I would say Apple and oranges and of those I would say apple .
I also voted A&O. IMO, their genres and primary media are too distinct from one another for clean comparison. But I was curious how comics fans would see it.
Do people mix apples and oranges together, like in a fruit salad? I rarely ever do and when I do, I realize it was a mistake. Apples and oranges seem to want to stick to their own provinces. Apples with raisins, yes. Oranges with grapefruits, fine. But apples and oranges never should mix.
Depends on who you ask, in what country and at what point in history. I would say almost everyone in the English speaking world knows who they both are. I'd say about equal.
I'd say Holmes is the far more iconic detective because he's always (except for parodies) presented as the Great Detective.
Power with Girl is better.
I remember an article where Harlan Ellison said that but I don't know if he was referencing someone else. At the time he said it, Batman would definitely not have been in the top three. I think he might now replace Tarzan who, let's face it, has faded in popularity.
It's also telling that the alleged three most famous are all within roughly the last century to century and a half. Really? What about Heracles/ Hercules? What about Merlon? Arthur?
I would say the Superman/ Tarzan/ Holmes trinity is more about who was the most famous at the exact time and place someone made that claim which was probably mid-twentieth century America.
Power with Girl is better.
“Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.” Goethe
Tarzan is an iconic figure, but he is problematic, given that his image is so bound up in white supremacy, and colonization of Africa. In many ways (IMO) he has been supplanted by Superman, who is something of an inversion of the Caucasian Prince Excelling, without violating the race boundary by giving the prince a non-terrestrial-insider origin. S&S may have had some sense of what they were unleashing, but couldn't have known all of what it could mean.
I think you could add Bram Stoker's Dracula to the list. Some might argue that Stoker based his character on legends and there's some historical basis to his work, but I think those odd details just give the work a verisimilitude so we're more likely to believe it actually happened. Just like Edgar Rice Burroughs' “I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, or to any other.” (one of the greatest opening sentences to any novel ever).
Dracula is world famous and continues to have new adaptations. Are there any that were not created in the English language? Maybe our anglo prejudice just makes us think these characters are the most important in fiction.
“Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.” Goethe
Currently it seems that Batman is leaving more of an impact and is more noticeable by the public, even though Sherlock Holmes is a possible inspiration for his investigative and deductive skills, the picture of Batman pops out more.
So I will say that Batman is the more iconic character this decade.
TRUTH, JUSTICE, HOPE
That is, the heritage of the Kryptonian Warrior: Kal-El, son of Jor-El
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Both are very popular and known but Batman only wins by a bit now because of the Chris Nolan movies but SH's has actually been iconic enough to make its way into popular TV outside the titled series like Star Trek and other tv shows. So I went with "apples and oranges." Ultimately because they appeal to two very different audiences. Not saying there can't be fans of both, though.
Sherlock. Not only is Batman based more or less on what was then a more famous Pulp hero (and he would be still popular if he got better media presence) the Shadow, but most of Bruce's detective skills borrow heavily from Sherlock.
Also let's be honest here, Sherlock not only has more adaptations, but his author had his own brother in law create a anti Holmes in the form of a thief that solves crimes via stealing items and is a "What if Sherlock was a thief instead of a detective" which he later had to stop because Doyle was threatening to sue as he saw it as an insult to Sherlock, and then there was the whole case of Lupin besting him in a french tale. Every author of the period wanted a chance to pit or pair their character with him . I'd say that's pretty freaking Iconic.