The never-ending war rages on. These comic book giants are some of the biggest names in entertainment, and their rivalry has never been more apparent.
Marvel and DC are both popular among superhero fans and have been responsible for some of the greatest characters in fiction. Lately though, DC just can’t seem to keep up when it comes to movies. DC may possess some of the world’s biggest icons but, with the notable exception of Wonder Woman, Warner Bros. just can’t seem to get it together for its shared cinematic universe.
While DC has struggled on the big screen, Marvel has been busy, going from second-fiddle comic book publisher to entertainment juggernaut. The MCU is now the most profitable film franchise of all time. Who knew the Avengers could become even more popular than the Justice League?
Regardless of popularity, we all have our preferences. But when it comes to cinematic success, sometimes the truth hurts… and sometimes the truth is hilarious. Of course, these are only jokes and this piece is all in good fun — but feel free to look at some memes that favor DC, as we have another list just for that.
Here are 20 Savage Memes That Prove Marvel Is Way Better Than DC.
The Real Villains
Despite DC’s vast catalogue of villains, it cannot overcome its own archnemesis: Rotten Tomatoes.
The DC Extended Universe movies tend to be poorly received by film critics. Four of the five films in the franchise are certified rotten, with the only fresh entry being Wonder Woman’s whopping 92%. The lowest ranked films in the franchise, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, both sit at 27% and 26% respectively (this meme is a little outdated). The Marvel films, on the other hand, are almost always beloved by critics and fans. Even “bad” entries in the MCU still manage to be watchable.
Despite what some fans might claim, there is no grand Rotten Tomatoes conspiracy. Disney and Marvel are not paying for good reviews, nor for ones that trash DC. Sometimes bad movies are just bad movies!
Sad But True
Batman is the company’s ace in the hole — iconic in every sense and manages to bounce back from even the worst creative decisions. His movies are usually the best in DC’s filmography. Recently though, DC can’t seem to get a Batman film off the ground because of script troubles and the DCEU’s poor reception. Even Ben Affleck isn’t sure if he wants to keep the role.
Meanwhile, Marvel has easily made C-list characters like Ant-Man and Rocket Raccoon household names. Nowadays DC can’t even manage to get Superman right! Yes, yes, The Dark Knight trilogy is fantastic, but it’s been quite a few years since then.
Outside of comic book pages, and one action scene in Batman v Superman, the Caped Crusader’s popularity is struggling to keep its crown from Marvel heavy-hitters like Captain America and Black Panther.
Feige’s Master Plan
Aside from turning Inhumans into a television show, Marvel’s slate of films has stayed consistent and punctual. Their cinematic universe breaks sets of films up into “Phases,” which they announce only after careful and substantial preparation. Generally, each phase is made up of unrelated films that build into one or more crossovers.
As for DC, its universe seemingly consists of whatever they can get greenlit first. WB started with a mediocre Superman film, used it as foundation for a bad crossover with Batman, then followed up with Suicide Squad — an underwhelming movie about anti-heroes with an extremely tenuous connection to the rest of the franchise. DC’s future plans are even more disparate, especially with main entries like Batman, Flashpoint, and Cyborg being delayed.
Creative Differences
While Marvel has carefully planned their structure and style, DC’s creative process looks a bit more like the image above. As DC rushes to get its films to market, seemingly throwing characters and concept into a belnder. DC has taken disparate stories like The Dark Knight Returns and The Death of Superman and adapted them simultaneously. DC has also used Zack Snyder’s trademark visual style (that cold and dark aesthetic), even when it doesn’t fit the films.
Despite what Marvel’s heavily structured process looks like, DC somehow experiences more incidents of studio meddling too. Warner Bros. infamously ordered several re-edits of Suicide Squad, and alledgedly fired Zack Snyder during Justice League in favor of Joss Whedon — decisions that some die-hard DC fans have perceived as damage to the franchise.
At Least They Tried
Even with the three most popular superheroes in history appearing in the same film, Marvel still manages to come out on top. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War came out only months apart, and dealt with similar themes and concepts. While the former was lambasted by critics, met with the ire of die-hard fans, and made disappointing box office returns, the latter was an immediate hit.
To be fair, this meme could use a little update. Civil War currently sits at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 359 reviews. Batman v Superman has fallen even farther, and with more reviews! At 375 reviews, it sits at an embarassing 27%. Ouch! Not even Wonder Woman could save this one.
Martha!
No, the “Martha” moment will never go away. No fan will ever forget it and nobody will ever let it go. It’s just that bizarre.
Of Batman v Superman’s many flaws, the anti-climactic end to the title fight is perhaps the weirdest. On paper, it’s a great idea. Superman speaking his mother’s name to Batman before his brutal murder might give Batman an epiphany — one that makes him realize that Superman is just as human as he his. The fact that their mothers share a first name is especially helpful.
