# Which was the most recent "universally" known comic character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 20, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784 "2010-02-20T18:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/61 "2010-02-23T17:59:17Z")
Captain America made all kinds of local and national media when he died in the comic a couple years ago. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/62 "2010-02-24T09:54:03Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Going with that analogy, Superman is Joe Dimaggio. Batman is Yoggi Berra. Wolverine is A-Rod. “Tom Brady” and “Pudge Rodriguez” are Nite-owl and Aquaman - they’re known by followers of the genre, but not audiences at large. (I’ve never heard of those two sports people.) Tom Brady is more famous to non-sports fans than Yogi Berra is, at least to anyone under 30. (Possibly even 40.) The fact that you don’t know who he is perfectly illustrates how easily a non-comic book fan could not know who Wolverine is. Just like you tune out the ubiquity of Tom Brady – who is not limited to the sports arena at all – someone who thinks of comic books as you think of sports could easily tune out Wolverine. Just to get a feel of how well you tune out sports, do you know who Peyton Manning is? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/63 "2010-02-24T14:59:16Z")
Perhaps Irishman is from Ireland, where American football is as popular as our beer. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/64 "2010-02-24T15:51:47Z")
I checked before I posted; his profile says Houston, Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/65 "2010-02-24T16:06:44Z")
Could be Houston, Texas, Earth-2, which is in Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/66 "2010-02-24T16:44:26Z")
FWIW, Daredevil appears in my son’s Marvel Heroes coloring book. Right alongside, and presumably on equal footing with: Spiderman, Ironman, Wolverine, The Thing from the Fantastic Four, etc. Something I noticed recently that’s neither here nor there – on a lot of Marvel merchandise aimed at small children, Wolverine is treated as a singular hero as opposed to a member of a larger team (_viz_ the X-men). Same with The Thing from the Fantastic 4 – Reed Richards shows up here and there, but the Invisible Girl and Human Torch are absent. The Silver Surfer has two or three pages in fairly thick coloring book, whereas Spidey, Hulk, etc. are in there dozens of times each. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/67 "2010-02-24T18:38:43Z")
OK, so help this just-barely-over-30 American out: Who’s Tom Brady? Just telling me he’s famous doesn’t help at all-- I’ve never heard of him either. Unless he’s the same Brady who’s involved in the gun control debate? I never knew that guy was an athlete, if so. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/68 "2010-02-24T18:42:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, so help this just-barely-over-30 American out: Who’s Tom Brady? Tell me … just how irrelevant are professional sports to your personal life? 😃 [Tom Brady info](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brady). EDIT: brief hijack **Chronos** , does the “encouraging guy” in [this commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8kMrLx6_aQ) ring a bell at all? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/69 "2010-02-24T19:07:48Z")
The Tick never quite broke far enough out, did he? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/70 "2010-02-24T19:35:55Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Perhaps Irishman is from Ireland, where American football is as popular as our beer. American beer is ludicrously popular in Ireland, for your information. American “football” less so. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/71 "2010-02-24T19:45:52Z")
I was talking about Ireland, Earth-9. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/72 "2010-02-24T20:39:09Z")
A person I know went to watch Wolfman recently and was surprised to learn it wasn’t a superhero movie… I still pick Wolverine. My parents and aunts and uncles are in their fifties or close to it and know who he is. I’m not sure about my grandparents yet, but I may ask the next time I see them. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/73 "2010-02-24T20:44:38Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Sandman and Death, from 1987 and 1988. > Kick-Ass may make the cut, depending on the movie. He actually debuted in this century, circa 2007. I consider myself a comic reader— I probably own about 5000 of them. Mostly Marvel, but also hundreds of various Batman titles and some JLA. Yet I have no idea who on Earth Kick-Ass is. And regarding Blade, I know people who like the movies but have no idea that he is a comic book character. Does it count if the character is from a comic, but people aren’t aware of that? (I doubt a lot of people knew Men in Black came from a comic either) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/74 "2010-02-24T20:54:08Z")
OK, so why would one expect that I would have heard of Tom Brady? Like the majority of Americans, I don’t watch football regularly, and also like the majority of Americans, I don’t live in New England. Without either of those, how would I have been exposed to him? And I have heard of Payton Manning, and could even have told you that he was a football player, since he’s reached the level where he has things named after him. I couldn’t have recognized him by sight in that commercial, but then again, I’m not sure how many folks, even football fans, could recognize him out of uniform. Football uniforms aren’t exactly great for recognizability. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/75 "2010-02-24T20:57:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, so why would one expect that I would have heard of Tom Brady? Like the majority of Americans, I don’t watch football regularly, and also like the majority of Americans, I don’t live in New England. Without either of those, how would I have been exposed to him? Plenty of folks who don’t watch football regularly still watch the Super Bowl, and Tom Brady has won a number of them quite recently. (And for bonus points, he makes headlines by sleeping with famous women.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/76 "2010-02-24T20:58:32Z")
My mother had heard of the Turtles but not Wolverine. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/77 "2010-02-24T21:37:41Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > I consider myself a comic reader— I probably own about 5000 of them. Mostly Marvel, but also hundreds of various Batman titles and some JLA. Yet I have no idea who on Earth Kick-Ass is. Yeah, well, the movie stands poised to make this character very well-known and it hasn’t been released yet. Long story short, it’s a darkly satiric superhero comic about a kid whose life was ruined by superhero comics. Luke Skywalker wasn’t “well-known” prior to the summer of 1977 either, although he too had already appeared in a few comic books (Marvel’s adaptation of Star Wars started coming out in April '77). Give it a few months. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/78 "2010-02-24T21:58:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, so why would one expect that I would have heard of Tom Brady? **Like the majority of Americans, I don’t watch football regularly** , and also like the majority of Americans, I don’t live in New England. Without either of those, how would I have been exposed to him? There’s you problem right there. You’re not in the majority. Knowing nothing about football puts you squarely in the minority. Which still doesn’t make Tom Brady not mainstream as far as athletes go. He’s likely #2 behind Peyton Manning. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/79 "2010-02-24T22:00:05Z")
Little Orphan Annie would be well known or known of by many in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784/80 "2010-02-24T22:48:05Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Yeah, well, the movie stands poised to make this character very well-known and it hasn’t been released yet. Long story short, it’s a darkly satiric superhero comic about a kid whose life was ruined by superhero comics. Luke Skywalker wasn’t “well-known” prior to the summer of 1977 either, although he too had already appeared in a few comic books (Marvel’s adaptation of Star Wars started coming out in April '77). Give it a few months. Wesley Gibson is faaar better analogue than Luke Skywalker here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-was-the-most-recent-universally-known-comic-character/529784.md?page=5)