A mini treatise on hyphenation and super-heroes.
The first thing to say about hyphens and super-heroes is that super-heroes is actually a trademarked term. Marvel Comics and Detective Comics Comics (not my error or 'sic' if you prefer) had made so many claims on variations of this term that the companies ended up sharing a trademark of "super-heroes." You can say your character is a superhero, but you better be working for the Old Two if you want that hyphen. While their claim is apparently legally disputed, what they really should have tried to claim is the hyphen itself. No medium has hyphen history like American comics.
It is usually forgotten or ignored, but many super-heroes (trademark) have hyphenated names. Anybody who's "something-man" should be hyphenated. It's not Spiderman or Batman, it's Spider-Man and Bat-Man, though the Bat's name looks better without the hyphen, pretty much, so it doesn't show up much. Spidey's should always be used, though. Even new characters like Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl show love for the hyphen. However, some characters have never partaken of the hyphen. It's never been Super-Man or Wonder-Woman. Iron-Man, no, save misprints, but Ant-Man, yes.
Despite this silly article, hyphens are serious business. Even a war was waged over them. So think twice, or once, at least, when fusing words that should not be fused, or you are a contributor to the destruction of language and therefore guilty of crimes against humanity. Just an FYI.
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