Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/April 28 to May 4, 2019

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 28 to May 4, 2019) edit

Prepared with commentary by Igordebraga

Last week's reportNext week's report

The Report is dark and full of Marvels edit

Avengers: Endgame is understandably still dominating the public consciousness (and for those who haven't seen it, there are possibly some spoilers below, as if the 25 fake ones from last Report weren't already too much), along with Game of Thrones. Who back in 1999 would've guessed a world so fixated on superhero movies and fantasy TV shows? There are only a few subjects here not related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (13 entries!) or the HBO series (5): death has come (#14) for directors (#7) and actors (#13), dramatizations of crime stories show up on streaming services (#5, #24), a young lady thrives in music (#23), and an older one fears she'll not thrive anymore on the running track (#20).

For the week of April 28 to May 4, 2019, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image About
1 Avengers: Endgame   7,096,505
 
Marvel Studios has built such a foothold with fans that they don't complain about enduring a 3-hour film. A time travel story that ends with an all-out epic battle for the fate of the universe, Endgame might not be perfect, but gives plenty of comedy, emotion and action along with a good closure on what was built in 11 years and 21 movies. And who knows what comes next? Seriously, aside from Spider-Man: Far From Home this July, two movies are set for 2020, but they don't even have Wikipedia pages yet. One might be the Black Widow (#21) solo film set to start shooting in June.
2 List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films   2,405,799
3 List of highest-grossing films   2,322,787
 
After a single weekend, Endgame (#1) already entered the top 10 on this list with a whopping $1.3 billion! So movie fans will certainly start sort of a "can Endgame beat Avatar?" watch. It's a tall but feasible order, even once the movie slows down with May's other big releases.
4 Game of Thrones (season 8)   1,921,398
 
This here writer was one of a huge crowd that tuned in to watch "The Long Night" on HBO and was frustrated at how it was a dark, foggy and mostly incomprehensible mess (a rerun with my mom, and the TV pre-emptively adjusted to 100% brightness, had no problems, so who knows what happened with the original broadcast?), though with a great last third that made going through the confusion worth it, leading to a climax that like our #1, had a victorious Stark (#19).
5 Ted Bundy   1,784,380
 
Netflix already released a documentary featuring this serial killer being interviewed earlier in the year, so the streaming service now offering a movie where Bundy is played by Zac Efron should come as no surprise.
6 Game of Thrones   1,351,359
 
It's now halfway through the closing season of HBO's adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire (#4), following an episode that had millions attempting to see what had been lauded as the biggest battle ever filmed for television.
7 John Singleton   1,216,251
 
At just 23, John Singleton started his career at the top with Boyz in the Hood, a surprise hit that also made Singleton both the first African American nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, and also the youngest ever to run for this award. While his following path was a bit questionable, aside from highlights such as the Shaft remake, Singleton still had enough success to warrant a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame and many tributes once he died at the age of 51.
8 Robert Downey Jr.   1,213,867
 
Back in 2008, Downey guaranteed a career resurrection out of both portraying a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude (which got him an Oscar nomination), and starring in some independent startup's movie as a drunk businessman who survives a terrorist attack. Iron Man upstarted the ongoing superhero dominance (#2, #3), and Downey's Tony Stark is central to the plot of Endgame (#1), all about fixing the actions of...
9 Thanos   1,003,523
 
...the purple bastard that guaranteed people left Infinity War (#11) feeling bummed. But his actor Josh Brolin might not be saying his goodbye to Marvel, on the condition that they let him play Cable again in spite of the X-Men movies folding onto the MCU (#10).
10 Marvel Cinematic Universe   886,314
 
Kevin Feige has been pretty busy since 2007. Thankfully, the end result (#2) is a license to print money (#3).
11 Avengers: Infinity War   827,625
 
Everyone who got frustrated when Star-Lord ruined his own plan (and half the universe...) in this movie was vindicated in Endgame (#1). Specially (spoilers) by seeing him getting hit in the groin.
12 Captain Marvel (film)   778,569
 
