Who is the #1 Most Popular DC Superhero of All Time?

[Air Wave]

Simple question. Who is #1?

[Noodle]

For the longest time it was Superman, but he was surpassed by Batman around the early 90s.

[j9ac9k]

Yeah, it's gotta be Batman.

[sbp1972]

Booster Gold. Just ask him.

[JorgeJ77]

Batman, of course

[Sandy Hausler]

Popular to who? If it's to comic book fans, it's clearly Batman, at least at this time. But I think Superman is more well known and beloved by the general public (but that's just my opinon).

[BohemiaDrinker]

Popular to who? If it's to comic book fans, it's clearly Batman, at least at this time. But I think Superman is more well known and beloved by the general public (but that's just my opinon).

I don't know. Was there a Superman phenomenon akin to 90's Batmania at some point? I think Bats has been number one since Adam West's day if I'm honest, just with a few rough few years here and there.

[Riv86672]

I don't know. Was there a Superman phenomenon akin to 90's Batmania at some point? I think Bats has been number one since Adam West's day if I'm honest, just with a few rough few years here and there.

^^^Co-signed.

[Lightning Rider]

I think internationally Superman still holds a special status as the default superhero.

[Marilee]

There was a time, back in the late seventies, early 80's, when a poll was reported that the three top fictional characters in the world were Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse and Superman (though it seemed a lot of that recognition came via the s-shield symbol). Sorry, I tried to find the original source, but the internet is not helping me here. As someone who was around for the 60's, 70's, 80's, I would definitely say that Superman was bigger than Batman at that time (There was a reason it was Superman and Spiderman teaming up in the DC-Marvel cross-over, and the Superman-Muhammad Ali comic occurred). Not that Batman wasn't popular, he was, but Superman was probably beating him in general popularity at the time, especially with the Christopher Reeve films and such. I would say it was the first Burton movie and the release of the Dark Knight Returns books that brought Batman to the forefront.

[The Darknight Detective]

I don't know. Was there a Superman phenomenon akin to 90's Batmania at some point? I think Bats has been number one since Adam West's day if I'm honest, just with a few rough few years here and there.

Batman was only more popular than Superman for a short time during the '60s. By the time the show was winding down, it was Supes again until the '90s. For the past thirty-something years, though, it's clearly been Batman (though he has a while to match Clark's 50 years of dominance).

[MRP]

Of all time-Superman. The comic industry was built on the back of Superman's popularity, and as popular as Batman is now and has been since the ;ate 80s, even with the Batmania surrounding the fist movie in '89, it never reaches the sales levels of the Superman books (Superman and Action routinely sold over a million copies per issue through the 40s, and even through the 60s with the Adam West series and into the 70s Superman titles routinely sold 2-3 times what the Batman titles did, in fact Detective was selling so poorly in the 70s it was nearly cancelled and was mashed together with Batman Family in an attempt to save the title) and merchandising of Superman in the 30s, 40s and 50s was beyond the pale, surpassing the market penetration even of Batman today. In the 60s DCs best selling titles were: Superman, Action Comics, Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, Adventure Comics featuring Superboy and the Legion or Supergirl, Superboy and World's Finest featuring Superman and Batman. The other Batman titles, without Superman's presence, weren't in the top tier of sellers, even during the peal of Adam West Batmania. That certainly increased Batman sales but it still never caught Superman in sales of comics. It wasn't until the 80s when Batman sales topped Superman sales for the first time, but those Batman sales averaged less than a third of what Superman sales were at their peak in the Golden Age.

Batman certainly rules the roost now, but if we're talking all time, even Batman's success now doesn't reach anywhere near the levels of success and popularity Superman had through his first 50 years, and sales of Batman comic themselves have never even approached what Superman titles used to sell regularly. And without Superman paving the way for the super-hero and fueling the growth of the comic book industry as a whole, there would be no Batman (created in the rush to get more super-heroes out there to capitalize on the success of Superman) and no roost for Batman to rule today.

-M

[Nomads1]

DC has done it's best to ruin Superman in the last couple of decades. It hasn't done as much damage to Batman (not for lack of trying, mind you). However, I do think it's between Superman, Batman and Spider-Man (who, at times, has also struggled).

Peace

[Morgoth]

Superman is popular as an archetype of definitive superhero. Batman these days is way more popular and beloved as a character and a brand, mostly because of huge media presence outside of comics - Adam West series, Burton dilogy, TAS, Nolan trilogy, Arkhamverse games, Reeves movie. There was a certain downfall after Schumacher's movies, but Nolan solved this problem.
Superman, on the other hand, only recently got back on track and everything depends on Gunn.

[Laser_Man]

Batman and its not even close.

Superman's popularity has tanked in the last 45 years, and it is not surprising considering how DC has treated him in comics, films, animation and all where he is constantly shown as inferior to Batman. Others like Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern etc. never even stood a chance.

Note that I am talking about popularity here, not recognizability. People might recognize Superman and Wonder Woman, but they don't have a considerable fanbase.