CSBG Archive
2011 Top Marvel Characters #11-10
After nearly 1,400 ballots were cast, YOU the reader ranked your favorite comic book characters of all-time from 1-10. I assigned point totals to each ranking and then tabulated it all into a Top 50 list. We’re now revealing that list throughout September. Here is the master list of all the characters revealed so far. The countdown continues…
11. The Thing (Ben Grimm) – 1526 points (43 first place votes)
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Ben Grimm, the Thing, had his dialogue based on the popularity personality, Jimmy Durante, whose working class New York attitude fit the Thing’s attitude perfectly, right along with Thing’s battle cry, “It’s clobberin’ time!”
A college friend of Reed Richards, Grimm agreed to pilot an experimental spaceship that Richards had built. Along with Richards’ girlfriend and her brother, the quartet snuck into the launch site and took off. Sadly, the shields on the ship failed, and the four were bombarded with cosmic radiation, which, when they returned to Earth, resulted in the foursome gaining fantastic powers.
The problem was, though, that while all four of them gained powers, besides gaining super strength and super durability, Ben also was mutated into a rocky monstrous looking creature. As you might imagine, Ben was not pleased by this situation, but ever the trooper, he agreed to join the other three in the Fantastic Four, to use their powers for the good of mankind, while Richards would work on a cure for Ben’s condition.
Along the way, Ben began a relationship with the noted blind sculptress, Alicia Masters. She was able to accept the man inside the monstrous appearance, which did Ben a world of good.
Ben has a bit of a temper, so he clashed with the other members of the FF a number of times over the years, but for the most part, he continued as a stalwart member of the team for as long as the team was around. His longest absence came when, after an interplanetary battle called Secret Wars, Ben learned he could control his mutation on the planet. So he decided to stay on the planet for awhile, but eventually came back to Earth, and his monstrous fate.
He stayed with the Fantastic Four for many different adventures, even as the team re-branded themselves as the Future Foundation following the seeming death of the Human Torch (a loss that hit Ben especially hard). Recently, he also joined the New Avengers. MOST recently, he was transformed by one of the hammers of the evil Serpent during Fear Itself. While in his transformed state, Ben destroyed Yancy Street!! Only time will tell how Ben will recover from the devastation he caused while possessed.
Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) – 120 points
Oops, my bad…
10. Hawkeye (Clint Barton) – 1607 points (25 first place votes)
Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, Hawkeye showed up originally a villain, but Clint Barton was basically an accidental villain, as he was so caught up in his love for the Russian spy, Black Widow, that he was in the dark that she was making him do some pretty bad things.
Luckily, Iron Man, who was Hawkeye’s foe, realized Hawkeye was really a good guy, and that he should use his archery skills for good, so he sponsored Hawkeye as a member of the Avengers.
Hawkeye served the team with distinction for many years (for a time, as the size-changing Goliath), as he went from having an antagonistic relationship with Captain America to a strong friendship with the man.
At one point, Hawkeye was even given the opportunity to head up a NEW team of Avengers, on the West Coast of the United States. It was around this time that Hawkeye married the heroine, Bobbi Morse, Mockingbird.
Sadly, after a number of years together with the West Coast Avengers, Bobbi was murdered by the villain Mephisto.
Hawkeye had some dark days after that, but he recovered, and returned to his normal self. Sadly, he was then killed during Avengers Disassembled. Luckily, he returned during House of M.
After returning from the dead (where he was killed AND resurrected by his former teammate, the Scarlet Witch), Clint had no interest in taking up the superhero game again, even though Iron Man almost convinced him to become the new Captain America. Instead, Clint joined up with a renegade group of Avengers, and took up the now available identity of Ronin.
Upon the return of Captain America, though, Clint once again took up the Hawkeye name and costume and is serving the Avengers well as a member of the team.
34 Comments
jjc
September 21, 2011 at 5:44 am
I just about had a heart attack about the heart attack everyone was gonna have about Kate Bishop
The Mutt
September 21, 2011 at 6:12 am
That was just mean, Brian.
Oedivanth
September 21, 2011 at 6:15 am
Very funny “typo”!
Dalarsco
September 21, 2011 at 6:27 am
The Thing was #8 on my list.
dhole
September 21, 2011 at 6:39 am
Okay, I’m out of the predictions racket. I’m pretty floored that neither Hawkeye or especially the Thing cracked the top ten.
Kate Bishop better be in there, that’s all I can say…
chad
September 21, 2011 at 6:40 am
thought both the thing would be number ten or higher like maybe 8 hawkeye had at ten plus got taken by surprise by the kate bishop the hawkeye of young avengers.
P. Boz
September 21, 2011 at 6:46 am
Two of my favorite characters here. Good to see them so high. Hawkeye’s even my favorite character on that Disney Avengers show. He just plain makes me smile.
Faust
September 21, 2011 at 6:47 am
That was funny. I just thinking shes the least interesting character in YA – why would she be here! haha…
Hawkeye is a favorite. But for me, he only works in team books.
sandwich eater
September 21, 2011 at 8:08 am
LOL at Hawkeye. The Thing is definitely the best member of the FF.
The Crazed Spruce
September 21, 2011 at 8:31 am
*gives Brian a dirty look* That was just straight-up evil, dude….
