Local folklore in Chester, Illinois, Segar's hometown, claims that Popeye is based on Frank "Rocky" Fiegel, a man who was handy with his fists.^[34] Fiegel was born on January 27, 1868. He lived as a bachelor his entire life. It was said that later Segar sent checks to Fiegel in the 1930s. Fiegel died on March 24, 1947 at the age of 79.^{[citation needed]}

Culturally,^[35] many consider Popeye a precursor to the superheroes who would eventually come to dominate the world of comic books.^[36] Some observers of popular culture point out that the fundamental character of Popeye, paralleling that of another 1930s icon, Superman, is very close to the traditional view of how the U.S. sees itself as a nation: possessing uncompromising moral standards and resorting to force when threatened, or when he "can't stands no more" bad behavior from an antagonist.^{[citation needed]} This theory is directly reinforced in certain cartoons, when Popeye defeats his foe while a US patriotic song, usually either "Stars and Stripes Forever," "Yankee Doodle," or "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean," plays on the soundtrack. One of Popeye's catchphrases is "I yam what I yam, and that's all what I yam," which may be seen as an expression of individualism.

Such has been Popeye's cultural impact that the medical profession sometimes refers to the biceps bulge symptomatic of a tendon rupture as the "Popeye muscle."^[37][38] Note, however, that under normal (non-spinach-influenced) conditions, Popeye has pronounced muscles of the forearm, not of the biceps.

At the end of his song "Kansas City Star," Roger Miller's character of a local TV kids show announcer says, "Stay tuned, we'll have a Popeye cartoon in just a minute."

The 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit featured many classic cartoon characters, and the absence of Popeye was noted by some critics. Popeye (along with Bluto and Olive Oyl) actually had a role planned for the film. However when executive producer Steven Speilberg went to acquire the rights for a licencing fee of $5,000 per character, he found he had to pay to both King Features (who created the character) and Turner Entertainment (who held the rights for the cartoons at the time) and this was too expensive for the Disney's liking. Thus, the rights could not be acquired and Popeye's cameo was dropped from the film.^[39]

Most prominently, Popeye has been associated with the vegetable spinach, and is credited by many^[who?] with popularizing the vegetable among children.

In 1973, Cary Bates created Captain Strong, a takeoff of Popeye, for DC Comics,^[40] as a way of having two cultural icons – Superman and (a proxy of) Popeye – meet.^[41