Poll: Favorite Marvel Movie Superhero

This weekend brings us the latest chapter in Marvel’s ambitious Cinematic Universe. In anticipation for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, let’s vote to see which Marvel superhero is our readers’ favorite.

As Marvel fans know, not all of the company’s characters are part of the official Cinematic Universe that coalesced into ‘The Avengers’. The movie rights to characters like Spider-Man, Daredevil, the X-Men and others are currently licensed to different studios that don’t want to give them back. That’s why, unless (or until) the various companies can eventually strike some kind of mutually beneficial deal, you won’t see Wolverine or the Fantastic Four teaming up on screen with Iron Man and Thor, regardless of what might have happened in comic books.

With that said, I’ve decided to expand the following poll to include other Marvel characters outside the Cinematic Universe that have also appeared in live action form on theater screens. However, I’ve limited it to only those characters that have headlined their own movies. You won’t find supporting characters like Black Widow or Hawkeye here. Nor will you find the characters from upcoming movies such as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ or ‘Ant-Man’ that haven’t premiered yet. Groups like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four appear collectively since that’s how their movies were billed, while Wolverine also merits his own separate entry because he’s been featured in a couple of solo movies.

Please keep in mind that this vote should be based specifically on how the characters have been depicted in the live action movies, not on any other versions found in comics, cartoons or elsewhere. While I’ve included options for the separate actors who’ve portrayed the Hulk, Punisher and Spider-Man, note that Mark Ruffalo’s version of the Hulk has not yet gotten his own solo movie and should only be considered part of the Avengers as a group.

The poll is also restricted to feature films. I haven’t included an option for ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, not that anybody would vote for it anyway.

Personally, of these choices, I’d probably favor the X-Men, even though I think that group has only actually had one really good film (‘X2: X-Men United’) and several mediocre-to-bad ones. I just find the character roster there more appealing than the others.

Who's Your Favorite Marvel Movie Superhero?

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17 comments

  1. William Henley

    This was a tough choice between Iron Man, Captain America, XMen and Toby McGuire. XMen is very close to comic books and the animated series I have seen over the years (I’ve only seen a few comic books, though, so don’t slam me about that), and I really like the movies of Captain America and Spiderman, but I LOVE the Iron Man movies! I haven’t seen any source material for Iron Man, but man, do I love Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of the character!

  2. I think 2002’s Spider-Man was a major game changer for superhero flicks. Around 1990 or 91 there was a magazine called Comics Scene or something like that, which catered to geek type stuff. On the back page it would always announce upcoming films and it said Spider-Man, James Cameron. At the time, he was my favorite director and couldn’t wait to see what he would do with a Spider-Man film. Then all the legal battles held up the movie for years. After all those years of anticipation, I was so grateful to finally see Spidey on the big screen actually swinging around New York City, that was a big deal for me. Before that, it was those cheap TV movies that weren’t able to really bring him to life. At first I wasn’t too crazy about Toby Maguire being cast for Spidey, but he pulled it off. He wasn’t very witty or mouthy, but I found him very likeable and could always sympathize with him. Spider-Man 2 raised the bar even higher for me and remains one of my favorite super hero flicks to this day even with all of Aunt May’s long winded speeches. I really like Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man as well, he can pull off the wise cracks really well. Avengers also ranks up there with favorite superhero movies, that was a real event and I was happy to be a part of it. I’ve never come out of a midnight screening around 3:00 A.M. and see a theater so packed that it looked like Saturday night at 7:30 P.M. That doesn’t come around often.
    Favorites
    1. Spider-Man 2 or 2.1
    2. The Avengers
    3. Spider-Man

  3. Jason

    I’ll have to go with Captain America. His portrayal on the big screen is very true to the comics. The footage of Steve before he bulks up is impressive and what he brings to the table in The Avengers truly solidifies him as a leader. I’m really looking forward to his further transformation in The Winter Solider that was just hinted at in The Avengers. I think many people that aren’t familiar with the storyline will be pleasantly surprised that he isn’t just a jingoistic tool of America but rather a true symbol for the ideals that America offers everyone. He might not be the strongest or smartest but he is the most true to the ideals that he believes in and it’s that unwavering heart that makes him one of my favorite Marvel characters.

  4. Bryan

    I voted for Iron Man – the casting of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark was just so dead-on perfect. When I started to think about it though, I almost found myself picking Thor as my favorite (which I never would have thought in a million years – never really liked the character in the comics, but both Thor movies were really good.)

  5. Peter

    Close for me between X-Men, Daredevil, and Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman. I’ve enjoyed many of the X-Men characters, in particular the first two movies are good. Spiderman and Spiderman 2 are both very good with SM2 being one of the best comic book movies that has been made. Tobey Maguire brought an innocence to the role that made him very believable for me. Finally, I know the movie didn’t do well, but Ben Affleck I thought did a good job portraying Daredevil. He came off as intelligent and someone that people in the movie could admire, which is what a superhero should be. Also, there was very little CGI involved. That is a big thing for me. I don’t dislike CGI as a rule, but the totally fake looking CGI such as in any of the Hulk characters totally takes me out of the movie because it looks so fake. Give me a real actor in a costume any time.

  6. Les

    I have always liked those years with Jim Starlin and the whole Adam Warlock, Thanos saga. I keep hoping Adam Warlock will pop up at some point in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie but we’ll see.

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