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David Mumpower:

1. Batman - First place cannot be argued, which is why I am stunned that Bruce has the character listed in sixth place. That’s like saying that Biff Pocoroba was a better 1970s Atlanta Brave than Hank Aaron. It’s just craaaaaaazy. Batman has broken the opening weekend record box office record four times. What qualifies as a “disappointing” Batman performance is a movie that earns “only” $448 million domestically. Here is all I need to say about the popularity of The Dark Knight. The two most lucrative performers in this franchise have grossed $2.1 billion worldwide. The only franchises with a better two-movie total are Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings…and only then if we include The Hobbit, which is a different trilogy. Batman is now and always has been the alpha and the omega of comic book superheroes.

2. Iron Man - The caveat to the statistic that I just mentioned is that if we credit Tony Stark for The Avengers as well as Iron Man, which I think is cheating, that character claims $2.73 billion, more than ANY other franchise. Given the obvious expansion in popularity of Iron Man in the wake of The Avengers, the only question here is how much of the gap to Batman has been closed. I say a lot, especially since they are about to stick Batman in a no-win situation with the dead weight of Superman, a comic book character who has failed repeatedly as a would-be box office draw.

3. Captain America - I may be getting ahead of myself with this ranking. To my mind, Captain America possessed only one negative heading into The Winter Soldier, and that was the difficulty in selling a patriotic American overseas. Now that this issue has been proven nonexistent, I can focus solely upon the positives. While Tony Stark is the most engaging character in The Avengers, Captain America is the leader. And being the leader of a billion dollar franchise elevates Steve Rogers into the box office stratosphere. A soldier with a cause is much more straightforward with regards to storytelling potential than most of the others on this list. I see Captain America as the most viable of the remaining prospects. Thus, I rank him higher than his more storied counterparts below.

4. Spider-Man - If we were simply examining the historical performance of a character, an argument could be made for Spider-Man to finish second on the list. The modern superhero era in movies was triggered by the debut of Spider-Man in 2002. Unfortunately, Sony was so desperate to keep their brand alive that they decided to reboot the character in 2012. The world collectively yawned at a release that somehow earned less than any of its three predecessors in spite of the explosive global expansion of box office during that timeframe. While many folks believe that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will right the ship, I watch Jamie Foxx in those ads and am forcibly reminded of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Batman & Robin. It feels like a mistake. Since the last movie earned $750 million, I may be jumping the gun to cede third place to Captain America, but I feel like Spidey is on the way down while Cappy is on the way up.

5. The X-Men - The Wolverine aspect of the discussion is detailed below. What I would note about X-Men as a group is that they are poised to break out later this year with Days of Future Past. I am projecting that to be the most popular title to date in the franchise, and that thought process factors into my ranking. If that expectation proves foolish, these characters should drop at least one spot if not two. The X-Men are the trickiest to grade because the cast was reboot in 2011. The exceptional quality of that movie plays a part in my faith in Days of Future Past. Historically, these characters were a solid draw but using the same logic as above, they are not as currently beloved as others on the list. I view the X-Men as the wild card, so slotting them in the middle feels like a safe choice, albeit a somewhat cowardly one.

6. Wolverine - Differentiating the X-Men from Wolverine is a trying proposition. Logan’s inimitable snikt remains the heart of both franchises. Also, Wolverine has proven to be a strong performer in solo projects as well as during team exploits.

7. Thor - I am a bit surprised that Thor: The Dark World did not improve dramatically with regards to global revenue. There was a modest bump of $185 million, certainly nothing to sneeze at, but it is not a tally reflective of an ascending box office titan, either. The problem is that out of all the recent superhero movies from Marvel, The Dark World is the most disposable. I only watched it a couple of months ago yet I struggle to remember any details from it beyond Loki being in a jail cell for a time. Thor as a lead character is fun because he is this crazy, muscular drunk with a natural charisma to him. For whatever reason, none of that was on display in The Dark World. If The Avengers 2 fleshes out the character better, I consider the Norseman upwardly mobile on this list.

8. Superman - I referenced the matter above. I will spell it out now. There have been two recent comeback attempts for Superman as a movie franchise. In combination, the two titles grossed a billion dollars against negative costs in excess of half a billion dollars. There is some debate about whether either Superman Returns of Man of Steel was even profitable. After twin attempts to buy the popularity of the franchise, Warner Bros. has punted. Now, they are sticking Batman into a Superman movie, which should guarantee the popularity of the production. It will not cement Superman as anything other than yellow sun-powered sidekick for Gotham’s finest. Superman is now and always has been a lazy riff on the Achilles myth. The recent attempt to take the character to a dark place simply reinforces that nobody in Hollywood has any idea how to make Superman appealing to mainstream consumers.

9. The Hulk - DC Comics and Marvel Comics have kindred spirits in Superman and The Hulk. Both are well known comic book characters whose presence in movies has proven a challenge to market. Compared to The Hulk, even Superman is a movie draw, at least historically. The Hulk was brilliantly employed in The Avengers, and that may be enough to catapult this character to new-found heights of box office success. Until that happens, he has not done enough to justify higher placement on this list of franchise heavyweights.

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