Differences Between Marvel & DC

What are the biggest difference between Marvel and DC?

I personally think that the biggest difference is secret identities. The majority of Marvel heroes really don't seem to care if people know their identity, whereas, DC heroes are extremely anal about it.

Also, DC has

• more fictional cities; especially in the USA. Metropolis, Gotham, etc.
• More cape wearing heroes I think
• a more defined superhero hierarchy - Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman clearly lead the universe in power and stature as opposed to Marvel where the supposed where the Heinrich is a bit undefined. Maybe Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk.
• more reboots
• more metaphor associated with their heroes.

The spelling

@xybernauts said:

Also, DC has

• more fictional cities; especially in the USA. Metropolis, Gotham, etc.
• More cape wearing heroes I think
• a more defined superhero hierarchy - Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman clearly lead the universe in power and stature as opposed to Marvel where the supposed where the Heinrich is a bit undefined. Maybe Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk.
• more reboots
• more metaphor associated with their heroes.

Marvel (for me) has A LOT more interesting and seperate characters than DC - I'm a fan of both companies, but I've never really been interested in the other heroes from DC like Red Tornado or Black Lighting whereas Marvel has characters like the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Punisher, Silver Surfer, etc. DC on the other hand explores the concept of superheroes much better, like how Superman and Flash have museums dedicated to them or how the Justice League are handled more seriously.

Marvel:

Quesada (****er), Loeb

Magneto

DC:

Didiot

Flash's Rogues Gallery

Marvel tends to have more focus on street levelers. DC has the Batman family but Marvel has Spider-Man, Daredevil, Captain America, Wolverine, Punisher and more.

I liked DC, especially Batman...but over the years, i started to like Marvel more. Here is the reason :

Marvel heroes don't have those dedication, optimism to become a masked-crime-fighter...they don't just discover they got superpower then dedicated to fight crime. They all come together with a reason.

Eg.

Ironman-feel sorry, he wants to right his wrong...

Thor-banished by is father to teach him a lesson...

Cap.America-Patriotic during WW2 ...then get frozen under icecap.

Hulk-experiment gone wrong, didn't have a choice but to stick with SHIELD to find cure.

They just don't unite to fight crime or bring Justice...that just sounds lame.

Well DC so far has just stuck to showing Batman/Superman in  movies(moreso Batman), whereas Marvel they have spread out their heroes in movies more then DC. Not saying DC hasn't(Green Lantern, Watchmen, Wonder Woman, yes there is a WW movie) but DC only has done 1 of the others before going back and focusing on Batman and now Superman.

@xybernauts: I have to agree with more defined characters for DC, like the Justice League has barely gone through any changes, it's always been Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Flash Aquaman, and Green Lantern, sometimes Martian Manhunter, whereas the only constant in the Avengers is Captain America and Iron Man, and a lot of time Thor.

Marvel tends to have more team books, whereas DC has more solo superhero titles. 

I think the reason Marvel heroes are more carefree about their identities is because most of their loved ones aren't civilians, the ones they care about are either A. Also superheroes, or B. work for some type of government agency like S.H.I.E.L.D, thus have some type of combat training, really the only heroes I can think of that have civilian loved ones are Daredevil and Spider-Man, hence, they both have secret identities. 
 
DC however, many of their loved ones are regular people, with regular lives and regular jobs, and can be but in danger, thus, the alter ego is much more important. 

i always felt that Marvel had the heroes you can relate to

and DC had the heroes you look up to!

because most all of marvel heroes have reaonable origins and the writing is supposed to fit the average person

where as DC the writing is more dramatic and they are almost gods among men most of them.

Example: Anyone could be the geeky nerd that Peterparker is and get bit by a genetically altered spider, noone can come from krypton, get powers from our yellow son and stuggle to fit in being almost a god

I feel like the biggest difference is the universe itself. The faceless governments in Marvel are far more unwelcoming to superheroes whereas in DC, statues are erected of superheroes. Or museums(Flash Museum?). Where's Spider-man's museum in New York City? There isn't one. There are govenment bodies in the DC Universe who try to formulate contingencies for superheroes, sure. But the writers seem to put a whole lot less emphasis on it.

