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

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

A few superheroines I think might be worthwhile as movie-grade material, but if I had to pick ONE that I think was the best contender, it would be Storm.

She's been portrayed in movies before, but only as part of the X-Men franchise. However, she's distinctive-looking, and sometimes has a costume that's not embarrassing (it depends upon the artist and the iteration) -- sometimes she'd be wearing something more dignified than "spandex" or "superheroine costume-scraps." Also, in any iteration, she has powers that I'd think of as quite dramatic.

If Wolverine can go solo, why not Storm? People may not name her if asked "Name the superheroes you know," but I think if there were a movie poster featuring her, it'd trigger some recognition.

As a kid, I remember occasionally flipping through comics and seeing different depictions of Storm. Sometimes, she was awesome. Sometimes, it was embarrassing. But the same could be said for any number of comicbook heroes and heroines, I think.

Incidentally, I could name quite a few other superheroines who are part of a TEAM that has made it to popular animated TV shows, or even to movies, but many of them I just don't think of as ready-made and distinctive enough to carry a story on their own. Storm, I think could manage it. Jean Grey's whole arc really seems heavily tied in with the X-Men as a whole; on her own, "psychic girl" just isn't that visually exciting, and the whole "phoenix" business is too inextricably tied to her clashes with former allies, I think.

Kitty Pryde ... can pass through solid objects. That's USEFUL, but it doesn't sound like something to build a whole story around. She really just belongs on a team. It was pretty awesome when she had her own "shoulder-dragon," though. :)

Rogue is distinctive, too, but her very power pretty much requires her to be in a world shared with other superheroes and superheroines, so she's practically doomed to be part of an ensemble.

Over in the realm of Teen Titans (noteworthy for having a reasonably popular TV cartoon for a while), there would be Raven and Starfire. Raven, I could possibly see as a stand-alone heroine, though a movie featuring her would venture more into supernatural territory. Starfire ... eh ... I think the problem is that while her TV cartoon version might be seen as a decent enough character, her portrayal in the comics, especially in the current DC incarnation (the "New 52" universe, last I checked) is downright offensive. (TV version = nice, naive superpowered space alien. Comics version = oversexed, cold creature with the attention span and emotional depth of a goldfish. Not nice.)

But this is not to counter your basic point: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman get the merch in the DC universe, OCCASIONALLY joined by other "Justice League" characters from time to time. But that's just it: I think the reason they're so "iconic" is because of how long we've been saturated with assorted products that feature them like some sort of triumvirate. Superman and Batman are the big draws, and Wonder Woman just sort of gets thrown in for a bit of variety.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

'Oversexed' for Starfire is kind of exaggerating. She has a boyfriend that she lives with, and they sometimes make out.

She is cold and bitter, though. It's annoying.

I started reading that series because I liked her in the Teen Titans cartoon, but I'm probably only still reading it for Arsenal, who's a lot more fun.

[rowyn]

... I know I personally would enjoy "oversexed, nice and naive" over "cold and bitter" regardless of the sexuality level. c_c

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

I'm talking about the "Red Hood and the Outlaws" Starfire, where Starfire reveals that she doesn't even REMEMBER the NAMES of the various guys she's "done it" with, because that just doesn't matter.

Example exchange:


DC seems to think that this just means she's "empowered." But it's not that she isn't some prim and proper prude -- it's that she comes across as rather shallow and even cold. If this were turned around and it were a guy blithely saying that he doesn't even bother to remember the various names of girls he's bedded, I think the reasonable conclusion would be that he's quite a jerk. If he were going around propositioning girls and claiming "love has nothing to do with it," I don't think that would be a terribly delightful character trait, either.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't remember everything in huge detail, but from what I remember in the whole series so far, she doesn't actually sleep with anyone but him. And it turns into a real relationship.

This is just her being SUPER BITTER about her DARK PAST. 9.9

Which is actually pretty dark. It's just in the Teen Titans cartoon, she wasn't bitter about it.