Is it just me, or do the DC Universe heroes seem like better people than the Marvel?

[BrianWilly]

Wow, it only took two pages to ruin this thread? Faster than I expected.

I was just talking about individual heroes,not the companies as a whole,get it straight boy.

So you pick out three "individual heroes" from Marvel and one "individual hero" from DC? Please. The bias isn't just obvious, it's also jumping up and down and screaming for attention.

 

[Aristotle]

You need to relax and stop taking your username so seriously you pretentious prick.

Of course, it's pretentious to have morals and ethics these days. Pretentious. Heh. Hadn't heard that one yet. Suppose I should be surprised that it took this long for them to decide that morality is pretentious.

 

[GNR]

Wow, it only took two pages to ruin this thread? Faster than I expected.
So you pick out three "individual heroes" from Marvel and one "individual hero" from DC? Please. The bias isn't just obvious, it's also jumping up and down and screaming for attention.

How is that screaming for attention?

I mentioned how I'd rather have guys like Wolvie and Punisher running around killing bad guys rather than Supes just throwing them in jail.Guys like Flash,GL,and Aquaman would all do the same thing.But I'm sure there are some characters in the DCU who would do the same thing as Wolvie and Pun.

I'm not saying I'm pro Marvel,I'm pro heroes who kill the bad guys and do nasty things to them,whether they come from either side of the fence.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

So you're pro-anti-heroes, basically.

 

[Sandman138]

That's always been the problem. Mythologies are not meant to bring the mythical characters down to our level; they are meant to raise us up to theirs. If the people who represent our popular morality have begun killing because it's more "realistic," what must this say about the very "real world" we're trying to force them into? Shouldn't we be trying to make our world into theirs, and not the other way around?

Which is why Zeus didn't rape any poor woman he felt like, Narcissus was a selfless lover, Hera loved Hephaestus despite his physical appearance, Heracles didn't viciously kill his mentor just because, Odin wasn't a con artist, Susano'o no Mikoto didn't kill a female attendant to his sister because he thought it was funny to do so, and Arjuna didn't kill his own family members at the behest of Krishna*... oh wait.

*Yeah, that one is pushing it, I know. Whatever, point still stands.

 

[Kenda Man]

But I'm sure there are some characters in the DCU who would do the same thing as Wolvie and Pun.

I view killing villains as the easy way out. Do I think the majority of villains should be killed for their heinous crimes? Of course, but how many Batman comics would be around if the Joker was killed after his 3rd appearance or if the same were to happen to Captain America's villain, the Red Skull?

And DC has its share of anti-heroes that take no bologna from anyone. Vigilante is somewhat similar to the Punisher, and another anti-hero who caused War World III in the DC universe, Black "Mother Trucking" Adam. The man is ruthless, and extreme in his views, but I respect his twisted brand of justice. He liberated a country, Kahndaq, and became its ruler. Imagine someone with Superman level powers, but with extreme views of how justice should be served. He popped Psycho Pirate's eyes and masked through the back of his head. He killed numerous bad guys in 52 and he's taking care of business in his mini series Black Adam: The Dark Age.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Which is why Zeus didn't rape any poor woman he felt like, Narcissus was a selfless lover, Hera loved Hephaestus despite his physical appearance, Heracles didn't viciously kill his mentor just because, Odin wasn't a con artist, Susano'o no Mikoto didn't kill a female attendant to his sister because he thought it was funny to do so, and Arjuna didn't kill his own family members at the behest of Krishna*... oh wait.

*Yeah, that one is pushing it, I know. Whatever, point still stands.

I think Aristotle just chose the wrong word in that post. He said in another post that the mythological gods weren't very heroic.

 

[Aristotle]

Which is why Zeus didn't rape any poor woman he felt like, Narcissus was a selfless lover, Hera loved Hephaestus despite his physical appearance, Heracles didn't viciously kill his mentor just because, Odin wasn't a con artist, Susano'o no Mikoto didn't kill a female attendant to his sister because he thought it was funny to do so, and Arjuna didn't kill his own family members at the behest of Krishna*... oh wait.

*Yeah, that one is pushing it, I know. Whatever, point still stands.

I thought this argument might pop up. Those mythologies reflected the values of their culture and times. Those myths were not meant to represent human foibles. They were meant to represent icons.

 

[Aristotle]

I think Aristotle just chose the wrong word in that post. He said in another post that the mythological gods weren't very heroic.