But would Batman — one of the most intelligent — unflinching men in the world, really be triggered by such a silly coincidence? The movie thinks so. Had this bizarre line been uttered in a Marvel movie, it would have been laughed off like the awkward, melodramatic line that it is.
Authentic Adaptation
Both Marvel and DC fans have argued that their films are more comic accurate than the others, but it’s all about the kind of changes that are made. Marvel tends to create slight variations on their mythology while maintaining the spirit of the source material. The MCU tailors its stories in ways that serve the overall franchise or the filmmakers. DC tends to change things that are pretty fundamental.
The DCEU’s Batman is a blatant murderer and Superman detached and depressed. Doomsday is a repurposed version of General Zod, and the Joker is now a tattooed crime-celebrity. Sure, Marvel makes its fair share of changes in adapting comics to screen, but DC’s changes are extremely drastic.
Playing It Safe
Every time DC takes what fans consider risks, the risks blow up in their face: an overly-dark film about the world’s most uplifting hero, a anti-hero ensemble movie as the third entry in the franchise, a crossover movie created from two different director’s visions, and so on. Wonder Woman wasn’t a priority for the DCEU, but it still took way too long to grace movie screens.
While DC still beat the MCU in the “female superhero film” races, Marvel takes calculated risks, and they pretty much always pay off. Trusting unproven directors to execute their visions? Check. Unafraid to use wild new characters and settings? Clearly, check. The world somehow got films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange before Wonder Woman.
Respect The Source Material
DC fans might argue that physical preparation is paramount for roles in comic book movies, but Marvel fans know otherwise. While DC has gone on to vandalize some of history’s most prized comic book characters in favor of visual flair, Marvel constantly takes its decades worth of source material and builds on it — which is why its so important for the actors to know about the comics!
Sure, superheroes do have to be physically fit, but without an understanding of comic book mythology, these movies could end up like… well, like Batman v Superman. Besides, actors cannot always maintain their physiques. Affleck and Cavill’s costumes in Justice League boasted tons of padding anyway, so it’s high-time to put this argument to bed. Comics come first!
Cinematic Speedbumps
As much as DC wants their lineup to be as enticing as Marvel’s, it just isn’t working out. Every time a major DC film fails, the rest of their movie slate seems less likely to be put into production. This meme is a bit outdated, though. At this point, Justice League has tripped, The Flash is way behind, and Cyborg is so far off that he’s out of focus.
Lately, DC’s priorities are all over the place. A Batgirl film? A Lobo film? A Joker film unrelated to the franchise?
In the meantime, how many MCU movies are there? 17? They say you can’t rush success, but at DC’s pace, Marvel doesn’t even need to run. The MCU could pleasantly stroll to the box office and soak in those glowing reviews from fans and critics.
All About Structure
The DCEU’s planning has already been spoken about at length, but this meme illustrates its creative process pretty clearly. Marvel uses standalone films to bolster its big crossovers like The Avengers, and not to weave in and out of them. This isn’t the only way to build a movie franchise, but it’s certainly better than DC’s strategy of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.
Luckily for DC, there are more well-known characters than Marvel, meaning WB can front-load its slate with big crossovers and non-mainstream stories. Unfortunately, it hasn’t really worked - again with the exception of Wonder Woman.
Copying Marvel may not work the DCEU, but perhaps adopting its structure a bit more closely wouldn’t hurt. And maybe hold off on the weirder stuff until people actually care about the franchise.
If at first you don’t succeed…
Deleted scenes and extra content are typical for any movie’s home release, but first impressions are important. If a movie sucks in the theaters, there is probably little that an extended cut can do to amend that. The DCEU has a bad habit of releasing extended cuts for entries that are critically panned, even if that extra content doesn’t improve the films all that much.
In the case of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the “Ultimate Edition” did had coherence and color to the film, but why didn’t that stuff make it into the final cut? And the Suicide Squad “Extended Cut” was just useless padding.
The DC Extended Universe was never an official term for the franchise, but its no wonder the name has stuck. Why doesn’t Marvel release extended cuts of their films? Simple — they get them right the first time, so they don’t need to!
Painfully bad
The MCU features some really bland villains. A handful of them stand out, but most of them are passable at best and forgettable at worst. This is a huge blemish on Marvel’s stellar track record, but DC fans argue that their villains are the franchise’s biggest selling point. If a DCEU villain isn’t an underwritten gray CGI monster, then they’re memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Nobody really remembers or cared about Malekith and Anton Vanko from the Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 2, and those movies are many years old. And yet it’s just as difficult to care about the CGI eyesores that were Steppenwolf, Doomsday, and Ares! Honestly, it’s better to have unmemorable villains like Yellowjacket and Kaecilius, than to be unable to forget Jared Leto’s cringeworthy Joker, or Jesse Eisenberg’s twitchy Lex Luthor.
DC, let us know when you have a villain better than Marvel’s best.
