Captain Superhero: Difference between revisions

Content added Content deleted

Inline

Latest revision as of 21:18, 10 November 2022

"I wonder what you're captain of..."

—Penny, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

One of the most common types of superhero names. Simply stick "Captain" in front of this hero's name, and then whatever (usually) noun the writer wants. Perhaps it's to give the impression of leadership, as though this character actually is The Captain. This character won't actually be a captain of some military group, but will often be The Good Captain.

This can even happen with villains as well, although it's rare, and often reserved for parodies.

The notoriety of this naming convention also named the tropes Captain Ethnic, Captain Geographic, Captain Patriotic, Captain Obvious (which was named outside this wiki), Captain Oblivious, Captain Ersatz, and several other members of the All the Tropes Superhero Team.

Again, this is not simply a captain of a ship or military group.

Compare Something Person and Captain Space, Defender of Earth! (which this can overlap if a character is a space hero and a superhero).

Examples of Captain Superhero include:

Anime and Manga

Captain Ginyu of "The Ginyu Force" in Dragonball Z is a villainous spoof of this.

Comic Books

Captain America might not be the first, but he's one of the most famous. However, he is one of the few who have actually earned the title of Captain.
- Major Glory of The Justice Friends is a spoof of this (major being a rank above captain in the U.S. Army).
Captain Atom
The original Captain Marvel of Shazam is probably the Ur Example, appearing in late 1939 -- two years before Captain America.
Captain Mar-Vell, who did indeed hold a rank equivalent to Captain in the Kree military.
Captain Britain
The Flash rogues Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang are villainous examples.
Another villain is Captain Marvel foe Captain Nazi.
The Captain from Nextwave. A straight-up parody, as he kept trying to find things to put after "Captain" but kept encountering trouble with it. He went with "Captain ☠☠☠☠" at one point, but got his mouth washed out with soap by Captain America.

The Captain: I was Captain Power for a while. But then I got sued. Something about a cartoon. Then I changed it to Captain Ron. And got sued. Changed it to Captain L. Ron. Got beaten up by Tom Cruise. I was Captain Universe, but it turned out there was already a Captain Universe. Captain Ultra. There had been one of those. A plumber, would you believe. Broke into my apartment and left a horse's head in my water tank as a warning. Captain Avenger, taken. Captain Avalon, I had to give up(...)I tried Captain Marvel. There've been, like, eight Captain Marvels. One of them was an adult movie star with a lightning bolt on his...anyway. There was a Captain Kerosene. I mean, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, and there was already a Captain Kerosene. That was my luck right there. I wasn't Captain Rectitude, but I was pretty much all of the other Captains at one time or another. So I gave up. I decided I was just The Captain. And then some marine-looking guy tracks me down and says, "I was The Captain First!". I had to pay him money in the end.

Captain Confederacy. Lampshaded in the backup strip "Saks and Violet", where comic artists in the Free City of New York briefly consider a "Captain NYC" character, and one asks why superheroes never seem to rise above Captain.
Slightly averted in the Johnson-era satire SuperLBJ and the G.R.E.A.T. Society, where Goldwater is depicted as "COLONEL America". (The real Goldwater's reserve rank was Major General.)
Captain Canuck
Captain Metropolis is a minor character in Watchmen. His name might be justified by his apparent military background.

Literature

How To Be A Superhero has several. Lampshaded in the section explaining why superheroes shouldn't try to fund their career with bank loans:

Superhero: Good morning. I want to apply for a loan.
Bank official: Certainly sir. And what is your name?
Superhero: Captain Whirlwind.
Bank official: Ah, a captain. Well, we offer preferential loans for veterans. What part of the forces did you serve in?
Superhero: Er ... well ... I didn't ... I'm not actually a real captain.

Captain Underpants

Live Action TV

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
Captain Video
Captain Terrific in an episode of Imagination Movers
Captain Nice
Dinosaurs: When Earl gained superpowers and decided to be a superhero, he wanted a superhero name more impressive than "Captain Action Figure", Baby's favorite superhero. He became "Captain Impressive".
Captain Marvelous in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. A pirate captain, but counts since he is the leader of a superhero team (the only one left in the universe, since the powers of the previous thirty-four Super Sentai were destroyed).
Whose Line Is It Anyway? The names of "Weird Superheroes" often dip into this trope.

