About This Quiz
Thanks to the work of both Marvel Comics and DC Comics, superheroes are bigger than ever. Movies like "Avengers: Endgame" are massive spectacles that are drawing in literally billions of dollars at the box office. And for years people have written articles about superhero fatigue and the idea that this "fad" is going to end soon. "Captain America" was first published in 1941. Superman first appeared in "Action Comics" back in 1938. Batman, the X-Men, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, Wonder Woman and countless others have been around for decades. The MCU has grossed over $20 billion worldwide at the box office. Does that sound like fatigue to you? Of course not.
Those who don't get it will never get it, but superheroes are bigger than ever and they're poised to stay that way. These are the character of our time that represent all the things characters like Robin Hood represented in the past. They've become timeless icons, a part of our culture. They're not going away. Nor should they! But since they're so popular and since you're clearly such a fan yourself, you have to be able to identify some of the most popular characters based on some limited hints, right? Of course! Prove your superpowers by taking the quiz!
Even though Hugh Jackman doesn't look it, when he played Wolverine in the X-Men movies he was playing a very old man. As one of the films shows he was born in the 1800s and, based on the timelines, by the movie "Logan" he was nearly 200 years old.
Black Panther, otherwise known as T'Challa, is the King of the fictional land of Wakanda. People have tried to figure out where Wakanda would be if it was real, but its location is a little shifty and could be north of Tanzania or near Southern Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Wonder Woman, for reasons unknown, did once have an invisible jet that has yet to make its way to movies. One thing that did get into the movies was her lasso, which compels people to tell the truth which makes sense since her creator, William Moulton Marston, also invented the lie detector.
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Hellboy was created by artist and writer Mike Mignola and basically works as a sort of paranormal detective. He's actually not a full demon despite the way he looks. His father was a demon while his mother was a human. Hellboy was sent away by his demon father only to be brought back to Earth during the Second World War.
The Crow is a bit of a dark character who is not just one person. When a person dies, according to the story, a crow can bring their spirit back to set right something that was wrong. In the comics and the films, the Crow comes back to get vengeance on those who murdered them or their loved ones. It's not a super happy universe.
Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, is one of the founding members of the X-Men and has been in the comics since 1963. Over the years he's grown to become the leader of the group and even gotten married to Jean Grey, though in the films he doesn't seem to do quite as much.
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Batman may be the most iconic character of all time next to perhaps Superman. If you count animated series, TV, film and video games, then there have literally been dozens of actors who have portrayed the Dark Knight over the years, not just the handful we all know from the mainstream movies.
Thanos' adopted daughter Gamora is considered one of the deadliest women in the galaxy. Her skill in hand-to-hand combat made her an excellent assassin. Most people know her from Zoe Saldana's portrayal of her in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies, but the role was actually offered to at least 4 other actresses including Olivia Wilde and Gina Carano.
Spawn was one of the flagpole releases when Image comics got off the ground in the 1990s. Still popular today, there's a movie in the works (don't mention the previous movie no one really liked) set to star Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner.
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Judge Dredd has been around in comics since 1977 and had been portrayed on screen by both Sylvester Stallone and Karl Urban. The character pushes the limits of what constitutes a hero since he does routinely execute people. They're supposed to be bad guys, at least.
A long-time member of the X-Men, Storm's real name is Ororo Munroe. She was first played on the big screen by Halle Berry and though there were a lot of criticisms of her portrayal of the character, Berry did state she was still willing to play the character in a solo movie if it ever happened.
Reed Richard, also known as Mr. Fantastic, is one of the members of the Fantastic Four. That comic is Marvel's first superhero team title, beating the X-Men to publication by about a year.
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Superman is arguably the biggest character in the history of superheroes. He's often considered an icon for truth, justice and the American way so it's only a little ironic that he was actually co-created by a Canadian artist named Joe Shuster.
Spider-Man has been one of Marvel's most popular characters since 1962, when he first appeared in "Amazing Fantasy #15." The Spider-Man movies are very popular today and they follow in a long history of the character being on screen. There were actually two different live-action Spider-Man shows produced in the '70s, including one from Japan.
The Green Lantern is but one of many beings who have the same power as part of the Green Lantern Corps. There is a literal rainbow of Lanterns in the comics universe ranging from the Orange Lantern who is powered by greed to the zombie-like Black Lanterns that are powered by death itself.
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Matt Murdock goes by the name Daredevil and, as far as heroes go, has a pretty solid alter ego. Unlike Superman who just takes off his glasses and hopes he can blend in, Daredevil spends his days as a blind lawyer, so no one is likely to think he's fighting bad guys on rooftops in his downtime.
