Very, very tangentally related to something Doc Lemming was talking about

[james_davis_nicoll]

What's the correct response for a superhero who discovers their crime-fighting name, selected in all innocence and without malice, happens to be an ethnic slur?

Come to think of it, this situation has come up before [1]; the late Mark Gruenwald decided to give the new Captain America's sidekick the same superhero name the original Cap's orginal side-kick used, Gruenwald being unaware that there could be anything problematic about calling an African American man "Bucky". I know they changed the name but I don't recall how it was handled in-story.

1: Note that Marvel also once named a superhero after a combination of cocaine hydrochloride mixed with morphine sulfate; presumably Speedball himself was unaware of the other meanings of his name. In his defense, he was just a teenager.

Comments

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

"Given how much heroing is about perception and visibility, I think you may wish to change or modify your crime-fighting name."

cf. http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-01-23

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

After Gruenwald was alerted to the problem of calling a black man a buck, in the comic a black guy shows up and yells at Bucky (not any of the white dudes running the show), who then goes and complains to the higher-ups until he gets rebranded.

[seawasp]

Like many things, it depends. But overall I think if it's at all feasible to do so the name should be changed. One could for instance see "Superman" as racially charged (Nietzche and all), but changing THAT name... just not happening. Speedball is different -- *I* wasn't aware of that usage, and it's not racial or otherwise a direct slur, and if I were a superhero and told that this was one meaning of the name, I'd shrug and say, "eh. So what? I like the name and I'll make it work for me."

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Speedball is also the brand name for the pen system most favored by calligraphers when I was a child.

[fridgepunk.livejournal.com]

SNOWFLAME FEELS NO PAIN!

Seriously, DC had a superhero who was MADE OF COCAINE during the same period Speedball was invented... and speedball is called Penance and is powered by cutting these days... so.

OT: did you change the skin of your lj on purpose?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I tried to go to S2 but it looks the same to me. Otherwise, LJ changed everything on us.

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

So, wait, he didn't change his superhero name to "Buck Naked"?

--Dave, will make things worse for food

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

Depends on the context, and how likely anyone is to draw negative associations. If "Spook" is an insubstantial crimefighter from Alaska, is a different situation from a sneaky Badass Normal in Georgia. Same for other racially tinged, but not actual slur names: If the newly minted "Grand Dragon" is from Chinatown, and is deliberately drawing on his own cultural imagery, he should stick with it. On the other hand, if he was a suburban white kid who just thought the name sounded cool, he should probably change it.