question for my comic heads..

[dalyricalbandit]

In other of most popular in Marvels history not just now days

Spiderman

Hulk

Ironman/Caps

Wolverine

with that said aint none of them as worldwide popular as Bats and Superman their Logos are known by fuckin ppl who dont even read comics....Spidey is close but not there yet

 

[jaxn]

Hell one of the conceits of The Avengers movie was finally having a version of The Hulk that actually connected with the general audience.

where did you get this info? The Hulk in Avengers is a slightly different version from the Incredible Hulk..folks didn't like Ang Lee's Hulk.

If we were talking about the late 80's and early 90's I'd say The Hulk is easily their most popular character outside of Spidey with the general audience. But since the massive popularity of the X-Men animated series from the early 90's as well as his features in million selling video games since the 90's and his eventual leading man role in the X-Men movie in 2000 Wolverine has been a far more prominent character in pop culture than the Hulk has been.

Huh? I guess we're going to gloss over Hulk's own animated series, which he has multiple incarnations, in which he's the main and only focus. In fact, aside from the Avengers, the Hulk is the main focus in everything he does. Marvel even went out of its way to boost and push Hulk to even more riduculous levels prior to Marvel Now..Wolverine's only solo shine as far as animation is concerned is Wolverine and the X-men and that stems from the movie verse. The Hulk also has the most popular of all comic to live action roles in the Incredible Hulk series with Bill Bixby that was immensly popular. You're giving Wolverine credit for an entire X-men franchise. Prior to Avengers, X-men was the only franchise were you get to see multiple superheroes in one setting..How popular was the Wolverine Origins nonsense? That movie was hot garbage. I assume this new release will be better since it's trying to adapt from the original work

 

[Broddie]

Characters that aren't overtly popular with the general audience won't get even 1 spin off movie let alone

Is that why Blade had 3 movies? and I did say Logan was the most popular X character

2. Also all the X-Men movies featuring Wolverine as a prominent character have greatly surpassed both Hulk live action movies not just at the box office but in home video sales and rentals as well.

All the X-men movies had entire casts of prominent characters and actors playing those characters (Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, etc...) which added into its popularity..not to mention X-men, along with Blade kicked off the Marvel Movie verse era, so i'm not surprised by their sales..and lets just be honest here, the Hulk movies weren't all that good, but that doesn't take away from the Hulk's popularity. It just says Marvel didn't put together a good movie for the Hulk, which can be said about some of their other characters.

It's a case of you seeing what you want to see and not accepting reality if you honestly think random people walking in the street don't know who Wolverine is.

I said random folks would know who the Hulk is before knowing who Wolverine is, which is pretty much the premise of the thread..Folks who know nothing about comics know who Batman and Superman are..you can't say the same about Wolverine..your parents know who Supes/Bats are without you having to explain to them who they are or by using a character to define them..

My dad is 55 years old never read a comic book in his life and still knows who Wolverine is because unlike me he greatly enjoyed the X-Men movies. Quality has nothing to do with it. X-Men was a mediocre movie, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were downright terrible but brand awareness meaning Wolverine's involvement helped them put up the numbers they did. Do you think it's a coincidence that the one X-Men movie without Wolverine in prominent role was the lowest grossing one to date?

Who got the majority of the screen time in the biggest selling X-Men movies again?!? hell if you need more evidence keep an eye on the opening weekend for The Wolverine which hits theaters this Friday and compare it to the opening weekend of any of the Hulk movies if you'd like.

 

[jaxn]

Characters that aren't overtly popular with the general audience won't get even 1 spin off movie let alone

Is that why Blade had 3 movies? and I did say Logan was the most popular X character

2. Also all the X-Men movies featuring Wolverine as a prominent character have greatly surpassed both Hulk live action movies not just at the box office but in home video sales and rentals as well.

All the X-men movies had entire casts of prominent characters and actors playing those characters (Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, etc...) which added into its popularity..not to mention X-men, along with Blade kicked off the Marvel Movie verse era, so i'm not surprised by their sales..and lets just be honest here, the Hulk movies weren't all that good, but that doesn't take away from the Hulk's popularity. It just says Marvel didn't put together a good movie for the Hulk, which can be said about some of their other characters.

It's a case of you seeing what you want to see and not accepting reality if you honestly think random people walking in the street don't know who Wolverine is.