Video Games

Captain Hero of SimCity
Captain Rainbow, a character from Nintendo.
Captain Qwark of Ratchet and Clank
Captain Falcon of F-Zero. YES!
Captain Smiley of Comic Jumper.

Web Comics

This El Goonish Shive features Catalina suggesting a "Captain Superhero" rename of Cheerleadra.

Susan: Cheerleadra... I can't believe they dubbed her Cheerleadra.
Catalina: Yeah! That's, like, a sidekick's name! They should've called her "Captain" Something! Captain Tiny Skirt!
Susan: <Beat>
Catalina: ...What? I don't have a lot to go on.

Western Animation

Captain Hero of Drawn Together
Although not a superhero, Captain N was likely named after this trope.
- And subsequently the hero of the webcomic Captain SNES.
Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Captain Simian and The Space Monkeys.
Captain Sunshine from The Venture Brothers
Captain Crandall from Teamo Supremo.
Captain Hindsight from South Park, a superhero with the dubious power to determine what should have been done to avert the present catastrophe.
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
Captain Green and the Eco-Teens in The Fairly OddParents.
Captain Implausible in Phineas and Ferb.
Captain California in Hero High.

Web Original

Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Lampshaded when Penny asks (in song), "I wonder what he's captain of."
Discussed in the three-part series Captain Dynamic, made by Rooster Teeth to promote City of Heroes, the titular character claims that heroes often use the word Captain in their names because it gives people a sense of the military and gives them the power to marry people on a boat.
Spoofed in this fanmade short where She-Hulk encounters a lame villain called "Captain Weathermaster" and claims "only heroes get to be called 'Captain'."

