Hello again, young HTBs!
Welcome to this first part on Aliases and Hero Names. This is probably something you all will find interesting. Picking out a superhero name is a tough process, but it's fun nonetheless. You must be thinking, I already have a superhero name picked out let's get on with it! Well, if you do, think it over. Does it roll off the tongue? Is it something you'd like the whole world to know you by? Is it appropriate for what you want to do? Do you know if there is any other hero with a similar name?
These are questions you must ask yourself. Sometimes, getting a name is easy, it's bestowed upon you by some other person. For example, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz got his name because they called him 'Wonderful' so he was like yeah, I'm wonderful, and took on that title. I never made my original superhero name. It was given to me by a friend, a colleague, a partner. They were a lovely person, teaching me all I needed to know about heroing, as I am trying to pass on to you.
In my time, people kept names simple an accessible. Times have changed, though, you can't go around calling yourself Iron Man or Matter Boy anymore, it's just weird. Think out of the box, think modern and sophisticated. Something interesting, nice, easy to remember. You want people to remember who you are. Something like Dr Johnson-Smith-Marcus-Lida-Ron-Simon is probably not going to be remembered at all. Keep it short, keep it snappy, be smart with your names.
Sometimes, simple is the best way to go. Say you have superspeed, what would you call yourself? Quicksilver is a hero from the Marvel Comics, so that's a no. What about Speedster? Doesn't seem right. Feather feet? What a strange name. I had a friend who called himself Axel, based on the word 'accelerate'. Made almost no sense, but hey it worked. Then there was one of my old trainees, called himself Quik. Sure it worked, and it was simple. Sometimes it's best to just go with your gut instead of trying to make things too elaborate.
I knew this guy who could absorb kinetic energy and return that energy with the same strength. What does that mean? It means that if he gets punched in the face, sure he flinches a little, but his body absorbs most of the shock and he returns that punch with the same amount of force. Of course, it probably hurt more for the other guy since they can't absorb kinetic energy. He called himself Momentum. Simple, but effective.
If you want to be clever with your name, by all means go ahead. Just know that not everyone will get it. There was another young man under my mentorship for a short while, back when I was quite a lot younger. He had the power of, what he'd call, moral persuasion. I called it mind control. If he were to use his powers and ask for a request, the recipient will agree and respond to that request, no questions asked. For example, he asked a colleague to run down to buy him fried rice from a specific store 15 minutes away for free (just to test how much he could get a person to do, though this is only the beginning) and his colleague did it. Why would he do that? Well, his powers implanted some sort of control over the victim's mind with a request they feel compelled to complete no matter what. He could walk to a bank robber/bomber with 13 hostages to disarm the bomb, release the hostages, and hand himself over to the police, and the robber won't even think twice about doing it.
He called himself Lon. What does that mean? Well, nobody really knew except him. When he finally told us while he called himself Lon, it made sense. It stood for the League of Nations, which he chose due to their power of 'Moral Persuasion' of offending countries. I thought it was funny, but the name stuck though the meaning was lost along the way.
The hero name is probably, in my opinion, the hardest part of creating your superhero image. After that, everything comes naturally. The costume may be on par in difficulty, unless you decide to go casual without an actual costume (not a good idea). So, keep at it and you'll find the perfect name, don't worry!
Take care you wideworlders!
-TM
No comments:
Post a Comment