ALL BLOGS A-Z: TOP 10 MARVEL COMIC BOOK SUPERHEROES OF ALL TIME

INTRODUCTION :-

Marvel has carved a name for itself as one of The Big Two in the comic book world by creating a stable of superheroes that everyone can relate to. Even though they are super powered beings, they are nowhere near perfect or omnipotent; giving fans an easy way to relate to them. They have so many well known characters, it is no surprise they have held onto the number one spot for so long.
With this huge list of fan favorites, Marvel continues to blaze a trail throughout the world of comics. Take a look at who made the cut for the top spots on the Marvel charts and who got left behind.

1) SPIDER-MAN:-

Real Name: Peter ParkerLocation: New York City

First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)

Created By: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Team Affiliations: New Avengers

Currently Seen In: Amazing Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, New Avengers.

Powers:

Spider-Man has spider like abilities including superhuman strength and the ability to cling to most surfaces. He is also extremely agile and has amazing reflexes. Spider-Man also has a, “spider sense,” that warns him of impending danger.

Spider-Man has supplemented his powers with technology. Being a brilliant chemist and scientist, Peter has made web-slingers, bracelets that shoot out a sticky webbing, allowing him to swing from building to building and ensnare opponents. He has also developed stingers that shoot powerful energy blasts that can stun foes.

In the recent storyline, Spider-Man has been reborn with even stronger abilities. He has the ability to see in the dark, enhanced senses, and can feel the vibrations through his webbing. In addition to this, the new, “Iron Spidey,” suit has enhanced his strength further and gives protection from damage. Recently, however, he has gotten rid of the suit and returned to the classic costume.

Interesting Fact:

The publishers didn't want to do a character named Spider-Man at first, they thought it was too scary.

Main Villains:

Green Goblin
Venom
Sandman
Hobgoblin
Vulture
Doctor Octopus
Lizard
Kraven
Chameleon
Mysterio
Rhino
Carnage

Origin:

Peter Parker was an orphaned teenage boy who lived in upstate Queens, New York with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. He was a shy boy, but highly intelligent and excelled in science. He was often teased by other more popular kids like longtime nemesis Flash Thompson, but his life was soon to change on a visit to the science museum.

At the science museum, Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider. The spider bite gave Peter spider like powers with super strength and reflexes. He also had a, “spider-sense” alerting him to danger. Armed with these new powers, Peter first sought fame and money before fighting crime. He worked with a wrestling circuit and got some fame and appeared on a television show. During a robbery of the television show, Peter has the chance to stop the thief, but chose not to.

Peter later finds out that the same robber that he could have stopped at the television studio attempted to rob his aunt and uncles residence, and his Uncle Ben was killed in the struggle. The words of his late uncle, "with great power there must also come great responsibility,” drive Peter to fight crime instead of following fame. Spider-Man was truly born.

One of the greatest turning points in Peter’s life was his relationship with Gwen Stacy. During his younger years, Gwen was the love of Peter’s life. The blond bombshell a perfect fit for Peter. This relationship had a sad end when during a battle with Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, Gwen is killed. Peter did everything he could to save her. This event has always haunted Peter and made it difficult for him to trust others with his identity, fearing that they would become targets of his enemies.

