Originally Posted by
hellacre
I'd argue they do not need to be in a movie to be iconic. Not at all. They have comics and these are two powerful characters by themselves and as a couple. Iconography has to do with influence and symbols as well as concept and relevance and history. There are many movies and we have iconic characters ie characters used over and over in fictional stories...known but they are not exactly relevant today or fits the zeitgeist. They are not physically used by the pubic in a concrete way as a symbol. The masses do not aspire to be them. They do not go out of their way to use them as representatives of themselves. Yes you can be iconic in that you been around a long time but it does not mean you are more relevant or even more popular. Comic book fans are niche audience and the general public just recalls what they see at the time. They might like it or not or forget it altogether or they might embrace it and strengthen it more. Steve for example being out of WW history as her love interest for a while. I'd even suggest many people never knew nor cared until Pine. He's been around a while sure but he has also been absent for decades and no one can tell me that his impact and influence is more than smww when it comes to the public and every fan. DC themselves have made SMWW a something concrete and it has filtered into books and animation and the public also are aware of it. Before LOTR or Harry Potter became movies they were iconic.
SMWW have been used as symbols to represent love and partnership in tv and music and movies, they been name dropped, homaged as a couple, they been referenced. One could argue well many DC or Marvel couples are iconic because they got a movie. Yet it was smww as a couple mentioned in Bones, Big bang Theory, Glee, Blue Bloods, NCIS, The Simpsons etc...and that is what we know from the US. We have seen other cultures mention them. The Japanese did Project Ako ages ago. Kingdom Come and the new 52 I would argue made SMWW iconic. They do not need a movie. Esp movies that were ridiculed and critically panned. Superman cannot even get a decent movie off the ground when you think back to what they had before MOS and the first Reeve movie and MOS can't even get a sequel...yet other B and C list characters are doing it. Being around for a longtime and having a movie does not make you an icon only. It is your impact on the masses and pop culture as well. SMWW are immortalized in 2 statues. Well, 3 because they have a versus one. They continue to have merch. Big name designer used them for his and her perfume. They are put alongside other iconic couples in pop culture from when you see merch for couples. Halloween, Valentines, Christmas, Weddings, Gender Reveal, Birthdays, anniversaries, charity, pets, etc etc...they are up there with the best of them. They hang in art galleries , have art exhibits together...an anthology soon together. The other anthology was Joker and Batman who have this iconic dynamic. IMO they have more than any other hero coupling in the public domain. I have constantly said it...only Batcat and JokerHarley can be ranked with them when it comes to DC couples and generating $. Sure comic lists will call the classic ones but again that has to do with tradition than the zeitgeist. DC currently can try to undermine it but are being utilized as symbols of love and two equals by many people because there is a reason. There is literature to back it up and people see themselves in them or what they aspire to be. It is not a cracked ship or a ship that just cropped up once in a vague non committal way. People who say they never had anything are misrepresenting as we know. Saying something needs a movie to truly validate it, I respectfully don't agree.