Marvel Vs Dc Compare and Contrast

Introduction

Are any of you into superhero movies? If so, do you want to see Captain Marvel or Aquaman more? As an avid Marvel fan, I definitely want to see Captain Marvel more than I want to see Aquaman, a DC movie.

Because these superhero movies are coming out soon, I want you to know why Marvel is having more success than DC and I know the topic well as I love all superhero movies.

So today, I will be telling you why Marvel is more successful due to the relatable and famous actors and characters, the content that attracts fans, and finally, I will inform you about the other side of my argument: why people might think DC movies are better.

Transition: Would you like to see an action movie with Tom Cruise or with a new actor you’ve never heard of? I would say Tom Cruise.

Famous Actors and Relatable Characters

Seeing how Tom Cruise affected my answer, is it possible for the actors in Marvel to make it more attractive to people compared to DC?

According to Anita Elberse in the Journal of Marketing at Harvard in 2007, states that this is what most movie studios believe. She states that films with well-known actors in them tend to bring in more revenue during the opening week compared to films with lesser known actors.

Also, according to Symeon Thompson from News Weekly in 2016, audiences also tend to gravitate towards the actors and characters that are more relatable. Specifically, in Marvel, the X-Men were not aliens or gods, they were merely humans with mutations in their DNA. Although very different from normal humans, their struggles with being accepted by humanity allowed audiences to connect with them through their struggles. The success of X-Men can also be attributed to when it was released. It was originally released while the US was going through a struggle of civil rights when people were struggling with being accepted as well and people were able to connect to it easily.

Transition: As you can see, it is not only the characters but the content as well that attracts audiences to Marvel.

Content attracts fans

According to Josh Weiss in an article in SyfyWire, this year, an experiment was done using an emotional recognition software, to determine how a movie trailer caught the audience's attention and if they would be willing to tell other people about the trailer. In the experiment, it was shown that the audience connected more with Marvel trailers and the characters and this is accredited to the humor in the trailers. 78% of the people said they loved the second movie of Guardians of the Galaxy mainly because of the humor and the characters.

However, when testing people on a DC trailer, the people were not able to connect with the characters and stated that it was the action and special effects that attracted them to it.

Also, according to Melissa O’Rourke from Sacred Heart University, this year, Marvel is also able to attract a wide range of viewers because of the different genres that make up the films. For example, in Guardians of the Galaxy, the film has many genres including action, comedy, science fiction, and more. Marvel is able to have more success this way as they are targeting more than one group.

Transition: Although the argument that Marvel is far more successful is strong, it is important to know the downsides as well, such as the copycat effect.

Counterargument and rebuttal (The copycat effect)

According to Keith Reid-Cleveland in his article on The Daily Dot this year, both Marvel and DC have been taking ideas from each other for a long time. Both are guilty of copying other characters from each other and changing them to create their own character.

For example, Marvel created the character “Deadpool” after DC created “Deathstroke”. As you can see in the picture, Deadpool is very similar in design to Deathstroke. Also, it seems that DC created the character “Aquaman” three years after Marvel created “Namor”. Aquaman and Namor are insanely similar as both as kings of the sea, run the city of Atlantis and have many more similar traits.

Transition: There are many more examples of the copycat effect but both Marvel and DC have done it to each other for a long time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Marvel has found the perfect way of attracting audiences whether it be through the actors they hire, the characters they create, and the content they write. And although Marvel is guilty of copying a few characters from DC, DC has done the exact same to Marvel. Now whether you chose to see a Marvel movie or a DC movie next, it is up to you. But just know that statistically, Marvel should satisfy your wants better than DC can. 

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