Marvel superhero most appearances

[Captain M]

It might be important to note that those numbers are just the main universe (the count for the alternate versions of the characters are held individually so it would take some time to count them since the major heroes each have like 30+ alternate versions if not more) and those are only the main appearances apparently. There is also a minor appearance category for about 50 to 200 for each of them. Not sure where they made the difference for that.

If you add the minor appearances, Wasp surpasses Black Widow. Carol and Wanda are no longer tied, Carol is like 15 issues above Wanda.

I just checked the minor appearances and some of them make no sense. For examble Wasp's appearance in History of the Marvel universe 3 is listed as a minor appearance but she is in actually several pages in big panels so that makes no sense. We should count the "minor appearances".

That way the new top 10 appearances for female characters in the main universe is:


1. Storm - 1889
2. Invisible Woman - 1821
3. Captain Marvel - 1424
4. Scarlet Witch - 1408
5. Wasp - 1280
6. Jean Grey - 1269
7. Black Widow - 1261
8. She-Hulk - 1214
9. Mary Jane - 1170
10. Kitty Pryde - 1134

[Electricmastro]

Looks like you was way off..

Well I never claimed to be "way on" either! Haha!

[Icefanatic]

Don't worry about reprints (such as foreign editions) as the Fandom wiki would also include those, if they've actually been added to the site (though they're missing a lot). They really shouldn't be counting AUs as the same character though.

If they didn't, Golden Age appearances wouldn't count for most characters, including Superman and Batman. Ditto for all the Timely/Atlas stuff. DC's first Crisis would have set many of their characters to back to zero. 'X-Men TAS' and 'Evolution' and 'Wolverine and the X-Men' are all different universes but would still count as broadcast appearances for the characters. As someone posted in another thread...

[Digifiend]

Ditto for all the Timely/Atlas stuff.

Not so. That's all still Earth-616. They just retconned the post 1945 appearances of Cap and Bucky to not actually be Steve Rogers and James Barnes.

[Icefanatic]

Not so. That's all still Earth-616. They just retconned the post 1945 appearances of Cap and Bucky to not actually be Steve Rogers and James Barnes.

They did a lot more than that. The Invaders/Liberty Legion stories told decades later were inspired by the All-Winners Squad comic, but it wasn't the same thing. They later retconned the AWS to be a team that existed AFTER the war that consisted of ex-members of the Invaders and LL. The Timely stories serve as inspiration for later cannon stories, they are NOT in and of themselves all 616 cannon.

[davew128]

Storm being Marvel's most frequently featured female (Lee-Style Alliteration for the win) is a welcome surprise.

Wolverine being #2 is pretty shocking for a character who is younger than everyone else on that list. I mean Spider-Man and the Original 5 X-Men, OG Avengers and FF were all in publication before that Canadian runt showed up in 1974.

Except Wolverine in addition to being in his own solo for nearly 30 years now, appears constantly every month in his limiteds, several X-books, and for a long time, New Avengers. Keeping in mind that the Avengers book itself typically featured characters without their own monthly, the FF don't appear that much outside their own book (except Thing), and the O5 X-Men didn't even have a book for several years until ANAD X-Men in '75.

[Digifiend]

Actually, the O5 did have a book, but it was reprints. And those would be included in the count on both Fandom and Comic Vine.

They did a lot more than that. The Invaders/Liberty Legion stories told decades later were inspired by the All-Winners Squad comic, but it wasn't the same thing. They later retconned the AWS to be a team that existed AFTER the war that consisted of ex-members of the Invaders and LL. The Timely stories serve as inspiration for later cannon stories, they are NOT in and of themselves all 616 cannon.

AWS was actually published after the war - it started in 1946 (before then, the All-Winners comic featured solo stories). All they did was retcon in that the members had previously been on the other two teams who were not published in the golden age. AWS being a post-war team isn't a retcon.

[Electricmastro]

So, who would you guys say are the most frequently appearing characters (not just heroes) in these series?:

The Amazing Spider-Man - Spider-Man, Mary Jane, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, Gwen Stacy, Doctor Octopus

Fantastic Four - Human Torch, Thing, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, Crystal, Doctor Doom, Lyja, Medusa

The Uncanny X-Men - Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Cyclops, Professor X, Angel, Rogue, Psylocke, Iceman

The Avengers - Captain America, Vision, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hank Pym, Jarvis, Hercules

Daredevil - Daredevil, Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Kingpin, Black Widow, Ben Urich, Heather Glenn, Debbie Harris, Elektra, Becky Blake

The Incredible Hulk - Hulk, Betty Ross, Thunderbolt Ross, Rick Jones, Doc Samson, Glenn Talbot, Marlo Chandler-Jones, Clay Quartermain, Leader, Iron Man

Captain America - Captain America, Falcon, Red Skull, Sharon Carter, Diamondback, Nick Fury, Bernie Rosenthal, Redwing, Peggy Carter, U.S.Agent

Iron Man - Iron Man, War Machine, Bambi Arbogast, Madame Masque, Bethany Cabe, Mandarin, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Jasper Sitwell, Captain America

Thor - Thor, Odin, Balder, Sif, Hogun, Fandral, Volstagg, Loki, Heimdall, Karnilla

Wolverine - Wolverine, Jubilee, Sabretooth, Jean Grey, Professor X, Storm, Cyclops, Lady Deathstrike, Tyger Tiger, Spider-Woman

