by Jed PierreThe 21st century has been the age of heroes and villains, Gods and demigods, even mutants and magicians. We don’t see any of these on our daily commute to work or class, but they’re also more than just our vivid imagination. Due to the film adaptations of two of the most famous comic creators in the world, Marvel Comics and DC Comics, superheroes have been brought to life.
Marvel Comics and DC Comics are two American comic book publishers. Marvel Comics, originally founded in 1939, is responsible for the creation of famous comic characters like Iron Man, Spiderman, The X-Men, The Avengers, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, and many others. DC Comics, founded in 1934, is responsible for famous comics such as Superman, Batman, Justice League,The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the list continues. During the 20th century these two companies competed against each other for comic supremacy and their rivalry has resurged in recent times, despite the decline in the popularity of comic books. This new rivalry has taken the form of film adaptations, and they’ve been extremely successful over the last ten years. Comic movies have been around since the 60s, with films like Batman (1966), and have became more common in the 90s with other comics also being adapted into movies. Most of these movies were created by comic publishers licensing their characters out to film producers to allow the use of their characters. However, as of 2008, Marvel Comics made a bold move which revolutionized the comic movie industry. They established the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new movie universe in which their comic characters would co-exist. The first movie in this new format was Iron Man (2008), followed my Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) and Captain America (2011). These movies all received a lukewarm critical reception, but they were still relatively successful due to their novelty. In hindsight, these movies were seen as experiments which helped Marvel develop a successful movie formula which has been implemented ever since their box office blockbuster, The Avengers (2012). This movie was the turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was the first time that heroes joined forces in one movie and the reception was truly exceptional. It became the fastest comic movie to gross 1 billion US dollars. DC Comics, on the other hand, entered the cinematic world earlier. In 2005 they produced they own comic film Batman Begins (2005) and followed it shortly with two remarkable sequels: The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). This trilogy cumulatively grossed 2.5 billion US dollars and to this day is considered one of the greatest trilogies of all time. Despite all this success, DC decided to combat the Marvel Cinematic Universe by creating a new universe, the DC Extended Universe, established in 2013. Just like Marvel, it was also a cinematic universe where heroes would coexist and ignore all previous movies (including the Batman trilogy). This universe commenced with Man of Steel (2013) and set the tone for the following movies, Batman v Superman (2016) and Suicide Squad (2016). Both companies began with trilogies. DC’s was more successful but Marvel’s original vision of the cinematic universe is what has propelled everything from the beginning. Since 2012, Marvel have continuously produced action-packed movies with enough humour and surprises to win over any audience. They’ve also succeeded with their small budget movies like Ant Man (2015) and Doctor Strange (2016), thanks to their proven formula. DC’s path thus far has been different. Rather than start with smaller movies to develop a successful movie style, they began by placing their best characters together in their early movies hoping for success. Batman v Superman (2016), which features DC’s three greatest heroes, didn’t live up to expectations, since it tried to fit in three origin stories, a convincing plot, as well as paths for future films. DC’s style is also darker-themed and less humorous, thus alienating some of its audience. So far Marvel has released one movie this year, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and it further emphasized that Marvel has mastered their style. With less popular characters, Marvel was still able to produce a humorous and memorable movie experience. DC also just recently released Wonder Woman, an origin story of one of DC’s main characters, Wonder Woman. The movie has been hailed as one of DC’s best movies to date, but with such a low standard, does being the best really mean anything? In my opinion, they’re on the right track by experimenting with an origin story and hoping to find a method for success, but it’s not yet there. As good as this movie was, it’s still less entertaining than Marvel’s first movie this year. In a boxing match between the two companies, DC would be the angry boxer who starts with heavy jabs before even getting warmed up. Marvel would be the relaxed boxer throwing light jabs followed by a heavy jab when the moment is right. Both companies have their style and only the future will tell which method is the most successful. With movies like Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, Spiderman: Homecoming and DC’s Justice League to be released later this year, it’s safe to say there’s much to look forward to. At the end of this round, which boxer will be in the lead? a
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
|