Which Marvel characters will have longevity after the MCU?

I am not really going to write a long history of marvel, their comics, their bankruptcy and the Disney purchase. we know their story well and I usually don't tend to have reservation about ''popularity'' as not only can it be shallow but popularity never tends to be permanently fixed because the world is ever changing and artists, products or franchises tend to adapt to new styles to maintain relevance or longevity and this is where I draw the line with some Marvel series.


You can make the case Marvel characters are ''popular'' now like Black Panther, Antman, Avengers, GOTG, Shang Chi because of MCU movies and the Disney empire as well as the Media that supports them immensely.However one thing some Marvel characters has not shown is longevity. Longevity is what Spiderman, X-MEN and I will say in a small doses Fantastic 4, Hulk and even Blade has had that other characters don't have yet and if MCU were to be gone tomorrow or start to fade away in box office popularity, since you can make a strong almost perfect case the MCU films does not really have any artistic popularity, given many film makers have dismissed them the recent of those is Denis Villeneuve.

How much will characters like GOTG, Avengers, Ant Man, Black Panther, Thor still be relevant? [B]Where will these characters be in 20-40 years without the MCU?[/B] Spiderman X-MEN F4 Blade have all managed to stay relevant for almost 60 years without needing the MCU for help. Disney could not even erase them completely when they tried in the mid 2010s because other film studios still owned the rights and that is a true sign of their longevity and I would even argue that right now the MCU does them more harm than good because the MCU movies fall under the formula of Monopoly film style that is actually immensely unpopular in the artistic circles of film making.

All of these been said, I will put my money on [B]Black Panther[/B] that will have longevity once the MCU is over completely, 10 years ago I may have said Iron Man but I think Disney dropped the ball with this IP by not choosing to see that Iron Man and Batman had some similarities and Iron Man needed to be expanded beyond the MCU narrative.

If you vote other please list the characters.

I left Captain America out of the conversation because he was kind of somewhere in between before the MCU

My vote for black panther was for ethnic cultural significance.

Many of these characters existed for decades (Thor, Iron Man, etc.) before the movies, they were just not too popular in the mainstream consciousness. Certainly Tony Stark and Thor will remain major characters in the publishing world (comics) long after any movie is made about them.

The poll only let's you choose one option although it's possible more than one will remain relevant. I picked Avengers, but I think Black Panther will still have longevity as a [U]property[/U] in the future. (The comics themselves, I don't know. GOTG was just canceled recently.)

It's almost unfair to put the Avengers as a response option, because the group was intended to be Marvel's franchise superhero collective. It's their Justice League. It will be around in some form or another until Marvel shudders its doors permanently. And even then I'm betting some entertainment publishing company will buy the rights and launch their own version of the Avengers.

Honestly, all of these characters will have some measure of longevity, if the question is whether or not they'll still remain part of comics ecosphere, but not necessarily icons of pop culture. Writers mine for characters all of the time that they can use in their stories. Marvel is filled with diamonds in the rough. Even if the MCU had never been created, there'd be some writer clamoring to use a Shang Chi, Eternals, Monica Rambeau, or even a Willie Lumpkin as a feature or supporting character. Legal limitations are really the only real threat to a character's longevity.

[QUOTE=HaveAtThee;5743100]Many of these characters existed for decades (Thor, Iron Man, etc.) before the movies, they were just not too popular in the mainstream consciousness. Certainly Tony Stark and Thor will remain major characters in the publishing world (comics) long after any movie is made about them.[/QUOTE]

I have not seen Iron Man much lately, its crazy that marvel will not even push the character anymore and just let him become a d list property again since Robert Downey Jnr is retired.

I dont need movies to keep an interest with Batman, I should want or need to feel that way about Iron Man.

[QUOTE=Castle;5743505]I have not seen Iron Man much lately, its crazy that marvel will not even push the character anymore and just let him become a d list property again since Robert Downey Jnr is retired.

I dont need movies to keep an interest with Batman, I should want or need to feel that way about Iron Man.[/QUOTE]

I mean, what exactly are you suggesting that Marvel should do? They were pushing Iron Man really hard during the Dan Slott run. A whole event with various spin off titles last year to go along with the 2020 storyline. And this was months after Endgame had been released in theaters.

[QUOTE=HaveAtThee;5743100]Many of these characters existed for decades (Thor, Iron Man, etc.) before the movies, they were just not too popular in the mainstream consciousness. Certainly Tony Stark and Thor will remain major characters in the publishing world (comics) long after any movie is made about them.[/QUOTE]

Well stated. This was going to be my point. They were around decades before and be around decades after. I don’t get why they were even options. Hell Iron Man has reached Icon status do to the movies. He’s everywhere now.

Spiderman. He was very popular before the movies and he will be one of Marvel's top heroes for a long time after.