No, I haven’t abandoned the previous Showcase poll — we’re still taking your top ten lists on favorite villains. But schedules of my assorted co-hosts being what they are, I thought it may be prudent to have a few polls going at once to greater facilitate the recording of them, especially once school lets out for the summer and I’ve got more flexibility to meet up with my peeps. That in mind, here are the next two Showcase poll episodes:
Who do you consider the top ten greatest Avengers and greatest members of the Justice League? When I say “greatest” here, I’m not necessarily asking you who your favorite characters are (although you can certainly take that into consideration). I’m asking which ten heroes you think are most representative of the Avengers or the League as a whole, those characters without whom you simply can’t imagine the team existing. I am restricting this to people who have been official members of a team in one continuity or another, not characters you wish would join (that’ll be a poll some other time), so no voting for Nightcrawler for the Avengers, for example (Unless he joined the Avengers on Earth-527 or something). But anyone who has been a member of any of the teams in any of their incarnations is eligible:
Avengers, West Coast Avengers, Great Lakes Avengers, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Secret Avengers, Dark Avengers, Avengers Academy, A-Next
Justice League, Justice League of America, Justice League Europe, Justice League International, Justice League Dark, Justice League Antarctica, Justice League Task Force, Extreme Justice
Alternate universe versions count, but not as the same character. So you could vote, for example, for both the mainstream Superman and the Kingdom Come version of Superman, but they would count as two separate characters and take up two of your slots.
So send me your top ten lists, from favorite to least favorite. The character at the top of your list will get ten points, the character at the bottom will get one, and we’ll use those lists to create the Ultimate List on the Showcase. I’ll let you guys know when these episodes will be recorded, but it’ll at least be June before we do any of them, so you have some time to ponder. You can post your lists here or send them to me privately or at BlakeMPetit@gmail.com.
Okay. Let’s get started!
Evertime Realms 
My top ten Avengers most representative of the team: the big three – Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, the couples – Hank Pym and the Wasp, the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, the Black Panther and Ms. Marvel.
My top ten Justice Leaguers most representative of the team: once again, the big three – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the rest of the originals – Aquaman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and the Martian Manhunter, then Hawkman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary.
Both of these line-ups, when they show up on the scene, folks will say “Hey, it’s the Avengers/Justice League.”
Just my opinion.
Feels odd, but “Most representative of the Avengers as a whole” almost had me put down Luke Cage as #10 because I think he really gets what it means to be an Avenger. “Without whom you can’t imagine the team existing” means it has to be Simon though. Given Wondy is on the list my heart screams out for the Beast to be there too, but he just doesn’t fit. Consistency over the past three decades at both “getting it” and being a personal favorite are what went into the order (2-4, 6-7, and 8-9 were all really close):
Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Hawkeye, Jarvis, Hank Pym, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man
If anyone wants to doubt if Jarvis is elibible to be there (Marvel Two-in-One poker night, cover of 201, 30th anniversary poster, issue 280, etc…) they can take it up with Captain Rogers a la issue 500.
Not nearly as big a DC fan, so my reasons for ranking the JLA are based on a pretty scatter-shot reading of reprints and off the rack stuff over the years. Enough of a historical perspective to not let the initial JLI roster or the Super Friends cartoons:
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Atom, Martian Manhunter, and Captain Marvel
Thanks for the votes, guys! You’ve been counted! (And Brian — I’m with you. Jarvis totally counts.)
I see the Avengers very much as a family so the Top 10 reflects the relationship ascpects of the team – and it so happens to be the quintessential Avengers in my mind. The “nothing we can’t handle” team.
Captain American, Iron Man, Thor, Hank Pym, Wasp, Hawkeye, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Wonderman.
Oddly, as musch as I want my two favorites – She-Hulk and Monica Rambeau, I just couldn’t put them in the top 10.
For the League – Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Barry Allen Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Atom, Hawkman and Aquaman.
Again, my favorites Hawkgirl, Plasticman, Red Tornado, Vixen and Zatanna don’t make the cut (but would be a killer team…)