Superhero names almost always translate into other languages in interesting, sometimes downright bizarre ways. Marvel’s The Fantastic Four for example, translates in a pretty straight forward way as “Los Cuatro Fantasticos” in Spanish. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, goes by “Mujer Maravilla, which in Spanish can also translate to “Marvel Woman”, interestingly enough. Same idea, if not quite exactly the same thing. But that’s not the weirdest one, not by a long shot. Now an artist by the name of James Chapman has made some illustrations of the major Marvel characters that are beyond adorable. They give us an idea of just what some of the seemingly insane names other countries have given these iconic characters are, and which ones only seem crazy on the surface.
In this series of illustrations, we learn that over in France, Spidey’s #1 bad guy Norman Osborn isn’t the Green Goblin, but the less threatening “the Green Buffoon,” and that Storm of the X-Men is “Tornade” which is at least fitting, even is she can do a lot of other stuff besides summon up tornadoes. Brazil gives Rogue the name “Vampira,” which I’m pretty sure still means “female vampire” in Portuguese like it does in Spanish, but it more or less gets the idea of Rogue’s powers across. And in Germany, Tony Stark has the gender inclusive name of “The Iron One”, which is convenient in case Pepper Potts wants to ever take over the role… now she can do it without a name change.
Check out our gallery below of Chapman’s illustrations, and try to keep yourself from referring to Rocket Raccoon as “Blunderbuss” the next time you watch Guardians of the Galaxy.
I know that some Spanish translations have Rogue as “Titania” along the vein of “Titan” due to her super strength.
But the weirdest one for me was Bruce Wayne, who was Bruno Diaz and Dick Grayson who was better known as Ricardo Tapia.
Actually, in Portuguese/Portugal is “Os Vingadores”(there is an “e” missing).
Actually Wonder translate as “Maravilla”, so “Mujer Maravilla” means literally as “Wonder Woman”, just like the “seven wonders of the world” translate as “las siete maravillas del mundo”, same word, same translation, for it to be “Miracle Woman” the Spanish translation would have to be “Mujer Milagrosa”
“Maravilla” also means “marvel,” which is good for a chuckle.
You’re totally right, which is why I amended it. Although I did grow up in a Cuban/Spanish speaking household, where the words “maravilla” was often interchanged with “milagro” (unless talking about something specifically religious) so I didn’t pull it totally out of my ass….but you’re technically correct.