Which Marvel Heroes are consider A-Listers?

[LAWtoyoto 432]

I am sure Iron Man, Captain America and Thor along with Spider-Man are considered as A-Listers even before MCU started.

After the MCU's popularity grows, Black Panther and Captain Marvel have been promoted to the position.

For X-Men, Wolverine and Storm are the most popular uses in any franchise.

Anyone else has used to be A-listers?

[Iron Maiden]

I don't like for the MCU to take precendence over the comics. IMO you can't leave out the Fantastic Four as A-Listers no matter how lousy Slott's Fantastic Four has been. IMO Hickman put them back at the top but no one's really been as good since. But as we've seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Reed's appearance along with the mention of incursions,it looks pretty obvious they're going to go with Hickman's version in the movies. On top of that, the whole Silver Age of Marvel Universe jump started with them after the dark ages after the infamous book Seduction of the Innocent. Namor, who goes back to the 1930's was reintroduced to comics in Fantastic Four #4.

[Lukmendes]

I am sure Iron Man, Captain America and Thor along with Spider-Man are considered as A-Listers even before MCU started.

After the MCU's popularity grows, Black Panther and Captain Marvel have been promoted to the position.

For X-Men, Wolverine and Storm are the most popular uses in any franchise.

Anyone else has used to be A-listers?

I'm not sure Stark could be considered A-lister before MCU, he wasn't a character who random people would know about, have my doubts about Cap and Thor before MCU too.

Hulk would be considered an A-lister.

I don't like for the MCU to take precendence over the comics. IMO you can't leave out the Fantastic Four as A-Listers no matter how lousy Slott's Fantastic Four has been. IMO Hickman put them back at the top but no one's really been as good since.

A-lister doesn't mean popularity in comics, it means popularity everywhere, basically everyone knows who Wolverine is, but can the same be said about F4?

But as we've seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Reed's appearance along with the mention of incursions,it looks pretty obvious they're going to go with Hickman's version in the movies.

Wouldn't overtrust that, MCU takes cues from comics but may do their own thing, and the way Incursions work is an indication of that change.

[Iron Maiden]

I'm not sure Stark could be considered A-lister before MCU, he wasn't a character who random people would know about, have my doubts about Cap and Thor before MCU too.

Hulk would be considered an A-lister.



A-lister doesn't mean popularity in comics, it means popularity everywhere, basically everyone knows who Wolverine is, but can the same be said about F4?



Wouldn't overtrust that, MCU takes cues from comics but may do their own thing, and the way Incursions work is an indication of that change.

Maybe that means A-Lister to you but that doesn't go for everyone. There were a lot of people in the theater when I saw Doctor Strange and there sure was a buzz of recognition when Reed appeared on the screen. More so than with the others in that version of the Illuminati. You may not think so but a lot of "old timers" go to the movies too!

And by your standard I don't think the Hulk would be an A-Lister these days. He had a some early success with the TV show with Bill Bixby and the films that came out before the Marvel/Fox deal but he's not had any solo movies since.

[Reviresco]

I am sure Iron Man, Captain America and Thor along with Spider-Man are considered as A-Listers even before MCU started.

After the MCU's popularity grows, Black Panther and Captain Marvel have been promoted to the position.

For X-Men, Wolverine and Storm are the most popular uses in any franchise.

Anyone else has used to be A-listers?

No. Iron Man, Cap and Thor were NOT A-Listers before the MCU. Thor didn't even have a book for like three years, IIRC, before the MCU started. I don't think Captain Marvel is an A-Lister even now, even though Marvel keeps on pushing her, with repeated books.


Marvel's A-Listers before the MCU were:

Spider-Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. Hulk also, but he probably owes some of that to the 70s TV series.

[Reviresco]

A-lister doesn't mean popularity in comics, it means popularity everywhere, basically everyone knows who Wolverine is, but can the same be said about F4?

Given that the OP said 'before the MCU' it clearly means popularity in the comics.

