DC has their Big Three, who are Marvel's Big THree?

[Breogan]

Marvel has no Trinity in the same way DC has, it's a somewhat disingenuous parallel being drawn here.
DC's trinity is not necessarily about the most popular, best selling, most powerful, at any given time, Robin(Nightwing), Green Lantern, Flash, even Harlequin now, others, might have sold or garnered attention beyond Wonder Woman for eg.

DC have a so-called Trinity, "Big-3", because specifically three of their characters from the Golden Age, who had some of the first self named titles, and for the most part remained in constant publication, through the Golden Age to the Silver Age, and then beyond.
Significantly during their transition from Golden to Silver Age which saw other character get reboots/reinventions (Flash, Green lantern, The Hawks, Atom, etc.), those three; Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, remained not just in publication, but as implicitly the same characters.
That is: (Clark Kent), (Bruce Wayne), (Princess Diana /Prince).
Hence the Trinity moniker, and why they are often celebrated as such, and put forth as the longest running face of DC.

This will never change. Since it's not just a popularity signifier, not sales, not a power, it's a historic one.
They are and will remain the only characters who did that, that makes them DC's Trinity / Big - 3.

Marvel really has no analogues Golden Age characters embodying that same historical transition / longevity.
The closest analogues might be Captain America, Namor, and Human Torch (though he was re-invented), and no one is putting Namor or Android Torch at the top past the Golden Age, so you have to look elsewhere.
Further most of Marvel's creative boon, and current popular characters have no precursors in the Golden Age, and actually emerged in the Silver to Bronze Age, Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron-Man, Wolverine, etc. Further they don't now form, or ever did represent or were published as an ongoing Trinity.
So what you are left to gauge is a random my favorite 3 popularity contest, which is more arbitrary, and always shifting, what you once grew up with, or is now currently trending, will always depend on who and when you asked, and constantly be changing.

For the most you will get:
Spider-Man, _______, _______? and fill in the two blanks of who was most popular to anyone at any given time - Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine, Daredevil, Iron-Man, and today for a beat it's Deadpool , etc.
It's an always changing meaningless popularity contest, depending when and who you ask, because Marvel has no meaningful established Trinity, the way DC has.

Golden Age:
Winners: Human Torch, Captain America, Namor, yet none would put them forth today.

Avengers: Captain America, Iron-Man, Thor

Yet at any given time Spider-Man, Hulk, or then Wolverine, were just as or become more popular or significant than any those three individually.

Remember this push Deffenders: (yet I doubt anyone today view them as a leading trio)

1966 who got the first push on TV.... There wasn't three, there was 5...
Which two will you ignore?

Then followed quickly by Spider-Man, first to get his own cartoon show.

Likely their most valuable "Brands" are Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, yet even if you agree on who the face of those "Brands" are, they rarely operated on the same team, the way DC'a Trinity have, so again you are repurposing something DC has innately, and imposing it onto Marvel.

 

[lenz]

Marvel has no Trinity in the same way DC has, it's a somewhat disingenuous parallel being drawn here.

DC have a so-called Trinity, Big-3, because three of their characters from the Golden Age, for the most part remained in constant publication, with their own titles through to the Silver Age, and then beyond, and during their transition to the Silver Age which saw reboots/reinventions of several characters, those three implicitly remained in publication and as the same characters.
That is: Superman (Clark Kent), Batman (Bruce Wayne), Wonder Woman (Princess Diana /Prince)
Hence the Trinity moniker, and why they are often celebrated as such, and put forth as the longest running face of DC.
This will never change, since it's not just a popularity signifier, it's a historic one. They are the only characters who did that, that makes them the Trinity / Big - 3.

Marvel really has no analogues Golden Age characters embodying that same historical transition / longevity.
The closest analogues might be Captain America, Namor, and Human Torch (though he was implicitly re-invented), so you have to look elsewhere.
Further most of their creative boon, and current popular characters actually emerged in the Silver to Bronze Age, They don't now form, or ever did represent an ongoing Trinity.
So what you are left to gauge is a popularity contest, which is always shifting.


Solo: Spider-Man, Wolverine, and

Avengers: Captain America, Iron-Man, Thor

Once upon a time Deffenders:

What's interesting is Marvel's big 3 Avengers, are analogues to the villains of DC's big 3
1. The Mythic/God supernatural enhanced 2. The experiment Super Soldier strength Serum enhanced 3. The self-made Super Genius Tech armor enhanced.

