History Main / ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames

Throughout the movie, he's just "Steven Ulysses". It's hinted that he might have changed his last name at one point, but we never hear what it originally was. Also, we get all of one scene where he hints at casual drug use in college, [[MythologyGag saying his roommates used to call him "The Grass Man"]] with a snicker. But afterwards, they never use that name again, even when he gets [[GreenThumb the ability to control plants.]] Heck, even the end credits refers to the character as "Steven". What the heck just happened?

* In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', "The Abomination" aka Emil Blonsky is only offhandedly referred to that title once, by Samuel Sterns. Averted by The Hulk, who is called "Hulk" four times. The first time comes after the Culver University fight, where some college students refer to him as a "big hulk". Later, the military guys chasing the transformed Blonsky through New York mistakenly report that "the Hulk is in the street." Blonsky explicitly uses that name after the Hulk shows up for the final battle and the Hulk himself uses his [[CatchPhrase patented "HULK SMASH!"]] at the end of the fight.
** Lampshaded in the Marvel short "The Consultant", in which Agt. Coulson says "They ''really'' don't like when you call him that."

** In the sequel, Ivan Vanko, who is a CompositeCharacter of both the Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash, never gets called by ''either'' of those names in the film. The promotional material does refer to him as "Whiplash", however. Likewise, Natasha Romanov's handle of "Black Widow" never comes up, and the words "War Machine" are only used once in an offhanded insult from Tony to Rhodes.
** Even Iron Man himself doesn't get called the name until the end of the film and it's only used once or twice in the second film.
* In ''CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', Johann Schmidt gets called "The Red Skull" one time, much to his annoyance. For the rest of the movie, only his real name is used.
** Technically, this is also true of Montgomery Falsworth, aka "Union Jack", the British counterpart to Captain America. However, Falsworth is not a costumed hero in this movie.

* The original {{Hulk}} movie also hardly used the term, preferring to mostly call him Bruce Banner.

** Venom is known only by his real name throughout all of ''Spider-Man 3''. Similarly, Flint Marko is generally known by his real name for most of the film until a reporter calls him "the Sandman" during the final battle.

** The name "Prof. X" is only used once, in ''First Class'', and Xavier brushes it off.
** Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde never use codenames. While their comic counterparts went through a few over the years, they usually go by their real names anyway.

** The villains' real names are almost never used with the exception of Magneto. Even though he seems to prefer to call mutants by their "real names", he is mostly called Erik through four films. This is likely because "Magneto" sounds pretty silly when said out loud.

** "Bobby" introduces himself to Wolverine as Iceman.

** Angel, Darwin, and Beast never use codenames in ''X-Men 3''. Hank does eventually use the name towards the end of ''First Class''. Darwin 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; in the comics, her code name is Tempest, and Angel is her real name, but in the movie she explicitly states that Angel is a stage name.

* Averted ''and'' played straight in ''TheDarkKnightSaga.'' Batman and Ra's al Ghul are commonly referred to as such, and nobody knows the Joker as anything else, but Scarecrow and Two-Face are only referred to once each, and in Two-Face's case, it's referring to an old nickname of Harvey Dent's.
* Non comic book example : In ''KamenRiderTheFirst'' and ''[[KamenRiderTheNext The Next]]'', the heroes are never refered to as {{Kamen Rider}}.

* Non comic book example : In ''KamenRiderTheFirst'' and [[KamenRiderTheNext The Next]], the heroes are never refered to as {{Kamen Rider}}.

* Non comic book example : In {{KamenRiderTheFirst}} and [[KamenRiderTheNext The Next]], the heroes are never refered to as {{Kamen Rider}}.

** With The Rippler, there's a scene dedicated to him thinking up a code name for himself.

** "Bobby" is never called Ice Man until halfway through the third movie and even then, it's used as an insult.

* Averted with Rorshach in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' since no one knows his real identity until the mid-way point. Even then, he prefers the name Rorshach. Other characters oblidge since they never knew him by the name [[spoiler: Walter Kovacs]] anyway. Also, Edward Blake is called by his real name, and his codename, The Comedian, interchanging it scene through scene. All the Minutemen are also called by their codenames only, just Ellis Mason (Nite Owl I) and Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre I) being given their real names on the film. Nite Owl II and Ozymandias are called mostly by their real names, except on a couple of instances. Laurie got the worse, as she's not called neither by codename or last name.

