Meaningful Rename / Comic Books

• A staple of superhero comics, where usually the first or second thing a person does after gaining superpowers is to think up a name that either describes or obliquely alludes to those powers ("Spider-Man", "The Flash"), their source ("Green Lantern", "Radioactive Man"), or amounts to a mission statement ("Justice League of America", "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants", "Punisher"). This is especially noticeable with superheroes who start their careers without a secret identity, such as the Fantastic Four.
• Superheroes and supervillains sometimes take a new code-name which can be meaningful, e. g. if it is taken in reaction to a traumatic event, switching allegiances, growing up and standing on one's own feet (e. g. Kid Flash (Wally West) becoming the third Flash, the first Robin (Dick Grayson) becoming Nightwing), gaining new powers, etc.
• Alpha Flight: During one mission Weapon Alpha endangered innocent civilians. He therefore felt he had to vindicate himself and adopted the new name Vindicator.
• Batman:
  • This is found in certain backstories for the Riddler: Pre-Supervillain career, he legally changed his name from Edward Nashton to Edward Nygma. Perhaps to reflect his love of brainteasers, or to distance himself from his abusive father, or both.
  • In Gothtopia, the Batfamily changed their names to reflect the sunnier atmosphere of Gotham. Batgirl became Bluebelle, Batwing became Flying Fox, Batwoman became Brightbat, the Birds of Prey became the Wings of Truth, Catwoman became Catbird, Nightwing became Gothamite, and Batman is still Batman.
• Captain America:
  • Disillusioned after discovering that the U. S. President was the leader of the Secret Empire, Steve Rogers briefly became Nomad (or Nomad, the Man Without a Country).
  • In a later storyline he was forbidden by the U. S. government to use the name and costume of Captain America and for a while became The Captain.
• ElfQuest: Cutter's son Suntop saves his tribe from a great danger and thereafter is called Sunstream. Similarly, Redlance's initial name was Redmark and One-Eye used to be called Woodhue. It's sort of implied that this happens a lot, but we very rarely get to see any major characters change their names - most likely so the audience doesn't get all confused, especially if they skipped a few issues.
  • Early on in their quest, Cutter and Skywise encounter a human tribe where they are harassed by a tribal outcast known only as "Thief". Thief was once the chief's brother, but had his name taken away as punishment, something the rest of the tribe considers A Fate Worse Than Death.
• Fantastic Four: Under the influence of Psycho-Man and the Hatemonger, the Invisible Girl temporarily became evil and adopted the new identity of Malice. After living through this ordeal she did not revert to "Invisible Girl" but changed to "Invisible Woman".
• Firefly: In one comic, we learn Derrial Book is not the shepherd's birth name.
• De Kiekeboes:
  • Timotheus Triangl was renamed Timothea Triangl in Zeg Het Met Bloemen because he had undergone a sex change.
  • The series itself was named Kiekeboe until 2010 when it was renamed De Kiekeboes because creator Merho felt that the series was more about the family Kiekeboe than Marcel Kiekeboe alone.
• Marvel Universe: The Infinity Gems were initially known as the Soul Gems in all their early appearances. They wouldn't get their more familiar name until The Thanos Quest, where Thanos decided that "Infinity" was more fitting since only one of the gems actually had anything to do with souls.
• Nero: A weird example. Nero's original name was Heiremans, a man who thought he was Emperor Nero. After a while, he stopped thinking this but all the other characters still referred to him as Nero. Even his wife is named Mrs. Nero!
• New Warriors:
  • When Marvel Boy accidentally killed his father, he was tried and found guilty of negligent homicide. When his teammates came to jailbreak him, he refused to go with them, stating that he had been convicted in a fair trial, and he believed in the system. Shortly after his release from the vault, he changed his name to "Justice."
  • Speedball changed his name to Penance after being part of a botched supervillain arrest that ended with the deaths of over 600 people.
• Red Sonja: One of Red Sonja's rivals, Dark Annisia, renamed herself Red Annisia after she mistakenly believed Sonja was dead, as a sign of having conquered her. Sonja eventually returns and faces her in a rematch.
• Runaways: Most of the Runaways adopt code names. One describes it as wanting to get rid of everything their parents gave them, name included. It's also a clue to the identity of the mole - Alex refuses to take a codename because he's still loyal to his parents
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics):
  • Evil Sonic, powered up by the Master Emerald and sporting a new look, renamed himself Scourge to show he was no longer just another Sonic duplicate. When to took over Moebius, he convinced the other Anti-Freedom Fighters to take new looks and names. Evil Tails became "Miles", Evil Sally became "Alicia", Evil Antoine became "Patch", Evil Rotor became "Boomer" and the Anti-Freedom Fighters became the "Suppression Squad".
  • When the Knothole Freedom Fighters were shattered due to various actions by Naugus and Eggman, the remaining members reshuffled themselves and formed two teams - Team Freedom, comprised of Rotor, Cream, Cheese, Big, Heavy and Bomb, and Team Fighters, comprised of Sonic, Tails, Amy and T-Pup. Team Freedom was meant to protect New Mobotropolis because like hell they were going to trust King Naugus while Team Fighters went after Eggman to rescue Sally.
• Spider-Man:
  • While bonded with Peter Parker, the Symbiote had no name. After being rejected by Spider-Man and bonding with Eddie Brock, the two decided to become "poison" to Spider-Man and collectively took the name Venom.
  • Harry Lyman used to be Harry Osborn, son of the original Green Goblin, and at one time the Goblin himself. He now works for Peter Parker as a VP, using his mother's maiden name. As Harry explains to the Human Torch:
    Harry: That, Johnny, is why Peter is my best friend. He never gives up on me. I'm not an Osborn to him. I'm just "Harry."
• Strontium Dog: John Kreelman identifies himself as Johnny Alpha when he joins the mutant resistance. This is initially to keep secret the fact that he is the son of the most anti-mutant member of the Cabinet but soon thinks of it as a way to disassociate himself from his father.
• Superman: Pre-Crisis, Superboy changed his name to Superman during his college years, with Clark realizing he was no longer a kid/had reached maturity, and needed a more adult name. Presumably the same was the case for Clark's one Superboy-era contemporary hero, Aquaman (formerly "Aquaboy").
• Suske en Wiske: The characters Tante Sidonie and Schalulleke were renamed in 1963 when the comic strip changed from Flemish dialect into Dutch standard language. Sidonie was retitled Sidonia, which sounded better, and Schalulleke was renamed Schanulleke because a schalul was a Flemish word meaning a onion, but Dutchmen didn't know the word and the word -lul meant penis, so Vandersteen changed one letter in the character's name.
• Ultimate Fantastic Four: Arthur Molekovic was given the name "Mole Man" by his students because of his short stature, his second name, and the fact that he is covered in moles.
• X-Force: New team leader Mr. Sensitive changes his name to The Orphan at a press conference after a bout of internal conflict over his lack of family. He keeps the name even after discovering that he was never an orphan and that his parents just gave him away, partially on the advice of his boss, who said that if he changed it back people would think he was trying to reclaim the days before U-Go Girl's death.

