You're saying that DC placed it's flagship characters in favorable positions and gave them stable minds. I think that if Captain America (Steve) had all of Superman's powers that he would be a near mirror image of Clark. Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are identical twins accept for the fact that they are both cracked in different ways. Bruce is as crazy as the Green Goblin, he just deals with life differently. I see a lot of people making it seem as if DC is a fairy tale company that has perfect cities, and well mannered heroes, but this is false. Bruce is rich but crazy, Clark without any powers is just a farm boy that did well in school and became a journalist, like Peter Parker. He doesn't tend to feel the same pains as Peter though, because of his nearly indestructible body. Things like hunger don't take center stage in his life. Marvel has those same characters but they may have different positions based on personal choice.
This isn't really a major difference between the companies. You could literally take Batman and put him in Daredevil/the Punisher's shoes for a year and he would do as well. You could replace Thor with Diana and get similar effects on how she deals with life as an Asgardian.
Superman is the odd one in the bunch. I never understood why a guy that was as powerful as he is would choose to be a journalist? He has the smarts of a top scientist, never hungers, and wouldn't have to spend a cent in order to live, but he chose that particular field. He's like the Blue Marvel and Spiderman rolled up into one character. However there isn't anything strange about Superman to say that he wouldn't fit in with Marvel.
DC is highly envisioned around Supes thus everyone must relate to his world. Marvel is the same but only the character of Spider-Man is much closer to a real human.
It is to an extent, but this wouldn't stop him from fitting well into Marvel without the Omniverse imploding. DC has certain pieces that wouldn't fit into Marvel which can also be said about Marvel. If they merged, the Super heroes wouldn't be affected. It's the fundamental forces that would. the LT would have to become the Living Spectre, or they would both have to disappear altogether. The same would apply to all of the other Abstract and Concept beings in both companies. For some there simply would be no place for them, and then continuity would crash and burn in a major way due to redundancies and squares that failed to fit properly into circles. DC has flattened itself out, and distanced itself from the days that it appeared more fairy tale like, and has become as gritty and imperfect as Marvel. The major differences between the two companies is the glue that holds both universes together.
He wanted to be mild mannered, invisible, but in a position that would allow him to experience the world; both the marvels of the fast-moving Metropolis, but also the thrills of the world beyond that. As a 1939 character, an icon of the people, more powerful than the machine, of course being a journalist made sense.
Anyways...
I think it's really interesting to talk about what philosophies (if any) each company was based on, and how those philosophies have changed/exist (if they do at all) today. Further, I think it's interesting to talk about what each company may view as a competitive edge, within the artistic field: what character/ideas do they have a lease on? What realms to explore has DC planted its figurative flagpole on? Any?
The problem with your argument is, that you only make few comparisons and then it stops. I never said, that Batman does not have his flaws, which make him more human. Of course, he does. But is Batman a more realistic character than Iron Man? Hell no.
And it has nothing to do with flying suits, which are powered by a nuclear bomb, that is the size of a fist... It's again about the universe both characters live in. If the Tony Stark as he has been shaped by the Marvel universe appeared in Gotham City, half of Batman's rogue gallery would mysteriously disappear and never ever be seen again.
Also, I wouldn't necessarily compare Batman to Iron Man, but more to Moon Knight... and feel free to make the comparisons there :-X
This is what I've meant... Your arguments don't go deep enough. Who cares if they were both journalists? It's how the universe treated them otherwise
Superman had the perfect life. He just happened to have super powers and since he was a good person, it led him to becoming a superhero.
The only bump in the road for Superman was learning that his parents only adopted him and that he was an alien from another world, which exploded.
Spider-Man on the other hand started using his powers to gain money. He only started fighting crime, after something terrible happened to him, for which he was even responsible in a way.
I won't get into detail here, but I'll say, that in the DC universe your parents die an iconic death, while in the Marvel universe you basically doom your own parents.
Now I don't get your argument at all anymore.
Batman appearing in the Marvel universe wouldn't make that much of a difference for him. But what if Joker appeared in the Marvel universe? Do you think that he would do as well as he does in the DC universe? I don't.
What if Daredevil or Punisher or Moon Knight or Deadpool or Wolverine appeared in Gotham City? Man, the crime rate there would go down so fast. Batman's rogue gallery wouldn't dare stepping a foot out of their basement anymore.
Superman became a journalist to hear about disasters as they happen and then squeeze Lois Lane out of the byline:
In all seriousness though, I wouldn't wonder if something like that was the real reason for him becoming a journalist. Hearing about catastrophes, since a news paper should be one of the first sources to hear from it... and then flying over and helping people.
Or simply using news as an additional way to prevent crime, by explosing the likes of Lex Luthor and so on.
