Marvel vs DC

Currently Reading: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Alright, you've probably guessed by now that I'm more of a Marvel kind of guy. That's putting it kindly really. I really just don't like DC and the way their heroes are made.

For those of you who don't know, DC is the comics house with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, that group. Marvel is Spiderman, Captain America, The Fantastic Four, X-Men and so on.

You've probably noticed there have been quite a few Marvel hero movies lately. I'm not sure where the trend really started but it was either with X-Men or Spiderman. That's where the gates opened and gave us The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra and several movies in the work, most notably Iron Man and Captain America. I'll admit there were some pretty bad movies in there but in all fairness, the two REALLY bad ones you can blame on Benifer. In what universe is Ben Aflek a good choice to play a blind, Irish lawyer? And since when does Jennifer Garner look even remotely Asian? Besides, Daredevil and Elektra weren't the strongest of characters to base movies on.

The real problem with the DC characters is that they lack depth. No fair counting the Dark Horse Comics which while technically are part of DC, have NOTHING to do with DC. Those come from smaller, independant houses. So just stick with the big ones. Like the front-man, Superman. Until recently, no one really went into his back story. He's always just been super strong, bullet proof, flying, eye lasers Superman. Crashlanded here as a baby, raised on a farm, really bad at trying to maintain an alter ego.

I remember reading a review or two of the latest Superman movie that really nailed down the problem with the big S. He's only got one weakness. Now, knowing that, when he confronts a bad guy, Lex Luthor especially, don't you think said bad guy is going to have a little bit of that one weakness on hand? I mean, what's the point of going up against Superman if you don't have a little Kryptonite on hand? That being said, why doesn't Superman ever seem to take this into account? It's like he's got a super blind spot for the stuff and becomes super stupid. But it HAS to be that way because you can't create any dramatic tension if your hero is invulnerable.

Then there's Aquaman. Really, he's a SERIOUSLY watered down version of the Sub Mariner. But where Prince Namor is flawed, sometimes psychotic and switches from good to bad depending on the story, Aquaman just talks to fish. Was he born underwater? Was he hatched? Does he have parents? Did the spawn? What's the deal? Does he have any real super powers other than talking to fish and can the fish just tune him out and not listen?

Wonder Woman. Big amazon chick with a lasso and a glass plane. Want to take her out? Simple. Sniper. Seriously, she's really just a juiced up human right? Got those bulletproof bracelets, sure so don't attack her from the front. Attack long range, sniper. Get someone to distract her and then just take her out, no sweat. And don't you think an invisible jet might be just a little dangerous? How do you know how big the damn thing is? And how does she know where the controls are anyway? Or is it visible to only her? How has she managed to avoid hitting other planes all these years? Or birds? Hell birds would be smacking into the damn thing all the time I'd think.

Green Lantern is in a state of flux. Used to just be one white guy with a ring. Let's him do stuff with green lasers and various power beams. So how did you beat him? Wear red and steal his ring. And it kept happening too. People were always trying to steal his ring and like a big idiot, he'd actually take the damn thing OFF! Now, he's not just Green Lantern, it's the Green Lantern Corps! He's also had a race change. He's black now because DC didn't have any black super heroes and Marvel already had at least 2.

One big problem with the whole DC lack of character bit is that they all get along. How annoying is that? You see them on Justice League and they're just a bunch of happy campers trapped with some dorky teens and a freaky monkey. Take the flip-side of JLA over to Marvel, The Avengers. That team is made up of Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Ant Man and Wasp. People come and go but that's the core of the group. They fight ALL the time. Same is true of the Fantastic Four. Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm spend half the comic fighting. That's normal. That's what happens when people with different personalities are forced to work together. Yeah, they get the job done but they argue about how to do it.

Capes. Capes is a big issue here. Get a copy of The Incredibles and watch as Edna explains why supers shouldn't have capes. Now look at our heroes. DC, capes. Marvel? No capes. That's mostly true, but there are exceptions. DC guys are more likely to have capes. Marvel, less likely and when Marvel guys DO have capes, they're usually the bad guys (Dr. Doom, Magneto). Some of them have half capes, which makes it easier to see when they're flying, but doesn't get in the way when they fight.

So, take all this into account and you've pretty much got the reasons why Marvel movies do better, on average, than DC. Marvel heroes are quite often reluctant heroes and are just as likely to be bad guys from time to time. In fact, quite a few of them started out as bad guys and switched sides. And there are plenty of cases where good guys went bad. Namor, the Sub Mariner, was a good guy in Captain America back in WWII. He got all jaded though and became a bad guy, fighting against the Fantastic Four. A lot of the others go bad for one specific mission because they don't agree with it. You don't see that in DC.

I mention all of this now because DC is starting to push movies. Last year they brought back Batman. This year Superman. Next year they'll probably have the Wonder Woman movie finished. That one will be interesting because it's being written by the guy who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He's a comics guy and actually writes an X-men series for Marvel. I'm sure he'll fill in quite a few of those blanks in Wonder Woman's background.

I think I'll read some more comics after I finish The Exorcist. Comics are perfect for summer reading.

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