carrying Villain}}s, but the series' GrayingMorality made this odd when they were reworked into {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s. The new explanation is that they've adopted that name as a form of ThenLetMeBeEvil. Notably adaptations, including ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen,'' simplify things by [[AdaptationNameChange renaming them]] as just the Brotherhood of Mutants.
* ComicBook/YoungJustice -- somehow surfaced when team {{Cloudcuckoolander}} ComicBook/{{Impulse}} tried explaining to the press that he, Comicbook/{{Robin|1993}}, and ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} weren't the Comicbook/TeenTitans, but "just us".
* This has become the default way of explaining why superheroes have their superhero names: somebody in the media giving it to them. The 80s reboots of both ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman have them get their names this way.
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** The Samaritan got his name when he first arrived in the twenty-first century. After saving a crashing plane, he was swarmed by reporters and people thanking him, at which point he claimed he wasn't a hero, "just a good samaritan".
** The Samaritan's ArchEnemy Infidel took his name from the insult his enemies had hurled at him countless times across the centuries.
* ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica's ComicBook/TheAtom got this name for his short stature. He kept it after he became a vigilante.
* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo:'' Doctor Dinosaur got his name during his first encounter with Robo, when Jenkins [[BigDamnHeroes burst in on him about to cut Robo to pieces]] over an insult, and declared it "some kind of doctor dinosaur?" Dinosaur had just moments ago been told by Robo his "given" name was utterly unpronounceable, and would just make people think he had something stuck in his throat.
* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'': [[SuperZeroes Butterball]], one of the most pathetic heroes of the Marvel setting got his name from a rather surly [[Characters/MarvelComicsTaskmaster Taskmaster]] taunting him about his weight. Evidently it stuck and became his official name.
* ''ComicBook/{{Bamse}}'': CorruptCorporateExecutive Krösus Sork ("Croesus Vole") apparently adopted "Krösus" as his given name based on an ironic derogatory nickname in school (as TheUnfavourite, he never had any money). AFAIK, we have never seen his real name - but an earlier version of him was called "Sigge", so [[WildMassGuessing presumably]] he was Sigmund Sork or something.
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
** Characters/{{Ba|tmanBane}}ne got his name after a warden called him one after he killed while still a child, in prison:
---> "He is a bane to everything holy!"
** During his college days, [[Characters/BatmanTheScarecrow Jonathan Crane]] would spend all his money on Psychology Books and thus dress shabbily, so his class mates would call him "scarecrow".
** [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] himself, according to ''The Man Who Laughs''. This is initially what the media calls him, since they don't know anything about him except for his clown-like appearance -- he loves the name and decides to embrace it.
** In some versions of his origin, [[Characters/BatmanThePenguin The Penguin]] took his alias from an insult the bullies at school used to taunt him with.
** ''ComicBook/BatgirlYearOne'' retcons Characters/{{Batgirl}}'s origin by stating Barbara Gordon got her name during her first encounter with Killer Moth. When the villain ranted over killing "Batman, Robin and Batgirl", she knew that she would always be "Batgirl" and not "Batwoman".
--->'''Killer Moth:''' This just gets better and better! I get to kill Batman, Robin and Batgirl, all in the same night!\\
'''Barbara Gordon:''' (thinking) And so it became official. Now I am "Batgirl"... forevermore.
* ''ComicBook/BigBangComics'': Reid Randall created his blue and grey costume and equipped himself with a pair of nightsticks to defend his family's garment factory against mobsters who threatened to burn it down. Confronting them in the warehouse, one of thugs said "It's some kind of night watchman". Reid immediately decided to adopt that as his superhero name. Recalling how he and his brother used to play knights as kids, he announced "That's Knight Watchman...with a 'K'!"
* In Creator/DCComics, ComicBook/BoosterGold got his strange name when he flubbed his own intended name, "Gold Star", along with his college football nickname "Booster", when asked by UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan. He also gave Doomsday his name in ''Comicbook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' when, after Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} caught an airborne Booster, he mentioned that "It was like Doomsday is here!" When Superman confronts him, he says "What did you call him? Oh, yeah: '''''Doomsday'''''."