I think Marvel heroes are just as anal about secret identities as DC, Marvel just has more popular characters. With so many heroes they can't all be written as the traditional superheroes by night, regular by day, archetypes. Peter Parker and Matt Murdock are a couple that protect their identity just as much as Batman and Superman do.

The ones that don't are X-Men because their codenames are their real identities and then The Avengers don't have a reason to hide themselves, they are part of the Government, not hunted by it and their loved ones are other Avengers.

@Yai_Inn said:

Marvel tends to have more team books, whereas DC has more solo superhero titles.

@GodDamnIronMan said:

I liked DC, especially Batman...but over the years, i started to like Marvel more. Here is the reason :

Marvel heroes don't have those dedication, optimism to become a masked-crime-fighter...they don't just discover they got superpower then dedicated to fight crime. They all come together with a reason.

Eg.

Ironman-feel sorry, he wants to right his wrong...

Thor-banished by is father to teach him a lesson...

Cap.America-Patriotic during WW2 ...then get frozen under icecap.

Hulk-experiment gone wrong, didn't have a choice but to stick with SHIELD to find cure.

They just don't unite to fight crime or bring Justice...that just sounds lame.

@Yai_Inn: Good observation, I think after Marvel NOW, they'll have 8 Avengers and 5 X-Men titles.

DC's earth based heroes tend to be more powerful.

@Yai_Inn: Good observation, I think after Marvel NOW, they'll have 8 Avengers and 5 X-Men titles.

1. Avengers 
2. Uncanny Avengers 
3. New Avengers 
4. Young Avengers 
5. Secret Avengers 
6. Dark Avengers 
7. Avengers Arena 
8. Avengers Assemble 
9. All New X-Men 
10. X-Men 
11. Wolverine & the X-Men 
12. Uncanny X-Force 
13. Cable & X-Force 
14. Astonishing X-Men 
15. X-Factor 
16. X-treme X-Men 
17. Fantastic Four 
18. FF 
19. Guardians of the Galaxy 
20. Thunderbolts 

@MattMurderock said:

I think Marvel heroes are just as anal about secret identities as DC, Marvel just has more popular characters. With so many heroes they can't all be written as the traditional superheroes by night, regular by day, archetypes. Peter Parker and Matt Murdock are a couple that protect their identity just as much as Batman and Superman do.

The ones that don't are X-Men because their codenames are their real identities and then The Avengers don't have a reason to hide themselves, they are part of the Government, not hunted by it and their loved ones are other Avengers.

Marvel has more popular characters?

Marvel- Actually interesting Civilian Lives for their heroes. Slightly more grounded powers.

DC-Interesting Exploration of Super Hero legacies. (Museums, Passing on of Great Hero Titles, etc.) Everyone is huge power house. Even Batman.

@Jnr6Lil said:

@MattMurderock said:

I think Marvel heroes are just as anal about secret identities as DC, Marvel just has more popular characters. With so many heroes they can't all be written as the traditional superheroes by night, regular by day, archetypes. Peter Parker and Matt Murdock are a couple that protect their identity just as much as Batman and Superman do.

The ones that don't are X-Men because their codenames are their real identities and then The Avengers don't have a reason to hide themselves, they are part of the Government, not hunted by it and their loved ones are other Avengers.

Marvel has more popular characters?

DC has 5 iconic characters while Marvel holds way more popular/well known characters... I'm a fan of both companies, but I've noticed DC tends to either only focus on Batman, or the big 5/7, while their secondary characters like Red Tornado, Firestorm, Vixen, Black Canary and so on are out of focus whereas Marvel characters are more spread out and popular - DC: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman - Marvel: FF, X-Men, Spider-Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Wolverine, Daredevil, Black Panther - you name the rest...

Marvel - has a greater number of popular characters. A little more grounded than DC. wider variety of power levels. bigger emphasis on cosmic scale threats and characters. More popular considering the entire universe instead of a few characters.

