COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS WITH NUMBERS IN THEIR NAMES

In England, certain bingo emporiums have decided to employ the age-old tactic of christening their numbers with rhythmical names. So while playing a game, a bingo caller would shout out a phrase, and that phrase would denote a specific number. For instance, 'cup of tea', would mean number three; 'man alive', would mean number five; and 'garden gate', would mean number eight. Whereas over on the opposite end of the spectrum, certain comic book publishers have christened their characters with numbers in their names. Here, check out this list for an explanation of who I'm referring to. 


Doctor Octopus

Now the first name on my list may seem like it was placed here by accident. But no. It's not. Doc Ock does have a number in his name. An ancient Greek number, eight to be precise! Because did you know that the word 'Octopus' means 'Eight feet' in ancient Greek? What? You didn't know? Fair enough. Neither did a lot of Spider-Man fans. They didn't know that the name of one of his most deadliest enemy's is Doctor Eight-Feet! Sounds silly now, doesn't it?

Two-Face

When Bill Finger and Bob Kane first co-created Two-Face in 1942, according to Bob, he based the concept behind this Batman villain on the main protagonist depicted in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, more specifically, the 1931 film version which he saw as a boy. In Bob's eyes the true nature of duality was something he wanted to explore in his work, doing so by highlighting the fact that everyone -- and he did mean everyone -- has the ability to do bad or good things in equal measures. Rich or Poor? Right or Wrong? Truth or Justice? Just like a game of bingo we can all take our chances and hope for the best.  

Agent 355

While I'm on the subject of bingo, out of curiosity, have you ever played the game before? If not, you should give it a go, as it's really fun to play. All you have to do is purchase a 'bingo card' with a grid of numbers on it, a grid of three rows, and then mark off those numbers whenever one is called out by the bingo caller. Sometimes the intent of the game is to mark off all the numbers on one row. Sometimes the intent of the game is to mark off all the numbers on two rows. And finally, yes, you guessed it, as each grid is comprised of three rows, if you get to mark all of them off, bingo, you win the game, the big game, but only if you're the first person who does it. Funnily enough, all this talk about marking and calling brings me quite nicely onto the Vertigo series, Y: The Last Man, which I'm sure there is no need for me to explain to you who Agent 355 is. Honestly. There is no need for me to say anything. Not even a word. If I do she may come to my house and kill me on the spot. Mark me for dead. And I wouldn't want that, would I?

Ten from the Royal Flush Gang

When the Green Lantern villain, Hector Hammond, was recruiting new members for his second iteration of the Royal Flush Gang, for reasons of his own he hired Wanda Wayland to don the mantel of Ten. Prior to her recruitment Wanda was sacked from her role as a test pilot because she refused her employer's sleazy sexual advances. But thankfully, now recruited by Hammond to be one of his henchmen, bingo, beware sleazy bosses everywhere, especially since she has a costume with energy blasters in her gloves, blasting everyone and anyone who'd do her wrong. 

V from V for Vendetta

Just like Doctor Octopus, V's name isn't obviously connected to any form of mathematical denomination. Well, that is unless you know the alphanumeric pattern roman numerals follow. So if you're a bit like me, and you do know how to figure out the sequence this specific numbering system uses, then you'd also know that V represents the number five, the same number printed on his jail cell prior to him donning his now fabled mask.

Doctor 13 and his daughter, Traci 13

Doctor Thirteen, also known as the Ghost Breaker, made his comic book debut in Star Spangled Comics #122, published November, circa 1951. In this comic we get to see the good doctor battling an ancient evil which was directly connected to his own ancestral past, a past that involves the Salem witch trials, his wife Maria, his unnamed father, some death, a splattering of rebirth, and, you know, a lot of that hocus-pocus malarkey. Years later, thirteen and his wife would have a child called Traci, and despite having a name that's grammatically incorrect, she too will eventually have to fight off this sort of hocus-pocus malarkey. Amen.

Now if you know the mathematical names of any other comic book characters I might have missed out on, please feel free to drop me a line and tell me who they are. And if you do, try to remember, one of the reasons why people don't do arithmetic in the jungle, is because if you add four plus four you get ate! Ouch! It had to be said.