Who is the fifth most popular individual comic superhero of all time?

[Turk]

Wolverine and Hulk flesh out my top 5. Wonder Woman gets the to 6 or 7.

WW is a cultural icon. Her name is a damn catchphrase for crying out loud. People say i want a "wonder woman". Y'all nikkas stay sleeping on her

 

[notPsychosiz]

Globally... I would say

1) Superman
2) Super Sentai (You know them as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
3) Spiderman
4) Batman
5) Hulk

Wolverine is more popular than Hulk only in a few places like the US & Japan.
The simple fact that the hulk is green makes him more recognizable than most characters. You can identify any part of his body without needing to see the entire character. You can even recognize just his eyes or teeth in the darkness. He is a marketing A+

Deadpool is only mega-popular within the US as well. He relies heavily on American pop-culture references which do not translate so well.
Wonder Woman is not that big internationally either. In certain countries they don't even show her at all cause of her skimpy outfit. In other countries they simply make their own heroes (like Darna) instead of her.

Darna... by the way,
Immensely popular in the Philippines. She has 4 tv shows since the 1950s and another new one dropping later this year.
They give zero fukks about Wonder Woman over there and in many places in the world.

Anyway...
Superman, works cause all countries think aliens are interesting.
Batman works cause all countries have currency and understand how the rich have more than the poor.
Spiders, claws, radiation... these are universal concepts. Same with the Super Sentai and the concept of giant robots and giant monsters.

Deadpool's humor, WW's (or Thor's) greek mythology... these are cultural things that need to be bought into as a society. If the culture differs too much then the masses don't connect with the character. Same reason the west doesnt care about Samurais while the east loves them, and the east doesnt care about Cowboys while the west eats them up.

 

[Ill Lou Malnati]

Iron Man is nowhere near that big...good movie success but he hasn't touched all spectrums like that.

That's the funny thing. Big movie franchise, always front and center in the grand scheme of the Marvel comic book universe, but his books don't sell.

 

[Higher Tech]

The Hulk is 3rd or 4th to me.

 

[BelowTheMasonDixon]

Cyclops lol. But Im biased.

 

[Sccit]

WOLVERINE > HULK > WONDER WOMAN

 

[Neuromancer]

WW is a cultural icon. Her name is a damn catchphrase for crying out loud. People say i want a "wonder woman". Y'all nikkas stay sleeping on her

I don't get what they were talking about. She's extremely popular

 

[Neuromancer]

WOLVERINE > HULK > WONDER WOMAN

Whose name is more recognized the world over?

 

[Here Comes the Pain]

Wolverine undoubtedly.

Dude is the first thing to come to mind when you think of the x-men.

 

[Here Comes the Pain]

Wonder woman over robin???

Robin is definitely top 5. Robin is a universal code word for sidekick.

1.Superman
2.Batman
3.Spider-Man
4.Robin
5.Wolverine

 

[Sccit]

Whose name is more recognized the world over?

X-MEN .. WOLVERINE IS RECOGNIZED BY THE NAME OF THE SERIES

 

[Turk]

Wonder woman over robin???

Robin is definitely top 5. Robin is a universal code word for sidekick.

1.Superman
2.Batman
3.Spider-Man
4.Robin
5.Wolverine

Robins clout comes solely from his association with batman. And which robin are you even talking about? There have been so many people who have dawned that costume

 

[Here Comes the Pain]

Robins clout comes solely from his association with batman. And which robin are you even talking about? There have been so many people who have dawned that costume

Just Robin in general. Most casuals don't know who's behind the mask anyways.

 

[TheGodling]

Whose name is more recognized the world over?

The Hulk because of the Bixby/Ferrigno tv-show. Which goes back to the excellent, strangely scoffed over point @Mr. Negative made.

I look at character popularity like this.

It even works when talking "All Time GOAT Popularity" listing.

Pick a decade from the 60's up.

Now imagine walking up to at least random 100 people from all over and showing them a picture of a character.

1. How much can they tell you about the character? Like Superman. damn near any person from any decade will tell it's Superman, his name is Clark Kent (a lot of people won't know Kal-El), He works at The Daily Planet, he's an alien from Krypton, Lois Lane is on his nuts, Lex Luther is his enemy (and batman lolz shut he fukk up), will tell you his powers, he's powerful as shyt, Justice League, Kryptonite will kill him.

That's cause Superman is so ingrained into culture that even folks who don't read comics know this stuff. Hell, if they don't know, bet them some money. They gonna remember.


You really cant say that about a.... say.... Black Panther or Carol Danvers. Sure, folks may recognize them, but that's about it. It also means they aren't interested enough in said character to learn, instead of pop media culture forcing it on them in a fun and money making manner.


2. How much merch is this character pushing? Are kids dressing up as this cat on Halloween? Got toys and lunch boxes? Movie tie ins and TV shows? Is little R=G rocking the Magneto Was Right Underoos™?

Characters like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk and Wonder Woman all are extremely recognizable across the world because they were a part of pop culture long before comics truly became mainstream. In that sense those four characters always belong in the top 10.

 

[Versa]

lol, no. Don't let this "in the moment" shyt get in the way of the truth that it's still Wolverine.

And I wouldn't put Wonder Woman at #4 at all, most likely Wolverine is #4 and I think Iron Man is maybe #5 right now.

This is either close or accurate.

The top 4 is 100% facts

1. Batman
2. Superman
3. Spider-Man
4. Wolverine

That #5 spot is tricky. If you told me a few years ago it could be iron man I wouldn't buy it, but times have changed. It was probably Hulk, but now its probably Iron Man.


Are you guys so sure that #5 guy might not be The Flash?

Edit: just saw OP mention "of all time". In that case I am definitely confident in saying that #5 is Hulk or Wonder Woman.

You guys say Wonder Woman ain't up there but she's far more iconic and recognizable than y'all give her credit for. She's a part of the big 3 for a reason.