The Defenders - Valkyrie, Hulk, Nighthawk, Doctor Strange, Hellcat, Gargoyle, Beast, Namor, Aragorn, Clea

X-Factor - Cyclops, Polaris, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Havok, Valerie Cooper, Forge, Strong Guy

Silver Surfer - Silver Surfer, Galactus, Shalla Bal, Frankie Raye, Alicia Masters, Thanos, Thing, Mephisto, Drax the Destroyer, Firelord

X-Force - Warpath, Boom-Boom, Siryn, Cannonball, Sunspot, Domino, Shatterstar, Cable, Rictor, Moonstar

Alpha Flight - Heather McNeil Hudson, Sasquatch, Puck, Aurora, Northstar, Madison Jeffries, Shaman, Talisman, Persuasion, Diamond Lil

Excalibur - Meggan, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Captain Britain, Rachel Grey, Lockheed, Moira MacTaggert, Colossus, Alistaire Stuart, Warlock

Cable - Cable, Irene Merryweather, Domino, Blaquesmith, Jean Grey, Cyclops, G.W. Bridge, Apocalypse, Storm, Rachel Grey

The Punisher - Punisher, Microchip, Kingpin, Jigsaw, Outlaw, Snakebite, Blackwell, Morgan Sinclair, Reverend Sammy Smith, Carlos Cruz

The New Mutants - Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Moonstar, Warlock, Magik, Magma, Cypher, Magneto, Karma

Exiles - Morph, Blink, Heather McDaniel Hudson, Mimic, Nocturne, Sabretooth, Mariko Yashida, Proteus, Wolverine, Longshot

[Gaastra]

Mary Jane is the only civilian there.

Didn't mary jane have a iron man outfit and a spider armor at times? Then she counts as a hero like rescue does even if she only had them for one story.

I wonder how conan did in this poll?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

So, who would you guys say are the most frequently appearing characters (not just heroes) in these series?:

The Amazing Spider-Man - Spider-Man, Mary Jane, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, Gwen Stacy, Doctor Octopus

A while back I actually did a list. Tracking numbers. Apparently I counted some reprints (https://community.cbr.com/showthread...upporting-cast). Re-checking now it comes like this.

1 - Mary Jane Watson - 1074 Appearances
2 - Jameson - 1046 Appearances
3 - May Parker - 766 Appearances
4 - Robbie Robertson - 611 Appearances
5 - Norman Osborn - 597 Appearances
6 - Flash Thompson - 574 Appearances
7 - Harry Osborn - 477 Appearances
8 - Otto Octavius - 440 Appearances
9 - Betty Brant - 428 Appearances
10 - Eddie Brock - 377 Appearances
11 - Miles Morales - 374 Appearances
12 - Felicia Hardy - 374 Appearances
13 - Liz Allan - 273 Appearances

In general Mary Jane and Jameson are #1 most recurring. Sometimes Jameson is ahead, sometimes it's MJ. But those two are at the top. Aunt May being a distant #3 is the big surprise since so many think she's oh-so essential. And Robertson being at #4 ahead of what we think of Peter's classic Ditko era cast is another one. This is 616 Continuity and not just ASM. Jameson and Mary Jane are the Spider-Man characters with the most appearances. They are also the only Marvel-wide supporting characters in Spidey's cast, with Jameson appearing in Daredevil and other comics, MJ cameoing in FF, Daredevil (with Peter), and in the first three issues of Ms. Marvel and more recently Iron Man.

We also need to consider that some of these characters were dead for a long time. Norman Osborn was dead for 20 real-time years but even then he still managed to become the #1 most recurring villain. Doctor Octopus at the very fitting number 8 caught up recently. Harry Osborn was also dead for nearly 20 years.

Miles Morales is an odd figure. He debuted in Ultimate Marvel before being imported to 616 so it's a bit hard to decide if one should count only his 616 appearances or his 1610 appearances when for all intents and purposes that's one continuity more or less.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

1) Doctor Doom - 835 Appearances
2) Magneto - 816 Appearances.
3) Green Goblin/Norman Osborn - 597 Appearances
4) Kingpin - 533 Appearances
5) Sabretooth - 499 Appearances
6) Loki - 493 Appearances
7) Galactus - 458 Appearances
8) Mystique - 456 Appearances
9) Doctor Octopus - 440 Appearances
10) Thanos - 411 Appearances
11) Mephisto - 376 Appearances
12) Red Skull - 358 Appearances
13) Baron Zemo - 250 Appearances
14) Ultron - 203 Appearances

I have made 200 a kind of cut off point. The following characters haven't made it to 200 -- The Mandarin (171 Appearances), Mr. Sinister (194 Appearances), Apocalypse (193 Appearances), Mole Man, Puppetmaster, Dormammu, and many classic Ditko Spidey rogues.

If we consider groups then,
The Sentinels (589 Appearances)
HYDRA (280 Appearances)
AIM (214 Appearances)

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I recently started a website of my own as a place to convert some of my posts into CBR into longform posts.

One of them was this thread. I quoted links and summarized points discussed here and attributed it all to the posters here, so check it out to see if you all think I did you guys justice or if you still agree with anything put there.
https://elvingsmusings.wordpress.com...inuity-census/