Peter eventually got over Gwen and began a relationship with Mary Jane Watson, a high school friend and now model and actress. Their relationship was rocky, with Peter ever fearful that he would put Mary into harms way. Mary Jane finally told Peter that she has known for some time that Peter was Spider-Man, something that helped cement their new relationship. In the mini-series, Secret Wars, many of the Earth’s heroes and villains are transported to a planet by the omnipotent being, “The Beyonder.” During his time there, Peter gets a new black costume that can alter its shape by the power of thought and has an unlimited supply of webbing. Peter takes the costume back to Earth and continues to fight crime in his new suit. The suit turns out to be an alien symbiont and tries to merge completely with Peter.
With the help of the Fantastic Four, Peter manages to free himself of the black costume an goes back to wearing his typical red and blue suit. The alien symbiont, however, bonds with fellow journalist and rival Eddie Brock, turning him into the villain Venom. The two have since become major enemies and continue to fight each other.
Peter has since learned that his powers are linked to the totem like power of the Native Americans. In a ferocious battle with a being called Morlun, Peter died, only to be reborn again with stronger spider like abilities. It was also during this battle that his Aunt May discovered that Peter was Spider-Man and is now one of his more vocal supporters.
Lately, Peter has come under the wing of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. Tony Stark has given him a new costume that further enhances his strength and abilities, such as protecting him from bullets. As part of Tony’s initiative to reign in superheroes with the Superhuman Registration Act, Peter served as the ultimate poster child, announcing his secret identity to the world. An act that may have serious consequences for the superhero in the future.
It took Peter some time, but he soon came to the realization that he was on the wrong side, and defected to join Captain America's rogue band of heroes. When the war ended and Iron Man won, Peter went underground and donned his black costume again. He is now on the run from the authorities.

2) WOLVERINE :-

Real Name: James Howlett – AKA:LoganLocation: Westchester County, New York

First Appearance: Incredible Hulk #180 (1974)

Created By: Len Wein, John Romita Sr., and Herb Trimpe.

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Team Affiliations: X-Men, New Avengers

Currently Seen In : Wolverine, The X-Men, New Avengers

Powers

Wolverine has many animal like powers attributed to his mutant gene. His senses are extremely heightened, making him able to track by smell alone and detect nearby enemies. He also has bone claws that can pop out through the skin of his knuckles and are razor sharp weapons.

One of the things that allow Wolverine to do the things he does is his superhuman healing factor. Cuts, bullet wounds, broken bones and much more can be healed in a matter of minutes, if not seconds to heal him from most any injury. A side effect of this healing factor is that drugs have little affect on him (including alcohol) and that he has an unnaturally long lifespan.

When Wolverine joined the Weapon X program, an indestructible metal known as Adamantium was grafted to his skeletal structure, making his claws able to cut through just about anything and also making him even more resistant to damage.

Wolverine is also a master of many martial arts, including ninjitsu. When in times of great stress and anger, Wolverine can revert to a more animalistic stage and can go into a, “berserker rage,” not caring if he lives or dies, but unrelenting in his attacks. With these powers, Wolverine is one of the most dangerous mutants alive.

Interesting Fact

Wolverine was Marvels first Canadian superhero.

Main Villains:

Sabertooth
Apocalypse
Lady Deathstrke
Reavers
Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants

Origin

Wolverine, aka Logan, was born in the late 19th century with the name James Howlett. His parents were respectable and well to do. During a break in by the ex-groundskeeper Thomas Logan and his son Dog, James saw the groundskeeper kill his father in an attempt to get his ex-love back, James’ mother. In turn, James’ mutant gene activated and his bone claws came out. He attacked and killed Thomas Logan and wounded Dog. His mother killed herself shortly afterwards.

James ran away with his longtime friend Rose, and the murders were placed falsely upon James. They escaped to British Columbia and lived there for some time, James taking the name, “Logan” to hide his identity. Unfortunately, Dog tracked them down and attacked Logan hoping to kill him. Logan defeated Dog, but in the process, accidentally killed his love, Rose. Logan ran into the wilderness and lived with the wolves for some time.

During the next hundred years, Logan wandered the countryside. He met Captain America during WW2 fighting with the Canadian army. He is thought to have been a samurai and a covert operative. Then, much later, he joined Weapon X, a project that worked to create a superhuman being. During this time, Wolverine had his bones grafted with Adamantium and had memories implanted, making much of his history unknown whether it is true or not.

