In my most recent article about "Captain America: Civil War," I called it “The most anticipated movie of the year” and was called out on it on Facebook. I was deliberately putting it above every other Super Hero Movie this year, with the most notable being "Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice." Here’s why I believe that Marvel movies are better.
Disclaimer: Both Marvel and DC are awesome. Amazing. There's a plethora of amazing things about both and I'm not criticizing either of them.
We need to start with the source material: Comic Books.
Comic Books are weird.
Like, seriously. Squirrel Girl, Spider-Pig, and Bat-Cow are all actual characters, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Even amongst the main cast of characters, it’s still weird. I mean, Ant-Man? Rocket the Raccoon? A man being given spider powers by a radioactive spider? It doesn’t make sense. Most of us can look past it. We don’t really care how Spider-Man became Spider-Man, as long as he does whatever a Spider can. The weirdness works excellently in the comics, because we expect it to be weird. But the moment you go to the movies, you’re talking about a much, much, much wider comic book audience. Sure, a good portion of the strangeness is ignored, but it’s impossible to get around the fact that the core concept is just plain bizarre. Some people just can’t see past that to enjoy the movie.
So, what’s a super hero movie maker to do? How do we satisfy the people who can’t take these movies seriously?
Well, that’s obvious. Beat them to the punch.
Every single Marvel Movie isn’t afraid of pointing out how absurd the concept is. In fact, the more absurd the movie is, the more humor they throw into it. "Guardians of the Galaxy" used humor to gloss over the fact that two fifths of the main cast consist of a genetically modified alien that looks like a raccoon and a talking tree. "Ant-Man" did the same thing, glossing over the fact that Ant-Man’s power is shrinking by playing the concept for humor. Thomas the Tank Engine became giant, and Ant-Man’s daughter now has a giant ant as its dog. You know that the internet would make fun of it if they didn’t, so Marvel likes to beat them to the punch.
DC comics, on the other hand, doesn’t understand how to do this. Their poster child is Batman, and Batman’s Universe is awesome because of how serious and gritty it is. It extends to every hero in the DC Universe. Even more far-fetched characters like the Flash are taken relatively seriously. This works for them. More people tend to be fans of the DC because of how serious the comics are. But that won’t work as well once the medium is taken to the films. Since DC can’t make fun of themselves, more casual fans checking into the movie won’t be as sucked in as they would be in a Marvel movie. The lack of humor will hurt the movie’s appeal. That’s not to say that the movies will flop. DC fans are very passionate, because without the self-depreciating humor it tends to give a more intense experience. But I doubt that they’ll become as big as the Marvel movies have.
