Who is the most popular Marvel Character in the MCU?

As we near the end of Phase 4 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania on the horizon for Phase 5 , it seems like a good time to discuss who the most popular Marvel character. Don’t forget, when Iron Man was first announced not everyone outside the comicbook community knew who he was and now he is synonymous with the Marvel comic book movies. Since then we have been introduced to many different heroes, villians and supporting characters both on the big screen and on various TV shows and cartoons. How do you choose your favourite character? They look cool, thye remind you of different aspects of yourself, they have had some incredible battles, or the story they were involved in grabbed you. I know many people loved what they did with Captain America, especially in The Winter Solder movie.

What makes a good comic book superhero or villain?

If there was a definitive answer we would have no problem making our own comic books. Obviously, you need good writing and art work as the base. However, a cool costume always helps and the basic character of the hero – their alter ego – goes a long way. If they are relatable then people will want to see more of them. Or you go to the extreme opposite and make them incredibly powerful and vicious and then people want to see what they will do next.

Uncovering people’s favourite Marvel character can be an ambivalent debate, until now. ComparetheMarket.com.au has found the most popular characters in the MCU by a unanimous vote. While it is based on what has been searched for it does give us a snapshot of the current character zeitgeist.

Let us take a look at the top three.

Unsurprisingly Spider-Man is at the top. He has long been one of Marvel’s most-liked characters, mainly because of both Spider-Man and Peter Parker. The costume looks great, the power set is a lot of fun, but most of all Peter Parker is relatable to many of us. We all see a little bit of ourselves in Peter Parker. Then you have Miles Morales who has been a breakout star of the Ultimate Marvel Universe. He is a diverse character done well and has proven extremely popular. The wonderful Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse introduced him to the world at large.

Next up is Thanos and it is a surprise to see a villain in the top three. However, Thanos has been a big part of the MCU with his shadow looming large throughout the first three Phases. When he finally arrived in Avengers: Infinity War we saw just how powerful he was. He has a striking look and Josh Brolin played him to perfection. The fact Infinity War focused more on Thanos was perfect as we could see that his goal was to save the Universe, but the way he was doing it was terrible. We saw the humanity behind the monster. Avengers: Endgame saw him at peace until a version earlier in the timeline brought his army to Earth.

Finally, we have Black Panther. It is no surprise that the Guardian of Wakanda is on the list. One of Marvel’s first Black Superheroes, both in the comics and on screen, he was a welcome addition to the MCU. Introducing him in Captain America: The Winter Soldier worked so well and introduced many of us to the wonderful Chadwick Boseman. You could see why he was extremely popular. The suit looked amazing. He was the King of a technologically advanced nation and Boseman gave T’Challa so much depth and gravitas. Then came his own solo film along with appearances in other MCU movies and a voice role in the What If? cartoon series. It looked like we would eventually see T’Challa lead the Avengers into battle. Sadly it was not to be as Boseman passed away. The recent Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dealt with the loss of Boseman and T’Challa and looked at the way grief effects us all.

Spider-Man and Black Panther also had some of the more recent films which, as they were already well established, had a good fan base. That could also be a factor for them being on the list. Phase 4 has introduced lots of new characters and as a whole it does not seem to have been as popular as previous Phases, but more groundwork has been laid for future projects.

Hopefully, Phase 5 will have more highs than lows. It does look promising so far. We have a new big bad in the shape of Kang (played by Jonathan Majors), a time travelling multiversal threat. We saw one aspect of him at the end of Loki Season 1, but the new version will be a world away from that. He will show up in the next Ant-Man movie and will probably be teased in the other films and shows. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will bring to a close the trilogy directed by James Gunn (we also have a Holiday special due out soon). The Marvels will see Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau begin swapping places with each other every time they use their powers. Captain America: New World Order brings Anthony Mackie’s Cap to the big screen going up against Tim Blake Nelson’s Leader (first seen in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Thunderbolts has been teased through many of the Marvel shows on Disney+ and will see a grooup of antiheroes – Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova / Black Widow, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian, and Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster – going on a mission for the government. To wrap things up we will see Mahershala Ali as Blade going up against Vampires. The recent Werewolf by Night special has introduced some of the more horror tinged aspects of the MCU so it will be good to see more of that. Around all of the films we will have various TV shows to look forward to – Secret Invasion, Echo, Loki Season 2, Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos and possibly the most exciting of all Daredevil: Born Again.

After that, we have Phase 6 which will finally bring in the Fantastic Four to the MCU. I cannot wait to see them, but it is sad we won’t get to see the team interact with Iron Man and Captain America.

The Endgame.

Having recently done a rewatch of all the MCU film I can recommend watching them in chronological order – not the release order – starting with Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and so on. Disney+ has it all set up to watch in that order if you have that streaming service. All of this means that, as well as films, there will be lots of cool collectibles based around each character. Some will be cheap and cheerful but some will be expensive prop replicas or statues of the characters. The good thing is there will something for everyone’s price range. Needless to say Spidey has many collectibles out there, as does Wolverine whose popularity is sure to explode again when Hugh Jackman returns to the role in Deadpool 3. Halloween has passed but you can still purchase a superhero costume for next year or make your own for a convention cosplay. You can even customize your home movie theatre with a Marvel theme if you have the space and the money ( if you have done that send over some photos).  Of course, if you do buy collectibles and some of the rarer items based around the MCU make that you have them insured as not all of us have the resources of Tony Stark.

Who is your favourite Marvel character from the MCU?