EWB's 25 Favourite Marvel Superheroes: Results

[Avenged Probably]

Here comes the first part of this particular list, I'll be doing five at a time and probably going into moer detail with the last five characters. Thanks for all your votes, we had 16 characters who recieved votes but didn't make the top 25 and a number of characters I was surprised to see get no or very few votes at all. I may take a look at a few of these later on, until then enjoy

EWB's 25 Favourite Marvel Superheroes

The Results

EWB's Favourite Marvel Superheroes #25 - Hank Pym/Ant Man/Giant Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket (3 PTS)

Who is Hank Pym?

Hank Pym was one of the founding members of the Avengers, who has had a plethora or memorable moments, some good some bad. He's also had just as many outfits and identities to match. Originally helping to form the Avengers as Ant Man using his specially designed headset to talk to insects, along with the miniture Wasp whom he would later marry. Not longer after the Avengers formed, he used his knowledge of science so that he could grow rather than shrink, becoming Giant Man. Despite all this, a series of events lead to him preferring a scientific course of life as apposed to that of a superhero. Pym's 'demise' is mostly credited to a few things; his accidently creating the Avenger's greatest foe in Ultron, a case of schizprhenia where he took on the identity of Yellow Jacket (pictured) and his always rocky and eventually failed marriage to the Wasp.

My Thoughts

Over time I never really liked Hank Pym as a character all that much. But in retrospect, he is pretty interesting. Also having recently read 'Earth's Mighiest Heroes II' which shows a more detailed look at Hank's time as Yellowjacket, I have found myself more intrigued by Pym (or whatever he's calling himself these days).

EWB's Favourite Marvel Superheroes #24 - Ben Reilly/Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider (4 PTS)

Who is Ben Reilly?

Ben was a clone of Spider-Man created by a madman, The Jackal. Reilly or 'the clone' as he would have been known at the time was though to have perished during a battle with the real Spidey. He infact survived and went on to live in exile calling himself 'Ben Reilly.' It wouldn't be long until his past caught up with him though as another Spider-Man clone, albiet a much disfigured one by the name of Kaine, spent many of these years trying to kill Ben. He finally returned and became 'the Scarlet Spider' and fought along side Spider-Man many times. It was later (falsley) revealed that Ben was infact the original and Peter Parker was the clone! So Ben then took up the mantel as Spider-Man so that Peter and wife Mary Jane could get on with their lives. The truth finally came out though during a battle with Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Osborn had been the main mastermind behind much of the 'clone saga' and when he killed Reilly, Ben disintegrated into a pile of dust (which was true of clones when they died).

My Thoughts

Personally I always loved this character. I loved him as Scarlet, I really enjoyed his time as Spider-Man too. I liked that because he was 'new' so were a lot of the villains. The female Doc Oc, Scorpia, a new and improved Hobgoblin and my personal favourite was when Ben became 'Spider-Carnage.'

EWB's Favourite Marvel Superheroes #23 - Union Jack (4 PTS, with more voters)

Who is Union Jack?

There have been three versions of Union Jack. Lord Montgomery Falsworth in WWI, his son Brian Falsworth in WWII and the current Union Jack, Joseph Chapman. He became friends with the Grandson (Kenneth Chrichton) of the original Jack at University. He took up the mantel of Union Jack when Lord Falsworth's estranged brother the German Vampire Baron Blood returned. Blood saw to it that Lord Falsworth became crippled, and the mantle of Union Jack was passed onto Joseph (Kenneth Chricton would have done, but his poor health meant he wouldn't survive a battle). So along with family friend Steve Rogers (Captain America), the new Union Jack defeated Baron Blood, and has continued to fight as Union Jack. Shortly after this event, Lord Falsworth passed away. He died happy knowing his legacy would live on eith Chapman though.

My Thoughts

Naturally being British, I think he's awesome. I haven't read a lot of stuff about him, mostly seen him pop up in Cap stories and the such. Infact writing about him has made me wanna' read about him.

EWB's Favourite Marvel Superheroes #22 - War Machine(5 PTS)

Who is War Machine?

