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Superman is DC's icon and all. But come to think of it. DC seem to invest more on Batman. The movies tell it all. Batman's franchise sells better than Superman. Why, DC means Detective comics, Batman was the star of that comic publications(Superman was in Action comics).

Is Clarke Kent losing out to Bruce Wayne? Is the Dark Knight pulling the strings DC " in the dark"? Is the Man of Steel is being outdone by his greatest friend?

Personally, I much prefer Batman I think Batman probably connects a lot better to newer generations.

Its a matter of timing

In the Golden Age Superman was supreme and by the time the silver age rolled around Batman had sort of faded into the background

Bats got a shot in the arm thanks to wickedly awesome Adam West and gained some expousure but by the 3rd year of that rn Batman became a comical figure.DCs image faded with their most mainstream image being "Shiver" the Superfriends

Superman movies came out DUN DUN Supermans poplarity grows while Adam West is shot out of cannons at car shows.Keep in mind Batman never got as bad as the TV show years earlier but he sint edxactly big time anymore.Thing is a bunch more really really bad Superman movies follow and soon he starts looking as bad as TV Bats

Frank Miller gives Bats his nards back and in a move that at the time was probably shoxking beyond beleif Batman BEATS Superman.Nowadays its not a big deal heck most people think Bats trashes him every mprning over his Bat-Cherrios but at the time it was like toppling God

Late 80s rolls around Superman seems ancient and outdated Bats still has nards though and competes in an age where Cable didnt seem like a bad character .So Bats gets a wickedly awesome movie using his best villain efficiently played by Jack Nickolson ends up a Mega-hit then despite a slew of movies of decresing quality things like BTAS keep him in peoples minds.It took Sups YEARS to get his own series and it was lumped right behind Batman and never really was as good

DC has gotten more profit out of Batman lately so hes their main guy NOW.Superman meanwhile has basically done nothing significant in quite a long time.Wheres his Death in the Family DKRs Killing Joke etc Caliber stories?Best they have done is bad marketing ploys like his "death" turning him Blue or sub-par stories like OWAW.Its all what they put into a character and Superman has essentially been left out to dry and lives only his iconic "Heard before you were born" name value alone

Because of all that yeah id say Batman is DCs man character now.Its not because Bats is any better than Superman inhearently its just becaause circumstances have left one"popular" thus more eligable for promotion and the other not and ignored but in comfortable mediocrity

in terms of well known, superman, I mean he's a word inthe dictionary,

in terms of popularity, obviously batman.

Damn, great post. You're on a roll Evil.
Now, explain Wolverine to everyone!

Batman by far in terms of popularity...though superman is a close second

Well, here's my two pennies and a wad of lint.

Batman is in American pop culture, that's about as far as he goes.

Superman, on the other hand, is in the culture of nearly the whole world.
He's the "perfect" American, that's what some people use as a reference to what an American should be. Superman represents American, and all it's ideals.
Batman just is a but of a joke, no one jokes about Superman.
Superman is in the phsych of billions.

Man Evil Cap is a walking library.

Wolverine: ideal fanboy material, but unimpressive to many long term comic readers who notice his inconsistencies, and understand he's not supposed to be there.

Batman cuz of his car...chicks dig his car.

Superman would be in the dictionary because it's derived from the Marxist-inspired German word Uber-Mensch (Superman, or Over-man for you literalists). This doesn't necesarily mean Supes is bigger than Bats, but I would agree he's known more widely than any other super-hero. Bats has more series going right now, and makes more money at the moment in comics than Supes, but Kal will always be DC's main guy.

-DM

Regardless if he ever sells another issue again,
Superman is in the conciousness of the entire world.
He IS the most popular comic character of all time.

Originally posted by long pig
Now, explain Wolverine to everyone!
Wolverine is, unfortunately, a cool character whom the fanboys have
latched on too. These Wolvie-fanboys all HATE Spiderman,
because he's Marvel's #1. That's why they ALWAYS trash Spidey.
The Wolvie-Fanboys have written, cried and screamed to Marvel to
make him more popular and more powerful.
Unfortunately, Marvel complied.
That's why he's so wildly inconsistent now.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES:

The advent of the Fanboy seems to have started in the 1990's.....
This was a time of great trouble and catastrophe in the comic world.
There was much suffering then.
Marvel couldn't write their way out of a paper bag then.
They went bankrupt.
Tons of Marvel Comic fans stopped buying due to the lousy quality....
Except for a peculiar tribe of people.....
This tribe bought much X-Men and worshipped the great hairy god, Wolverine.
This tribe grew large and kept buying X-Men & Wolverine.
This tribe, however, never bought or read anything other than the
poorly written X-books of that era. The tribe knew nothing outside of
their small small world. In-breeding began within this tribe and the
offspring became.....stupid.
This tribe later became known as..........Fanboys.
The rest of the comic fans of the world remember the dark and grim
days of Marvel Comics during the 1990's.
The Fanboys, however, view this period as their "Golden Age of Comics."
And this is why today there are many Fanboys who.........
know not outside of what they read, know not what they read,
and generally seem to know not about anything.

That is my favorite story...

