Are Batman and Spider-Man More Popular than Superman?
It’s pretty safe to say that Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man are the three most iconic superheroes of all time. All of them have defined generations for different ways and reasons. Both for the comic books themselves and the comic book movies, Superman was the one that started it all. I’d argue that Batman and Spider-Man are more popular and beloved than Superman is, despite Superman being more iconic and important. Why is that? Let’s talk about it!
My Thoughts: I’ve sort been pondering this question for a while about Batman and Spider-Man being more popular and beloved than Superman despite Superman being more iconic. In general, I’d say that Batman and Spider-Man are more popular and more beloved then Superman are. That’s not to say that Superman isn’t beloved, of course people love Superman. But between these three superheroes, I’d feel most people would say Batman or Spider-Man, not Superman. Superman defined the start of the genre with the 1978 original by Richard Donner starring Christopher Reeves. Back in the day, there weren’t a lot of comic book movies and Christopher Reeves’ Superman was one of those options so he defined an entire generation’s childhood. But since then with Batman and Spider-Man movies taking off, they’ve become more popular. As a Superman movie, if you remove Batman v Superman from the mix because that film was helped by Batman’s inclusion. The lowest grossing live action Spider-Man movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 grossed almost $50 million more than the highest grossing Superman movie, Man of Steel. Of these three heroes, Superman is the only one who doesn’t have a $1 billion film. Based on that, it shows that there’s more interest in Batman and Spider-Man than there is in Superman. Why is that?
REASON #1: Superman is Too Powerful: This one might seem a bit weird to include but I think it’s true. Superman is a god from a different planet whose only weakness is Kryptonite. If the villain doesn’t have Kryptonite then they’re going to have a pretty hard time beating Superman. So right there, it’s hard to make Superman this interesting character when he’s hard to beat. It’s weird that Superman is this super powerful character but he’s had success on television. Superman has had more tv shows then Batman, despite Batman fitting the tv format much better. The most notable one in my mind is Superman & Lois on the CW. It was a continuation of the Arrowverse’s portrayal of the character and was a family drama first, Superman show second. Every time they try to do weekly television with Superman they have to find a gimmick that provides conflict and not just a freak of the week shows up because that doesn’t work with a character as powerful as Superman. You contrast this with Batman and Spider-Man and both of them are human. Spider-Man of course has superpowers but he’s not invinciable. It’s easier for Green Goblin to defeat Spider-Man then it is for Lex Luthor to defeat Superman. Batman doesn’t have any superpowers that’s what makes him a fun superhero in a world populated with fantastical characters. He’s a guy that has to use gadgets and his brain to defeat the villains, not his superpowers.
REASON #2: Batman and Spider-Man Are More Adaptable Across Multiple Mediums: This kind of goes back to what I just mentioned but because Batman and Spider-Man aren’t as powerful it means that it’s easier to do more with them. In the case of both of them, they both have had highly celebrated video games. Batman got the Arkham games which are pretty fantastic and held in such high regard. And then Spider-Man got the PS4 & 5 games that are the same format as the Arkham games except with Spider-Man obviously. Both of them have similar functions as they’re open world games with a story but there’s fights with their rogues galleries every so often. I’d argue that Batman: Arkham City is the greatest video of all time because they found such a fun way to have you fight all of these great villains while telling an original story with Batman. Then of course Batman has had three LEGO games where he’s the title character and all of them are a lot of fun. Why hasn’t Superman gotten a video game like the Arkham games? Because what are the puzzles for him to solve? Superman can break through and destroy anything he wants so there’d be no fun in the different puzzles along the way. Batman is the world’s greatest detective so he can have weekly detective stories and adventures that translate so well to tv. One of the tv shows I grew up with was Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and that’s not a story based show by any means. But it was able to have Batman go on weekly adventures, sometimes with other DC heroes and it was fun. But the reason why he was able to do that is because Batman doesn’t have superpowers. It’s easier to give Batman conflict because he’s not invincial, he can’t do anything and everything. Batman is a character that meant so much to me over the years. The reason why I love superheroes and nerd culture is because of Batman. The reason for that is because Batman has had success across movies, tv shows, and video games in a way that Superman hasn’t.
REASON #3: Batman and Spider-Man Are More Relatable Characters: Between these three characters that we’re talking about, I’d say that Spider-Man is the most popular. The big reason for that is that he’s highly relatable. One of the biggest issues that Spider-Man goes through is trying to balance his personal life, his work life, and school all in one, oh yah while also being Spider-Man. The struggles of life and balancing all of it is something that’s so relatable. We’ve all gone through that at least one point in our lifetime. Even the idea of a kid getting super powers is something that every kid has thought of dreamed of. I also think Batman is also relatable with this basic idea of avenging your parents death. Batman’s relatability is much more extreme than Spider-Man. But there’s this thought in everybody’s head that what if my parents got murdered, what would I do? I hope that everybody reading this doesn’t get parents that are murdered, but we can relate to that thought of what would happen. You contrast that with Superman and he’s an alien from a different planet whose planet got destroyed. There’s not much in the central concept of Superman that’s easy for people to connect with. Maybe there’s something in the idea of trying to fit and find your purpose that’s relatable but overall, I don’t think Superman is super easy to connect with.
REASON #4: Superman’s Track Record with Movies Isn’t As Strong: Let’s compare the average rotten tomato scores and box office for each of our heroes. Batman’s films have an average score of 70% with his films averaging $446 million. Spider-Man’s films average 84% on Rotten Tomatoes with $816 million at the box office. Superman’s films average 58% on Rotten Tomatoes with $394 million at the box office. In all of those metrics, Superman movies don’t get as great of reviews and don’t make as much. Batman and Spider-Man have multiple movies that are held as some of the greatest comic book movies of all time. The Dark Knight is a film that made the Oscars change their Best Picture slate to 10 films, not 5. It won Heath Ledger an Oscar the first time ever that an actor won an Oscar for a comic book film. The film is almost 20 years old and is still widely viewed as one of, if not the best comic book movies of all time. Spider-Man has the Sam Raimi films that people adore, the Spiderverse films are pretty fantastic as well. Superman has popular films, but none of them are held in as high regard as Spider-Man and Batman’s top films are. Prior to Superman from last year, it’d been 45 years since that last universally praised Superman movie. We’ve gotten different Superman iterations since Christopher Reeves with Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill but those were viewed as disappointments or polarized audiences, in particular Henry Cavill’s Superman films. Superman from last year got very positive reviews, people seemed to respond well to that film. We’re getting a sequel next year but it’s not viewed as one of the best superhero movies of all time. Especially with superhero fans under the age of 30, a lot of them wouldn’t put any Superman movie in their top 10 favorite comic book movies. The Christopher Reeves era of Superman films are important and iconic, but they’re dated for so many people and that’s fair. Superman’s track record in terms of box office and reviews aren’t as high as Batman and Spider-Man.
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