  • After the death of U-Go Girl (and a legal battle), the Orphan changed the name of the team to X-Statix. He actually said he doesn't really know what the new name means; it came to him in a dream and it's better than nothing.

• X-Men:
  • When the male members of the second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had all ended up in prison, the remaining trio of Mystique, Destiny, and Rogue briefly called itself the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants. Later it entered the service of the federal government in return for a conditional amnesty and renamed itself Freedom Force.
  • Jean Grey changed her codename from Marvel Girl to Phoenix in The Phoenix Saga.
    Jean Grey: "Hear me, X-Men! No longer am I the woman you knew! I am fire! And life incarnate! Now and forever I AM PHOENIX!"
    • The change of Marvel Girl to the Phoenix was later retconned into her being replaced by the Phoenix. However, when Jean Grey was brought back from storage beneath Jamaica Bay, she significantly stopped using her pre-Phoenix codename "Marvel Girl", especially in the 90s when the Blue and Gold Strike Forces were formed.
• Warrior Cats: In the graphic novel A Clan In Need, Barley and Violet's brothers Hoot and Jumper are now BloodClan members called Snake and Ice. They deny their original names and deny being Barley and Violet's brothers.
• Winter Guard: Russia had two teams of superheroes, the Soviet Super Soldiers and the Supreme Soviets. Naturally, these names wouldn't do when Communism collapsed and the Soviet Union became the People's Federation of Russia, so they combined into one team and called themselves the People's Protectorate. Later, this team disbanded but a few members formed the Winter's Guard.

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