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Ranking comic book characters by their powers, strength, physical traits, affiliations, and other features, like how just goshdarn super they are.

Best Characters

Captain America

List of the most badass, tough, and iconic comic book superheroes ever created. This list includes central characters from both the DC and Marvel Universe, as well as more non-traditional or underground comic books. The definition of what makes a &quot;superhero&quot; can be quite slippery, and often encompasses characters with questionable morals and behavior (giving rise to the notion of the &quot;anti-hero.&quot;) If you love these superheroes, you&#39;ll also be interested to know that a few of them have really <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/the-10-lamest-super-hero-origins/ihateeverything">lame origin stories</a>.

Traditionally, a &quot;superhero&quot; simply means a larger-than-life character, or one gifted with special abilities, either organically or via their own genius or inventiveness, who uses his or her powers to protect and defend the public from threats - at times <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unexpected-superhero-day-jobs/stephanroget" target="_blank">even while maintaining day jobs</a>. Though the word &quot;superhero&quot; began to be used as early as the 1910s, the concept really took hold in the public&#39;s mind following the introduction of Superman in 1938.

Though Superman and other characters of his day were gifted with special talents and abilities, making them particularly suited to crusading for justice, many characters that followed were more &quot;human&quot; than the noble alien from Krypton, using their intelligence (such as Iron Man or Batman) to create a superheroic persona.&nbsp; Some <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/the-10-greatest-disabled-superheroes-of-all-time/saintmort">superheroes also have disabilities</a> that counteract their skills, weapons or unique talents.&nbsp;

Because of the massive popularity of superheroes &ndash; particularly at the start of the 21st Century, when <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-superhero-movies-ever-made">superhero films</a> reigned at the box office &ndash; a number of deconstructions and analyses of the genre have also been done, culminating in the creation of &quot;meta-superheroes&quot; who comment on the concept of superheroism itself.&nbsp;So take a look at this list, decide who your favorite comic book superheroes are, and vote them up.&nbsp;We have your top 50 superheroes, your top 100 superheroes of all time&hellip; we don&rsquo;t quite have your top 200 comic book characters of all time simply because this list is just for the best superheroes ever. We didn&rsquo;t include the super villains on this top comic book characters list. Who are the top comic book heroes? Who is the best superhero? Let&rsquo;s put these question to rest of who is the best super heroes to rest.

poll

Ambush Bug

Ridiculous <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/superheroes-ranked-by-most-comic-book-appearances/ranker-comics?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic book superheroes</a> come in all shapes and sizes. And these are the characters voted by many to be the most ridiculous superheroes of all time. Sometimes it&#39;s not the stupid heroes&#39; fault; they were written to serve a very specific comic book function, and no one had a plan for the character after that. Other times they were just a product of a period of time where they were more appropriate. Even so, many of these ridiculous <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-female-comic-book-characters/ranker-characters?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic book characters</a> should probably have been written out of the series long before they were.

Sometimes these stupid characters just outgrew the context they were in. Are these stupid superhero names enough to make you never want to read comic books? If so, vote on the worst ones here so that people have an inkling of what NOT to do.&nbsp;

Who are the most.... stupid superheroes ever? You decide.

Also see our roundup of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/superheroes-with-painful-superpowers/brent-sprecher" target="_blank">superheroes whose powers make them hurt themselves</a>.

Apocalypse

Comic villains are responsible for some of the most heinous&nbsp;acts in all of fiction. They commit the sorts of graphic crimes that make empathy almost impossible. They engage in criminal activity that can send&nbsp;shivers up the spines of readers. But behind the masks and capes and ghoulish grins lie some of the most sympathetic comic book villain&nbsp;origins you&#39;ll ever hear.

Because these characters were crafted in a medium&nbsp;bursting with possibilities, the torture they endured prior to turning to the dark side is often more physically and emotionally extreme then audiences might be used to. Some of your favorite villains were tortured for millions or even billions of years. Subject to rejection, mutilation, starvation, lobotomies and more, it&rsquo;s difficult at times to determine whether the decisions they make are derived from their own will or from their circumstances. It&#39;s often heartbreaking when you really stop and think about the lives of villains in comics.&nbsp;

In order to understand what fuels the hatred&nbsp;behind the alter egos, it&rsquo;s best if we get to know them before they were baddies&nbsp;(if that&rsquo;s even possible). The saddest supervillain origin stories often begin before they had a chance to fight back. You might be surprised to learn that several villains were abused as infants,&nbsp;or slated for punishment before they were born. For many of them, crime was not a choice. It was their only identity. Here are some of the most gut wrenching, cringe-inducing, and just straight up saddest supervillain origin stories&nbsp;in history.

