I've always seen those heroes as being popular back then as they are today. Back in the 90's and 2000's I remember seeing all sorts of Superman shows and of course the movies that came way before Spiderman's at the time. Spiderman was also somewhat popular during his first time on TV and eventually the silver screen. Iron Man also had a form of popularity of his own during the 90's, maybe not as much during the early 2000's but eventually came into his own during 08-10 and onwards.
Batman has been popular for god knows how long, just as much as Superman has been around for, a lot longer than Spidey that's for sure. Hell Batman more or less has his foot in the live action, animated and animated movies side as well as gaming, Spiderman has yet to have a slew of animated movies the way WB has been throwing some teen/adult ones the past 5-7 years now. I've yet to see a SPiderman animated feature film that shows us as much gore and death as Justice LEague: Flashpoint Paradox.
Mankind, in its arrogance and self-delusion, must believe they are the mirrors to God in both their image and their power. If something shatters that mirror, then it must be totally destroyed.
