Iron Man, Captain America and Thor weren't all that popular until the MCU came out. Thor hasn't always had a consistent solo series going on due to lack of popularity.
Marvel's main selling comics have always been X-Men, Hulk and Spider-Man. Therefore there trinity's more like Hulk, Spider-Man and Wolverine.
I would disagree with some of that. Thor has always been more popular than Hulk. Hulk got cancelled after 6 issues, and wasn't popular untill much later. Thor remained consistent and took over the Journey into Mystery title, signaling the end of the suspense/horror anthology era, and the beginning of the superhero era. Also, the Fantastic Four was more popular than all of them (besides Spider-Man). In the 60's that is. In the 70's X-Men took over again. In the 80's comics from other thing actually dominated (Star Wars, Conan, Planet of the Apes, stuff like that). In General I would consider the Marvel trinity X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four, with Spider-Man as the axis in the middle (since he teams up with everyone).
@ThorMathews His solo series tends to get cancelled or shortened more often than the other mainstream heroes. Even his OG first solo series that last hundreds of issues wasn't selling as much as the others. For a time he only appeared in Avengers or other tie in comics. @Savage In the whole Hulk vs Thor debate, one thing I have to give them is that Hulk is indeed more popular. Within the hardcore fanbase Thor's very well liked but the casuals far outnumber us. On the average merchandise you'll see Spider-Man and Hulk. Several characters start off with a mini series. They weren't meant to be long lasting and were just meant to see how well fans would receive them. Wolverine, Spider-Man and even the X-Men started off with a mini series that concluded after less than 10 issues.
Your right in that the FF were more popular at first. However during Marvel peak comic sales, it was all about Spider-Man and the X-Men. After the comic crash in the 90s, Spider-Man, Hulk and the X-Men were the only safe issues they had.
@Tyrannus Thor was an a-lister though, hulk was not. Thor was on the avengers, Hulk was on the defenders. Just think about the 60's and 70's, thor was more popular. Hulk was not meant to be a miniseries, it was cancelled. Thor took over a very popular title. Stan Lee's run on Thor was not as good as his Hulk run in my opinion, but it was more popular. As for the next great writers of the two characters, Walter Simonson just barely edges out Peter David with popularity. Spider-Man didn't start out with a mini-series, he first appeared in Amazing Fantasy because it was already getting cancelled and Martin Goodman thought Spider-Man would be a flop. It was so successful he go a solo comic immediately. The X-Men didn't start out with a mini-series. Wolverine did, and it was hugely successful. Hulk's series actually was cancelled, because it wasn't popular. It wasn't untill the late 80's and 90's really that Hulk became an a-list hero in the general community. The X-Men lost popularity greatly for awhile in the late 60's, but had a rebirth in the 70's, and remained popular to the point where they have the #1 best selling comic in history (X-Men #1 1991). I can't blame late 60's era x-men for not being popular though, for a good amount of time between issues 40 and 100 absolutely nothing interesting was going on. Overall I would say in the 60's the FF and Spider-Man were the most popular by far, followed by the x-men in the early 60's and the avengers in the late 60's. After that was Thor (Western comics and WWII comics were very popular as well). In the 70's The FF, Spider-Man, and the X-Men were the most popular, followed by Thor and the Avengers. In the 80's the FF probably weren't as popular as the X-Men and Avengers, Wolverine became as popular as Spider-Man, and for the first time Hulk became more popular than Thor. In the 90's the X-Men and other mutant comics ruled popularity with an iron fist, followed by marvel cosmic comics, Spider-Man, and Wolverine. This is where the FF hit their lowest point in every way. In the early 2000's the Avengers had a huge surge in popularity, and then the movie industry took control of what had mainstream popularity. That's my take on comic popularity throughout the years (the 40's and 50's are a different matter entirely).
Being an Avenger back then didn't mean much. Spider-Man actually rejected the Avengers are realising they tricked him into believing Hulk needed to be stopped. And yet Spider-Man's always been #1. With the Hulk first series, they tested to see how it'd go and later gave the go ahead to start his solo series which took off for decades. The X-Men's first appearance also stopped after a few issues and restarted officially with their long running series. They do this with several characters.
By 1965 Hulk had been voted 27th revolutionary icon of college goers. Spider-Man came 28th. That's why when Marvel created the TV shows and cartoons, they focused mainly on Spider-Man, X-Men and the Hulk. While Thor was liked, he wasn't Marvel's golden goose like the other 3 were.
For some time Odinson got replaced by Matterson to boost sales and even when he did come back this didn't improves numbers. That's why when they did the Heroes Reborn reboot, Thor never got a solo series like the rest. In the 2000s Thor's comic got cancelled due to lack of sales.
Thus isn't really the Marvel trinity, it's just the avengers trinity
The Marvel trinity is the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four
(the avengers are great, but the worst of the three)
Well Iron Man is just a normal human and made everything all by himself and even made a galactus buster. Everyone else got there stuff from their fathers or from a science experiment.
Ik he was not because he has done some bad and stupid things but still, he made a galactus buster and he started from scratch. Cap and Thor did not get their powers by working. They were given to them. Thor was born with it. Iron Man made his own gadgets and suits. Same could be said about Batman but he already had an industries and everything to make his first suit. Iron made his first suit in a cave with a box of scraps.
@SuperSomebody I can totally understand liking Tony there is nothing wrong with that. But like Steve didn’t exactly ask for his powers either. Thor inherited it. Steve was given it just because of who he was.
Comics Thor
Marvel's main selling comics have always been X-Men, Hulk and Spider-Man. Therefore there trinity's more like Hulk, Spider-Man and Wolverine.
@Savage In the whole Hulk vs Thor debate, one thing I have to give them is that Hulk is indeed more popular. Within the hardcore fanbase Thor's very well liked but the casuals far outnumber us. On the average merchandise you'll see Spider-Man and Hulk. Several characters start off with a mini series. They weren't meant to be long lasting and were just meant to see how well fans would receive them. Wolverine, Spider-Man and even the X-Men started off with a mini series that concluded after less than 10 issues.
Your right in that the FF were more popular at first. However during Marvel peak comic sales, it was all about Spider-Man and the X-Men. After the comic crash in the 90s, Spider-Man, Hulk and the X-Men were the only safe issues they had.
By 1965 Hulk had been voted 27th revolutionary icon of college goers. Spider-Man came 28th. That's why when Marvel created the TV shows and cartoons, they focused mainly on Spider-Man, X-Men and the Hulk. While Thor was liked, he wasn't Marvel's golden goose like the other 3 were.
For some time Odinson got replaced by Matterson to boost sales and even when he did come back this didn't improves numbers. That's why when they did the Heroes Reborn reboot, Thor never got a solo series like the rest. In the 2000s Thor's comic got cancelled due to lack of sales.
The Marvel trinity is the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four
(the avengers are great, but the worst of the three)
try and change my mind