Barely even 5 years ago, Marvel's popularity list was pretty simple.

1. Spider-Man

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2. Wolverine

3. Hulk I guess..

4. Etc

But ever since Iron Man, and by extension, the Avengers, came around, he seems to be lacking in exposure. Do you think the unthinkable has happened - Spider-Man has been eclipsed by another character in popularity?! It's probably a toss up between Iron Man, Wolverine, and our own friendly neighborhood at the moment. But do you think Spider-Man has been usurped as the Marvel flagship character?

No Spidey isn't the top dog right now. In terms of worldwide popularity Iron Man has him beat

Ironman and Captain America are now Marvels top dogs

Yes he is. In another five years? Don't know.

In terms of comics, Spiderman man still outsells anything Marvel has by a long shot.

The movies are a little different. The MCU kicked off in 2008 and until 2012 we didn't have a Spiderman movie while we had 5 MCU movies. And as good as TASM is, the Avengers was better. Iron Man is really popular now when it comes to movies.

I personally think its probably even. I still love Spiderman more than anyone in Marvel by a long shot and I know many who feel the same (my dad has a Spiderman vinyl on the hood of his car...:D ). But I know a lot of people who don't read comics or watch cartoons that think Iron Man is their flag ship character.

I think we'll know more in 5 years, as Spiderman has 3 more movies coming out along and the Avengers 3 will probably be out by 2018.

I will say that Spiderman by himself will compete with the entire MCU in terms of box office. He might not win, but he'll make plenty of money. I think that says something too.

Much of Iron Man's popularity comes from Robert Downey Jr. I doubt he would still be as high without him whereas actors for Spider-Man are easily replaceable.

Another good point. Spiderman is a character like Batman. People will always go see the movie regardless of the actor playing him. But will people be just as happy to see another Iron Man? Only time will tell.

Spidey is still TOP DAWG but Logan and Stark are on his tail. Spidey is barely winning but he's winning dammit.

-m3th.O.D.-

This. Thanks to Superior Spider-man and RDJ portrayal of Stark Spider-man's popularity has dimmed. However he's still Marvel's most profititable character and more universally known.

Iron Man has taken over because Marvel is trying to push the MCU as much as possible. Spiderman is up their with Superman and Batman as characters who stay universally known.

Hah, hell no Iron man has taken that position. Spider-Man I would say is in second.

It doesn't help they are trying to kill every Peter.

I think most armchair (or should I say Cinema fans) of Spider-Man would be relatively unaware/uncaring of the whole Superior Spider-Man shizz, as long as Slott's ideas don't impact on the cinematic universe, and if the Marvel Movies universe has taught me anything, its that the opposite of this usually happens- at least in Spider-Man's case. I actually think that its the Marvel Animated Universe that probably has a bigger bearing on Spider-Man's popularity than Superior Spider-Man, which is guaranteed readers because its Spider-Man.

Of course bringing up Animated shows means bringing in Ultimate Spider-Man. And all I'm going to say on that is that Loeb and Bendis are planning a season three.............. (Insert appropriate trolling GIF)

@theacidskull: this....................................

It's tricky because you have movie fan opinions then you have comicbook fan opinions. For comicbook fans (who are of course also movie fans) Spiderman is still at least near the top (unless they hate Parker dying in most stories) but for movie-only fans he's probably more of an after thought at this point

@laflux: Spider-Man has "Ultimate Spider-Man." Iron Man has "Avengers Assemble" since he is the star of the show (or so I heard.)

Which adds to the debate, Spider-Man has his own solo series where their basically promoting obscure characters. Iron Man is sharing TV time with his fellow Avengers. Wolverine doesn't have a cartoon on right now.

Spider-Man is still Top Dawg Dammit!

-m3th.O.D.-

Yeah, he is. Though not to the non-comic reading audience.

In fairness, Slott isn't trying to destroy Spider-Man, he's just taking the stories in a different direction for a while. He's a massive Spider-Man fan so Peter's inevitably coming back either by the end of Slott's run or soon into his successor's.

@theacidskull: Its funny you said that because issue 700 of Amazing Spider-Man is right behind him.

He definitely is. IIRC he was on one of the early Invincibly Super Massive podcasts in which he made it pretty clear that he loves Spider-Man. Doing something controversial to a character doesn't mean they don't like said character, especially since this change is so obviously temporary.

Create an interesting storyline that a lot of people enjoy? I don't get how you can tell somebody that they aren't a fan of something

@theacidskull: I don't see how this is so damaging to Spider-Man lore, its one or two years of a more ruthless Spider-Man that isn't Peter with a hell of a lot more story potential. Hulk was drastically changed for three or four years (can't quite remember) by having Joe Fixit instead of Savage. People (including you and me) enjoy that run and don't believe it to be damaging Hulk lore. This change isn't all that different to Hulk's.

Lol wat. Plenty of people are obviously interested given the sales and positive feedback. I grew up with Spider-Man and I love Superior. Slott did not sh*t all over Peter and the reason why he killed him off in such a disrespectful way is because it's not permanent. He wants Peter's return to mean something when it does happen.

@theacidskull: I disagree with you on a lot of things but I do agree that Peter risking a child's life was completely ridiculous and out of character.

@theacidskull: Peter David had three or four years of writing Joe Fixit, Dan Slott has yet to write Spider-Ock for one. Plus, many people able to look past the lack of Peter (which I'm not particularly happy about either by the way) have been thoroughly enjoying Superior. We've yet to see the rest of Slott's plans and as far as we know, all of your problems with the way Peter has been treated could be addressed when the situation is resolved and he returns.

Also, I read somewhere that the only reason Peter David took on Incredible Hulk after his Spider-Man run was because of Joe Fixit. IIRC He thought that he couldn't write Savage Hulk as well as other characters due to the (at the time) one-dimensional aspect of the character. Also, the fact that Banner had and unstable mind before Fixit didn't exactly prepare people for a Hulk so drastically different.

I say it's:

1. Iron Man

2. Spider-Man

3. Captain America

4. Hulk

5. Wolverine

Overall

1. Superman

2. Batman

3. Spider-Man

At Marvel

1. Spider-Man

2. Wolverine

3. Iron-Man

4. Hulk

5.Captain America

Spidey will always be on top once ironmans movies are over he is going to drop a bit

@theacidskull: You seem to have changed your point to a slightly more just one IMO so I'll stop now to avoid derailing the thread further.

Although, just to clarify, the four years of Joe Fixit I was referring to were before the return of Savage.

@theacidskull: Your no longer saying that Slott is destroying Spider-Man's character nor are you saying that he is lying about his opinion on Spider-Man. If I'm wrong and you are still maintaining those points I can't be bothered to continue this discussion anyway.

(Also, apologies if I came across rude, I'm not in the best of moods at the moment and I'm pretty sure that was reflected in my replies)

Iron Man's popularity ends with the films. He doesn't come close to Spider-Man in any other form of media. Spider-Man, Wolverine and arguably the Hulk are still the top dogs of Marvel in my opinion.

@deranged_midget: I agree. Iron Man comics got a bump after Civil War, but they have never had massive sales.

Hmm. I guess it's a tie between him and Tony. But I think Spidey may be still above him.

In terms of popularity and icon status Spider-man is still above any other Marvel character.

In fact I'd say Batman is the only comic character more popular ATM. Superman would be about equal.