Primary colors make you more Heroic? - Gen. Discussion

Posted by friendlyNeighborhoodSpidey (20 posts) - 3 months, 8 days ago - Show Bio

Just had a random thought. Are the most popular, long-lasting characters seen as more heroic because they use primary colors? Or does it have more to do with the time they were created? Let's see...(I'm in a listing mood :) )...

Primary colors

Superman - Red and blue
Wonder Woman - Red, blue, yellow
Captain America - Red and blue
Spider-Man - Red and blue
Iron Man - Red and yellow
Red Tornado - Red, blue, yellow
Scarlet Witch - Red
Doctor Fate - Yellow and blue
Batman (heroic) - Blue
Robin (modern) - Red and yellow
Wolverine (original) - Yellow and blue
Fantasic Four - Blue
Deadpool - Red
X-Men (team uniforms) - Yellow, then yellow and blue
Collossus - Red and yellow
Nightcrawler - Red
Ant-Man - Red and blue

Secondary colors

Green Lantern - Green
Green Arrow - Green
Hulk - Green
She-hulk - Green and purple
Aquaman - Purple and green
Hawkeye - Purple
Wolverine (later) - brown, tan
Apache Chief - Green
Psylocke - Purple

Both

Vision - Green, red and yellow
Magneto - Purple and red
Robin (orig) - Red, yellow and green
Rogue - Yellow and green
Jean Grey (Phoenix) - Yellow and green

Shades of Gray

Batman (anti-hero) - black
Punisher - black and white
Storm - black
Black Panther - black

#1 Posted by friendlyNeighborhoodSpidey (20 posts) - 3 months, 8 days ago - Show Bio

So, taking a look at my list...it's interesting to see how costume colors change with characters. Robin losing the secondary color when he's a stronger, more independent character. But when a new Robin emerges they start with green again. Wolverine loses the primary colors and becomes a darker anti-hero. Batman, too, goes to shades of gray.

It does seem, at least from this list, the more heroic characters are mostly in the primary color category. And are they the most popular/iconic?

#2 Posted by lightsout (730 posts) - 3 months, 8 days ago - Show Bio

Hmm...that is interesting to think about (though, Green is primary if we're going by light (as opposed to Magenta, Cyan & Yellow - for pigments)). Whenever I've used any of the online character-creators out there, I do always feel there's only certain colors I can use (to make the person a "proper" hero).

(If I can be picky, Batman - while rough & dark - isn't really an anti-hero. Anti-hero generally refers to someone who is out for themselves (rather than protecting others) & and "good" gets done as a byproduct of their own selfish actions (ie: if the people they kill were monstrous villains, they did "good" by removing them from society, but they didn't do it with the intent of protecting innocent people)).