# Which DC comics character is the most "Marvel" and vice versa **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499 "2014-09-25T04:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/1 "2014-09-25T04:47:04Z")
If for some reason DC comics and Marvel comics were to trade one of their characters for another, which DC character do you think would fit best in the Marvel universe and which Marvel character would fit best in the DC universe? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/2 "2014-09-25T05:31:11Z")
Amanda Waller and the Checkmate team would fit very nicely in the Marvel universe. The easy answer to going the other way would be the Squadron Supreme, in the (excellent!) 12-issue limited series by Mark Gruenwald, back in 1985. But that’s kind of cheating, since the characters were based on DC characters, and the tone was deliberately derivative of DC. Marvel’s “The Black Knight” would fit easily into the DC universe. Giant-Man, in some phases of his story, would make a good DC character, a nice counterpoint to The Atom. (At other times, especially when he was an alcoholic wife-beater, not so much.) Marvel’s Black Panther, and Cloak and Dagger, are somewhat DC-ish. DC’s 'Mazing Man could fit easily into Marvel’s “silly” universe, alongside Not Brand Eccch, Forbush Man, etc. “Damage Control” should be a DC comic…for the obvious reason! ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/3 "2014-09-25T05:35:28Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Giant-Man, in some phases of his story, would make a good DC character, a nice counterpoint to The Atom. (At other times, especially when he was an alcoholic wife-beater, not so much.) The “wife-beater” thing with Giant-Man/Antman is also disheartening for fans of the character since it was an artist mistake that people have used to define the character for decades. Captain America is the most DC of all Marvel characters. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/4 "2014-09-25T10:16:14Z")
Apropos of nothing, if the Green Lantern movie had used Ch’p (as I wanted them to) everyone would be saying that Marvel ripped him off for Rocket. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/5 "2014-09-25T10:54:28Z")
If we consider that Marvel is more or less about the average guy with reasonably tame or flawed powers and DC about the high concept adventure with god-level characters… Green Lantern should be a Marvel character, while Thor should be DC. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/6 "2014-09-25T12:41:46Z")
I don’t know too much about the Doom Patrol, but they always felt a bit like the Not-Fantastic 4/X-Men to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/7 "2014-09-25T16:03:39Z")
Green Lantern has “reasonably tame” powers? His powers consist of “Do whatever the heck he wants, as long as it’s green”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/8 "2014-09-25T16:07:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Green Lantern has “reasonably tame” powers? His powers consist of “Do whatever the heck he wants, as long as it’s green”. Most of the time, he wants to hit people with giant green boxing gloves, though. ---
**Author:** ![Reverse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Reverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverse)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/9 "2014-09-25T16:48:10Z")
Marvel’s the Blob has been depicted as a cannibal, which seems like it would fit the grimdark DC universe quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/10 "2014-09-25T17:48:55Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I don’t know too much about the Doom Patrol, but they always felt a bit like the Not-Fantastic 4/X-Men to me. Several people have argued that the X-Men originated as a rip-off of the Doom Patrol. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/11 "2014-09-25T19:23:50Z")
> [@Reverse](#): > > Marvel’s the Blob has been depicted as a cannibal, which seems like it would fit the grimdark DC universe quite well. Wasn’t that Ultimate Blob, not original recipe Blob? I think a good chunk of Ultimateverse is plenty grimdark itself. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/12 "2014-09-25T19:35:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Green Lantern has “reasonably tame” powers? His powers consist of “Do whatever the heck he wants, as long as it’s green”. Yes, but that’s the thing with DC. You give them plastic man and soon he’ll become a God who can destroy entire worlds by stretching over them. The main concept of Green Lantern is a regular guy with an impressive weapon, yet not all that powerful. Originally it even had a weakness with the color yellow. You could even argue that Hal Jordan is anything but a regular Joe, but Kyle Rainer? That’s a Marvel character in the middle of the DC universe if there’s one. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/13 "2014-09-25T19:44:24Z")
Moon Knight was originally a Batman knock-off. Then they re-vamped the character and emphasized his Egyptian roots, which kind of made him a Hawkman knock-off. Last I heard, he was mostly back to his Batmanesque style. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/14 "2014-09-25T20:08:12Z")
Yeah Doom Patrol is the Hydrox to the X-Men’s Oreo. Came first but less popular so it looks like the rip off. The Question would work fine as a Marvel character. The Hulk would be a great DC villain. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/15 "2014-09-25T20:21:56Z")
**Teen Titans** (1980 version) were launched by a writer and artist who had come to prominence at Marvel, and I always thought of it as a Marvel book with DC characters. While lots of writers who’d made their bones at DC have handled Marvel characters (Gardner Fox on **Dr. Strange** , for example, or Jim Shooter on **Avengers** ), not many were created by DC expats (of whom there were quite a few right after a writers’ strike at DC circa 1972). Archie Goodwin and Dennis O’Neil, very important writers and editors for Marvel with DC pedigrees, didn’t create any important new characters for Marvel ( **Merc** and **Black Brother** both sank pretty quickly; and while Goodwin wrote the first issue of **Luke Cage: Hero for Hire** , I’m not sure he could be accurately described as its “creator.” **Ms. Marvel** , a Gerry Conway creation, is almost of a piece with **Power Girl** (also by Conway) and **Supergirl** (a distaff version of the company’s nominal figurehead character, plus she’s also named Danvers). IIRC, **Guardians of the Galaxy** was an Arnold Drake creation that would have been very much at home in one of those Julius Schwartz SF anthologies. It was also a one-off that was resurrected by Steve Gerber 5 or 6 years later and was frequently brought back with all the enthusiasm of a trademark protection relaunch over the next 30 years, until Disney made a big-budget movie by that name. Drake created **Doom Patrol** and **Deadman** and never jibed with the “Marvel style.” ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/16 "2014-09-25T21:33:08Z")
The old Booster Gold would have fitted in nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/17 "2014-09-26T11:21:39Z")
It’s a complete cheat, but Marvel’s **Sentry** , complete with the more grisly “modern” iteration, fits the bill. **Swamp Thing** kinda feels like he could be a Marvel—not that [that’s a big stretch.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-Thing) ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/18 "2014-09-26T12:19:54Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > The “wife-beater” thing with Giant-Man/Antman is also disheartening for fans of the character since it was an artist mistake that people have used to define the character for decades. Come again? I’d heard of the characterization of the character, but didn’t realize it originated as a mistake. Is there more backstory? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/19 "2014-09-26T12:38:46Z")
Captain Marvel would have definitely been able to shift from DC to Marvel. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499/20 "2014-09-26T12:56:08Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Captain Marvel would have definitely been able to shift from DC to Marvel. And vice versa. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-dc-comics-character-is-the-most-marvel-and-vice-versa/699499.md?page=2)