Even with the MCU losing steam, Marvel has been a kingmaker for years, introducing the public to superheroes in ways they never imagined possible. All of this came from the comics. Marvel's popularity comes from the characters. Marvel's creators made characters that completely broke the mold, redefining old tropes and introducing readers to new ones who can never truly be replicated.
The amazing characters, from the relatable Amazing Spider-Man to the cosmic might of Galactus, and their stories told serially in a connected universe, have made Marvel the number one publisher of superhero comics.
10 Black Panther
Black Panther has finally gotten the credit he deserved. Black Panther, on the surface, is a modification on the Batman trope - a man with amazing resources and power in the world that uses all of that to make himself the pinnacle of humanity, all to protect the people who matter to him. However, Black Panther is more than just Marvel's Batman.
As a king, he balances the nobility of the perfect monarch with the ability to do terrible things to make sure his people survive. What makes Black Panther so unique is the depth of emotion associated with the character. Watching him wrestle with who he is and what he has to do for Wakanda is so amazing.
9 The Hulk
The Hulk is a ridiculously rich character who has benefited from the decades of creators working to refine the concept. Hulk was basically Doctor Jeykll and Mister Hyde - a mild-mannered scientist whose greatest creation birthed an uncontrollable monster inside him. It's a horror concept viewed through a superhero lens, and the character has only grown more complex.
The Hulk goes beyond the archetype of the all powerful monster and the broken man who is saddled with it. The Hulk's story digs into what broke Bruce Banner and made him into who he is. The Hulk goes far beyond the tropes that birthed him into rarefied, harrowing, and beautiful territory.
8 Galactus
Galactus's first appearance remains a brilliant moment in the history of the Marvel Universe. In many ways, Galactus is a cosmic horror figure, more like Cthulhu than most imagine. He is a cosmic monstrosity, one for whom humanity is even less than an ant - just a part of his food. He is the uncaring cosmos given flesh.
Marvel has created many cosmic beings since Galactus, but none of them can match the World Devourer. He's one of a kind, a character who feels familiar but has never actually been duplicated. In books like Secret Wars, Galactus is more of a natural force than a living being.
7 Thanos
Thanos is Marvel's most important villain thanks to character development and cosmic battles unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Thanos is the ultimate "final boss," a common trope in fiction, but what makes him such an icon is who he is under the nihilism, fearful visage, and stupefying powers.
Thanos is a fully-realized character. Looking at his history reveals the keys to who he is as a character. He's more than just the ultimate boss, but a three-dimensional character who is alternately despicable and sympathetic, especially in the MCU's Infinity War.
6 Magneto
Magneto started out as a simple one-dimensional X-Men villain, the opposite number to Professor X, down to creating his own team of mutants to fight for his ideals. Things hit the next level when his past was established. Making him a victim of the Holocaust put his mission into contrast and made him into a sympathetic villain.
Magneto started out as a villainous opposite but became so much more. He took a very common trope in superhero comics and set it on its ear. He's easily among the most popular X-Men characters, having become an integral part of the team's mythos, constantly getting readers to really think about Xavier's dream and whether it's truly possible.
5 Thor
Thor is the Norse God of Thunder, a character that humanity has been telling stories about for millennia. However, this Thor isn't just the character he was in those tales. He's a character that takes mythology, fantasy, and sci-fi and mixes them together perfectly.
There's a reason that no other mythological character works as well or is as popular as Thor. The greatest creators to ever work in the comic medium have made Thor into a character who works in any kind of story. He goes far beyond the mythological limits and provides an entire corner in the Marvel Universe.
4 The Punisher
The Punisher is one of Marvel's premiere antiheroes. Frank Castle premiered in the 1970s, as antiheroes like Dirty Harry took prominence. He was the comic book version of that kind of character; a man who lost everything and has devoted himself to destroying the thing that took his family from him: crime. His mission twists him into something both more than human and considerably less.
The Punisher took a simple trope - the violent antihero - and took it to its logical conclusion. He's a monster, but one that can be rooted for because he destroys monsters even worse than him. It's rare for antiheroes to be taken to this extent, and it's what makes him so distinctive.
3 Captain America
Captain America is the ultimate patriotic superhero. Created by legendary Jewish creators Joe Simon and Jack "King" Kirby, he existed to smash Nazism and was made to be an exemplar of what the US is supposed to be. He's nationalism the superhero, but instead of making him a jingoistic one-dimensional patriotic character, he was taken down better roads.
Cap transcends other patriotic superhero because he himself is an ideal. However, he also knows that the ideal isn't the reality and that's what he fights for. He fights to make the US the place it should be, and has been used as a mouthpiece to speak out against the ills of the government in the real world.
2 Wolverine
Wolverine has gained more nuance as the years have gone on. In the 70s, Wolverine was a mouthy antihero willing to kill his enemies, the cool loner who hides his pain under a snarky remark. Creators have taken that and refined creating a warrior poet, a man fighting against the worst parts of himself to become a better person and a hero.
Wolverine is more than the killer with knives on his hands. He's a complex person who hates the killing but knows that it is inevitable. He puts his soul on the line to protect others, killing not only to save others but to save others from having to do it.
1 Spider-Man
Spider-Man is Marvel's most popular character and the summation of everything early Marvel was trying to do. He was a relatable, bookish young man without much money. He wasn't cool, more akin to the reader than any other superhero. Over the years, he grew and changed with the readers and the times, the perfect Everyman hero.
Spider-Man was the killer app that made Marvel hyper popular. He was the poster boy for the Marvel method of making superheroes, but even then, with the many characters he inspired, with the years of editorial mistakes, he's still special. Spider-Man has never been replicated because he was a revolution, something that has buoyed him through 60 years of popularity.