Ok after the last couple articles I think it’s time to get back into something just for fun. We all know that superhero’s have a dual identity. Their hero monicker and of course the person they are in real life. But once in awhile a character will take on a third identity for a time. And I don’t mean because they are mind controlled or turned evil or something, circumstances simply force them to don a third identity. Like how former Batgirl Barbara Gordon became The Oracle after being shot, or Hank Pym had several identities from Ant Man including Goliath and Yellow Jacket.
Here are five examples of what I mean. And these aren’t heroes becoming villains, that’s a different list entirely.
Superman aka Nightwing
Did you think that Dick Grayson was the first Nightwing? Actually I give credit to Marv Wolfman for achnolwedging this piece of continuity the first time Grayson donned the new identity. So what happened? The legend of Nightwing and Flamebird was an old Kryptonian legend. And when Superman and Jimmy Olsen would visit the bottle city of Kandor, they used these identiies to disguise who they really were since there real identities were framed. There’s more to that but that’s the cliff notes version.
By the way Olsen had other identities. When he had his own book in the Silver Age every issue he had some wild new ability. He was Elastic Lad, a super giant, a brain genius, a creature from Jupiter, and yes even a giant turtle man. I hate the Silver Age.
Captain America aka Nomad
In a storyline in the Captain America book, Captain America is framed by a shadowy group called The Secret Empire. As the situation came to a head, Steve Rogers renounced the Captain America name and Nomad, The Man Without a Country. Of course this didn’t last very long but it was an interesting idea to see how far Captain America would go for the country he loves. Abd yes Falcon was Captain America for awhile.
Guy Gardner:Warrior
Sometimes creators will have to work to keep a character around when the costumed identity he used isn’t valid for awhile. First, Guy Gardner was kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps. He stole Sinestro’s ring and was sort of a psuedo Green Lantern. Later on, when that didn’t make sense, Blue Beetle created an exo suit for Guy and he called himself Warrior. The story gets convoluted after that and it would take to long to explain. Suffice to say, Warrior didn’t last.
Donna Troy aka Troia/Darkstar
Poor Donna Troy, she never could catch a break. When the original Teen Titans were formed it semeed logical for Wonder Girl to be there. Except the character didn’t exist. So years went on and creators kept trying to explain who she was. After Crisis erased her connection to Wonder Woman, she became tied into the Titans of Myth and became Troia. In a long convoluted story, Donna would give up her powers and become a Darkstar for awhile. Darkstars were intergalactic police men like the Green Lantern Corps. After Identity Criis, she assumes the mantle of Wonder Woman. And my headache is large enough without trying to explain that one.
And yes Dick Grayson once had a third identity as Batman for awhile, figured I need to bring that one up.
Spider-Man aka Hornet and others
Like Captain America, Spider-Man found himself in a storyline where was framed for a crime he didn’t commit. And since he could not longer operate as Spider-Man he operates under different disguises. Ricochet, Hornet, Dusk, and Prodigy. And Parker was smart playing the four different characters differnetly rather than just being Spider-Man with a different suit on. He also used other means like jet packs and bulletproof vests to make the four characters seem to have different ablities. And yes two were meant to be “criminal” but it’s from the same storyline so I had to mention all four.
Plenty more out there I didn’t mention. If I left off your favorite comment and let me know.
It’s funny that there aren’t any for Bruce Wayne that I could find. No other time he masqueraded as another hero. Oh sure he masqueraded as a mob boss and other identies like that, but no heroes. So I searched, and found a few. There was a time when Bruce was the first Robin. Of course this was retconned out and quickly forgotten. But what about Insider? After a story arc where he was flung through time, when Bruce retuned he dons the garb of “Insider” to explore Gotham and assess how things are. The suit is very different from the Bat suit giving Bruce all kinds of different powers that mimics the abilities of his fellow JLA members. It’s more of a robotic suit that enables him fly, etc.
I’m sure any resemblance to Iron Man is purely a coincidence 😉
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