A-List Superheroes

[rowyn]

Lut asked me the other day why there's specifically complaints about Wonder Woman not getting a movie, as opposed to any other female superheroes. My theory is that it's because Wonder Woman is the only female superhero with strong brand recognition outside of the fandom. At first I thought that the men heavily outweighed the women on the A-List, and then I realized: no, the A-list is really short. Really, really short.

This is the A-List:

Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
Spider-man
The Hulk

Aaaand we're done.

Really, that's it. Marvel/Disney is working hard to change that, but Iron Man and Thor are not (yet) A-Listers. Even Wolverine, who's a huge fan favorite, is not an A-List superhero that everybody knows. I bet most Americans can't name three X-Men, and that includes Professor X. Until Guardians of the Galaxy came out, even I didn't know the names of any of its protagonists (though I did recognize Thanos).

There are a few others that might be borderline:

Captain America
Robin
Batgirl
Supergirl
She-Hulk
Catwoman

These are the sorts of characters that people outside the fandom know exist. But they don't care or know much about them. I didn't know Captain America's origin story until I saw the movie. Three of them are "the girl version of an A-lister", which as a reason for mattering is meh. Catwoman is known as a supervillain or at best an antihero.

Other candidates? Fantastic Four? They just don't have the kind of presence in the popular imagination that Superman or even Spider-Man does.

I kinda want to see market research on this, but asking my friends doesn't work as well on this one, because even most of you who never read superhero comics are still peripherally involved with the fandom. :) Still, I'm curious which heroes you think are on the A-List, or if anyone feels like the recent success of various Avengers films has moved any of those characters onto it.

Comments

[rowyn]

I have a hard time figuring out where the X-Men and Wolverine go, in part because the X-Men are actually the superheroes I know best -- I used to read all Marvel's mutant titles. So I keep falling back on "before I knew anything about comics, which superheroes did I know about?" And Wolverine was never one of them. Captain America has an iconic name and look, while Wolverine is just ... some guy with claws and sideburns.

But there've been several X-Men movies, a Wolverine movie, and an X-Men cartoon, so maybe those have raised Wolverine's profile above Captain America. Although Cap's been in nearly as many movies at this point. He doesn't have the cartoon exposure, but I feel like Captain America gets a boost because he looks and sounds like what people expect of a superhero. So, I dunno.

Batgirl, Supergirl, and She-Hulk were characters I've always known about because I knew about their male counterparts. I suspect more people would recognize them than would recognize Wolverine or Magneto, but you're right that it's a very superficial knowledge. Wolverine certainly has more fans than any of the those three, even if he doesn't have the name recognition. Robin's the same way: everyone knows he's Batman's kid sidekick, but nothing beyond that.

I don't think Thor's mythological origins make him visually identifiable, because the Norse god is a red-headed hot-tempered guy with a beard, and basically nothing like the Marvel character. It does give Thor better name recognition, though.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

"He doesn't have the cartoon exposure..."

It's funny. Just before I read this line, the theme song from the Captain America cartoon was playing in my head.

Happy Birthday, Lady Rowyn!

I am not a prolific typist anymore; my hands are reduced in function, which I hope is temporary. But I did not want this occasion to slip past.

Best wishes and many happy returns.

===|==============/ Level Head

[rowyn]

Thank you, dear sir. I am sorry to hear about your hands, though! D: I hope they improve soon.

I never saw the Captain America cartoon! I guess it didn't see much in the way of reruns when I was a kid.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

This is a collection of the first seven episodes. The very beginning of this shows a surprising match between the movie and the cartoon. Almost as if they used the cartoon as a storyboard, then filled in some "human interest" parts that didn't show up in the cartoon but fit well with the story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfLGDDK-2bc

Yes, the nerve damage is annoying and tedious, but I will walk again.

===|==============/ Level Head