Something Person: Difference between revisions

[[File:Boxer_ManBoxer Man.jpg|link=Yotsuba&! (Manga)|rightframe|Which is the top and which is the bottom? You'll never know!]]

The [[Legion of Super-Heroes]] even [[Justified Trope|justified this trope]] by noting how difficult it can be to give everyone in its ranks a unique codename. Summed it neatly as ''"Adjective-Gender"''.

Compare [[Captain Superhero]] (perhaps the second most common superhero naming trope), [[Luke Nounverber]] (this trope's counterpart in [[Speculative Fiction]]), [[The Adjectival Superhero]], [[Species Surname]], [[TVAll the Tropes Superhero Team]] (a [[Just for Fun]] page imagining any trope with a "something person" form was a superhero). Often, an [[Animal -Themed Superbeing]] might use this sort of naming scheme.

* [[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]

* [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]], the original.

** Superboy

** Let's not forget the [[The Simpsons (animation)|other Radioactive Man]], with sidekick Fallout Boy.

* [[Freakazoid!|Expendable Lad]]

{{quote| '''College girl''': Hey, are you Minuteman? Can we have your autograph? <br />

'''Minute Man''': My-noot Man! Do I look like a soldier from the Revolutionary War? I don't think so! Am I wearing a three-cornered hat? No! I turn small. Think! <br />

* Stupendous Man from [[Calvin and Hobbes (Comic Strip)|Calvin and Hobbes]]

TU for TigerUnderwear, ferocity ofred! <br />

UP for UnderwearPower, redincredible! <br />

PE for Power,Excellent incrediblephysique! <br />

* Elasti-Girl and Negative Man of the ''[[Doom Patrol (Comic Book)|Doom Patrol]]''. Subverted in that they HATED the "freak names" given to them, mostly it seems by the media.

* [[Blankman]] of the [[Gadgeteer Genius]] variety, named so because he couldn't say a word (i.e. was blank) when asked for his name.

* [[Animal Man (Comic Book)|Animal Man]].

** [[Spider Woman|Spider-Woman]], the name of three characters who aren't actually related to Spidey.

** [[Spider Girl (Comic Book)|Spider-Girl]], his [[Alternate Continuity]] daughter.

* [[Agents of Atlas (Comic Book)|Gorilla Man]]

* [[Watchmen (comics)|Mothman]]

* [[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Snake Man, Toad Man, Centaur Man, Tengu Man, Hornet Man and Sheep Man]].

** [[The Breeders]]--sounds—sounds like a superhero team, but...as for what their '''power''' oughta be...[[Squick|let's not go there]]--began—began as a one-off including members of Pixies, though finally '''way''' outlasting their progenitors. Debut CD ''Pod'' closes with "Metal Man", the lyrics an odd hybrid of [[Super -Hero Origin]] and [[Alien Abduction]]. Unusually subdued for the Deal sisters, though before it's over they shoehorn an [[Epic Riff]] in the mélange. Only a bit of singing; most words are spoken by Josephine Wiggs, the band's "Coastal cutthroat" bassist (for details on said epithet, ask Kim what the song "Hag" means). Wiggs' deadpan Brit mumble adds an air of mystery to a track already notable for its [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|opacity]].

{{quote| Over my head the hot wire was sparking <br />

I got something down on my chest <br />

* The Tin Man from ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Literature)|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' kinda sorta qualifies, maybe. Except he's not a superhero. (Except in that one scene in the book where he single-handedly decapitates an entire onrushing pack of wolves.)

* [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]] and his side-kick [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Aqualad]]

* [[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Anime)|Gatchaman]], with ''gatcha'' being the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of metal striking.

* Robot Man, AKA Cliff Steel of the ''[[Doom Patrol (Comic Book)|Doom Patrol]]''. Subverted in that he hated the name.

* Rockman, the original name of [[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]. (As in Rock music.) Other characters (many of whose names were changed) went along with the [[Theme Naming]] to music.

* There is a [[Power Girl]] in DC and a Power Man (although he usually just goes by [[Luke Cage, Hero for Hire|Luke Cage]]) in Marvel. There was even a What The...!? one-panel gag about "What if Wonder Man was a woman and Power Man was a girl...?"

* Particle Man, Triangle Man, Universe Man and Person Man from the song "Particle Man" by [[They Might Be Giants (band)|They Might Be Giants]].

* The [[Starman (Comic Bookcomics)|Starman]] dynasty, which also includes Starboy of the [[Lo SH]], Stargirl (formerly the Star-Spangled Kid) and at least two future Starwomen. How they're related to a star's properties varies. Most of the current Starmen and Stargirl wield "cosmic energy", while Starboy can alter gravity.

* [[Real Life]]: [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_man:Tank man|Tank Man]].

* Maid-Man from ''[[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]''

* [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Dinobot]] counts, right? Shapeshifting alien robots are people too!

* [[Action League NowNOW|Thunder Girl]]

* [[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants|Mermaidman and Barnacle-Boy]]

* [[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe|He-Man]]. Probably the most unimaginative name ever.

* Ro-Man from the [[So Bad ItsIt's Good]] movie ''[[Robot Monster]]''. As ridiculous as the name.

* ''[httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140102180922/http://man-man.org/ Man-Man]'', though he did get his "powers" from the bite of a radioactive man.

* Rocket Man, maybe?

* [[Action League NowNOW|Melt Man]], with the power to... '''melt!'''

* The Civic-Minded Five on [[The Tick (animation)]] included The Carpeted Man. Don't let him rub up against you, or you'll get a nasty static-electric shock!

* All of the Robot Masters of the classic ''[[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'' and most of the Navis in the ''[[Mega Man Battle Network (Video Game)|Mega Man Battle Network]]'' series have their names with the suffix "-Man".

