The most famous foursomes in pop culture

We could have done a list just of iconic four-piece bands. With that in mind, we limited ourselves to a handful on this list. The Beatles had to be included, though. Not only are they the biggest band in history, but the personalities are all so distinct. After “Get Back” dropped, John, Paul, George, and Ringo are somehow even more indelible. They called them the Fab Four, after all.

Like any good quartet, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all bring something to the table. Leonardo leads, of course. Raphael is cool but rude (or possibly crude). Michelangelo is a party dude. Donatello, um, does machines? Anyway, the pizza-loving mutant turtles are an iconic foursome in comics, on TV, and in film.

Originally, the Ghostbusters are a trio. However, Venkman, Egon, and Ray get so busy they hire Winston and they become a quartet. In the sequel film, they are a foursome, and also in the cartoon (although they hang out with Slimer, so maybe they are a fivesome). When you picture the Ghostbusters, you likely envision them in their jumpsuits, and there are four of them.

On the run after being convicted wrongfully of a crime they didn’t commit, the A-Team exist as soldiers of fortune. While they drive a fairly distinct van for a quartet on the run from the law, Hannibal, Face, Murdock, and B.A. Baracus are still out there helping the underdog, mostly by shooting near people so that they flip in the air and are thus incapacitated.

How could we not include a group that literally has “Four” in their name? While they haven’t made a good Fantastic Four movie yet, the Marvel superheroes remain iconic. Once they end up in the MCU, the Fantastic Four will likely somehow be even more well-known.

There are some television quartets that are debatable, but some of those are easier to land on as a true quartet. The “Sex and the City” ladies are one of those. While they aren’t a grouping beyond being four close friends, fans of the show helped etch them into the zeitgeist as a foursome. Were you a Carrie? A Miranda? Dare we say, a Samantha? That defined them as a quartet for good.

Another iconic band, and one that gave us a definitive foursome. It’s not just how beloved and big they were as a band, but people knew the members. Sure, maybe Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were center stage, but that will happen with singers and guitarists, especially with many people’s choice for best guitarist ever. However, John Paul Jones and wild man drummer John Bonham make for a famed rhythm section. Bonham’s untimely, self-inflicted death in 1980 led to the breakup of the band, who occasionally played with guest drummers (including John’s son Jason), ensuring they were forever remembered as a foursome.

One of the top ensembles of ‘80s sitcoms, “The Golden Girls” was popular while it aired, but has stood the test of time, and arguably is even more beloved now. The show focuses on four ladies of a certain age, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia, sharing a home in Florida and getting into all sorts of misadventures in the Miami sun.

Paul Mazursky’s directorial debut was nominated for four Oscars and was quite well-received. It was also adapted into a TV show. However, with a different title, this film about two couples trying to plot a future for their relationships, it likely wouldn’t have led to a famous pop culture foursome. Instead, they called it “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” which became rife for parody. Thus, a cultural quartet was born.

The Teletubbies are…weird. Not in the handwringing way some conservative folks claimed. However, the British show was for small children, and it was odd. The Teletubbies were a strange, quasi-alien foursome with TVs in their stomachs. They seemed to worship a baby who was the Sun god? Well, if the goal was to birth an iconic foursome, it worked.

Yeah, the Monkees were put together to be a TV-ready “Beatles.” However, it also worked. They had a semi-successful, but well-remembered, TV show, and they had legit hits like “Daydream Believer” and, um, “I’m a Believer.” Maybe they were cultivated personality types, but Davy, Mickey, Peter, and Mike aren’t just a faux Beatles. They are so much more.

“Pac-Man” is such a simple game. You are a circle with a pie slice for a mouth, and you eat up a bunch of dots while trying to avoid your enemies. That being said, “Pac-Man” is one of the most iconic arcade games ever. Almost everybody has played “Pac-Man,” and you know those enemies. They are known as the Ghost Gang, but they are also known as Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde. No villainous foursome is more famous.

All four of the main characters on “Seinfeld” had friends outside of that foursome, especially Kramer. And yet, we intuitively talk of them as a foursome with friends outside of that group. Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine are a foursome. They are an indelible quartet as much as the “Friends” gang are an iconic sextet. There is no need to debate this any further.

When your name is four letters and comprised of the initials of the first names of your four members, that’s going to make people remember you are a quartet. Having iconic songs like “Dancing Queen” helps the Swedish foursome. There are also the not one, but two jukebox musical movies built on the back of ABBA songs. Wisely, they eschewed the fact Anni-Frid goes by “Frida,” because ABBF or FBBA doesn’t quite work the same.

Sure, outside of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, the members of KISS have seen changes. However, to this day, people think of the showy band as Simmons, Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss. Or, rather, the Demon, the Starchild, Space Ace, and the Catman. In fact, that version of KISS is so iconic that the current lead guitarist and drummer wear the Space Ace (now Spaceman) and Catman makeup.

Hey, when you are at the center of two movies and several books, we’d say you count as a famed quartet. Also, when you have magical pants, you get bonus points. It also helps that they cast the 2005 film so well, going with Alexis Bledel, America Ferrara, Blake Lively, and Amber Tamblyn as the four friends with one pair of jeans between them.

Who do we see in the opening credits of “King of the Hill?” Who is standing there, drinking beers, as the world goes by. What is the famed cadence that soundtracks these hang sessions? It’s “Yep. Yep. Yep. Mmhmm,” and that’s because there are four people there. Hank, Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer spend their days hanging by the road, drinking beer, and it’s so indelible anytime somebody else is there it’s explicitly to call attention to the change.

“Super Mario Bros. 2” may be a re-skinned version of another game, making it quite different, but in a way that frankly makes it all the more beloved to some. Before this game, you could play as Mario or Luigi, and they were basically the same dude with different tights. “Super Mario Bros. 2” changed the landscape for Mario and Nintendo. You got to pick from four characters, and they all had different skills. Mario was all B-level skills. Luigi had speed and could jump the highest. Toad was the slowest, but the strongest. Peach could float with her dress, but was the weakest. What worked best for you? And why was it Luigi?

Eventually, “South Park” broke free from the routine, but first, they established the norm. The raunchy Comedy Central show was centered on four kids, Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. They were iconic, featured on t-shirts and apparel at many a middle school. Then, they decided to kill Kenny off long term and get some other kids into the mix, but that was after years of the main four being established.

We end with one that is both obvious and debatable. The Marx Brothers are comedy legends. They were some of the biggest names in film during their time. However, were they an iconic quartet, or an iconic trio with another guy around some of the time. The question is what of Zeppo? Zeppo was in seven of the Marx Brothers films, including “Duck Soup,” their most-indelible work. There were four Marx Brothers for all that time, that is a fact. Even then, though, Zeppo always felt…perfunctory. Groucho, Chico, and Harpo had their clear comedic games. They ran roughshod. Zeppo was the straight man. He was a Marx Brother, and he made them a quartet, but is the iconic version of the Marx Brothers just Groucho, Chico, and Harpo? We’ll leave that up for you to decide.