Are Marvel characters more accesible than DC?

[Kenda Man]

I don't want to start a flame thread, but I was curious what everyone thought about the accessibility of Marvel characters and DC characters.

The reason I started thinking about it is because of my two friends that are hardcore Marvel fans. They read all of the stuff and have some knowledge of DC characters. I asked them if they read certain DC storylines and they usually said no or that they will read it up online, but for some reason, they don't want to invest anytime to check out what DC has to offer. It's completely up to them to read what they want, but I was curious as to why the majority of people may feel Marvel characters and storylines may be more accessible than DC characters.

I'm a DC fan, that use to be a Marvel fan. I had limited knowledge about DC, but that changed when I bought the 1st JSA trade by Geoff Johns. I was immediately hooked and found the characters to be different and interesting. I continued to read more DC books and thought they were great. I was surprised about the rich history of characters besides the big three. Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, JSA, Checkmate, Shadowpact, the Flashes, Captain Comet, The Legion of Superheroes, Captain Marvel, etc. are really interesting characters that may not be as well known as Superman. I know that Marvel has their share of diversified characters, but something about the unfamiliarity of DC intrigued me and 52 did an incredible job of showing off that DC can survive without having the big three in a big storyline and it really deepened the DC universe. The current writers have been doing a great justice to unknown characters as of late in terms of exposure. I'm not completely fond of the characters they have killed, but I'm glad to see unknown characters shine.

 

[shapeshifter]

i don't know if any character is really more accesible than another. most comic heroes are so far removed from the common person. honestly for me it comes down to which brand has people that i look up to more. For me that has to be DC. You can say that DC has to many god like heroes that don't reflect the average joe, but i could also argue that MArvel has to many whining mutants and antiheroes.

 

[Manic]

One thing that made me afraid to get into DC was that damned Crisis. Not to mention Zero Hour. Marvel's character retcons are more, for lack of a better word, subtle. I've never seen Marvel fans struggle quite as much as DC fans when it comes to fitting a story into continuity. To this day, I still don't know which characters founded the Justice League.

 

[Spidey]

I'd say they're more accesible in terms of the "everyman" aspect, so that makes most of them more like us, but I wouldn't necessarily say that makes DC's heroes any less relatable.

If you suffered a tragic childhood, then maybe you identify with Batman, doesn't mean your parents had to be shot and murdered in cold blood right in front of you. Superman may be very relatable to someone who never knew their parents or feels like an outsider.

 

[Spike_x1]

One thing that made me afraid to get into DC was that damned Crisis. Not to mention Zero Hour. Marvel's character retcons are more, for lack of a better word, subtle. I've never seen Marvel fans struggle quite as much as DC fans when it comes to fitting a story into continuity. To this day, I still don't know which characters founded the Justice League.

Yeah, that's definitely a big putoff for people I talk to.

 

[Speedball]

Yeah, that's definitely a big putoff for people I talk to.

Spike, your Avvy is AWESOME!
Which Transformer is that?

 

[Spike_x1]

Jazz.

 

[Spidey]

Someone needs to figure out what Jazz said when he jumped on top of Brawl and pulled his cannon's line of fire away from Sam. It's bugging the #$%& out of me.

 

[HR-PUFF&STUFF]

Marvel is Pepsi and DC is Coke.

 

[Spidey]

Marvel is Pepsi and DC is Coke.

I like that.

 

[Speedball]

Marvel is Pepsi and DC is Coke.

And I like Coca-Cola more.
You thought you would be funny and have me say "I like Coke", didn't you?

 

[HR-PUFF&STUFF]

And I like Coca-Cola more.
You thought you would be funny and have me say "I like Coke", didn't you?

maybe you should find a doctor because you are seeing things that aren't there.

 

[BubbaGump]

Marvel is Pepsi and DC is Coke.

I actually like Pepsi more (it's sweeter), but prefer DC.

 

[Red Mask]

It all depends on how the stories are conveyed. They can be silly, serious, or just plain entertaining.

 

[Odin's Lapdog]

marvel is merely trying to be hip at this moment, when dc really doesn't bother with being 'cool'

 

[CLARKY]

^Yeah , I agree.

i don't know if any character is really more accesible than another. most comic heroes are so far removed from the common person. honestly for me it comes down to which brand has people that i look up to more. For me that has to be DC. You can say that DC has to many god like heroes that don't reflect the average joe, but i could also argue that MArvel has to many whining mutants and antiheroes.

This is exactly what I think too.

 

[batnkevlar]

One thing that made me afraid to get into DC was that damned Crisis. Not to mention Zero Hour. Marvel's character retcons are more, for lack of a better word, subtle. I've never seen Marvel fans struggle quite as much as DC fans when it comes to fitting a story into continuity. To this day, I still don't know which characters founded the Justice League.

True, but in Marvel, you have things like people's babies gone missing, Gwen Stacy sleeping with Norman Osborn, things like that... I used to be more into Marvel, but now I'm almost all into DC... Marvel tries to shake up their foundations every month so things will never be the same, but it never gives people time to relax... I mean, when was the last time Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, the Wasp, and Hank Pym fought together? A longass time ago...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

marvel is merely trying to be hip at this moment, when dc really doesn't bother with being 'cool'

How do you figure? All I've seen lately at DC is writers trying to revert everything to the Silver Age, which they all grew up with and thought was "cool." Meanwhile, Marvel is actually doing the same thing DC did before Infinite Crisis--focusing on unifying the parts of its universe that are already popular, reintroducing other areas that had fallen by the wayside, and giving the whole package an overarching direction. But I'm sure the writers at Marvel think all of that is cool, too. My point is that both publishers are always trying to move toward what's "hip"--assuming by "hip" you mean what their audiences are into, anyway--because that tends to sell more comics, which is always the ultimate goal.

 

[Kenda Man]

Everyone has a valid point and are very true. It does come down to preference in the end.

I just feel from an outsiders perspective, someone that does not read comics and does everything else, they may recognize Marvel Characters a tad bit more if you exclude DC's trinity that is Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. In terms of Marvel recognition would be characters like Wolverine, Captain America, Hulk, and Spiderman. I know it doesn't matter what other people think, but not everyone knows DC characters like Catman, Deathstroke, Booster Gold, Captain Marvel,etc. It seems that everyone knows the core DC icons, though, and thats great.

 

[gildea]

At the moment both are pretty inpenetrable to new readers.

Aside from some fringe books (which one could argue the ultimate line is now).

I miss bill jemas some times.

 

[gildea]

True, but in Marvel, you have things like people's babies gone missing, Gwen Stacy sleeping with Norman Osborn

Identity crisis?

Nightwing the amazing man ****e?

etc etc

 

[TheCorpulent1]

At least Sue was raped in Identity Crisis. I imagine fandom would've been much angrier if she had decided she was bored of Ralph and thought Dr. Light just looked so vulnerable...

 

[Anubis]

At least Joker didn't knock Batgirl up.

 

[BubbaGump]

Marvel tries to shake up their foundations every month so things will never be the same, but it never gives people time to relax...

What about 52 and Countdown? They shook/shake DC's foundations every week!

 

[BubbaGump]

At least Joker didn't knock Batgirl up.

People are saying it was implied in The Killing Joke.