DC vs Marvel: Compare And Contrast

[donk70]

Right now is a great time to be a comic book fan and a movie fan. Special effects technology has finally been able to catch up with what the comic writers and artists have been creating for the last 70 years. DC has had a ultra succesful reboot with it's Batman franchise, awakened the dormant Superman franchise, and is currently filming the movie adaption to perhaps one of the most important comics in the last 40 years, if not the last 70. Meanwhile Marvel has taken one of it's flagship characters and created a very popular franchise with Spider-Man, brought the popular X-Men to life and is currently enjoying a grand box office opening weekend with Iron Man with the hopes of the same for The Incredible Hulk in a few weeks. So with this in mind, who's leading the pack? Who's doing the better job at bringing their properties to the silver screen.

Personally, I'd rather read a DC book over a Marvel book anyday, but I gotta say that Marvel is beating DC 10 fold in the movie department. SM, IM, FF and Blade are really great movies, IMO. Plus they stay alot truer to the characters than what DC is doing with Superman and Batman. I am looking forward to The Watchmen though.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Marvel are winning by sheer numbers, but looking at quality, Batman Begins and Superman Returns are superior to any of the Marvel movies.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I couldn't disagree more, especially since i hated Superman Returns more than any comic book movie ever.

 

[skorponok]

I think that Marvel was losing its stride for awhile, but hopefully Iron Man has put them back on track.

I'd personally like to see more Vertigo-based films come from DC/WB...

 

[cerealkiller182]

I think both have incredible potential to put out some great flicks. But i think their most interesting projects could be the characters that are lessor known who can be in plots that arnt a rehash of "city protector" type stories (Supermax being an example that breaks the mold). But none of them want to invest in them and most readers are pushing too hard for the most well-known characters to make it to the big screen.

 

[WarBlade]

Right now is a great time to be a comic book fan and a movie fan. Special effects technology has finally been able to catch up with what the comic writers and artists have been creating for the last 70 years. DC has had a ultra succesful reboot with it's Batman franchise, awakened the dormant Superman franchise, and is currently filming the movie adaption to perhaps one of the most important comics in the last 40 years, if not the last 70. Meanwhile Marvel has taken one of it's flagship characters and created a very popular franchise with Spider-Man, brought the popular X-Men to life and is currently enjoying a grand box office opening weekend with Iron Man with the hopes of the same for The Incredible Hulk in a few weeks. So with this in mind, who's leading the pack? Who's doing the better job at bringing their properties to the silver screen.

Personally, I'd rather read a DC book over a Marvel book anyday, but I gotta say that Marvel is beating DC 10 fold in the movie department. SM, IM, FF and Blade are really great movies, IMO. Plus they stay alot truer to the characters than what DC is doing with Superman and Batman. I am looking forward to The Watchmen though.

Nitpick: While it's true that Marvel are behind Iron Man it looks like you're mis-crediting them for all the successes of Sony, 20th Century Fox and Universal. Similarly, you've skipped any mention of Warner Brothers.

 

[Dr. Fate]

I couldn't disagree more, especially since i hated Superman Returns more than any comic book movie ever.

I'd have to agree with you there Chris. Iron Man blows Superman Returns so far out of the water that it's not even funny.

 

[bullets]

marvel is ahead at this point but dc still has two of the strongest characters ( batman and superman) so they will always remain in the game. i dont think dc is worried

 

[Chris Wallace]

While I hate to think of it as a competition, I'd take even the least enjoyable Marvel movie (Elektra) over most of DC's films.
But Marvel has the advantage of being able to shop its properties around, whereas DC is owned by a studio that only seems to have faith in two characters & feels it can do whatever it feels like with the rest. (See Steel & Catwoman.) Whatever you may think about Daredevil or FF, at least we're not just getting bombarded with an endless stream of claws & webs, which I'm sure would be the case if WB was calling the shots.

 

[The Major]

I'd personally like to see more Vertigo-based films come from DC/WB...

They should have them in other mediums, too.

Transmet and Fables could work as mature animated series like Spawn and 100 Bullets could be a great no holds barred live action tv show on HBO.

They could do animated films with some of them. Like Sandman.

 

[The Major]

marvel is ahead at this point but dc still has two of the strongest characters ( batman and superman) so they will always remain in the game. i dont think dc is worried

That's their biggest advantage and their biggest weakness.

DC/WB may have two major super-hero franchises but what's to stop Marvel from getting another Spider-man level franchise from their comic division. Or two or three or four etc. One of them could even become Harry Potter level popular. Only unlike HP they don't need to stop at 8 films.

The sky's the limit with their comic franchises just like DC's. But Marvel has the most incentive to do something about it.

 

[Joker]

Marvel seemed to be getting into a rut, but with the founding of Marvel studios, and them actually having some control over it, if Iron Man is any indication, they're back and better than ever.

DC will never get to the point Marvel are at due to one factor. The WB. They're a bunch of corporate suits who only look at the bottom line, not anything artistic. That's why we almost had that JLA train wreck.

 

[Raiden]

Marvel are winning by sheer numbers, but looking at quality, Batman Begins and Superman Returns are superior to any of the Marvel movies.

Superman Returns is a mediocre movie, but BB is stellar. However, I prefer IM, SM2, and X2 over BB.