DC- on average more powerful characters. A good portion of the JL can be a huge planetary threat in their own rights. Furthermore a lot of them dont have the pysiological and economic problems that marvel characters have. Contain the three most popular/oldest superhero characters of all time such as Superman Batman and Wondr Woman.

marvel- more relatable, interesting, diverse heroes and villians. there not a clear cut of black & white in their world.

x-men - hatred due to being different in any form

spider-man- normal nerd becomes a superhero

luke cage- framed for a crime and got powers.

the avengers- work with shield and the government

i think i would be able to be a superhero in the marvel universe whether its (ult. spider-man) miles morales, bp or luke cage

DC gods among men & women. most of their characters are powerhouses superman, captain atom, wonder woman, flash

they're powers are almost like dragonball z level.

marvel only has a few powerhouse besides thor, hulk or juggernaut.

@Hyperlight said:

Marvel - has a greater number of popular characters. A little more grounded than DC. wider variety of power levels. bigger emphasis on cosmic scale threats and characters. More popular considering the entire universe instead of a few characters.

DC- on average more powerful characters. A good portion of the JL can be a huge planetary threat in their own rights. Furthermore a lot of them dont have the pysiological and economic problems that marvel characters have. Contain the three most popular/oldest superhero characters of all time such as Superman Batman and Wondr Woman.

@Arcadian said:

@Jnr6Lil said:

@MattMurderock said:

I think Marvel heroes are just as anal about secret identities as DC, Marvel just has more popular characters. With so many heroes they can't all be written as the traditional superheroes by night, regular by day, archetypes. Peter Parker and Matt Murdock are a couple that protect their identity just as much as Batman and Superman do.

The ones that don't are X-Men because their codenames are their real identities and then The Avengers don't have a reason to hide themselves, they are part of the Government, not hunted by it and their loved ones are other Avengers.

Marvel has more popular characters?

DC has 5 iconic characters while Marvel holds way more popular/well known characters... I'm a fan of both companies, but I've noticed DC tends to either only focus on Batman, or the big 5/7, while their secondary characters like Red Tornado, Firestorm, Vixen, Black Canary and so on are out of focus whereas Marvel characters are more spread out and popular - DC: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman - Marvel: FF, X-Men, Spider-Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Wolverine, Daredevil, Black Panther - you name the rest...

The DC Trinity's popularity outshines how popular Marvel's character has.

You can go to some country in Africa, where they don't have TV, draw the Superman symbol and they know who it is.

That level of iconicism surpasses any Marvel character.

To be fair, DC has a lot of team books currently:

Justice League

Stormwatch

Suicide Squad

Green Lantern: New Guardians

Justice League International(will be replaced by JLA)

Teen Titans

Birds of Prey

Justice League: Dark

Green Lantern Corps

Red Lanterns

Red Hood and the Outlaws

Team 7

The Ravagers

Batman Incorporated

But they are little more diverse, where as Marvel ones revolve around Avengers/Xmen/FF

@Jnr6Lil: i agree with you. im saying marvel has a higher number of well know characters were DC's big three has a higher popularity than any characters in Marvel.

@Hyperlight: Exactly, You also have to look at the fact, before the 2000s, majority of Marvel's characters were nobodies.

@Jnr6Lil: i wouldnt necessarily say that but they did get a huuge jump because of their movies. but what does that have to do with anything?

@Hyperlight: Meaning their popularity was pretty much just overnight.

Historically speaking, I think that Marvel was generally the more willing of the two to deal with social-political issues. X-Men for example was like one huge metaphor for the Civil Rights movement. Despite being the younger company, Marvel was also the first to have a minority character (Black Panther), the first to have a GLBT character (Northstar), etc.

They likewise dealt with real-world problems more often then DC. A huge reason why Spider-Man became so popular was because he was the first superhero that would have stories about how he couldn't pay rent, struggle to attract attention from the opposite sex, and just generally do stuff that the average person can actually relate to.

Granted, I don't believe Marvel still has the advantage in these categories, DC has certainly taken the hint and have caught up. Inspite of that, I believe that the generally perception of Marvel being the more "down-to-Earth" and "real" universe, and DC being the more fantastical still stands.

@Moonchilde said:

Historically speaking, I think that Marvel was generally the more willing of the two to deal with social-political issues. X-Men for example was like one huge metaphor for the Civil Rights movement. Despite being the younger company, Marvel was also the first to have a minority character (Black Panther), the first to have a GLBT character (Northstar), etc.

