Marvel/DC's Big Three vs their most popular/iconic heroes

Reading some of the threads, I realized that the characters that are considered the Big Three in the Marvel universe are distinct from the most iconic superheroes. Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America seem to be the collective Big Good in universe, despite the fact that to the general public in Real Life, Spider-Man would probably be the most iconic.

Whereas with DC, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are not only the most iconic superheroes out of universe, but they seem to hold clout in universe as well as the Big Three.

What's the reason for this?

That might be partly because of the storied "Marvel's characters are more relatable" thing, even though it's not entirely accurate. But in DC the Justice League are compared to gods and the Greek Pantheon specifically. They're the icons and the ones that receive the biggest push. Whereas with Marvel, it's usually the little guys that are given the spotlight.

I mean one of the reasons Peter Parker was so revolutionary in the 60's was because he was a superhero who had problems that most kids could relate to, rather than being a god or an Amazon or an alien or a billionaire playboy.

To be honest, Green Lantern seems to be much more important both in-universe and to the readers than Wonder Woman. Just look at the scale of GL events and the sales, respectively.

And yeah, at Marvel their three biggest characters are basically Spidey, Wolverine, and Iron Man right now, but at least the rest of the core Avengers are pretty well-known thanks to the movies, which is more than you can say for Green Lantern or Martian Manhunter. Cap, Tony, and Thor were always the in-universe Big Trio because they had sort of a Freudian Trio thing going on and because they were classic Avengers. That said, they actually seem like they fit the mold better in-universe, because other potentially more influential guys like Dr. Strange or Reed Richards or Scott Summers are always off working on something completely different.

DC's Big Three were all created in the '30s, and DC's treated them as their biggest characters all along.

Marvel's had its biggest characters created at different times. Captain America was created in WW 2. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, among others, were created in the '60s. The '70s saw a bunch of fad characters, along with a revival of the X-Men, and the X-Men grew to take over the '80s and '90s, becoming, along with Spider-Man, Marvel's Big Characters. The past decade has seen Marvel put an even bigger focus on the Avengers, making them a lot bigger.

So it just gets a lot more variety than DC.

I'm not going to say which is better. I feel like DC does archetypes better, while Marvel does characters better. Different people will have different preferences. I prefer characters, so Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern - I don't give a shit about them. The one exception would be Wonder Woman (though not enough for me to bother reading her comics), and that's probably just my general love of strong female protagonists.

edited 7th Apr '13 6:41:42 PM by Tiamatty

I think Aquaman is cool. *shrug*

Well, yeah, he is, but the average dude on the street isn't going to know that Geoff Johns made Aquaman an A-list book, he's just going to remember the SNL stuff.

While I prefer Namor.

I have nothing strictly against Aquaman. I certainly don't think he's useless, despite the jokes. But he's still more of an archetype, an icon, while Namor is more of a character, despite the two both being kings of Atlantis.

Wonder Woman is still counted because of her legacy and the fact that people would crucify DC for removing the only Woman from their big 3.

edited 7th Apr '13 6:58:03 PM by Canid117

Yeah, the difference is that DC knows Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are their most iconic characters and plays it for all its worth. Hell, according to the Trinity storyline, DC's Big 3 are literally the foundations of the universe. Meanwhile, Marvel doesn't really have a Big 3 (Cap, Stark, and Thor are only a "Big 3" for the Avengers).

I prefer Namor also.

Namors fans are a minority but we are a vocal one.

Anyway, Marvel's biggest seller is I remember correctly are Spider-man, Wolverine and the Incredible Hulk...but those three are hardly team material. Wolverine has his own team for one, Hulk wants to be left alone and Spider-man does not have much in the way of time or funds to be outside of New York for too long. Captain America, Ironman and Thor actually work together often in stories and gel well when the do so.

Superman Batman and Green Lantern are the big sellers in DC but Wonder Woman has a more consistent working role in the story. Who is Green Lantern? Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Steward, Kyle Rainer, Sodat Yat...not only is the role inconsistent but like Wolverine Green Lantern already has his own team. The difference is that the DC big three is that the main three to get together and get things done in stories are closer to who traditionally moves the most comics than Marvel's big three.

I don't know, the Hulk's a big player, more so due to the movies, but Iron Man's sort of become the Red Ranger thanks to the movieverse. He seems to be selling the most lunchboxes, in no small part to what an awesome escapist character he is. Not to mention that during and after Civil War, Iron Man was every-freaking-where. You couldn't open a book without finding him. Thor? Tony's in there. Nova? There too. He's had more influence over Marvel Earth than really anyone else besides Osborn or maybe Cyclops in the last few years.

Last few years in a company that as been around since 1939. But maybe I do not know, One More Day was pretty much strike three for me and Marvel. If I do look their way nowadays it rarely is because of a major happening in their "universe".

Yeah, Iron Man's gotten himself a lot more focus in the comics, and that's almost entirely because of how popular his movie was. However, I think that speaks more to the Marvel Cinematic Universe turning a dozen B and C-listers into household names than anything else.

I will say that Cap has Stark beat in the t-shirt department though. Can't tell you how many times I've run into the shield.

edited 7th Apr '13 9:28:33 PM by Watchtower

Yeah, that's true. The armor doesn't always work on a T-shirt, but I've seen shirts with just an arc reactor design on the front. Classy.

When I think of Superman's Marvel Counterpart, Captain America tends to come to mind. He seems like a character who should be an icon, but maybe he's too overtly pariotic.

Uncanny Avengers #4 aside ("I BELIEVE IN AMERICA!"), that's a pretty common misconception.

He has, however, been kind of an asshole lately.

Hulk being a team player might be one of those things where there's a bit of a disconnect between the actual public and comic readers, ala the "Aquaman is lame thing." He's traditionally been a loner but he's definitely more of a team player in the movies, and they seem to be trying their hardest to push that portrayal into the comics and cartoons as well.

Bendis himself recently joked about how editorial told him he could kill Hawkeye since nobody cared about him anymore and that Spider-Man and Wolverine were way more popular, but now the movie has gone and given a bunch of new exposure. He's certainly nowhere near the level of Spider-Man or Wolverine still, but it really speaks to the influence of the movies.

Well I know that he's an upstanding enough person that he'll go against the government if he doesn't think it's up to its ideals.

Could be worse...

He could be talking about A's and France...

That's very true

Honestly, Cap and Scott are both going through the same thing Tony Stark was six years ago. Don't worry, soon there'll be someone douchier to come along or they'll just loosen up a little.

Oh, please, don't bring that up. Do we really need to dredge up memories of ol' Fuhrer Stark again? (Seriously, around Civil War, you might as well as had him put on a Nazi uniform, take off his mask so we can see his mustache, and do a goosestep and a salute all at the same time.)

edited 10th Apr '13 10:33:37 AM by kkhohoho

I know, right? Unless it was the Initiative or Mighty Avengers, they were treating him like Fascist Man. I don't know how many times I counted other heroes calling him "that piece of garbage Tony Stark." It's like, uh, guys, he founded the Avengers. Give the guy a break. You got Jack Flag and all these other D-listers ranting about freedom or whatever and I'm just like "yeah, come back when you've got a solo series and a movie, son." I don't know why Millar had to completely invalidate his viewpoint by having him build a Thor clone and kill Goliath and just generally act like a tool.

The worst part of Civil War was that nobody really won. There's no fulfillment on either side when you have Tony sit down by Cap's corpse and say it wasn't worth it.

Do you think that might have been the point?