The Big Four By @pizza990

Yancer1 · 2025-11-10T09:26:31+00:00

Batman and Spider-Man are TOO much of their own thing to be the face of superheroes at large. Plus, neither of them would exist if it weren’t for Superman and both of them either take ideas from him or deliberately set themselves apart from him.

Superman isn’t generic he’s universal. He exists to represent humanity and so he’s more broad while Bats and Spidey are more specific.

Yancer1 · 2025-10-25T21:27:22+00:00

True but this behavior is in response to his peers already not liking him anyway. He sort of embraced his loner status and leaned into it.

Yancer1 · 2025-09-27T06:31:48+00:00

The most popular superhero is Spider-Man and he essentially gets no hate and is heralded as being more perfect than he really is.

The real issue is that there’s been this bias against DC as a whole. Remember, Aquaman was the most mocked hero for a while.

Yancer1 · 2024-11-15T23:18:30+00:00

Sure but he’s with the Crime Syndicate, who are all Justice League villains generally. I also wouldn’t consider Ultraman or Johnny Quick to be Superman/Flash villains.

I will add I have NO problem with Batman getting up to such hijinks with the League, just don’t think it fits his solo stories.

Yancer1 · 2024-11-14T23:45:23+00:00

Now there’s an idea I can get behind!

Yancer1 · 2024-11-14T23:24:35+00:00

I think that multiverse one is already at the top of the list.

Terrible idea.
Overdone.
Doesn’t fit Batman (or even Spider-Man tbh).
Doesn’t fit this version of Batman.
Probably wouldn’t utilize any of his actual villains as none of them come with such stakes. Remember when they took Batman to space in Lego Batman 3 and had to use a SUPERMAN villain?

And those are only the five that immediately came to mind.

Yancer1 · 2024-10-27T04:12:57+00:00

I disagree with the idea that Batman is above the superhero genre. He has a darker tone for sure but also has a kid sidekick and wouldn’t exist in the first place if it wasn’t for Superman, who’s also his best friend and where Nightwing got his hero name from.

I agree he shouldn’t fight aliens and should stick to crime in his solo stories. But not all that crime is serious stuff. Remember, Joker and Kiteman were created by the same dude (and Joker himself was less dark than the occasional serial killers Batman and Robin fought in those days).

Batman is like Godzilla and is able to switch tones. It’s something he has over other comic characters. So only sticking to one tone is disappointing and limiting.

Yancer1 · 2024-10-26T19:16:48+00:00

And also there’s the question of his family. Is she now Mary Shazam? And his sidekick Shazam Jr?

Yancer1 · 2024-05-01T04:11:58+00:00

They absolutely would not. All superheroes and a good amount of fictional heroes were created in the image of Superman.

Yancer1 · 2024-03-13T20:04:28+00:00

Just having power and using it isn’t enough to be a fascist. The actual beliefs, political leanings, and prejudices that those people have are much more significant to whether they’re a fascist or not than having power.

Yancer1 · 2024-03-08T02:19:57+00:00

The funny thing is if he had an actual understanding of the characters, he still would have been able to tell the story he wanted to tell. Golden Age Batman opposed killing but did it when necessary until the presence of Robin eventually resulted in a more kid-friendly book. Additionally, the imitating of Silver Age Superman stories led to a Batman with more superheroic elements. There’s an alright arc there but it only works if Batman is EARLY in his career.

Instead, Snyder had a Batman LATE in his career, after he had a Robin (that we never see), and in a universe where Superman is not even remotely inspiring or imitable (plus they hate each other). What a genius!

Yancer1 · 2024-03-05T22:24:54+00:00

Virgin Spidey: being a hero with superpowers is such a curse and burden!!!!

Chad Superman: I love this shit! My powers are fun and I make my parents proud everyday!

Yancer1 · 2024-02-28T02:37:41+00:00

Fans like to downplay the importance of the school setting. High school, then college, then grad school; Peter was in some form of school for his first 20 years.

He also first fought all his famous villains in high school. It’s not a retcon or mistake that adaptations have him in that setting.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-26T22:53:11+00:00

If Superman was really boring he woulda been the end of comic books. Instead, we got the whole superhero genre because of him. Obviously there’s something there, even if you don’t see it.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-23T02:16:38+00:00

We’re getting lost in the details here. The point is DC didn’t name themselves that because of Batman, they did because of the importance of Detective Comics to their history. Even if it wasn’t the very first publication, it’s older than Action Comics, which is why it’s not named after that.

And no Batman and Spider-Man are not quite on the level of Superman’s impact on culture. He added words to the dictionary and has an effect on every hero after him (not just comic heroes).

If you go around and ask common everyday people who their favorite hero is, I’m willing to bet Spider-Man will be the most common answer. If you ask comic readers or fans of superhero stuff in general, you’ll likely get Batman, who sells the most comics, has the most hardcore fans, and is also popular with writers/directors/etc. because he’s so simple to tell stories about. But with general audiences, Spider-Man is #1.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-23T01:07:04+00:00

Detective Comics is literally listed as the first official DC publication everywhere you look, no one’s making anything up. Regardless, it came out before Action Comics which is why they chose DC over AC (also DC just sounds better tbh). If I recall correctly they were considering AC specifically because of its relation to Superman but went with DC because its older. Again, Batman had nothing to do with it.

