Marvel vs DC. You can only choose one

Cafe Society
21

As their tagline used to say, Make Mine Marvel.

I started reading superhero comic books in college, nearly 40 years ago, when a friend of mine got me into them. I fell in love with several Marvel titles immediately, and in retrospect, those were in the midst of classic runs for those titles: X-Men being written by Chris Claremont, and Thor, being written and drawn by Walt Simonson. I branched out into other Marvel titles, but those two, along with Doctor Strange, have always been my core titles.

DC’s books just never really clicked for me in the same way, though I’ve always been a fan of the Green Lantern books, and the Legion of Superheroes. And, while Christopher Reeves’ first two Superman films were great, the MCU was so well done, for so long, thanks to not only excellent directors, but letter-perfect casting of both the heroes and the villains.

22

  1. Marvel makes much better films.

  2. Superman can fly, travel through space, is bullet-proof and super strong, can breath frost and fire heat beams, has X-ray vision, has super-speed and rapidly regenerates.
    Why bother with other heroes? (especially the poor old Flash?)

23

Adding, DC is much heavier on the sleezy depiction of female characters than Marvel.

24

Marvel is more splashy with overpowered heroes but DC has it on the story telling side with more interesting heroes (Superman-do-everything aside…at least he has a distinct Achilles’ heel).

C’mon…Batman vs Joker. Marvel has nothing as good as that.

25

No way, no how is Superman faster than Flash. I don’t care what anyone says. He shouldn’t even be close.

26

I’m not touching that issue with a 10 foot pole! None of the comics have treated female characters well, and Marvel’s First Family has been epically dysfunctional for, basically, forever. I hate Reed Richards in ways I cannot, will not fully articulate without a bunch of booze in me.

I will say that historically neither treats women well, but Marvel is/was more willing to examine the various issues earlier and in a somewhat more respectful manner, although others may disagree. I do remember collecting and reading West Coast Avengers in the mid 80s, in which they get thrown to the past in the American West and Mockingbird is brainwashed and raped by a local ‘hero’. And when she recovers, she lets him -die- and tries to conceal it from her husband.

(apparently that has been semi-recently retconned away, but we already had that discussion)

I wouldn’t expect such things to be examined in DC comics of that era.

27

In general, my feeling is that Marvel has been more adventurous/strayed further afield than the big DC brands, but no comic has given me more WTFs than Doom Patrol so I have to give it to DC. Probably DC’s best recent live action interpretation, too.

28

I missed this earlier, and the Amalgam comics were weird fun, but Dr Strangefate needs to be nerfed, quick! I mean, WTF - Strange and Fate were a powerful enough combination, but adding Xavier to the mix?!? Too powerful, please nerf. :slight_smile:

29

Usually I’d have no idea. But with My Adventures of Superman and sometimes the Harley Quinn show, I have to go with DC.

Yeah, that’s based entirely on things that are airing now, rather than anything in the past. But those are really the only comic properties I really pay attention to these days beyond YouTuber reviews.

Selfish? Yeah. But it’s the only way I could pick at all.

30

Those shows are both fantastic. I did struggle with Boimler as Superman at first, but it works.

Bane on the Harley Quinn show is my favorite character from any super hero show.

31

I can’t respond to the poll because my answer is “Marvel on screen, DC in print.”

32

DC is for little kids. Marvel is for big kids.

33

I honestly would say it is the reverse.

34

After the twelfth variation on Batman, I got bored.

35

As opposed to the twelfth Marvel movie?

You saw ‘The Dark Knight’ and was bored?

36

That was the last good one. There have been like seven Batman and -adjacent movies since then.

And Marvel at least has a wider variety of characters and genres to make them interesting. Though I have lost a lot of interest in them lately too.

37

This made the choice surprisingly easy. I could give a toss about the mainstream DC capes, but the Vertigo stuff like Sandman, Lucifer, Books of Magic, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and Watchmen kind of compel me to vote DC.

If the question had been the mainstream DC heroes vs mainstream Marvel ones, I would have chosen Marvel in a heartbeat.

38

I am trying to think about the fallout from having one franchise disappear… Do all the past works disappear, and if they do can we assume those creators were working for the competition?

Would we still get Watchmen if there had been no DC, or Charlton for that matter?
What could Alan Moore have done with Fantastic Four?
Would there be Deadpool without Deathstroke?

It is hard to imagine what would be lost, but it is also hard to imagine what could be gained.

If the hypothetical is working the way I think, then I am keeping DC. That way we get the DC stuff and Kirby, Ditko and Lee do their thing there.

39

You kill marvel and DC would be just as dead.

40

I was assuming all those past works were in existence, but have been disappeared. So you don’t get new past works for the monopoly, and you’re aware of what’s lost.