10 Marvel Superheroes With Other Identities

Marvel‘s superheroes have often proven to be multi-faceted, with skills and powers that have allowed them to become the best of the best. However, some of them have taken multi-faceted a little further than others. For some Marvel heroes, one heroic identity and one civilian identity haven’t been enough. These heroes have taken on numerous names and identities.

Change is a pretty normal part of being a superhero, but some of them have changed much more than others. They’ve often outgrown who they were, and so they took up new identities to show that. Others have been trying to hide out and took on new identities to help with that. Some took up new identities in protest, becoming entirely different heroes to prove a point. These identities can sometimes be confusing, but they make more sense when dug into a little.

10 Captain Marvel Has Used Several Different Heroic Identities

Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel, but that wasn’t the first superhero name she used. Nor was it even the second. Carol Danvers began her superhero career working with Mar-Vell, the first Captain Marvel. Eventually, her hidden Kree heritage awakened in her, and she became Ms. Marvel. Carol fought as Ms. Marvel for years, but a chance encounter with Rogue saw her powers drained and her mind ravaged. Carol started hanging out with the X-Men to get help with her mind form their powerful telepaths. During this period, new powers awakened in her, and she became known as Binary.

Eventually, her old powers would return and she’d rejoin the Avengers, but this time she’d take on the name Warbird, as a homage to her time in the Air Force. She’d go back to being Ms. Marvel for a time but then would take up the mantle of Captain Marvel, the fifth person and third woman to use the name. Since then, she’s risen to the top of the superhero community, becoming a leader like never before.

9 Elizabeth Braddock Has A Complicated History

The British Braddock family boasted two mutants – oldest brother Jamie and youngest daughter Elizabeth, with Brian eventually gaining the power of Captain Britain. Elizabeth’s telepathic powers would develop, and she became Psylocke, joining the X-Men and fighting for mutant rights. Psylocke was a member of the X-Men when they walked through the Siege Perilous and Elizabeth’s life changed forever. She traded places with the Hand assassin Kwannon; Elizabeth took over Kwannon’s Japanese body and Kwannon took over Elizabeth’s British one.

Elizabeth would remain Psylocke for years, but Kwannon would return in her old body as Revanche. Revanche died of the Legacy Virus and Psylocke lived her life in Kwannon’s body for years until Kwannon in Elizabeth’s old body was resurrected and the two were put back in their original bodies. Kwannon then took up the Psylocke name and Elizabeth Braddock took over his brother’s mantle of Captain Britain.

James Rhodes is best known as War Machine, but that is merely the second of three different heroic identities he used. Rhodes was hired as a bodyguard and pilot for Tony Stark and did his job very well. Eventually, James Rhodes took over as Iron Man, working as the Armored Avenger for a short time. Rhodey made a great Iron Man and Tony Stark decided that Rhodes could use a suit of armor of his own. So, Tony created the War Machine armor, which was armed with weapons that Rhodes had mastered as a member of the military.

Rhodes was War Machine for years, but for a short time got a new suit of armor and name. Norman Osborn created the Iron Patriot armor from an older suit of Tony’s armor that he was able to hack, but after Osborn’s defeat, another suit of Iron Patriot armor was made. This was basically the War Machine suit painted like the Iron Patriot suit and Rhodes was Iron Patriot for a time. He’s since gone back to being War Machine.

7 Rachel Grey-Summers’s Name Changes Have Showed How Much She’s Changed

Rachel Grey-Summers is now known as Askani, which was always her destiny, but it took years of identity changes before she got there. Rachel is the alternate future daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey, born with amazing telepathic powers. Rachel grew up in the Days Of Future Past future, and was captured by Ahab and made into a mutant Hound. With the help of her boyfriend, Franklin Richards, she escaped and came back in time to the present. She’d gain control of the portion of the Phoenix Force and Rachel joined the X-Men as Phoenix.

Rachel stayed Phoenix for years, eventually getting lost in time while a member of Excalibur and becoming Mother Askani, the first time she took up the Askani name. She was eventually brought back to the present by her alternate universe half-brother Cable. At this point, Rachel changed her name to honor Jean Grey, who had just died. Rachel dropped Summers, changed her last name to Grey, and changed her name to Marvel Girl. Rachel eventually went back and forth between that name and Phoenix, before changing her name again to Prestige, which would lead to her going back to Askani.

6 Jean Grey Has Used Multiple Codenames Over The Years

Jean Grey is the patron saint of the X-Men. Jean Grey was Professor Xavier’s first student, starting her training with him after her powers awakened in a catastrophic fashion – when she watched her friend Annie get hit by a car. Jean would join the X-Men as Marvel Girl, a name she kept for years. When the Phoenix Force replaced her with a simulacrum, Phoenix Jean started calling herself Phoenix. During this period, she was also made into the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club by the mind-controlling Mastermind and became Dark Phoenix before dying.

