Primary vs Secondary colors in comics

In general, primary colors are reserved for heroes, because they are colors that are basis of all other colors aside from the primaries in the color wheel. They are gestalt within themselves, the "perfect form" of a color. When we see all three together, we also get a sense of unity and our minds are at ease. In the comic book world, the best example?


Superman by ~DocShaner on deviantART

Superman. His costume is nothing but the primary colors. Such bright primary colors that aren't off tone give you the sense that "this guy is the hero and seems like a nice person" especially when combined with his facial expression, he has a "boy scout appearance" There is a sense of unity and harmony in the use of the primary colors, and our eye likes it.

Contrast this to a character whose wardrobe is based on secondary colors (and his face clashes)-

Joker by ~luli44 on deviantART
The Joker. His wardrobe is an off-green and purple, two secondary colors, and purple, if placed on a monochromatic scale, is a "dark" color, green is "neutral" but because of its contrast with the Joker's red smile, such contrast, like Christmas colors create discord for our eyes. His manic sickly yellow (note how i associated "sickly" with yellow) and pale white face show us this person isn't healthy, and the fact that he carries a gun makes him an immediate "villain" archetype.

The use of predominant primary colors in comics is generally reserved for heroes, a short list-
DC: Superman, Old school Batman (he was blue/yellow), wonder woman (primary), the Flash (red/yellow), Static Shock (blue/yellow)
Marvel: Spiderman (red/blue), Wolverine (yellow/blue), Cyclops (yellow/blue)
Japanese comics: Yugioh (red/yellow hair, blue clothes), Ash Ketchum + Pikachu (red hat, blue clothes, yellow pet)

The use of predominant secondary colors in comics is generally reserved for villains, though these colors are usually off-color, resulting in a pale or "washed out" color scheme-
DC: the Joker, Lex Luthor (purple/green)
Marvel: Magneto (magenta/purple)

From the above list we can see that such use of the primary and secondary colors helps divide the "good and evil" characters apart, and makes it a "standard" so that we can almost immediately categorize characters by color alone.