That was then...
On the surface level back then... I don't know. I don't know what someone living back then thought when Marvel just came out of the gate roaring like that - I'm only 27, so I can't speak to the social impact of their all of a sudden being a second comic book publisher trying to eat DC's lunch.
But as for now, with so much data to completely misread conclusions from, it appears to me that DC tried to take advantage of the state of the world when it reintroduced its superhero line, by removing the magical elements that were so prominent in the 30's and 40's and give them a more scientific edge in a more scientifically inclined world. People understood Boeing was a big deal back then, so they could handle the idea of a test pilot who moonlights as a superhero, they didn't started letting science and science fiction do some of the work to make readers suspend their disbelief instead of just using that catchall word "Magic".
Marvel had the benefit of starting out in the Cold War climate. They didn't have to change their world as much as reflect the one around them. I find it pretty fascinating that the Fantastic Four - the comic that put Marvel on the map, were characters that didn't have secret identities. They were Cold War Heroes because of their scientific endeavors but mostly because they were public personas - there was nothing sinister about them, there couldn't be - they had nothing to hide, wearing their true selves on their sleeves, pretty much completely uprooting the paradigm that DC had established with its super hero renaissance.
And then along came a Spider-man and the crisis of conscience that he faced by being indirectly responsible for his Uncle's death. This was a dude suffering from a tragedy of his own inaction and all the while he still had to navigate the later stages of puberty and early steps of adulthood while dealing with that guilt. Batman was sad about the death of his parents, but never guilty. Superman was sad about losing his parents as well, but also never guilty.
That's a key factor in separating Marvel and DC - Marvel was way more mired in being more realistic. DC was escapism - you were literally going to new places like Gotham, Metropolis, Central City, Coast City, etc - these places had approximations, but were never real locations you could point to on a map. Their characters had otherworldly problems that seemed so fantastical, that they had to be fiction.
But Marvel's characters fought in New York, in London, in Los Angeles - they were integrated into the world we knew and they felt the same things we did - they felt guilt and love and heartache, and isolation and temptation - they were humans with powers, they weren't gods that had moved beyond their humanity.
DC's figures, even now, feel like Modern Mythology - the Justice League and its typical associates are a pantheon of otherworldly characters who step in and save the little guy, but they don't always feel like they're part of a real world, that they're saving their favorite falafel cart every time they stop aliens from invading wherever they happen to invade. That's part of what makes them great - this is mythology being created and expanded and preserved right in front of us.
Marvel on the other hand doesn't feel like a pantheon, it feels like the natural evolution of the species. These are dudes and chicks who had their own lives going on and then had powers dumped on them. They're a lot more relatable which makes them special in their own way, because you totally get it when Spider-man spreads himself so thin emotionally, physically, financially and then gets excited about a paycheck only to remember it's the first and he has to pay rent.
That's a problem Superman will never have which is awesome - it lets him focus on other shit, while that's Spider-man's MO and it's awesome in its own right - because that's relatable as fuck and it's really nice to know I'm not the only one.
... This is now
Honestly the comics seem a bit superfluous now compared to the films, don't they? There's a kickass article on Vox that talks about how Marvel's movies are an endless attempt to re-write 9/11 and I don't think that's terribly far off the mark. That footage is some of the most horrendous shit of the century so far so if you could even pretend to stop it, I don't see why artists wouldn't create their ideal world where it never happened. That's probably why Marvel films have been so successful - they're superheroes with levity and an integration in the real world. There's no way they'd let something like that happen, right? It'd be impossible for the two to exist at the same, heroes and tragedy.
That's why the first Hulk movie failed and why he was a breakout star in the Avengers film. In Ang Lee's Hulk we saw Banner express time and time again how much he didn't want to be the Hulk, how it's his shame, a monster he can't control. The dude actively told the audience how much he didn't want to do this one single thing... but the audience doesn't give a shit about Bruce Banner - they give a shit about the Hulk. No one wants to watch a movie about a fictional scientist not want to do something, especially when they can watch a movie about a giant-ass green dude with infinite strength throw thanks and smash monsters. The audience felt like shit whenever he turned into the hulk because we knew that was the one thing he didn't want to do, but that was the one thing we wanted, and that tension ruined the movie.
