Still developing my superhero-espionage comic and I need to name the outfit the main character works for.
It started out as Safeguard. Then, I changed it to Vigil. Then, I changed it back to Safeguard. Now I’m considering Intercept.
Trying to name an independent covert ops group
Which name sounds better?
Trying to name an independent covert ops group
- Safeguard
- Vigil
- Intercept
- Custodi
- The Outfit
- This topic has 207 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 2 months ago by
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Those are good. Longbow would be another one implying targeted, intense assault teams.
Depends on the type of story though. You could expand from military or weapon terminology into musical (Forte or Allegro), blacksmithing (Alloy, Brass Cutter or Crucible) or even culinary (Al A Carte Inc. meaning they have a selection of services provided or The Kitchen which I like for a covert team). I think a lot of it depends on the nature of the story. It’s not like you’re coming up with a name for a real world company you’re founding – most of them take the names of their founders actually or use vague acronyms.
Are your operatives like highly trained musicians, cooks, engineers or even working class truck drivers? I’d think you could look at the nature of your characters and the sort of world you build around them to find a name that would fit for that story specifically.
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Hunter-Gatherers, LLC, a global importing/exporting company
On the surface level, they “hunt” and “gather” items, commodities, and materials for import and export.
On the covert level, they hunt targets and gather intelligence.
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Yeah, you’re selling it to the audience more than the clients. Does the name of the company tell you anything about it without revealing everything.
Like a talent agency – Tailored Solutions Corp. (TSC) or Ultimate Solutions, Inc. (USI) – or like a contractor – something like “The Right Tool Company” (RTC) where the lead operatives always go by the codename “Mr. Right” while on the job. “You need the right tool for the right job, and we can provide your Mr. or Mrs. Right… for the right price.”
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Lance Worldwide, LLC, an importing/exporting company
And their arch foes should be BOIL (Baddies for the Obliteration of International Law).
Then their mission would be to LANCE the BOIL
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Lance Henrikson really does sound like a military contractor.
I like the vague company names that have an innocent feel but threatening undertone.Something like ENDPOINT ESCALATION INC.
The way some types of people might consider assassination to be a form of conflict resolution.
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The way some types of people might consider assassination to be a form of conflict resolution.
It is. but the resolution is not anything I would want.
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It is. but the resolution is not anything I would want.
I suppose it depends on what end of that transaction you’re on.
There is no plan to the world, but the sort of plans that get made in think tanks and secret board meetings are those where the calculus involves megadeaths. Seriously, while some people were writing public policy about abortion rights for women were obviously concerned for women’s rights, there were those policy makers promoting this position because they were worried about overpopulation – especially the rising minority populations. Now that birthrates are dropping I half-suspect the real power and money behind all these restrictive abortion laws in the states today are concerned that a shrinking population might lead to greater worker’s rights. Fewer people to work means the demand rises and the leverage for labor increases.
Now, imagine a group of powerful and influential people who think the problem with the Cuban missile crisis wasn’t that the world was almost devastated by nuclear war, but that the United States should’ve launched its weapons a decade earlier when it had the advantage, defeated its enemies with the least amount of destruction and avoided a costly cold war. Then take that group and introduce literal superpowers appearing in the world.
So these groups form coalitions, corporations and cooperative extra-governmental factions to exploit these new advantages, but it’s not escalation to keep the peace – a new version of Mutually Assured Destruction – but to gain the overwhelming advantage and unleash it to avoid the same stalemate the world suffered through for 50 years.
ENDPOINT ESCALATION Inc.
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Maybe I should have shared the premise, for those that either didn’t know or didn’t remember. In any case:
A black ops super-soldier becomes the guardian of his teenage niece, herself a budding superhuman.
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Maybe I should have shared the premise, for those that either didn’t know or didn’t remember. In any case:
A black ops super-soldier becomes the guardian of his teenage niece, herself a budding superhuman.
Is the niece also a prodigy when it comes to import/export business and global trade?
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Is this gonna be the new acronym joke?
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Maybe I’ll just do away with the unit altogether.
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Two new acronyms that came to me:
ISA (International Security Agency)
STAND (Special Threat Assessment and Neutralization Directorate)1 user thanked author for this post.
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Two new acronyms that came to me:
ISA (International Security Agency)
STAND (Special Threat Assessment and Neutralization Directorate)But those have nothing to do with banking, finance, or accounting!
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A black ops super-soldier becomes the guardian of his teenage niece, herself a budding superhuman.