I said random folks would know who the Hulk is before knowing who Wolverine is, which is pretty much the premise of the thread..Folks who know nothing about comics know who Batman and Superman are..you can't say the same about Wolverine..your parents know who Supes/Bats are without you having to explain to them who they are or by using a character to define them..

My dad is 55 years old never read a comic book in his life and still knows who Wolverine is because unlike me he greatly enjoyed the X-Men movies.

what's the key phrase here? "he greatly enjoyed the X-men movies"...without seeing those X-men movies, would your dad know who Wolverine is? without seeing a movie would your dad know who the Hulk is?

Quality has nothing to do with it. X-Men was a mediocre movie, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were downright terrible

Quality does play a role when you began to talk about how well a particular film did in theaters.

but brand awareness meaning Wolverine's involvement helped them put up the numbers they did. Do you think it's a coincidence that the one X-Men movie without Wolverine in prominent role was the lowest grossing one to date?

brand awareness? The X-men's involvement as whole is what helped put up those numbers..you know the X-men who had a huge following, not to mention X-men was one of the first Marvel movies in this new era

Who got the majority of the screen time in the biggest selling X-Men movies again?!?

I guess i'm not understanding your argument..Yes Wolverine is the most popular X-men. It's like that in the books..that doesn't mean he's more popular than the Hulk..

hell if you need more evidence keep an eye on the opening weekend for The Wolverine which hits theaters this Friday and compare it to the opening weekend of any of the Hulk movies if you'd like.

so you're basically comparing star power to determine whose more popular? Hugh Jackman is in it. Alot of people go see his movies. If they went to see Wolverine based off Origins, than it would tank worse than R.I.P.D.

 

[Broddie]

where did you get this info? The Hulk in Avengers is a slightly different version from the Incredible Hulk..folks didn't like Ang Lee's Hulk.

It's based on the movie grossing over a billion dollars worldwide and the majority of reviews from not just critics but regular laymen like ourselves proclaiming that that movie finally got the Hulk "right".

Huh? I guess we're going to gloss over Hulk's own animated series, which he has multiple incarnations, in which he's the main and only focus. In fact, aside from the Avengers, the Hulk is the main focus in everything he does. Marvel even went out of its way to boost and push Hulk to even more riduculous levels prior to Marvel Now..Wolverine's only solo shine as far as animation is concerned is Wolverine and the X-men and that stems from the movie verse. The Hulk also has the most popular of all comic to live action roles in the Incredible Hulk series with Bill Bixby that was immensly popular. You're giving Wolverine credit for an entire X-men franchise. Prior to Avengers, X-men was the only franchise were you get to see multiple superheroes in one setting..How popular was the Wolverine Origins nonsense? That movie was hot garbage. I assume this new release will be better since it's trying to adapt from the original work

Buddy the majority of the Hulks series including his most popular cartoons were before the 90's that exactly my point. The one cartoon series he had in the 90's lasted one season while X-Men in which Wolverine played one of the top 4 biggest roles lasted five.

Two things I will point out

1) I wish people cared about the X-Men as whole more than they do Wolverine.

2) I was always a big Hulk fan so I wish they loved him that much too.

Sadly that's not the truth with the general public. Wolverine has connected with them since the 1990's cartoon. One of the biggest reasons the X-Men movie from 2000 popped off in the first place was because so many people enjoyed Wolverine. Hugh Jackman became an instant star when before that he was completely unknown. In the movies he was such a popular selling point that they basically gave him Cyclops' team leader and protagonist role which is why many people call Jackman's character Cyclerine.

Hell the Phoenix movie storyline had him in Cyclops' position while Cyclops got killed off. The fact that you mention Wolverine & the X-Men tv show further proofs my point. If the X-Men brand on it's own was as popular with the mainstream without Wolverine's association they would've just called the series X-Men: (insert subtitle) and not have his name attached. Hell he wouldn't even have been the central character lol.

For the sake of argument let me concede one point and say that the Hulk fists and other toys flopped in sales because of being associated with poorly received movies. While Wolverine claws sell so well because of the popularity of the movies and cartoons. If the Hulk is a much more popular and familiar character than Wolverine then why did his last prominent video game sell 0.23m copies while Wolverine's sold 0.41m?

The Hulk is still popular but he stopped being second banana in terms of mainstream exposure and relevance years ago. A couple of generations went by where he was even being forgotten by comic book fans because his books were selling so poorly. If anything his role in The Avengers was the shot in the arm the character needed. But before that you asked your average 8 year old who they like more they'd side with Wolverine, you ask them who they recognize they'd side with Wolverine. Hell it's arguable that in 2013 Iron Man has become more popular than The Hulk and more of a Marvel mascot to the mainstream.

