And to pick a peck of pickled peppers.
He was Edward Nashton in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
And in the 1966 Batman movie, the Penguin bought a surplus submarine under the name of “P. N. Gwynne”.
And also, Wonder Woman’s own name is actually Diana and she is an actual princess of the Amazons Themyscira (Paradise Island).
Good children’s literature almost always works on two levels: a straightforward story that kids will get and jokes and references that only adults will, making the work more appealing for them to watch or read a million times. One of the rites of childhood is growing old enough to get the adult jokes that passed over their heads the first times around.
Comics did that all the time until they too “grew up” (i.e. got sickeningly violent and misogynistic). They were for kids by slightly older kids. Few of the writers in the early days were over 25. The Spirit was by far the most sophisticated comic of its time and Will Eisner started it when he was 23. (It also was not a comic book. It appeared as an 8-page insert in newspaper comic strip sections, which were themselves 16 or 32 pages. As an inset it could be removed where the kids in the house wouldn’t see it.)
Looking back at comics though 2022 eyes will give grotesquely distorted views of that reality. Dick was a perfectly respectable shortening of Richard for hundreds of years before the alternate meaning of penis and/or jerk suddenly became the norm. That probably started in the 1960s. With Dick Nixon being the archetypal dick the name itself became tainted. The process happened again with Karen, with leagues of innocent older Karens utterly bewildered and appalled at what happened.
Dr. Doom goes back to 1940, from the very first issue of Science Comics. Go to page 45. He has his own strip even though he’s the villain, who shrinks people down to molecular size.
The issue also featured Cosmic Carson, Navy Jones, underseas with Princess Coral, Bill Powers as the flying Eagle, and Perisphere Payne, Interplanetary Explorer, whose villain is named… Villon.
All I can suggest for perspective is to read some 2022 children’s books and see what names you find there.
One of Batman’s most famous villains often uses the alias Joe Kerr. Bet you can’t guess which one!
The Incredibles, as a pastiche of comic book superheroes, is blatant with its puns. Mr. Incredible’s alter ego is named Parr. At least Frozone gets to be named Best.
The topper is the character in the sequel named Evelyn Deavor. Not subtle.
So is “Quinn”, for that matter.
Oops. I didn’t see that Peter already mentioned that.
I heard that an Inuit fellow by that name is gonna be getting here soon.
I have an uncle, Richard Dickie. He goes by Dick, and while not a superhero he is, officially, a hero: he received the Star of Courage for pulling a couple out of a burning propane truck on the Trans-Canada. Mock his name at your peril, mortals!
And the Chairman of British Rail; at one time, my boss.
I’m astonished that nobody has mentioned that scurrilous jackanapes, Jack Napier, aka “the Joker.”
Aside from when his name is Arthur Fleck, Oberon Sexton, John Doe, or, as of the latest retcon in September of this year, Jack White.
“Felicia” is derived from the Latin word for “happy”, while “feline” is the Latin for “cat”
It’s just fun playing with the idea of nominative determinism. "Oh, your name’s Block Steel? What are you going to grow up to be?
Ah, but “Felicia” is the feminine form of “Felix”. And everyone knows Felix the Cat.
Not to mention Johnny Ohnn: The Spot!
Reminds me of this bit from WKRP in Cincinnati:
