The movie theater belongs to Marvel, hands down. DC isn’t even close. The Dark Knight is really the only first-rate DC movie out there, and even that’s got some pretty glaring flaws. And it’s still not really a fun movie. If I need to kill a couple hours, I’d rather watch the unarguably inferior Thor 2.
DC does better with live action TV, although even there, Marvel shows them up: Daredevil and Jessica Jones are hitting that exact “dark” tone that DC is so desperate to achieve in their films, and does it without turning into dour, humorless punching contests between unlikable assholes. But DC’s TV stuff really understands the soapy goofiness that makes superhero comics so much fun.
The one place where DC absolutely owns the competition is animation. Nothing Marvel has ever done has even come close to Batman: The Animated Adventures. Marvel’s stuck with crap like Agents of SMASH and fifteen different Spider-Man cartoons, all of which suck. Which, really, makes the movie failures so much more aggravating. Why do they keep letting Zach Snyder make movies, when they have Bruce Timm’s phone number?
Gothan and John Constantine were brilliant, some of the best TV ever.
So true, and, as Tom Tildrum noted, so many others of their animated series have been great.
Marvel tried to break through with their direct-to-video series, Marvel Knights. I only got one of those, “The Inhumans.” It was…mmm…okay. Middlin’. The animation style was weary and weak, and the voice acting was about average.
In contrast, DC’s “Crisis on Two Earths” was excellent, close to brilliant. The premise was intriguing, and the presentation was strong.
Are you referring to Gotham? Because that’s still an ongoing series. The latest episode was one of the most wonderfully twisted things on TV I’ve ever seen.
I quite like Ultimate Spider Man, it has a light, 4th-wall-breaking tone that works for Spidey. I’ve also enjoyed the Avengers series, especially when they feature Cap. Marvel.
And sure, *B:TAA is great, so was the Superman *series, but is anyone going to defend Teen Titans, Go! I’d prefer 6 straight hours of Agents of SMASH! to one episode of that…
Zack Snyder is a talentless hack, completely inappropriate for his job. He completely misunderstands why superheroes are important to US culture and why they are fun to watch. He has stripped them of their point and replaced them with what he personally thinks is “cool”.
Aside from his ones, DC’s movies are fine, if a bit linear.
Marvel knows how to have fun, and knows how to mix things up with different styles to appeal to different audiences, appropriate for each character.
I look forward to each Marvel movie, even the ones whose trailers are a bit dodgy, and most often will see them opening day.
I eventually get around to seeing DC movies. I still haven’t seen Man of Steel, let alone Batman v Superman.
Another vote for Marvel, at least those movies in the MCU. And my theory as to why is the inclusion of humor. The Marvel movies are just more enjoyable to watch and experience.
But it goes beyond “just the jokes folks”. Humor allows for some variance of tone throughout the movie. Ebbs and tides , ups and downs. Dramatic end of the world moments and the occasional serious character development mean more interspersed with wit and one-liners.
For example, a scene showing a drunken Rocket Raccoon expressing his anger and frustration at being a rejected science experiment affected me more than it reasonably should, because it’s contrasted to the ridiculousness we’ve been watching. A grim Superman in MoS* clenching his jaw over being a lonely outsider gets lost in the previous hour’s grey grimness.
Gritty and dark works for Batman (although I recall having a few chuckles at least in most of those movies), but it doesn’t suit every character. DC had it’s most recent success with it’s darkest property and it’s colored everything else it’s put out. It needs a good shiny gee-whiz Shazam or smart-ass Plastic Man movie to clean the slate and cleanse the palate.
I am still conflicted about Man of Steel. I though about 1/3 of it was quite good, 1/3 acceptable, and the remaining 1/3 stupid, ham-fisted, misguided hackery. I might be the only one but I thought the stuff in Kansas was a worthwhile attempt, and I liked most of Kostner’s performance as Pa Kent. I cried during the barn scene when he said “You are my son!” but cursed like a sailor when they killed him in the stupidest, stupidest death I have ever seen on film.
I mean, yeah. We’re talking about the guy who made Sucker Punch here.
