DC vs. Marvel: Which is the Best Comic Empire? By Clayton Pickard
In my opinion, DC clearly wins the DC vs. Marvel debate. DC has more relate-able, plausible, believable superheroes. It also has more cache. It is truly the darling of hip, nerdy, collector types. DC is also the underdog of the two companies, which makes me like it even more. They make less money than Marvel, put out fewer films and their properties, except for Batman and Superman, are less ubiquitous. However, DC is less PC! Marvel is the more “equal opportunity” comic empire. They use more women and people of color as character.
DC was founded in 1934 by Malcolm Wheeler Nicholson and is now a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc. DC includes the superheroes Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and much more. DC focuses a lot on TV where they now make a substantial portion of their money. They have four amazing TV shows out right know: Green Arrow, The Flash, Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Each of these series includes a substantial back-story of the characters and how they got their powers. I am currently watching two of the four shows, Arrow and Flash. I am addicted to both of these shows and can’t wait for each new episode. I get so deep into these shows that I feel as if I am one of the characters. Based on my friends’ opinions, Jessica Jones and Daredevil are also amazing.
Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman. It was taken over by Stan Lee in 1961. He is now 93 years old and marginally involved in the company. (He does appear in a cameo in each film, which you have to look carefully to find). Disney bought Marvel in 2009 and has
been mining the properties on the big screen ever since. Marvel properties include The Avengers (Iron man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow), Spiderman, Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy and The X-men.
Now that DC and Marvel are both owned by huge media conglomerates, lots of effort has been put into bringing their characters to the big screen. In 2016, Marvel has Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War and X-men Apocalypse coming out. In late 2015, they released Avengers Age of Ultron. DC is releasing Batman vs. Superman and The Suicide Squad this year. They released DC Legends of Tomorrow late last year. I just saw Deadpool last week and it was amazing! It was action-packed and very humorous. And, I am really stoked to see Captain America: Civil War and The Suicide Squad this summer.
Although I think DC is the better comic empire, you can tell I am still a big Marvel fan. I think we are really lucky that we have two major comic companies bringing us terrific, filmed entertainment. In both the movies and TV, it seems as if there is a comic culture renaissance happening right now.
