Shannon Craig
Stan Lee is known for creating characters that have alliterative names. Peter Parker of Spider-Man, Miles Morales from Ultimate Spider-Man, and Peter Porker from Spider-Ham are among a few that come to mind in the Spider-Man series. However, his habit extends throughout most of the Marvel family as well: Steven Strange, Reed Richards, Victor Von Doom, Bruce Banner, Loki Laufeyson, Rocket Racoon, Wade Winston Wilson – just to name a few.
In a 2006 Q&A, Stan Lee explained his somewhat excessive use of alliterative names:
It would be hard for you to believe this, because I seem so perfect: I have the worst memory in the world. So I finally figured out, if I could give somebody a name, where the last name and the first name begin with the same letter, like Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Matt Murdock, then if I could remember one name, it gave me a clue what the other one was, I knew it would begin with the same letter.
Stan Lee
However, with great power comes great responsibility. In the Amazing Spider-Man #1, under the story titled “Spider-Man vs. The Chameleon”, Stan Lee made a bit of a mistake. Instead of calling our beloved hero by his true name, Peter Parker, Spider-Man took on the name Peter Palmer for the entirety of the story. His name was completely correct before and after this incident, but the change remained consistent throughout the entire story. This, as well as a few other small spelling errors over the years, have become fun little-known facts for fans of the comics!
This isn’t the first time one of these errors has graced the comic world. According to Action #598, Superman lives in the great city of Metroplis, instead of Metropolis. Fans of Daredevil may be familiar with Elektra Natchios, Matt’s former love turned deadly assassin. Daredevil #168 featured her debut, as well as a misspelling of her name. Elektra, Elecktra – same thing, right? Luckily, the mistake didn’t hinder her eventual rise to fame.
Typographical errors are far from uncommon when it comes to published works. A few copies of the first book in the Harry Potter series are worth a small fortune for a blunder on page 53! What blunder, you ask? Simple: a list of school supplies on that page mentions “1 wand” at the beginning and end of the list. Typos happen to the best of us, so don’t feel too bad when Google Docs points out your spelling errors yet agian.
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