When did Batman surpass every other DC hero in popularity? And Why did he?

[Jim Kelly]

Both aired on WPIX for years when I lived on Long Island.

Of course every broadcast area gets different shows in syndication. So here in the greater Vancouver area, we got what shows the local stations had and--with cable--what Seattle and Tacoma and Victoria had.

It's kind of like how the comics page in one city's newspapers is radically different from another city's. Whenever our papers went on strike, my Dad would get papers from Seattle and Victoria--the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Victoria Times-Colonist. This was a thrill to see completely different comic strips from what we were used to. Moon Mullins, Mary Perkins, Pogo. But no Wizard of Id, no Family Circle. Like visiting an alternate universe.

[Captain Nostalgia]

You left out Lobo. who is literally a Superman villain... or was at first anyways....

Ah how could I forget my Main Man, so many happy memories.

He never got the respect he deserved, one hundred times cooler than Deadpool in my opinion.

[Gaastra]

Batman 60s series plus the campy filmation shows and superfiends for decades with batman fighting space monkeys and turning into animals plus he was on seseme street teaching kids to stop at the red light didn't help him any in the 60s to 80s. Third season of 60s batman tanked and the 60s movie didn't do as well. Ward was going to get replaced with batgirl if the show had came back for another season. A batgirl show was planned also but never got made. I watched 60s batman show in reruns as a kid in the 80s. And yes batman was seen as a joke. WB didn't even want to make batman 89 as they saw batman as a joke hero!

"Batman is a marvel hero trapped in dc" is a line i have heard over the years when it's asked why batman is doing so well (ouch!) but to me it's not that at all but a lucky punch of dark knight returns/ year one/ batman 89 movie/ batman the animated series that launched batman. He does have one of the best animated shows of all time after all! Fox even aired it in prime time!

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Agreed. There is no defense for WB ignoring WW for the entire duration of the 90's, 00's and the early '10s.

She had it better then marvels miss america. Marvels first big female hero. She was marvels wonder woman and superman. Some stories she was as strong as superman and others was knocked out by a pipe to the head! Lol. She was the second marvel hero after spider-man to get her own show in japan also!

In the 60s dc bought ww back, put her on superfriends, toys and the 70s series and new comic. She is one of the most loved heroes today.

Good job dc.

Marvel in the 60s brought miss america back. Made her a old woman, de powered all her superman powers then killed her off right away and when she showed up in invaders flashback stories they nerfed her powers so bad she got beat by a dorky fish guy in her ww2 stories she would have broke him in half. No one knows who she is today and a new teen has her hero name and is more known then she is.

Good job marvel.

What a way to treat your first big female hero.

[The Darknight Detective]

Batman 60s series plus the campy filmation shows and superfiends for decades with batman fighting space monkeys and turning into animals plus he was on seseme street teaching kids to stop at the red light didn't help him any in the 60s to 80s. Third season of 60s batman tanked and the 60s movie didn't do as well. Ward was going to get replaced with batgirl if the show had came back for another season. A batgirl show was planned also but never got made. I watched 60s batman show in reruns as a kid in the 80s. And yes batman was seen as a joke. WB didn't even want to make batman 89 as they saw batman as a joke hero!

"Batman is a marvel hero trapped in dc" is a line i have heard over the years when it's asked why batman is doing so well (ouch!) but to me it's not that at all but a lucky punch of dark knight returns/ year one/ batman 89 movie/ batman the animated series that launched batman. He does have one of the best animated shows of all time after all! Fox even aired it in prime time!

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She had it better then marvels miss america. Marvels first big female hero. She was marvels wonder woman and superman. Some stories she was as strong as superman and others was knocked out by a pipe to the head! Lol. She was the second marvel hero after spider-man to get her own show in japan also!

In the 60s dc bought ww back, put her on superfriends, toys and the 70s series and new comic. She is one of the most loved heroes today.

Good job dc.

Marvel in the 60s brought miss america back. Made her a old woman, de powered all her superman powers then killed her off right away and when she showed up in invaders flashback stories they nerfed her powers so bad she got beat by a dorky fish guy in her ww2 stories she would have broke him in half. No one knows who she is today and a new teen has her hero name and is more known then she is.

Good job marvel.

What a way to treat your first big female hero.

Well, to be fair, had the proposed Wonder Woman show aired back in the '60s (which would have made the Batman show seem like Schindler's List in comparison), that would have set Diana back decades.

