Line #14 Main/MilitaryRankNames


1	[[quoteright:234:[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ltmarvel_9.jpg]]]]
2
3	Basically, the tendency of heroes and villains to have names that start with Captain, Major, General, Sergeant, etc., especially when it's doubtful that the character even has that military rank. [[MilitarySuperhero Or has even been in the military]].
4
5	SuperTrope of TheGoodCaptain and CaptainSuperhero. Related to ColonelBadass.
6	----
7	!!Examples:
8	[[AC:Privates]]
9	* Private Iron from ''ComicBook/TopTen: The Forty Niners''
10	* Private HIVE from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''
11	* Private Warr
12	* When Captain Cold was de-aged to his early teens, he took the name Private Cold.
13	* Private, the youngest of the penguins in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' films.
14	* Private Brick [=McArthur=] from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama''
15	* Pvt. Bullit, a hero character in ''VideoGame/BoomBeach'' with a ''serious'' case of TestosteronePoisoning.
16
17	[[AC:Corporals]]
18	* [[PunnyName Corporal Punishment]], Newt's character in Nitro's superhero game in ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable''.
19	* Corporal, Private's counterpart in North Wind in ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar''.
20
21	[[AC:Sergeants]]
22	* Wrestling/SgtSlaughter
23	* The State Patrol, a jobber tag team in WCW with a police gimmick, featured [=DeWayne=] Bruce as Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker.
24	* ComicBook/SargeSteel is interesting, because of FlipFlopOfGod. Either he was a sergeant during his time in the military and the nickname stuck with him or his actual first name is "Sargent".
25	* Sergeant Superior, one of the Actioneers from ''ComicBook/TheAstoundingWolfMan''.
26	* Sergeant Stomp from ''ComicBook/TheIntimates''
27	* Sgt. Marvel of ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon''
28	* Sgt. States, ''ComicBook/JackStaff'''s CaptainErsatz version of Captain America [[spoiler: who is actually an evil vampire]].
29	* Sgt. Strike
30	* Sgt. Brick, another ''VideoGame/BoomBeach'' hero character.
31	* Sarge from ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', although an interesting twist in that it is is given name ''and'' rank, but it is initially just presented as his rank. His full title for the entirety of [[WebAnimation/RedVsBlueTheBloodGulchChronicles Blood Gulch]] and a fair bit beyond is "Sergeant Sarge", but this reveal only comes way down the line when he is promoted to "Super Colonel."
32
33	[[AC:Lieutenants]]
34	* Gym Leader [[ShockAndAwe Lt. Surge]] of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', though he's apparently an actual American military veteran.
35	* Lieutenant Liberty, one of the superheroes fantasized about by ''Insane Jane''
36	* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, the NYPD's Code: BLUE is called in to deal with superhuman threats, and can thus be considered superheroes in their own right. Their leader is Lt. Stone
37	* ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'': There were three other Billy Batsons (Fat Billy, Tall Billy and Hill Billy) who could gain the powers of Captain Marvel, but only if they all said the word "Shazam!" at the same time. They were known as the Lieutenant Marvels.
38	* The other half of WCW's State Patrol was Dale Veasey, aka Lt. James Earl Wright.
39	* Lou Tenant aka Lieutenant, the Master’s NumberTwo in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''
40
41	[[AC:Commanders]]
42	* Commander Steel of the ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron''. Two of his grandchildren tried to keep his legacy going, but out of respect to the fact that he really was a Captain in the Marine Corps they went by Steel and Citizen Steel, respectively - averting and ''in''verting the trope.
43	* Commander Kraken, though as leader of a band of pirates he'd technically be a Captain.
44	* Commander Capitalism, a prominent member of Capes, Inc.
45	* Minor ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' foe Commander Courage is not only a supervillain, not only a real Lieutenant-Commander in the Belgian army, but his real name is Guillaume Courage.
46	* As if to mock us, Captain Cold shows up here ''again'' with a 25th Century LegacyCharacter known as Commander Cold - and another one in the ''[[ComicBook/DCOneMillion 853rd]]'' century!
