The Her Campus National Editors write about products we love and think you’ll love too. Her Campus has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. All products are in stock and all prices are accurate as of publication.
Ever since the 20th century, there has been a huge rivalry between DC Comics and Marvel Comics. In the midst of the Great Depression, both DC Comics (1934) and Marvel Comics (1939) were founded. Both universes introduce ideas such as the multiverse (or multiple universes),heroes that originate from accidents, wealth, and so much more.
Most of the heroes from DC Comics are motivated to keep the heroic image or maintain the moral high ground while focusing on both realistic villains and unrealistic villains. There are very few deaths (at the hands of the heroes) in the DC universe.
These heroes are built on the foundation that they could but will not kill. The heroes are constantly being held back by their “human morals,” even if they are not technically human.
The heroes with god-like powers do not punch to kill. Batman (and other heroes without powers) have to train and exercise to be able to fight more advantaged villains, but he relies on his humanity to keep him sane.
In the DC universe, most of the heroes were either born with powers or born human with access to gadgets. The unwillingness to kill and fight dirty can ultimately be a weakness towards the justice league and/or other heroes in the DC universe.
This particular comic universe introduces us to the idea of what a hero is. What would we, as humans, wish to see if we needed help?
The majority of Marvel heroes are motivated by keeping the majority of humans (specifically American) safe and defeating the enemy.
With the fear of stronger villains that could destroy the existence of humanity, many scientists attempt to create a species of superhuman, starting projects involving unethical experimentations.
Some of these experiments revolve around: Wolverine, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and many more. They focus more on the survival of great threats.
Hence, the majority of these heroes are willing to kill another being if it means more people will live and the enemy is destroyed.
Although many “regular” people in the Marvel universe may feel safe from outside threats, they still have an anxiety with what the government is hiding from the general population. Government agencies such as S.H.I.E.L.D obscure many threats from the people, and sometimes even other government branches. It is not much different from the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA, in that there are different levels of clearance and that there is not a singular person who knows everything, other than the head of the agency.
This universe introduces us to an idea of what would happen if these threats existed. What would we do as humans if we had to fight such threats on earth and in outer space?
Most marvel villains are either aliens, gods, or problems created by man, whereas most DC villains are broken humans or aliens.
In both universes, most heroes and villains have the background and reasoning to become a villain, however, their story takes a heroic turn depending on how strong their will is.
It begs the question: What is more important…revenge or making sure it can never happen to someone else. A DC hero that comes to mind is Batman.
Batman had every right to become a villain taking revenge on the common mugger that killed his parents, but instead, he wanted to make sure justice would be made for him and in the future.
Bruce Wayne is the only part of his life preventing his “Batman” persona from taking over. A DC villain that comes to mind is Poison Ivy. Her main drive in the DC universe is her love for the environment.
However, she takes extreme measures to get the Earth as healthy as it can be. She believes that one of the only ways to help the Earth is to remove humans from the picture. Another example is the Riddler, in some canon stories, he only became a villain after his partner sabotaged their group project.
The Riddler is a villain, but he is not the villain. In the Marvel universe, Wolverine had every right to become a villain. He was an experiment who did not choose to lose his memories. In one way, he could be a villain out of revenge for how he was created; he is in pain every time his blades come out, but due to his healing factor, he cannot escape. On the other hand, he was originally made to be used as a weapon like Sabretooth (who is a villain).
A good example of a villain from the Marvel universe would be Wanda Maximoff. She lost her lover during Infinity War twice (once by her hand and the other at the hand of Thanos). So she created a society where he was still alive, while also keeping a whole city captive. She was simply broken, and had every reason to become a villain.
Arguably the Marvel live-action movies are better, whereas the DC animated movies are objectively better. Marvel creates such an immersive experience allowing us to imagine ourselves as a character within the movie.
The live-action Marvel movies are unmatched with lighting, script, and CGI. With the introduction of Iron man, Marvel’s popularity dramatically increased. The DC universe holds a lot of renown in terms of generational fame and comics, but the Marvel universe holds more popularity with its blockbusters and relevance to younger generations.
Both of the universes provide an immersive and fantasy world. They both propose different scenarios where threats arise. While these opinions and love for these universes are my own, I hope that you can immerse yourself in one or both of these as much as I have.