They likewise dealt with real-world problems more often then DC. A huge reason why Spider-Man became so popular was because he was the first superhero that would have stories about how he couldn't pay rent, struggle to attract attention from the opposite sex, and just generally do stuff that the average person can actually relate to.

Granted, I don't believe Marvel still has the advantage in these categories, DC has certainly taken the hint and have caught up. Inspite of that, I believe that the generally perception of Marvel being the more "down-to-Earth" and "real" universe, and DC being the more fantastical still stands.

100% agree

But like you said DC has caught up and in 2012, it would be unrealistic for after 40 years, Spider-Man to still have no game with women.

@Jnr6Lil: I have to agree, DC has more developed characters in my opinion; Marvel puts out a shit ton of characters though, they create new X-Men every month. I think the development and promotion of DC characters has definitely made the characters more iconic as opposed to Marvel who promotes the hell out of the universe itself, that's why the have an event comic almost every year. Schism, Fear Itself, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Avengers vs. X-Men have all happened since 2007.

@dmkicksballs13: And like I said, most of Marvel's characters just got big recently, Thor, Iron Man, Cap, etc.

A lot of Marvel heroes have ties to each other one way or the other, DC heroes are more independent in their stories with 1 or 2 ties to another character

I like DC more because they got more dark titles like I, Vampire, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Justice League Dark, Dial H.

Point is they got more diverse titles than Marvel.

Marvel is just Avengers(Iron Man,Thor...other solo titles) , X-Men, FF, Spider Man.

DC's strength ratio is equal to Marvel's intelligence ratio.

Marvel has a Hulk.

People are confusing recognizability with popularity. DC's Trinity is very recognizable, like Mickey Mouse. But being popular means people like them (i.e. buy their stuff). Mickey is not the most popular as far as likability goes. That's Tinker Bell. Batman is very popular, with a distant second from Superman. But Wonder Woman hasn't been popular outside of certain niches in a long time. I can't remember the last time I've seen a Wonder Woman anything in a store like Walmart. And just by taking a look at Marvel's licensing revenue, Marvel's characters are clearly more popular than DC's overall.

@PsychoPJ said:

People are confusing recognizability with popularity. DC's Trinity is very recognizable, like Mickey Mouse. But being popular means people like them (i.e. buy their stuff). Mickey is not the most popular as far as likability goes. That's Tinker Bell. Batman is very popular, with a distant second from Superman. But Wonder Woman hasn't been popular outside of certain niches in a long time. I can't remember the last time I've seen a Wonder Woman anything in a store like Walmart. And just by taking a look at Marvel's licensing revenue, Marvel's characters are clearly more popular than DC's overall.

Actually its the opposite, everywhere i go I see DC merchandise. I hardly see any Marvel stuff apart form the occasional Avengers movie T-shirt.

And where is that exactly? Because The Avengers movie is huge. Unless you're biased or in a location that that for some reason doesn't have much Marvel stuff except for some T-shirts, there's no denying that Avengers merchandise that are big sellers amongst the major retailers. Just a look online at sites like Amazon shows a lot.

@Kiltro95 said:

A lot of Marvel heroes have ties to each other one way or the other, DC heroes are more independent in their stories with 1 or 2 ties to another character

@PsychoPJ said:

People are confusing recognizability with popularity. DC's Trinity is very recognizable, like Mickey Mouse. But being popular means people like them (i.e. buy their stuff). Mickey is not the most popular as far as likability goes. That's Tinker Bell. Batman is very popular, with a distant second from Superman. But Wonder Woman hasn't been popular outside of certain niches in a long time. I can't remember the last time I've seen a Wonder Woman anything in a store like Walmart. And just by taking a look at Marvel's licensing revenue, Marvel's characters are clearly more popular than DC's overall.

Actually its the opposite, everywhere i go I see DC merchandise. I hardly see any Marvel stuff apart form the occasional Avengers movie T-shirt. 

