Marvel and DC are two of the biggest comic publishers in the world. Marvel dates back to 1939, and DC dates back even further to 1934.
The two companies have both been around for a long time and over the years have given readers some iconic superhero characters as well as villains. Marvel has pleased fans with heroes like Spider-man, Hulk, and Captain America and terrorized them with villains like Thanos, Venom, and Red Skull.
DC has equally iconic characters including Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman for the hero side and Lex Luthor, the Joker, and Doomsday for the villain side. While these are some of the most famous examples, each comic company has an abundance of great characters that have been developed over the past several decades.
Superheroes are great because even if you do not like reading about them, you can watch them on TV and in film. While there were several Marvel and DC movies made before Iron Man in 2008, this first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) really launched the superhero craze viewers are still experiencing today.
Iron Man kicked off the MCU while DC would not start their cinematic universe until 2013 with Man of Steel.
Fans of both Marvel and DC have always fought over which company was better and this rivalry only worsened when the summer blockbusters started to pour out.
Even though the rivalry can become heated, there are memes to cool everybody down.
Here are 25 MCU Vs DCEU Memes That Show The Rivalry Is Real.
Do You Even Bleed, Bro?
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may have gotten ripped apart by critics but one thing is for certain– there are some great quotes throughout the movie.
While Marvel is known for their snappy one-liners, DC’s quotes can be a bit darker and grittier.
In Batman v Superman, there is a scene where Batman is chasing down a group of thugs in his Batmobile. He rounds a corner at a high speed and slams into Superman himself. Any normal person would surely be dead but the Batmobile suffers more damage than Superman since he is the Man of Steel.
Superman threatens Batman to not answer the call of the bat-signal in which Batman simply asks “Do you bleed?” Superman blasts off and Batman mutters “You will.”
Say what you will about the movie, but this was an extremely chilling moment, as it foreshadows the epic throwdown that comes later on in the movie.
Imaging Batman seeing this downloading message for Marvel: Contest of Champions would surely trigger him as it says “some champions do not bleed.”
Superman may not bleed very easily, but being the World’s Greatest Detective, it was no surprise when Batman figured it out.
Glasses Can Conceal Secret Identities
Superheros have superhero names for a multitude of reasons. The names are often catchy and fit the character’s look, but they serve a bigger purpose.
Most characters who are superheroes use a superhero name to conceal their identity. Many superheroes in both Marvel and DC brands keep their true identity hidden from the public so that they can keep their family and loved ones out of harm’s way.
While many heroes in MCU movies wear masks, almost everyone knows their alter egos. Tony Stark even confessed that he was Iron Man during a press conference.
Captain America is an American hero so everyone in the comic world knows who Steve Rogers is, yet he too wears a mask. Sure you can say that they wear the masks for defense against attackers, but the characters in the DCEU are another story entirely.
Superman and Wonder Woman could care less who sees their face and show no attempt to conceal their identities.
Clark Kent simply wears a pair of glasses when he is in his human clothes but nobody can put two and two together that Clark Kent and Superman look identical.
Diana Prince, on the other hand, does not do anything different except not wear her armor and she can go about her normal day without people saying she is Wonder Woman.
It does not make a ton of sense but sometimes the suspension of disbelief is strong in the comic world.
Opposing Views
The MCU and the DCEU are no doubt very different when it comes to tone. Marvel is known for being fairly light and humorous while still dealing with dangerous situations. DC, however, began their extended universe on a very dark note right from the get-go.
DC has definitely become less dark than they used to be after receiving a lot of backlash, but the movies are not filled with jokes like Marvel’s films are. That being said, fans of each movie studio will see the other in a negative light no matter how you put it.
As the meme illustrates, DC fans typically see Marvel movies as being very kiddy and family-friendly. The kids in the top image at least look like they are having fun but being called kiddy friendly is not always good.
Being too much of a family movie could negate from suspense if fans know that Marvel won’t have the guts to take certain chances.
DC movies, on the other hand, are seen as a complete joke to Marvel fans. The image shows Superman riding a unicycle, wearing a kilt, and playing the bagpipes while Batman chases him with a violin.
Comparing DC films to the bottom image may be a bit of a stretch, but each side will always see the other in a negative light.
DC The Heavyweight Champion
When it comes to movies, Marvel Studios seems to be the top dog. There have been very few Marvel movies that completely bombed, if any. DC, however, has had some trouble getting their extended universe off the ground with each new film being disappointing for one reason or another.