The real Jean Grey was found in a cocoon in Jamaica Bay and joined X-Factor as Marvel Girl. When X-Factor rejoined the X-Men, she dropped the code name entirely and became Jean Grey for a while. However, Jean would eventually start wearing the old green and gold Phoenix costume and calling herself Phoenix. This name change lasted on and off until her death at the hands of Xorn. She’d later return to life and use Jean Grey as her superhero name again. In the Krakoa Era, she’d use Marvel Girl for a short time before going back to Jean Grey.

Bruce Banner grew up in the worst circumstances imaginable. Bruce’s father was an abusive alcoholic who hated Bruce and his mother. Bruce’s mother was killed by his father, and Bruce developed DID to deal with the trauma of his upbringing. Bruce was mostly able to work through his condition, but all of that changed when he was caught in the gamma bomb blast and the One Below All opened the Green Door. Bruce Banner became the Hulk, a new identity that would be the first of many.

The Hulk has had many adventures over the years, and even more identities manifested. The Hulk would grow and change, going from dumb and savage to smart and crafty and back again. At times, Hulk and Banner merged into one being. Joe Fixit would be born, a version of the Hulk that hated Bruce Banner. There was the devil Hulk of the immortal years and at some point in the future, the Maestro. There was Starship Hulk, where Banner used a spell taught to him by Doctor Strange to split his psyche up into different parts. Currently, Banner and Hulk are two separate beings again, with the Hulk hating Banner.

4 Captain America Has Used Several Costumed Identities

Steve Rogers became Captain America to help fight the Nazi scourge. Captain America believes in the American Dream, which has caused problems when he felt the United States government wasn’t living up to it. More than once over the years, Captain America has given up the mantle of Captain America, but not the fight for freedom. The first time this happened, Steve Rogers became Nomad, creating a new costume and continuing his battle.

Steve Rogers would eventually become Captain America again, but that wouldn’t stop him from becoming disillusioned with the US again as well. Steve Rogers stopped being Captain America and became the Captain, wearing a modified version of the costume. Rogers was replaced as Captain America by Johnny Walker, but he ended up defeating the violent and unhinged Walker to become Captain America again, a mantle he’d mostly stay in over the years. Steve was also known as Commander Rogers when he worked as Director of SHIELD in the Heroic Age, giving him a grand total of four different identities, or five, if someone wants to count the Hydra Supreme version of Steve.

Hank Pym became known for changing his heroic identity in Marvel Comics. Pym was a scientist who created the Pym Particles, which allowed him to shrink, and a helmet that allowed him to speak to ants. Pym used this technology to become Ant-Man. He’d also create the wings and sting blasters that allowed his girlfriend Janet to become the Wasp and the two of them would become founding Avengers. Later, Pym would create Pym Particles that let him grow and change his name to Giant-Man.

This would lead to him becoming Goliath, but that wouldn’t be the end of his identity changes. Pym would manifest an entirely new identity, one that didn’t even think he was Hank Pym, and became Yellowjacket, incorporating much of his old technology into one costume. Pym would later start using his own name as a superhero, and then would change among his many codenames, using all of them but Goliath. After Wasp died fighting the Skrulls, he would also become Wasp for a short period of time.

2 Spider-Man Once Used Four Different Identities At Once

Peter Parker has been fighting evil since he was fifteen and made a name for himself as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Peter Parker found his niche as the Wall-Crawler, becoming an integral part of the superhero community. There have been multiple versions of Spider-Man, but Parker found little reason to use other identities. However, at one point Spider-Man was accused of murdering someone. A price was put on Spider-Man’s head and Peter Parker couldn’t use the identity to clear his name, so he had to improvise.

Peter Parker created four new costume identities – Dusk, Hornet, Prodigy, and Ricochet. Peter Parker switched between these four identities and was able to clear his name and went back to being Spider-Man. Later, a group of teenagers would take up these costumes and become the Slingers.

1 Wolverine Has Been Known As Several Different Identities

Wolverine was long a man of mystery. There was a time when none of the X-Men even knew that he called himself Logan. However, he’d eventually let them in on his identity as he started to trust them more. Wolverine had a long history before ever joining the X-Men and was known as several names during that time. He was born as James Howlett but forgot that name because of the way his healing factor dealt with mental trauma. He was sometimes called Weapon X after the Weapon Plus project was done making him into their killing machine, which was a name he would use later when his son Daken was known as Wolverine.

Then there was the Patch times. After going through the Siege Perilous with the X-Men, Wolverine had to use another identity because the world thought the X-Men were dead. During this time, he often visited his old stomping grounds of Madripoor and used the name Patch.