Follow TV Tropes

Following

Color Character

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/redtornado_9751.jpg

Kid: Hey, it's Black Falcon!
Sam Wilson: Just Falcon, kid.
Kid: No, no, my daddy told me it's Black Falcon.
Sam: Is it because I'm black and I'm the Falcon? [...] So are you, like, Black Kid?

A superhero and masked hero naming convention where the hero has a color as part of their name.

Generally, this color is incorporated into their powers, their appearance, or their costume in some way. Expect it to be pointed out if it isn't. Most names of this type take the form of Color Noun.

A Sister Trope to Something Person, where the hero or villain has his power or defining trait as part of his code name. May or may not be Color-Coded for Your Convenience. Wanders into Added Alliterative Appeal on occasion.

Different colors tend to signify different things. A few of these characters are from the Cold War era and are colored red because they come from, or represent, a communist nation. Black can indicate a Captain Ethnic or an Anti-Hero.

See also Colourful Theme Naming, All Your Colors Combined. When combined with Animal Theme Naming, this is Color Animal Codename.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Multiple 
  • Super Sentai and Power Rangers are of course built on this. Individual monikers (such as Zeo Ranger IV Green or Gokai Pink) often reference their colors, but even when they are identified by, say an animal, they collectively are usually identified as [Color] Ranger(s) for the franchise overall.
  • While not exactly heroes, the crème de la crème of the Fixers in Library of Ruina are given titles that follow this scheme, and are aptly called Color Fixers or just as Colors. Those currently known are the Red Mist, Purple Tear, Blue Reverberation, Black Silence and Vermillion Cross. It is unknown why this trend was chosen in-universe.
  • As it takes a lot of influence from Super Sentai, the five heroes of Lightning Sentai Blitzenger have code names incorporating their colors: Rai is Crimson Lightning, Momoko is Azure Lightning, Kimura is Jade Lightning, Ashley is Golden Lightning, and Yumi is Magenta Lightning, respectively.

    Bronze 

Comic Books

    Pink 

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

  • Pinky (sidekick to Mr. Scarlet) - DC Comics (previously Fawcett Comics)

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

    Red 

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Fan Works

Literature

Live-Action TV

Myths & Folklore

Tabletop Games

Theatre

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

    Yellow/Gold 

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Live-Action TV

Myths & Folklore

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

    Green 

Comic Books

Literature

Radio

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

    Blue 

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Film

Live-Action TV

  • While Blue Senturion from Power Rangers Turbo is an example of this, his Sentai counterpart, Signalman, isn't.
  • On Smallville, the media begins referring to Clark Kent's superhero identity, not as Superman, but as the "Blue Blur" (or "the red-and-blue blur," or just "the Blur").

Video Games

Webcomics

Western Animation

    Purple 

Comic Books

Live-Action TV

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

    Brown 

Comic Books

Webcomics

Video Games

Western Animation

    Black (color) 

Anime

Comic Books

Literature

Live-Action Television

Professional Wrestling

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

    Black (Used by a Black Captain Ethnic) 

Comic Books

  • Black Badge – Astro City
  • Black Goliath – Ant-Man (he eventually managed to switch to just "Goliath")
  • Black Lightning - Black Lightning. Though it was later Ret Conned so that his lightning itself is black, which is supposedly the source of his name.
  • Black Mantanote Aquaman
  • Black Mass - DC Comics
  • Black Panther - Black Panther
    • Played with by White Wolf from the same series, who got his name for the same racial reasons as the various "Black" heroes listed here; but he's a white man in a majority-black country instead of the other way around.
  • Black Racer - New Gods
  • Black Samson – Invincible
  • Black Spider note  - Batman
  • Blackwing – Huntress (on Earth-Two)

Live Action TV

  • Referenced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where some civilians address Sam as "Black Falcon" instead of just The Falcon. As it comes from people who are also Black, Sam takes it in good humor and just playfully teases them about the mistake.

Webcomics

  • Averted in Spinnerette: Tiger is a large black super hero, but his name is just "Tiger". The reason this comes up is because everyone always calls him "Black Tiger".
    "It's just Tiger, damnit!"

Western Animation

    Silver 

Comic Books

Video Games

Web Original

Western Animation

    Grey 

Comic Books

Literature

  • The Grey Lady, Fenrir Greyback - Harry Potter. Though the latter may just be a fitting surname.
  • Gandalf the Grey, also known as "Mithrandir" which is Sindarin elven for "Grey Wanderer." - The Lord of the Rings
  • The Gray Lensman - Lensman

Video Games

Western Animation

    White 

Anime

Comic Books

Live-Action TV

Tabletop Games

Webcomics

Web Original

Western Animation

  • White Pantera - El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera

    Spectrum 
A form of Theme Naming when most or all of the cast is named after colors.

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

  • Green Lantern now has Lantern Corps of every color in the spectrum. Though it should be noted that the yellow and violet corps dodge the color naming; being the Sinestro Corps and the Star Sapphires respectively. Some of the corps leaders also have color-themed aliases:
    • Agent Orange (Larfleeze)
    • Black Hand
    • Indigo-1
  • Green Lantern's Alternate Company Equivalent from the Squadron Supreme is actually called Doctor Spectrum.
  • Red Tornado of DC Comics now has several other color counterparts.
  • Color Kid - DC Comics
  • Rainbow - Centaur Publications
  • Rainbow Boy - Eastern Color Printing
  • Rainbow Girl - Legion of Super-Heroes
  • Rainbow Raider/The Rainbow Raiders - The Flash

Literature

Live-Action TV

Puppet Shows

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

  • In the Whateley Universe stories about Silver Ghost, she gets involved with SPECTRUM, the superhero group of Cincinnati. They have theme naming (Green Witch, Yellow Knight, Azure, etc), which really ticks off Tawny - she'd rather have a name like Lioness.

Western Animation

    Referenced 

Alternative Title(s): Colour Character

Top