You might want to not reveal the name and just have people refer to it as “the parent company.” Or call it “The Parent”
also Guardian, Foster, Ward, etc. Or something like PATER NOX since the story essentially revolves around parenthood.
ironically, a lot of names for things like shopping centers or banks sound like they could be military institutions
CITADEL or CAPITAL ONE for example.
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STAND (Special Threat Assessment and Neutralization Directorate)
But those have nothing to do with banking, finance, or accounting!
What, you never had to stand in line at your bank?!
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Ward
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PATRON
Now I’m acronym crazy
Paranormal Active Tactical Response Operations Network
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So, now starting to lean less towards Authority/Shadow Cabinet expy and more towards SHIELD expy.
Except they’re economists, bankers, and financiers, right?
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It’s an interesting one. Maybe a little too generic, but that could be good. At the same time, reminds me of the game Counter-strike.
Also, a good name for temp agency that hires retail sales workers, food preparers and bank tellers. ;)
The “counter” (work)force.
Seriously, depends on the distinct operating principles of the agency in the story. Are they primarily defensive and reactive – essentially bodyguards and intel security specialists. A counterforce is deployed as either a deterrent or in response to an offensive first attack.
Counter-Force could be the “good” agency and “First Strike” the bad guys (but secretly run by the same covert board of directors – “the Parent” company).
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Go with something different and off the wall.
If this is a government sponsored group, I imagine there’s some career bureaucrat whose sole job is to name things. He’s been doing this job for 30 years and someone else did it decades before him. Basically, all the good names are taken or retired. This guy just goes through dictionaries, thesauruses, and atlases and picking words and names at random and bashing them together.
You get names like:
– Houston Barrel Company
– Red Farmers Co-op
– Eleven Minute WheelBasically, you’re naming indie bands. 😜
If you have the opportunity, do something different.
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Outside Aid Network(OAN)
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Aid Support Service (ASS)
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Uhhh…
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Decided it’ll be an international organization. Works with the world’s governments but doesn’t answer to either of them.
Sounds like an NGO. Are they overt or covert?
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Decided it’ll be an international organization. Works with the world’s governments but doesn’t answer to either of them.
Is it a legitimate business, though, or the sort of covert agency that is also essentially outlaw? The kind that requires secrecy to operate, has a lot of offshore bank accounts, operatives and assets but no actual legal entity or corporate structure more like the Russian Mafia than Lockheed Martin.
Depends how comedic or serious you really want to be. The set up obviously leans toward comedy, and giving the company an actual legal form with an HR department, Board of Directors and Purchasing departments and all the other bureaucratic obstacles could be interesting. Like having your protagonist arm himself to the teeth with all sorts of superweapons to go on a rescue, but by the time he gets out the door, he’s had to surrender all but one tiny laser because one violates the expense policy, the other is illegal to possess in the country he’s passing through, another has already been requisitioned for a job scheduled the following month, and so on.
The pay-off, of course, is that the single tiny laser is the one weapon that saves him in the mission.
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That power is very awesome but very defensive. If she will be around other powered people maybe think of going with Synch rather than Darwin from the X Men
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That power is very awesome but very defensive. If she will be around other powered people maybe think of going with Synch rather than Darwin from the X Men
So:
https://powerlisting.fandom.com/wiki/Power_Replication
EDIT: More ideas for powers:
https://powerlisting.fandom.com/wiki/Possessive_Body
https://powerlisting.fandom.com/wiki/Classical_Element_Manipulation
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Power Replication it is.
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Power Replication it is.
To make it more interesting: Power replication without the inherent skill in using it.
By way of metaphor: A sniper can take their specialized rifle and hit targets at long distances. I can pick up that same rifle and can fire it but I won’t be the same level of marksman.
When she dupes a new power set, their is always a learning curve. She can wield the power but not as well as the source superhuman. But each time she dupes the same power, she “remembers” and uses it better.
Just a little twist to make things more interesting.
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Right now, the most limits I’ve got is that any powers she mimics fade one the super-being she mimics moves too far outside her range and that it doesn’t work on artificially created powers (like she wouldn’t be able to mimic a Green Lantern ring, for example).
Speaking of metaphor, I was thinking of how power mimicry might work as one for teenage insecurity about their place in the world, especially compared to everyone else.
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Power Replication it is.