I may or may not have chosen the right word, but I do simultaneously see those gods as both epic and iconic for their times and cultures, and profoundly unheroic for the time and culture that I live in.

 

[Aristotle]

another anti-hero who caused War World III in the DC universe, Black "Mother Trucking" Adam. The man is ruthless, and extreme in his views, but I respect his twisted brand of justice. He liberated a country, Kahndaq, and became its ruler. Imagine someone with Superman level powers, but with extreme views of how justice should be served. He popped Psycho Pirate's eyes and masked through the back of his head. He killed numerous bad guys in 52 and he's taking care of business in his mini series Black Adam: The Dark Age.

Black Adam is actually a great example of why the superpowered anti-hero model fails. He caused a WORLD WAR, for Chrissake. He contributed, like Antaeus before him, to the destabilization of the Middle East.

 

[Sandman138]

I think Aristotle just chose the wrong word in that post. He said in another post that the mythological gods weren't very heroic.

It goes beyond that though. The Greeks were adamant about humanizing their gods. Even in their art, they depict Athena taking off her sandals to enter the Parthenon (I believe this is the one where that bass relief is located, it's been a while so it may be another temple that I'm forgetting). Mythology is all about bringing heroes down to our level.

 

[Aristotle]

It goes beyond that though. The Greeks were adamant about humanizing their gods. Even in their art, they depict Athena taking off her sandals to enter the Parthenon (I believe this is the one where that bass relief is located, it's been a while so it may be another temple that I'm forgetting). Mythology is all about bringing heroes down to our level.

I suppose it's all in the interpretation, but that's not how I read the mythologies at all. To me, there was a constant and clear delineation between god and mortal.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It goes beyond that though. The Greeks were adamant about humanizing their gods. Even in their art, they depict Athena taking off her sandals to enter the Parthenon (I believe this is the one where that bass relief is located, it's been a while so it may be another temple that I'm forgetting). Mythology is all about bringing heroes down to our level.

Greco-Roman mythology may have been, but some of those others you listed weren't. Odin, for example, was a con artist, but the followers of that religion viewed him as positively cunning. Thor was a sociopathic animal who killed virtually anything he touched, but the vikings believed there was no greater glory than battle, so Thor was positive to them. Some mythology is about starting at the human level and magnifying things up to godhood, not the other way around.

 

[Aristotle]

I would argue that most mythology is that way, and the American mythology, which is unquestionably the superhero archetype, be it Paul Bunyan or Mr. Majestic, is no different.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Was no different, you mean.

 

[Aristotle]

Yes, was. Should. Could again be.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't know. I think there are too many GNRs in the world who'd scoff at truly heroic individuals.

 

[Stallion9979]

I have never been able to get into Marvel...I just don't find the stories interesting or the direction they take with their heroes...

What Marvel did to Spiderman I feel ruined the character...the whole Civil War was painfully boring...the Initiative is even worse...

But on the other hand I loved the direction DC was going in until they devolved back into the Silver Age...

I liked how they had the heroes questioning their actions...it showed humanity...it had great mysteries like Identity Crisis...now everything is back to being cherry and sunny and nothing makes sense...

I dunno...at this point you need wikipedia to know who is doing what or why....or who did what when....like all continuity went out the window...everything is getting so diluted and changes constantly made just for the sake of making changes...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The build-up to Infinite Crisis was easily my favorite overall period of DC's comics ever. It's a shame that they shot it all to bad place with Infinite Crisis and OYL.

 

[Harlekin]

Same here, although I liked Infinite Crisis itself too.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I liked most of the things that happened and the heroes' behavior as a community, but the core of it was basically just a reversal of Crisis on Infinite Earths with a far less compelling central villain.

 

[Aristotle]

Yeah, it was OYL that disappointed me. Especially after such a tight, solid continuity running into and through Infinite Crisis, and such dead-on storytelling. I feel they've mostly recovered from the OYL dropoff in terms of quality (a few missteps notwithstanding) but no one believes in them yet.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't think they've recovered at all. My favorite characters are a lot of the ones who've been consistently shat on post-OYL, though, so that probably explains it.

 

[BrianWilly]

I loved Infinite Crisis all the way through. Everyone always goes OH NOES TEH CONTINUITY AND MULTIVERSE and JOE CHILL OMZ WTF WAS THE POINT, but I guess I was too busy being distracted by the brilliant character arcs, rock solid writing, and epic storytelling not just on the part of Johns, but on the part of the DC staff as a conglomerate whole.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Superboy Prime constitutes a brilliant character arc for you?