Most of the Avengers were C-listers. That's why Marvel couldn't sell them off like they did with the X-men, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the Punisher, and Spiderman. It's also a big reason why they're struggling so much now that we're mostly reduced to their backups and side characters.
>they're struggling
nah, it's because the movies suck now. They could definitely do something good with what they have. but they would rather be woke and broke.
The simplest proof is that when Marvel was floundering, they rushed to sell the movie rights to Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, because those were their actual flagship properties
The MCU was built on the backs of B-listers nobody wanted in 1995
Try reading the Avenger's comics for more proof. They're consistently garbage compared to the stand alone titles. It's almost embarrassing how irrelevant they are outside of shitty forced crossover events that no one wants to waste their time referencing.
>Try reading the Avenger's comics for more proof. They're consistently garbage
This. Even Iron Man's solo comic is just mid to crap for it's first few decades then has the occasional good storyline for brief periods of time.
I've been reading Marvel since the 80's. Iron Man was always C-list interesting despite being A-list promoted at times. The MCU truly was made up of the leftovers other studios didn't want to buy.
Pretty much all of the early Marvel comic runs are available digitally, go read them and see for yourself.
I'm only 26 but feel a huge cultural gap between people your age and mine, the only avenger people were familiar with was hulk and maybe captain america
People were aware of him but at the time the general comic awareness among people who didn't actively read comics was pretty much >Superman >Batman >Spider-Man >the X-men >Fantastic Four
The simplest proof is that when Marvel was floundering, they rushed to sell the movie rights to Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, because those were their actual flagship properties
The MCU was built on the backs of B-listers nobody wanted in 1995
It's crazy to think the Fantastic Four were ever huge, even if that's indisputable because they got one of the very first $100 million capeshit adaptations
Fantastic Four to Marvel as a company is what Iron Man was to capeshit movies. In the 60s they were fricking huge and if you read Lee/Kirby run right now it's very easy to see why honestly. Game of Thrones really clicked with me when I realized it's stuff GRR Martin grew up huffing, honestly I don't think of his books as books anymore, Game of Thrones is pretty much built like several intertwining comic book titles that crossover between each other and have major events.
People knew who he was, but he was boring. He was just a guy with a metal suit. RDJ breathed some real life into the character, even if he is just RDJ in a metal suit
>issue 128 >over 120 monthly issues to get to this
That's over a decade before an interesting storyline. And just of his own series, because he was around for longer than issue #1.
I guess, but not to the degree everyone says. People act like Ironman was a complete unknown, a fringe character like the Guardians or Peacemaker. He was still a major Marvel hitter part of big storylines, cartoons, games, and even saw some resurgence a few years before Ironman 1.
>People act like Ironman was a complete unknown
No, we don't. I've never seen anyone act like that, you're just being hyperbolic. He was just "there", we all knew who he was, he just wasn't interesting as a character. But he was always promoted heavily, he was always merchandized. Quit acting like you know anything you don't.
No he wasn't "promoted heavily". He was a B-lister. The Hulk had more promotion. Heck, The Phantom was more well known. Calvin and Hobbes mogged all capeshit anyways.
He's in most comics in illustrations for the Marvel Bullpen, Subscription service, etc., etc. etc.I'm reading Marvel chronologically right fricking now and yes he really is constantly fricking promoted you argumentative contrarian moron.
Every even slightly comic-adjacent guy knew him at least because the movie came off the heels of Civil War, which for better or for worse he was headlining. That had to have helped public knowledge a bit, I remember them marketing civil war like the next coming of christ. Every comic got a tie-in, like it or not. >"Whose side are you on?"
God, what a shitty event. For sure, people at least knew he existed.
Yes. Unless you were really into comic books, iron man’s most notable appearances outside of comics were his 90s cartoon and the Marvel vs Capcom series
Before the MCU, the big 3 were b listers. No one cared about Iron Man or Captain America, and Thor was a joke. The big sellers were Spider-Man and anything X-Men related.
He existed, but for a majority of the population at the time, he's a nobody. You really only knew him because of some secondary shit like the cartoon or video games, but he never had any weight.
In the 90s, not only X-men were more popular than Avengers, Wolverine single-handedly was more popular than entirety of Avengers put together. Easily. A lot of people don't realize that when Bendis (yes, that Bendis. Brian Michael Bendis. The writer. The comic book writer. He writes comics) brought in Spider-man and Wolverine to New Avengers, it wasn't just because they were his favorites, it was a direct marketing move to save the sinking Avengers ship.