I had The Thing as #11 on my list. He has a gruff exterior, but when all is said and done, he’s the heart and soul of the Fantastic Four. (He’s also one of the few characters they actually got right in those damn movies.)
Hawkeye has always been my favourite Avenger. Thats why I had to put him at #3 on my list.
IAM FeAR
September 21, 2011 at 8:38 am
Sorry, but using a bow and arrows does not qualify someone as being a superhero.
And I’m kinda bummed that Kate Bishop was just a joke.
Joe Rice
September 21, 2011 at 8:58 am
Ugh, I was so excited a new character was getting recognized. Frickin’ Hawkeye: another dude with a bow and arrow and shitty costume. I liked him as Ronin, at least. Ben should be higher.
Ronald Jay Kearschner
September 21, 2011 at 9:15 am
Hawkeye at 10, Green Arrow at 11: Now we know the most popular archer.
Rich
September 21, 2011 at 9:26 am
Chad, please take the time to write better responses and use punctuation and capitalization. I see your posts often but seldom understand what you are trying to say.
Jazzbo
September 21, 2011 at 9:50 am
I gotta admit you got me with the Kate Bishop thing. I’m one of the 25 first place votes for Hawkeye, and was pretty pissed thinking my vote had gone to the wrong character. Nicely done.
I’m kind of surprised Hawkeye isn’t higher, but at least he cracked the top 10.
Michael P
September 21, 2011 at 10:15 am
You wag, you.
Elpie
September 21, 2011 at 11:54 am
Two characters I would hang out with.
John Zaleski
September 21, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Hahahahhaa. The Hawkeye thing was hilarious.
VichusSmith
September 21, 2011 at 12:26 pm
You MFs LOOOVE archery, don’t you? What is the respect for Kate Bishop about? I don’t hate the character at all, but her position on this list feels so random!
John Zaleski
September 21, 2011 at 12:31 pm
The Kate Bishop thing was a joke from the website since they both had the name Hawkeye. Kate isn’t on here haha.
danjack
September 21, 2011 at 1:26 pm
@ Rich;
i made the same point to Chad a few months back. He may be saying something really good, but i cannot make heads or tails of his posts most of the time. i would really like Chad’s post [good or bad] to be readable. However, he is the only one who can make the effort. i hope that he does!
DJW
September 21, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Big ups for ranged weapons
Thok
September 21, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Nice tweak at the people complaining about what votes for an unnamed Robin/GL/Flash mean, Cronin.
VichusSmith
September 21, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Oh, umm, I totally didn’t catch that.
Of course Fem Hawkeye wouldn’t make it this high!
Narrim
September 21, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Aw, no mention of his stint on the Thunderbolts? Clint’s definitely had many, many strong runs so I can see why it was left off, and the Thunderbolts weren’t completely about him, but I don’t think that book would still be around if it weren’t for the villain-to-hero, charisma, and interaction with the team he brought when he signed on to lead them and make them legitimate.
buttler
September 21, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Man, I really enjoy those old floating head covers.
The Mutt
September 21, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Neither The Avengers nor The JLA are complete without The Archer.
The non-powered hero who can fight alongside gods because of his skills and his heart and his balls.
You know, like every soldier that ever got drafted ever.
Hawkeye and Green Arrow, or someone like them, are essential to any super-team comic. They have been for fifty years.
Every team needs a Hawkeye. Period.
The Mutt
September 21, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Okay, more to say.
When I first started reading comics, Batman and Robin would travel to other planets and fight aliens, or show up at auctions where you could win a date with Batman and get the key to Gotham City. Superman would travel through time just to play a prank on Lois, or have his robot duplicate make a serum that would turn Jimmy into a gorilla so he wouldn’t learn his secret identity.
Then just a year or two later came Hawkeye. No powers. No secret identity. No comic of his own. No bullshit.
He became a superhero for the only reason that ever made any sense to me: To get laid.
He took on Iron Man with a bow and arrow to get a girl.
He’s #1 on any list.
Taylor
September 21, 2011 at 9:02 pm
When voting, I felt conflicted about the FF; as a group, they’d easily make my top 10, but clearly they’re all such well-developed characters that they should be treated as individuals for polls like this one.I just have trouble ranking them agianst strong stand-alone characters. Benjy became the vicitm of this on my list, which is a shame because I love the character.
Tuomas
September 21, 2011 at 11:30 pm
Neither The Avengers nor The JLA are complete without The Archer.
The non-powered hero who can fight alongside gods because of his skills and his heart and his balls.
Except that they already have Batman and Captain America…
DanCJ
September 22, 2011 at 5:57 am
Hawkeye? Really?
On the other hand – Yay for Ben!! He should have been higher. No doubt it’s a bunch of X-Men bumping him out of his rightful place in the top ten.
Danny
September 22, 2011 at 7:53 pm
I just always assumed English was not Chad’s first language.
Chris S
September 23, 2011 at 5:30 am
@chad Don’t ever change. I enjoy your regular comments
Joseph
September 24, 2011 at 12:18 am
My #1 and #2 are now both listed (Thing and the Surfer). I’m surprised to see Hawkeye this high (either one). It’s fun to read everyone’s comments and see the top vote-getters revealed.