DC Versus Marvel: Character Development
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
An iconic superhero dressed in red and blue (Superman/Captain America) struggles with the feeling of alienation from our society as he reminisces about the world he left behind (Krypton/The 1940’s).
Surprisingly, the last piece of memory that is left from his home world was just about to emerge in his life again.
As the strange whims of fate would have it, that last piece comes in a from of an old friend (General Zod/ Sergeant Barnes) who was thought to be killed in the greatest war on the planet (Krypton's rebellion/ World War 2).
As it turns out, he was held at cold and a dark (The Phantom Zone/ Hydra’s Headquarters) where he was getting brainwashed by ethnically motivated villains (Krypton genetic council/ The Nazis).
His reappearance represents both the biggest threat and main struggle of the story.
You see, his creates a great conflict for our protagonists, because stopping the threat could really mean severing the ties with their last connection to their home world.
In The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers is constantly trying to reach out to Bucky, to get to him, to make him see that he’s doing and to ultimately help him snap out of his brainwashing.
Rogers is torn up, all his friends and allies ask him to give up on Bucky, because the man he knew is long gone. Plagued with memories of the past. Steve refuses to accept that and instead he decides to fight for his old friend.
As the story progresses, we watch Steve Rogers navigate his internal struggle and we get an insight of what makes him tick, his loyalties, his values, his boundaries and all the things he stands for. To him, violence is the last resort.
All of this while setting the tone for the next movie Captain America: Civil War.
In Man of Steel, Clark Kent is faced with the exact same challenge Steve Roger is. But he on the other hand, does not try to reason with Zod. He doesn’t try to convince him, or to break him out of the destructive circle.
Instead, he tells him “You’re a monster Zod!” and smokes him.
You see, the emotional depth in the hero’s internal struggle in Captain America is substantial. In Superman however, it’s non-existent.
When it comes to character development, it seems that there is no contest between Marvel and DC.
Take the character of Superman for example - since we’re already on the subject - what drives him? What values does he represent? What are his fears and ambitions?
All we know about him is that he cares about his mom (Martha) and his girlfriend (Lois). These two women seem to be the only decisive factor in the most important scenes of all the Superman movies.
In Batman VS Superman how did the main clash between the dark knight and the man of steel get resolved?
That’s rights, it was all resolved by bonding over their shared motherly love for Marthas.
Let's try another example:
Take Justice League for example, do you remember that scene where Superman woke up from… Well, wherever dead people sleep these days.
He wakes up, picks himself up, dusts himself off, and starts beating the holy hell out of the league members. He was just about to murder Bruce Wayne, and guess who showed up? Lois Lane, of course.
She looks at him, says something like Honey, would you mind not killing Batman for me?
Sure thing babe!
Just like that, Batman and Superman become best friends again. Dude, one second ago, you were about to kill each other and now you’re besties again?
A little bipolar don’t you think?
And Lois seems totally cool by the way. She’s doesn’t seem phased by resurrection, not even a little bit.
Yes, I know, in Snyder’s Cut, there is a scene where Superman gets brainwashed by Steppenwolf who turns him evil, there is even the Superman black suit.
However this is not made clear in the final cut at all, the one we all saw in the movie.
As far as we can tell, Superman just wakes up on the evil side of the bed and wants to have some bat for breakfast.
So what does that tell you about DC’s character development?
It gets funnier, do you remember that last scene, that final battle between Steppenwolf and the Justice League? Yes, the one where the world was about to end.
Where was Superman at that moment? In some cornfield in Kansas.
That’s not a joke by the way, he was in an actual corn field in Kansas. chillaxing with his girl while the world is being burned to ashes.
And for a guy who’s just came back from the dead, he sure doesn’t seem to care very much for the value of life.
The Tale of the Two Doomsdays
Suppose you’re a fight coordinator and you’ve been hired to work in the biggest movie of the DC Universe, the one where all the heroes join together to face unbeatable odds.
They tell you that the stakes cannot be higher as the fate of the world hangs in balance, they tell you that the apocalypse is upon us. And it’s your job to coordinate the final showdown.
OK, so where’s The Flash?