Fast forward a decade to the Avengers, and they created a situation where the only correct answer to the destruction and devastation was the Hulk. We needed a fucking bruiser to save New York, someone with all the rage of the entire world for trying to fuck up New York - no, no, no - this happened once before, but not on our fucking watch does it happen again, you alien shit-sippers. They took the least controllable character in the history of comics and turned a wrecking ball into a fucking scalpel and the only person who wanted to be the Hulk more than the entire audience was Banner - and that's why it worked in the Avengers.
The jokes.... run me a little thin to be honest. But the levity is necessary because it shows that there's a group of people who are more than happy to save the world for you, the universe for you. There's a joy in saving the world, it can be fun doing the right thing - it's literally their pleasure to stop this plane from crashing, to contain this explosion from going off or myriad other tragedies. Tragedies that won't happen and you know they won't because their comedy fucking kills it in the face.
DC gets flak because it's superheroes are too serious, too moody, too angry, and not fun enough... And yeah, that's true, but honestly, but they're doing a pretty good job being the heroes of a stilted world. Whether that's the world we live in or not is up for debate. Check Twitter and you'll have a hard time deciding if the world has never been better off or if it's the worst it's ever been - it's 50/50 split every single day... So, are they reflecting the dour-side of the world? I think so.
And it's strange, because even though Marvel's properties feature a literal god - he doesn't feel like one, especially when compared to the godliest of them all - mahfuckin' Supes. In Superman, they created the person you wish you could be, someone who's ostensibly perfect - he's a dude who in the character creator got max stats like he was Madden or NBA2k or something. And I think that's why audiences have such a hard time accepting him in a Post-9/11 world - the balls on Bryan Singer to have him STOP a plane crash in Superman Returns. Snyder tried to make him flawed in Man of Steel/Batman vs Superman but because he was flawed - and that little change, well, that made him not-Superman. It's a real catch 22, but it's where we are.
Instead of trying to ensure audiences that something like 9/11 would never happen on their watch, DC's heroes seem to imply that tragedy can and will happen, but they're the best answer we've got. They're literally the heroes we deserve because their world is dark and cruel. Is ours? Yeah, again, according to approximately half of all social media posts, it is.
But then there's a post of a cat wearing a sweater vest, and there you have Guardians of the Galaxy, because the other approximate half of all social media thinks this is the best of all possible worlds since there are dogs and pancakes and, well, comic book movies.
But what about the comics though...
That's just my two cents, and while there are tons of movies I've drawn those conclusions from, there are even more comics I have to go back to for what I consider this, the real difference, at least between Marvel and DC as comic publishers, not media giants. Keep in mind anything I say in support of one company isn't singular to said company, but it's way more that particular company's modus operandi.
Marvel takes place in our world. Its heroes worry about rent and love and where they're getting dinner from. They fight in real places that we know, places we've probably even been to. Its heroes are doing the best they can against a bar that you've help establish. The baseline of Marvel is you and what you're capable of. It's fucking fantastic seeing the world you know harbor something fantastical, and to see these people be impressively, impossibly human. It's almost like a documentary, but, y'know, with superpowers - they're way more concerned with making a relatable, familiar world, with a twist. There was literally a Captain America comic that had Red Skull disguised as a third party candidate gaining national traction because he was campaigning on a bummer economy - the book used the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 as a goddamn plot point.
Fuck, that's awesome.
DC's heroes are better than you. Superman is perfect and kills time on the moon. Batman is the Nietzchean ideal realized. Wonder Woman was sculpted out of clay by gods and goddesses. The Flash takes laws of physics and destroys them everyday. They're a pantheon of characters who live in metaphors like Gotham or Metropolis. Batman's concerns are something we can never understand because normal people just don't operate at that capacity. They're more philosophical in a sense, playing with themes that humans understand, but don't see immediately in the world. There was a story arc in a book called Animal Man where a surrogate for Wile E. Coyote - forever caught in a cycle of life and death - and by the time you get to the end of the issue and you see him dead on an intersection - you realize this cartoon character is essentially Jesus and dying for our entertainment only to be brought back again simply to entertain us again.
Fuck, that's awesome.
And thank God...
And thank God for them both. I don't want every movie to be as smart as Douche Bigalow, European Gigolo, but at the same time I don't want every movie to be a cerebral mindfuck like Donnie Darko. So pick your poison and like poison - remember it's only temporary. And remember - never be that asshole who asks..
Are you a DC fan, or a Marvel fan?