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DC and Marvel are the two titans of comic books. Additionally, Warner Brothers (the studio that makes DC movies) and Marvel Studios are the decided duopoly that pump out the most acclaimed, box-office hits with superhero movies.
There are major differences, however. Marvel Studios has the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and has run a pretty smooth sailing ship since 2008’s Iron Man. Marvel’s films are known for their formula of humor and heart with far more focus on creating fully flushed-out superheroes than on creating dynamic supervillains. Over the years, Marvel has had to work with Fox Studios and Sony Pictures because Marvel does not outright own the rights to all of their characters, namely the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Spider-Man and his adjacent characters.
On the other hand, there is DC and Warner Brothers. The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has been in existence since 2013’s Man of Steel. DCEU movies tend to be tonally darker than Marvel films, featuring characters who are more grim and who walk the line closer to anti-heroes than superheroes much of the time. Unlike Marvel, DC owns the rights to all of its characters.
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In the marketplace of ideas and the market itself, Marvel is the decided winner. Eight of the top 10 highest-grossing superhero movies came from the House of Ideas. Additionally, 10 Marvel films have surpassed the one-billion-dollar threshold. Only Aquaman cracks the top 10 list of highest-grossing superhero movies from the DC side of the fence. However, DC has one significant advantage over Marvel. DC has flexibility of style in its movies and television shows. It is worth examining some of these properties as examples of how DC’s advantage plays out.
DC has the Rights to All of its Characters
As briefly examined earlier in the article, Marvel does not have the rights to all of its characters. That is because in the 1990s, the company almost went bankrupt. In an attempt to stay afloat, Marvel sold the movie rights for many characters to Fox Studios and Sony Pictures. This has limited what the MCU has been able to do, especially in the first two phases of its existence.
DC has never had that problem. As a result, DC can be more tonally flexible depending on the movie or television property that is in discussion. From the truly bizarre and somewhat obscure Doom Patrol to the familiar characters of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, DC has the ability to more easily integrate its entire rolodex of characters.
Man of Steel: A Dark Beginning
Superman is generally known as a lighthearted boy scout. Raised in Smallville, Kansas, he comes with all of the mannerisms of a nice Midwesterner with all of the abilities of a Kryptonian. The bright colors on his costume reflected his sense of optimism and hope for humanity and his adopted home, Earth.
When director Zack Snyder was chosen to direct Man of Steel, fans and critics knew the initial direction of the DCEU would be a dark one. The film would prove this to be true. The colors were muted, Superman was more stern, and he even killed General Zod in a desperate moment at the end of the film. Man of Steel foreshadowed a few-year-long period where DC movies were decidedly dark affairs. So much so that in 2018’s Deadpool 2, which took place in Fox Studios’ X-Men universe, Deadpool quips to Cable at one point, “You’re so dark! Are you sure you’re not from the DC universe?”
Doom Patrol: DC Swerves Into the Bizarre
2018’s Doom Patrol television show harkens back to a beloved DC comic book series by the same name. It features mostly obscure characters with unusual power sets that are not very well-known to mainstream audiences. Doom Patrol showed that DC could nimbly operate between the dark, the irreverent, and the humorous. The show has become a hit among fans and critics alike, and shows a true thoughtfulness to it that other previous DC properties had been lacking.
Aquaman: DC Displays Adept Worldbuilding
At the very end of 2018, DC and Warner Brothers released Aquaman in theaters. The movie was a smash hit at the box office, crossing the billion-dollar mark. This was in part to great casting, a tried-and-true superhero movie formula, and wonderful special effects.
DC really took a tip from Marvel with Aquaman in that it world-builds just like Black Panther did. It features a kingdom hidden from the rest of the planet that boasts superior technological advances compared to the rest of Earth. So while Aquaman was a terrific feat, it had a model to work off of from a film that came out nine months prior.
The Suicide Squad: Beautiful, Fun Chaos
Make no mistake about it: when Suicide Squad hit the theaters in 2016, it quickly catapulted up the ranks of worst superhero movies of all time. A beloved franchise was torn asunder by interference from Warner Brothers, reshoots, and too much tonal shifting during production.
However, 2021’s The Suicide Squad left all of Suicide Squad’s mess in the dust. DC borrowed the crafty James Gunn from Marvel Studios, the acclaimed director who had produced Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 for Marvel. The Suicide Squad proved to be tightly written, hilarious, and over-the-top with violence. It combined humor and darkness to fit in with its loopy cast of characters, being tonally nimble instead of tonally inconsistent.
As one can see, DC has the advantage of being more tonally flexible than Marvel does – one area where DC fans can do some boasting. This is partially due to the fact that DC has all of its characters and partially because of the varying nature of the different properties that DC has put into the marketplace.