No such thing as bad PR
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VIGIL
Stand is too close to stan which, as well as being a proper name, is also currently be used to signify fandom :rolleyes:
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Something else I may take cues from:
https://www.marvel.com/teams-and-groups/v-battalion
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The initial idea is good but too many writers have messed with it over its history so I would be careful how much of it you use.
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VIGIL Stand is too close to stan which, as well as being a proper name, is also currently be used to signify fandom :rolleyes:
Also, it is close to “VAGINA” which, obviously, is the best possible name for a covert organization ever.
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Then you can name the girl Amber.
And the grizzled old leader Silver.
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And the grizzled old leader Silver.
And his wife Red.
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That would work too – maybe better – he could be like the Jim Rockford version of James Bond.
I loved the Rockford Files as a kid (and as an adult I love the reruns) and take that type of character and give him a kid to raise would be a great story too.
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It would be funny if he was on good terms with agents that work for the NKVD, Chinese, Hezbollah and North Korea on the other side.
Also, if there are superpowered people in the world, then it would be interesting to consider how that would have affected the structure and departments of the bureaucracies that grew up in the Cold War. One interesting element of the old Wildstorm series AUTOMATIC KAFKA was that the top secret agency in the US Government was actually the National Park Service because of all the ancient alien technology and crashed UFO’s that landed on Federal lands.
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It would be funny if he was on good terms with agents that work for the NKVD, Chinese, Hezbollah and North Korea on the other side.
Also, if there are superpowered people in the world, then it would be interesting to consider how that would have affected the structure and departments of the bureaucracies that grew up in the Cold War. One interesting element of the old Wildstorm series AUTOMATIC KAFKA was that the top secret agency in the US Government was actually the National Park Service because of all the ancient alien technology and crashed UFO’s that landed on Federal lands.
That reminds me of The Invisible Man (2000 TV series).
The Agency
The Agency is a U.S. government espionage and special operations agency, but one that is extremely secretive – so much that it doesn’t have a proper name. Charlie Borden (known as “The Official”), the director of The Agency, explained that the organization takes on cases that the other agencies “can’t, won’t, or don’t”. References in the show point to the Agency as being a “Cold War relic”.
The most curious characteristic of The Agency is how it keeps being “absorbed” by Federal Departments that are completely unrelated to intelligence. During the first season, The Agency was a division of the semi-fictional federal “Department of Fish and Game” (i.e. the Fish and Wildlife Service). In the pilot episode, it was explained this was due to the fact that at the time the Department of Defense was having budget cuts while the DFG had a surplus of money.
During the second season, The Agency changed departments several times, having been absorbed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, and (very briefly) the United States Postal Service before settling in the semi-fictional Bureau of Weights and Measures. All of this led to a running gag in which Hobbes and Fawkes are never taken seriously as federal agents, since their identifications always includes their unassuming department name.
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Also, if there are superpowered people in the world, then it would be interesting to consider how that would have affected the structure and departments of the bureaucracies that grew up in the Cold War.
One aspect I did want to explore is that there was a sort of super-powered arms race in the last phase of the Cold War, and the main protagonist is a product of that.
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Just read issue one of Deathstroke Inc. The organization Deathstroke works for is kinda what I wanted to go for.
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How does the International Security Network sound?
You could go with “International Security Network – Tactical”.
It would then be ISN’T.
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In fiction if you name a device or an organization that ends with an ordinal letter or a number you always make it a couple down from the first one so it sounds real (like C not A or B) and I think they do this in real life too like I don't think there are 5 other Seal Teams
— Christina Holland (@americanwombat) December 28, 2021
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Wasn’t that a Wildstorm thing too? Can’t remember too clearly but it seemed like there was a Team 1 in WW2 and then Team 7 was the current iteration at least in the 90’s. The number was actually more a generational designation.
GENERATION-S is a good name too since there will be the generation gap between the operative and his adopted daughter.
To be contemporary though, name it Delta-Omicron
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I rediscovered a short-lived series called Spy Game. The agency in the series had a fairly interesting name: ECHO (Emergency Counter Hostilities Organization).
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I like the acronym but as a name for an agency it kind of sucks on account of an echo being a replica of a sound but weaker.
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You could come up with some random acronym like S.A.N.T.A. or C.R.E.A.M. but everyone thinks it stands for something different like the way SHIELD originally was Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage and Law-Enforcement Division
and now it’s Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.
So it becomes a running joke that no one that works for S.P.U.N.K. or whatever actually knows what it stands for.
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I like the acronym but as a name for an agency it kind of sucks on account of an echo being a replica of a sound but weaker.