If we're asked to draw parallels, it can still be an interesting exercise to play out despite the different history. It's not apples to apples, but in Marvel's case, its the franchises/ip moreso than just individual characters that we can measure beyond popularity alone, or more specifically what's most current/flavor of the month. If we choose to view it like this.

The key is to try and find a context that works. To not fall into the trap of recency bias, or the trap of living in the past too much, and assuming longer history = greater popularity. We've seen how a movie's performance, or lack thereof, can come as a great surprise to many.

 

[BatsAndNights]

This thread was started in 2006. Absolutely wild how much has changed since then in terms of popularity with characters.

Tbh you say that but 2006 was basically just Spider-Man, Wolverine and Hulk. Now it's Spider-Man, Wolverine and Iron Man lmao

if anything it astounds me that with how much Marvel has changed, the big three has changed very little

 

[Breogan]

We all know who it really is:

Though now that they are at Disney, they have 3 rivals...

The Dashing one- The Boisterous one- The brooding irritable one

 

[Babillygunn]

We all know who it really is:

Though now that they are at Disney, they have 3 rivals...

- The Dashing- The Boisterous - The irritable one

On an unrelated note: one of the family traditions we have is to always ride the Three Caballeros ride at Mexico in the Epcot World Showcase because it never has a line and you get to hear Donald Duck say “hiya toots” to a pretty lady walking down a street.

 

[BoredGuy]

On an unrelated note: one of the family traditions we have is to always ride the Three Caballeros ride at Mexico in the Epcot World Showcase because it never has a line and you get to hear Donald Duck say “hiya toots” to a pretty lady walking down a street.

See Donald Duck is doing Hot Ones for his 90th anniversary? Lol
I look forward to hearing him curse up a storm when Da Bomb hits...

 

[Breogan]

See Donald Duck is doing Hot Ones for his 90th anniversary? Lol
I look forward to hearing him curse up a storm when Da Bomb hits...

Bring Panchito, he'd likely breeze through every chile picante!, while Donald melts into a puddle.

On an unrelated note: one of the family traditions we have is to always ride the Three Caballeros ride at Mexico in the Epcot World Showcase because it never has a line and you get to hear Donald Duck say “hiya toots” to a pretty lady walking down a street.

Love that ride.
They should make a rival rainbow to Asgard ride somewhere between Norway and Germany pavilion, staring the Warriors Three, in full debauchery....

We're Three Asgardians, Three Braveass Guardians
We'll remain Warrior brothers forever.
Whenever the need shows, Wherever the mead goes,
The one, two and three goes, we're always together.

 

[Breogan]

Again Marvel never had a big three, and tended to mix it up and always put several characters froward, (plenty of product to prove it)....
1966 these Five all featured prominently in a shared cartoon bloc.


They each had their own segments:
Hulk
Iron-Man
Namor
Thor
Captain America

And by 67 Spider-Man got his own cartoon.


Followed in 67 Fantastic Four had a cartoon with Hanna Barbera.

Through to 1970's these three tended to be showcased as top at Marvel branding and merch Marvel put out there:

Spoiler: Image Heavy

Interesting in 1976, many IPs branded a 76 themed product line, to celebrate the year, who their trinity was obvious to anyone, and still are to this day.
Yet who Marvel chose to rep their Spirit of 76, was obvious to anyone then, yet has since fluctuated.

Mego 12" line:

Though Mego with the 8" line really opened it up, to represent the World's Greatest Heroes they went with:
Spider-Man (and his villains), Captain America & Falcon, Hulk, Iron-Man, Thor, the FF, & Conan was strongly associated with e Marvel brand.

Culminating in each having their own Live Action TV presence
1977- Spider-Man (TV series
1978 - Hulk TV series
1979 Captain America and Captain America II (live-action TV Movies::

With attempts at DD and Thor spin-offs

Again, with Marvel, as soon as you myopically narrow it down to (your) three you grew up with, or are currently trending, you are artificially ignoring the legacy of others, and imposing something that never was definative on to Marvel, just cause DC always had it.
And also you are ignoring or misunderstanding the reason why, and what it actually meant at DC.
Marvel does not inatley have that.

