The 50 Best Marvel Characters

[LadyVader]

lay off Gambit, Corp. He's having a horrible year.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, why not just top it off with his death? That way you won't have to see him put through the wringer anymore and I won't have to worry about his existence anymore. We'll all be happy.

No, No, No. Just as I did with Doc Destruction's suggestion, each member nominates one. Someone said Wolverine, I put up Gambit, Phaed just tossed in Taskmaster (good choice) and you, picking ONE.

Ok, I'll stick up for the little guy. I nominate Dane Whitman, the Black Knight.

 

[Genesis 1.0]

Nah, I wanna see him shove more exploding cards in Sabertooth's mouth and knocking him out.

 

[LadyVader]

Well, why not just top it off with his death? That way you won't have to see him put through the wringer anymore and I won't have to worry about his existence anymore. We'll all be happy.

Ok, I'll stick up for the little guy. I nominate Dane Whitman, the Black Knight.

I should know better then to look for sympathy on the hype.

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

I nominate MAGNETO.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I should know better then to look for sympathy on the hype.

After three years here? Yeah, you really should.

I kid, I kid. Um... don't feel bad? It's not your fault that Gambit's a crappy character...?

 

[gildea]

I appreciate what this guy is doing with this list. Let's face it - comicbooks are inherently absurb and ridiculous things. Much of his list here are characters who embrace absurdity, and make it so that the absurdity is not only cool, but incredible. Characters like Silver Surfer and Galactus are inherently ridiculous, yet because their very essence embraces their ridiculousness, they are cool again.

I like that he did this with his list. It's not about who's popular, who sells well, and who's an ass-kicker. It's all, one-hundred percent about characters who remind us that we are reading comicbooks.

Great point.

I tip my hat to you.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

My boy Colossus made list, awesome.

 

[Smirnoff]

MODOK beat out Captain America?! I don't like that list.

 

[ssj wolverine]

Where the #!@^& is Thor and Apocalypse ? Talk about biaseness. You have J. Jonah Jameson but not Thor ? Why not add the tailor that presses Tony Stark's suits ?

 

[ookami]

Ok because you have aunt may on here your other choices are tarnished Also the only interesting sabertooth is the exile one.

The Aunt May thing was a joke...like the list. Exile Sabre? babysitting kids becoming a father figure...please, I remember a time when he was a rampaging snarling animal..ah the times have changed.

 

[Brainiac 8]

I don't know, but if I had to guess, I think it's because the list is not solely coming from a perspective of "who's the greatest character in a shakespearean sense." But rather, elements of coolness or the appreciation of absurdity also came in to play. It's the "Snakes on a Plane" factor. There's no other way to explain Swarm's presense.

Your probably right, but Ego? How many people actually know who he is, yet alone think he's cool. He is a planet with a face!

Ok everyone...point and laugh.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

Adam Warlock, Pip, Black Widow and Banshee. I think number 1 would have to be Jean Grey even if you don't like the character. Look at her history and all that has happened to her.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

So she'd be the best character because a lot of stuff's happened to her? Wow, I guess Cable must blow everyone else put together out of the water, then.

 

[rigel7soldiers]

Your probably right, but Ego? How many people actually know who he is, yet alone think he's cool. He is a planet with a face!

Ok everyone...point and laugh.

Ego looks like Charlton Heston, sorta. It's weird how he got his ass beat by ROM that one time, even though he's an entire planet and shut.

 

[Kotagg]

Gambit is the most interesting X-Man out there, as far as I'm concerned. Everyone else is chump change.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

I don't know, but if I had to guess, I think it's because the list is not solely coming from a perspective of "who's the greatest character in a shakespearean sense." But rather, elements of coolness or the appreciation of absurdity also came in to play. It's the "Snakes on a Plane" factor. There's no other way to explain Swarm's presense.

The list is bull**** and is simply based on popularity, one reason I can tell is that I know every character on that list. It's just a popularity contest.

 

[Genesis 1.0]

Maybe it's just me, but Ego and Madok just to name two off the top of my head, aren't very popular.

 

[Johnny Blaze]

The list is bull**** and is simply based on popularity, one reason I can tell is that I know every character on that list. It's just a popularity contest.

It's a popularity contest with MODOK, Swarm, and Ego on it?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Dude, Swarm is more popular than Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man combined. Nazi. ****ing. Bees. Come on.

