Marvel vs DC: What are the differences?
 

Between a couple of current threads have started a few conversations, some civil and interesting, others have been berating.
But it's brought up a few big points about the differences between the universes.

So I wanted to start this discussion to see what these two mean to you, personally. One thing everyone can agree on, is that the two universes just feel different. So I want to know who that translates to you?
Please be civil and thoughtful, and please don't insult people just because they like something different than you. If all you have to say is "XXX is great because YYY SUUUUUUUUCKS!" then please move on.

For me, if comes down to Writing, and characters (What else is there?).

Characters:
Marvel- Marvel characters to be feel vibrant and colorful, and very sharp. This is why I feel like they seem to mesh better and appeal more outside of comicbooks. And, as someone pointed out, Marvel characters are easier to relate to. Peter Parker, a nerdy boy who's always picked on. The Runaways, a group of kids convinced their parents are supervillains. The X-Men, a group who're outcast for being different, with no reguards to who they are. List goes on.
However, for me there's a sharp contrast amongst marvel characters. I either love them (Or at least enjoy them), or they flip to going from completely boring to outright hating them. There really is no middle ground. I love them, or I don't want anything to do with them.

DC- DC characters feel darker, and... I dunno... round. I don't want to say dull, because I don't find them to be. But they're not as vibrant.
They're also not as easy to relate to. But there really seems to be a lot more thought into their origins, and I feel quite a bit of them are quite stronger, and more interesting.
Very few DC characters stand out to me as much as the standout Marvels, but there's not as much contrast. I find a lot more DC characters to be more interesting in the long run. If something focuses on a character I don't normally follow, I tend to enjoy that character more. While I'm not a fan of Firestorm at all, I don't mind when he's a central character. Ironfist however, I can't suffer through a story he's in.

Writing
I honestly don't have much to say about writing at this exact moment, as both companies have done a lot of really annoying stuff.
Both are way too addicted to megacrossover events (They're both up to what, two a year each?), and I think they both need to get off that horse and let the individual titles have their own stories.
Though I think DC has cornered some of the better writers and artists. Especially the last few years, with Geoff Johns, and Gail Simone.
Marvel may have flashier events, but I think for the most part, they're more into shock moments to boost sales.

Marvel - I feel like Marvel tries harder to evolve their characters depending on whatever is popular at the time. I do find the characters easier to relate to, however I don't find most of them to be anything special. Especially in recent time, they've made a firm effort to make just about every superhero into a powered down every man. Also, their redesigns seem to be the Jim Lee/Liefeld era gone into overdrive. Also, they seem to do a lot of "I was a bad guy, but now I'm a reformed anti-hero" characters. I don't know how I feel about it. I did like some of the stories and some of the direction they went with certain characters, but it's too much of the same now. I feel like Marvel is notorious for flogging a dead horse. "Oh, they like this, let's keep doing it."
Examples:
Putting heroes in civilian clothing
Turning villains into heroes
Giving heroes financial problems
Killing heroes and then bringing them back
Family Guy-like fourth wall satire

DC - I think there's something somewhat admirable about sticking to your guns for decades. Up until the new 52, character designs and themes and cliches has pretty much stuck. Now it feels almost like Marvel secretly bought DC. Everyone gets shoulder pads or everyone gets piped tubing stuff in their costumes, everyone loses the underwear on top of the pants, everyone has those dumb looking V-shaped belts. In an attempt to rid their characters of cliche, they traded it for even more generic cliches. The writing is still decent in most of the issues but the artwork is kind of blah to be honest. I actually find DC's characters to be more visually vibrant as they seem to be willing to use very bold colours. Marvel stuff is grittier and dialed back. They use a lot of browns and desaturated colours unless they're doing it as a cliche like Sentry.

They both have their flaws, but with the new 52, it's hard for me to compare the two brands because they've pretty much melted into each other for me. DC comics no longer feel like an alternative to Marvel anymore for me. I don't even know what I'm trying to say here, I guess other than the toys and the pre-52 DC, there really isn't much I like about DC anymore?? And Marvel, I got off that ship ages ago. I even found Secret Invasion and Civil War to be a bit lacking.

Marvel has a real ongoing (if sliding timescale) contunity whereas DC keeps rebooting their and tossing everything that happened before.
In the past, with Crisis and Zero Hour, changes were the result universe shaking crossover craziness...and it made sense to the readers- something Bad happened and the timeline changed.

This most recent annoying time (The new "52"), there was NO GODDAMN REASON!
Just...one month there's a JSA and the next they dont exist...yet somehow the Green Lantern titles are unaffected!
The rings must make them immune to marketing stupidity.
And the Shade is unaffected beacuse James Robinson said "Fuck that noise, this is the Shade!" and since that book has loyal fans (like myself) it's cool.

