Comic Book Cliche: The Traitorous Hero with a Giveaway Name

November 1st, 2007

Filed under: Comics

One of my favorite comic book clichés has got to be the traitorous hero who’s really a villain — but whose name makes it so obvious that they’re evil it’s a wonder the heroes never figured it out.

How about Nemesis Kid, who was accepted into the Legion of Super-Heroes but turned out to be a villain?

Then there is the Martian Manhunter’s brother Ma’alefa’ak. C’mon, his name means evil

Or how about Sinestro? Why did the Guardians ever think a guy named Sinestro would be a force for good?

My favorite example of this cliché is the villain from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #91, where the gang leader named “Mr. Traitor” is — surprise, surprise — a traitor, and the entire gang is shocked at this fact.

What do you men Mr. Traitor is a traitor?

9 Responses to “ Comic Book Cliche: The Traitorous Hero with a Giveaway Name ”

  1. Marc
    November 2nd, 2007 at 5:38 am

    If Sinestro’s race were mainly left-hand dominant, his name would be as innocent as “Dexter”.

  2. Brian Disco Snell
    November 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 am

    Let’s not forget an entire race (subspecies?): The Decepticons.
    Little Boy: “Are you guys evil?”
    Magatron: “No, no, we’re just called Decepticons, but we’re really friendly!”
    Little Boy: “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
    Megatron: No, no, ‘Decepticon’ is just a name…”

  3. Dr Archeville
    November 2nd, 2007 at 8:40 am

    One of the cheesiest/corniest bits of the first season of WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO? was the “contestant” Rotiart, who turned out to be… a traitor!

  4. Doug Dawson
    November 2nd, 2007 at 11:03 am

    Eh, I never thought “Nemesis Kid” was all that bad. Superman is Lex Luthor’s nemesis, after all, and the nature of his powers makes him perfectly suited to be, well, anybody’s nemesis (except for a PO’d Projectra, I suppose). The original Nemesis had a fine and honorable role in the Greek pantheon.

    Still…Mr. Traitor?

  5. Ken Lowery
    November 2nd, 2007 at 11:25 pm

    See also: Anyone named Cain, Caine, Kane, Kain, or Cane.

  6. Seth Finkelstein
    November 2nd, 2007 at 11:43 pm

    There’s also been several (minor) superheroes named “Nemesis”.

  7. Jeff R.
    November 4th, 2007 at 3:21 pm

    Let’s not forget the legions of people who think that “Alucard” is a perfectly reasonable, innocent name…

  8. SanctumSanctorumComix
    November 7th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

    Well… “TERRA” from the Teen Titans was a giveaway, as well.

    SURE, it meant “terra” as in “Earth”, and it was a play on her real name “Tara” (iirc), but the phonetics of TERRA and TERROR were too obvious.
    I read that as a teen and even I know she was evil.

    ~P~

  9. Anonymous
    November 8th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

    This reminds me of a character from an anime called Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I forgot her name, but she has amazingly evil eyes- so evil, in fact, that everyone assumes that she isn’t evil when they see her. But of course she IS evil. Yeah, it’s not really about names, but maybe the same principle applies? XD

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