And yes, before the 2000s, I venture more people knew about the FF than Wolverine. They certainly have had more animated shows than Wolverine and as many movies, IIRC.

[Digifiend]

Don't forget Iron Man had that 90s cartoon. He wasn't completely unknown to non-comics fans before the 2008 movie came out. However, he definitely isn't on Spider-Man's level, so I'd say he was B-list. He's A-list now though.

As for FF and Wolverine, the FF had cartoons in 1967, 1978 (the infamous one with Herbie instead of Human Torch), 1994, and 2006. Wolverine's only solo cartoon is a short anime run, but there was also an X-Men anime and three Western cartoons, in 1992, 2000, and 2009, plus a pilot in 1989. In terms of movies, the FF have had four, though the first one was effectively an ashcan for rights retaining purposes. Wolverine has had three solo films (X-Men Origins, The Wolverine, and Logan), but if you take into account the team's films, he's been another SIX X-Men movies - even when he didn't have a main role, he still cameoed - Dark Phoenix is the only one he's not in at all. And of course all of Wolverine's appearances are the same actor, whereas the FF have each had three actors, and in Reed's case four due to his appearance in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. The FF were more successful early on but the X-Men and Wolverine definitely surpassed them in later decades.

[Force de Phenix]

Pre-MCU
- Spider-Man
- Wolverine
- The Fantastic Four
- Hulk
- "the X-Men"

Post-MCU
- The Scarlet Witch
- Thanos
- Black Panther
- Captain America
- Thor
- Groot
- Rocket Racoon
- Doctor Strange
- Daredevil
- Punisher
- Deadpool
- "The Avengers"

I don't know how many people know the characters of the X-Men. I would say Storm, Professor X, and Magneto were well known if you actually watched the movies, if not, you wouldn't know their names, but some people might recognize them. Everyone else didn't leave an impression. The Guardians of the Galaxy have a lot of merchandise that are on par with a lot of other teams. The Netflix characters have become A-listers, but I wouldn't say all of them, and that's even a stretch. Everything else is noise for mainstream audiences.

Thanos and Doctor Strange are referenced a lot in things because of their concept. The actors that are in other movies made the characters mainstream more than the movies themselves. People give the X-Men too much credit nowadays.

If were talking about comic book readers and people who watch every MCU movie, they ought to know everyone and they would use the A-lister title because they tie them with their comic book presence. Captain Marvel had key roles, but they misogynists hate the actress, so they'll say she's not an A-lister despite her being the Daisy Duck at amusement parks.

[Gaastra]

Pre mcu spider-man, hulk, fantastic four (even had ff bubble gum in the 70s and 80s!) and x-men starting in the 70s.

Blade was big after the movie and if you want to count it so was men in black but those went down later.

Miss america and spidey were big in japan in the 60s thanks to the tv shows and hulk got his own manga there as well in the 70s or 80s.

For toys and merch spidey, ff and hulk had a bunch. From a hulk light switch in the movie ET to a fantastic four coloring book to a spidey lunch box.

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[Gaastra]

Hulk even was on honeycombs ads!

[Gaastra]

Thing had his own toy ad in the 70s.

[Gaastra]

Japan toy ads with miss america.

[Gaastra]

Also both fantastic four and dr strange had radio shows in the 60s with a young bill murrey from ghostbusters as the torch! Spidey, hulk, howard the duck and marvels version of conan had newspaper strips as well.

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[LAWtoyoto 432]

Given that the OP said 'before the MCU' it clearly means popularity in the comics.

And yes, before the 2000s, I venture more people knew about the FF than Wolverine. They certainly have had more animated shows than Wolverine and as many movies, IIRC.

If that's true, then why Fox's Fantastic Four movies have gained a low box-office performance. Despite being the same popular as Spider-man but yet unsuccessful to earn enough higher to match the projections.

[billee0918]

Thing had his own toy ad in the 70s.

I got that for Christmas that year!!! Thing was one of my early favorite heroes!