With both companies beginning to establish their own cinematic universes, as well as bringing many characters I’ve loved and enjoyed throughout my childhood to the spotlight, I'm going to take this time to run through a comparison of both Marvel and DC. Though they have their similarities, they are essentially the Coke and Pepsi of heated conflicts in the nerd realm, but not as much in the mainstream. Of course, I love both, but I do have my biases *cough* DC comics fanboy *cough*. I can’t cover everything, but I’ll try my best.
Writing, Stories, and Characters
I am personally a fan of the darker storylines comic books have to offer, and more often than not, those types of stories can be found within Detective Comics Comics (that wasn’t a typo, that’s what DC Comics stands for). That’s not to say that Marvel can’t reach down into the deep recesses of their universe(s), but with titles such as Batman, Green Arrow, and Watchmen, DC’s characters tend to spawn out of deep seeded trauma--for example, a need for revenge. Take Robin, the Boy Wonder, for instance. As one of the first teenage heroes in comic history, his origin came about from the death of his parents--à la Batman.
Marvel has always felt more light-hearted, from the wise-cracking quips of Spiderman and the odd-ball Guardians of the Galaxy to the well-defined lines of right and wrong within their stories. I’m not denying the fact that Marvel’s heroes also experience loss, but Marvel rarely delves as deep into an individual character’s psyche as much as DC does. On the other hand, Marvel is able to tie larger over-arching themes into their properties, like prejudice and discrimination in X-Men, or government overreach/authoritarian power with their Civil War storyline.
Cinematic Universes
I am not afraid to admit that at the moment Marvel’s movies and their cinematic universe is better than what DC Entertainment is putting out, mainly because Marvel has been doing this for years now and is at the point where they’re releasing a new one every couple of months. Also, not much can be said for DC efforts so far, with only Man of Steel out as part of their newly established universe, but it’s looking bright for DC’s future now that more details and trailers for Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad have been released.
And THE WINNER IS: Everyone!
Clearly both franchises have their strengths, weaknesses, and similarities, but this rivalry just means that we all get better quality everything. And whether you prefer Batman or Iron Man, all of nerd culture is being given gifts on a daily basis, so shut up, kick back, and enjoy all the commercialization of superheroes that’s being pumped out. Now, excuse me, I have more leaked trailers to watch.
