People have been pitting Marvel and DC comics against each other for nearly as long as the two juggernauts have been in business. This rivalry between Marvel and DC fans is about as bitter as the rivalry between Star Wars fans and, well, other Star Wars fans. Things seemed to be reaching a fever pitch in the Marvel vs DC wars about ten years ago, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe was really beginning to explode and the DC Extended Universe was gearing up to try and recreate that success. Well, a decade later it’s easy to see which superheroic company won that battle. While the MCU has continued to chug along producing hit after hit, eventually building to the climactic Avengers: Endgame in 2019, the competition has all but disappeared from the conversation. DC has struggled to craft the kinds of films that really resonate with people, much less create an interconnected universe to let them all play in.
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However, the failure of DC throughout this time has also been a detriment of sorts to the MCU. That’s because there really hasn’t been a competitor to push Marvel to better its films. The MCU has been the only team in town able to consistently deliver, while the DCEU has had a hard time even getting enough players to fill the bench. Well, now that James Gunn and Peter Safran have come on board to serve as the new head coaches for the DC team, things are finally starting to look up. While there’s undoubtedly a very vocal group that just wants to tear down anything DC does that doesn’t have the name Zack Snyder attached to it, most other DC fans are starting to feel hopeful for the first time in years. But that doesn’t mean that MCU fans should fret, as the potential success of the new DCU will likely spell a bright future for the Marvel universe as well. Here’s how:
More Passionate Fans for the Superhero Genre
Warner Bros.
To paraphrase an old quote, the rising tide will lift all the ships. The more DC is able to succeed and actually fulfill its potential, the more the comic-book genre as a whole will thrive. If DC starts to develop new films and series that genuinely get people excited about the genre, then that success will bleed over into the MCU as well. As bitter as the rivalry between Marvel and DC fans can be, it’s important to keep in mind that those fans only make up a small portion of the total audience that goes out to the movies. A lot of people in the general audience couldn’t care less if the movie they are seeing is based on a Marvel or a DC comic. They just want to see good movies. If the quality of comic-book movies starts to consistently get better, then general audiences will be more likely to come back for any future films.
Marvel has been able to stay pretty well afloat over the last several years, but it’s easy to see that the superhero genre is no longer at the height that it was only a few years ago. Audiences have become increasingly dissatisfied with the superhero content that is being produced, as much of it has started to feel recycled and uninspired. While most superhero films, especially those from Marvel, are still box office juggernauts, they aren’t quite reaching the same numbers that they were just a few years ago. While there have certainly been exceptions to that, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home or The Batman, they have been far exceeded by the likes of disappointments such as Black Widow, The Eternals and Black Adam. In 2022, neither of the top two films of the year (Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick) were superhero movies. The last time that happened was back in 2017 (not including 2020, which we all know was a weird year). If DC is able to course correct, whether through salvaging elements of the DCEU or hard rebooting the whole thing, the chances of someone walking out of a superhero movie satisfied are going to increase. If that’s the case, then box office numbers will continue to increase and the genre will continue to experience the long-term success that fans have been enjoying the spoils of.
To put it more plainly, if Marvel and DC want to continue to build and maintain a passionate fan base, they need to produce quality films that will excite their audiences. Marvel has done a pretty good job at this overall, but even they’ve begun to really dip in quality over the last couple of years. DC, on the other hand, has almost completely dropped the ball in this field over the last six or seven years. Whether it be Wonder Woman 1984, Justice League or, most recently, Black Adam, DC has really struggled to produce the kinds of content their fans and general audiences have been looking for. Gunn and Safran have been brought on to revitalize the brand and bring it back to the quality it should be. If they can succeed, it’ll be good for everyone.
Actual Competition Between Marvel and DC
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
In most cases, healthy competition will lead to the increased success for all involved. That’s because they will push themselves and work harder to one-up their competition. This has often been true of Marvel and DC, who have frequently attempted to outdo one another with increasingly epic and personal characters and stories. Looking back at the MCU and the beginning of the DCEU, it’s clear to see this kind of competition was in the works with films like Batman v. Superman and Captain America: Civil War. While doing press for the Civil War, co-director Joe Russo confirmed that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige was initially hesitant to adapt Civil War for the third Captain America film. However, after DC announced they were developing Batman v. Superman, Feige gave in, and Civil War got the green light.
Given that Captain America: Civil War is widely considered to be one of the best entries in the entire MCU, this was obviously the right choice. If DC hadn’t been there to provide that kind of competitive push to Marvel, there’s a chance that Civil War would have never happened, at least not in the same way that it did. The lack of consistent and quality DC movies has already started to have an effect on the MCU. The last couple of years have been particularly barren for DC, and Marvel’s Phase Four was generally a big disappointment at the same time. While DC is obviously not to blame for Marvel’s failures, one of the biggest flaws of Phase Four was that it all felt the same. Very little of it was new or exciting. The creatives weren’t being pushed to new heights because there was no competition that was coming close to the same success as Marvel. With that, Marvel seems to have gotten complacent and started churning out less and less fresh and invigorating material.
With Gunn leaving the MCU and his Guardians of the Galaxy films behind to go work for DC, there is now a new energy at DC that there hasn’t been in quite a while. If Gunn and Safran are really able to right the ship and make DC movies exciting again, Marvel Studios will suddenly find themselves facing some real competition. They won’t be able to be complacent with their top spot anymore, as DC will actively be trying to outdo them. Hopefully, this will lead to some truly outstanding films being produced by both Marvel and DC. The real winners in this situation, though, are the fans, as they will be able to just sit back and enjoy seeing great Marvel and DC movies again.
