I am curious as to how the general public reacted to superheroes whose alter-egos or “normal names” were most obviously puns. Did creating such wordplay dilute the effectiveness of said superhero?
Examples: Wolverine: James Howlett “howl at” the moon, obvious wolf reference, even though a wolf is different from a wolverine. Maybe I’m overthinking it. Wonder Woman: Diana Prince (she’s a princess, right? Princess Diana reference?) Black Cat: Felicia Hardy (Feline is in her name). Some of these just go for it: Doctor Octopus–Otto Octavius (reference to his octopus-like appearance.)
What’s the purpose of making an alter-ego name based off wordplay? I know I’m missing others. I can’t think of them right now.
I think a large part of it is that until the recent trend of huge budget movie hero adaptations, that Super hero comics weren’t considered entirely serious by any means. Yes, there were more serious stories/takes, and certain comics were far more serious than others, but overall? No, they were fun, and fun geared at (in general) a younger audience.
I think the first comic series that I read that treated most of the matter as serious was Frank Miller’s Batman: the Dark Knight Returns (1986). To me, that was a turning point not just for ‘gritty’ comics, but a more serous tone for most of the medium.
So no, it didn’t dilute the effectiveness in any way.
I am not a comic book historian, but I’m pretty sure she was using alias Diana Prince long long long before Charles started looking for a wife. Per Wikipedia, she was using that alias in the 60s.
This, for sure. The primary audience was kids, and funny, punny, or alliterative* names were very common. There was little, or no, attempt to make the names realistic.
*- Just how many people in Superman’s sphere have the initials “LL,” anyway?
Edit: Also, regarding Wolverine/James Howlett, that alter-ego name was a retcon, given to him in a 2001 comic book, almost thirty years after the character was created. Prior to that, he was always known as/referred to as “Logan.”
“Diana Prince” goes back to the origins of Wonder Woman in the 1940s. It’s not a reference to Charles’s first wife, but it is still a pun. Her given name is Diana, and she is literally a princess (as in, the daughter of the Queen of the Amazons).
Harley Quinn’s real name (“Harleen Quinzel”) just kind of annoys me, as it’s so obviously made up for the sake of the pun. I have never met anyone in real life named “Harleen.” Have you?
Again…originally written for kids, for whom silly, non-realistic names were a feature, not a bug. The modern books, films, and TV shows, intended for an audience which includes adults, inherited the silly names.
Never met one, no. But it’s apparently an Indian name since Googling gives Harleen Deol, Harleen Singh, Harleen Rai, Harleen Chahil, and on and on. Quinzel is also a real name.
I can’t figure out who the “general public” is in the OP. The point of alter egos is that the general public would never know them. Only readers did, and they were like an insiders club who were gleeful to be let into the secret. A very young club. J’onn J’onzz became John Jones in 1955 when DC was pitching books to 10-year-olds after the Comic Code was imposed.
The really punny names came even later, first because of Stan Lee’s sense of humor. That’s exactly why kids up through college age bought Marvel. If you didn’t like the humor you stuck with DC and the names didn’t matter. Most of the names in the OP are from much later because comics became camp and deliberately silly under a violent core.
And Kenneth Johnson, executive producer of the Incredible Hulk TV series renamed him to David Bruce Banner partly because he hatred alliterative comic book names.
Although Aquaman’s real name is Arthur Curry (look it up), in an early issue of Justice League of America a couple of the Justice Leaguers find him in a dockside bar under the name “C. King”. Either the writer didn’t know about his real name, or he was going undercover (he was dressed in civilian garb, and obviously not being Aquaman).