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{trope}}
-{{quote|''"I wonder what you're captain of..."''|'''Penny''', ''[[Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]''}}
+{{quote|''"I wonder what you're captain of..."''|'''Penny''', ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]''}}
 One of the most common types of superhero names. Simply stick "Captain" in front of this hero's name, and then whatever (usually) noun the writer wants. Perhaps it's to give the impression of leadership, as though this character actually is [[The Captain]]. This character won't actually be a captain of some military group, but will often be [[The Good Captain]].
@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 This can even happen with villains as well, although it's rare, and often reserved for parodies.
-The notoriety of this naming convention also named the tropes [[Captain Ethnic]], [[Captain Geographic]], [[Captain Patriotic]], [[Captain Obvious]] (which was named outside this wiki), [[Captain Oblivious]], [[Captain Ersatz]], and several other members of the [[All The Tropes Superhero Team]].
+The notoriety of this naming convention also named the tropes [[Captain Ethnic]], [[Captain Geographic]], [[Captain Patriotic]], [[Captain Obvious]] (which was named outside this wiki), [[Captain Oblivious]], [[Captain Ersatz]], and several other members of the [[All the Tropes Superhero Team]].
 '''Again, this is not simply a captain of a ship or military group.'''
-Compare [[Something Person]] and [[Captain Space, Defender of Earth!]] (which this can overlap if a character is a space hero and a superhero).
+Compare [[Something Person]] and [[Captain Space, Defender of Earth!]] (which this can overlap if a character is a space hero ''and'' a superhero).
-{{examples}}
+{{examples}}
 == [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
 * Captain Ginyu of "The Ginyu Force" in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' is a villainous spoof of this.
 == [[Comic Books]] ==
-* ''[[Captain America]]'' might not be the first, but he's one of the most famous. However, he is one of the few who have actually earned the title of Captain.
+* ''[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]'' might not be the first, but he's one of the most famous. However, he is one of the few who have actually earned the title of Captain.
-** Major Glory of ''[[Dexters Laboratory|The Justice Friends]]'' is a spoof of this (major being a rank above captain in the U.S. Army).
+** Major Glory of ''[[Dexter's Laboratory|The Justice Friends]]'' is a spoof of this (major being a rank above captain in the U.S. Army).
 * ''[[Captain Atom]]''
-* Captain Marvel of ''[[Shazam]]''
+* The original Captain Marvel of ''[[Shazam]]'' is probably the [[Ur Example]], appearing in late 1939 -- two years before Captain America.
-* [[Captain Mar-Vell]]
+* [[Captain Mar-Vell]], who did indeed hold a rank equivalent to Captain in the Kree military.
 * ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Captain Britain]]''
 * [[The Flash]] rogues Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang are villainous examples.
 * Another villain is [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] foe Captain Nazi.
-* The Captain from ''[[Nextwave]]''. A straight-up parody, as he kept trying to find things to put after "Captain" but kept encountering trouble with it. He went with "Captain ☠☠☠☠" at one point, but got his mouth washed out with soap by [[Captain America]].
+* The Captain from ''[[Nextwave]]''. A straight-up parody, as he kept trying to find things to put after "Captain" but kept encountering trouble with it. He went with "Captain ☠☠☠☠" at one point, but got his mouth washed out with soap by [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]].
-{{quote| '''The Captain:''' I was Captain Power for a while. But then I got sued. Something about [[Captain Power and The Soldiers of The Future|a cartoon]]. Then I changed it to [[Captain Ron]]. And got sued. Changed it to [[Church of Happyology|Captain L. Ron]]. Got beaten up by Tom Cruise. I was Captain Universe, but it turned out there was already a [[Captain Universe]]. Captain Ultra. There had been one of those. A plumber, would you believe. Broke into my apartment and left a horse's head in my water tank as a warning. Captain Avenger, taken. Captain Avalon, I had to give up(...)I tried Captain Marvel. There've been, like, eight [[Captain Marvel|Captain Marvels]]. One of them was an adult movie star with a lightning bolt on his...anyway. There was a Captain Kerosene. I mean, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, and there was already a Captain Kerosene. That was my luck right there. I wasn't Captain Rectitude, but I was pretty much all of the other Captains at one time or another. So I gave up. I decided I was just The Captain. And then some marine-looking guy tracks me down and says, ''"I was The Captain First!"''. I had to pay him money in the end.}}
+{{quote|'''The Captain:''' I was Captain Power for a while. But then I got sued. Something about [[Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future|a cartoon]]. Then I changed it to [[Captain Ron]]. And got sued. Changed it to [[Church of Happyology|Captain L. Ron]]. Got beaten up by Tom Cruise. I was Captain Universe, but it turned out there was already a [[Captain Universe]]. Captain Ultra. There had been one of those. A plumber, would you believe. Broke into my apartment and left a horse's head in my water tank as a warning. Captain Avenger, taken. Captain Avalon, I had to give up(...)I tried Captain Marvel. There've been, like, eight [[Captain Marvel]]s. One of them was an adult movie star with a lightning bolt on his...anyway. There was a Captain Kerosene. I mean, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, and there was already a Captain Kerosene. That was my luck right there. I wasn't Captain Rectitude, but I was pretty much all of the other Captains at one time or another. So I gave up. I decided I was just The Captain. And then some marine-looking guy tracks me down and says, ''"I was The Captain First!"''. I had to pay him money in the end.}}
 * ''[[Captain Confederacy]]''. Lampshaded in the backup strip "Saks and Violet", where comic artists in the Free City of New York briefly consider a "Captain NYC" character, and one asks why superheroes never seem to rise above Captain.
 * Slightly averted in the Johnson-era satire ''SuperLBJ and the G.R.E.A.T. Society'', where Goldwater is depicted as "COLONEL America". (The real Goldwater's reserve rank was Major General.)