[Gaastra]

This one? Yeah it's pretty bad.



Also don't forget batman in the live action legends of the superhero films. Those were pretty campy.

[Gaastra]

[The Darknight Detective]

This one? Yeah it's pretty bad.



Also don't forget batman in the live action legends of the superhero films. Those were pretty campy.

Yeah, this is just too dreadful for words. My father wasn't a fan of the Adam West show, but he would have blown a gasket if he had seen this abomination.

[The Darknight Detective]

I tried watching it at the time, but it was just too ridiculous for me.

[Jim Kelly]

For being one of their most iconic characters and beloved by people around the world, Wonder Woman certainly gets the shaft, a lot!

She should have got her own animated series around the same times that Superman and Batman got theirs. And with the success of the first WONDER WOMAN movie, that should have been the springboard for a new animated Wonder Woman.

At least they could have done a series about Wonder Woman as a girl growing up on Themyscira. That's easily the best parts of both Wonder Woman movies and something that has family appeal.

If Diana didn't have bad luck, she'd have no luck at all.

[Stick Figure]

I’ve only been reading DC a few years. I always thought it was Batman and then everyone else. My awareness of other characters was pretty low. I have a friend who’s older and he told me when he was growing up, Superman was the main DC character. I can’t even imagine. He also said more kids read at that time though so I can kind of get it. Comics are an adult medium today so I think the face of DC would naturally be Batman. He just works for me.

[The Darknight Detective]

She should have got her own animated series around the same times that Superman and Batman got theirs.

I'm pretty sure she is the first example (with Batman) of a superhero character being embargoed, due to that crappy pilot made for her. If not for it, I'm fairly certain she would have at least appeared with the rest of the JLA on Superman's cartoon during the '60s.

[Lee Stone]

You left out Lobo. who is literally a Superman villain... or was at first anyways....

I don't remember Lobo being Superman-centric.

I remember him starting out in Omega Men, then they had him appear in a couple issues of JLI before he skyrocketed in popularity with his mini-series a year or two later.

[marhawkman]

I don't remember Lobo being Superman-centric.

I remember him starting out in Omega Men, then they had him appear in a couple issues of JLI before he skyrocketed in popularity with his mini-series a year or two later.

Omega Men? Yeah, technically Lobo showed up there first. The New Earth Lobo's backstory makes the Joker seem sane and normal. Seriously... he claimed to have murdered every man, woman and child in the entire Czarnian race other than himself. O-o' Some older versions have it that his race was nearly wiped out by the Psions though. At any rate, the mass-murderer version is apparently the current one.

Enh... good point on the fact he was more a guest character in Superman stories though.

[Jim Kelly]

I'd have to dig through my comics to see, but if I did buy and read the first appearance of Lobo in OMEGA MEN then I don't remember it. My memory is that I saw him in Superman comics first. At that time, he seemed like a funny but innocuous character. It's only later when he got his own limited runs that he became this toxic misanthrope. Before that, he was like a parody character not to be taken seriously. But then fans seemed to take him seriously--too seriously for my taste.

It's the same with Harley Quinn--as long as she's supposed to be a funny character, then her destructive nature is just part of the joke. But if the writers try to force this idea that there's some serious statement behind her, then it all falls apart because jokes don't stand up to cold hard logic. Jokes are a teleological suspension of the ethical for the higher good of laughter--as Søren Kierkegaard might put it.

[mathew101281]

For being one of their most iconic characters and beloved by people around the world, Wonder Woman certainly gets the shaft, a lot!

She should have got her own animated series around the same times that Superman and Batman got theirs. And with the success of the first WONDER WOMAN movie, that should have been the springboard for a new animated Wonder Woman.

At least they could have done a series about Wonder Woman as a girl growing up on Themyscira. That's easily the best parts of both Wonder Woman movies and something that has family appeal.

If Diana didn't have bad luck, she'd have no luck at all.

What separates WW from the other members of the trinity is the lack of development of her supporting cast and villains. It quite apparent that some at DC don’t really have much faith in WW’s traditional supporting cast. That’s why you have such constant change over from creators to creator, and why some creative teams don’t use her supporting cast at all, choosing instead to create new characters or focus almost exclusively on the more mythic elements of Diana’s lore. It’s what really holds her back as a franchise.