Hungry for more? Take a look at <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weirdest-superhero-origins/jonathan-kantor" target="_blank">some of the weirdest superhero origins</a>.&nbsp;

Superheroes

The <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/dark-facts-about-diamond-distributors/jacob-shelton?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic book industry</a> has been reinventing itself for decades, and the evolution of the superhero&nbsp;genre is far from complete. Now and then, the superheroes themselves undergo&nbsp;personal growth -&nbsp;gaining amazing new superpowers and fantastic abilities that help them fight crime with even greater efficiency.&nbsp;

Casual fans who don&#39;t keep up with the ever-changing continuity of Marvel and DC Comics might be surprised to learn about lesser-known <a href="/list/powers-you-never-realized-superheroes-have/erik-barnes" target="_blank">superhero superpowers</a>. But even more surprising, they might be shocked to learn that the&nbsp;classic <a href="/list/superpowers-we-wish-we-had/benjamin-dunn" target="_blank">superpowers</a> they dreamed about while growing up have been altered -&nbsp;drastically, in some cases.

Villains

Who needs the likes of Michael Myers, Freddie Krueger, and Jason when we have villains in comics that are just as scary, if not scarier, to keep you up at night?&nbsp;You know, those villains that you definitely wouldn&#39;t want to run into in a dark alley. Which are <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/scary-things-seen-heard/amandasedlakhevener?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the most terrifying</a> villains in comic books?

Does the Scarecrow bring the fear out in you? Does the thought of Venom being around you make you cringe? Does Batman&#39;s Victor Zsasz make you feel lightheaded?

We&#39;ve got goblins, alien symbiotes, evil clowns, the undead, and all manner of spooky characters! Some of these characters even come from the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-horror-comic-books-graphic-novels/ranker-comics" target="_blank">best horror comics</a>. Make sure to vote up all the villains that you wish weren&#39;t flooding your nightmares, and vote down the ones you could handle in your face, no problem.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Now that most of the epic comic book fights ever published have been adapted to the big screen, fans and creators alike are on the lookout for&nbsp;the more unheralded matchups from comic continuity - those that might show up in the next few phases of superhero cinematics. Followers of the genre have traditionally debated who would win a superhero fight&nbsp;between their favorite characters, but there are&nbsp;unexpected results out there in the history of both <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/shameless-marvel-dc-analogs/ranker-comics?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">DC and Marvel Comics</a> that make prognosticating difficult.

Generally speaking, it&rsquo;s a good rule of thumb never to count out a character starring in their&nbsp;comic book - and there are countless upset victories&nbsp;against some of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/powerful-characters-marvel-comics/ranker-comics" target="_blank">most powerful</a> villains to prove it. <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/marvel-heroes-villains-beaten-by-squirrel-girl/erik-barnes" target="_blank">Squirrel Girl</a> has taken down her fair share of mighty opponents, and there are several instances in which one scrappy street fighter overpowers a notoriously strong team. Depending on who is writing the comic, any character can theoretically beat any other character on any given day - it&rsquo;s all just a matter of crafting the right circumstances.&nbsp;

They don’t call them <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/greatest-graphic-novels-and-collected-editions">graphic novels</a> for no reason. Comic books and graphic novels are works of visually and textually explicit scenarios, but one of the things that make&nbsp;them so intriguing is the fact that one-dimensional characters simply don’t exist between the pages. For this reason, there have been countless times <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-15-scariest-villains-in-comics">comic book villains</a> were sweet, even borderline sentimental, if you will.It’s easy to miss these few-and-far-between instances of comic book villains being nice. Moreover, it’s easy to forget the times our favorite heroes began as villains, despite the fact that this is a recurring comic book theme.&nbsp;If all it takes to become a villain is one bad decision, the opposite must also be true. One good deed has been known to send some of the most sinister baddies over the line into benevolence, even if just for a frozen, solitary moment.Now, to be clear, in this context, we’re not talking about characters that have a dark side.&nbsp;We’re not discussing the now-infamous antihero trope. We're talking about characters who are the dark side, the certified psychopaths who will laugh gleefully while detaching your head from your body and simultaneously humming the National Anthem. Even they might save a puppy or two along the way.From feeding orphans to rescuing superheroes, from healing plagues to sacrificing their own souls in order to save the lives and souls of others, here are some examples of unexpected supervillains who do good.

