I like that you address the issue of Disney taking over the film industry because to me that is the #1 concern. No marginalized group benefits from that group of assholes calling the shots.
It's a short sighted pespective. Look at the "rivals" so to speak. There is Universal on the one hand, which is owned by Comcast, and is the product of a merger which was only allowed under specific rules, rules which Comcast then went and broke with no consequences whatsoever. By all rights the merger should have been forbitten. Then there is Warner Bros, which is owned by Time Warner which is now owned by AT&T in another recently permitted merger which should have NEVER been allowed. In BOTH cases we are talking about companies which don't just own the means of production but also the means of distribution (meaning distribution over cable), something which was supposed to be stopped forever when anti-Trust laws forbit studios to own their own theatre chains. And in this market place, Disney's and Fox's one chance to survive in the long run was this merger. Am I pleased with this? Nope, but I would have been even less pleased if Disney and Fox had gone under in the long run. I mean, we are talking about a huge problem here, but Disney's merger only put it eye to eye with Comcast and AT&T, and I find it really odd that after I spend years screaming about how damaging their mergers were, now suddenly Disney gets all the flag for following THEIR parts. Disney in the newcomer in this set-up after all. And currently there is a huge danger that Corona might put Disney into a situation in which they might fall victim to a hostile take-over, possible by apple. Which would be a catastrophe. Disney as last media focussed company needs to provide a counter-balance to all those "we own the studios AND can control your internet" types out there.
@@swanpride I agree and oppose all such mergers. I have been screaming for what feels like decades (and is stretching out to nearly as much) for all the good it has done any of us.
@@swanprideDisney merging with Fox to me sounds extremely obvious, both are very socially conservative and share biases. I also oppose all monopolistic mergers as that is extremely harmful for both the economy and the consumer, but Disney burning their infinite coffers in the streaming wars while devouring the rest of the industry is very concerning to say the least.
I remember some complaints about Robert Downey Junior as Tony Stark and my brother and I said, “Hm. A rich, alcoholic, playboy. I kinda think RDJ can pull that one off.”
Yeah. I remember thinking it was genius, and I ran off to see the movie in the theaters. The problem for him is that his career totally came back because of Iron Man, but now he IS Tony Stark (and also Sherlock Holmes.. ha.. well when Doctor Strange Cumberbatch isn't.. or.. ha) and that is going to make his choices tougher. It is also worth noting, too, that Iron Man wasn't (and in comics still isn't) one of the most popular characters, so the synergy between actor and role was huge for both the character and the actor. That alchemy can probably never be reproduced.
@@jso6790 when the first Iron Man film came out it was genius and added a ton to the character and story, which has since influenced the characterization of him in the comics (to some degree). The problem is that at some point the films forgot that all the stuff that makes RDJ's Tony Stark interesting are also horrible *flaws* and started romanticizing him instead. Like, Civil War was basically Stark recognizing one of his flaws...as something just inherent to superheroing and projecting it onto the rest of the Avengers instead of going to therapy/putting himself in check. And yet the film takes his side in trying to say that he's correct about it not just being him that has a problem (even if it is more murky on if he was right on what needed to be done bc of it all).
@@tahlialysse Thank you. I loved your analysis. The one thing I remember thinking, when reading Civil War, was that I am sure most of us reading it took Cap's side, but in the real world, I am sure most of us would be on Tony's. (As an aside, I loved the story where Reed Richards brought in the Mad Thinker to check his math and they had a good discussion) I agree with your assessment about the filmed version, but also understand that they had to shorthand it. It's the old "the book is better than the film" trope.
@@jso6790 to some extent, but it also would have been very easy for the film itself - not necessarily the characters - to acknowledge Tony's projections and hypocrisy. Like I was saying, he became romanticized rather than treated as interesting but severely flawed character
*Thank you.* I vastly prefer DC over Marvel, I just connect with the characters so much more. And I also thank you (as someone who is part Romani) for addressing that Marvel has a... tendency to take minority characters and make them not anymore. On the other hand, I appreciate DC taking Jericho, for example, and casting a deaf, transgender POC activist for the part! DC is trying, I really feel that way.
absolutely, yes, Superman the Animated Series is a JAM AND A HALF and so under-appreciated. Has some of my favorite versions of characters (Luthor? Metallo? Brainiac?) and consistently found ways to challenge Superman and make it feel like he's in danger while still working with the full range of his superpowers - any time anyone talks about how "Superman is boring because you can't have an invulnerable character and have any dramatic stakes" needs to watch that show.
Birds of Prey has preformed very well in the box office but because it’s not pulling MCU-level numbers, and sexism, it’s being called a flop. Sad. This is coming from a MCU fan.
I'm sorry, but no. The movie is fantastic, but financially it flopped. It had a budget of $85 million - $100 million and made $200 million. A film needs to make 2.5x it's budget to be considered successful, and it did not. It needed to make $250 million total, minimum and not taking into account marketing, which for a film with that budget is probably around $25-30 million. So, it cost a minimum of $100 million if the budget and marketing are on the lower end of the spectrum. It flopped.