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsMarvels Captain Mar-Vell]] made his debut when he stopped a killer robot sent by his own superiors in the Kree army that was sent to KillAllHumans. During the battle the robot kept addressing him by his rank and name "Captain Mar-Vell". Bystanders misheard and assumed that Mar-Vell was a new superhero named "Captain Marvel". Mar-Vell decided to go along with it. Used again with his ComicBook/UltimateMarvel incarnation, Marh-Vell. When interrogating him, Carol Danvers hears his name as "Marvel", and thinks he's a new superhero (and a Native America to boot). In fairness, with his armour, he does look like a superhero.
* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} was a mocking name Matt Murdock received back in school for not playing sports. Later parodied in a ''ComicBook/MiniMarvels'' comic.
* Marvel D-list superhero Characters/{{Darkhawk}} got his name from a crazy old hobo. Before that, he'd seriously been considering calling himself "Edge-Man".
* The UrExample with the DCU was the entire, original ComicBook/DoomPatrol. The press gave them superhero handles, which they initially rejected as "freak names," but eventually embraced. (Though they never called ''each other'' by those names.)
* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'': Bigby was nicknamed TheBigBadWolf by his bullying brothers as an insult because he was tiny as a cub. He grew up to be big and powerful and took that name for his own.
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'':
** [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour The Thing]] got the idea for his codename when [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Sue]] had called him such after he first transformed.
** Stretched to the breaking point for the Impossible Man. The Thing, amazed by [[GreatGazoo the new alien's metamorphic powers and glib attitude, says the alien is "impossible", as in exasperating.]] The narration automatically claims it as a moniker, calling the alien the Impossible Man.
** Inverted with Marvel's adhesives-based villain The Trapster, who ''started out'' calling himself Paste-Pot Pete! [[NeverLiveItDown/MarvelUniverse He's regretted it ever since, as everyone uses his old name as an insult and ignores the new one.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|of Comic Books}} [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]] gained his name when a reporter interviewing him noted Central City's mysterious new hero "sure caught that guy in a flash...what did you say your name was?" Barry responds, "you just said it--the Flash!" It helps that Barry also idolized UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}} Flash, Jay Garrick. ''ComicBook/Earth2'' paid homage to this, when that world's version of Jay Garrick uses his newly-gained super speed to save a young couple from some RodentsOfUnusualSize, saying he'll do it "in a flash". Since he's moving at super-speed, they don't properly hear him, but they do pick up on the word "flash", which they recount to a news crew. Ergo, Jay calls himself The Flash.
* According to ''The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix'', Comicbook/XMen enemy [[Characters/XMenMarauders Mister Sinister]] got his name from the curses of his dying wife. Appropriately enough for a guy who became a supervillain in the 1800s, you don't get more gothic than that.
* In ''ComicBook/TheGoon'', the StreetUrchin gang The Little Unholy Bastards take their name from an insult that the EvilOrphanageLady called them once.
* ''ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers'': In her debut, [[GenderBlenderName Good Boy]] got her alias when a couple of villains started attacking her neighborhood. She confronted one of them, who, upon watching her transformation into a werewolf, realized he had stepped in it and could only reply, "Uh--g-g-good boy?"
* ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'':
** In ''The Wonder Year'', Oliver Queen gets dubbed Green Arrow when a stoner drug dealer he busted on his first outing gives a TV interview in which he refers to "this big, green arrow dude" who came out of nowhere.
** In his UsefulNotes/GoldenAgeOfComicBooks origin, "Birth of the Battling Bowmen" in ''More Fun Comics'' #89, when Ollie and Roy Harper first meet and use their archery skills to stop a gang of criminals, one of the crooks says "Golly, that kid's speedy" and another says "Watch out for the big guy, he shoots a mean, green arrow". The two start using these as nicknames for each other, and adopt them as heroic identities at the end of the adventure.
--->'''Ollie''': And we've been fighting ever since, Roy, under the names those thugs unconsciously gave us.
* ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'' get their nickname from a comment made by a guard as Lt. Hunter is leading his new recruits out of the stockade:
-->'''Guard''': Don't turn your back on 'em, sir! Those hellcats are the dirtiest lot we've ever had!\\
'''Hunter''': Hellcats, huh? Maybe the Japs will find that out, too!
* ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} villain Ira Quimby was called IQ by his criminal associates not only because of his initials, but [[IronicNickname as an ironic statement about how stupid he was]]. When he discovered a trinket that gave him incredible intelligence, he decided to keep the name.