As the meme suggests, DC may be struggling when it comes to live-action blockbusters, but they excel when it comes to pretty much everything else. DC has had some excellent comics, video games, TV shows, and animated movies.
Marvel has also, of course, tried their hand at these mediums but in many ways, DC has topped them on more than one occasion.
The CW has launched the Arrowverse, which consists of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. All of these shows are all doing fairly well for the network.
Likewise, there are dozens of DC Universe Animated Original Movies which have had varying levels of quality but are none the less consistent.
There have also been several Batman: Arkham games which again, have had varying levels of success but continue to come out. It’s also worth mentioning that the Batman: The Animated Series, which aired for three years from 1992-1995, has become a fan-favorite show of superhero buffs.
When World’s Collide
There are some people who claim that they love Marvel and hate DC or vice versa. While anything is possible, it seems highly unrealistic that this is the case.
With the multiple movies, video games, and comics for both, there is an endless combination of Marvel and DC for people to enjoy together.
It is just hard to believe that someone could love Batman but utterly hate a character like Spider-Man. The rivalry between Marvel and DC is so intense that some people do not realize that it is okay to like both.
Laurence Fishburne’s character from The Matrix named Morpheus often shows up in memes that have to do with mind-blowing realizations.
This character is the perfect fit for this meme since it does not seem like someone could be both a Marvel fan and a DC fan. If this blows your mind then knowing that the universes actually came together in the comic world will be even more of a shock.
If keeping all of your superhero distinguished from each other was hard enough, imagine if the characters from Marvel and DC were mashed together. In fact, that happened in 1996.
The comic series called DC vs. Marvel and Amalgam merged the two universes together creating some awesome yet weird characters. There is not anything stranger than seeing Wolverine morphed with Batman and seeing Superman showdown against Hulk.
Spider-Man Is Life
While moviegoers have some genuine reasoning to criticize DC at times, there are moments when it just seems far too petty. Sometimes it seems like no matter what DC does they just can not catch a break and will always be judged.
It’s true that Marvel has set the standard for what a superhero movie should be and films that do not fall in line with said standard often become heavily criticized.
As the meme shows, some people may not like Wonder Woman’s costume, even though most people loved it, while others criticize Batman for using a gun when he is usually against such a weapon.
Sure, these may be valid complaints with the right reasoning, but overall it just seems so minuscule in the wider scope of things. Plus, fans should have been more excited to see DC’s iconic trinity come to the big screen.
Marvel, on the other hand, can introduce a new character and everyone will lose their minds. Spider-Man, for example, appeared in Captain America: Civil War, which blinded a lot of people from some of the overall issues of the movie.
Just to reiterate, fans do justly criticize DC movies but Marvel more often than not gets away with plot issues just because they are Marvel. There are those critics who can look past the flashy visual effects and epicness of superhero movies but many can not.
A Cyborg Or A Toaster?
Thor and Hulk are two very different characters. Appearance-wise, the two are drastically different. Thor is big and strong, but not quite like the monstrous amount of strength Hulk has. Despite Hulk being three times the size of Thor, they battles are often portrayed as being pretty even.
Fans have seen Thor and Hulk fight in the first Avengers movie and again in the Contest of Champions in Thor: Ragnarok. While the two often have friendly fights to see who is truly stronger, it sometimes seems like there is also a battle of wits taking place.
Bruce Banner is by far more intelligent than Hulk. As he explains in Thor: Ragnarok, Banner has an impressive seven PHD’s.
While Bruce Banner’s intelligence is on par with someone like Tony Stark, the Hulk’s intelligence is more on the level of someone like Drax the Destroyer who always seems to oversimplify things.
As this meme hilariously puts, if Thor were to meet Cyborg from Justice League, he would see him as everyone else does; as a powerful half robot half human.
Hulk would probably just imagine him as a toaster and not be able to make sense of something half human half machine.
Is Uncle Ben Home?
Anybody familiar with comics knows the tragic backstories for Spider-Man and Batman. There are many superheroes who are motivated to fight crime because of the loss of a loved one.
For Spider-Man and Batman, their motivation comes from Uncle Ben and Thomas/Martha Wayne respectively.
All three family members met their demise at the hands of other people, but thankfully their passing brought about some incredible heroes.