47	* Commander Power from ''ComicBook/CommonGrounds''
48	* ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen''.
49	* "Commander Cash" was an in-universe comic book superhero on ''Series/RobocopTheSeries''.
50	* Commander X of the X-Team from ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV''
51	* ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'': Commander Badass holds his rank in an a far-future military that runs on RuleOfCool. As an ArtificialHuman, his "real name" is [[YouAreNumberSix D37-9E-B52]], but the AwesomeMcCoolName has better public appeal.
52	* [=CommanderVideo=] (note the CamelCase) is the protagonist of the ''VideoGame/BitTrip'' series, as well as the leader of his group of friends.
53
54	[[AC:Captains]]
55	* See TheGoodCaptain and CaptainSuperhero for countless heroic examples.
56	* Captain Boomerang
57	* Captain Cold, an enemy of ComicBook/TheFlash
58	* In ''Manga/DragonBallZ'', Captain Ginyuu holds a quick job interview to find replacements for the lost members of his QuirkyMinibossSquad. One of the candidates tries to invoke this trope but accidentally "outranks" the captain and gets punted over the horizon for his insolence.
59	* Captain Dynamic
60	* Captain Valor, a villainous tribute to Captain Marvel.
61	* Captain Steel, archenemy of ''Judo Girl''.
62	* Captain Metropolis from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.
63	* Kapitan Krieg, ''ComicBook/JackStaff'''s greatest enemy
64	* ComicBook/CaptainAtom, who actually held the rank of captain in the air force before being promoted to major.
65	* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton'' is a ShowWithinTheShow of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', with the eponymous hero a 1930's ''Flash Gordon''-expy.
66	* [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Kaptin Badrukk]] and [[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Kaptin Bluddflagg]], ork Freeboota captains. Given that orks have maybe four ranks- boyz, nob, warboss and warlord, this is presumably taken in imitation of human ranking.
67	* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'': This is common during the game Unlikely Superheroes. One of the most famous is when Colin was Captain Hair.
68	* Cpt. Everspark, a GadgeteerGenius hero character in ''VideoGame/BoomBeach''.
69	* Exaggerated with Captain Tim of ''ComicBook/TheTwelve'': Tim is his actual name, he just stuck "Captain" in front of it to get his superhero name.
70	* Heck, Website/ThisVeryWiki has CaptainGeographic, CaptainPatriotic, CaptainEthnic--you get the idea.
71
72	[[AC:Majors]]
73	* Major Disaster, foe of ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''.
74	* Major Glory from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''
75	* Major Victory of the Force of July
76	* Also Major Victory from ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' (31st century incarnation)
77	* Major Force, a villain of ComicBook/CaptainAtom and perpetrator of the original StuffedInTheFridge moment.
78	* Ursa Major. And yes, he really does hold the rank of Major.
79	* ''ComicBook/MajorBummer'' averts this while trying to play it straight - the title isn't the hero's superhero name, but it's intended to sound like it is.
80	* Major Mapleleaf from ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight''.
81	* Major Maxim, one of the primary antagonists of ''ComicBook/DangerGirl''
82	* Major Havoc, a teammate of ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'s on the Superhomies.
83	* Major Battle, a member of the Brute Force from ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon''
84	* Major Minor, a minor (shut up) member of the Circus of Crime
85	* Major ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, who naturally hails from an alternate universe
86	* On the Robocop TV show, Major Market was the sidekick of in-universe super hero Commander Cash.
87	* [[Franchise/GhostInTheShell Motoko Kusanagi]] is commonly referred to as simply ''[[MajorlyAwesome The Major]]'' in any incarnation of the franchise.[[note]]How she received the nickname is told in the at least two mutually exclusive ways. In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandaloneComplex'' she was said to be issued her rank in an express BattlefieldPromotion in exceptional circumstances, her being essentially a civilian hacker of unclear origins, while in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellArise'' though she serves in a Special Forces unit, her rank was entirely ordinary. The ''[[Manga/GhostInTheShell original manga]]'' and Oshii's Movies simply gloss it over. Anyway, she ''always'' retires from the military before joining the [[SecretPolice Section 9]], making her rank [[RedBaron just a nickname]].[[/note]]
88	* Major Amazing and Captain Omnipotent in ''ComicBook/DrBlinkSuperheroShrink'' argue over who outranks who.
