User blog comment:Mr. Xemnas/Spider-Man in the background as Ironman takes the lead/@comment-7215662-20130317002453

Hello, I have to say that I see where you're coming from, as Spidey is also my favorite super-hero of all time, and you compared him a bit to Superman if Iron Man overtakes him in popularity, but there were several factors that contributed to Superman's demise. Batman and Superman have been the top dogs of the Super-hero genre in the mainstream for a very long time. They were neck and neck for years until Superman returns and Batman Begins. Returns sucked while Begins was a huge success and was followed up by TDK and TDKR which skyrocketed Bats as the top Super-hero in the world. Supes on the otherhand, is now basically an afterthought. Supes legacy is very dependent of MOS. If it bombs, then Supes won't be taken seriously again, if it's success, then it will completly rejuvenate Superman the way begins did for Batman.

Now let's take a look at Marvel. Spidey was the top dog for a very long time, but the reason for that (besides the fact that Spidey's awesome) is very little competition. Again, I'm talking about the mainstream audience point of view. Sure you had Hulk, X-Men and F4 but they still couldn't compete with SM. Now, the end of the Raimi franchise derailed Spidey's momentum, and on top of that there was the Avengers Initiative and Robert Downey Jr. RDJ, an already well known actor, rejuvenated his career through Iron Man and hasn't looked back since. Then the Avengers was getting built up, which peaked the interest of many people who don't follow comics. On top of that, the IM movies did really strong in the Box Office despite the fact that IM isn't really a very mainstream character but thx to those movies, he became exactly that. Many considered RDJ's performance in Avengers stood out from the rest. So Iron Man is now up there with Spidey and Batman as a mainstream Superhero!! All the while, after 5 years, Spidey gets a questionable reboot, but it did well, not as much as the previous ones, but many found it enjoyable, which prevented Spidey from getting hurt like Superman. But Spidey is now facing real competition in IM! So in a way, SM and IM have become to Marvel what BatMan and SuperMan have been to DC for a very long time.

So finally to answer your question, while IM is now rivaling Spidey in popularity, it's going to be hard to truly knock him because he's such an enduring character that has been through so much. However, it also depends on how well ASM 2 does cz IM 3 will do well. If ASM 2 does well, then, Spidey is safe, but if it doesn't? well..your fears may become a reality... Sorry for the long rant, but this is a very intriguing topic.