 

[The Caped Knight]

Marvel has been promoting Captain America, Iron Man and Thor as the big three since the 60s

 

[lenz]

Marvel has been promoting Captain America, Iron Man and Thor as the big three since the 60s

Big 3 of the Avengers. Cap was the first true Marvel icon and Thor was known outside of Marvel from Norse Mythology. Iron Man was/is part of the Avengers in the comics, so they paired him in the animation projects as well. Namor was the oldest Marvel character since they reinvented Torch. Understandable why they would choose to use these characters in the mid-sixties to potentially attract a wider audience.

That said, the following year we all know what animation series launched. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

I'd say Spider-man, X-men, and Avengers are the big three brands, with Spider-man (duh), Wolverine, and Iron-man serving as the face of each of those brands.

 

[lenz]

I'd say Spider-man, X-men, and Avengers are the big three brands, with Spider-man (duh), Wolverine, and Iron-man serving as the face of each of those brands.

This is where popularity, history, and iconography becomes murkey when talking about these lists. I have a hard time saying Iron Man is the face of the Avengers ( or brand if you will), because Cap is still more iconic IMHO. I'd argue, not just historically, but in these films, he was the leader, the soul of the Avengers.

They were building up to his iconic rallying cry in the films, finally punctuated in Endgame.

You can argue for both really, the films were such landmarks in popular culture that it's easy to weight everything more substantially towards the MCU.

 

[lenz]

 

[Mr. Peanut]

This is where popularity, history, and iconography becomes murkey when talking about these lists. I have a hard time saying Iron Man is the face of the Avengers ( or brand if you will), because Cap is still more iconic IMHO. I'd argue, not just historically, but in these films, he was the leader, the soul of the Avengers.

They were building up to his iconic rallying cry in the films, finally punctuated in Endgame.

You can argue for both really, the films were such landmarks in popular culture that it's easy to weight everything more substantially towards the MCU.

Fair points. Maybe it just needs to be the Big 4, then. Spider-man, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Captain America.

 

[Breogan]

1970s-

to 1990s bizarre movie (look it up) portrayal of the Marvel Bullpen. While (besides Stan Lee himself ) there is art everywhere, more contemporary characters, Wolverine, She-Hulk, Venom, etc. it's telling who they still chose to most prominently frame, identify and rep Marvel for the general audience at the time.

After more than a decade of X then CinimaticU, few would now have Hulk on there.
Again Marvel never had a Trinity the way DC do it's always changed.

 

[Burrunman]

Spider-Man, Wolverine and honestly the third one is a bit difficult to pick out? I'd probably agree with most here that it is the Hulk, but even then you could make just as compelling a case for Iron Man, or Captain America in all honesty. Marvel to be honest don't have the same dynamic with its heroes that DC did. Spidey for instance is not a member of any big superhero team the same way Batman, Superman and WW were for the JL. Sure he's joined them at times, but not the same way.

 

[Breogan]

In some alternate spaghetti-verse, Marvel's "big" three are these guys.
Who for a sec. while no one was looking, temporarily borrowed the Ant-Van with Quantum-Time-Generator, and hopped around the timeline like Peter Potamus & Soso "fixing" (messing up) things, in their favor, in a continualy failed attempt to inevitably make themselves Marvel's Trinity.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Comics and Films historically offer different 'Three's' where Marvel are concerned.

Box office for the 'popular' names changed with the introduction of the MCU following the separate Marvel films in the 2000's.

Popularity in periods of time and era's will always vary in any decade but Spider-Man has always been popular to the masses but certainly the MCU has opened up the reading of comics to the GA & the mainstream.

DC has and I think always will be Superman, Batman & WW both in film & comic books.

 

[psylockolussus]

I will agree whoever said Marvel doesn't have a big three. It's hard to narrow it down to 3 when these ips- Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man have branched out in different mediums. There are also other characters that have also made it big at the box office and appearing in videogames. Its really not that simple/specific as DC's big 3.

 

[WBHULK]

Well if you are talking Big 3 in terms of power from each verse. For Marvel right now Id have to say Its Hulk Thor and Venom. All 3 have shown Power levels at Ridiculous levels. DC its their Big 3