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. At any given time Robin(Nightwing), Green Lantern, Flash, even Harlequin now, others, might have sold or garnered attention beyond Wonder Woman.

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 to the Silver Age, and then beyond. During their transition to the Silver Age which saw reboots/reinventions of several characters, those three remained not just in publication, but as implicitly 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 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 Godan Age, and 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 more arbitrary, and always shifting, what you once grew up with, or is now currently trending.
Or as others indicate represented in team brands: FF, Avengers, X-Men, etc ....


Solo: Spider-Man, _______, _______?, Fill in at any given time, Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine, Daredevil, Iron-Man, and today for a beat it's Deadpool , etc....

Winners: Human Torch, Captain America, Namor

Avengers: Captain America, Iron-Man, Thor

Once upon a time Deffenders: (yet I doubt anyone today view them as a leading trio)

What's peripherally more interesting at least from a character point, is Marvel's big 3 Avengers, are actually more analogues to 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.

 

[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.

 

[DeadlyWest]

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- The Boisterous - The 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 Marvel chose rep their Spirit of 76

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 having their own Live Action TV presence
1977- Spider-Man (TV series
1978 - Hulk TV series
1979 live-action TV Movies:: Captain America and Captain America II Death to Soon.

 

[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]

1990s bizarre movie (look it up) portrayal of the Marvel Bullpen. While there is art everywhere (besides Stan Lee himself ), Wolverine, Goblin, She-Hulk, Venom, it's curious who they still chose to most prominently rep Marvel...

 

[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.