When I outgrew Superman (I remember George Reeves) and Batman (Adam West?), and Sgt. Rock and Sgt. Fury and his Howling commandoes disappeared or lost my interest, I found my way to the Marvel superheroes and gravitated toward both Thor and Iron Man. I remember Tony’s battle with alcoholism.
It’s great to hear that Downey has gotten his life together. It wasn’t as bad, but I went through a similar experience.
With Superman and DC Comics in general, you had powerful heros constantly being befuddled by so-so villians. Superman especially. Here's a character that is almost a god and he's getting the run-around from Luthor, the Prankster, and Toyman.
Then there was Marvel. The Fantastic Four battling Galactus. Superheros battling villians as powerful or more so then they are. My favorite all-time story-line - FF issues 25 and 26 - the Hulk takes on both the FF and the Avengers. And beats them! Marvel was the first ones that brought up racism - first with the XMen - and then with other story lines such as the Hate Monger and the Avengers fighting the Serpent Society. And not only did the heroes have secret identities but so did the villians.
It's sad in a way that over the years, comics have been nearly preverted from their original storylines. Lee and Kirby may have been liberals, but when they did Captain America, there was no doubt what Cap stood for.