He was sent to stop The Incredible Hulk, who was rampaging in the Canadian wilderness. It was then that he was approached by Proffessor Charles Xavier, head of the School for Gifted Youngsters and leader of The X-Men. Professor X was recruiting for a new team and Wolverine agreed to go with the Professor. Wolverine has since become a major part of the X-Men team and has been a leader on more than one occasion. One of the main reasons for his staying was that he fell in love for Jean Grey, even though she married fellow X-Man Cyclops. Despite all of this, Wolverine continues to serve the X-Men as a leader and teacher to the younger generation.

3) THE HULK :-

Real Name: Bruce BannerLocation: Wherever the carnage is.

First Appearance: Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)

Created By: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Team Affiliations: Avengers, Defenders

Currently Seen In: Incredible Hulk, Marvel Age: Hulk

Powers:
Super Strength.
Superhuman speed and constitution.
Enhanced healing abilities.

Powers:

When Bruce Banner changes into the Hulk, he becomes an unstoppable beast of near unlimited strength, power, and destruction. The Hulk’s strength is probably the greatest in the Marvel universe, with many foes falling to his thunderous attacks. The Hulk is also able to leap great distances traveling for miles before bounding upwards again.

For his size, the Hulk is incredibly fast and can run great distances at extreme speeds. He generally travels by jumping as described above though. The hulk is also highly resistant to damage, being near impervious to most forms of damage. Very little has been known to faze the Hulk, except those of the same power level as the Hulk such as The Thing, Thor, Abomination, and others.

Even when the Hulk is damaged, he heals at a fast rate and his endurance makes him an untiring creature capable of great in immense destruction. The Hulk is truly a marvel, both in his capability to defeat any enemy that would get in his way and as a being capable of destroying much that mankind has worked so hard to create.

Interesting Fact:

In "The Incredible Hulk #1" The Hulk was not green, he was grey!

Main Villains:

Leader
The Abomination
General Thunderbolt Ross
Absorbing Man

Origin

Bruce Banner was a top scientist for the military that was working on a gamma bomb, a weapon of massive destructive power. During a test of the gamma bomb, Bruce noticed a young teenager by the name of Rick Jones had entered the test site. Bruce rushed to aide the young man, and in pushing Rick into a trench, exposed himself to the rays of the gamma bomb. The result of this exposure would be to transform mild Bruce Banner into the destructive monster known as The Incredible Hulk.

The Hulk has gone through many different personality transformations during his lifetime. At first, the Hulk had very little of Bruce Banner in him and was easily angered, making him a threat to mankind. Banner was able to control the beast at a time though, through radiation treatments, going on to help form the Avengers in the process. His control would wane though, and the Hulk continued to threaten the world.

Another gamma powered being, Doc Samson, who was also a psychiatrist, attempted to treat Banner. He successfully freed Bruce from the Hulk persona, but when the Hulk threatened to continue to destroy all around him, Bruce reformed with the Hulk, shattering his persona in the process. What emerged was the Grey Hulk, known as, “Mr. Fixit.” This version had the intellect of Banner, but maintained the savage side of the hulk.

Doc Samson further tried to help Banner, and through hypnosis, helped him to create the, “Professor Hulk.” This entity appeared to have the full intellect and personality of Bruce Banner, but the powers of the Hulk. After much inner battle, Bruce has had to make a deal with the three main personas of the Hulk, each taking turns to control the beast.

