Two universes, countless superheroes, but who does it better?
Marvel had a beautiful plan brewing when they made the first Iron Man movie. Fans and viewers saw it as just another superhero movie, then we got a hint. S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up. A nod that something much bigger was on the way. Soon we were introduced to Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, and now the full cast for Avengers: Infinity War consists of 22 super heroes coming together to fight one big baddie. 18 films make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it is now one of the most successful franchises there is.
When DC realized what was happening, they knew they had to try and one-up Marvel. There has always been a rivalry between the two. Marvel invested in more witty and funny heroes, with serious films that could still be packed full of one-liners and nods at the human side of superheroes. DC in contrast has many larger than life heroes, who live in a much darker and grittier world. Batman and Superman are not known for sarcasm and humor like Spiderman. So the two worlds can appeal to two different people. But when the MCU was brewing, DC started their own plans. We were given Batman v. Superman. It built off of the Superman films that everyone thought were in the past by bringing back Henry Cavill, and introduced us to a new Batman, Ben Affleck. There was their first misstep.
Now the DC films are not bad, but they decided to build their universe the exact opposite of the way Marvel did. Rather than introduce each character in their own standalone, before creating the blockbuster mash-up, they introduced multiple heroes in each movie. Batman v. Superman introduced the new Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. Then Suicide Squad introduced a slew of villains. The Justice League brought in Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash. The movies were fun and action packed, but personally I could not care about these heroes who were being thrown at me. I hadn’t watched them go through anything, no dramatic arcs, no character building, and then I was just supposed to be okay that they were all coming together in a movie? Nah.
I think Marvel’s method, both because of the way they bring in new characters, the frequency of their films and the fact that they got to it first, makes their universe better than DC’s. Now that we can expect individual movies for the Justice League members, maybe they can start to redeem themselves, but until then, Marvel has my full attention and I will be binging all 18 movies before Infinity War hits theaters on April 27th.