Fictional Characters

The best superheroes have an ability that would work in the real world; powers like flying, telepathy, and heightened senses are perfect and enviable. How bad do you want to skip the TSA line and fly to Europe for a long weekend? Or use your telekinetic abilities to shoot mind knives at your enemies? Or use your ice powers to help solve global warming (we’re not actually sure how global warming works)? Now those are powers that we can get behind. The abilities on this list certainly aren’t anything that you would want to have in the real world, and, even if you had them, you wouldn’t be able to do anything with them.The power to speak to squirrels, turning into a rock, and housing two large maggots in your stomach that help you dissolve any type of matter you might encounter – these are the types of unrealistic superpowers we’re talking about on this list. The abilities that are only helpful when you live in a comic book and can get by being the third guy on a team who can transport minor distances. We’re not saying these characters are a waste of space, but they definitely aren’t the most useful cards in the deck.Put your amazing voting ability to good use and let us know which character you think has <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/useless-anime-side-characters/crystal-brackett?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the most useless</a> super power, then call upon the amazing vocal prowess that you’ve gained from earth’s yellow sun and take to the comments to let us know if we’ve missed any lame mutants or metahumans.

List of the best superpowers we all wish we had as voted by the Ranker community. This list of superpowers includes anything we&#39;ve seen in movies, read in comics, or dreamt up ourselves. Just think about how life-changing it would be to have cool superpowers. Have you ever been sitting in traffic and wished that you could just fly to work? Or have you had to run through the airport to catch your plane and thought of how great it would be to just teleport where you wanted to go? Maybe you&#39;d just want to be able to know what your partner is thinking for once. Superhero powers <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-unfortunate-x-men-mutations/tyler-mitchell" target="_blank">may not all be useful</a>, but they&nbsp;can sure come in handy, but just remember Uncle Ben&#39;s famous words, &quot;With great power, comes great responsibility.&quot;

The most-wanted superpowers - even <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/obscure-superpowers-useful/jessica-bedewi" target="_blank">the weird, obscure ones</a> - improve our everyday lives or allow us to become a little greater than we are. If you&#39;ve ever been jealous of superheroes and their different types of awesome super powers, fantasize with this list&nbsp;and pretend you&#39;ve harnessed their powers.&nbsp;Now, you can use this list of superpowers&nbsp;to dream of how your life could be. Share this with your friends and add whatever cool superpowers <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-you-wish-you-were-better-at/lauren-slocum?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">you wish you</a> had.&nbsp;

This is a list of the best superpowers we wish were real. Vote up your favorite and add any that aren&#39;t listed yet. &nbsp;

While <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-comic-book-villains?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic villains</a> are usually content with slaying&nbsp;anyone and everyone to prove their point, the heroes almost always have a &quot;no slaying&quot; rule. Abstaining from ending someone&#39;s life is seen as one of the major dividing lines between a hero and a villain. Even so, that doesn&#39;t mean there haven&#39;t been a few accidental &mdash; and some not so accidental &mdash; passings caused by various superheroes.&nbsp;

Everyone from Batman to <a href="http://www.ranker.com/tags/iron-man?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">Iron Man</a> to Superman have accidentally <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-who-have-killed-people/celebrity-lists?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">slain people</a>, with varying degrees of accident. This list of times heroes have accidentally slain people shows the accidental perishments&nbsp;of various characters at the hands of heroes, some of which had huge consequences in the comic universes.&nbsp;

There&#39;s something inherently intriguing about weird alternate versions of superheroes. Fans of other entertainment genres may not understand the fascination that <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-comic-book-fans-dont-like-about-the-mcu/zack-howe?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic book fans</a> have with alternate&nbsp;and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/depressing-future-versions-of-superheroes/eric-vega" target="_blank">depressing future versions of superheroes</a>. TV shows and movies may offer brief flash forwards&nbsp;to increase tension and generate suspense, but rarely do they spend more than a&nbsp;moment in the future. Comic books, on the other hand, devote entire issues, story arcs, and major crossover events to dozens of possible futures and characterizations.&nbsp;The X-Men started the trend with their highly successful Days of Future Past arc, and since then nearly every major superhero has grabbed a piece of the prognostication pie.