Recently, The Hulk has gone back to being more like his earlier incarnation. Having a limited intellect and being easily angered. This Hulk became part of a scheme from S.H.I.E.L.D to help them destroy a satellite called the Godseye, It was a S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon that had fallen into the hands of the terrorist group Hydra and had the ability to replicate the strength of any enemy it faced. The Hulk succeeded but was soon to be betrayed by his new employers. The Illuminati, a group of super humans including Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Nick Fury, who are working to protect mankind and operate behind the scenes to better the world, saw an opportunity to rid the earth of The Hulk. When he was picked up by a shuttle to return to earth, he was sent into a wormhole, destined for a desolate planet. Instead, he landed on Planet Sakaar and became part of a gladiatorial games, after passing through the portal weakened him immensely.
Rising to great fame on the planet and succeeding time and again, The Hulk became known as The Green Scar and has unintentionally helped to lead a revolution against the corrupt emperor. On this planet, The Hulk reigned supreme. He had found peace, love, and people who adored him. This all ended however, when the ship that had taken him to Sakaar exploded, killing millions, including his new wife. The resulting explosion destroyed the planet, and the Hulk hurled the remnants of his Warbound into space. His target…Earth and all of those he deemed responsible for the death of his loved ones.
Arriving on Earth, he systematically went through and defeated those he held responsible. Black Bolt, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and The Sentry all fell before the Hulk before he finally changed back into Bruce Banner with New York torn into pieces. When one of his own Warbound, the insectoid Miek, turned on the Hulk, revealing it was he that had detonated the ship, Banner changed back into the Hulk, consumed with rage. He then asked Iron Man to stop him as he feared he would destroy the world in their rage. Iron Man turned all the defensive satellites upon The Hulk and defeated him.
With The Hulk imprisoned, a new red Hulk has emerged, as well as a new Abomination. It seems the only one who can stop these threats could be The Incredible Hulk.

4) CAPTAIN AMERICA :-

Real Name: Steve RogersLocation: New York

First Appearance: Captain America Comics #1 (1941) - (Atlas Comics)

Created By: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Team Affiliations: Avengers, SHIELD, Invaders, All Winners Squad

Currently Seen In : Captain America, New Avengers

Powers:

Because of his super soldier serum, Captain America is at the pinnacle of physical human health. Over the years, he has trained his body to be a perfect fighting machine, mastering many different martial arts and types of combat. He is highly acrobatic and uses his speed and agility to always be one step ahead of his foes.

Captain America is also known for his shield, which is made of an indestructible vibranium/admantium alloy. The disc shaped shield can be thrown with great accuracy and rebound to its owner. It is also impervious to all sorts of attacks, physical, energy, or otherwise. Captain America is so in tune with using his shield that he is able to attack multiple targets, having it bounce and rebound multiple times.

One thing that the Avengers have made him famous for is his expertise in group tactics, always taking the role of leader in battle. His teammates have come to greatly trust in Captain Americas ability to lead them into battle and trust him with their lives.

Finally, although not a superpower per se, Captain America is the ultimate optimist, trusting in the things that make America great. He never gives up hope in the good of humanity and will fight to his last dying breath. Fighting to protect the freedoms we have in America from any attacker.

Interesting Fact:

Captain America's "indestructible" shield has been destroyed and put back together again - two times.

Main Villains

The Red Skull
Baron Zemo
Hydra

Origin:

During World War II, a young Steve Rogers tried to enlist into the military, but was turned away due to his frail and sickly body. Steve Rogers was given another chance to serve his country though, as a General overheard his rejection and offers Steve a chance to fight the Nazi’s by being a part of a top-secret experiment. Steve agreed.

Steve was given a super-solider serum and was blasted by radiation. After the process, Steve’s body was no longer sickly and frail but the pinnacle of human perfection. Unfortunately, the plans for the super-soldier serum were lost when a Nazi spy killed the scientist who kept the plans secreted away in his mind. Steve was to be the first and last super soldier.

Steve underwent extensive training and was soon put into action as Captain America, fighting Hitler, the Nazi’s and his greatest foe, The Red Skull. But his work was soon cut short when fighting Baron Zemo. Tied to a rocket with his sidekick, Bucky, Captain America was too late in freeing the two and the rocket exploded, killing Bucky and sending Captain America to what seemed to be an icy grave in the harsh Atlantic Ocean.

