ok, geek mode on :) while i was trying to work this morning i found a site that runs down the top 50 characters in marvel comics and and another for the top 50 characters in DC comics. the two names that came to mind, Cyclops and Nightwing! How would these squeaky clean guys (yes i firmly believe that wolverine compensates with his claws) would fare in the list. well here you go :) (i got the copy and commentary from this site
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/09/24/top-50-marvel-characters-10-6/ thanks)
10. Cyclops – 604 points (13 first place votes)

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Scott Summers was an original member of the X-Men. His ability to blast concussive beams from his eyes (controlled only by his ruby quartz glasses) made him a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Scott was the leader of the X-Men, and when the team was replaced by an All-New, All-Different group of X-Men, Scott stayed behind to be the leader and elder statesman, as it were, to the new group.
Scott had been dating his teammate, Jean Grey, and the two stayed together even as she left the team. She soon returned, but (unknowing to Scott) soon was replaced by a cosmic being that looked like Jean. The cosmic being eventually went nuts, and killed itself rather than continuing to kill others. Scott was distraught, and left the X-Men.
The retired Cyclops met a woman who looked just like Jean, and the two married and had a child. However, when the REAL Jean returned, Scott quickly went to rejoin her. His wife was then revealed to be an evil clone of Jean.
Scott formed a new team called X-Factor, made up of the original X-Men. Eventually, X-Factor merged back into the X-Men, where Scott was once again leader of the X-Men. Scott and Jean married.
Over time, their marriage became more of a close friendship than anything, so when Emma Frost joined the X-Men, Scott was drawn to her, and the two began having a psychic affair. Jean found out about it and Scott broke it off, but when Jean was killed, he reunited with Emma, in a more conventional relationship.
He and Emma are currently the co-headmasters of the Xavier Institute.
Here’s why my pal, Matt Bib, picked Scott #1…
Cyclops is a character that I’ve always identified with.
What makes Cyclops such a great character is that his greatest flaw is that he believes that his self-imposed responsibilities outweigh his own personal needs. Scott Summers carries the weight of the mutant world on his shoulders. He feels himself responsible for not just his family and
the X-Men, but for the legitimacy and pursuit of Xavier’s dream. Over the years Scott has actually come to believe in the dream more than the man who created it.
Scott has always denied his feelings and wants in favor of protecting others and fulfilling his duties. He was repressed boy, hiding behind a visor. He held himself to impossible standards, constantly striving for perfection and control and ideals that nobody could hope to achieve. And
while his loyalty was absolute and his determination unwavering, his world was black and white.
Fortunately for him he met someone who loved him, despite himself. She helped him to grow and to feel and to love and to become a man who could see shades of grey. And they were happy. But unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Both of them changed. One accepted the universe. The other was tainted by evil in order to save the future. And they outgrew each other. But their love remained. So much so that Jean let him go, wanting his happiness most of all.
In the end, through all he’s been through…the loss of his childhood…two wives…a son…a mother and a father…the decimation of his people…betrayal by a mentor…Cyclops has remained strong and true because he’s had to. For the mutants. For Xavier’s dream. But now he does so just as much for himself. For his own happiness. For his own dream.
Thanks, Matt!
6. Robin/Nightwing (Dick Grayson) – 665 points (11 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.
More recently, he led the grittier superhero group, the Outsiders.
Dick is still out there, fighting the good fight, using the skills taught to him by Batman - except maybe not the people skills part. Dick has Batman beat there easily.
Here is why Ellen Fleischer had Nightwing #1 on her list…
Nightwing is a bit of everyman. He’s got the skills and training to be Batman but there’s always been more of the light in him. (Leaving aside a brief period during Devin Grayson’s run). He’s someone easygoing and quick to crack a joke, but when trouble comes… it’s not that he becomes a totally different person, but more that different aspects of his personality shift to the foreground. Unlike Batman, who seems to have a bit of a fragmented psyche, Nightwing is an integrated whole. Despite the evil and the horrors that he’s witnessed, he remains an optimist.
His hangups and weaknesses are those that the average joe on the street can relate to.
Not meaning to blow my own horn, but I write fanfiction. Nightwing is the character I find I’m closest to and one of the easiest ones to write. I’ve got to love a character who–when I’m trying to get into his head–figuratively grabs my camera and starts to show me the points of interest.
I guess when all’s said and done, if I was in trouble and needed someone with the skills to protect me, but at the same time wouldn’t intimidate me, he’s the one I’d pick.
And here is why German Acton picked him #1…
It´s a character that I have always admired, is the best possible outcome of Batman, he has all the skills but none of his drawbacks. He could have been an annoying brat that expends all of the money that he has but instead he works in low pay jobs trying to help people 24 hours a day, in the day to day basics and in the night as Nightwing. also he is the perfect leader, smart and charismatic.
He also always get the chick, the only one that remains for him is Donna. but he doesn´t look only the physical because he dated and try to marry a handicapped. I think that he has all the potential to be the best hero, the Batman archetype but with the Superman motivation and inner self. And I hope that he would be one day.
Thanks, Ellen and German!
and with that i'm happy :) the boy wonder and marvel's boyscout did good :) and with that im really happy :)
yeah i know wolverine is gonna go high in the list but what the crunk the runt gets all the hype.
hehehe