Thursday, October 29, 2009

Why Wendell Vaughn Changed His Name To Quasar

Back in the day, rookie S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Wendell Vaughn was given the quantum bands and uniform of the person everybody thought was the deceased 1950's hero Marvel Boy (it wasn't, he was The Crusader, an insane and surgically altered Uranian Eternal...sigh, retcons make everything so confusing...). He took the name Marvel Boy, and, since he was an actual grown-up, soon changed it to Marvel Man.

So why did he change it? Well, it started when the Hulk knocked him for a loop...

And he landed on his hinder several miles away...

...and the reception he got was...somewhat lacking:


That's right...people loitering in front of a comic book shop thought Marvel Man was a dopey name...even the hot chicks laughed at him. And if you're dissed by comics fans AND hot chicks, well, a new nom de guerre is called for.

So he promptly changed his name to Quasar. And that's why, to this day, even copyright conscious Marvel never has and never will publish a character with a dopey name like Marvel Man. It would just be too silly!!

Uhh...never mind.


Roger Stern, Sal Buscema and Chic Stone editorialize on superhero names in Incredible Hulk #233 (1979).


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