Marvel vs. DC. It’s the competition that’s raged since the inception of these two comic book titans. But now, thanks to a worldwide study, we may finally have our answer.
In a poll conducted by Game, the study finds that Marvel tops DC as the most preferred comic book company. The study examines Google search volumes across the world, finding that the big M leads in 51 countries, taking 85% share of the results. In comparison, DC leads in just 9 countries and 15% share of the results.
Marvel is most popular in the US, followed by India, Brazil, the UK, and France. DC, meanwhile, remains the favorite in South Korea, followed by the US, India, Brazil, and Turkey. In the US, Marvel has over 301,000 searches a month while South Korea has the most DC searches, totaling 201,000 a month.
But that’s all well and good – so, who is the world’s most popular superhero? The results are not surprising. Spider-Man, Marvel’s flagship character, tops the rest as the favorite among 57 countries. Apparently, with great power comes great popularity – enough to have Wonder Woman and Batman trail in second and third places respectively in worldwide superhero favorability.
Okay, so we know the world’s favorite superhero. But who exactly is the world’s favorite supervillain? This time, the results are more surprising. Drum roll, please…it’s Thanos! That’s right – the very being who wants half of the universe eradicated tops the list of worldwide favorite supervillains. Clearly, many people don’t harbor hard feelings towards him for this since the villain leading in 61 countries. He is followed by the maniacal villains Joker and Venom, who take second and third spots respectively.
This superhero study is certainly interesting and tells us a lot about how modern superhero media has changed the world. It isn’t too farfetched a claim to say that Thanos’ popularity is probably driven by his appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, with the latter being the fifth highest-grossing film worldwide. Joker’s worldwide popularity can also be explained via his appearances in recent Batman movies.
