# The Incredible Amazing Colossal Adjective Superhero/Monster **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2022, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720 "2022-09-01T12:32:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/1 "2022-09-01T12:32:28Z")
I blame producer Albert Zugsmith. There might be an earlier example, but I think he started it all. Richard Matheson submitted an idea for a film to Universal Studios to be called _The Shrinking Man_. He wrote the screenplay, and also the novel based on the idea, which was published in paperback under that title. Zugsmith, the producer, evidently thought the title needed “punching up”, so he retitled it _The Incredible Shrinking Man_, which is how the film was released (Many decades later, Matheson finally changed the title of his novel to match, after years of being republished without the adjective, maybe because more people were familiar with the old movie). The film was released in the first half of 1957. American International was a small studio that often made quick films to capitalize on trends, and Bert I. Gordon was one of their low-budget producer/directors who could bring in a splashy and trendy title quickly and cheaply. Universal made a movie about a guy who kept getting smaller and smaller? Okay, we’ll make one about a guy who keeps getting bigger and bigger. The Colossal Man. But we’ll need an adjective, too, so he became _The Amazing Colossal Man_. It was released in the fall of 1957. (The sequel, released a year later, didn’t use any adjectives except “Colossal” in the title). This was, I think the start of a new trend – the Unnecessary Title Adjective. There was going to be a sequel to The Incredible Shrinking Man, to be called _The Fantastic Little Girl_, also written by Matheson, but it was never made. Producer Zugsmith later wrote and directed _The Incredible Sex Revolution_ in 1966. We also got The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) The Incredible Petrified World (1961) The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971) The Incredible Melting Man (1977) The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) There was also The Incredible Journey, based on the book of the same name, but I’ll argue that, in that case, the adjective was justified. This overuse of adjectives was also picked up by Marvel comics. Before this you had Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman and The Human Torch and the Submariner and The Phantom and a host of lesser-known characters who did just fine without any adjectives to describe them. Superheroes got a revival in the 1957 at DC when the brought out a new, revamped version of The Flash and followed it up with others, including groups like Challengers of the Unknown and Justice League of America. But Marvel kicked off their revival with The Fantastic Four. There was that adjective again. They followed this up with The Amazing Spiderman and The Incredible Hulk and The Astonishing Ant Man (who appeared in Tale to Astonish) and The Mighty Thor. That’s the way they were heralded on the covers and splash panels. You never had The Mighty Superman or Magnus the Amazing Robot Fighter. Naturally, these adjectives carried over into TV versions and the movies. You didn’t just have The Hulk, it had to be The Incredible Hulk. It was The Amazing Spiderman. Years later, to differentiate titles, Spiderman got a host of other adjectives, starting with The Spectacular Spiderman (a magazine-sized non-comics-code publication that ran for two issues in 1968; the title was re-used for a regular comic book starting in 1976). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/2 "2022-09-01T12:34:29Z")
That’s all well and good, but it still doesn’t account for the existence of Giant-Size Man-Thing. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/3 "2022-09-01T13:06:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This was, I think the start of a new trend – the Unnecessary Title Adjective. There was going to be a sequel to The Incredible Shrinking Man, to be called _The Fantastic Little Girl_, also written by Matheson, but it was never made. Producer Zugsmith later wrote and directed _The Incredible Sex Revolution_ in 1966. We also got > > The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) > The Incredible Petrified World (1961) > The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971) > The Incredible Melting Man (1977) > The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) - You left out _The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/4 "2022-09-01T13:10:28Z")
The inflationary adjective is not without precedent. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Amazing_Stories%2C_April_1926._Volume_1%2C_Number_1.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Amazing_Stories%2C_April_1926._Volume_1%2C_Number_1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/5 "2022-09-01T13:13:33Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Giant-Size Man-Thing. That’s just a natural consequence of Marvel calling a line of comics “Giant Size” and then putting out an issue of their “Man-Thing” (Marvel’s counterpart to DC’s “Swamp Thing”) in that series. Clearly someone either didn’t think things through (so to speak), or else thought they’d benefit from the double entendre. But calling a movie _The Amazing Colossal Man_ has no excuse – they came up with that on their own – and left them open to Crow T. Robot’s appropriate comment “Oh, yeah – you _wish!