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‘Aquaman’ dubbed most dubious superhero by virus removal software company

When it comes to the most recognized or most powerful superhero, Aquaman is often overlooked. Without a blockbuster film in the last several years (this TV short with Lou Diamond Philips doesn’t count), he doesn’t have the same sort of visibility as Batman, Spider-Man or Superman. He does, however, apparently prove to be quite the threat in cyberspace.

According to a recently compiled list by McAfee, known for its virus detection and removal software, Aquaman is the superhero name that results in the greatest number of risky websites returned in search engine results. In a recent blog post, McAfee says that when partnering a superhero’s name with search terms like “free torrent download,” “watch,” “online” and “free trailer,” these superheroes were found to deliver the most search results that tested positively for malicious content links, including spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware:

  1. Aquaman 18.60%

  2. Mr. Fantastic 18.22%

  3. The Hulk 17.30%

  4. Wonder Woman 16.77%

  5. Daredevil 16.70%

  6. Iron Man 15.63%

  7. Superman 15.21%

  8. Thor 15.10%

  9. Green Lantern 15.00%

  10. Cyclops 14.40%

  11. Wolverine 14.27%

  12. Invisible Woman 12.40%

  13. Batman 12.30%

  14. Captain America 11.77%

  15. Spider-Man 11.15%

I was kind of surprised to see Aquaman at the top of that list, personally. He hasn’t been very visible in the public eye recently, at least not as visible as Superman or Batman. Then again, he is pretty awesome in the recently-released game Injustice: Gods Among Us. Perhaps everyone started searching for how to do some of his crazy combos, and malware distributors picked up on the rise in the search term:

To protect yourself from superhero search term threats, McAfee offers some advice to keep yourself safe: don’t trust offers that are too good to be true, like the offer of free items; make sure the link you are clicking on is spelled correctly, and that you’re not visiting the website of a typo-squatter, and keep your virus protection software up-to-date. I don’t think those same tips will protect you from Aquaman himself.