Eventually someone will realise that this 52 reboot is a failure (they already cancelled four titles) and change things the hell back.


Sadly, there's rumors Marvel is going to jump on the bandwagon and d the same crap- as though they did not try it in the 90's and have it fail so badly they made changing it back into a better selling event than the original switch!

Yep, new 52 sucks including the new uninspired costume designs.

Haha, wouldn't be the first time Marvel copied something just because they thought it would be popular and not because it made a better product.

If this is based on the field of comics purely then I say it all depends on what the reader wants to take away from the comicboook. If it's a hero to look up to or someone to relate to then I say go Marvel. If you want a legend, a saga and vilians that linger then go DC. I myself collect Marvel, not to say I didn't have my fare share of Batman and Robin figures. I never got into flash,green lantern, justice league, or superman much. I've seen the movies and read a few comics and probably had the odd figure. But I never cared for them as much as spiderman,iron man, and my more recent love affair... Deadpool. I like overall costume designs better for Marvel, and the artwork is more memorable/ iconic to me. Now having said that, if given the $$ and resources I wouldn't turn down a batmobile. I do find that a lot of DC characters can be delt with only 1 way which limits the range of storytelling. Ie superman is invincible, unless you throw a green rock at him called kryptonite. Batman should of died with a straight bullet to the temple by now. Green Lantern is nothing without the ring, or there's a differnet ring that challenges them and they must either destroy,steal or take the ring from them. Which is kind of like Iron man, without the suit and it's Just Tony Stark. Where as Thor is a God, and that tyes into mythological stories that go farther back then Marvel does, same Hercules, Loki, Odin, etc.

I respectfully agree and disagree on a few points. I think DC has far more heroes who you can look up to than Marvel. Marvel has kind of gone the gray area with a lot of their heroes. Not a lot of wrestling fans here, but I still say that it relates a lot to pro wrestling. Marvel has a lot of Stonecold Steve Austins. Wolverine is a cigar puffing fowl mouthed cold blooded murderer. Tony Stark, a womanizing playboy who does what he does because he "feels like it" are at the forefront of Marvel's flagship heroes. Tony Stark and Deadpool are terrible role models. More DC heroes definitely take home the Boyscout award. I think the whole reason people feel like they can relate to Marvel heroes than DC heroes is because they're more flawed. They lie, they steal, they cheat on their husbands and wives, they do drugs, they smoke, they're alcoholics. Not to say that DC heroes don't have their share of flaws, but Marvel humanizes their heroes by giving them bad habits and loose morals a LOT more liberally than DC did pre-New 52. New 52 feels like the Marvel writers got a hold of the DC storyboards and this is all just a very bad joke.

Also don't really agree with you on the part about DC heroes only being dealt with in a single way. Marvel has a plethora of heroes with no superpowers who haven't had their lives ended by a bullet to the head. In fact, even most of the heroes who HAVE powers aren't bulletproof nor do they wear bulletproof clothing yet never take a bullet to the head. Maxwell Lord shot Blue Beetle in the head with a gun so obviously it does happen from time to time. Superman has been shown to possess more than one weakness, Kryptonite is just the one most advertised in the media. It's possible to beat him to near death, Doomsday saw to that. He's also shown weakness to magic. Also, his near invulnerability in itself has been shown to be a flaw in that he is often overconfident. In DC Universe Online, in an alternate timeline, Lex Luthor and a number of popular villains finally kill every member of the Justice League including Superman. Point is, it's a comic book, you're meant to suspend disbelief that Batman would still be alive. Why would they kill their flagship character with a bullet to the head? If you're going to play that card, you should give the exact same standard when dealing with Marvel.

Also, I think few things are more iconic than the S shield on Superman's chest and the Bat Signal. Am I right?? I may put Wolverine's claws and the classic Spidey suit near the bottom of a top ten list but Iron Man's arc reactor wouldn't even break the top 20.

I like both DC and Marvel, but I lean toward DC because the characters are more iconic and the stories (at least the good ones) keep me engaged. Has anyone tried to sit down and watch the X-Men animated series lately? Its full of pop culture references, and I think that says a lot about Marvel in general. They rely heavily on gimmicks, and that is a deal breaker for me now that I'm an adult. Things tend to blur together or leave out details with a lot of the Marvel comics I've read in the past, and that lack of consistency is always frustrating. DC is guilty of that too, but not to the extent that Marvel has been for me. I will say that I am pretty picky as to what comics I read these days, so I mostly stick to major story lines in regard to DC (Batman - Hush, Long Halloween, Battle for the Cowl) and GL (Agent Orange, Blackest Night) so I have not been exposed to the poor quality of the new 52 yet. Then again, this stuff is all fiction, so I take it with a grain of salt.