* It's often said that Batman gave [[Franchise/TheFlash Bart Allen]] the codename "ComicBook/{{Impulse}}" as a warning. This is actually a {{retcon}}; he created it himself during ''Comicbook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'' (though all-but-confirmed in his second appearance a month before and reinforced a few issues later in the main ''Flash'' ongoing), a fact even his [[Creator/MarkWaid creator]] forgot.
* ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'':
** When Bruce Banner first turned into the Hulk, nobody else realized, besides Rick Jones. And so, a superpowerful being of unknown name and origin destroyed the military base while leaving it. The soldiers deployed to locate and kill the creature, and one unnamed soldier said, "We've got to find that... that [[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Hulk?r=75&src=ref&ch=dic hulk!!"]]
** Similarly, when Betty Ross first saw the Gamma-transformed Emil Blonsky, she described him as "some kind of... abomination!" Guess what his supervillain name became...
** The ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' ContinuityReboot attempt had the Hulk and ComicBook/IronMan do this to each other when their origins were mashed up into a single storyline. (Tony used the H-word when he first saw the mutated Banner, and the Hulk liked the sound of it; the other side was just applied HulkSpeak.)
** In ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'', the titular new alter initially just goes by Hulk. It's only during his fight with the Avengers when he overhears Thor remarking on his nature that he identifies himself.
--->'''Hulk:''' Hh. 'Devil Hulk'. Works for me.
* ComicBook/{{Invincible}} got his name from a conversation with the school counselor who told him "You're not invincible."
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': When the man once known as Judge Sidney shocked even his fellow Judges with his tendency towards [[HangingJudge executing every single offender brought before him]], they called him "Judge Death" as an insult. The Judge subsequently took the name for his own, and [[OmnicidalManiac lived up to it]].
* In Chapter 2 of ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', we see the Beagle Boys evolving from river pirates to who they are today, except they had a bit of trouble naming their group -- throughout the comic they considered naming themselves "the Mardi Gras Gang" (their employer, Porker Hogg, got their masks from said event), "the Dirty Double-Crossing Dogs", and "the Masked Marauders". Eventually, when Scrooge tricked the gang and saved the day, he announced to the nearby government ship, who came to investigate, "These are the awful '''Beagle Boys!'''"
-->'''Beagle Boy 1:''' "The Beagle Boys"! Catchy! Simple, yet elegant!\\
'''Beagle Boy 2:''' Not bad! Rolls off the tongue!
* ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' artist Don Martin created ''ComicBook/CaptainKlutz'', whose name derived from the insult ("You Klutz!") of a robber he captured by accident. (Young Ringo Fonebone had actually been attempting suicide when he landed on top of the fleeing crook.) When a police Captain asked for his name, the dazed Fonebone replied, "I'm a Klutz, Captain." Perhaps not a pure example, as Fonebone was briefly amnesiac, and actually thought it was his real name, at least at first.
* The Comicbook/NewWarriors got named when a random reporter referred to them that way, and Night Thrasher hurriedly announced they'd be sticking with that before any of his team could come up with anything more embarrassing.
* Modern age ComicBook/PlasticMan got his name from flubbing "[[RubberMan Elastic Man]]", also when asked by a reporter. This is actually a retcon; when the character was created in the 40s, "plastic" was more commonly used as an adjective, before it became more commonly associated with the material "plastic" (so called because it is, of course, plastic - able to be deformed into other shapes). There is a song by Music/TheFall called, "How I wrote Elastic man"; in one verse it says "How I wrote elastic man" and ends with "How I wrote Plastic man" Coincidence?
* Arseface from ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', after hearing Cassidy say he has "a face like an arse" and then seeing his father shoot himself. He takes up his new moniker in a straight send-up of many classic scenes:
-->- "Uh wuh huh vuhhyuh uh Juhh Cuhh! Vuhhyuh fuh uh bluh uh muh fuhh! Uh uh uh huh uh fuh luh uh uhh -- ''suh buh uh!'' Uh wuh becuhh '''Uhhfuhh!'''" (I will have vengeance on Jesse Custer! Vengeance for the blood of my father! And if I have a face like an arse -- ''so be it!'' I will become '''Arseface!''')