War Machine is James Rhodes, one of Tony Stark's best friends. They became friends afer Rhodes (a former US Pilot) was shot down in Vietnam near where Tony Stark was taken prisoner and ultimatley became Iron Man. Tony rescued him and they've been friends ever since. During a particularly difficult part of Stark's life, Rhodes took over as Iron Man for a brief time even serving with the West Coast Avengers for a while. He was invited to the group when chairman Hawkeye believed he was the original, but after proving himself worthy as an Avenger, revealed his true identity. Years later Tony Stark's death was faked and Rhodes became the CEO of Stark Enterprises and made himself a new suit of armour in order to become War Machine, again serving as a West Coast Avenger for some time as well as being a part of Force Works. A time travel related adventure saw neo-nazi's send modern weapons back to WWII, Rhodes and some others managed to stop the plot but the War Machine armour was lost. For a short while, Rhodes wore an alien version of his armour but it wasn't long before he hung the armour up. Most recently he has served as a Direct Command Officer in the Office of National Security (O*N*E*).

My Thoughts

I always liked WM in the old Iron Man cartoon, and he added a little extra excitement to the Avengers and Iron Man books back when he first put a suit of armour on. It'd be great to see a return to action in my opinion.

EWB's Favourite Marvel Superheroes #21 - She-Hulk (5 PTS, with more higher place votes)

Who is the She-Hulk?

Jennifer Walters was a simple lawyler until one day she needed a blood transfusion. The only person available that was her blood type was her cousin Bruce Banner. What she didn't realise, was that he is the Hulk. His ratiated blood caused her to transform into the She-Hulk, along with the near invulnerability and super strength, speed and agility. At first she was savage, just as the Hulk. Over time she manged to keep the intelligence of Jen Walters while in Hulk form, although it gave her a newfound confidence and assertiveness which she didn't possess in human form. Over time she has worked solo, as a partner to the Incredible Hulk, as a member of the Fantastic Four and as an Avenger. She now works for the Superhuman Law division of the New York law firm of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, & Holliway.

My Thoughts

She-Hulk to me, was always a character who kinda floated around and didn't excite me too much especially when she was on her own. I always preferered her as an Avenger more than anything. Dan Slott's recent run with her has made me look at her differently and I certainly enjoy reading his stories about her.

So thats the first five in the list, coming up next it'll be numbers 20-16, and lets just say that theres quite a variety in our next section.

Edited March 20, 2008 by AS²

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Yellowjacket. Osborn. Jackal. Could you at least try to spell this stuff right?

[Avenged Probably]

Thanks for pointing that out MPH.

Yeah my spelling was sloppy, mainly 'cos I was rushing to get it out. Edited and hopefully up to your spelling standards

[Benji]

What's the "with more votes" stuff about?

[Steeb]

Essentially, they got the same amount of points, but more people voted for them.

EG, one person votes for Hero X at #1, ten people vote for Hero Y at #10, therefore Hero Y > Hero X.

EDIT: I think, anyway. Unsure, now I see the whole 'higher votes' thing.

Edited March 20, 2008 by TSSTB

[Johnny Latino Heat]

>_< Ohhh, crap, I forgot about Scarlet Spider, I loved that guy.

[Avenged Probably]

TSSTB hit the nail pretty much on the head there.

Two people have equal points, so whichever gets more people voting for it ranks higher.

In one case I had three with equal points. I got to down to two using above method, and they had the same amount of people voting for them. So then I seperate them by which one got more higher place votes..

Make sense? Hopefully. The easist way to work it out? Probably not. But t me it was the 'fairest' way so to speak.

[TGC]

Jenn no longer works for the law firm, now she is a bounty hunter under Peter David's run. Now you know.

[Avenged Probably]

Thanks for that pointer TGC, although the main reason I didn't point it out was for UK readers who aren't upto date with US title won't know that. I know its not a mega spoiler or anything, but didn't want to cross any kind of spoiler line.

[Benji]

Thanks for that pointer TGC, although the main reason I didn't point it out was for UK readers who aren't upto date with US title won't know that. I know its not a mega spoiler or anything, but didn't want to cross any kind of spoiler line.

Yeah, they are, Brits get imports these days.