89	-->'''Captain Omnipotent:''' These ranks really mean something?\
90	'''Nocturne:''' I'm looking it up.
91
92	[[AC:Colonels]]
93	* Colonel America in the ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' AlternateContinuity.
94	** In the UltimateUniverse, the only person besides Cap to survive the Super-Soldier treatment is Colonel Abdul al-Rahman, or simply "The Colonel".
95	* Colonel Lilliput from ''ComicBook/TopTen'', inspired in no small part by General Jumbo
96	* Colonel Computron
97	* Colonel Brass, a minor Franchise/{{Batman}} villain.
98	* Another minor enemy of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s is Colonel Sulphur
99	* Speaking of Batman, early issues of ''Detective Comics'' featured a back-up about Colonel Blimp.
100	* Colonel Bravo, father of [[ComicBook/YoungbloodImageComics Shaft]].
101	* Colonel Future, a pre-Crisis foe of Franchise/{{Superman}}.
102	* Pro wrestler Ed Wiskoski was best known for his run in the [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation AWA]] as Colonel [=DeBeers=], a pro-[[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid]] South African (who [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent didn't bother with the accent]]).
103
104	[[AC:Generals]]
105	* In Wrestling/{{WCW}}, [[Wrestling/BillDeMott Hugh Morrus]] went by "General Hugh G. Rection" for a while when he led the Misfits In Action (MIA). His cohorts were "Major Gunns", "Major Stash" (Van Hammer)[[note]]Originally supposed to be "Private Stash", but Hammer complained about his low rank enough to get promoted, even though it kills the joke[[/note]], "Lt. Loco" (Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr), "Corporal Cajun" (Lash [=LeRoux=]) and Sgt. A-WOL (The Wall).
106	* Pro wrestling managers Wrestling/GeneralSkandorAkbar and General Adnan.
107	* They've called the cruel Russian environment "General Winter" and then some. This is because the winter has kept invaders away with frightening success.
108	** General Winter is given villainous human form in ''TabletopGame/SilverAgeSentinels''
109	** It is sometimes said that UsefulNotes/{{WW2}} was actually won by only four generals - General Winter and General Mud from the USSR, as well as General Motors and General Electric from the USA [[labelnote: Explanation]]The harsh winter and boggy conditions caused Germany’s advance to stall, but it was the USA’s industrial might that allowed the Allies to then out produce Germany in military equipment and war materials. [[/labelnote]]
110	* [[Franchise/StreetFighter General M. Bison]]
111	* Many Generals in comic books are likely to be actual generals - and most are antagonistic. General Sam Lane, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, General Dru-Zod, General Wade Eilling, General Demetrius Lazer...
112	* The General, a minor ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villain obsessed with military history and strategy. For the record, he's a very young man who even went by "Li'l General" in his early appearances. He later became a nemesis of ComicBook/{{Robin}}.
113	** Wade Eilling is mentioned above, but in Post-Crisis continuity he simply started calling himself "the General" after being turned into a colossal monster man.
114	* Classic ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' foe General Immortus
115	* General Jumbo (from ''ComicBook/TheBeano'') and his ''ComicBook/JackStaff'' Captain Ersatz General Tubbs. Jack Staff and Captain Cold are sharing a good laugh right about now.
116	* General Wolfram, a wolf man with a Nazi theme.
117	* General Disarray from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
118	* General Glory, one-time member of ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational.
119	* General Monger from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens''.
120	* General Red of the X-Team from ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV''
121	* General Guy, the military-dressed shyguy from ''[[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Paper Mario]]''.
122	* During the late 2000s recession, there were jokes about General Motors (an American automobile company) being “demoted” to “Colonel Motors” when it entered bankruptcy restructuring proceedings, and being further demoted to “Corporal Motors” when it had to take a government bailout.

Context Main / MilitaryRankNames