There are many memes out there that make humor out of Spider-Man and Batman’s tragedies. As awful as it sounds, their backstories are heartbreaking but their suffering makes for some truly side-splitting jokes.
If Spider-Man and Batman were in the same universe you could bet that there would be some friendly teasing between the two characters. Batman might even go as far as calling the web-slinger to ask if Uncle Ben is home knowing full well that Ben is six feet under.
While this would be a pretty mean joke, Spider-Man has a sense of humor and would probably shoot back with something like, “No, he’s at the theater with your parents.”
The comeback is truly savage but fits Spider-Man’s personality. He may be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, but he knows how to deal with people who make fun of Uncle Ben.
Tony, Your Arrogance Is Showing
Batman and Iron man are similar in a lot of ways. They are both rich and famous and have awesome suits of armor.
While they share a lot of similarities, there is one element that sets them apart. Tony Stark openly shares the fact that he is Iron Man while Bruce Wayne would never reveal his true identity.
Neither Bruce Wayne nor Tony Stark have parents who could be harmed by their enemies, but they both still have people who are alive that they would not want to get hurt.
Because of this, Batman is very secretive even though Iron Man is pretty careless with his personal information.
Iron Man 3 had its fair share of problems, but one of the biggest head-scratchers was why Tony Stark would openly share his home address for all the world to hear. He had no problem sharing his home address with the world because of his arrogance.
He was very cocky to think that he could tell the world where he lives and be able to constantly guard his home against his enemies and that cost him big in the movie.
Batman is much more cautious with this information but even he sometimes has problems protecting his loved ones.
Fanboys Are Ruthless
DC and Marvel are not only two of the most successful comic companies, but they are also two of the oldest ones. Each publisher has had some hits and misses when it comes to characters but they have both created some of the most iconic superheroes to date.
Much like any two businesses that produce similar products, they are bound to have some form of friendly competition. There has always been a rivalry between DC fans and Marvel fans.
Because of the way humans are hardwired, we have the driven urge to fight for the things we love and have friendly arguments when we prefer one thing over something else.
While Marvel executives and DC executives are friendly with one another and often congratulate each other on successes, the fans are less than friendly to one another.
It probably isn’t even too far of a stretch to say that friendships have probably been broken because of the DCEU and MCU rivalry. It has got to be hard for a DC fan to continue to get their hopes up and ultimately be disappointed and it makes it even worse when fans and critics slam the DCEU movies.
It would be nice to live in a world where people realize that it is okay to like both Marvel and DC movies, but for now, the rivalry is real.
Box Office Flop?
Superhero movies have become an integral part of Hollywood’s success. Superhero movies started with one or two coming out a year, but have now grown to five or more coming out in a single year.
Despite having a mass amount of superhero movies coming out in a single year, fans have yet to grow tired of the genre. Superhero movies have some of the biggest budgets of any Hollywood production yet it almost always seems to pay off in the end.
Marvel movies specifically tend to break box office records are welcomed with titles like “#1 Movie In the World.” Whenever a Marvel film does well at the box office, we hear things like “huge success,” “giant hit,” “great start for a new reboot.” and “monster hit.”
Meanwhile, DC movies are often called box office flops even though they actually made a good chunk of change.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, for example, was given a budget of roughly $250 million and made upward of $870 million worldwide but was still called a box office flop.
This is just one of many examples of how DCEU movies can be ruined by word of mouth even though the words do not always speak the truth.
Marvel Is Such A Goody Two Shoes
Movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are often very different than the ones in the DC Extended Universe. They are all superhero stories that feature villains and heroes, but it is surprising how drastically different they can be.
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy may not be part of the DCEU but it is a good example of the tone of DC movies.
The film is very serious and at times does not even resemble a superhero movie because of how seriously it takes itself. Movies in the DCEU are similar and are often rather dark and gritty when compared to Marvel films.
Marvel movies can still be serious but are often filled with a lot more jokes and gags, which make it more suitable for younger audiences. As this meme explains through a Dragon Ball joke, Marvel is like a perky Goku, while DC’s version looks a lot more menacing.
Likewise, the still from Captain America: Civil War shows the funny line where Tony Stark is trying to recruit Peter Parker and he says that he can’t because he has homework.
Barry Allen was very much the comedic relief for Justice League, so when Bruce Wayne went to recruit him for the Justice League, Barry Allen cut him off and said that he was down to join the team.
