Batmania
From Jesse Richards — a huge Batman Fan
“Batman was arguably always the most popular superhero in popular culture, at least since the 1960s TV show. There were moments when his popularity was eclipsed — for example, the 1978 Superman movie probably made Superman more popular. But Batman was soon back on top, and it was all over once the 1989 Batman movie came out. The merchandise boom associated with that movie assured that Batman would forever be the superhero most constantly in the public’s eye.
In the comics, Batman always had the most simultaneous titles, except in the early ’90s when the number of X-Men and Spider-Man titles exploded. Batman soon caught up and surpassed them. (In the 2011 “New52” launch, for example, there were 11 titles in the Bat-family, more than any other character, even the X-Men.)
There have also been near-constant Batman animated shows on the air ever since the classic 1992 series started.
If I had to rank the worldwide popularity of characters now, it would be:
- Batman
- Spider-Man
- Superman
- Wolverine
- Hulk
- Iron Man
- X-Men
- Captain America
- Wonder Woman
- Robin”
