BAH! Thinking make head hurt.
** HULK SMASH!**
Okay, I’ll grant you that. But think about it. World War II, any able bodied man that didn’t enlist was vilified, (unless they filled a vital role in the war effort at home.) Rogers was such a wimp, he was refused by all three services he tried to enlist with. (Hard to imagine, but true in most versions of his origin. I haven’t seen the new movie yet.) He was desperate to do anything he could. Admirable in itself, but is that a role model? Anyway, I’m almost convincing myself here. Cap is a very close second to Barry Allen. Like somebody said above, Barry Allen was practically a saint. Peter Parker is a good model now, but before Uncle Ben died, he was kind of a jerk.
Maybe it has been awhile, but you asked about real life, and in most of his more popular incarnations he’s been, well… Let’s look at the original movie.
Lex sets off a bunch of earthquakes and Lois ends up buried in her car while supes is saving an entire town from a broken dam. He doesn’t get to her soon enough, and then flies into orbit to punch time in the face. He turns back time, flies back to earth, and casually saves Lois. Yay! Except… He undid events… which means he never saved the town and is casually grinning like an idiot while at that very moment hundreds of people are drowning. And he knows it. Your paragon of morals knowingly destroyed a town.
I waffled a bit between Cap and Spidey, but at the end of the day I had to go with Spidey. My reasoning was based on characterization. Overall, Cap always does the right thing which is great as an ideal but not as good for a role model. Spidey displays the struggle more. He deals with the issues and does the right thing.
Also, depending on which Spidey you go with, he’s gotten married and spend time in college and working as a teacher in an inner city school. All this and saved the world. Cap? He’s a slacker. All he does is save the world.
Spiderman? Spiderman? The same Spiderman who just recently gave up the love of his life in a deal with the devil to save some old bat who is going to die soon anyway? That Spiderman?
Some people aren’t paying attention.
Superman is the way to go. Just enough fun to be human. Cap is too straight-arrow. With him as a role model fascism is just around the corner.
To quote the good scientist guy in the movie, “It’s not the rejections that interest me. It’s the five attempts.”. If Rogers had signed up for the service, and got 4-Fed, and maybe tried once more for good measure, nobody would have thought less of him for it. But instead, he basically kept on trying, every single time he saw a recruitment center. He was determined. He always had the soul of a hero; he just lacked the body.
Surely at some point he would’ve come to the realization: “Hm, maybe they’re onto something – they’re clearly convinced that I’d hinder rather than help the effort. Perhaps I could contribute better by learning to grow potatoes.” Someone who tries over and over again to join the military, ignoring the experienced recruiters who believe he’s too wimpy, sounds a bit suicidal to me.
I’m not sure this requires spoilers, since it’s all pretty much in the commercials – so let me add that (a) once he finds an experienced recruiter who does let him in, Steve proves that he can struggle through basic training as required, lugging his rifle through an obstacle course before wheezing his way through the long hard marches; and (b) after he aforementionedly throws himself on a grenade to save the lives of his fellow recruits, the Army concludes “self-sacrificing” rather than “suicidal” when promptly making him the recipient of the super-soldier serum.
And even when he needs to rely on brains rather than brawn, he’s the only soldier ever to capture the flag during the training exercise.
Superman. He epitomises doing the right thing; that’s why he’s called a boy scout.
That is not Superman. He tried to think about what the right thing to do is, and frequently that does not involve punching anything.
Meh. One movie vs. thousands of comic books! So some scriptwriter overlooked some plot holes.
He’s characterized - consistently - as the role model for all the other Superheroes (except Batman). He’s a moral authority in the DC Universe.
Green Arrow.
Particularly on the strength of the O’Neil storylines when he’d lost his fortune and became a crusader for the poor and marginalized – and it was Queen who got Hal Jordan to be less “by the book” and do more to help the needy.
Well, you don’t have to defend the honor of Steve Rogers to me. I wasn’t claiming that the character would be a hindrance rather than an aid to the military, only that persisting in an attempt to join when more or less everyone with experience thinks it a bad idea is – well – probably rather poor at taking a hint. If they were right about him, he could cause lost life and limb in himself and others as a result.
You left out the Tick.
Spoooooon!
Sorry. I refuse to acknowledge any storyline after Straczynski. 
Lousy Quesada and his deus ex mephisto.
Someone has not read a Superman comic before. Superman is exceptionally smart and is a bonafide scientific genius.
Even in his “average joe human” disguise he’s a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist.
Captain America is close, but I also think he’s a little one dimensional about it.
Spider-Man, on the other hand, I think really strives to do what’s right. Even to the detriment of his own alter ego’s personal life. Disregarding the deal with mephisto, which we all know is total BS anyway.
He was willing to work hard and overcome his physical limitations, even though this would have required a Herculean effort. Sounds like a good role model to me.
Quantum and Woody. On alternate days.
It’s a very well established fact that Superman is a dick.
My vote goes to Professor X:
- Overcame physical disabilities.
- Established a school / safe haven to help other people in need (mutants.)
- Instilled his students with rigorous discipline and a strong drive to succeed (in the Danger Room.)
- Was way ahead of the curve in inclusiveness ( the “new” X-Men were multi-cultural & race / gender blind way when most teams usually had a token black and a cheesecake female member.)
He’s also a creepy mind-controlling ephebophile lecher.