Insights behind the superhero quiz search from the Sporcle Trends team.
Once again superheroes reigned supreme at the box office. In 2016, Batman battled Superman, Captain America and Iron Man tried to work through some of their issues, and the X-men took on Apocalypse. Somewhere in there, Deadpool was even nominated for a Golden Globe.
But did the superhero movie effect have an impact on how Sporclers search for a superhero quiz? Which heroes were the most searched for in 2016?
The answer lies in Gotham. They say – “Be yourself. Unless you can be Batman, then always be Batman”. While that may not be the best advice for a lifestyle choice, it is certainly good advice if you want to be the top result for a superhero quiz search. In fact, Batman has been the most searched for superhero for the past 5 years, but in 2016 searches were up 10% year over year.
To be fair not only was Batman vs Superman in theaters since April, Bats had a small part in Suicide Squad. There was also a secondary animated Batman film – Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, released in October. Plus there is the upcoming Lego Batman movie coming in 2017. All of which no doubt had an effect on the Caped Crusader. In fact if you take all the search results of all the other superheroes who had a prominent part in a movie in 2016 combined, they still don’t equal Batman’s search total on Sporcle.
But which Superhero team won the day?
Even though their searches were down year over year almost 15%, The Avengers were the top searched for superhero team in 2016. However Suicide Squad was the most improved in 2016 from a sheer percentage standpoint with a 559% year over year increase.
How much did a movie’s opening influence their searches on Sporcle? Suicide Squad and Deadpool didn’t top the list of searches for the year, their movie releases were definitely kind to their search results. And while Batman might be king of the DC Universe, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice helped the Man of Steel more than Bruce Wayne.
Finally, Batman did come in first on quizzes created in 2016 but he didn’t run away with things like he did with searches. Close behind were The X-Men and The Avengers followed by Steve Rogers himself. Which proves that it is much harder to create a hero than it is to simply try and find one.