Sometimes, these visions of the future and its heroes are pleasant and utopian. But more often, they&rsquo;re the exact opposite of that. Most comic book futures run the gamut between dystopia and outright apocalypse. In fact, some of them literally feature a giant blue menace named Apocalypse raining terror down upon humanity with his Four Horseman. Yes, alternate futures are mostly meant to be foreboding and dreadful, but some take that extra step to become more disturbing than anything. Read on to discover what upsetting <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weirdest-alternate-versions-heroes-and-villains/joedonley" target="_blank">versions of superheroes</a> populate the pages of comics, and cast your vote for the creepiest of all.

Rorschach

It&rsquo;s safe to say&nbsp;most characters don&rsquo;t become superheroes because they possess a&nbsp;great life. If anything, most <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/updated-superhero-origin-stories/stephanroget" target="_blank">superhero origins</a> take root&nbsp;in the character&#39;s&nbsp;dissatisfaction&nbsp;towards&nbsp;their life, if not all-out tragedy. But the saddest origin stories of superheroes take the tragedy of everyday life and twist the knife until&nbsp;nothing&#39;s left to bleed. The characters on this list haven&rsquo;t simply led&nbsp;a hard life, they&rsquo;ve <a href="/list/saddest-supervillain-origin-stories/cynthia-griffith">had the hardest life</a>. Either their parents were murdered in front of them, or the one thing cherished&nbsp;most was ripped away from them, leaving them a broken mess of a person. Keep reading to learn about even more sad superhero origin stories.

For much of the golden era of comics, superhero origins were based around dead either dead parents or science gone wrong &ndash; or in the case of one character on this list, both &ndash; but as the decades moved on the origin stories got more complicated, and some of them became even more depressing. As you read this collection of the most depressing superhero origin stories prepare to sigh heavily, think about your parents, and maybe even have a stiff drink. But remember, the characters on this list took the world&rsquo;s biggest lemons and turned them into lemonade, and that means that you can too. But before you turn your life around, don&rsquo;t forget to vote on the most traumatizing superhero origin stories.

Miss Martian

This list of teenage superheroes has been voted on by you. the fans. The are the best teenage <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-superheroes-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">superheroes of all time</a>! Being a teenager is both tough (because it's an awkward time) and awesome (because you're young and all of your joints work!) --- like these superheroes. From finishing yesterday's math homework and thinking about your crush by day, to saving the world and still thinking about your crush by night. Vote and help decide the best adolescent superheroes in comic book history. They may sometimes be&nbsp;identified as a young adult by casual comic book fans.Who is your favorite teenage superhero? Vote for your favorite young superhero now!

Comic Books

Hercules

Being a superhero is about as manly as it gets. They&#39;re strong, smart, independent, and they save people! You know what else is manly? Beards. Mustaches too.

So why is it the two so rarely coincide? Why are there so many <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/comic-book-characters-with-long-hair/tyler-mitchell" target="_blank">superheroes with tons of hair</a> but no facial scruff? What&#39;s with all the baby-faced heroes running around? Bearded superheroes just kick ass. Logically, a beard would be a pretty big giveaway to your secret identity if you don&#39;t wear a full face mask. Imagine Bruce Wayne trying to convince people he wasn&#39;t Batman but as they both started rocking the exact same Batbeard or Batstache at the exact same time? Also, beards must be really itchy under a Spider-Man-style mask. You&#39;ll notice most of the characters on this least either don&#39;t have a superhero secret identity, or they&#39;re villains, so they don&#39;t need one.

There&#39;s also the fact that beards are much much harder to draw and be consistent with than a clean shaven jaw. But that&#39;s neither here nor there.

A few of these heroes don&#39;t always rock the facial haired look seen on this list of comic book characters with facial hair, but in those cases, the &#39;staches and beards are so badass they speak for themselves.

These are the best uses of facial hair in comic book history! Vote up the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-superheroes-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic book character</a> with the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/athletes-with-the-best-facial-hair/the-round-mound?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best facial hair</a>, be it a beard, mustache, goatee, or even mutton chops.

In the ever-changing drama of comics, there are stories where supervillains&nbsp;have&nbsp;taken&nbsp;over for superheroes. It's not always the cut-and-dried good versus evil format we've come to accept from so much superhero media, however. Some of these villains legitimately want to do good, not just mess up a superhero's reputation. Even the most tyrannical&nbsp;despots can become champions of virtue, often times seeking redemption from their criminal ways... well, at least temporarily.&nbsp;Occasionally, there are&nbsp;villains who subbed for <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/surprising-dead-comic-book-characters/stephanroget">heroes that died</a> or were incapacitated. Other times, there were <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/fat-comic-book-characters/ranker-comics?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">superheroes and supervillains</a>&nbsp;who switched places. Motivations vary.&nbsp;Some villains have&nbsp;a change of heart, others see&nbsp;an opportunity for redemption, and&nbsp;some villains are just trying to beat heroes at their own game. Check out this list of confirmed villains that shockingly tried to act as heroes.