His frozen body was found decades later by the Sub-Mariner, and somehow, Captain America survived. He is a man that is ripped from his own generation, living in the future but never able to escape his past. Instead of sulking, Captain America took the opportunity to continue to fight the good fight and has gone on to lead the Avengers and become and agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. This isn’t to say Captain America hasn’t had his share of problems with his own government. He was once asked to resign from being Captain America when he refused to become a government sponsored operative, he resigned, but later came back to stop a pan of The Red Skull to overthrow the government. He decided that the government didn’t own Captain America, the people did, and he vowed to serve them as their protector.
Recently, Captain America has come into opposition again with the United States Government. He is opposed to the Superhuman Registration Act, which forces all superhuman beings to reveal their identities to the government, and become paid employees, doing what the government says and when. He is in direct opposition to his long time frind, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. The two are now in the middle of a Civil War, with superheroes on both sides of the fence.
Regardless of where Captain America is, he is always working to promote freedom and the American Way. He is a stalwart ambassador of all that is good in America, and an opponent to greed, crime, racism, and hatred.

5) IRON MAN :-

Real Name:

Tony Stark

Location:

New York City

First Appearance:

Tales of Suspense #39 (1963)

Created By:

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, and Don Heck

Powers:

Without his suit of armor, Tony Stark has no supernatural powers. He is only limited to his imagination. Tony is a brilliant engineer and has used his talents to create a powerful suit of armor that enables the wearer to fly, shoot beams of energy from his hands and chest, and resist the vacuum of space. The suit also protects the wearer from damage and grants superhuman strength.

The suit is constantly being redesigned to face the new challenges that Tony Stark meets on a daily basis. There are specialty suits that have been made such as the Arctic, Stealth, Space, Hulkbuster and Thorbuster armors. There have been nearly 40 different variations of the Iron Man armor in the current reality of the Iron Man comics.

Team Affiliations:

Mighty Avengers, Ultimates

Currently Seen In:

Iron Man
Ultimate Iron Man
New Avengers
Mighty Avengers

Interesting Fact:

The first suit of armor was gray and had roller skates in the feet instead of jets!

Main Villains:

Mandarin
Crimson Dynamo
Titanium Man
Obadiah Stane

Origin:

Young Tony Stark was a prodigy of mechanical engineering genius. At 21 he took over his fathers company and launched it into a hugely successful corporation. During a testing of new technology in Vietnam, Tony was hit by a piece of shrapnel from a booby trap. The shrapnel was lodged near his heart and without help, Tony would die.

There, he was captured by a communist leader and imprisoned, forced to make new weapons for the overlord. Also imprisoned with him was Professor Ho Yinsen, a renowned physicist. Together they built the first suit of armor that would become Iron Man. Professor Ho even made the chest plate of the armor with a device to help Tony’s heart keep beating.

Tony used the armor to escape, although in the process, Professor Ho sacrificed his life to give Tony the time to charge it to full capacity. Tony escaped with James Rhodes (now War Machine) and returned to America to become a part of the Avengers, taking his fathers teachings of giving back to the world to heart and using his new armor to aid mankind. He wasn’t without his own demons though, as he struggled with alcoholism throughout his life.

In the midst of being a hero and working with the Avengers, Tony also continued to grow his company into a multi-billion corporation. He developed and sold technology that went to S.H.I.E.L.D. and other organizations, such as the Avengers Quinjet. His success continued to grow, and this to let him being targeted by Obadiah Stane, another billionaire with his own weapons design business.

Obadiah sought to ruin Tony, eventually taking over his company. This set things in motion and Tony ended up becoming homeless forced him to return to the bottle and he even gave up being Iron Man, turning it over to his friend Jim Rhodes. Stane even discovered designs of the Iron Man armor and began to create his own version, called the Iron Monger. Stane planned on selling multiple suits to the highest bidder.

