Marvel's Most Iconic Heroes

My definition of 'iconic' is pretty simple: flash a pic (comic book version obviously) of the superhero up on a big screen in front of a room of 100 people chosen random from across the planet, and the % of them that immediately recognize that superhero.

This thread could also be done separately with Marvel super villains, as well as, DC superheroes/villains.

Please note that my list doesn't include any heroes debuting after 1980, since I'm an old fart who stopped collecting around that time. However, this is not a rule of the thread, and it's cool if you younger farts include heroes debuting after 1980 on your lists.

I'm most likely way off base with this ranking, so feel free to set me straight. 😎

1. Spider-Man
2. Captain America
3. Hulk
4. Iron Man
5. Thor
6. Thing
7. Human Torch
8. Wolverine
9. Daredevil
10. Silver Surfer

11. Namor the Sub-Mariner
12. Mister Fantastic
13. Hawkeye
14. Cyclops
15. Black Panther
16. Iceman
17. She-Hulk
18. Colossus
19. Professor X
20. Ant-Man

21. Scarlet Witch
22. Nightcrawler
23. Punisher
24. Dr. Strange
25. Quicksilver
26. Vision
27. Invisible Woman
28. Nick Fury (original)
29. Storm
30. Wasp

Others who just missed making the list:

Ghost Rider, Black Widow, Luke Cage/Power Man, Captain Mar-Vell, Beast, Man-Thing, Angel, Falcon, Iron Fist, Black Cat, Spider-Woman, Black Bolt, Giant-Man (Foster), Black Knight, Nova Prime

Spidey
Tony
Logan
Hulk
Cap
Thing

Everyone else.

Doop.

Interesting discussion, and I like your criteria (though the generational gap will undoubtedly produce some differences of opinion). The lone thing I'd disagree with you on is the number you list. After a certain point, a character simply isn't iconic. Vision is not iconic, for example, nor are several others. I also wouldn't equate JUST well-known with iconic, though that's a big feature. My mom knows who Human Torch is, for example, but he's not necessarily iconic. He's just been in a couple movies. Spidey, however, is a very representative hero. Iconic is more about mythos than simple notoriety, at least to me.

So I'd draw the line after about your top 5, and stop there.

That said, your list is pretty solid. Spidey is the obvious #1. Only Batman and Superman rival him in comicdom, or cross-genre characters like Doctor Who or Luke Skywalker. The Avengers Big 3 needs to be on it, and Wolverine is the most widely known outside of Pete. There's my top 5. #6 is probably Banner. The rest can be filled in with whomever, because I see a gigantic dropoff after that.

Originally posted by Magog

My definition of 'iconic' is pretty simple: flash a pic (comic book version obviously) of the superhero up on a big screen in front of a room of 100 people chosen random from across the planet, and the % of them that immediately recognize that superhero ...
... note that my list doesn't include any heroes debuting after 1980 ...
... stopped collecting around that time ...

1. Spider-Man
2. Captain America
3. Hulk

8. Wolverine

-- I'm not sure how much I am or am not in agreement with Digi.
I think he might be right about 5 being roughly the proper number of icons.
Actually, the number for me would be 4, and those 4 being the ones I've left from your list, and in roughly that order.

-- I disagree with the Avengers "Big Three" being iconic enough to count as worldwide icons unless by "Big Three" Digi actually MEANS Spider-Man, Captain America, and Hulk, who, at various times, have all been part of the Avengers team.

-- I find it interesting that your collecting ended at about the same point, or perhaps even 5 years earlier, than the time I BEGAN collecting comics as a young kid. Your first three were the first three that came to mind to me as well.
It might be (partially) a generational thing ...

-- The 1980s strikes me as a time of almost unparalleled merchandising and marketing. Super-Heroes were part of everything. I remember someone saying it was because GI Joe and the then wildfire phenomenon of Star Wars were going on. So comics via movie, cartoon, and television advertising was becoming big, and there was the 3 dimensional reinforcement of action figures to resonate with young fans. Quite the phenomenon indeed when you consider it actually made doll-collecting for boys cool.
And, of course, they became married around this time to the food industry.
I suppose Hostess was the first, what with Twinkies and the like ...
"You get a big delight in every bite of Hostess ... (fill-in-the-blank) ... "
Toothbrushes, comics, cartoons, TV, pajamas, bed sheets, underwear, hardcover books, audio books, and records ...