 

[jayhi22]

Spider-Man & Wolverine (All-Time). Wolverine is in everything & is probably the most whored out character Marvel has -- I don't necessarily have a problem with it because I like Wolverine, but I know a lot of people who are starting to disown him lol.

But right now (& Possibly to take the lead in the future): Spider-Man & Iron Man

RDJ crushed the buildings with Iron Man. You could argue that DC has the Top 2 spots locked in; but that Marvel has the next 5 or 6 spots.

 

[Broddie]

I said random folks would know who the Hulk is before knowing who Wolverine is, which is pretty much the premise of the thread..Folks who know nothing about comics know who Batman and Superman are..you can't say the same about Wolverine..

Yes I can because they're the ones who watch his movies. Wolverine in 2013 is a global icon and has been one for over a decade.

your parents know who Supes/Bats are without you having to explain to them who they are or by using a character to define them..

Right and they also grew up after 1933 and1939. Anybody who did was exposed to them. My point is this. There is a kid that was born in 1997 anywhere in the world and he'll probably know Wolverine before he knows The Hulk. Bare in mind this is before The Avengers. You are severely underestimating the popularity of Wolverine with John Q. Public as a character if you think differently.

what's the key phrase here? "he greatly enjoyed the X-men movies"...without seeing those X-men movies, would your dad know who Wolverine is? without seeing a movie would your dad know who the Hulk is?

He wouldn't. But he also wouldn't know who The Hulk was if it wasn't for the fact that he grew up in the 70's and the Bill Bixby TV series was a worldwide phenomenon that he got exposed to in DR back then.

Quality does play a role when you began to talk about how well a particular film did in theaters.

If that was really the case then Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides wouldn't be 2 of the highest grossing movies of all time.

brand awareness? The X-men's involvement as whole is what helped put up those numbers..you know the X-men who had a huge following, not to mention X-men was one of the first Marvel movies in this new era

It wasn't "one of" it was "the one". Blade was a moderate enough hit to warrant a sequel. But it didn't make as much bank as the first X-Men movie did and it didn't appeal to a mass audience like that movie did. After that movie every studio including Fox themselves who have the X movie rights started to exploit the film rights to movies based on Marvel properties. We saw The Punisher, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man etc.

I guess i'm not understanding your argument..Yes Wolverine is the most popular X-men. It's like that in the books..that doesn't mean he's more popular than the Hulk..

My argument is simple because Wolverine has been more greatly exposed to a mass audience than the Hulk has in the past 2 decades he is the more popular character with your average person across the world.

so you're basically comparing star power to determine whose more popular? Hugh Jackman is in it. Alot of people go see his movies. If they went to see Wolverine based off Origins, than it would tank worse than R.I.P.D.

Hugh Jackman is a star in the first place because he played Wolverine. He got work because he became the breakthrough actor from X-Men. He was the lead and he caught on and so did the character. Hugh Jackman himself will tell anybody that he "owes his career to Wolverine" had he never played the character and Dougray Scott stayed on board we'd be having the same argument about Dougray Scott.

 

[evoljeanyes]

@jaxn is right hulk and superman made their brands popular. Bats and Spidey were next up.

 

[jaxn]

I said random folks would know who the Hulk is before knowing who Wolverine is, which is pretty much the premise of the thread..Folks who know nothing about comics know who Batman and Superman are..you can't say the same about Wolverine..

Yes I can because they're the ones who watch his movies. Wolverine in 2013 is a global icon and has been one for over a decade.

a global icon? yeah ok

your parents know who Supes/Bats are without you having to explain to them who they are or by using a character to define them..

Right and they also grew up after 1933 and1939. Anybody who did was exposed to them. My point is this. There is a kid that was born in 1997 anywhere in the world and he'll probably know Wolverine before he knows The Hulk.

you're not making a very good point..again..the majority of folks know who the Hulk is before Wolverine..I don't even see how this is up for debate. You don't have to be a comic book head or watch the newer movies to know..Folks from all age groups know who the Hulk is..

Bare in mind this is before The Avengers. You are severely underestimating the popularity of Wolverine with John Q. Public as a character if you think differently.

I'm not though. you're overestimating his popularity..the T/S asked who is comparable to Batman and Superman..Wolverine isn't on that list

what's the key phrase here? "he greatly enjoyed the X-men movies"...without seeing those X-men movies, would your dad know who Wolverine is? without seeing a movie would your dad know who the Hulk is?