:: It's worth pointing out that Arseface [[DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch doesn't actually know what the word "arse" means]].
* In ''ComicBook/PS238'', the MostCommonSuperpower isn't big boobs, it's [[FlyingBrick F.I.S.S.]]. CuteBruiser Julie is the eighty-fourth of these documented and as such feels a little inferior until she gains some [[CharacterDevelopment confidence]]. She then registers "84" as her official hero name, possibly because [[ShroudedInMyth Moon Shadow]] was the first one to call her that.
* In ''ComicBook/PunisherNoir'', Detective Martin Soap nicknames the mysterious vigilante who's been wreaking havoc on the Manhattan underworld "The Punisher", after a popular radio drama he theorizes inspired the man. He's partially correct -- our protagonist took a few pages from his favorite radio show when he started his RoaringRampageOfRevenge, but he never really had a name for himself before he heard the one Soap gave him.
* A member of ComicBook/SgtRock's Easy Company was mockingly called "Ice Cream Soldier" -- he was inexperienced and notorious for both "melting down" (panicking) and "freezing up" in tense combat situations. He adopted the name proudly after he saved the whole company from two oncoming German tanks during a heavy snowstorm, and it came to refer to his new cool demeanor and comfort in cold weather.
* ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'': Captain Marvel first got his nickname, ''Big Red Cheese'', from his ArchEnemy Dr. Sivana, but it was quickly adopted by both his friends and his fanbase.
* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'', Dr. Eggman creates a [[TheVirus Metal Virus]] that [[UnwillingRoboticisation roboticizes]] organic life. Sonic dubs them Zombots ([[ZombieApocalypse zombie robots]]) due to their [[TheSoulless soulless]] behaviors, and Eggman starts calling them that himself, admitting it's catchy.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade''. A reporter asks Kara if she is some kind of Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}. Later she chooses to call herself Supergirl, but she gave no indication she got her name from that random reporter.
* In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'', the term "Autobot" originated as an insult directed at all Cybertronians. Orion Pax started a movement to reclaim it, and it ended up being used for Sentinel Prime's and Zeta Prime's security forces; when the Decepticon movement began JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, Orion Pax - now holding the Matrix of Leadership and calling himself Optimus Prime - formed the heart of his army from those security forces.
* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'': The term "The New Scum" was coined by presidential candidate Gary "The Smiler" Callahan as an insulting reference to Spider Jerusalem's audience; the term was appropriated to a degree during the scandal that broke out after Spider leaked that outburst to the public.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel''
** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': The names that the mutants use, both on Xavier and Magneto's side, are a new naming system of their own design, that names them after their mutant abilities rather than after an ancestor.
** ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan''
*** Ultimate Mysterio explained it this way: "'But you can keep calling me Mysterio. I like that. I would have never come up with that name myself but it's out there now... and I like it.'" [[spoiler: This may have been a ruse by Ultimate Mysterio, who was revealed to be an android controlled by the mainstream Mysterio.]]
*** Also Spider-Man himself. He needed a stage name in the wrestling arena, so he chose the name "The Spider". The announcer fixed it on the fly, and gave him the name "Spider-Man". Peter complained for a moment, but then he liked it.
* Hollis Mason of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' was given the sarcastic nickname "Nite Owl" by a co-worker irritated by Mason's early bedtime. At the same time, he was looking to become a "costumed adventurer," but was stuck for a name...
-->"'Nite Owl.' I liked it. Now all I had to come up with was the costume."
* ''Comicbook/XMen'' has this via RetCon--originally the villains known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were just supposed to be {{Card Carrying Villain}}s, but the series' GrayingMorality made this odd when they were reworked into {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s. The new explanation is that they've adopted that name as a form of ThenLetMeBeEvil. Notably adaptations, including ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen,'' simplify things by [[AdaptationNameChange renaming them]] as just the Brotherhood of Mutants.
* ComicBook/YoungJustice -- somehow surfaced when team {{Cloudcuckoolander}} ComicBook/{{Impulse}} tried explaining to the press that he, Comicbook/{{Robin|1993}}, and ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} weren't the Comicbook/TeenTitans, but "just us".
* This has become the default way of explaining why superheroes have their superhero names: somebody in the media giving it to them. The 80s reboots of both ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman have them get their names this way.
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