6 Superheroes and Villains Who Were Forced To Change Their Controversial Names

There are so many popular names in the comic book world. Characters which are defined by those names and that’s how the fans look at them. Without an effective name, a character may look dead in its appearance in both, comics and movies. For example, heroes like Wolverine and Hulk are defined by these words.
However, there have been various instances where factors lead the characters to change their names and identities. Today we will tell you about those characters who were forced to change their names. It could be because of legal reasons or copyright issues or at times, to make it more appropriate for younger audiences.

6. Gen 13

Gen 13 was completely different from what we saw in the Image Comics. The series showed a group of scandalous young superheroes in a storyline which has both, humour and romance.
It was initially advertised in 1993 and was called Gen X and at the time, Marvel was about to launch Generation X which was a young X-Men spinoff. The show’s name was then changed from Gen X to Gen 13.

5. S.H.I.V.A.

S.H.I.V.A. is considered as one of the greatest enemies of Wolverine. It was a robot which debuted in Wolverine #50 when Wolverine looks for an old Weapon X warehouse and ends up activating S.H.I.V.A. which is it’s guard.
Wolverine defeated the robot and it did reappear a few times. When the issue became the basis of X-Men: The Animated Series, Fox Network changed the villains’ name to Talos because of Shiva’s links to Hinduism.

4. The Original Daredevil

Way before Matt Murdock became the Daredevil, Jack Binder created a ‘boomerang-slinging’ hero called Daredevil in the Silver Streak comics in 1940’s. It got refined by Plastic Man creator Jack Cole and it enjoyed a successful decade run. The character eventually fell became oblivious and came into the public domain.
Since it came in the public, anyone could use the original Daredevil in the story.
Marvel has rights for the comics called Daredevil but a few publishers gave the characters a new name. AC Comics called him Hero Reddevil and First Comics called him Doubledare.

3. Shazam

When Shazam was first created in 1939, it was a character named Billy Batson which turned into Captain Marvel by saying the word “Shazam”. It was created by Fawcett Comics. However, DC filed a suit against Fawcett Comics which stated that the hero is a ripoff of Superman.
The character was stopped in 1950’s from being published and in 1960’s Marvel launched a hero called Captain Marvel and trademarked the name. When DC aquited the rights for Shazam from Fawkett in 1970’s but it couldn’t publish it with the name Captian Marvel. This led DC to rename the hero to Shazam to further simplify everything.

2. Miracleman

Marvelman was created by Mick Angelo for the British Comic book market. It was relaunched in 1980’s Warrior, which was a black and white anthology.
This character became one of the most critically acclaimed character soon and when Eclipse Comics began republishing the stories in colour, it called the character Miracleman to avoid any trouble with the Marvel comics. Eventually, Eclipse Comics went bankrupt and the character Miracleman found itself in a legal battle. Marvel won it’s rights in 2013.

1. X-Statix

X-Force started its own series in 2001 after its success in the 90’s. X-Force #116 introduced a new X-Force with a whole roster of unseen new heroes. Though most of the team died in its first issue, the surviving members kept on with the new force.
The original X-Force in Marvel attacked the new team for using its name. Eventually the new X-Force changed its name because the publishers didn’t want to keep paying Marvel the right to license its name. The name was then changed to X-Statix.