Everything, oddly enough, save radio, and by that I mean they had little if any advertising ON radio and no programs on radio that I know of, for certainly I'd expect to find Google hits if I typed in "Walkman" and Spider-Man as a search right now ...

With the exception of not being broadcast on the traditionally exclusive audio air waves, then, superheroes were part of every facet of life. The 1980s, were, again, unprecedented.

Heh. Good memories ... I just recalled, roundabout the third paragraph of this post, why Spider-Man, Captain America, and Hulk in particular could scarcely have escaped being my top choices ... they were, in a very real sense, my lunchmates at noon!

Originally posted by bluewaterrider
-- I'm not sure how much I am or am not in agreement with Digi.
I think he might be right about 5 being roughly the proper number of icons.
Actually, the number for me would be 4, and those 4 being the ones I've left from your list, and in roughly that order.

-- I disagree with the Avengers "Big Three" being iconic enough to count as worldwide icons unless by "Big Three" Digi actually MEANS Spider-Man, Captain America, and Hulk, who, at various times, have all been part of the Avengers team.

Individual lists will vary. But the 6 I identified are the top 6 in some order. After Spidey and Cap, I wouldn't object to any of the remaining heroes being listed as #3-6.

But no, by Big 3 I meant Tony, Cap, and Thor. If you have Hulk above all but Cap, that's fine, no objection here. But the "Big 3" plus Pete, Logan, and Banner are undoubtedly the top 6 in some order, especially with recent developments.

Originally posted by bluewaterrider
-- The 1980s strikes me as a time of almost unparalleled merchandising and marketing. Super-Heroes were part of everything. I remember someone saying it was because GI Joe and the then wildfire phenomenon of Star Wars were going on. So comics via movie, cartoon, and television advertising was becoming big, and there was the 3 dimensional reinforcement of action figures to resonate with young fans. Quite the phenomenon indeed when you consider it actually made doll-collecting for boys cool.
And, of course, they became married around this time to the food industry.
I suppose Hostess was the first, what with Twinkies and the like ...
"You get a big delight in every bite of Hostess ... (fill-in-the-blank) ... "
Toothbrushes, comics, cartoons, TV, pajamas, bed sheets, underwear, hardcover books, audio books, and records ...

You have some good points here, but comics and superheroes weren't the global force that they are today. A US bomb used to spell disaster for movies, but now it's a still significant but not totally damning thing, and big-budget movies are created and marketed with global audiences in mind these days in ways they never were back then. And with the ubiquity of the internet, I wonder if the 80s only seemed that way to the subset of people who were interested in those franchises. A greater percentage of people today know, say, Spider-Man or Luke Skywalker than they did in the 80s...certainly globally, and probably in the US as well.

Add Transformers to that list, though. They were as ridiculous with cross-genre marketing as any of the franchises you mentioned.

Hulk is arguably the most iconic imo. I certainly think the most iconic would be between him and Spiderman. Then you'd have, in no particular order, Wolverine, Xavier, Cyclops, Storm, F4, and The Avenger's Big 3.

Originally posted by Astor Ebligis
Hulk is arguably the most iconic imo. I certainly think the most iconic would be between him and Spiderman.

Naw spider-man is certainly more iconic then he is, especially nowadays. Before the Iron Man and avengers films (and the marketing push following) Hulk would have been far above iron man and them though, now I'm not sure

Originally posted by Lek Kuen
Naw spider-man is certainly more iconic then he is, especially nowadays. Before the Iron Man and avengers films (and the marketing push following) Hulk would have been far above iron man and them though, now I'm not sure

That's just it. I'm (nearly) 30 and I wasn't exposed to Hulk at all, despite being very much into superheroes. It was Spidey and X-Men pretty much entirely. The 35 to 40-year-old set caught the tail end of Hulk's early run of popularity (stemming from Ferrigno and the still-iconic sad piano music). But at what point does that momentum die off? Stark is undoubtedly the biggest winner of the movie era. I'd say so much so that he IS Marvel to way more people than Hulk ever was.

Making these distinctions is where things become tricky. Which is why I stated earlier that after Spidey/Cap, distinctions like these are fairly arbitrary.

Think how iconic Captain America is is being overstated. The notion of the Hulk, his image, and even the label "The Incredible Hulk" are all things people are widely familiar with. Men, women, kids and seniors.