_” > [@](#): > > You left out _The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies_ . Sorry – I meant to include that one. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/6 "2022-09-01T13:26:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) > The Incredible Petrified World (1961) > The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971) > The Incredible Melting Man (1977) > The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) Interesting that all of them are “Incredible.” “Amazing” apparently didn’t catch on. Maybe because Bert Gordon’s stuff was so bad. Often entertainingly bad, but bad. The Incredible Shrinking Woman, in particular, is surely called that as a deliberate homage to The Incredible Shrinking Man. Comic book adjectives are interesting in that they weren’t generally used by fans. That is, while “The Amazing Spider-Man” was the book’s official title, most people didn’t call it that. You’d just say “Did you read the new issue of Spider-Man?” It was only after they started publishing the other series that you needed to use the adjective. Now you had to call it “Amazing Spider-Man,” to make it clear which series you were talking about. (The exception to this being The Fantastic Four. “Fantastic” is an adjective, but it’s also an integral part of their name. Nobody ever calls them just “The Four.”) Then in 1990, mostly to make Todd McFarlane happy, Marvel started publishing a new series that was just called Spider-Man. I remember that I always called it “The Adjective-less Spider-Man.” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/7 "2022-09-01T13:55:45Z")
I have to agree with the film makers. “The Colossal Man” et al. do need punching up. That’s why The Colossal Beast and the 50-Foot Woman had to have “Attack” in their titles. Yeah, they’re totally cheesy movies, the worst we can find. But the name has to sell the product. And the name does serve as a warning about the nature of the movie. You know you’re not about to see a Kubrick flick with these titles. (But you know, “The Incredible Doctor Strangelove” has a certain appeal. Maybe we should start retrofitting established movies with these new adjectives.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/8 "2022-09-01T14:16:15Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > (But you know, “The Incredible Doctor Strangelove” has a certain appeal. Maybe we should start retrofitting established movies with these new adjectives.) Like “Gone with The Incredible Wind?” But we do already have “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” Actually, in response to **MrAtoz** , “Amazing” was already in common use in movie titles well before 1957: The Amazing Adventure (1937) The Amazing Mr. Beecham (1949) The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939) The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) The Amazing Mr. X (1948) The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943) The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936) The Amazing Woman (1920) There are a great many more since the 1950s. I have no idea what’s responsible for all those “amazing” people in the 1930s and 40s. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/9 "2022-09-01T14:24:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) To be fair, that was just a gender-switched remake of the original. Keeping the Incredible Adjective is required. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > There was also The Incredible Journey, Don’t forget the easily-confused Fantastic Journey AND Fantastic Voyage. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/10 "2022-09-01T14:29:45Z")
Interesting. I don’t think I’ve heard of any of those “Amazing” films, although “The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand” sounds like something I’ve just _got_ to see. I wonder if it’s streaming anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/11 "2022-09-01T17:11:57Z")
The real question is, what was that kids’ book series from probably the mid 90s, inspired by science fiction B-movies, in which our young protagonists are informed by their scientist father that “incredible” is used for things that shrink, while “amazing” is used for things bigger than normal? It’s been bothering me for _years_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2022, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/12 "2022-09-01T17:27:03Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > that “incredible” is used for things that shrink, while “amazing” is used for things bigger than normal? The Incredible Amazing Ant-Man! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/13 "2022-09-02T00:01:07Z")
_The Incredible Melting Man_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/14 "2022-09-02T00:32:09Z")
In music, there’s the _Incredible String Band_. > **[The Incredible String Band](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_String_Band)** > > The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a Scottish psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially in the British counterculture, notably with their albums The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and Wee Tam and the Big Huge. They became pioneers in psychedelic folk and, through integrating a wide variety of traditional music for... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-amazing-colossal-adjective-superhero-monster/970720/15 "2022-09-02T12:03:25Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > The Incredible Melting Man Mentioned in the OP