 

[Johnny Blaze]

Dude, Swarm is more popular than Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man combined. Nazi. ****ing. Bees. Come on.

I know. I'm just living in denial is all.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Look at the other 47, come on. So they have 3 semi obscure characters. The list is crap.

 

[Roughneck]

Swarm?

 

[XFanTim]

50. Kraven the Hunter, Sergei Kravinoff
49. Juggernaut, Cain Marko
48. The Sub-Mariner, Prince Namor McKenzie
47. Marvel Girl, Jean Grey
46. Swarm, Fritz von Meyer
45. Black Bolt, Blackagar Boltagon
44. Loki Lauyefson
43. Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze
42. Professor X, Charles Xavier
41. Quicksilver, Pietro Maximoff
40. Kingpin, Wilson Fisk
39. Doctor Octopus, Otto Octavius
38. Green Goblin, Norman Osborn
37. Red Skull, Johann Schmidt
36. She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters
35. Colossus, Piotr Nikolevitch Rasputin
34. Shadowcat, Kitty Pryde
33. Cyclops, Scott Summers
32. Havok, Alex Summers
31. Luke Cage
30. Black Widow, Natasha Romanova
29. Beast, Henry McCoy
28. The Multiple Man, Jamie Madrox
27. Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd
26. Ultron
25. Captain Britain, Brian Braddock
24. Iron Man, Tony Stark
23. The Punisher, Frank Castle
22. Ego the Living Planet
21. Nightcrawler, Kurt Wagner
20. Annihilus, the Living Death that Walks
19. Deadpool, Wade Wilson
18. Captain America, Steve Rogers
17. Fin Fang Foom
16. Daredevil, Matt Murdock
15. J Jonah Jameson
14. Kang the Conqueror, Nathaniel Richards
13. Beta Ray Bill
12. Doctor Stephen Strange
11. Wolverine, Logan
10. MODOK, George Tarleton
09. Nick Fury
08. Emma Frost
07. Black Panther, T'Challa
06. The Hulk, Bruce Banner
05. Thing, Ben Grimm
04. Galactus, Devourer of Worlds
03. Magneto, Magnus
02. Spider-Man, Peter Parker
01. Doctor Victor Von Doom

#1-#7 aren't too bad -- after that, it all pretty much goes to hell. Emma frost, the 8th best Marvel character? MODOK, then 10th best character? What the hell were they smoking.

How about this for a top 30 heroes, in no particular order:
Spider-Man
Captain America
Black Panther
Silver Surfer
Thor
The Hulk
Iron Man
Dr. Strange
Mr. Fantastic
The Thing
Invisible Woman
Human Torch
Daredevil
Jean Grey
Wolverine
Iceman
Storm
Namor
The Vision
Captain Mar-vell
The Punisher
She-Hulk
Shadowcat
Adam Warlock
Ghost Rider
Quasar
Nick Fury
Black Bolt
Captain Britain
Deadpool (maybe I should count him as a villain, but this way the list is a nice round number)


For the top 20 villains (again in no particular order), I'd have:
Dr. Doom
Magneto
Galactus (not exactly a villain but ought to be on their somewhere)
Loki
Thanos
Kang
Mephisto
Red Skull
Taskmaster
Green Goblin
Doctor Octopus
Juggernaut
Dormammu
Kingpin
Apocalypse
Ultron
Nightmare
Dracula
Mr. Sinister
Sabretooth

I'm sure I've left off someone obvious, but if you throw those together in some order you'd have a decent list of 50.

And I realize those are mostly "popular", well-established characters, but I figure someone has to have been around for a while to really have established themselves as an all-time great Marvel character. There are some characters I like, but who just haven't done enough to qualify. Multiple Man, great character, but what has he done outside of Peter David's two X-Factor runs? Blink is one of my favorite current characters, but until Exiles she was basically a nobody. The biggest johnny-come-lately I listed was probably Deadpool, who I mostly included because he's one of the few genuinely funny villain/anti-heros Marvel has.

 

[XFanTim]

Look at the other 47, come on. So they have 3 semi obscure characters. The list is crap.

It's funny, because I had almost the opposite objection. I think a list of the 50 greatest should be big-name, iconic characters. (There's a reason everyone knows them afterall.) It's like they were trying too hard to shun "obvious" choices like Thor in favor of random losers like MODOK.