* Obviously, averted in any movie where the hero has a SecretIdentity, except often by people who are in on the secret (for example, Alfred almost always calls {{Batman}} "Master Bruce" even when he's in costume).

* In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', "The Abomination" aka Emil Blonsky is only offhandedly referred to that title once, by Samuel Sterns. Averted by The Hulk, who is called "Hulk" four times. The first time comes after the Culver University fight, where some college students refer to him as a "big hulk". Later, the military guys chasing the transformed Blonsky through New York mistakenly report that "the Hulk is in the street." Blonsky explicitly uses that name after the Hulk shows up for the final battle and the Hulk himself uses his [[CatchPhrases patented "HULK SMASH!"]] at the end of the fight.

* In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', "The Abomination" aka Emil Blonsky is only offhandedly referred to that title once, by Samuel Sterns. Averted by The Hulk, who is only called "Hulk" three times. The first time comes after the Culver University fight, where some college students refer to him as a "big hulk". Later, the military guys chasing the transformed Blonsky through New York mistakenly report that "the Hulk is in the street." Finally, Blonsky explicitly uses that name after the Hulk shows up for the final battle.

* In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', "The Abomination" aka Emil Blonsky is only offhandedly referred to that title once, by Samuel Sterns. Averted by The Hulk. No one ever calls him that until the end, when Blonsky explicitly uses that name.

** Sandman and Venom were called by their real names throughout all of ''Spider-Man 3''. There wasn't even a mention of their comic codenames in passing.
** While [[NormanOsborn Green Goblin]] was called as such in the first movie, when it came time for his son Harry to adopt that persona, the name was never uttered. In fact, promotional material called him ''Neo-Goblin'', a name that was never used in the comics.

** The villains' real names are almost never used with the exception of Magneto. Even though he seems to prefer to call mutants by their "real names", he is mostly called Eric through four films. This is likely because "Magneto" sounds pretty silly when said out loud.

** Angel and Beast never use codenames in ''X-Men 3''. Hank does eventually use the name towards the end of ''First Class''.

** In the sequel, Ivan Vanko, who is a CompositeCharacter of both the Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash, never gets called by ''either'' of those names in the film. The promotional material does refer to him as "Whiplash", however.
** Likewise, the words "War Machine" are only used once, in an offhanded insult from Tony to Rhodes, but he doesn't call himself that at all.

Simple: "Grass Man" is a name that the general audience ''might'' have a [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief hard time taking seriously]], and the [[EnforcedTrope producers knew it.]] Sure, that's what he's been called for [[GrandfatherClause forty years in comics]], but there are ''[[{{Narm}} very poignant]]'' reasons why people still have a hard time disassociating comic books with {{Camp}}iness. [[PrintLongRunners Forty years ago]], "Grass Man" might have been perfectly feasible for a character that can control plants, but nowadays, there's almost no way to use that name around the uninitiated without [[HehHehYouSaidX invoking a snort and a snicker]] since TrueArtIsRealistic. Hell, even a potentially "cool" name like "The Sabre" or "[[DarkAgeOfSuperNames Dark Wolf]]" might seem a little too superheroic, especially if you're going to be calling someone by that name the whole movie. And on the villain side, it probably wouldn't make sense for someone to go through a traumatic experience and immediately start calling themselves "Dr. Destructo".