Barry Allen may not have homework to do since he is a little older than Peter Parker but it just symbolizes how the characters in Marvel movies can sometimes be seen as goody two shoes.
Batman Is The Best
Batman has been popular ever since he was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939. Over the years, Batman has appeared in hundreds of comic series but has also appeared in movies and TV shows.
He has been portrayed by a handful of actors and voiced by even more in animated shows and movies.
The first live-action portrayal of Batman came in 1943 in Lambert Hillyer’s Batman. The character was played by actor Lewis Wilson and later replaced by Robert Lowery for Batman and Robin. While these first two movies were alright, they were quickly overshadowed by the 1960s Batman show starring Adam West.
The ’80s and ’90s were also good for Batman since he got four blockbuster movies. Two of the films starred Michael Keaton as the caped crusader and had Tim Burton as director. Joel Schumacher took over the Batman series after Burton with two more Batman movies, which are often mocked for being terrible.
The 2000s also saw a new surge of Batman fandom thanks to Christian Bale’s portrayal of the Dark Knight. Batman had a good run with Christopher Nolan from 2005-2012 until Batman was recruited for the DCEU.
Batman has been a crucial part of DC’s success much like Captain America has been to Marvel.
If a world existed where Batman and Iron Man could share the screen, you can bet that something like this meme would play out.
It’s All Part Of The Plan
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a success, there’s no doubt about it. Their universe began in 2008 with Iron Man and has just marked its ten year anniversary with the record-breaking Avengers: Infinity War earlier this month.
It is hard to believe that the MCU has not only made ten movies, but it has also been going on for ten years. It was quite the filmmaking experiment which paid off for almost everyone involved.
Seeing the success of Marvel, it was not too much of a surprise when DC decided to make their own cinematic universe.
Marvel carefully mapped out their plan of attack starting with solo movies and leading up to the highly anticipated team-up film The Avengers, which saw all of the heroes come together for one epic ride.
DC, on the other hand, seemed to rush into the team movies. They started off with the solid Man of Steel in 2013 but the very next movie in their cinematic universe saw Superman join up with Batman and Wonder Woman.
Instead of building hype with solo films and then leading up to Justice League, they did it in reverse which has proven to not have been the greatest idea.
As this meme suggests, Marvel has plans for several more movies, while DC seems to be struggling with their plan of attack. Let’s just hope that Aquaman will be an early Christmas present for DC fans.
Deadpool Vs Joker
While not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool was wildly popular for a number of reasons. While you could fill an entire notebook on why Deadpool was successful, one of the main reasons was because of the humor.
Very few Marvel movies are advertised as comedies but Deadpool did just that.
Deadpool does not play by any of the rules for ordinary superhero flicks, let alone rules that have to do with continuity. Deadpool often breaks the fourth wall by talking to the audience and makes jokes about confusing timelines.
Deadpool 2 has an abundance of jokes about other superheroes but the trailer even took shots at Henry Cavill’s CGI-erased mustache.
While it probably will never happen, it would be amazing to see Deadpool square off against the Joker. In this Suicide Squad and Deadpool mashup, we see the Joker telling Wade that he is going to hurt him.
The creator of this meme touched upon Wade Wilson’s smart-alec attitude and made a joke about Jared Leto’s portrayal of the Joker in Suicide Squad.
The meme is sure to make you chuckle but it also is another way of a Marvel fan taking shots at DC’s Extended Universe.
Marvel And DC Prepare For Battle
Both Marvel and DC are in the middle of developing a cinematic universe. Both companies have been pushing out movies for decades but not until recently have both tried to make a shared universe.
DC may predate Marvel by five years, but Marvel started their cinematic universe first. As mentioned before, Marvel has carefully planned their shared universe and all of the work has paid off. DC seems to be trying to catch up with Marvel but keep hitting road bumps along the way.
As this comic strip from Black Panther illustrates, Marvel and DC are in a competition when it comes to making superior comic book movies.
Black Panther, labeled Marvel, is about to face-off against one of his enemies which is labeled DC. The enemy admits that Marvel is “the true comic movie king” and says that he is finally prepared to fight him.
The two are staring at each other waiting for the other to take the first move and we see a mass of people fighting in the background with the word “hype.” This symbolizes the fanboys and fangirls fighting over which company is better.
