The irony about the huge number of lists we have these days is that not many of them are particularly valid or relevant. In order to attempt to canonize something, there must be a set of specific criteria. This is how a canon works.
The criteria behind most of the lists we see these days (including this one) are a mystery. What is Empire going by? Sometimes it seems to be cultural relevance. Others it seems to be underappreciation. Sometimes it’s down to “Well, we like them, so we stuck them in the list somewhere.” A canon is meaningless if there isn’t a uniform system of reasoning for why A comes before B, and why D comes after C.
Like Sep said, Superman (number one) and Batman (number two) are obvious choices. Whatever criteria you devise for a canon of great comic book characters, those two are pretty much a shoe-in for the top spots in any instance. The rest of the list is a series of arbitrary choices, ranked in arbitrary order. Try not to get too bent out of shape about it and enjoy the exposure that some of your lesser-known favorites are getting.
Other than my biased opinion, Batman just seems more iconic to me these days. When I ask my brothers who is there favorite superhero, it’s either Batman, Spidey, or the Hulk that comes out.
They even have a Superman action figure, and my bro keeps asking me who it is.
I just prefer Bats, and these days I believe his comics are selling better. Seems most of the top 10 is based on that.
That’s fair enough, except I don’t think Batman will ever be more iconic than Supes. I do think he fits with our cynical times a little bit better, but Superman as a symbol carries so much more weight. In our collective consciousness, the simple figure of the “S” inside the pentagonal shield conveys tons of meaning in and of itself, in a way that I’m not sure Batman’s choice of insignia ever could. By modern standards, Superman has gone a bit square, but everything he stands for still counts and is embodied in his image.
But we could debate that all day, and we wouldn’t reach a conclusion any more valid than these lists. We ultimately have no good working criteria for superheroic iconography, anymore than the list makers have good criteria for making their lists. As you said, it’s either down to sales figures (which don’t necessarily mean anything important) or general favoritism (even more meaningless, unless you have the exact same personal tastes as the people who made the list).
It would be nice to see someone take a shot at developing well-rounded worthy criteria and work out a real canon for comic book characters, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
I agree with all of this, Superman is very iconic, I just think these days he’s kinda lost his touch with the general public. This can be easily solved by a new movie, preferably with a villain that can take a punch and give one back.
I’m sure SRK could develop a great, well rounded list of great comic characters…for a while at least. It would then end up being a fight for #1 status between the Deadpool fan base, The Church of Bru, and all three FAAAAAAABLES!!111 fans.
No Way is Wolverine Higher than Spidey, and supes has the most intriguing history, interpretations and mythos of them all that stoof the test of time through the years
Sounds like fun! Maybe in November when people are voting for the President we can do something like that. Everyone picks anywhere from 1-10 characters and I’ll count the votes. I’m thinking it can run from November 1 - 30.
If people want me to and providing my schedule’s not too crazy in November, like it is now… I imagine it won’t be but not 100% certain…
Only thing, DC characters are sure to get shafted. This is SRK, afterall.
I said to my self that if superman and batman are first and second i wouldn’t bother checking the rest… It doesn’t pay off to be right most of the time.
you make really good points. The main reason I wanted batman first was mainly for selfish reasons: I like him more haha. I’ve never been that big of a superman fan and once I read dark knight returns I became convinced batman was the hardest dude ever. but I agree about superman being a very iconic figure and hes definitely a character that will always be important.
Superman is way more iconic than Batman sorry. Believe it or not, Superman is the embodiment of the American Dream. He was a newborn child sent off and raised in a world where he’s given opportunities he could never have on his homeland. Not only is this dude accepted into this foreign culture, he becomes VERY successful and becomes well… Superman.
Superman is the ideal for every immigrant that comes to America basically… and every culture in the US is of course one that immigrated into it. Other than the natvie Americans of course.
What’s been going on the last few weeks? I added this to the rules just last week because someone did this a week ago… Anyway, please refrain from using the word f*****, you know the word that’s offensive to homosexuals. Some mods will give you an infraction right on the spot for using that word. Said word has been edited out of posts. Please do not use that word in this forum. It’s hurtful and there are people who are offended by it.
If you wish to discuss in detail, my PM box is always open.
Let’s see…since May of last year I’ve been in Missouri (2 months), Arizona (4 months), Central Texas (5 months), Kuwait (10 days) and now Iraq. LOL. I joined the Army a little over a year ago. Since then I’ve mostly been posting in the Premium thread.