He wouldn't. But he also wouldn't know who The Hulk was if it wasn't for the fact that he grew up in the 70's and the Bill Bixby TV series was a worldwide phenomenon that he got exposed to in DR back then.

ok man, whatever you say. Everyone knows who the Hulk is..EVERYONE. I can go walk down the street and ask a 90 year old lady who the Hulk is..she will know before she has a clue who Wolverine is..

Quality does play a role when you began to talk about how well a particular film did in theaters.

If that was really the case then Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides wouldn't be 2 of the highest grossing movies of all time.

the hell? Do you understand the concept of movie franchises? Do you know how anticipated the Star Wars film, ANY Star Wars film will be? The new Star Wars movies that are production now will be huge, not based on the success of the last three, but because of the first trilogy, which is the greatest trilogy of all time..The Pirate film also benefitted from the success of its predecessors.

brand awareness? The X-men's involvement as whole is what helped put up those numbers..you know the X-men who had a huge following, not to mention X-men was one of the first Marvel movies in this new era

It wasn't "one of" it was "the one". Blade was a moderate enough hit to warrant a sequel.

It was ONE of..Blade was the FIRST of the new Marvel movie verse era. Blade was so moderate that it warranted two sequels..guess he's more popular than Wolverine huh? Considering he was the star and sole focus of his own films and animated series and live action tv series withouth having to be a spinoff of a major movie. No one outside of mainstream comics know who Blade is but he still managed to produce 3 films, 2 of which were dope

But it didn't make as much bank as the first X-Men movie did and it didn't appeal to a mass audience like that movie did.

ok man..whatever you say..the entire success of the Xmen franchise is due to Logan...not that long history of Xmen stories..it's because they stuck Wolverine in the movie.

After that movie every studio including Fox themselves who have the X movie rights started to exploit the film rights to movies based on Marvel properties. We saw The Punisher, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man etc.

haha what? So let me get this straight..you're saying Marvel only decided to make the other movies because of X-men? It's not because they've been planning on releasing live action comic book movies for last 20+ years?

I guess i'm not understanding your argument..Yes Wolverine is the most popular X-men. It's like that in the books..that doesn't mean he's more popular than the Hulk..

My argument is simple because Wolverine has been more greatly exposed to a mass audience than the Hulk has in the past 2 decades he is the more popular character with your average person across the world.

explain to me how Wolverine has been exposed more?

so you're basically comparing star power to determine whose more popular? Hugh Jackman is in it. Alot of people go see his movies. If they went to see Wolverine based off Origins, than it would tank worse than R.I.P.D.

Hugh Jackman is a star in the first place because he played Wolverine. He got work because he became the breakthrough actor from X-Men. He was the lead and he caught on and so did the character. Hugh Jackman himself will tell anybody that he "owes his career to Wolverine" had he never played the character and Dougray Scott stayed on board we'd be having the same argument about Dougray Scott.

wow..here's my thing..folks are going to see Hugh Jackman films because of who? When folks go see the Prestige, the Fountain, Van Helsing, Swordfish and the like..are they going to see Wolverine or the guy who was pushed as the next A-list actor? And regarding the first X-men movie..Hugh Jackman was just ONE of the stars in that film..That film also had Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin..in other words a bunch of notable actors. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that played a role in it success as well..We can agree to disagree though

 

[Broddie]

Plenty of franchises have had entries that have flopped. But ok you want to keep arguing that quality has anything to do with big box office. I present you Alice in Wonderland and 2012 two movies with no ties to existing franchises which still managed to gross from 700 million to over a billion dollars at the box office despite being of questionable quality.

I suppose you're going to say "well Alice in Wonderland is a popular story" well so is Snow White and the recent movies based on that did not come close to making the same kinda business despite being of similar quality. Quality and big box office are NOT interchangeable nor is one an indicator of the other.

Blade made a profit it got a sequel, the sequel made it profit it got another sequel the second sequel made no profit they didn't continue them. See how that works? yet still none of those movies reached the level of mainstream success that the X-Men movies did.

Marvel didn't make any of those movies in the first place. Marvel sold the movie rights to their IP's because they were going bankrupt. After Fox made X-Men and that proved lucrative all the other studios they had sold the movie rights of their IP's to like Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios prioritized and greenlit movies based on the Marvel properties they owned because they saw money in them thanks to X-Men's success. It ain't hard to tell. It's also why Singer's X-Men is credited with starring the current superhero movie boom.