Eventually, Tony got his life together and began a new company and resumed being Iron man again. He even started a new company called Circuits Maximus. This enraged Stane and led to a battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger. When Stane lost, he committed suicide and this led Tony getting back his company and life. Later, when more and more villains began to surface with armor based on the Iron Man armor, Stark took it upon himself to stop the use of the technology based on his designs and started what is now know as the, “Armor Wars.” He went after the supervillains, and even the government agencies that were using similar powered armor and deactivated them, taking back what he thought was rightfully his.
With such global threats on the horizon, Tony helped start the Illuminati, a group of other super powered beings that worked to control the fate of the world. The group is comprised of Iron Man, Black Bolt, Sub Mariner, Professor X, Reed Richards, and Dr. Strange. They were responsible for recovering the infinity gems, items when combined with the Infinity Gauntlet, would grant the bearer godlike powers. They were also responsible for sending the Hulk into orbit, which in turn started World War Hulk.
Tony Stark was also a major player in the Civil War, where the government wanted heroes register themselves, making their identities known and essentially becoming S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Many heroes balked at this, not wanting to give up their identities or become pawns of the government and so went underground. The heroes eventually split into two groups. There were those for the registration, led by Tony Stark himself, where he was made director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and those against, let by Captain America. The war split the Marvel universe down the middle, and climaxed in a giant battle in New York City, but when Captain America saw the carnage this was causing the American people, he called a cease fire and turned himself in. He was later assassinated going to the courthouse for trial, a thing that Tony himself feels responsible for.
Lately, Tony Stark is concerned with the fact that there have been Skrulls that have infiltrated agencies and super powered groups. The main problem is that these Skrulls are undetectable to anyone, and therefore everyone is suspect. He is working against the Skrulls, bringing in the brightest that the world has to offer to find a way to stop this secret invasion.

6) THOR :-

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Journey into Mystery #83 (Aug. 1962)
Created by	Stan Lee Larry Lieber Jack Kirby

Full name	Thor Odinson
Species	Asgardian
Place of origin	Asgard
Team affiliations	Asgard Avengers Warriors Three Thor Corps God Squad Avengers Unity Squad
Notable aliases	Siegmund, Siegfried, Dr. Donald Blake, Jake Olson, Sigurd Jarlson, Eric Masterson
Abilities	Superhuman durability, longevity, speed, and strength Abilities via Mjolnir: Dimensional transportation Electric manipulation Flight Weather manipulation

Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	(vol. 1) March 1966 – September 1996 (vol. 2) July 1998 – December 2004 (vol. 3) September 2007 – January 2009 (vol. 1 cont.) April 2009 – May 2011 (The Mighty Thor) June 2011 - December 2012 (Thor: God of Thunder) January 2013 - Present
Number of issues	(vol. 1) 377 plus 18 annuals (vol. 2) 85 plus 3 annuals (vol. 3) 12 (vol. 1 cont.) 23 (#600-621 and #620.1) plus 1 annual, 2 specials (The Mighty Thor) 23 (#1-22 and #12.1) (Thor: God of Thunder) 8 (as of July 2013 cover date)

7) DEADPOOL :-

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	New Mutants #98 (February, 1991)
Created by	Fabian Nicieza Rob Liefeld

Alter ego	Wade Winston Wilson
Species	Human (mutate)
Team affiliations	Thunderbolts X-Force Agency X Deadpool Corps Great Lakes Initiative Weapon X Landau, Luckman, and Lake Maggia Frightful Four Secret Defenders Heroes for Hire Six Pack X-Men
Partnerships	Weasel Bob, Agent of HYDRA Blind Al Taskmaster Kingpin Mr. Tolliver Agent X Copycat Wolverine Cable Domino
Notable aliases	Merc with a Mouth, Jack, Wade T. Wilson, Mithras, Johnny Silvini, Thom Cruz, Hulkpool, Wildcard
Abilities	Regenerative healing factor Superhuman stamina, agility, flexibility and reflexes Devices that allow for teleportation and holographic disguise Carries a magic satchel Extended longevity Immunity to telepathy Master martial artist Master swordsman and marksman

8) CYCLOPS :-