Yeah, DC has the icons that have been used as models for almost every superhero that exists. Unfortunately Superman isn't as liked nowadays, even i took some to to begin to like him.
As for Marvel i think that continuity is a little simpler than DC, because with Marvel we know that every story from it's very begining in 1939 is canon and part of the Marvel Universe, even if they now say that some events in the past didn't happen during the cold war for example. With DC it's more difficult to know what canon because they reboot every 25 years, but keep some of the old continuity and stories so as not to alienate old readers.
Marvel also has an allways growing number of alternative universes, and they allways give them a number, for example the main Marvel Universe is known as Earth-616, tey even consider the movies and tv shows alternative universes and name them as Earth-(insert number here) each. One of the most popular alternate imprints that are set in a different universe is the Ultimate Marvel line which began in 2000 with Ultimate Spider-Man where they reimagined characters and their origins to the 21st century as a way for new readers to come aboard without having to worry about more than 40 years of continuity.
To know more about the Ultimate Marvel Universe you can go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Marvel
Their reimagination of the Avengers was called The Ultimates and was even used as an inspiration in the Avengers movie, recently their version of Peter Parker died and after that they relaunced the entire line with Peter Parker being replaced by Miles Morales as the new spider-man, that is probably the new spider-man you were talking about
His comics are still in issue 12 or so but they have been very good and consistent in quality as the most recent Ultimate Marvel comics have been.
) I just want to be entertained. So, I don't much cater to the Marvel vs DC thing. Think it's rather ******ed to tell you the truth. 