This is easy , & remember this is my opinion based on my experiences comic book collecting culture days of funny science

. Differences Between DC & Marvel ,

One is Startrek , one is starwars one doest like santa the other celebrates Christmas ' 1 was made to sleep the readers & the other was created to wake the reader & become team players . 1 was made to lure readers into thinking aliens that look like humans are their hero's & the other teaches that 1 can be a hero even with human dna defects . 1 uses old British lands as city's while the other actually uses Americas cities to enlighten the reader . 1 uses the vulcan greeting in all its story plot noveltys while the other uses all sorts of cultures from black panthers to female latin spider-gals .

i can go on and on with the differences but i kiss the sky & thank god that i'm a marvel reader ....

...till then make mine Marvel ...

Peace .

There isn't much differences between the two.

Back in the 60s, DC was pretty much dishing out cookie cutter superheroes, while Marvel's characters reflected what was going on in the country at that time (Prejudice)

In 2000s-present, those differences have thinned out and roles have changed. Nowadays both Marvel & DC put out a similiar product and you will now see Marvel doing typical superhero storylines such as Fear Itself, with DC doing darker storylines.

Ongoing competition between the two is going to have them to continue to change up their product.

DC ran the comics industry->Marvel makes realistic storylines and characters to take power->DC makes darker characters to take back power

The lack of dark cutting edge characters is why the Milestone characters have no appeal. In Milestone they weren't afraid to explore current affairs, but at DC the character are too watered down. So it's arguable how "dark" DC is. For instance, where's the ghetto in DC? Instead Static Shock is based in glamerous Manhattan New York?

@xybernauts said:

The lack of dark cutting edge characters is why the Milestone characters have no appeal. In Milestone they weren't afraid to explore current affairs, but at DC the character are too watered down. So it's arguable how "dark" DC is. For instance, where's the ghetto in DC? Instead Static Shock is based in glamerous Manhattan New York?

The ghetto is Gothem

For my money, Marvel has always been a more realistic universe while DC would be a fantasy world.

Marvel is based in real world locations as well as using real world terminology and physics. As fantastic as their powers and abilities are, you can believe and understand the way thing work in Marvel. Quicksilver is arguably the fastest person in the Marvel Universe, is fast enough to outrun gravity for brief periods of time, and has been recorded running at the speed of sound. Thor and The Hulk have been described as being able to press over 100 MegaTons. Gamma rays,Radiation, Children of The Atom. You can pick up a book and relate Marvel science to our own. It just seems to be more grounded, or grounded as a comic book universe can be

DC to me dips it's toes in the world of fantasy and the unbelievable. Look no further then SUPERMAN, his powers are numerous and according to the latest issue of SUPERMAN 13, he can bench press the earth for 5 days straight without breaking a sweat!! Bruce Wayne is so rich, he won't miss 5 million dollars being stolen from him account every few months. The Flash is faster then the speed of light, and can travel through time. Wonder Woman has a unbreakable magic lasso. The home of the Evil Genius and 100ft robots. The Good guys don't kill and the Bad Guys just want to rob banks so they can build more robots. When you think of comic books I believe it's DCU that you think of with the secret identities, super powers, and of course the capes!

Both are awesome and both have their flaws, but I believe we need DC AND MARVEL to produce strong stories and bring in new readers to keep this industry strong

@Jnr6Lil said:

@xybernauts said:

The lack of dark cutting edge characters is why the Milestone characters have no appeal. In Milestone they weren't afraid to explore current affairs, but at DC the character are too watered down. So it's arguable how "dark" DC is. For instance, where's the ghetto in DC? Instead Static Shock is based in glamerous Manhattan New York?

The ghetto is Gothem

Yeah, the white ghetto. No offense.

@xybernauts said:

@Jnr6Lil said:

@xybernauts said:

The lack of dark cutting edge characters is why the Milestone characters have no appeal. In Milestone they weren't afraid to explore current affairs, but at DC the character are too watered down. So it's arguable how "dark" DC is. For instance, where's the ghetto in DC? Instead Static Shock is based in glamerous Manhattan New York?

The ghetto is Gothem

Yeah, the white ghetto. No offense.

Doesn't matter, Gothem is still gritty as hell.