I agree with the general idea that Marvel rules film, and largely live action TV, but DC owns animation. Static Shock, Teen Titans, and Justice League are all great and are almost perfectly balanced between comedy, action, and so on.
I really, really hate Flash and Arrow as shows, though, which most people don’t. I also like Teen Titans Go! which makes me a weird pariah. It is, in fact, the dumbest show in the universe, but it’s just so on point for me. Also, the voice actors apparently have a blast doing it.
Maybe I’m missing something, but: why single out Snyder?
Yeah, he’s the director – but he’s not the writer or the producer. IllinoisBoy mentions finding a third of Man of Steel to be stupid and ham-fisted and misguided – singling out a particular scene for having “the stupidest, stupidest death I have ever seen on film” – but if someone else writes stuff that way, and the producer is cool with it, then what can the director do?
Tell me I get to rewrite Man of Steel or Batman v Superman and – well, if I’m great at my job, I could add some light comedy while spinning a story about interesting people who don’t die from misguided choices. Tell me I’m the producer? I can hire a writer like that. Tell me I get to direct those movies – but with the same writer answering to the same producer – and what can I do?
Ordinarily that’s largely true, many directors are just hired guns whose job is just to translate what they’ve been given. But Zack Snyder has been given a lot more influence on the whole run of the DC slate, taking much of the role that Kevin Feige does for Marvel. Both his movies are heavily stylised like his past work, such as 300 or Sucker Punch, and all the DC movies that are not directed by Snyder, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman are following that stylistic lead. He seems to be the face and spokesperson for the DC movies right now, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he has a lot of influence on where the stories go.
Kevin Feige is a Producer, that level of control is common for Producers. Zack Snyder is a Director, very few Directors get this much power, and in my mind he hasn’t earned it, as his movies are almost all controversial and divisive amongst the nerds. It all just smacks of desperate flailing on DC’s part, attempting to emulate something they have a tenuous grasp of.
Agreed, re Snyder. He’s also apparently an Objectivist, which kind of explains his mistreatment of Superman. He’s exactly the wrong person to head up the DCEU. Get Timm or someone like that instead.
IMHO Marvel have made the best films, but DC make better TV series.
I’ve not watched Jessica Jones, but could not get past episode 1 of Daredevil and have lost interest in Agents of Shield.
DC have produced Flash, Constantine, Lucifer (not done as well as it could have been) and Arrow. Other than Arrow I have consistently enjoyed them all.
That explains a lot. But my biggest complaint with Snyder is his laughably grandiose, uber-masculine style. His films all look like a Boris Vallejo painting come to life. Stupid writing decisions are certainly going to hurt a movie, sure. But even if they had a fantastic writing team, Snyder’s distinctively silly style is still going to undercut the story.
Just repeating the consensus opinion here but Marvel films are, on average, much more fun to watch than DC films. Most of the DC stuff I’ve seen has been plodding grimdark stuff. Can’t speak for the TV side since I don’t watch any of them.
There’s the bit in WATCHMEN where the comic had two retired crimefighters getting mugged in an alley, and Dan starts hitting one mugger in the face while Laurie throws an elbow strike, and Dan finishes hitting that same mugger in the face while Laurie grabs a guy by the balls, and – that’s it; fight’s over; our heroes are out of breath from fighting off three guys between the two of them.
In the film, it’s over-the-top cinematic; Dan still throws punches – after breaking a guy’s arm so bones jut out and blood sprays all over; and Dan then breaks a second guy’s leg before kicking a third guy so hard as to send him sailing through the air; and then Dan leaps in to jump-kick the gunman who’s firing shots at Laurie, but she’s okay because after kicking a guy so hard as to send him sailing through air, and punching a guy hard enough to send him sailing through the air likewise, she deftly disarmed a knife-wielding mugger and plunged said knife into the neck of said mugger and is using that knifed mugger as a human shield against speeding bullets.
I’m glad to figure the screenwriter just wrote “fight scene happens”, and Snyder directed it as he likes instead of getting the point of the comic. But if he’s going beyond that, if he’s writing out dialogue while scripting death scenes for named characters, then I truly don’t see why he isn’t also getting a ‘writer’ credit.