*watches X-Men cartoon again*

Wow great thread. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to post and people to quote when i get back to my laptop and am not limited to the functions of a smart phone, but for now I'll keep it simple.

If I were to just compare the big name brands of the DC and Marvel Universe one theme is abundantly clear to me:

DC: these are real superheros that the world (speaking in Comic reality terms) knows and loves. They are accepted as Earth's saviors and protectors for the most part over the years. Sure there have been exceptions where I'm sure public opinion was swayed but you'll be hard pressed to find a hero(s) in the Marvel Universe that can lay an unrivaled claim to an entire city as their sole protector the way Superman, Batman and Green Lantern do with Metropolis, Gotham City and Coast City, respectively. ICONS, indeed.

Marvel: misfits and outcasts with powers struggling to find their place in the world and put their abilities to good use. Marvel is about trying to stay as close to current events in not just pop culture but changes in society in general. People are skeptics by nature and as such no one ever really trusts these guys even if they wear (or in some cases especially if they wear) the American Flag as their costume. Mutants that are seen as abominations, Gods that no one believes in, monsters that destroy more than they protect, kids who should be in school, aliens who shouldn't even be here, substance abusers and the list goes on. These are themes that really resonate with the general public I think in that people tend to be more attracted to those with flaws they can relate to that bring a superhero down. When's the last time, in the interest of making a point about the general public (as I'm well aware DC has had far more engaging ways for their heroes to fall from grace over the years), that any of us were worried we might come in contact with Kryptonite or be limited by the color of fear? Symbolic as those are for actual human issues they aren't as straight forward and gripping as the all too familiar demons of Racism or alcoholism, to name a few that Marvel has exploited in their universe over the decades.

Marvel: Marvel for me cause I'm a bit bias and do agree what others say about how Marvel is more streamlined with current events and so forth and yes there heroes you can relate to more so than DC because of the human issues that they deal with.
I think 90's Marvel was great when you had all the great artists like Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri doing the art work but now it's ironic that they all either went on their own or to DC, but some have come back to Marvel as well.

DC: DC is good though when it comes to their animated features, def. give them props for that. But I think I would only read DC if I've read every Marvel comic out there. I'm sure there stories are great, but seemed to easy for them to pull out a villain or hero out of thin air with no back story behind it. Although the Batman franchise is great and I actually would read it without a doubt.

I agree with you on everything except that last bit. I think that's more of a case that you haven't heard of the villain or didn't read enough of the DC comics to get the origin than that they weren't provided an origin. A large portion of the villain characters appeared abruptly during the Golden Age of comics but have since mostly received origins in future issues.

Back as a kid, I was all Marvel [and didn't even know it]. However I did like Batman the most, I liked and enjoyed Marvel 100 times more. Toys, trading cards, TV shows, ect. Now though, DC is MILES a head with the New 52 reboot. But with Toys and stuff Marvel wins.



So I call a Draw.

So true actually, I'm only familiar with the main stream villains like Lex Luthor, Bane and the other Batman Villains.

Could you clarify what exactly you mean by Miles ahead with New 52? While there are some great reads out of the first arcs of several books there was also a ton of crap too. Not to mention that some of their most stellar books in New 52 lack severe mainstream appeal for majority readers and have impacted the sales of those books; Swamp Thing, Animal Man and I Vampire come to mind.

To me i think that
Marvel is possibly my most favorite this is the fact that i feel that DC has ran out ideas and isnt getting that much better okay i admit i enjoy the justice league , superman , batman and young justice. A great example of dc running out of ideas is superman doomsday okay the film was good although to me seemed like a cheap way of having a cross over with hulk Vs Superman. Having a Grey Hulk with Spikes on him ... which seems pretty lazy in my opioion and i think we all can argee that us lot could of came up with a better character than doomsday. The only good thing pretty much keeping dc alive in popularity (non comics) is well Batman possibly the best hero ever lived due to epic films like BB , TDK and TDR (( The Dark-knight Rises)coming soon). So its seems they are focued on 1 character wes new superman film is coming etc. Although i think Dc with popularity has kind of fallen marvel films seem to achieve alot i.e Ironman, The incredible Hullk , Ironman 2 (not the best + slightly not needed) Thor , and Captain america the first avenger ! Then we see The Avengers movie which i can see everyone here going see (perhaps) Movie wise all i can see is batman whispering and no new dc films coming out at all this year apart from TDR , So all i can say is what happening DC ?? okay Bob kane had a head start with batman being the first dc film ( i think) and According to stanlee in behind the scenes of spiderman 1 he say he wishes that bob was still with us so he could see that hes got spidey which had shot up the marvel universe with loads of different characters. Apart from animated movies all DC gives us is Superman and Batman mainly and keeping it fair by not mentioning lazy or any bad films. I prefer both although i do think DC can scale up with marvel and try and produce better films like they have done with batman, as much as im a big fan of batman im getting kinda bored with him although i will still see TDR.

