DC is better than Marvel: The darker opinion
Graphic created in Canva by The Cat's Eye staff
Isabella Moran believes that DC is best.
February 27, 2023
The DC vs. Marvel debacle has been going on for as long as the two have existed. In the past, the controversy was between the comics but currently, it’s been a debate of the cinematic universes. Though Marvel has some deeming qualities, such as their movies, DC is just overall better.
While watching or reading DC, ever noticed there are more iconic villains? Marvel hardly has any good villains that last more than two movies. Plus, their back stories are dainty and not incredibly in-depth. DC, on the other hand, has so many incredibly interesting villains that have rich backstories and easily make them more favorable.
“DC’s villains are a lot more realistic, edgier and violent. They give off more of a scarier vibe,” said senior Collin Amaya.
Numerous times, DC has explored conceptual and deep meaning within their characters. With Disney now owning Marvel, this means that there are stricter guidelines to abide by, excluding Deadpool. This leaves them will less room to play with deeper, scarier ideas. DC has explored darker themes including the backstory of Reverse-Flash, the Death of Superman, and Wonder Woman killing the Justice League. Of course there are many more, but these examples show that comic books and DC are not just for kids.
A very iconic character is The Batman, who laughs. In the “Dark Days: The Casting,” Batman kills Joker. This released a toxic gas turning Batman into the biggest nightmare Gotham could face. With his terrifying grin, he kills the majority of his allies and turns his son Damien Wayne into a mini-joker.
Marvel has a fantastic cinematic universe with beautiful storylines and characters, whereas in that area, DC is lacking. The last pretty popular movie DC came out with was “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson as Batman. Before that was a train wreck of other movies that had a lot of potential but sadly flopped. Where DC does exceed though is in its animated series.
For example, DC made a well known series called “Batman: The Animated Series.” This was produced by Warner Bros Animation. It’s a well made story following the main character batman, voiced by Kevin Conroy. It’s a four-time Emmy winner. It was followed up with a Justice League cartoon made in the early 2000s.
“DC definitely shows more emotion and you feel how the characters are feeling,” said Junior Nathan Carrasco.
Overall, DC is better than Marvel. With its more conceptual ideas, in depth storyline, characters, and iconic villains, DC wins by a landslide.
Carlos Lopez • Oct 19, 2023 at 11:20 am
I’m a fan of both, and there is no denying that Marvel has been more successful at representing their characters in different types of media outside of the comics realm. However, before the MCU, besides Marvel’s Spiderman (and Wolverine to an extent), DC had better and most popular characters. DC has the holy trinity of characters, meaning Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman; there is nothing remotely similar in Marvel. Sure everyone nowadays knows Iron Man, Thor, Dr. Strange, etc., but these characters were virtually unknown outside comic fans. Heck, Flash, with its limited exposure on TV and no movies, was way, way more popular pre-MCU than any Marvel character whose first name was not Peter. Now, popularity does not mean better. So why do I say DC is better? One concept: character development. Even with all the convoluted storylines and origins and retcons in comics, DC has managed to evolve their characters, from Batman having a kid and expanding the Bat-family, to Kid Flash becoming the main Flash and having a wife and kids, to Dick Grayson going from Batman’s sidekick to the leader of the Titans to Nightwing. Marvel on the contrary keeps their characters status quo. Even when a writer creates a magnificent comic run for one of their flagship characters, as soon as another writer takes over, they retcon everything that happened. I don’t necessarily agree 100% with the iconic villains argument since I think Marvel has some of my favorite villains like Dr. Doom, Magneto and Loki (I sometimes prefer Marvel villains that their actual superheroes), however there is not denying that the Joker is the most iconic villain of all time. Finally, DC has what I consider the best comic run of all time in Alan Moore’s The Saga of the Swamp Thing and Watchmen, as well as the Vertigo imprint which gave us Sandman, Hellblazer, Grant Morrison’s Animal Man and Doom Patrol. If the argument is movies/TV characterization, Marvel wins hands down, no contest. But if we are talking source material and comics, DC is definitely superior.
Bilal • Aug 29, 2023 at 3:09 am
DC is 100% better and that’s because the storylines feel more grounded and have a deeper meaning. Fine, maybe you can make the point that Superman is an alien being that possesses the power of a god, but he tries to “fit in”. Even though he possesses the power to take over the world he sees the good in it and wants to protect it. Clark Kent is his mask. He tries to live as “a human” even though he isn’t. Similarly with Batman, Bruce Wayne is the mask and Batman is who he really is. He doesn’t care about the riches. All he cares about is to rid his city and the world of the plague that took his parents’ lives. And let’s be honest here a lot of people these days who say that marvel is better than DC have only seen Marvel movies (like The Avengers, Iron man etc.). Not many of them have ever even picked up a comic book.
Mary • Feb 23, 2024 at 7:19 am
I have to disagree with you Bilal, I’m only 14 and I have read about 300 comics. I was introduced to Marvel by my foster parents at the age of 9 or 8 and I absolutely fell in love. It was both the storylines and the characters that connected to me. I could relate. It was a world I could escape into. Each character had something that made them human. Spider-man, for example, was just a kid who wanted to be normal but couldn’t. Iron Man has addictions in the comics, while in the movies he spent his whole life hating his father for not being there and resenting Captain America for being the center of his father’s attention. Moon Knight has DID (dissociative identity disorder). Captain America wanted to fight in a war even though he was severely unequipped for it. The storylines are great too. We have Secret Wars, the Infinity Wars, and many more. Let’s also not forget a masterpiece called the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Faheem • Aug 6, 2023 at 6:31 pm
Marvel is far better then dc
Dc is trash
layar • Feb 28, 2024 at 1:47 pm
fr
Thor fan • May 24, 2023 at 9:56 am
True. Marvel is the BEST!!! ( I’m not even gonna talk about the Avengers movies.)
layar • Feb 28, 2024 at 1:48 pm
yesss