I’ve always considered myself a fan of the Marvel Comic book universe. It’s not that I didn’t like the DC Comic book universe, I just always preferred Marvel. As I like to think long, hard, deeply about things that have no real importance in life, I pondered if it was still true that I preferred Marvel over DC today and why.
My initial Marvel Universe is better notion came from the contention that Marvel characters were more complicated and interesting than the DC counterparts. There was the whole notion of the anti-hero; you know the good guy that is sort of bad. A variation on that theme was the good guy with a shady past. You had the Punisher, Wolverine, Ghost Rider; heck even the Silver Surfer fit this class of hero. These guys, and some gals, were complicated; things were never simple for them. On the DC side you had Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. The closest thing you had to a complicated anti-hero was Batman. Even then his shady past wasn’t so shady. And while the Bat was a vigilantly he always maintained his role as an augmentation to the system of justice already in place.
My premise I think is flawed, or incomplete. After further evaluation I think that it is the world of Marvel that is complicated and the characters simple, while the world of DC is simple and the characters complicated. Say what? Let’s take a look at the respective flagship characters from each universe, Spiderman, and Superman. What is Superman’s conflict; Kryptonite right? Wrong, Superman’s true conflict is the temptation of power. In every alternate universe for Sup he is a tyrant. His true test isn’t how he can overcome such and such problem, but how much should he help such and such. It becomes easy for anyone to always have things done their way when given the power to have it done that way. It is this constant struggle between how much should Superman help vs. advancing the good that he can do that makes Superman interesting. No matter how much the world changes ultimately he is always left with that temptation/choice. So what is Spidy’s deal? When you think about it Spiderman’s interest is in his problems not his powers. For instance will Peter ever get with Mary Jane or will he opt out and go for Felicity. Sure Spiderman has a bit of power but that isn’t what makes him so cool. Spiderman is cool because he has trouble talking to girls, everyone either hates or loves him, and he decided to damask himself because of the Super Hero registration act. In Civil War it is the conflict between the heroes that choose to damask themselves and the ones that don’t that makes me have any interest in the characters. By and large the conflicts of Spiderman are generated by the world that he is in, not because of who he is.
Another great example would be the X-men. If people would just get over their problems with mutants most of the interest in the X-men would evaporate. Now DC had made attempts to capitalize on these kinds of dilemmas with the problems in recent (relatively speaking) Justice League stories. I do have to admit the conflict between the JL and the Justice Lords was great. However it did sort of hinge on the whole Superman power thing I already mentioned. And face it whatever Superman wants goes in whatever league he is in. Well unless he is in my Starcraft/Halo/GhostRecon League, then he’s just a newb that needs to know his place.
So what conclusions have I drawn from all these new thoughts? If you’re asking that question you don’t know me very well or haven’t read my blog, but all six of you should know the reward is not the answer but trying to generate one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Nice thoughts but does it really hold for the broad thesis that you present. I'm not really qualified to speak on this since I haven't really read any DC comics and only those Marvel ones that Dan owns. But it seems like the interesting character problems you bring up for superman only apply to superman. Batman doesn't really struggle with the problem that he can do anything it, but should he. On the other hand the X-men and particularly Prof. X struggle with this dilemma to some degree. The Prof could make humans think it is a good thing to get along with mutants but he doesn't. The whole Superman quandry you describe is similiar to the Prof. X v. Magneto storyline. (sidenote: I think Magneto would be a good example if you were looking for complex characters in the Marvelverse). Although in some sense this has a lot to do with the world they are in which may support your thesis. Anyways I don't really care. I'm only ever going to read whatever comics Dan buys (or is allowed to buy) I just wanted to say hi and this seemed way cooler than writing an email. Although now that I'm done it feels less effective. Oh well.
I do agree that Professor X does share similar problems with Superman. However, Professor X is not really a central character to the Marvel Universe. You could probably kill Charles off and the X-men would be sort of ok. As proof of this you just have to look to the alternate time line where Charles was killed and Magneto lead the X-men. Additionally there are characters in the Marvel Universe that are basically immune to what Charles can do. Also there are people exactly like Charles except more powerful in the Marvel Universe. For Superman he is the last of his kind. There is no one like him or on his level. Even Darkstar could hang toe to toe with the man of steel. Another point Superman actually uses his powers to a great extent all the time. Charles doesn’t use his powers all that much; it is his leadership and wisdom that makes him so awesome. But point taken, the two are similar.
