Nope, you can't say that because 25 years ago you'd be saying the same thing for Superman. Keep in mind Superman is still the highest selling comic in history, Batman only got super mainstream popular in the last few decades. Who's gonna be the next Superman/Batman for DC if they only push Superman/Batman?
You just posted an image that says "Batman is by FAR DC's most-licensed character".
Superman had his big "Death of Superman" story that broke records and caused the collector bubble to burst, but Batman was still a bigger deal outside of the comics. "25 years ago" Superman movies were dead in the water while Batman Returns was in theaters and Batman: The Animated Series was on fire winning Emmys. A single comic stunt didn't make Superman a bigger character, by any stretch of the imagination.
Disagree. Spider-man has that as well as the best Rogues Gallery in all of comics. Every villain, love interest, side-character, what have you that you can bring for Batman Spider-man can match and surpass.
I adore Spider-man and his massive cast... but I think I could take you up on this bet and go toe-to-toe for every single Spider-man character with a Batman character, and, I would wager, the Batman-side would be more well-received than the Spider-man side for the majority of them.
That's nothing against Spider-man's rogues, as I love them all from Kraven the Hunter to Mysterio to The Shocker.
But Batman's allies and villains are mostly considered far more memorable threats. Spider-man has a surplus of generic thug villains with an animal gimmick, and that's not a BAD thing, but it isn't making Rhino or The Scorpion into the next Two-Face or Riddler.
Same level as what? Recognition? Of course not. Batman in the past 30 years has had 6 live action films to Superman's 4, a critically acclaimed cartoon series as well as half a dozen more to Superman's 1, triple the number of animated films, 4 high profile games to Superman's 0 (64, returns, all that is b-tier shovelware as many of Batman's games used to be). The one thing Superman has had over Batman in these 3 decades is live-action TV shows. How are you not gonna familiarize yourself with these people? Why do people know Clayface? Cartoons. Why do people know Professor Pig or Calender Man? Games. Batman is given so many opportunities that other Heroes simply aren't so of course he's gonna have a more recognized cast.
And I'm not arguing that. Public exposure is what creates brand awareness. Batman's universe is a brand all to itself that eclipses almost all of DC's other universes combined. Doesn't mean I don't want more Superman cartoons, just that this has been the status quo for the most part since the Adam West show.
Flash's gallery is second only to Spider-man, Superman/Batman are neck and neck. I'm talking purely them as characters, not about recognition. When you have a ton of media for a series then people are gonna recognize that. Flash, before this TV series, basically had nothing. It's not comparable.
I'm talking recognition, because games rely hard on brand-recognition and public awareness when marketing a fighting game roster. A giant roster of "who are they?" won't excite people to buy a game as much as "oh look! It's Harley Quinn!".
And Flash isn't some newbie either. There was a TV series in the 90s too. Flash and his Rogues popped up in Justice League all the time. If anything, I'm disappointed we're back to Barry Allen when Wally West was my favorite Flash growing up. But it's still not like Flash is getting a ton of characters. We're getting Gorilla Grodd (who honestly is a pretty sensible choice given his exposure outside of Flash as well) and Captain Cold (unless you want Mr. Freeze as the default) and just character skins outside of that. That's... not a lot. Green Lantern has as many characters if rumors are true. Given the reception of the Flash TV series, I'm actually very surprised its representation is as low as it is.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 housed, what, 6 x-men if you include deadpool? Out of 25 characters for a TEAM-BASED series is not excessive. Your comparing a group series to a singular one and Batman still hosts more than them in the most recent fighters available. Spider-man is just ridiculously popular and even he doesn't get as many cartoons as Batman.
6/25 is nearly a quarter of the roster. Marvel vs Capcom 2 has 17/27 X-men characters.
And Batman himself has always been a pretty unofficial "team" character, given his massive cast of supporting heroes backing him up - Batwoman, Batgirl (3+ of them), Robin (4+ of them), Azrael, Oracle, Nightwing, Huntress, etc., etc. There's a reason he made "Batman Inc." for awhile to manage his unofficial task force.
And there's been 7 Spider-man cartoons in thirty years. Batman has almost the same number of series he's led (and that includes spin-offs with new main heroes like Batman Beyond), and possibly less if you want to factor "same universe" out of the equations.
For 50 YEARS Batman has DOMINATED every aspect of media over Superman? Come on now. Until the Mid-80s it was almost exclusively Superman: Comics (still holds the record for largest comic printing), movies, tv. Stop with the hyperbole.
Holding a record at a single point in history for a single issue that most agree was overblown hype doesn't mean 50 year domination. Yes, Batman has dominated. Superman has had moments of triumph (his movies were very good and successful), but then the Batman movies of the 80s hit and the animated series hit and it was nothing but money from that point forward that far exceeded Superman's output. But, even predating those, Superman NEVER had a TV show that was a big as the Adam West show as in the 60s, which was just this huge global phenomena at the time, while Batman in cartoons throughout the 70s and 80s was still a massive draw. I'm not saying Superman was doing poorly (well, outside of losing steam after the second movie), but Batman was still everywhere at the time.
Superman had a forgettable cartoon series in 1988, I guess. And don't get me wrong, Superman is still immediately identifiable across the globe. It's like arguing that Captain Marvel "dominated" Superman, even though Captain Marvel only managed to do so for a very, VERY brief window of time. One moment of glory and fame doesn't make it a grand-slam victory.
Stop with the hyperbole. Give me a roster of 30 Batman characters for a fighting game. I figure it starts to falter around 18. The Green Lanterns? Absolutely you could do that, Batman, don't think so.
Really? You want me to do this?
Okay. Bare minimum of 30.
Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, Bluebird, Catwoman, Huntress, Batgirl, Batwoman, Spoiler, Joker, Harley Quinn, Clayface, Scarecrow, Bane, Killer Croc, Ra's Al Ghul, Azrael, Mr. Freeze, Deadshot, Man-Bat, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Hush, Penguin, Zsasz, Firefly, Black Mask, Lady Shiva...
... That's 30, right? Those were the ones I felt were "fighter-capable" and just off the top of my head. I intentionally didn't mention more cerebral ones like Mad Hatter, Oracle, The Riddler, Babydoll, The Ventriloquist, or Professor Pyg, etc., allies like Gordon or Alfred, or prominent foes from other comics like Deathstroke. I could keep naming Batman characters that would more than fit the bill all day.
That's not a bad thing. It's just that he's had nearly 80 years to build up a great roster.
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