Most Popular Characters outside our nerd realm ?

[Mr. Zipper]

Actually, now that I think about it, the same reasons that he's not too popular with comics fans these days are probably the reasons he's so huge outside our little world. He's a bit of a cipher: generic enough to be distilled into a simple visual, and malleable enough to fit any medium, any generation, any message.

 

Very astute. This is why I agree 100%.

 

Also, from a visual iconic perspective, Superman and Batman are probably the only two that have worldwide recognition from their symbol alone.

[Speedy-D]

O yeah, I forgot about Archie. He's huge.

[rjpb]

My girls are Archie fans (more specifically Betty and Veronica), but I'm not sure how well known he is among the non-comic reading world at large, as he has no real presence outside comics.

 

I asked them to name any Superheroes they could think of and my nine year old could only think of Batman and Spiderman in that order without pondering the question.

 

My thirteen year old immediately thought of Kick- A ss, but only because she saw the movie on the weekend. Otherwise it was Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Spider-man ( in that order). She apparently forgot about Iron Man, even though she mentioned she wanted to see IM2 after seeing the trailer.

 

They both read comics, but their tastes run to Archie, Little Lulu, Tin Tin and Uncle Scrooge, and I have no Superhero posters, figures or T-shirts to influence their ability to name any, and if they see me reading comics, it is unlikely to be a super-hero book.

 

So from this highly unscientific sampling, I'd say that Batman is the best known, followed by Spidey.

 

 

[littlebill]

i think spidey is king at this point. was in a comic shop the other day and my fiances six year old daughter was screaming spiderman. she doesnt even know superman and he has been around her as much as spidey with all my collectables. for me im going with snake plisken. that character is right at the top of my personal list.