As for Batman, like I said he is the most similar to the Marvel flavor of characters. Also there is always cross over copy cats. DC has Flash; Marvel has the Quicksilver rip off.
Honestly I think DC’s most interesting character is the Hulk. No matter how the world changes the Hulk still has his fundamental problem. You have others that fit the character is interesting vs. the world being interesting. Green Lantern is a prime example. He is an enforcer of the law. He doesn’t get to make distinctions between what he feels to be right or wrong, ultimately he must uphold the law. It is a great conflict no matter where the GL is located, as evident by the multiple GLs in the universe.
Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of lame DC characters. Just look at Aquaman. They tried to make him cooler by making him be more like the Sub Mariner.
An Will you are always cool.
Hulk is Marvel. Not DC (I'm sure that was just a typo) and he is so not the most interesting.
Professor X has been killed, at least twice, so, you have a point there (although both times he is killed, it causes major problems, including, but not limited to, destroying the Universe so, he may be more important than you assume).
There are only two individuals I can think of that even approach the level of Professor X in telepathic power, first Jean Grey (and without phoenix, she probably is not as powerful a telepath, though she also has telekinisis thrown in, so you got that), the other is Legion, and thats only when he is control of his faculties. Which has only happened once, and again, that ended in the destruction of the Universe.
I have never read a Batman comic (though I read a novel based on the nightfall series, where Bane breaks his back, someone else becomes Batman etc. etc. etc.).
I have read some GL, which I thouroughly enjoyed. And some Superman, which was okay.
My favorite will remain X-Men, though I don't know how many existential life lessons I have pulled out of them.
And Jimmy, I dare you to name the characters immune to Charles.
Isn't his half brother immune when he wears his helmet. and Magneto is when he wears his. I think maybe I remember a time when he couldn't handle Legion because he had too many minds but I may just be making that up.
Anyways I was thinking about this again as I was reading a back issue of scientific American and it was talking about these giant black holes in these galaxay clusters and the black holes keep the clusters from cooling and consolodating becasue they spin aroung and shoot out these jets of energies. When your little and your playing superheroes you always try to pick the one with the greatest power. ?but if you think about that could be a mistake. If you were a guy who could shoot these black hole jets out of your fist whenever you wanted to you would easily be the most powerful but it would be lame because the first time you used your powers you would destroy the entire solar system.
Thats it... Deep huh
You are correct about both Juggernaut and Magneto Will, however, neither individual is immune, merely the helmet.
Also I don't know the extent to which magneto's helmet grants immunity, I'll have to reread the issue where Xavier turns off Magneto's brain.
But, I maintain that there isn't any individual whose power grants invulnerability.
First Dan you man love for Charles is well documented. It is almost as strong as Brain's(sp?) man love for Paul Giamontie(sp?).
Second Apocolypes, Galactis, and I think certain members of the Sheare Empire. You are also right about the Phoenix (and Dark Phoenix) are more powerful in that realm. Also any enemy that is either a lunatic and or a pure evil force (the Devil) is immune. Lets not forget Cable. If it were not for the biomechanical legacy virus he to would surpas Charles, it is just that he is to busy keeping his body together with his powers. One only has to look to X Man to see Cable's true potential. While I'm at it robots tend to give Charles some problems as well. Also I'm pretty sure Thanos with the infinity Gauntlet is immune to Charles, but that is sort of a null point because I think he's immune to everything at that point.
Third as for Will's deep comments, "power without perception is of no value" That's from Fist of the Northstar.
Fourth I completely understand Dan's preferance of X-men. It is a very interesting comic with some great story lines. I also think Marvel is more entertaining, I just thing that maybe DC's characters are more interesting and better developed.
Fifth we all know the most powerful supervillan is Dr Doom. And I will say that the Marvel bad guys are much more interesting than the DC bad guys, yes even the Joker.
Jimmy, you'll have to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer when you can. It was actually quite good.
One of my only problems with it was something I thought they had made up, but upon further investigation (going to my Marvel Universe comics), I discovered it did in fact happen. (I was also going there to answer some Silver Surfer questions for Alisa. Thats right, my wife had honest to goodness comic book questions.....that she wanted to know the answer to.)
I think you are in love with Thanos, take that.
Didn't Amalgam comics solve all this crap already?? I love how this is your most popular current post =OÞ
Hey sometimes I have to pander to my base. Seriously if I just wanted to generate comments I would make a post about who would win in a ffa between the Xmen, Hulk Hogan, Dragon Ball Z, and other assorted characters. Yeah thats who hangs with me, geeks are us.
Post a Comment