Comparison between Marvel and DC

Which comic book series is better, Marvel or DC? The argument has been around since the creation of each and has lasted as long as about 78 years. Each comic has its ups and downs; some more up, or more down. But recently, one comic series has rose above the other tremendously, leaving the other to try to army crawl through all of the terrible mistakes it has made over the past ten years.

Most people in today’s culture prefer Marvel comics over DC, regardless of their knowledge on the history or of any characters. In my journalism class, 84 percent chose Marvel over DC, which is quite lopsided. The reason that this is the case is because Marvel does a better job of promoting its brand through movies, TV shows, and clothing brands.

Heroes like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Daredevil, Deadpool, Black Panther, Ant-Man, and Doctor Strange are the most recognized amongst society today. Children have Spider-Man themed birthday parties, Iron Man lunchboxes, and Captain America backpacks. I myself rock a Deadpool lanyard for my car keys. It’s hard not to when it looks so cool and the merchandise is everywhere.

Marvel has a large variety of well known characters, but let’s not forget about DC’s long list of most recognized characters such as Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. Even with all of these great names, Marvel still prevails because it promotes its brand better. Everyone knows what the Marvel logo looks like—it’s Marvel in white letters with a red background. However, if you were to ask the person next to you what the DC comics logo looks like, they might know nothing about it except that it says DC.

The most significant way the Marvel promotes itself is through movies and television. Over the past nine years, Marvel has created two to three movies for each of the Avengers characters. Each of the characters have established well-known personalities that the audience can easily follow. Marvel has already planned six more movies to come after the most recent release in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (which was amazing by the way). Also don’t forget about the hit Netflix tv shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage. All of these series are fantastic, and I highly recommend them.

DC comics has shot itself in the foot in its movies. The company had a good resource in the “Dark Knight” movie series, but ruined it by replacing Christian Bale with Ben Affleck, a huge and unnecessary mistake. Now it’s got the new Justice League movie coming out and by having to introduce all of these new characters, the whole thing seems so rushed.

Suicide Squad was good, but also felt rushed because DC had to squeeze all of this important information about these characters in one movie, whereas Marvel did it over nine years. There wasn’t enough worth and attachment to the characters like there is in the Marvel cinematic universe.

Ultimately, you have to agree that Marvel is the far better franchise, at least until we get the chance to see how these upcoming DC movies turn out.