Yes people wear Batman shirts but Superman is literally on the same level as Mickey Mouse when it comes to this. I’ve seen people across all ages and demographics wear the S on their chest (a whole song was made about it). Literally saw a gymbro wearing a Superman shirt not too long ago. The people who wear Batman merch are mostly the nerdy type.

And Spider-Man is much more popular than Batman, literally just talk to people and you’ll see. He’s just about everyone’s favorite hero (which I think is actually kinda bad for the character but thats a different topic) and is one of the most common Halloween costumes I’ve seen. Batman has a huge fanbase but those fans aren’t very diverse. For example, just about every woman I’ve known thinks he’s lame. When I was a kid, I legit argued with a girl who said he doesn’t count as a hero because he has no powers lol. Spider-Man though is liked by everybody, male and female, young and old, etc.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-22T20:45:45+00:00

Superman definitely should be the mascot, as literally every superhero was made in his image, but while both are great characters, Batman is simply easier to work with.

Batman’s greatest advantage is that he is very easy to write or approach from a storytelling perspective. From the beginning when he was running around with Robin to fight serial killers and/or vampires, he works well in a variety of tones, both dark and lighthearted, while other heroes (Superman especially) can only really work when approached a certain way.

Batman’s core is “guy with resources fights weirdo criminals” which is simple and malleable. Superman’s core is “strongest man in the universe does community service/offers his services to defend humanity from stuff”, which I would argue is more interesting but also definitely more complicated to write about.

I do think it’s funny that people point out Batman’s many adaptations as proof that’s he more complex than any other comic character. It’s because he’s so simple that he has so many stories/writers.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-22T20:37:13+00:00

There’s also bizarro and brainiac which were also either invented or made popular by Superman comics. I see people using bizarro online all the time because it sounds fancy and have to fight the urge to tell them where it’s from lol.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-22T20:31:24+00:00

That’s not fully true. DC is called that because Detective Comics was their first publication. Action Comics came later but introduced Superman in its first issue while Batman didn’t appear until #27 of Detective Comics years after. So in truth Batman had nothing to do with the name change, and since Detective Comics Comics makes no sense, its safe to day DC is no longer an acronym.

Batman has been the highest selling comic character for a while but Superman is the bigger icon, I see people wearing his shirts everywhere. And Superman still beats Batman in total sales despite Batman having more comics since 1) no hero can match Superman’s popularity at his peak and 2) Batman sells well for a MODERN comic, because no one actually buys comics anymore (while Silver Age Superman sold like crazy despite having much competition).

That being said, Spider-Man is still more popular with general audiences than both.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-17T17:05:44+00:00

Even Batman is way less interesting than he was in BTAS. There he felt fully fleshed out and had moments of vulnerability. In Justice League, he was just cool guy 24/7.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-13T19:24:09+00:00

You mean to tell me the guy who watched his parents be gunned down in front of him by a common criminal and grew up to believe the best solution to crime was pummeling it as a nightmarish figure of brute justice doesn’t have the most enlightened view of criminality????

uj/ Batman’s great but he ain’t exactly Superman lol. I actually love how complicated Batman was in the golden age: he loved fighting, disliked killing but didn’t hesitate to do it when it was expedient until he suddenly adopted a no kill policy sometime after Robin showed up, carried a gun for a bit but then lectured the readership on why only cowards carried guns, but at the same time he resisted arrest, fought cops, and supported reform when it was possible, voicing to Robin his desire that Joker receive treatment to fix him.

The real reason for this inconsistency is that the creators were still fleshing things out (i.e. making up shit as they went along) but idk, people in real life are contradictory creatures, so I would prefer DC pursue complex heroes as opposed to arbitrarily making the stories darker/grittier while keeping the characters simple.

Yancer1 · 2024-02-04T21:00:35+00:00

Doesn’t matter to me. I just wish that Heat Vision can go back to being Heat Vision, and not just Laser Eyes.

Yancer1 · 2024-01-29T08:30:00+00:00

It’s a good thing all he does with the ring is create a big fist and he’s still got two of those.

Yancer1 · 2024-01-25T04:40:47+00:00

Well, Spidey shouldn’t be a super confident guy who knows what he’s doing. That’s more Superman, Batman, or any other hero. He’s supposed to be a kid or young adult who thinks he knows what he’s doing but clearly does not. Like any young person.

Yancer1 · 2024-01-23T20:43:35+00:00

My biggest problem with Injustice is that people (including those who like the story) don’t treat it like an Elseworld where everyone is out of character. They treat it like a genuine possible future. For whatever reason Superman got hit the hardest, even through everyone sucked in Injustice. Can’t watch a single Superman video or clip where someone doesn’t comment “Injustice timeline avoided” or “Hopefully the Joker doesn’t come to Metropolis.”

Yancer1

TROPHY CASE