If Only
This sentiment is truly bewildering. All of its filmmaking failures aside, it is worth noting that Batman v Superman does try to do more with its source material than make a “fun popcorn movie.” Unfortunately, the filmmakeres think it’s much smarter than it is. The movie tries to deconstruct classic characters with no real endgame, other than to tell the audience that “if Superman were real, people wouldn’t trust him.”
Meanwhile, even Marvel’s lightest films have managed to address themes better than DC’s. Black Panther addresses race, the Captain America films address the dangers of government oversight, and the entire MCU has addressed the trust issues between superheroes and the public. By comparison, Batman v Superman doesn’t really have anything new or important to say about its “intellectual” premise — of two men punching each other.
Good Guy Rocket
Rocket Raccoon is a career criminal. He’s stolen, tortured, murdered, and is an all-around terrible person in almost every way. And yet, he manages to show more regard for lives than Superman. While the blue boy scout has been busy lately with knocking down cities, throwing regular human beings through concrete walls — and dying — Rocket has nearly given his life on multiple occasions to save planets worth of innocent lives.
Nobody should live in a world where a murderous raccoon with guns is more of a hero than Superman. But we do!
Supes’ return in Justice League was a step in the right direction, but its seems too little, too late. In a battle of strength, Superman would destroy Rocket like tissue paper. But a battle of good PR? Well, Superman might have an image problem.
Mustache-Gate
This meme pretty much speaks for itself. Recent DC films have been responsible for some really questionable digital effects. Their finales are always full of rubbery CGI and lots of digital smoke and fire. For whatever reason, DC has a penchant for CGI villains and relies on them heavily. Infamously, Henry Cavill’s mustache was digitally removed in Justice League, and yes, it’s still hilarious to look at.
Marvel’s digital effects are usually up to par, and like most of its worst qualities, are usually passable at the very least. While Marvel films consistently earn Visual Effects nominations at the Academy Awards, Superman’s rubber smile will live an eternal viral life. Doesn’t his fake mouth look like human Shrek from Shrek 2?
The Marvel Name
Despite DC wanting to distance itself from Marvel’s brand of superheroes, WB can’t seem to escape the shadow of Marvel Studios’ success.
Sure, there are plenty other aspects to these brands than just movies — they’ve both been responsible for hit-and-miss television shows, and have been bitter rivals in the comics business since before most of us were born. They’ve both published hit-and-miss video games and hit-and-miss cartoons. Oddly enough, if you were to take the blockbusters out of the equation, DC might actually rule the superhero genre. Unfortunately for DC, though, those big movies are all that matters these days.
Even companies outside of Disney, like Sony and Fox, rely on the Marvel’s brand name to sell movies. Injustice might be fun to play and DC Rebirth is a joy to read, but audiences and critics are much more excited for the next Marvel film than anything DC.
On Your Left
There is nothing more important to these franchises than the race at the box office, and 2017 should have been a huge year for DC. With The LEGO Batman Movie, Wonder Woman, and Justice League all due in the same year, these massive films should have outshone 2017’s three Marvel sequels. Unfortunately, DC didn’t come close.
Wonder Woman performed well domestically, outselling the most profitable domestic Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but internationally, it was easily Marvel’s year. Every Marvel film in 2017 (with the exception of Logan) outperformed DC’s films internationally, with the box office disparities lying between $40 million to over $100 million. Even Wonder Woman couldn’t crack the top three.
With Black Panther in theaters and Avengers: Infinity War on the horizon, expect Marvel to lap the track yet again in 2018.
…Ouch
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Marvel sold the cinematic rights to many of its most profitable characters. By the time Marvel wanted to create its own movies under Marvel Studios, Sony, Fox, and Universal held the rights to many fan favorites. Under Disney’s management, Marvel has collected many of them back, but this was never an issue for DC.
Warner Bros., DC Comics’ parent company, has long been the sole proprietor of DC’s intellectual properties. It’s a shame that with all that power, WB hasn’t built a beloved cinematic universe. Even with full control over DC’s characters, WB still manages to make missteps that upset even the biggest DC fans.
Now that Disney is making a deal to buy most of Fox’s intellectual properties, Marvel is one step closer to restoring its already profitable franchise to back its completed form.
Zack Snyder’s Foundation
Zack Snyder is widely considered to be the architect of the DCEU, and while he is an auteur filmmaker in his own right, his work with DC hasn’t exactly been well-received. Man of Steel was divisive from the very beginning, but DC and WB wanted a sequel, which led to the massive failure that was Batman v Superman. Before the release of that film, he was also tapped to make two Justice League films, which were condensed into one before Zack Snyder was replaced with Joss Whedon — a creative decision that hardly helped matters.
Marvel Studios’ president, Kevin Feige, managed to organize a cinematic universe with care from the very beginning. The studio wasn’t trying to ham-fist sequels and spin-offs like DC, which earned them success. Snyder might be a visionary, but perhaps Warner Bros shouldn’t have put all its chips on an already divisive call.
What Marvel vs DC memes crack you up the most? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