Wonder Woman was more popular than Aquaman by the virtue of, well, having her own TV series in what, like 70s, and also being one of the most prominent Justice League members in the Timmverse. Her comics aren't much to write about, in fact, some of them were really bizzare.
Aquaman wasn't nearly as popular, but wasn't a joke. He was turned into a joke when boomers who grew up with Super Friends took over American TV, particularly with Bing Bang Theory forcing the meme. From within the comic book communities he was just whatever. But Aquaman sucks is just a forced meme. Also, not a lot of people know and for some reason assume that Namor is the Aquaman copycat, but it's exact opposite, Namor, when he was Submarinner was actually quite popular at the time. But because no one lived here at the time I can't tell what was the perception on the character from within the community. But from my experience, I just thought he was a guy in Justice League at the time that is sporadically interesting.
Wonder Woman was well known because she's the female one. Aquaman was known mostly for "Aquaman sucks" jokes even though Aquaman rules.
Kind of crazy how Aquaman 1 did so well
I never watched the 2nd cause I got tired of all the superhero stuff, I don't think that ever had a chance with all the crap that happened with DCEU dying off
People knew "who he was" in that they were aware he was A comic character and most people could identify him out of a line up. That's about it. If you asked what his real name was, 80% of the people wouldn't know.
Yes
Non comics guy, he was in a few games and had a 'toon int he 90's
I knew about him but very little. Aside from X-Men and Spiderman, DC had the big hitters and it's funny that they butchered it
Most of the Avengers were C-listers. That's why Marvel couldn't sell them off like they did with the X-men, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the Punisher, and Spiderman. It's also a big reason why they're struggling so much now that we're mostly reduced to their backups and side characters.
It's crazy how the turn tables.
>they're struggling
nah, it's because the movies suck now. They could definitely do something good with what they have. but they would rather be woke and broke.
The simplest proof is that when Marvel was floundering, they rushed to sell the movie rights to Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, because those were their actual flagship properties
The MCU was built on the backs of B-listers nobody wanted in 1995
I’m 21 and that’s fricking wild if true
Try reading the Avenger's comics for more proof. They're consistently garbage compared to the stand alone titles. It's almost embarrassing how irrelevant they are outside of shitty forced crossover events that no one wants to waste their time referencing.
>Try reading the Avenger's comics for more proof. They're consistently garbage
This. Even Iron Man's solo comic is just mid to crap for it's first few decades then has the occasional good storyline for brief periods of time.
I've been reading Marvel since the 80's. Iron Man was always C-list interesting despite being A-list promoted at times. The MCU truly was made up of the leftovers other studios didn't want to buy.
Pretty much all of the early Marvel comic runs are available digitally, go read them and see for yourself.
Why do you think all of those franchises were split up between Fox and Sony?
It’s literally factually true ya zoomlet
There was a time when people were bullied for reading Marvel comics.
I'm only 26 but feel a huge cultural gap between people your age and mine, the only avenger people were familiar with was hulk and maybe captain america
He was as well known as Green Lantern is now
he was my second favorite character in marvel vs capcom, but otherwise i had no knowledge of him
People were aware of him but at the time the general comic awareness among people who didn't actively read comics was pretty much
>Superman
>Batman
>Spider-Man
>the X-men
>Fantastic Four
Also the Hulk and maybe Wonder Woman
It's crazy to think the Fantastic Four were ever huge, even if that's indisputable because they got one of the very first $100 million capeshit adaptations
Fantastic Four to Marvel as a company is what Iron Man was to capeshit movies. In the 60s they were fricking huge and if you read Lee/Kirby run right now it's very easy to see why honestly. Game of Thrones really clicked with me when I realized it's stuff GRR Martin grew up huffing, honestly I don't think of his books as books anymore, Game of Thrones is pretty much built like several intertwining comic book titles that crossover between each other and have major events.
People knew who he was, but he was boring. He was just a guy with a metal suit. RDJ breathed some real life into the character, even if he is just RDJ in a metal suit
The guy in the metal suit with a drinking problem
>issue 128
>over 120 monthly issues to get to this
That's over a decade before an interesting storyline. And just of his own series, because he was around for longer than issue #1.
>The guy in the metal suit with a drinking problem
So Robert Downey Jr?
He was known, but he wasn't one of the A-listers.
