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DC was able to leverage its popularity for decades, with DC characters becoming multimedia superstars. While DC has long been number two to Marvel, the rise of the DCU has made the publisher more popular than ever. These ten DC heroes are the most popular superheroes who helped define what that word means.
10) Catwoman
Catwoman began her existence as a villain, a femme fatale cat-burglar who battled Batman across the rooftops of Gotham City. Catwoman and Batman always had a spark, and she was often played as not exactly a villain, but more of a playful antagonist with a crush. Eventually, thanks to sympathetic portrayals in Batman Returns and Batman: The Animated Series, she was given her own series, and she’s since become one of the most popular members of the Bat-Family.
Catwoman is a grey character, her morality as mutable as her costume has been for years. Catwoman has become hugely popular, and her relationship with Batman and the rest of the Bat-Family has made her a legend.
9) Robin
There have been multiple Robins over the years, and the concept of “Robin” has proven to be one of the most important in comics. The first Robin was Dick Grayson, and Dick brought something new to DC lore: he was the first young superhero, meant to give readers someone they could imagine being when playing Batman with their friends.
Since then, there have been six major Robins over the decades — Grayson, Jason Todd, Carrie Kelly, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne — each of them having their own stories and relationship with Batman and the greater DC superhero community. Robin is one of the most recognizable fictional characters ever, and is a huge reason DC is so popular.
8) Green Lantern (John Stewart)
There have been many Green Lanterns, but one stands above the rest when it comes to popularity — John Stewart. John wasn’t the first or even second Green Lantern, but would become the understudy for Hal Jordan for years, starring in various Justice League and Green Lantern Corps stories. John Stewart didn’t get his own comic for years, but what has made him so popular is his place in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series of the 2000s.
Since then, John Stewart has risen and fallen in the ranks of superheroes, but is about to make a huge splash with his DCU debut in HBO’s Lanterns. John Stewart is easily the most popular Green Lantern with general audiences, and the comics have done him justice in the years since his star started rising.
7) The Flash
The Flash is yet another legacy hero that has existed in some form or another since 1940. However, there are two Flashes who are more popular than the others, and that’s Barry Allen and Wally West.
While many believe Wally West is the best Flash, Allen has become the most well-known Flash to general audiences because of the CW series and the DCEU movies. Wally is well-known as well because of his place in the DC Animated Universe, his run in the ’90s and ’00s comics. However, it doesn’t really matter which Flash is under the striking red and gold costume, because “The Flash” is undoubtedly a popular character who helped usher in the Silver Age of DC and has long been one of the franchise’s most well-known superheroes.
6) Green Arrow
Green Arrow has been around for almost 90 years now. At first, Oliver Queen was basically just Batman in Robin Hood/William Tell drag and has since grown into DC’s mouthy liberal firebrand. Green Arrow truly became popular thanks to the CW series Arrow, which played up the Batman/Green Arrow connections much more than the comics have in recent years.
While it’s been a quarter century since Green Arrow was a bestselling comic, Green Arrow’s appearances outside of the comics have made him one of DC’s most popular modern characters.
5) Nightwing
Dick Grayson was the first Robin, and the most well-known of them. He became Nightwing and has also taken up the mantle of Batman during his 85-year existence, keeping his place among the most popular fictional characters of the 20th century, and one of the most popular superheroes of all time, having starred in TV, movies, and video games.
There are entire generations of Americans who have never read a comic but know who Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing is. In recent years, Nightwing has also become one of the most popular solo DC comic series, and Grayson has risen to join Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman as one of the most important characters in the DC Multiverse.
4) Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn started out as a villain, first debuting as Joker’s girlfriend in Batman: The Animated Series. She was popular from the word “go,” and it was only a matter of time before she made her way into the comics. Quinn made her DC comic book debut in The Batman Adventures: Mad Love and would join the mainline DC Universe in 1999, soon becoming a breakout antihero.
Since then, Harley has gotten more and more popular, starring in her own animated series, the Suicide Squad movies, and her own team film. Harley Quinn’s popularity is such that she’s joined the ranks of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in the annals of DC and is recognized by fans the world over.
