Why does marvel use "-" so much?

[The Geek Vault]

Ever notice how so many characters in Marvel have - in their names. Spider-man
Ant-man
Giant-man
X-men
What does - even do to a word? I forget what you even call it? Why does marvel do that? It erks me so.

 

[Kotagg]

.........

 

[Harlekin]

It's called a hyphen.You're supposed to say Spiderhyphenman. I thought this was common knowledge.

 

[Super Mark]

Maybe they think it looks cool.
Super Mark
I mean, Super-Mark

 

[KevanG]

I think at first it was to make it more easy for kids to tell the difference between Spider-man and Superman. It probably just became habit after that.

 

[Super Mark]

I think at first it was to make it more easy for kids to tell the difference between Spider-man and Superman. It probably just became habit after that.

That's a pretty good theory! I'll buy that reasoning.

For those who don't understand, I will paint a picture of part one of your hypothesis using only smilies:

 

[Super Mark]

PS No, I wasn't being sarcastic... funny, maybe, but not sarcastic.

 

[Gogo Bananas]

Hyphens prevent confusion and clarify meaning by compounding two seperate words without joining them. Although, they are NOT generally used in noun-noun compound modifiers because a noun-noun pair is difficult to misinterpret.
Spider-Man is a fusion of man and spider.
Consider Batman, and Man-Bat. One is a name, the other a description.
Hyphens, or a lack of a hyphen can really change a sentences meaning. For instance:
'a man-eating lion' is lion that eats men, whereas 'a man eating lion' is a man having a lion for dinner.