Marvel vs DC

[trappedslider]

You may not realize, but... You asked everyone about their relationship to the fiction. But, the positioning on your responses is to argue with our relationship. I get that the locations I mentioned may not make them more relatable for you. But you asked what makes them more relatable to us. If they are more relatable to more people (the audience bieng primarily American), then they are more relatable in general, even if they don't connect to you.

For a short time there was the 50-State Initiative in Marvel's main earth 616, which was pretty cool since the idea was that each state would have it's own team of heroes.

There's a joke floating around that the only Hero who really knows how to manage stuff is Daredevil because instead of attempting to save a world or city, he's micromanaging the hell out of 10 blocks in midtown Manhattan.

 

[Carlsen Chris]

Like most things fantasy (movies, books, characters, etc...) it comes down to relatability and character development. Some of my favorite PCs are ones that have the best story and bits of roleplay that come through. Movies are better when the character are defined and have development.

Marvel feels more developed to me. I know that there are examples in DC, but this is just me. I relate to the heroes better and feel them. Not sure how this is defined.

I've never understood why character development is so important for internet fiction consumers. Do you like Crime and Punishment because of how well developed and relatable Raskolnikov is?

 

[Morrus]

Yes, well, I'm terribly sorry if an American media company doesn't set the majority of its comics in the UK. Though, Excalibur may do for you, as it is nominally set in Britain.



You may not realize, but... You asked everyone about their relationship to the fiction. But, the positioning on your responses is to argue with our relationship - telling us you "can't believe" our experience, and focusing on single items when folks have mentioned several that impact how relatable things are, effectively creating a strawman.

I get that the locations I mentioned may not make them more relatable for you. But you asked what makes them more relatable to us. If they are more relatable to more people (the audience being primarily American), then they are more relatable in general, even if they don't connect to you.

OK. As usual, not what I said. Never mind.

 

[Imaculata]

Spider-man has always appealed to me, because despite his super powers, Peter Parker's life kinda sucks. He's constantly juggling jobs, relationships, and other real life responsibilities, along with super villains making his life miserable. Spider-man also has quite a lot of antagonists that know his real identity, which must suck!

Being Spider-man is not easy. He has to sacrifice a lot to protect people, and then gets blamed for it in the newspaper. He can't form a relationship with anyone, without putting them in peril. His work is a terrible thankless one, and that makes him likeable. I like seeing characters be put through the wringer like that.

That is not to say that Superman has an easy life. But at least people appreciate his heroics. In comparison, I find Superman a bit bland and boring. For me, a compelling superhero is one with an interesting unique power, a struggle to keep their identity a secret, weaknesses, and a lot of hardship. Superman's only weakness seems to be one invented for the comic, and it seems like he has ALL of the powers. Not very compelling.

Batman is more relatable, although his vast fortune clearly is not. But what I like about him, is that in the end he is a vulnerable human being. He relies not on super powers, but on gadgets, martial arts, and detective work. His villains therefor don't need to rely on super powers either, and this adds a thin layer of realism to his adventures. Sure, 'some' of Batman's villains have super powers, but his best antagonists don't. They are 'normal' human beings, with a quirk that counters one of Batman's weaknesses. And to me, it is especially this last detail that makes his adventures intriguing.

 

[Ryujin]

When I was a young kid, my guy was Superman. As I approached my teenage years, it was Batman (maybe a little Green Arrow). As I hit my teens and 20s I found those two not particularly nuanced (Sun God, Night God) and drifted to the rock-solid morality of Captain America who was, for all intents and purposes, still just human and the X-Men, for their political commentary.

 

[ART!]

I think saying one is more relatable than the other is actually saying one or the other is more relatable to/for you. I don't see how either could be more inherently relatable, given the subjectivity of relatability - "enabling a person to feel that they can relate to someone or something". Lots of things can do that, and degrees or kinds of verisimilitude is only one factor.

The "epic" thing is also very loosey-goosey. I mean, how can Superman be more epic than Thor, a character intimately connected to Norse mythology? Are Superman's powers "more epic"? Is "epic" synonymous with "power"? I'm confused. I think epic scales - Spider-man can have epic stories without leaving NYC and without encountering any cosmic beings.

 

[Janx]

if by "epic" you mean "munchkin", sure. the only reason Batman can beat everybody is because he's written that way. Superman can eyebeam Bruce at will. Flash can zoom by and jam a fork in his eye.

DC has a lot of capes. I'm surprised there's not more injuries and accidents due to them.

I'm not a fan of DC. Their sales # reflect that others aren't as well. 'Nuff said.

Make mine marvel.

 

[MarkB]

The "epic" thing is also very loosey-goosey. I mean, how can Superman be more epic than Thor, a character intimately connected to Norse mythology?

Well, as mythologies go, Norse mythology is on the less-epic and more-relatable scale. It's the Marvel to Greek mythology's DC.

 

[Shadowedeyes]

Nowadays the two are pretty similar. When Marvel was new on the scene the characters definitely have flaws and more varied personalities than DC did, and Marvel was put together as a shared universe compared to DC sorta doing it after the fact. But after time, not so much difference. Which makes sense, given writers, artists and editors would often go to the other company at times.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Miles Morales (Spider-Man, biracial). Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel, Pakistani Muslim). America Chavez (latin-American, LGBTQ). Wiccan and Hulkling (perhaps the highest profile LGBTQ relationship in Marvel comics). The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Ironheart. The Unstoppable Wasp.

Marvel continues creating relatable characters - but the middle-aged white guys probably aren't reading much of them, because they are no longer aimed at relating to middle aged-white guys.

Wasn’t Northstar (Alpha Flight) also revealed to be gay? And I believe Marvel retconned one of their cowboy characters as gay as well. All back in the 1990s, as I recall.