With that being said, that's also another point... when we look at Spider-Man for comparison, we see how Marvel universe portrays the a-hole-y-ness of humans:
Spider-Man didn't become a journalist for the same reasons... Spider-Man started as a photographer and was earning money by selling pictures of himself.
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In the end of the day, this comes all down to personal preference and opinion. If you as a reader and more importantly as a person are less cynical than I am, then you will have less problems with all of this and tackle these issues with a more open mind.
I personally would like the DC universe, if Superman went bat-shit insane, started making mistakes and killing everyone around him. Pretty much the same, that happened to the Plutonian.
In believe in the TV trope: With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
I personally would like Batman more, if he killed off his entire Rogue gallery in order to save so many innocent lives.
Obviously you can't have that in comics, since blowing up the planet, or killing off every villain there is, results in there being far less options for stories.
My problem with DC however is, that they push the opposite to the limit... Superman has absolutely no flaws, which could be explored and Batman's villains can do absolutely anything and he'll let them get away with it.
Well now in terms of Superman, I didn't say that the pieces didn't fit although I always that that it was laughable that no one could tell that he was Superman just by placing on a pair of spectacles. They did the same thing to Prince Adam. I mean who in their right mind couldn't tell that he was He-Man?
As for what corners of the market or to be more precise what are DC and marvel strong suits. DC has placed a choke hold on theology, Witchcraft, and Satanism. They don't even bother to hide it, it's right there in your face in many of their titles. Even DC Universe Online has shown these things. Marvel on the other hand seems to try and keep it fairly simplistic. They've planted their flag in the power cosmic making the very word a trademark of sorts that other companies have shied away from using. As for powers? Both companies have a clone of the others. There may be a few that haven't been cloned, but the main characters are in both companies under different names and different personalities. I don't see any major differences when it comes to that.
Imagine if the Joker had the powers of Superman or nearly so, but he had a conscious. Who would he be? LOL.
There was really no point in going deeper than i did. The differences I mean the biggest most major ones aren't in the form of the characters that both companies present to the reader, it is the fundamental way that both universes operate. DC does have it's mythological deities like Zeus, but they are more treated like extraterrestrials as opposed to Marvel, that shines a different light on them. They are more important in marvel, whereas DC places Angels on a higher food chain (Lucifer for example). Marvel uses hell lords instead of delving too deeply into Christianity. DC uses the Presence, the Word, etc. So again it is the fundamental forces that play up the major differences which is why a merger between the two can never happen. Notice that they never have a difficult time with minor crossover events, but the minute the Concept/Abstract beings come into play the Omniverse convulses, and things must be set right or everything will be lost. They aren't just making things up.. LOL well they are in a purely fictional sense, but for canonical sake, the differences between the two Universes are so great, that if they were to be merged, the only things remaining that would be useful would be the main characters and the villains. All of the higher up beings would have to be erased, or merged. It really has little to do with the heroes, because you could place all of the Marvel heroes in the DC U, and place all of the DC heroes in the Marvel U and things would still work out fine. At least for a time.
Punisher/DD/Deadpool/Wolverine/Moon Knight would clean Gotham up? Firstly, DP has only recently become a sort of hero, he still bankrolled his exploits up until recently with assassinations etc.
Secondly, how is Marvel NYC doing? A crime-free paradise yet? I mean, they have a superhero DEDICATED to wiping out mobsters (with extreme prejudice) and yet...the Maggia still exist. Strange, that. The Hand are still around. HYDRA. AIM (until their recent takeover).
Thirdly, Spiderman is more relateable? WTF?
He has a loving supportive family. Is married to/dating a supermodel. Has a steady job (photographer/teacher/head of research) which allows him to drop everything at a moment's notice to websling (yes, he has some friction, but its hardly realistic). Has a little black book consisting of Gwen (admittedly, dead), Black Cat. Has a rolodex where, all he needs to do is snap his fingers and the world's greatest minds will come together to help him (T'Chall/Pym/Reed/Stark/Banner/McCoy/Strange during the Brand New Day and the Other storylines) - hell, even the supervillains will help. Is a supergenius with the respect of THE supergenius, Stark.
Even at his lowest, when he needed the cash, what does he do? Take pics of himself to sell freelance. I guess I can do that if I need the money. Oh wait, no I can't.
Oh yeah, and he has super powers. Pretty much to the levels that he is king of his entire tier.
Yeah, super believable and relatable.
In real life parallels, I'd be married to someone like Alessandra Ambrosio (a supermodel, but not so famous EVERYONE knows her). Have the respect of Elon Musk. Head my own research department where if I wanted to take the afternoon off, I can. Etc etc (I can't even think of parallels for the rest of it).
Note: I am NOT saying Batman (or ninja Paris Hilton) is any more realistic.
But to say one is more realistic and relateable than the other is...stretching it. Unless you guys have amazing lives, I guess.
KMC Community Forums
Oct 26th, 2015 06:47 PM
@ Enzeru.
