Marvel vs. DC

Some of you may be wondering what the words "Marvel" and "DC" mean. Well, today is the day to become educated! These are the two major comic producers that create pretty much every comic people have come to know and love. For the following post, I am going to be completely and totally unbiased (Marvel is better) without a hint of preference to either one (Marvel totally beats DC) since this is merely for instructional purposes (Marvel wins. Always). First up is a little bit of background.

Notable DC characters: Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and anyone ever associated with The Justice League.

Notable Marvel Characters: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Nick Fury, The Hulk, X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and anyone else associated with the Avengers, Hydra, A.I.M., or S.H.I.E.L.D.

Notable Movies Associated with DC (1989-2012): 7 Batman movies, 1 Superman, 1 Catwoman, and 1 Green Lantern. Total: 10

Notable Movies Associated with Marvel (1989-2012): 5 X-Men related movies, 4 Spider-Man Movies, 3 Fantastic Four movies, 2 Hulk Movies, 2 Iron Man movies, Thor, Captain America, and the best one of them all: The Avengers. Total: 18 And these are just the movies that contain the notable characters I've listed above.

As you can see, Marvel has a lot more variety than DC does. The entire X-Men comics alone have enough characters to pretty much be their own universe. Also, Marvel's movies are pretty good overall, especially the most recent ones featuring the Avengers team. (Those ones are just fantastic.)

I'm a huge fan of Marvel because of how imperfect their characters are and how relatable their struggles are to us "normal" folk. The best example is Spider-Man.  He gets bitten by a radioactive spider, and then goes out and does what pretty much any teenager does when they have something cool: He shows off. He doesn't instantly become imbedded with a moral compass. No, he wants to make his problems stop at school, he wants to be cool to the girl he's been crushing on, and (in the new version) he wants to help find out about what happened to his parents. It's not until his Uncle Ben talks to him and begins planting the seed that people with power have responsibility that Spider-Man begins to realize that his powers are more than for showing off. Even after his superhero realization, he still has every day problems. Just because he's now Spider-Man doesn't mean his real world problems will go away. He still has to pay for rent, go to school, help his widowed Aunt May, and figure out how to become less awkward around women. His first love dies in a tragic accident, and the villains find ways to defeat him on a regular basis. Peter Parker's world is not an easy one, and I love the fact that just because he's a super hero doesn't mean that the rest of his problems disappear.

Many Marvel character have issues similar to Spider-Man's They have to struggle with how they plan on going about being super heroes. Wolverine has to deal with isolation issues. Iron Man and Thor have to learn how to stop being arrogant brats and become heroes. Hulk just has huge anger management problems, and even Captain America initially struggles with becoming a hero instead of a dancing monkey. (He actually gets that joke.)

DC doesn't have the same well rounded characters. The only one who even comes close is Batman, and that's pretty much only in Christopher Nolan's most recent "Dark Knight" trilogy. DC heroes' only problems are the ones that they have facing villains. (Although why Lex Luthor is ever much of problem to Superman is beyond me. Puny mortal.) There is not as much struggle, and the good guy always wins. The reason why Christopher Nolan's Batman has been such a huge success is because it breaks the DC stereotype and goes nowhere that a DC character has gone before: The hero has issues. Huge, giant issues like the entire city hating him and the love of his life dying. No longer does a DC hero live in a candy-coated world where he can fix all of his problems.

Am I being a little harsh on DC? Probably. However, the following highlights from this article prove my point about DC films: "Because Reeve's Superman doesn't wonder who he is or why he is, the citizens of Metropolis...don't wonder, either." Superman is also described as a "confident, unburdened hero". Maybe that worked back in the late seventies when Superman: The Movie was released (which is the best Superman according to the article), but it does not work now. Hopefully the new Superman movie (Man of Steel) will put some good background info on the "unburdened" hero showing how he too can have disfunctions, instead of just assuming that he's perfect.

Now just because I don't like DC as much as Marvel doesn't mean I won't watch their movies or cartoon shows because let's face it: They're still superheroes, and I'm all about loving superheroes. I'm not as totally excited to see them though as I would a Marvel superhero movie. I haven't even seen Green Lantern yet since I've heard it was mas o menos (so-so in Espanol). Dark Knight Rises is a definite must-see, and maybe Man of Steel will be worth watching. Maybe.

Marvel is the best. And if you don't believe me, then do your own Wikipedia research, and watch their movies and if you're a big enough fan, delve into some of the better cartoon shows. Personally, I haven't heard one bad word for Avengers, but that's probably because there isn't one. And in the end, if it turns out that you're a DC fan, it's ok. I'll forgive you.