Right after Endgame (#1) in the box office is... the previous Marvel release (#2), which introduced the most powerful superbeing in the MCU (#10), Carol Danvers (played by our #22). No wonder her screentime in the team-up is somewhat limited, lest the others feel diminished compared to someone who can destroy huge starships all by herself.
13 Peter Mayhew   777,066
 
"...ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca." Chewbacca was played by this enormous British actor, who in the latest years had many diseases related to either height or old age, leading his stunt double to take over in the latest Star Wars movies. Mayhew has now died at 74. Here's to him.
14 Deaths in 2019   730,914
 
While Lady Death hasn't yet shown up in Marvel's movies (#2), she's still very present in our world (see above and #7).
15 List of Game of Thrones episodes   729,270
 
By May 19, our #6 will finish its run with 73 episodes comprising 8 seasons adapting 7 books - or so it would, as the latest years have featured author George R. R. Martin (pictured) struggling to deliver the sixth. The lack of source material to check on makes some fans label all that happened since the end of season 5 as fanfiction.
16 Sophie Turner   726,712
 
Even if her best known roles are damaged redheads, namely Sansa Stark in our #4 (who also inspired uncalled trolling by complaining fans, leading her to announce a break from acting) and Jean Grey of the X-Men (set to be also be damaging in Dark Phoenix, to be released in June), Sophie Turner is also having some happiness in life: she married Joe Jonas in Las Vegas, depriving us of "Wedding Cake by the Ocean" jokes.
17 Chris Evans (actor)   718,713
 
He was a good Human Torch in two mediocre at best movies, but Chris Evans earned a true contribution to Marvel Comics by becoming Captain America in our #10.
18 The Avengers (2012 film)   662,633
 
The first time all the Marvel Cinematic Universe (#10) heroes got together, back in 2012, was a landmark - to the point Endgame (#1) has some of its events revisited through time travel.
19 No One   646,852
 
Earlier this year, The Girl was a hilarious foul-mouthed mecha pilot in gen:LOCK. Now she's back as Arya Stark in our #4, where along with continuing to kill people she surprised everyone (including herself) by deciding to have sex before battle. And she's even set to be a Mutant in the last X-Men movie before Disney takes over.
20 Caster Semenya   645,397
 
The current 800 m Olympic champion could not stop a new IAAF guideline forcing hyperandrogenous athletes to take medicine that reduces testosterone levels, a rule change many people thought was specifically made to target Semenya.
21 Scarlett Johansson   634,550
 
Two of the strong women (the latter, even off screen!) in Marvel's movies (#2), the Red Blooded Woman known as Black Widow and the the queenly flux, eternal light known as Captain Marvel, show up through their beautiful and talented portrayers. Larson already has a successful movie in theaters (#13), and Johansson is seemingly getting her solo adventure next - though whoever saw the latest Avengers (#1) questions what exactly the Black Widow movie will be.
22 Brie Larson   589,449
 
23 Billie Eilish   552,397
 
At just 17, this singer-songwriter already has many hit songs, an album which has returned to the top of the Billboard 200, and is headlining international concerts in... oh great, how can I avoid not bringing up Lorde when Eilish starts her tour in New Zealand and Australia?
24 Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard   550,053
 
Disclaimer: my country doesn't get Hulu, so I can't properly comment on The Act. That being said, the first season has ended, finally showing how a woman got killed because trying to pass a daughter as sick and frail will only make the offspring vengeful.
25 Chris Hemsworth   500,337
 
And finishing off the "core three Avengers" - alongside #8 and #17 - who are also the ones who appear the most in our #1 (the fourth is a once secondary villainess who became an important heroine, Karen Gillan's Nebula), the portrayer of Thor. Hemsworth has another blockbuster to be released this year, Men in Black International, which coincidentally also has comic roots and co-stars Tessa Thompson.
 
Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (April 28 to May 4, 2019)

Exclusions edit

  • This list excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.
Note: If you came here from the Signpost article, please take any discussion of exclusions to this article's talk page.