On the other hand, it is kind of appropriate for a spy agency in that they are trying to capture information but not be noticed. It is sort of the sound version of a shadow. You hear an echo. but don’t think it matters. You see a shadow but not really.
The Shadow Department or S.H.A.D.O.W. would also work for the classic James Bond-style secret org as well.
Girl: What the heck is S.H.A.D.O.W?
Agent Kane: Supervisory Head of Agent Development and Operations Workshop.
Agent Gumm: I thought it was Strategic Headquarters for Advanced Disinformation and Optimized Warfare.
Girl: “Optimized warfare”? Is that even a thing?
Agent Kane: Yeah, where did you get that?
Agent Gumm: It’s in the manual.
Agent Kane: What manual? Listen, we’re a peacekeeping organization. Why would we even have “warfare” in our name?
Agent Gumm: You might as well ask why we carry guns. Listen, you can’t keep the peace by fighting wars. It’s like a disease with no cure. You have to treat the symptoms. Optimized Warfare is winning wars by convincing the aggressors they lost before the first shot was even fired.
Agent Kane: I still think it stands for Supervisory Head of Agent Development and Operations Workshop.
Agent Gumm: Maybe that’s all part of the strategy. I mean, we’re the agents of an organization who could ourselves start a conflict. So if they can convince us that we might not know what we think we know, it is even easier to trick the other side into thinking what we want them to know.
Girl: That doesn’t make sense.
Agent Gumm: That’s the point. Look, tell me how you can see things. How does the eye work?
Girl: The lens of the eye focuses light through the pupil onto the retina that converts that into brain signals in the optic nerve.
Agent Kane: Look at the little girl with the big brain.
Agent Gumm: That makes sense, but tell me this, if seeing is about light entering the eye, then what do you “see” when you look at a shadow?
Girl: Hmmm…
Agent Gumm: So maybe you don’t know what you think you know.
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The Shadow Department or S.H.A.D.O.W. would also work for the classic James Bond-style secret org as well.
The old Gerry Anderson series UFO focused on an agency called SHADO, which stood for Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organisation.
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That’s an interesting one too. I also think there is some comic value to unrealistically long acronyms like S.T.E.P.F.A.T.H.E.R. or P.R.O.T.E.C.T.O.R. where people forget what it means halfway through it.
Though often it deals metaphorically with the story somehow. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in the Bond movies replaced S.M.E.R.S.H. in the novel but it could also refer to the “specter of communism” that epitomized the villains of the Cold War period. In The Man from UNCLE, Uncle metaphorically referred to Uncle Sam and Uncle Joe as it involved two agents from both sides.
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S.T.E.P.F.A.T.H.E.R
Suspisciously Titled Ephemeral Pornographic Fantasy Alluding To Homo-Erotic Republicans
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P.R.O.T.E.C.T.O.R
Pan-Regional Organisation To Eternally Counter Tories Or Republicams
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Again reconsidering the niece’s superpower. New option:
My question is how does her power tie into the current and future stories? I would suggest looking at the stories you want to tell with the character. Who she is (and will be) May inform on what would be appropriate powers for her.
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Another interesting idea along those lines that I don’t think has been done is a kind of age limit to superpowers. There are heroes with time limits (like Hour Man*) and at least a couple characters where they will eventually die from their powers, but I really haven’t seen a situation where the powers are something that the characters will eventually grow out of their powers.
Again, it works as a metaphor for adolescence as eventually the kid turns into a normal adult. With a time limit, it gives the protagonists and antagonists a goal to work toward. The protagonist just wants to get the kid through this until they can lead a normal life, while the antagonists either want to use her or get her onto a slab to dissect her and replicate the powers.
It’s also a mixed blessing as she does have to deal with the fact that what she thinks makes her special will not always be a part of her. So she has to find what is special about her separate from her powers. It’s something that exceptionally attractive people, or skilled athletes or extremely smart people have to deal with. Abilities fade over time and it is just crippling to try to hold on to them to the detriment of living a life.
*I think Hour Man actually has a lot of potential for a comic superhero (comic as funny rather than comic books – – though my mammaw always called comics “funny books”). He could have his own kind of family like the other heroes set around time. He could have a sidekick called the 10-Minute Miracle or enemies like the Greenwich Mean Team. A friend who is a speedster known as Nanosecond Nathan.
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STARS
Strategic
Threats
Armed
Response
SquadI like that, you can then also call i STAR Squad
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How does Lookout sound?
It makes me think of Lookwell:
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