Alright, so before I get completely bashed, let me preface that I am not trying to say that DC movies are better than Marvel movies across the board…at all.  What I am focusing on here is that I do feel Marvel at times has the halo-effect and can get away with certain things that would be scrutinized if it came from the DC camp.   I am going to take a look at some of the reasons as to why Marvel can get away with certain things that DC can’t.

Marvel Started Everything

Marvel clearly started the shared superhero universe push so of course, if some of their earlier movies weren’t as great, or haven’t held up, it’s because they were trying to figure it all out and still had the greater good (Avengers) in mind.  Now, because Marvel led the way in the cinematic shared universe, they are granted a bit more leeway when it comes to criticism.  Marvel Studios was founded in 1993 while DC Films was founded in 2016 as a subgroup from Warner Bros.

What Marvel did well was to roll out their movies in phases.  The benefit to this is that if some of the films didn’t hit as well as others, there were still other movies, and phases, yet to come.  Let’s look at some of the movies by their certified freshness score from Rotten Tomatoes. While some Phase 1 movies didn’t do as well but others did in order to help balance them out.  Iron Man obviously hit with a 93%, which was good because The Incredible Hulk had earned a 67% in the same year.  Other movies fared well such as Captain America (80%), Thor (77%) then another bit of a slump with Iron Man 2 hitting 73%.  This was minorly inconsistent, but alright because Marvel were just getting their feet wet and in the final product of their phase, The Avengers earned a 92% with Rotten Tomatoes.  This was a continuing trend with Phase 2, but completely paid off during Phase 3 with some of their most consistent, highest rated films (Black Panther 97%, Thor: Ragnarok 93%, Captain America: Civil War 93%, Spiderman: Homecoming 92%.  Clearly, they had some trial and error, but figured it out which has given them some leeway from earlier mistakes.

Let’s compare that to DC’s version of Phase 1 and certified freshness ratings.  This would have included movies such as Man of Steel (56%), Batman v. Superman (27%), Suicide Squad (27%), Wonder Woman (93%), and Justice League (40%).  Yikes. Besides from Wonder Woman, nothing really comes close to Marvel’s lowest ranking film.  The issue (one of the issues) is that Marvel led with individual character films in order to develop their characters and lead to the ultimate team-up.  The DCEU did quite the opposite.  They tried numerous team-up films before individual characters were established.  That then led to them trying to cover too much ground within a couple movies, which resulted in a lack of depth and connection, which led to a much less-invested audience. And speaking of connection, that leads into…

Character-Centric

The real difference between the two is that Marvel movies have always been character focused while DCEU films have tried to be more story focused.  There was a little gap between the Nolan movies and Man of Steel, but because they weren’t a shared universe, DC found themselves in an odd position.  They wanted to catch Marvel and tried to use what worked for Nolan (story-telling) in a completely different realm where it didn’t work.

What Nolan did that the DCEU has failed to do is to tell a story AND develop characters.  Marvel has done just that as well.  Viewers can relate to Marvel’s characters.  Thor and Loki are both gods.  What in the world could we have in common with gods!?  Well, humanize them.  Two brothers vying for the love of their father.  One feeling inferior to his sibling.  This could happen.  To. Anyone.  Look at Captain America.  A man at first not fit enough to truly serve his country, but would do whatever it takes in order to help.  Then there is Iron Man.  Marvel did such a good job developing his character that, was it just me, or was it heart-breaking when Ultron killed off J.A.R.V.I.S. even though it had to be done?  The characters are humanized.  They are relatable because we can see what makes them tick, and maybe even see a small part of ourselves in them.  This is what Nolan capitalized on as well with great success.

DC, on the other hand, has tried to catch up too quickly and missed the mark.  In order to try and not be Marvel they may have overcompensated.  Batman v Superman could have been on to something.  Bruce was such a jaded individual.  Why?  Well because Superman destroyed the city.  Meh.  If they wanted to humanize Bruce (aside from showing the death of his parents…again…), they skimmed past the perfect part in the blink of an eye.  When Bruce looked at Robin’s destroyed suit, that could have been the focus.  Unfortunately, people understand loss.  It can change individuals.  A focus on this would have made more sense.  Superman and Batman weren’t individuals we necessarily cared for. We also know Lex Luthor had daddy issues, but that was skimmed over as well.  They missed what makes people really come to watch…the characters.  Now they are turning the tides a bit with focusing on slowing down and focusing on Wonder Woman and Aquaman as developed characters, which is why they earned a certified fresh score of 93% and even though the latter only scored a 65%, it is the highest grossing DC film.

The difference again lies in the fact that Marvel had their hiccups earlier down the road, but still had a plan, where DC is finally figuring it out (maybe) after falling hard. Marvel’s approach may at times make for less interesting and dynamic stories, but it seems clear that audiences seem to be more forgiving of films that have characters that they care about and can connect to, which hasn’t been the situation at DC until somewhat recently.  So what it is the moral of the story?  Characters we all love will win out.

Social Media

Here is the big game-changer.  Prior to the internet people would have to rely on movie reviews (anyone remember watching Siskel and Ebert?) and word of mouth in order to hear about movies.  Now we are bombarded with opinions from thousands of people we don’t even know.  This has honestly helped, or hurt movies.  For instance, Henry Cavill’s mustache debacle.  Yeah, you could tell.  You could DEFINITELY tell, but people talked about it so much that it actually affected the way some people saw the movie.  Was it weird?  Sure.  Did it ruin my experience?  Nope.  The over coverage of certain things, or the over-hyping, is what mentally preps people prior to even seeing a film.  We go into it with preconceived notions which are very hard to change based on all the opinions out there as well as all the different grading sites.

So, does Marvel get a bit of a pass at times or am I way off?  Are there any areas I missed?  Leave your thoughts in the usual spot, and thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

  FOR FANBOYS, BY FANBOYS Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcasts and videos on The Genreverse Podcast Network? Available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps, This multimedia empire includes The Daily CoG, Breaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, Anime-Versal Review Podcast, and our Star Wars dedicated podcast The Cantina. Check it out by listening on all your favorite podcast apps, or watching on YouTube! Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts |  Spotify |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play