Superheroes are becoming more and more prevalent in mainstream media, and that surging popularity has finally led to costumed crimefighters overtaking the top Halloween costume spot from the long reigning princess category.
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For the last 11 years, the most prominent costume on Haloween involved a princess, and typically a Disney princess whether it be Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Jasmine, Belle, or any one of the other numerous characters that Disney has created over the years. This year, however, marks the first time that superheroes have surpassed them on the top costumes list, with an estimated total of over 3 million children looking to wear their favorite hero garb as compared to the 2.9 million representing their favorite princess.
The rankings are part of NRF’s Halloween Consumer Top Costumes poll, which was conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. You can find the full ranking below
1. Action/Superhero
2. Princess
3. Animal (Cat, Dog, Lion, Monkey, etc.)
4. Batman Character
5. Star Wars Character
6. Tie: Witch and DC Superhero (excluding Batman)
7. Frozen Character (Anna, Elsa, Olaf)
8. Marvel Superhero (excluding Spider-Man)
9. Zombie
10. Spider-Man
The most interesting part of this is while Marvel dominates the cinematic space, it’s actually DC that wins the costume race, at least when it comes to children. In that bracket, Marvel heroes (excluding Spider-Man) are at #8, while DC is tied with Witch’s at #6, and Batman characters are at #4.
When adults 18 – 34 are ranked, Batman characters come out on top, while Marvel superheroes and DC superheroes are tied at #4. Another interesting side note is that evidently, people love dressing their cat or dog up as pumpkins, because why not.
Whichever costume you end up taking home, it all spells profit for companies, as consumers are expected to spend around $3.1 billion on costumes this year.
