Super Lawyers
William C. Altreuter
visit superlawyers.com

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

How come superheros who have military ranks as part of their name are usually Captains? Captain America, Captain Marvel, Captain Mar-Vel, the other Captain Marvel, Captain Planet, Captain Britian, Captain Action.... Are they Naval captains, or Army/Air Force captains?

| Comments:
Because Sergeant and below are non-commissioned, Lieutenant is an also-ran, so other than Captain you've got Major, Colonel, and General, and the combinations with those don't work as well: look, up in the sky, it's Major Incident . . . Colonel Mustard . . . General Principle. See? Captain just works better.
 
That's why my supervillain name is Chairman Pain.
 
Supervillain's are lucky-- name-wise at least. First of all, since they are usually surrounded by evil henchmen, they can pick names that suggest a command structure. Sidekicks notwithstanding, superheros are typically lone wolves, or members of teams of equals without the sort of hierarchy that military ranks imply.

(I suppose I should research how many characters are "Doctors", and how that breaks down. Doctor Doom, of course, and Doctor Strange. Doctor Fate. Doctor Octopus.)
 

Post a Comment





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?