Simple: "Grass Man" is a name that the general audience ''might'' have a [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief hard time taking seriously]], and the [[EnforcedTrope producers knew it.]] Sure, that's what he's been called for [[GrandfatherClause forty years in comics]], but there are ''[[{{Narm}} very poignant]]'' reasons why people still have a hard time disassociating comic books with {{Camp}}iness. [[PringLongRunners Forty years ago]], "Grass Man" might have been perfectly feasible for a character that can control plants, but nowadays, there's almost no way to use that name around the uninitiated without [[HehHehYouSaidX invoking a snort and a snicker]] since TrueArtIsRealistic. Hell, even a potentially "cool" name like "The Sabre" or "[[DarkAgeOfSuperNames Dark Wolf]]" might seem a little too superheroic, especially if you're going to be calling someone by that name the whole movie. And on the villain side, it probably wouldn't make sense for someone to go through a traumatic experience and immediately start calling themselves "Dr. Destructo".

Simple: "Grass Man" is a name that the general audience ''might'' have a [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief hard time taking seriously]], and the [[EnforcedTrope producers knew it.]] Sure, that's what he's been called for [[GrandfatherClause forty years in comics]], but there are ''[[{{Narm}} very poignant]]'' reasons why people still have a hard time disassociating comic books with {{Camp}}iness. [[PringLongRunners Forty years ago]], "Grass Man" might have been perfectly feasible for a character that can control plants, but nowadays, there's almost no way to use that name around the uninitiated without [[HehHehYouSaidX invoking a snort and a snicker]] since TrueArtIsRealistic. Hell, even a potentially "cool" name like "The Sabre" or "[[DarkAgeOfSuperNames Dark Wolf]]" might seem a little too superheroic, especially if you're going to be calling someone by that name the whole movie.

Also it might not make sense for someone to go through a traumatic experience and immediately start calling themselves [[FailOSuckyname "Dr. Destructo"]]

* In ''Film/IronMan'', Obadiah Stane only offhandedly uses the word "Iron Mongers" to refer to himself and Tony as {{Arms Dealer}}s once. He's never directly called that in the film. In fact, in the "Making Of" documentaries, the crew kept referring to him as the ''Crimson Dynamo!''

* In ''Film/IronMan'', Obadiah Stane only offhandedly uses the word "Iron Mongers" to refer to himself and Tony as {{Arms Dealer}}s once. He's never directly called that in the film. In fact, in the "Making Of" documentaries, the crew kept referring to him as the [[cowboybebopathiscomputer ''Crimson Dynamo!'']]

* In ''Film/IronMan'', Obadiah Stane only offhandedly uses the word "Iron Mongers" to refer to himself and Tony as {{Arms Dealer}}s once. He's never directly called that in the film. In fact, in the "Making Of" documentaries, the crew kept referring to him as the ''Crimson Dynamo!''

Also it might not make sense for someone to go through a traumatic experience and immediately start calling themselves [[FailOSuckynam "Dr. Destructo"]]

Simple: "Grass Man" is a name that the general audience ''might'' have a [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief hard time taking seriously]], and the [[EnforcedTrope producers knew it.]] Sure, that's what he's been called for [[GrandfatherClause forty years in comics]], but there are ''[[{{Camp}} very poignant]]'' reasons why people still have a hard time disassociating comic books with {{Camp}}iness. Forty years ago, "Grass Man" might have been perfectly feasible for a character that can control plants, but nowadays, there's almost no way to use that name around the uninitiated without invoking a snort and a snicker since TrueArtIsRealistic. Hell, even a potentially "cool" name like "The Sabre" or "Dark Wolf" might seem a little too superheroic, especially if you're going to be calling someone by that name the whole movie.

* Averted with Rorshach in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' since no one knows his real identity until the mid-way point. Even then, he prefers the name Rorshach. Other characters oblidge since they never knew him by the name [[spoiler: Walter Kovacs]] anyway.

* Averted with Rorshach in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' since no one knows his real identity until the mid-way point. Even then, he prefers the name Rorshach. Other characters oblidge since they never knew him by the name [[spoiler: Walter]] anyway.

* Averted with Rorshach in {{Watchmen}} since no one knows his real identity until the mid-way point. Even then, he prefers the name Rorshach. Other characters oblidge since they never knew him by the name [[spoiler: Walter]] anyway.

* Due to NeverSayDie, DC villain Deathstroke went by his civilian name "Slade" throughout the animated ''TeenTitans'' series.