Superheroes have never been more mainstream, but some costumed crusaders are so ubiquitous they were household names long before the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/every-character-from-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-ranked?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Marvel Cinematic Universe</a> was born. Characters like Superman, Spider-Man, and the Incredible Hulk are all recognizable worldwide, but casual fans might be surprised to learn that even some of the most&nbsp;famous <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unrealistic-super-powers/ranker-comics" target="_blank">superpowers</a> may be a lot more complicated than they appear on the surface.

Longtime fans are well aware that comic book continuity is complex and difficult to parse; they have made peace with the fact that not every detail in these superhero mythologies will end up making it to the big screen. Regardless, fans of all stripes would probably claim to understand the full story behind some of the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/superpowers-we-wish-we-had/benjamin-dunn" target="_blank">more popular superpowers</a>, like flight or wall-crawling - but they&rsquo;d be wrong.

Kaine

Send in the clones! In most media, clones are considered, as a rule, to be totally&nbsp;rad. You’ve got the award-winning clone drama on TV’s Orphan Black, and of course the&nbsp;Clone Armies and Wars of the Star Wars franchise. However, amongst the comic book crowd, the word &quot;clone&quot; might as well be four letters. This is in no small part due to Spider-Man’s infamous Clone Saga, a messy, confusing, and convoluted storyline that was meant to only last a few months, but ended up lasting years. Still, there have been dozens of clone-based storylines over the ages, and they can’t all have been bad, can they?The answer, unsurprisingly, is no. Both Marvel and DC Comics have re-visited the clone well on numerous occasions, and they can still&nbsp;occasionally draw&nbsp;up great stories and characters. Over at Marvel Comics, clones are regaining their reputation thanks to X-23’s starring role in 2017’s <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/lessons-superhero-movies-can-learn-from-logan/jacob-shelton">Logan</a>. DC had a less successful experience with Doomsday, a partial clone of General Zod, but the fact that they tried shows there is still&nbsp;potential left in the seemingly overused clone trope. Like superheroes themselves, clones of heroes come in all shapes, sizes, and quality of writing. The best, however, definitely have stories worth telling.

Marvel Comics

Captain Universe

In general, comic books have not paid nearly enough attention to people of color. Even when a Black super hero did exist, they didn&#39;t get the exposure they deserved. The best Black superheroes are every bit as iconic, interesting, and emotionally compelling as their peers.&nbsp;In fact, Black Panther&nbsp;in particular has been a consistently strong book over the years that will no doubt provide a lot of great material for a ton of films down the line. Static has not only gotten his own cartoon, but an incredibly loyal cult following. When Superman died, Steel was one of the only people who stepped up to take his place that didn&#39;t have some horrific ulterior motive waiting in the wings that could spell doom for the planet Earth. When the mantle of Ultimate Spider-Man was passed from Peter Parker to Miles Morales, the character blossomed and became arguably more beloved than his predecessor. &nbsp;

Even despite these triumphs, Black characters still haven&#39;t gotten the time of day they deserve. Ask most people to name a few Black super heroes and you probably will get a list with maybe three names. The good news is recent films, comics, and TV shows are really pushing their Black characters the way they always deserved. We&#39;re seeing &nbsp;new exposure for characters like Black Panther getting his own film in the Marvel cinematic universe, Luke Cage on Netflix, and Cyborg in the Justice League movie. While it was great to have Wesley Snipes as Blade have his own film series, we&#39;re glad to see new <a href="/list/best-black-superhero-movies/ranker-film/" target="_blank">Black superhero movies</a>&nbsp;filling the ranks. &nbsp;

But let&#39;s not forget how much farther we have to go. The length of this list proves there are a ton of Black superheroes that could make their debuts in television and movies. The Spectre could make a great on screen presence. Spawn deserves a better film than his 90s misfire, and with the advances in special effects and storytelling available today we could get something very special for fans of his book in addition to new audiences. If you&#39;re curious to see just how many characters are out there, check out the list of the best Black superheroes&nbsp;below and be sure to vote up your favorites.&nbsp;