Oh The Flash doesn’t do combat, he just pushes people and runs away.
It’s okay, it doesn’t matter. You work with what you have, and so you start to get yourself situated.
We have Aquaman over here stabbing people with his fork. There’s Batman shooting at them from the roof. Wonder Woman is fighting the villain down there, and Cyborg is busy playing with that XBox.
And where’s Superman? You ask. Shouldn’t he be here for the apocalypse?
Oh Superman is chilling in a corn field.
Wait, what?
I wouldn’t worry about it. Lois will ask him to swing by later
The crazy part is that this makes complete sense in the story because up to that point, Superman has no drives, no values, nothing to fight for... Nothing that we’ve seen anyways.
What does he want? Does he want to save the world? Or does he want to chill there in the cornfield and have a root beer and a cobb salad?
That part we’ll never know, because Lois Lane - as it couldn’t been any other way - reminds Superman that it might not be such a bad idea to save the planet.
Strangely enough, she says so in the most nonchalant way, nothing that would indicate the severity of such a catastrophic event that is taking place as they speak.
You would think that the end of the world would qualify for some more emotional depth, a little bit more fear, a little bit more drama...Etc.
Now, compare this storytelling with Infinity War’s emotional representation of tragedy, and you start to understand why one movie is collecting world records and the other one is collecting critics.
what a creativity
Haha thanks :)
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.
Wow, @the-alien, Superman is a fictional character of the most famous and influential superhero character from DC Comics comic publishers from the United States. Superman has been widely regarded as a cultural icon symbolizing the cultural strength of the United States. :)
Haha I wonder if aliens have national symbols too :P
Thanks @nurhayati!
haha, greeting from me, hopefully, be my friend, I'm from Indonesia. :)
Thanks @the-alien
They killed the man.
Only super lived on. (or, Superman lost his humanity)
The ideologies of batman and superman have always clashed. But, they have always been friends and understanding. And it this basis of motivation that makes these two very different and great to clash off each other.
Again, DC made the movie about the fight, and neglected the entire reason the fight was happening. We saw no real character of batman or superman.
If you're gonna kill someone on screen, and you want the audience moved by it, you have to get some emotional investment. If you want people invested in the fight, then you got to get them emotionally invested.
I wonder how many people were rooting for Doomsday?
Haha did you see that interview post-Man of Steel where Snyder was forced to defend himself and Warner that they didn't destroy Superman?
A few years later he makes Batman VS Superman and he does the same thing, even Clark's relationship with his best friend Lex Luthor was changed, as Lex apparently just met Kent in a party :P
Exactly! I think that's exactly it.
I don't think they cared not nearly enough for the emotional investment of the audience, I think they took the audience for granted and started playing with what they enjoy more (fights/lights/cinematography) and not much attention to the story.
About Doomsday, they should've introduced him in this movie but hey! Who know what's going on with their style.
Thanks for the awesome comment!!
Meh, character has always been a big difference between Marvel and DC.
Marvel heroes typically were also very human in many ways with other 'real-world' problems like homework, relationship isuses, alcoholism, and more.
DC heroes were always just archetypes: The incorruptible boyscout, the brooding anti-hero hero, the literal goddess.
This gives Marvel more emotional depth with which to dive. They can explore the interconnections between friends and loved ones in more ways.
Maybe an interesting question would be which style works best?
P.S: Both Batman begins, and the Dark Night Rises explore a lot of the human side of Bruce Wayne's character. So does in a smaller degree Wonder Woman. I wonder if there are more though?
The rest of movies, are exactly as you describe. :)
To be honest it sure is one of the best one I have read till now ;)
many questions were indeed answered here very logically
this was the best one hahahha
DC do have strong characters but unfortunately they do need to get in the real world and think out of the box.
Haha yeah you're right. They need to get into the real world a little bit and make the story more relatable to the viewers.
Thank you very much @rehan12!
While I am really looking forward to deadpool review of yours !It does needs one ;)
What do you think ?
the characters plot in marvel is more great but in dc only superman has lived upto the expectations :) by the way which character is your most favourite i guess it must be iron man ;p
Haha how did you know?
What's yours? :)
nice story and post
but I big fans of Marvel