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 DC part of the countdown concludes here...

3. Dick Grayson (Robin/Nightwing/Batman) – 3618 points (105 first place votes)



Created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, Dick Grayson was a young acrobat whose parents were killed in front of him. Bruce Wayne was in the audience, and seeing himself in young Dick, took in Dick to be his ward, eventually training him to be his crime-fighting partner, Robin.

The two were a Dynamic Duo for many years, until Dick grew older, and went away to college, and soon began spending more and more time with his team, the Teen Titans. Eventually, Dick decided to move on from being Robin, leaving that to younger heroes than him. He decided to take the name Nightwing, in honor of a Kryptonian hero that Superman had told him about.

As Nightwing, he continued with the Titans for many years. After some time, he led the grittier superhero group, the Outsiders.

During Final Crisis, Batman appeared to have been killed in battle against Darkseid. After trying to avoid the idea for awhile, Dick ended up taking over as Batman, with Bruce's son, Damian, as his new Robin. Dick brought a new spin to the Batman approach, as he was much more of a people person than Bruce ever was. Not only that, but here was a Batman who actually seemed to sometimes be having...fun?!!?

As Batman, Dick became the leader of the Justice League of America.

When Bruce returned from his journey (he had not actually been killed but had instead been zapped through time by Darkseid), Dick originally stayed on as Batman, but eventually he decided that with Bruce back, he would return to his Nightwing identity.

Dick currently stars as Nightwing in his own ongoing series as part of DC's New 52.

2. Superman - 4096 points (117 first place votes)



Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman was born on the planet Krypton, which was about to explode. Scientist Jor-El, knowing he and his wife would not make it, decided to save their son, Kal-El, so they shot him off in a rocket to find a new life. Once on Earth, baby Kal-El gained superpowers that he would not have had on Krypton, and soon became one of the most powerful people on Earth.

Adopted by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, Kal-El was given the Earth name of Clark Kent, and he grew up in the small town of, well, Smallville. There he became friends with Lana Lang and Pete Ross.

When Clark grew older, he moved to Metropolis, and began working as a reporter for the Daily Planet, under editor Perry White. There, Clark met reporter Lois Lane, who would later go on to become his wife.

Clark also met Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter who would become Superman’s best pal.

One person who was certainly NOT pals with Superman was Lex Luthor, who really hated Superman, and became Superman’s greatest enemy.

Superman was a founding member of the Justice League where he is still a member.

With the new DC 52 reboot, Clark no longer married Lois Lane and Ma and Pa Kent both died some time ago. In addition, Superman has a new costume inspired by Kryptonian ceremonial armor. We shall see how it goes!

1. Batman (Bruce Wayne) - 6585 points (313 first place votes)



Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Bruce Wayne is a rich man, but he is a rich man who has led a tragic life. When he was only a boy, Bruce saw his parents murdered in front of him. Bruce dedicated his life then to fighting crime, ultimately becoming the vigilante, Batman, after traveling the world becoming an expert in most fields of study.

His mind and his body at basically peak human condition, Batman waged a one-man war on crime in Gotham City, although eventually, he gained partners, from within the department, like Police Commissioner James Gordon, to partners, like Dick Grayson (first Robin, then Nightwing), Tim Drake (the third Robin, now Red Robin) and Damian Wayne (the current Robin), to other superheroes (Batman was a founding member of the Justice League of America, where he is still a member).

Batman is needed, because Gotham has a LOT of villains, and notable ones, too!

From the Joker to the Riddler to the Penguin to Poison Ivy to Ra’s Al Ghul to Killer Croc to Catwoman (sometimes) to the Ventriloquist to Mr. Zsasz…Batman has his work cut out for him!

Recently, Batman was seemingly killed in battle against Darkseid. He was actually trapped in time. When he returned, he came with a vision of what he needed to do to stop some epic bad guy. So he decided to turn Batman into a global franchise, with Batmen all over the world. It remains to be seen what his ultimate end game is with Batman Incorporated.