Hank McCoy, also known as the Beast, is one of the founding members of the X-Men and has been in the comics since 1963. You'd be forgiven if you didn't notice him on the cover of "The Uncanny X-Men" #1 back then since, originally, he didn't have the blue fur and was mostly just a large man.
Ghost Rider, infamously played on the big screen by Nicolas Cage, appears to be a minion of the devil but in the comic books is revealed to actually be an avatar from God. Though he famously rides a motorcycle, a Ghost Rider (there are more than one) can ride anything. A prehistoric Ghost Rider once rode a flaming woolly mammoth.
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The Flash is one of DC's oldest and most endearing characters despite the fact he's never had a major solo film. He has had TV shows and a spot in the Justice League movie. Beyond that, the Flash has seen a ton of screen time in various animated features but will, according to rumors, have his own live-action movie in the future.
Magneto has been the main villain of the X-Men since their very first issue although he has, over the years, actually helped the team and even led them on occasion. He's also a man of many identities, going by the names Erik Lehnsherr, Max Eisenhardt, Michael Xavier, Mr. M and Henryk Gorski among others.
Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanoff, aka Natalia Romanova, aka Yelena Belova, aka about 100 other names is one of Marvel's most popular characters and the first female superhero in the MCU even though Captain Marvel beat her to the punch for a solo movie.
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Rocket Raccoon is definitely one of the most memorable members of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the character has been around since the mid-1980s in comics. Back the,n he was part of a crew of animal-inspired characters that included a co-pilot who was a talking walrus.
Deadpool was created by artist Rob Liefeld back in the 1990s and was right away pegged as a rip-off of the 1980s character Deathstroke. If you think maybe they just share some similarities it's worth noting that Deadpool's real name is Wade Wilson while Deathstroke's name is Slade Wilson. This was no accident.
Iron Man is hugely popular now thanks to Robert Downey Jr. and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's easy to forget that. before the first Iron Man movie, it was considered a risk to bring him to the big screen because he wasn't a very popular character with any mainstream appeal.
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Prior to Jason Momoa playing Aquaman, the character did not get very much respect by non-comics fans. In fact, Aquaman has often been the butt of jokes in other media including on shows like "Family Guy."
The Silver Surfer is one of Marvel's cosmic characters who travels through space on a surfboard because why not? He originated as the herald of Galactus, a massively powerful entity that could consume entire planets.
Catwoman, who has gone by several aliases over the years. has been portrayed by numerous actresses over the years. The most recent portrayal was done by Anne Hathaway but Halle Berry also had a crack at the character as did Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zoe Kravitz and Eliza Dushku, among others.
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Groot has a longer history in comics than you might expect. The character first appeared in "Tales to Astonish" #13 all the way back in 1960, It took him several decades to get popular, but he really caught on after the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie came out.
Few characters are as iconic as Captain America Steve Rogers is these days. While the character is huge in the modern MCU, he's been around the block a few times in the past including a movie in the 1990s and a movie serial all the way back in 1944.
The Hulk has been a popular character for Marvel since the 1960s and represents a duality between rationality and raw emotion. He's had a rough go in the MCU though, with his first two solo movies doing very poorly compared to pretty much every other Marvel movie ever made.
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Thor has become one of Marvel's most popular characters thanks to the "Avengers" movies, but it's worth noting he had some screen time before the modern MCU. If you dig you can find him in an old episode of the Hulk TV show and he sort of showed up in the movie "Adventures in Babysitting" played by Vincent D'Onofrio.
Blade was played by Wesley Snipes and existed in a world just before the MCU really kicked off. It's worth noting that in the movie "Blade: Trinity" you can find Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King. Reynolds has also appeared in comic book movies based on Deadpool, Green Lantern and R.I.P.D.
Jean Grey does have a nickname like all the other X-Men, even though she never uses it. She used to be known as Marvel Girl and, of course, the Phoenix (or Dark Phoenix as her moods dictate) but for the most part, she just gets to use her everyday name.
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Colossus joined the X-Men in "Giant Size X-Men #1" back in 1975. He joined the team alongside other popular characters such as Storm and Wolverine. In the movie "Deadpool 2" he has a memorable fight with Juggernaut but in the comics, he actually was the Juggernaut for a while.
Nightcrawler, also known as Kurt Wagner, is a blue-skinned mutant with a tail and the ability to teleport. They don't mention this in the movies but his mother is actually Mystique and his father is Azazel, the red-skinned mutant with the same powers from the movie "X-Men: First Class."