That's a gross over exaggeration but it's not wrong to say that he become MORE famous afterwards all the same.
I guess, but not to the degree everyone says. People act like Ironman was a complete unknown, a fringe character like the Guardians or Peacemaker. He was still a major Marvel hitter part of big storylines, cartoons, games, and even saw some resurgence a few years before Ironman 1.
>People act like Ironman was a complete unknown
No, we don't. I've never seen anyone act like that, you're just being hyperbolic. He was just "there", we all knew who he was, he just wasn't interesting as a character. But he was always promoted heavily, he was always merchandized. Quit acting like you know anything you don't.
No he wasn't "promoted heavily". He was a B-lister. The Hulk had more promotion. Heck, The Phantom was more well known. Calvin and Hobbes mogged all capeshit anyways.
He's in most comics in illustrations for the Marvel Bullpen, Subscription service, etc., etc. etc.I'm reading Marvel chronologically right fricking now and yes he really is constantly fricking promoted you argumentative contrarian moron.
He was joked about on Seinfeld so somewhat popular. Although the show did have some obscure references.
had a good cartoon, was a fan favorite in the Marvel vs. Capcom games despite not being in the first one, and had some pretty good comisc runs.
Most people yeah.
Yes, he went from mid-carder to Main eventer status thanks to the MCU
In my nuclear family some of us knew about comics but none of us were really serious about comics.
Still I and all of my brothers knew about Iron Man.
Every even slightly comic-adjacent guy knew him at least because the movie came off the heels of Civil War, which for better or for worse he was headlining. That had to have helped public knowledge a bit, I remember them marketing civil war like the next coming of christ. Every comic got a tie-in, like it or not.
>"Whose side are you on?"
God, what a shitty event. For sure, people at least knew he existed.
Yes. Unless you were really into comic books, iron man’s most notable appearances outside of comics were his 90s cartoon and the Marvel vs Capcom series
I think I saw him show up in The Astonishing Xmen which I read at the library. Otherwise, I would have never heard of him
We've all heard of him, but we didn't care for him. Nobody cared for the Guardians of the Galaxy until they made the movie.
I knew of him from Iron Man: The Animated Series and video games.
Before the MCU, the big 3 were b listers. No one cared about Iron Man or Captain America, and Thor was a joke. The big sellers were Spider-Man and anything X-Men related.
only knew of him cause there was a cartoon version of Iron Man on in the mornings that i never really watched
I knew him from the Black Sabbath song.
He existed, but for a majority of the population at the time, he's a nobody. You really only knew him because of some secondary shit like the cartoon or video games, but he never had any weight.
In the 90s, not only X-men were more popular than Avengers, Wolverine single-handedly was more popular than entirety of Avengers put together. Easily. A lot of people don't realize that when Bendis (yes, that Bendis. Brian Michael Bendis. The writer. The comic book writer. He writes comics) brought in Spider-man and Wolverine to New Avengers, it wasn't just because they were his favorites, it was a direct marketing move to save the sinking Avengers ship.
How popular were Aquaman and Wonder Woman before the first movies of each?
Cause each of the first movies for both were quite good and I only recall Wonder Woman and Aquaman from Family Guy jokes before that.
Wonder Woman was well known because she's the female one. Aquaman was known mostly for "Aquaman sucks" jokes even though Aquaman rules.
Wonder Woman was more popular than Aquaman by the virtue of, well, having her own TV series in what, like 70s, and also being one of the most prominent Justice League members in the Timmverse. Her comics aren't much to write about, in fact, some of them were really bizzare.
Aquaman wasn't nearly as popular, but wasn't a joke. He was turned into a joke when boomers who grew up with Super Friends took over American TV, particularly with Bing Bang Theory forcing the meme. From within the comic book communities he was just whatever. But Aquaman sucks is just a forced meme. Also, not a lot of people know and for some reason assume that Namor is the Aquaman copycat, but it's exact opposite, Namor, when he was Submarinner was actually quite popular at the time. But because no one lived here at the time I can't tell what was the perception on the character from within the community. But from my experience, I just thought he was a guy in Justice League at the time that is sporadically interesting.
Kind of crazy how Aquaman 1 did so well
I never watched the 2nd cause I got tired of all the superhero stuff, I don't think that ever had a chance with all the crap that happened with DCEU dying off
People knew "who he was" in that they were aware he was A comic character and most people could identify him out of a line up. That's about it. If you asked what his real name was, 80% of the people wouldn't know.