Who are Marvel's "Big Three"?

[taozen]

Who are the 3 most popular that can sustain multiple series:

Spiderman- the flagship character
Wolverine- the most popular character since Spidey


Now who is number three. Probably Deadpool in term of popularity in Comics. He has been the most popular character created since the 90s.

[Electricmastro]

Who are the 3 most popular that can sustain multiple series:

Spiderman- the flagship character

And a character so popular, he not only spawned many different titles starring him, but also many spin-offs starring Spider-Man-related characters that have gone on to achieve their own popularity.

[The Kid]

Spider-Man
Wolverine
Captain America

That seems right to me looking it over. Spider-Man ,as people have said, is by far the most popular and the flagship character. Wolverine has been wildly popular and represents the X-Men, a top franchise for Marvel and Captain America is one of Marvel's top heroes in and out of universe.

That said, you could genuinely make a case of Iron Man. People are bringing up the old Hulk TV series but Stark just wrapped up a 10 year run where he was the main character of the most popular Marvel related product ever. Add in the fact that he's had a genuinely long running solo since he was created (500+ issues is seriously nothing to scoff at) and he has a good case to be in it as well

[dreyga2000]

I’m surprised there is even a debate. Come it’s Thor, Cap, and Ironman. If you type Marvel Big Three or Marvel Trinity pictures of those 3 pop up. Seriously go try it.

[The Kid]

I’m surprised there is even a debate. Come it’s Thor, Cap, and Ironman. If you type Marvel Big Three or Marvel Trinity pictures of those 3 pop up. Seriously go try it.

You're not wrong with that regards. I think people are using 'Big Three' to refer to three biggest Marvel characters throughout its history. You could still go with the Avengers trinity there but it's a more tough debate. For example, I don't think Spider-Man can ever be left out

[Hybrid]

I’m surprised there is even a debate. Come it’s Thor, Cap, and Ironman. If you type Marvel Big Three or Marvel Trinity pictures of those 3 pop up. Seriously go try it.

Marvel would be better categorized under “Four Pillars”:

• Fantastic Four
• Spider-Man
• X-Men
• Avengers

I can’t really say IM/Cap/Thor are the Big Three because that leaves us with three gigantic elephants in the room. Also keep in mind that the Avengers were the least popular of the four for the longest time, making it even spottier to call them that.

Again, they can't seriously be called the Marvel Trinity, only the Avengers Trinity.

[Vanguard]

I’m surprised there is even a debate. Come it’s Thor, Cap, and Ironman. If you type Marvel Big Three or Marvel Trinity pictures of those 3 pop up. Seriously go try it.

This is who I immediately thought of. Especially now with Iron Man.

[Snoop Dogg]

Mephisto
Conan
Spider-Man

[CRaymond]

Who are Marvel UK's big three?

[Electricmastro]

Who are Marvel UK's big three?

Maybe Captain Britain, Death's Head, and Killpower.

[CRaymond]

Maybe Captain Britain, Death's Head, and Overkill.

Never heard of Overkill. Headed to Google.

Overkill was an anthology series?

[Electricmastro]

Never heard of Overkill. Headed to Google.

Overkill was an anthology series?

Ah, meant to say Killpower, though then again, Motormouth was the star of her own book before becoming co-star with him. Dark Angel had her own book too.

[phantom1592]

Marvel would be better categorized under “Four Pillars”:

I can’t really say IM/Cap/Thor are the Big Three because that leaves us with three gigantic elephants in the room. Also keep in mind that the Avengers were the least popular of the four for the longest time, making it even spottier to call them that.

Yep, that's the first thing I thought too. Iron Man has had a pretty good run since MCU, can't deny that... but his books were TERRIBLE for decades. Writers didn't have a clue what to do with him and he bottomed out a few times... up to 'replacing him with Teen Tony' and being a Kang sleepr agent... Since MCU he's been pushed to the flagship role and is the main character in a lot of cartoons and comics... but traditionally, he wasn't that popular. Same with Thor. He had his own book but wasn't huge on guest appearances and pushing the brand. The Avengers just weren't that big of deal till maybe post-Heroes Return with Busiek.

I do believe that Cap, IM and Thor are the 'Big Three' of the Avengers... and personally think any Avengers team without them is lame... but not of the whole Marvel Universe.

If I had to pick three...

Spider-man is obviously number one. He's been the flagship for decades... Any new character they released had the obligatory Spider-man appearance to basically welcome the new guy to the universe and give him the power/responsibility talk... He was even the on the Marvel productions Logo after all the cartoons in the 80's/90's He's the man.

After that... Hulk gets a LOT of love and a LOT of toys. Hulk cages, hulk fists, Hulk helicopters... odd as that is... They used to Push Hulk for anything. All the kids knew about the weakling who gets mad and turns green. A lot of it was the Bixby show... but he's had at least 3 major cartoon series that I remember off the top of my head.

After that... probably Wolverine. He guest starred EVERYWHERE. Had multiple books. Then Jackman made him a household name to compete with Downey's Stark. He was probably the most popular character there was in the 90's. Not MY favorite, but I can't deny his popularity.

It will be interesting to see where the chips fall though. I'll be very surprised if the MCU versions keep their popularity once the movies are done. Chris Evan's Cap was amazing... but how many mcu fans will keep that fire going in the comics? Deadpool? He's not a character... he's a gimmick He's the anti-comic character. Eventually the gimmick will get old. I heard a lot of people claiming it was getting old In the second movie. It wasn't fresh and new anymore... I don't think he has the staying power.

[Electricmastro]

Marvel would be better categorized under “Four Pillars”:

• Fantastic Four
• Spider-Man
• X-Men
• Avengers

I can’t really say IM/Cap/Thor are the Big Three because that leaves us with three gigantic elephants in the room. Also keep in mind that the Avengers were the least popular of the four for the longest time, making it even spottier to call them that.

Which is interesting, since I recall that X-Men used to be one of their lesser-selling titles back in the 60s, though indeed, Claremont contributions, the cartoons, and the movies really did help with that. Though, were Fantastic Four always significantly more popular than Avengers? I would have figured their cartoons, both as a team and separate, would have helped out as well.

[Electricmastro]

Iron Man has had a pretty good run since MCU, can't deny that... but his books were TERRIBLE for decades. Writers didn't have a clue what to do with him and he bottomed out a few times...

I disagree. I still contend that Dennis O'Neil's run on Iron Man from 1982-1986 was consistently interesting. Added quite a bit to the character I felt.