Can Marvel and DC Co-Exist in the Modern World?
One of the biggest rivalries in the film world today is that of the avid comic book fans of DC comics and their newly started DC Extended universe and the Marvel Studios ever-growing cinematic universe. While the classic rival of which characters would win in a fight and which powers were better was enough of a battle for comic fans to have for almost 65 years, nowadays we have a new form of media and entertainment to fight over: film. Where did this rivalry begin? When will it end? Is there any hope for humanity? And most importantly, why does this battle rage on?
So as some of you will know, adaptations of the DC characters have been brought to the big screen on and off since 1978 with Richard Donner’s Superman (1978). That series ran out of steam by the late 80’s with the absolutely dreadful Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), but the first two were great. DC brought Batman to the big screen under Tim Burton’s stylish direction in 1989 with Michael Keaton portraying the character. Again the series ran for almost a decade before crashing and burning with the unforgivably bad Batman & Robin (1997). Again the first two were great, and I’m actually a fan of Batman Forever (1995), but let’s not get too caught up in the details.
In the meantime, Marvel was quiet with some Roger Corman-level filmmaking that is the equivalent to DC fans as the 60’s Batman series. While I’ve never brought myself to watch these films, whether they be their adaptation of Fantastic Four (1994) or Captain America (1990). And let us please forget the misfire Howard the Duck (1986), technically an adaptation of a Marvel comic. It wasn’t until 2000 that a Marvel comic was brought to the big screen with a fair adaptation, Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000). With the sequels and now continuing X-Men franchise came an effort from Sony on another popular comic, Spider-Man (2002). Sony’s series also ran until they hit a roadblock with Spider-Man 3 (2007), but by then Batman was back in Batman Begins (2005) and Supes was back with Superman Returns (2006). While we did get a full trilogy with Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe, we had to wait until Man of Steel (2013) before Kal-El could fly again. But by then Marvel Entertainment with the help of Paramount Pictures were getting ready with Robert Downey Jr. portraying Iron Man (2008). Before we knew it, Tony Stark was joined by The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), all culminating with The Avengers (2012). DC was still working on the Chris Nolan franchise of Batman with Ryan Reynolds trying to get into the superhero game with Green Lantern (2011), but that crashed and burned. It was right about at this point that fans began to get more and more competitive with their favorite characters being adapted. Since then, Marvel cinematic universe exploded and has gone through seven more films and we’re seeing the beginning to see DC’s attempt at a cinematic universe.
So why the competition between fans? I think the answer is simple: human nature. Grown men and women get into fist fights over their favorite sports teams, and how much mud-flinging happens every election year? We love to see our favorites rise in victory and our enemies stumble and fall. So it makes sense that the fans of Marvel laugh at the DC fans when their films get low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and that DC fans can bask in the glory of their film’s opening better than the first films in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. Now as long as there is no peace between democrats and republicans and sports are still a popular event, I don’t see an end in sight with this fight. Rotten Tomatoes I think is the big spark. It was around 2010 or 2011 that Rotten Tomatoes began to pick up in popularity and it became the leading site for critics to use for getting their opinions out there. So when Green Lantern gets poor reviews but Thor gets pretty good reviews or The Avengers gets slightly better reviews than The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Marvel fans get a verification that their films are better. While I personally haven’t disliked any Marvel films since Incredible Hulk and thus far haven’t given a positive review for any of the DC films from Man of Steel to Suicide Squad, I have to say the idea of both brands being a success appeals to me.
So how do we get this fan war over? Well, as in all things in nature, it takes catastrophic change. Either the critics get on-board with DC or Marvel films begin to receive mixed or negative reviews. That’s probably the easiest way for things to change, but I’m not sure when or if that will ever happen. What I’d like to see happen is logical situations take over. Of course that’s too much to ask for the trolls out there who will, regardless of what everyone else says, call any Marvel movie terrible because it’s Marvel, or the vise-versa with DC, but we’ve covered that already. However, there is one thing that some fans overlook: there is no such thing as a wrong opinion. Just because you think that DC movies are great and you love the characters and you think the actors are great and the stories are good, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad judge of film. Or if you prefer the Marvel characters with great action scenes that you’ll remember and a gaggle of good directors and filmmakers, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad judge of film. I’ve read plenty of reviews and opinions from fans of Suicide Squad, which I despised, by the way, that enjoyed the film for what it was, and I am glad that somebody enjoyed it. I say own it! Own it! Don’t be afraid your opinion will be judged. If you loved Suicide Squad but weren’t a big fan of Captain America: Civil War, it doesn’t mean you have to hide your head. And if you’re with me and loved Civil War to death but couldn’t wait to get out of Squad, it doesn’t mean we’re in the right. There is no right opinion.
The original theme of this post was going to be dis-barring the asinine petition that was up to take down Rotten Tomatoes because of “unjust” bad reviews on DC films, but I’ve seen lots of cool and calm folks out there doing this already, and not to mention that the guy who created it spoke against it later saying he was under the wrong assumptions about how Rotten Tomatoes works. If we get more of these and fewer troll movements, maybe DC and Marvel can truly co-exist, but in the meantime it’s just human nature for us to defend what we love and try to make it a world’s difference in quality between what we aren’t so big of fans of. Again, defend your opinion, don’t make excuses for why you’re in the minority or the majority. So there’s my words of wisdom for the day. Take it or leave it. But I truly believe we can one day live in a world where DC and Marvel co-exist. Hell, the Star Trek vs. Star Wars groups have been quiet for decades. We have, for the first time in 14 years, a Trek and Wars movie out in the same year, and nobody seems to have mentioned it, and it hasn’t affected anything yet. I hope one day we can say the same for comic book films.
