Warning! Spoilers for Invincible and Marvel Team-Up #14 below!
When Avengers. In a hilarious scene, Mark Grayson tried to guess each superhero's codename based on the simplicity of Spider-Man's name. Among Invincible's guesses? Captain America was Flag-Man, and Wolverine was named Claw-Man.
Back in 2006, Invincible creator Robert Kirkman was still working on his own creator-owned book and was also one of the writers for Marvel Team-Up. The crossover series saw Marvel heroes star in both small team-ups with unlikely characters and more epic team-based adventures. Issues featured Blade with Punisher, Captain America and Freedom Ring, as well as Moon Knight and Spider-Man. A surprising crossover in the comic's 14th issue Invincible ending up in the Marvel Universe. The story began in the pages of the Image Comic series while continuing in the team-up title. Since Kirkman owned the character, he decided to use him in the out-of-universe team-up.
In Marvel Team-Up #14 by Kirkman, Invincible co-creator and artist Cory Walker, and VC's Cory Petit, Invincible crosses paths with Spider-Man and reveals (after a fight with Doc Ock) that the dimension-hopping villain Angstrom Levy threw him into the Marvel Universe. After the two heroes introduce each other, Spider-Man takes Invincible to Avengers Tower, to see if his fellow Marvel heroes have a lead on Doc Ock's whereabouts. When Mark is introduced to the Avengers, he comments that they look sharp and makes a guess at their names based on Spider-Man's basic-sounding name.
Mark describes the heroes in a basic way based on their appearances. Iron Man is Robot-Man, Wolverine is Claw-Man, Captain America is Flag-Man, Sentry is Fabio-Man, Spider-Woman is Bat-Woman, and Luke Cage (without a costume) is Black-Man. While this last choice was misjudged even by the standards of the 2000s (and highlights a lack of diversity in what was Marvel's flagship team), the rest of Invincible's nicknames are hilarious simplifications of the Avengers roster, with 'Bat-Woman' in particular picking up on a common fan observation that despite Jessica Drew's origins, her costume and powers have never felt all that arachnid in nature. Having seen this logic in action, Spider-Man - who criticized Mark's superhero name earlier in the issue - realizes that "maybe my name does suck."
Invincible's description of the Avengers is quite funny, as he uses the same logic he thinks Spider-Man used in his own naming to give the heroes hilarious nicknames. Although, Mark shouldn't really be one to criticize, as the heroes in his own universe (including himself) have some really straightforward and silly names. There's a robot named Robot, someone who can duplicate named Dupli-Kate, and a character who can shrink called Shrinking Rae. Those kinds of names come with the superhero territory, however. Still, Invincible's description of the Avengers emphasized that Spider-Man's moniker is pretty basic - even if that's what makes it so great.