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 == [[Literature]] ==
 * ''[[How To Be A Superhero]]'' has several. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the section explaining why superheroes shouldn't try to fund their career with bank loans:
-{{quote| '''Superhero:''' Good morning. I want to apply for a loan.<br />
+{{quote|'''Superhero:''' Good morning. I want to apply for a loan.
-'''Bank official:''' Certainly sir. And what is your name?<br />
+'''Bank official:''' Certainly sir. And what is your name?
-'''Superhero:''' Captain Whirlwind.<br />
+'''Superhero:''' Captain Whirlwind.
-'''Bank official:''' Ah, a captain. Well, we offer peferential loans for veterans. What part of the forces did you serve in?<br />
+'''Bank official:''' Ah, a captain. Well, we offer preferential loans for veterans. What part of the forces did you serve in?
 '''Superhero:''' Er ... well ... I didn't ... I'm not actually a real captain. }}
 * [[Captain Underpants]]
 == [[Live Action TV]] ==
-* ''[[Captain Power and The Soldiers of The Future]]''
+* ''[[Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future]]''
 * ''[[Captain Video]]''
 * Captain Terrific in an episode of ''[[Imagination Movers]]''
 * ''[[Captain Nice]]''
 * [[Dinosaurs]]: When Earl gained superpowers and decided to be a superhero, he wanted a superhero name more impressive than [[Show Within a Show|"Captain Action Figure"]], Baby's favorite superhero. He became "Captain Impressive".
-* Captain Marvelous in ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (TV)|Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]''. A pirate captain, but counts since he is the leader of a superhero team (the only one left in the universe, since the powers of the previous thirty-four [[Super Sentai]] were destroyed).
+* Captain Marvelous in ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]''. A pirate captain, but counts since he is the leader of a superhero team (the only one left in the universe, since the powers of the previous thirty-four [[Super Sentai]] were destroyed).
-* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway]]'' The names of "Weird Superheroes" often dip into this trope.
+* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' The names of "Weird Superheroes" often dip into this trope.
 == [[Video Games]] ==
-* Captain Hero of ''[[Sim City]]''
+* Captain Hero of ''[[SimCity]]''
 * ''[[Captain Rainbow]]'', a character from [[Nintendo]].
 * Captain Qwark of ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]''
-* Captain Falcon of ''[[F-Zero]]''. '''[[Super Smash Bros|YES!]]'''
+* Captain Falcon of ''[[F-Zero]]''. '''[[Super Smash Bros.|YES!]]'''
 * Captain Smiley of ''[[Comic Jumper]]''.
 == [[Web Comics]] ==
-* [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-01-07 This] ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' features Catalina suggesting a "Captain Superhero" rename of Cheerleadra.
+* [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-01-07 This] ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' features Catalina suggesting a "Captain Superhero" rename of Cheerleadra.
-{{quote| '''Susan:''' Cheerleadra... I can't ''believe'' they dubbed her Cheerleadra.<br />
+{{quote|'''Susan:''' Cheerleadra... I can't ''believe'' they dubbed her Cheerleadra.
-'''Catalina:''' Yeah! That's, like, a ''sidekick's'' name! They should've called her "Captain" Something! '''''Captain Tiny Skirt!'''''<br />
+'''Catalina:''' Yeah! That's, like, a ''sidekick's'' name! They should've called her "Captain" Something! '''''Captain Tiny Skirt!'''''
-'''Susan:''' <[[Beat]]><br />
+'''Susan:''' <[[Beat]]>
-'''Catalina:''' ...[[Defensive What|What?]] I don't have a lot to go on. }}
+'''Catalina:''' ...[[Defensive "What?"|What?]] I don't have a lot to go on. }}
 == [[Western Animation]] ==
@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 * Although not a superhero, ''[[Captain N]]'' was likely named after this trope.
 ** And subsequently the hero of the webcomic ''[[Captain SNES]]''.
-* ''[[Captain Planet and The Planeteers]]''
+* ''[[Captain Planet and the Planeteers]]''
-* ''[[Captain Simian and The Space Monkeys (Animation)|Captain Simian and The Space Monkeys]]''.
+* ''[[Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys|Captain Simian and The Space Monkeys]]''.
 * Captain Sunshine from ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''
 * Captain Crandall from ''[[Teamo Supremo]]''.
-* Captain Hindsight from ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]'', a superhero with the dubious power to determine what should have been done to avert the present catastrophe.
+* Captain Hindsight from ''[[South Park]]'', a superhero with the dubious power to determine what should have been done to avert the present catastrophe.
-* ''[[Captain Caveman and The Teen Angels]]''
+* ''[[Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels]]''
-* [[Show Within a Show|Captain Green and the Eco-Teens]] in ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]''.
+* [[Show Within a Show|Captain Green and the Eco-Teens]] in ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]''.
 * [[Show Within a Show|Captain Implausible]] in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''.
 * Captain California in ''[[Hero High]]''.
 == [[Web Original]] ==
-* Captain Hammer in ''[[Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]''. Lampshaded when Penny asks (in song), "I wonder what he's captain of."
+* Captain Hammer in ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]''. Lampshaded when Penny asks (in song), "I wonder what he's captain of."
 * Discussed in the three-part series ''Captain Dynamic'', made by Rooster Teeth to promote ''[[City of Heroes]]'', the titular character claims that heroes often use the word Captain in their names because it gives people a sense of the military and gives them the power to marry people on a boat.
+* Spoofed in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp1z8XvJ_X8| this fanmade short] where [[She-Hulk]] encounters a lame villain called "Captain Weathermaster" and claims "only heroes get to be called 'Captain'."
 {{reflist}}
 [[Category:Naming Conventions]]
 [[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
-[[Category:TV Tropes Superhero Team]]
+[[Category:All the Tropes Superhero Team]]
-[[Category:Captain Superhero]]
+[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]