Originally posted by Digi
That's just it. I'm (nearly) 30 and I wasn't exposed to Hulk at all, despite being very much into superheroes. It was Spidey and X-Men pretty much entirely. The 35 to 40-year-old set caught the tail end of Hulk's early run of popularity (stemming from Ferrigno and the still-iconic sad piano music). But at what point does that momentum die off? Stark is undoubtedly the biggest winner of the movie era. I'd say so much so that he IS Marvel to way more people than Hulk ever was.

Making these distinctions is where things become tricky. Which is why I stated earlier that after Spidey/Cap, distinctions like these are fairly arbitrary.

That's interesting, I'm almost 10 years younger than you and I remember being exposed to hulk a lot prior to the movie boom. Iron Man despite having a show never really caught on in my area but Hulk was back in at least the youths mind.

Oh! Digi, you're back.

The following was the thread I was referring to.
You were responding to about the point of the middle of the page then stopped.

In the meantime, I went on to answer all your pertinent questions.
(Or at least I think I did, only you can tell me if you agree 😕 ... )

http://www.killermovies.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=589178&pagenumber=4

Please take the time to click on some of the blue links on page 5 and see if they make my points clearer.
Also please respond as to whether you have power to help me edit the thread for better presentation and reader comprehension on some future date.

Thank you for your time.

Originally posted by Lek Kuen
That's interesting, I'm almost 10 years younger than you and I remember being exposed to hulk a lot prior to the movie boom. Iron Man despite having a show never really caught on in my area but Hulk was back in at least the youths mind.

Lol.

But yeah, friggin Juggernaut was more iconic to me than Hulk. F-ing Gladiator was more iconic than Hulk, because of how he treated Juggernaut in the cartoon. I suppose experiences will vary, though.

I definitely would put Wolverine above Captain America, but I recognize that their placements could vary quite a bit based on how you define 'iconic'.

1. Spider-Man
2. Wolverine
3. Captain America
4. Iron Man
5. Hulk
6. Thor
7. Professor X
8. Human Torch
9. Thing
10. Cyclops
11. Storm

Off the top of my head, anyways. Maybe Human Torch or Thing before Prof X, but I think it gets hopelessly subjective and arbitrary very fast.

I actually think Hulk is iconic precisely because you didn't need "direct" exposure to his mythos to know of him. Even if you weren't part of a "Hulk era", Hulk as a concept was pretty well understood by everyone. His name is a perfectly acceptable synonym for rage, regardless of how well his franchise performs. ("Hulking out" is understood by like...anybody.)

I may catch flak for this, but I have to disagree with Thor being on the list. May be me, but most people still think of his mythological counterpart, with many not even aware the movies were a comic adaptation.

The movies are changing things, but I'm not sure Cap belongs either. Seems like mainstream audiences had no clue who he was before the movies. Obviously, I don't speak for all the masses, but I didn't actually get into comics until I was like 19. I always thought Cap was a parody of super heroes, and didn't know he was actually a hero lol. Kinda feel like he is being overstated a little.

I'm thinking Spiderman, Hulk, Wolverine are the top 3. Ironman may make it, but the rest of the list is probably an assortment of Xmen and Fantastic Four if we stretch it out to a top 10 rather than top 5.

Of course, nothing I am saying is empirical.

Spider-Man
Hulk / Iron Man
Captain America

For DC/Marvel in iconic stature, I'd say

1. Superman (No contest at all. He is still THE superhero worldwide. )

2. Batman/Spider-Man

3. Wonder Woman/Iron man.

Rest can be very subjective in terms of popularity and whatnot.

I'm pretty sure the recent movies have shifted the rankings a bit in terms of what characters the general public recognizes. For example, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, etc. are all now more well-known to non-comic readers than they were before.

Hulk's been iconic for a while now. Probably due mainly to the Lou Ferrigno tv series awhile back.

Anyway my list is:
1. Spider-man
2. Wolverine
3. Captain America
4. Iron Man
5. Hulk

Originally posted by Existere
I definitely would put Wolverine above Captain America, but I recognize that their placements could vary quite a bit based on how you define 'iconic'.

1. Spider-Man
2. Wolverine
3. Captain America
4. Iron Man
5. Hulk
6. Thor
7. Professor X
8. Human Torch
9. Thing
10. Cyclops
11. Storm

Off the top of my head, anyways. Maybe Human Torch or Thing before Prof X, but I think it gets hopelessly subjective and arbitrary very fast.

👆

This is a good list.