Galactus

Who are the best comic book villains of all time? This list of top supervillains in comics includes some of the most notorious evil-doers in comic book history. Some of them are among the <a href="/crowdranked-list/best-marvel-villains" target="_blank">best Marvel villains</a> like Doctor Doom, Magneto and Galactus. Others are classic <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-comic-book-villains">DC Comics villains</a>&nbsp;like The Joker and Bane. Are they the best (or worst, depending on how you view supervillains)? Vote them up! Feel free to add any great comic book villains who are missing from the list, and you can also re-rank this list your way, in any order you like. Any and all great comic book villains have one thing in common: They are the absolute arch rivals of some of the greatest and <a href="www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-superheroes-all-time" target="_blank">best superheroes</a> in comics' history. Every great protagonist needs a worthy antagonist to balance things out, after all. Several of the top supervillains listed here began their evil careers in comic books, but they quickly took their evil deeds to the big screen, starring in some of the <a href="/crowdranked-list/the-best-superhero-movies-ever-made" target="_blank">best superhero movies ever made</a>.Who do you think are the top comic book villains? Vote now!

Tim Drake Is The Ultimate Robin

<a href="/list/best-alternate-costumes-in-marvel-comics/ranker-comics">Amazing alternate costumes for superheroes</a> are always entertaining, but what about alternate superhero characters? The topic of &ldquo;legacy characters,&rdquo; or replacement superheroes, has led to many heated debates&nbsp;in the world of comic book fandom. Publishers have attempted to add diversity and &ldquo;fresh ideas&rdquo; to their comic book universes by replacing their most popular heroes with younger and more diverse vigilantes. The results have been, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/superhero-replacements-worse-than-the-original/stephanroget" target="_blank">at best, mixed</a>.

Fan outrage is high anytime a popular character goes away - even the times when <a href="/list/times-marvel-has-changed-a-character-for-no-reason/ranker-comics">Marvel changes a character for no apparent reason</a>&nbsp;aren&#39;t met with as much resistance.&nbsp;Nothing is worse than seeing your favorite superhero feign death for awhile so that a precocious teenager can take up their mantle to spout internet slang and share crossovers with Spider-Man.

Now, this may be considered sacrilege in some corners of the fandom, but some legacy heroes turn out pretty cool. In fact, there&#39;s a&nbsp;rare handful of second generation superheroes who are actually better than the originals. It&#39;s not easy to replace a legendary hero,&nbsp;but as the following characters can attest to, it is doable. Check out the list below and vote up the coolest second generation heroes who you believe are an improvement from the original.&nbsp;

Heroes and Villains

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Comic Book Characters

Who are the funniest <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-superheroes-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic book characters</a> and superheroes? It seems like too many superheroes and comic books are too grim. Everything is just too serious. There needs to be a little more humor and fun in comics. Luckily, there are some comic book characters out there that know how to have a little fun and crack a few jokes.&nbsp;Humor in comics is making a comeback and there are handful of funny superheroes out there. Everyone from Deadpool to The Tick to Rocket Raccoon makes an appearance on this list of funniest superheroes. Some of their humor is straight slapstick, while others rely on funny one-liners or witty banter, but there's plenty to go around for these funny superheroes.&nbsp;

The Funniest Superheroes with a Sense of Humor

The Funniest Comic Book Superheroes

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Deadpool

Deadpool is a fictional antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in The New Mutants #98. Deadpool was originally a supervillain in his first appearance in The New Mutants and later in issues of X-Force, before eventually becoming an antihero.
Deadpool is a disfigured and mentally unstable mercenary with the superhuman ability of an accelerated healing factor. He is known as the "Merc with a Mouth" because of his talkative nature and tendency to break the fourth wall, which is used by writers to humorous effect.
The character was portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, who will reprise the role in Deadpool, set to be released on February 12, 2016.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional superhero created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, as well as in a number of movies, television shows, and video game adaptations set in the Marvel Universe. In the stories, Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker were killed in a plane crash.

Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon is a fictional superhero who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Keith Giffen, the character first appeared in Marvel Preview #7. He is an intelligent, anthropomorphic raccoon, who is an expert marksman and master tactician. His name and aspects of his character are a nod to the Beatles' 1968 song "Rocky Raccoon".
Rocket Raccoon appeared as a prominent member in the 2008 relaunch of the superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy. The character has appeared in several media adaptations as a member of that team, including animated television series, toys, and video games. He appears in the 2014 live-action film Guardians of the Galaxy, with his voice provided by Bradley Cooper.

Beast Boy

Beast Boy is a fictional character from the 2007 animated film Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo.


 
 
 Who are the funniest comic book characters and superheroes? It seems like too many superheroes and comic books are too grim.
 