If there is one comic strip that clearly demonstrates the rival between DC and Marvel, it is this one.
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice promised an epic fight between two of DC’s most famous heroes. While the movie did have an awesome fight sequence, it was much shorter than fans had hoped for and was stopped because of an almost laughable reason.
Even a hundred tire lifts could not prepare Batman for what Superman had in store for him. Just when Batman was about to destroy Superman, Clark Kent mutters, “You’re letting him [destroy] Martha.” Taken aback by the mention of his mother’s name, Batman goes into a rage and has flashbacks of his mother.
Once Lois explains that Martha is Clark’s mother’s name, Batman calms down and is willing to help the Man of Steel save his mother.
It was a ridiculous reason for the heroes to stop fighting but what if it would have happened in Captain America: Civil War?
Captain America: Civil War came out only two months after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and both films pitted two heroes against each other. The movies were somewhat similar, but Civil War was much better received than BvS.
While Batman v Superman ended with the two heroes getting along before Superman’s demise, Captain America 3 showed no resolution between the two main characters.
Tony Stark’s best friend’s name is James Rhodes and Steve Roger’s best friend is named James Barnes. If they would have realized their best friends have the same first names, maybe they could be friends again.
Thanos And Rotten Tomatoes
For the past ten years, Marvel has been leading up to Avengers: Infinity War. Over the years, they have introduces many great superheroes but they are known for having a villain problem.
Often times, the villains are forgettable because they do not spend enough time setting up the villain and making them relatable.
Marvel has started to do better with villains such as Killmonger from Black Panther and Hela from Thor: Ragnarok. These characters are not simply trying to destroy the world but have motives for what they are doing and they also have relationships with the superheroes.
Thanos may be hell-bent on eliminating half of the population, but they have teased him ever since Thor hit the big screen in 2011. They did a nice job developing his character prior to Infinity War, which made him a formidable foe when he was finally made the main villain.
Much like Marvel Studioshas become one of the biggest superhero studios in the world, Rotten Tomatoeshas grown to become a huge influence on whether people see movies or not due to their Tomatometer.
People are less likely to see a movie if it has a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a problem for DC since most of their scores are rotten.
Thanos may be the big baddie of the MCU, but for the DCEU their biggest villain is Rotten Tomatoes.
Learn How To Use Your Characters, DC
We’ve said it before and we will say it again, both DC and Marvel have incredible characters-heroes and villains. Disney has had trouble acquiring the rights to all of Marvel’s characters since certain heroes are owned by different movie companies.
DC is a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which means that they can use all of the DC characters. This also means that Warner Communications can use all of these characters in whatever medium they want, which is why Batman and Superman can appear on different TV shows as well as movies.
The DCEU may have the advantage of owning the rights to all of their characters, but as Tony Stark says in this meme, they can’t even use them correctly.
Fans can argue all day about whether DC ruined certain characters, but Green Lantern, Doomsday, and the Joker were not what fans were expecting to see on the big screen.
Some fans might have enjoyed Ryan Reynolds in a green CGI suit if they were from the stone age and had never seen the technology before.
The suit truly looked awful and Doomsday and Joker were wasted in the films they appeared in. Marvel, on the other hand, has also ruined certain villains such as the Mandarin, but at least they landed the big ones right.
Superman Likes His Balloons
It is widely known that in terms of tone, DC is much darker than Marvel. Marvel deals with life-threatening situations but still adds in jokes along the way. The movies in the first phase were all pretty serious but around the time Disney acquired Marvel Studios, the films became a lot funnier.
This works out for some of the superhero movies but for others, it can ruin the tone of the entire film.
One criticism DC often gets is that their movies are too serious and dark. While their films are much grittier than Marvel’s, it is not a bad thing at all. It is much better to have different types of superhero movies rather than them all looking and feeling like the same product.
It is a bit drastic to think that Marvel would make Superman carry around balloons for a promo image but the rest of the image makes sense. If Marvel was making this promo the scene would be a lot brighter and who knows, Superman might even be smiling.
Since Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon both directed scenes in Justice League, there were distinct differences in the tone of the movies in different scenes.
Having Joss Whedon take over the reshoots after Zack Snyder’s family tragedy may have initially seemed like a good idea since he directed The Avengers, but it ultimately hurt the film since MCU and DCEU movies are so different in terms of tone.