Wolverine has been exposed more than the Hulk to mainstream audiences because he has starred in 4 films that grossed over 300 million dollars at the worldwide box office within the last 2 decades. Wolverine has been expore more than the Hulk to mainstream audiences because he has been featured in more video games in the past 2 decades than the Hulk has. Wolverine has been exposed more than the hulk to the current mainstream audience because he has been the main character or principal character in more animated shows than The Hulk has in the past 2 decades.

None of Hugh Jackman's movies make the same bank as the movies he played Wolverine in. Wolverine is the real draw not the actor. Cyclops doesn't even get 20 min of screentime in any of the X-Men movies he's in. Storm and the other characters get even lesser. While Wolverine gets over 45 min on average except for First Class where he STILL made a cameo due to his popularity level. Woverine is the lead of the X-Men film series. The first movie is about him coming to the school, the second is about his past coming back to haunt him and the third is about his relationship with Jean Grey.

Then the movie after that was about his "origin". He is the central character. He is the selling point of the movie franchise. If it wasn't for audiences connecting with him and embracing the character the first X-Men wouldn't have even been a hit because he was the protagonist. I wish it was the X-Men themselves I really do but most people don't know shit about them. Hell my girlfriend's niece was shocked when she read some of my old Uncanny comics and saw Cyclops and Jean Grey as the principal characters and not Wolverine like in the movies.

I guess agree to disagree will indeed have to cover it because I could only keep going around in circles reiterating the same exact points for so long.

 

[Ghost Leopard]

Niggas are sleepin on two points

1) when cap america was killed after civil war, that shit was hot news in real life. It received massive media coverage. Last time something like that happened was Death of Superman.

2) when marvel broke up spiderman and mary jane that shit also received news coverage, in real life. People who don't read spiderman knows he was with mary jane, to the extent people overlook he was with gwen stacey first and longer.

I think the debate is settled. Only person who could be a suitable substitute is hulk and that's because a lot of older people still remember the tv show from the 70s.

 

[jayhi22]

If this was 1990, I would say Hulk. But in the last 20 years, Wolverine has leapfrogged him thanks to all of the mainstream stuff he's been in. He's been in everything from games, comics, animated shows & has been the lead in movies.

@Ghost Leopard - I think this is more based on Worldwide popularity. I don't think Captain America is on par with Hulk & Wolverine in that department.

 

[jaxn]

Captain America is though

 

[Bcotton5]

Spidey and Wolverine

 

[Sour-Cream]

match up wise Supes is Thor, Bats is Spidey.

popularity wise, Bats is Wolves, Supes is Cap or Hulk

 

[infamous114]

I have a question of my own...like you know there are handbooks for the Marvel Universe...are there any for DC that any of yall comic heads can recommend?

 

[jaxn]

I'm not sure if DC still makes handbooks for their characters. Back in the day they published a series of comics called Who's Who?..You should be able to find them in trades. I imagine with the new52, they'll eventually release newer updated handbooks

 

[I Am Him]

I said random folks would know who the Hulk is before knowing who Wolverine is, which is pretty much the premise of the thread..Folks who know nothing about comics know who Batman and Superman are..you can't say the same about Wolverine..

I don't understand why you think random people would just know who the Hulk is. Maybe people who were born before 1985 and watched the tv show, but since then Wolverine has had way more exposure than the Hulk. I don't think I have to go in on the comics side, because everybody knows Logan is in everything. Wolverine might be the only guy who has been in all of the major teams(X-Men,Avengers, and FF). Wolverine has had manga and anime about him with and without the X-Men.

wow..here's my thing..folks are going to see Hugh Jackman films because of who? When folks go see the Prestige, the Fountain, Van Helsing, Swordfish and the like..are they going to see Wolverine or the guy who was pushed as the next A-list actor? And regarding the first X-men movie..Hugh Jackman was just ONE of the stars in that film..That film also had Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Romijn, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin..in other words a bunch of notable actors. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that played a role in it success as well..We can agree to disagree though

You do know all of those movies came after he did X-Men right, he might not have been pushed as an A-list actor if he didn't get a chance to do such a good job as Wolverine.

 

[jaxn]

yes i know.

 

[Knives Amilli]

Spider Man, Wolvie, and now Iron Man. RDJ solidified Tony as a cultural icon for the next ten years. Kids love him.