As far as the bullet thing, I'm making reference to vigilanties. As with comicbooks there's 3 kinds of hero's. There's the mutant kind born with super powers. There's the accident type where some explosion or walk down the wrong street ends up with super powers ex DD/PP. Then there's the vigilanty who has no power, but has resources and wants justice to be made where the police fall short. Punisher,blade, Batman all fit into this category. I'm just saying where as Blade and Punisher carry guns, bulletproof vests, they risk their lives and get shot. Where as batman has a rubber suit and batarangs, he's more liable to be dead from a gun shot then the other 2. I will say the s on superman's chest and bat signal are iconic, I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But batman/superman are the exceptions for me, as I grew up watching the cartoons, superman movies and batman tv show with Adam West. I would argue though that Captain america, spiderman, and IronMan aren't as iconic or near the same level, especially if you poll today's generation of readers. When I think Marvel I think, avengers, xmen and spiderman, when I think DC it's batman and superman.

Great read, guys! Lots of great points! Too many for me to respond to, without making a an essay!
Lots of great responces, and wonderful seeing all these differetn takes and opinions! Many angles I never even thought of, too!

ICONS and UNDERDOGS.

To be fair, Batman's suit (Modern/currently) is pretty high tech. Even when it seems like it's cloth (Like The Animated Series), it's shown to have lots of gadgets and stuff installed in it to deal with a lot of situations.
Currently it's said to be composed of something simular to kevlar.
Also, your argument could be turned around to a lot of Marvel's non-powered vigilantes (And even a few of their powered ones, like Spiderman, who is usually portrayed as relying a lot more on luck than Batman).
I agree with Chris. When you start with either 'verse, there's a suspension of disbelief about such things that applies to both.

And in terms of iconography... this is not to say anything bad about Marvel, just how far DC is ahead of them. The only thing Marvel has that stands remotely close to Batman and Superman, in terms of iconic, is Spiderman. (Maaaaybe Hulk coming in a fairly distant second to Spidey.) Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and Wonderwoman (in that order) I dare say are the most iconic superheroes in the world, in history.
For all the rest, I agree that Marvel characters are more recognizable than DC characters, currently. But I also think a lot of that is due to media exposure overload. Marvel has been working their ass off over the last 15 years to market each individual character, and it's paid off bigtime.
Don't forget, in the early to mid ninties, Thor, Ironman, and Captain America were considered Marvel's C-List when it came to the public. Obscure x-force villains not only were more likely to get toys before those three, they did.
What's really hurt DC in that reguards, is Warner Bros. just will *not* put any faith into any one of their characters unless they're Batman or Superman. Flash, Green Arrow, Teen Titans, Wonder Woman could be superstars, if WB put the effort into them that Marvel has Cap, Thor, Ironman, and Spiderman.

^ They tried to do a live action Wonder Woman tv show recently, but I think it got scraped.

They did, and it did. Most due to poor reaction to the costume, combined with the execs not having any confidence in the character.
Green Arrow was also supossed to spin off of Smallville. He was introduced for that purpose, and they did a lot of set up for it, and was greenlit. But just before they went into production, the cancelled it for no announced reason. (Probably due to lack of confidence in the character)
And that's what happens to most of their characters. Flash, and Wonder Woman have gotten greenlit for major films multiple times, only to get the plug pulled on them.
Other, smaller characters occasionally get the go ahead, and get pulled before work even really starts (I think there was supossed to be a Specter TV series here awhile back. Never heard anything about that since the innitial rumors.)
Warner Brothers to me seems to be DC's biggest ally, and worst enemy.

Blade is half vampire actually, made of sterner stuff :P
WB needs to have some faith...

erm just to save space and hassle i think we should put "@" infront of someones name for example
"@Warmachine6" blah blah.... etc just to shorten things a bit up to you guys :)

Check again on Green Arrow, they released initial publicity photos last month.
Aside from smallville when was the last successful tv hero series? Flash? Would the tick be a success?

I favor marvel because of the way they humanize the characters. I couldnt get into the new DC simply because of financial reasons.

Yeah, there is the new "Arrow" series (They knocked off the "Green" part. Probably to avoid confusion with Green Lantern, and Green Hornet). But it has absolutely nothing to do with the smallville spinoff.
And WB has cancelled so many projects after promotion and publicity stills and all of that, that I refuse to believe anything will happen until it actually airs, or shows up in the theater.

As for your question, I think the last successful one was Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
There've been a lot in the meantime, none really successful, and all having varying degrees of what one may call "good." The Cape, The Tick, No Ordinary Family, Niteman (Or something... some Malibu guy), Birds of Prey, and a few others.
(I personally feel "No Ordinary Family" go shafted very badly by ABC)