** Even if certain Navis in ''Battle Network'' did not have "-Man" attatched to their names, all of their names will still end with .EXE, as they are [[What Measure Is a Non -Human?|(very personal) computer programs]]. However, from the third game onwards, most Navis dropped the .EXE extension when referring to other Navis by name.

* The [[Legion of Super-Heroes]], amongst its approximately 100 members, mostly all have names of this makeup. The most popular suffixes are "-Boy", "-Lad", "-King", "-Girl", "-Lass", "-Queen", "and "-Kid". Some notable examples are Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, Invisible Kid, Chemical King, Insect Queen, Shadow Lass and, of course, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140409071109/http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=715:matter-eater-lad&catid=36:stupor-powers-index&Itemid=38 Matter Eater Lad]...

** ...of course, they were about 30 years late to the party; the Legion of Substitute Heroes existed back in [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]], with characters like Stone Boy, who had the ability to turn into an immobile statue; Color Kid, who could change the color of things;<ref>though, if the [[Green Lantern]] Corps got their hands on him, he'd be indispensable</ref>; and... [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Arm-Fall-Off Boy]].

*** Don't forget the ''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Animal-Vegetable-Mineral_ManMineral Man|Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man]]''.

**** [[Phil Foglio]], in ''[[Dragon (Magazinemagazine)|Dragon]]'' magazine's ''[[What's New With Phil and Dixie (Comic Strip)|What's New Withwith Phil and Dixie]]'' feature, suggested a transforming superhero named Gazebo Boy (who proved completely vulnerable to [[The Adjectival Superhero|The Mighty]] [[Animal-Themed Superbeing|Termite]]).

* An occasional bit on ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway (TV)|Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'', called "Superheroes," has the performers coming up with ludicrous superhero identities for each other, which then have to be played out. For instance: "Touchy-Feely Man," "Boneless Boy," "Says Everything Twice Man," "The Rhyming Couplet Kid," and "Ripped Off In The Divorce Settlement Man."

* Spoofed by the webcomic ''Supermegatopia'', which features a team called the Men-Men. Their roster includes Fire Man, Space Man, Sails Man, Snow Man, and even a [[The Chick|token female]] called Milk Man. Their leader is an anthropomorphic chair called [[Late to Thethe Punchline|(wait for it)]] Chair Man.

* Oddly enough, ''[[Who Wants to Be Aa Superhero?]]'' rarely has contestents with names like this, as the applicants are mostly [[Genre Savvy]] and consider these names overused. On rare occasion, however...

{{quote| '''Stan Lee:''' And what's your name?<br />

* When Cyclops is injured in an issue of ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|Astonishing X-Men]]'', he hallucinates having a Fire-Man, Clothing-Man, and Ability-To-Hop-Man on his team along with the real Iceman -- althoughIceman—although he considers that they may be the same person.

* The Mavericks from the ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]]'' games deserve mention, as they (mostly) fall into the "something-''animal''" naming scheme.

* Most common way of naming characters in ''Soreike! [[Anpanman (Franchise)|Anpanman]]'', even when they're not superheroes, usually based on some kind of food. Frequent recurrers are the titular Anpanman, Shokupanman, Kareepanman, [[Arch Enemy|Baikinman]] ("baikin" means "germ", so... yeah), Horrorman (a really cute living skeleton), Tendonman and Katsudonman from Donburiman Trio, Hamigakiman (a toothpaste tube), Naganegiman... well, you got it. Women usually have their names end -na instead of man (Melonpanna and Rollpanna) or have another kind of feminine suffix such as -chan or -hime. Recent characters tend to have different kind of names, maybe because it becomes hard to follow the same pattern over time.

* [[Stephen Lynch (Music)|Stephen Lynch]]'s "If I Could Be a Superhero". Not just the song (which has Awesome Man, Immigration Dude, and Justice Guy), but the point during a live performance when Lynch calls out for audience suggestions. They're mostly [[NSFW]]... except for Homeless Man and Narcolepsy Boy. Lynch takes the examples and flies with them, taking a moment to describe what each sort of superhero would do.

* In the [[PSPlayStation 2]] version of ''Spider-Man 3'', Bruce Campbell poses a question to the players during 'combat training': 'What would Spider-Man be without his spider-powers? He'd be....-Man. Is that what you wanted to play? ''-Man'' 3? I didn't think so.'

* ''[[Yotsubato|BoxermanYotsuba&!]]'' has Boxerman, pictured above, who can't tell which way is up and which way is down.

* The [[Legion of Net .Heroes (Literature)|Legion of Net Heroes]] is filled with these. They're often either outright parodies or just plain silly. The list includes [[They Might Be Giants (band)|Particle Man]], [[Monty Python's Flying Circus|Bicycle Repair Lad]], and [[No Fourth Wall|Fourth Wall Lass]].

* One ''Mac Hall'' comic featured three of the characters going to a Halloween costume party as "The Bag Brothers Three". Each of the three was wearing a different kind of bag over his head (paper, plastic, and sleeping).

* Lampshaded in an issue of ''Marvel Team-Up'', where Spider-Man meets Image Comics superhero [[Invincible (Comic Book)|Invincible]] who ribs him for his unimaginative name. Later, Invincible meets the Avengers:

{{quote| "Don't say anything--let me guess. Okay, using "Spider-Man" as an indication of how you guys name yourselves--Let's see here...Robot-Man([[Iron Man]]). Claw-Man([[Wolverine]]). Flag-Man([[Captain America (comics)]]). Fabio-Man(Sentry). Bat-Woman(Spider-Woman). And, uh...Black-Man(Luke Cage)?"}}

[[Category:TVAll the Tropes Superhero Team]]