Originally posted by DarkCrawler
That is my favorite story...
unfortunately, it's my least favorite......cause it's true......

lol, regardless spidey's the most POPULAR,hero of all time simply because he has the most developed character,and we feel what he feels and his life sucks, like most of ours.

Originally posted by long pig

Batman just is a but of a joke, no one jokes about Superman.


I beg to differ

Its really quite the opposite when you get older..............

Supermans too perfect too corny lol.

"Batman by far in terms of popularity...though superman is a close second"

He's far ahead but he better watch out because of how close superman is!

Originally posted by Zahit


THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES:

The advent of the Fanboy seems to have started in the 1990's.....
This was a time of great trouble and catastrophe in the comic world.
There was much suffering then.
Marvel couldn't write their way out of a paper bag then.
They went bankrupt.
Tons of Marvel Comic fans stopped buying due to the lousy quality....
Except for a peculiar tribe of people.....
This tribe bought much X-Men and worshipped the great hairy god, Wolverine.
This tribe grew large and kept buying X-Men & Wolverine.
This tribe, however, never bought or read anything other than the
poorly written X-books of that era. The tribe knew nothing outside of
their small small world. In-breeding began within this tribe and the
offspring became.....stupid.
This tribe later became known as..........Fanboys.
The rest of the comic fans of the world remember the dark and grim
days of Marvel Comics during the 1990's.
The Fanboys, however, view this period as their "Golden Age of Comics."
And this is why today there are many Fanboys who.........
know not outside of what they read, know not what they read,
and generally seem to know not about anything.

Amen.

Bottom line, most people now superman without even knowing what DC is, its like superman, who's he stuck with, DC

Superman is an Icon while Batman brings the real cash in .

yep, basically.

What's the point of making something your icon of your business that does not bring in money.

Look at spidey at least he's doing something for marvel.

I think Supes is still more well known, but Bats is more well liked. Supes is too boring for me.

looks like Batman is also the "billionaire" for DC company.

lol

Wrong forum.

Moving

Superman is a world icon. Hes the most popular superhero ever. Although I voted for superman, im a huge batman fan. I much prefer cunning over sheer power.

no superman is the most known, spiderman is the most popular.

batman or Superman eh?........ my fav DC characters are Wally-Flash and Hal-Green Lantern........... more GL than Flash... i don't buy a lot of DC but i do have a stack of GL comics........... a few of Flash....... and a couple of Superman and Batman......... GL needs his own animated series or film to get him into the spotlight with the "----Man" characters

I think they are nearly as known. If you ask nearly anybody in the world who Superman is, they know it. Same with Batman.

Batman is the most famous, it was on a documentary.

Batman is not more famous then Superman. They are about equal.

Originally posted by CorderaMitchell
no superman is the most known, spiderman is the most popular.

Well how does that work? If more people know who Superman is, that means he's mroe popular.

Like the popular kids in high school: not everyone liked them, but they all knew who they were, thus making them the popular kids.

Spiderman might be the most well-liked, but not popular.

superman is obviuously more popular. just think about who has spawned the most doppelgangers out there. or at the very least ppl with variants of his powers

supes:
gladiator
majestic
the High
endymion(from empire...its ok not to know who he is)
cap. Britain
Hyperion
wonderMan
Apollo
bizzaro
superboy
the cyborg
the real Bloodwynd(Speed, strength, Invulnerabilty, heat vision, flight)
J'onn is just a green copy of supes with shapeshifting and telepathy
Namor

Batman:
its a stretch to say Slade
Moonknight
dare Devil

thats all i can think of im sure there's more for both but im tapped

Originally posted by nigel45
Well how does that work? If more people know who Superman is, that means he's mroe popular.

Like the popular kids in high school: not everyone liked them, but they all knew who they were, thus making them the popular kids.

Spiderman might be the most well-liked, but not popular.

no! well known is when a lot of people know you... popular is when a lot of people like you

everyone knows who Hitler was... he is not popular... he's infamous

Maybe because Batman is cooler.

He is more human, and much hotter too.

Very complex character, and darker.

Batman of couse. I wonder if they got that upcoming Superman movie off the ground YET???

I like them both and I wouldnt want to say that one is cooler or better then the other. They both have there good points and bad but I like them both. They're equal to me.

I'm not a superman fan. Only thing I like about him is he was one of the first, and thats about it really

He was 1937 whereas Batman was 1939. It is a huge flaw that Superman is invincible - how are the audience supposed to feel concern for him?

Originally posted by shaber
He was 1937 whereas Batman was 1939. It is a huge flaw that Superman is invincible - how are the audience supposed to feel concern for him?

it works in Smallville

He's nowhere near as powerful in Smallville. That's why Smallville works.

well one does wonder how clumsy Lois Lane is, she seems to always be falling out of a window or something.

the thing is with superman is you can see his whole face and all he does is put glasses on glasses and a suit to hid his identity. How idiotic are they for not seeing that Clark Kent is superman. Are they blind!!

and did anybody see who was going to be the next superman and Lois Lane- I think Hollywood wants to screw it up.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/commentary/0,6115,1072888_7_0_,00.html

Booper...you might be right m'boy.

Batman is the more well liked and the more popular of the two but Superman is more universally well known so supes got my vote.