((Also, I realize this is not a rant anyone asked for, but I feel that to some degree, we're all English major's at heart, so I hope someone appreciates this. If not, it was cathartic to write, so, that's that.)) As a die-hard Harley Quinn fan, and die-hard birds of Prey fan, I loathed the movie. The characters were weak interpretations of their comic book selves and honestly felt like the director just read their Wikipedia pages. I loved the quirky comic book aesthetic, and the idea of us seeing Gotham though Harley Quinn's eyes, is a really neat idea. However, when a film markets itself as a great feminist paragon, I expect it to pay off. I don't mind feminist movies- in fact, I love them. But this felt like a disingenuous cash grab. The movie never addresses the abuse Harley went through, which is a huge point of contention on modern PC culture. She gets that one scene where she blows up the factory?? In fact, the majority of the film is Harley suffering from the consequences of something that Joker had an influence on. It doesn't seem like much of an "emancipation." So, the movie doesn't address abuse, which, maybe, it's fine, it's a superhero movie. But, the Birds of Prey aspect of the whole film is also very weak. Renee had some wasted potential, but honestly, I'm not particularly enthralled by her comic book character anyway, so I can't speak to it. She was fine. Huntress was also..fine. the whole socially awkward assassin parody fell flat with me, but it was a cool idea. Other than that though, she had no personality. I adore Dinah, but again, her character fell really flat with me. Why the hell did she not use her Canary cry before the ending scene? Why didn't she stop the other girl from nearly being assaulted? If I had watched the movie with no prior comic nook knowledge, I would have been so confused at the end when she conveniently decides to actually be a superhero. (wait this was a superhero movie?) Then we have Cassandra. Cass, baby what did they do to you. As an Asian American, knowing they had an Asian American director, I have no idea how they managed to fuck up her up so badly. Asians (East Asians less than south Asian's) are one of the least represented "major minority's" in American comic books. Asian characters have never particularly been developed well in media, and the original Cassandra (as much as I love her) is extremely problematic as well, so I appreciate the fact that they tried....but the changes they made to her literally made her no better as a person. I won't go into a whole rant about Asians intentionally being either overpowered oriental fetishes or weakened oriental fetishes in pop culture..because honestly, it's not incredibly relevant. What is relevant is the decision to make her "Cassandra" was literally only there to fill some sort of woke diversity quota. Replace her with anyone else, and the exact same plot would have played out. They completely stripped her of any original meaning and erased the essence of the character altogether. It's fucking insulting. And that's my problem with the movie. I love all these characters so deeply. But, the director's intention to make a woke movie surpassed her devotion to the characters and the story. It's a comic book movie. The story doesn't have to be great (and it wasn't) but the characters are what makes comic book movies so damn fun. I want a woke feminist birds of prey/Harley Quinn movie that kicks ass and is unapologetic. But I want one that doesn't feel like it's manipulating parts of myself in order for the movie to succeed at the box office. There are all sorts of other problematic things I could point out. Like how queer-coding Black Mask and Mister Zsasz by making them flamboyant and having some sort of subtextual reference in 2019 is extremely detrimental to the LGBT community and the "gay villain" trope we've fought so hard to upheave. The only people I know who actually loved the fact that Black Mask and Mister Zsasz are apparently gay are white cishet's who just want to seem woke. And yes, technically Renee and Harley are queer, but it didn't mention that in the movie, so it doesn't get to be a huge point of appreciation. As far as I'm concerned, they went out of their way to make the villans and only the villans homoerotic, and I have a problem with that. I know this sounds nitpicky, but, if the directors are going to go out of their way to market this film as super progressive and for a progressive audience, I am going to hold it to a higher standard. I expected better of this film, and ultimately it failed at even the most basic tasks.
I remenber a really mean comment I read a while ago about the film in the comment section of the vid Amanda the Jedi did about the movie (in which a lot of people where trash talking because she dared to enjoy the film) and one incel said the movie was made "for Amber Heard".
See? That's why I loved Ant-Man and The Wasp. Hope was clearly written as more skilled than Scott. She dead should've been in the Avengers film. I also liked tht Ava Starr was a Black WoC, and Laurence Fishbourne was in it. MCU films kept doing the Smurfette trope (Black Widow, Gamora)
Hope could've and should've been in an Avengers movies, but she is poorly written. So much so, they had to dumb down Scott in AM&TW. But they can't change the fact that Paul Rudd is the bigger star. So that's why Antman was in the Avengers movie instead of Wasp. If they actually tried to make Hope interesting, maybe she could've been in EG.
I started reading DC Comics in college in 2014 because I missed the characters from the 2003-2006 Teen Titans animated series and I was desperate to know what they were up to. That’s how attached I was, and still am, to those characters I grew up with. So I’m always harsher on DC than Marvel because I have 20 years of movies, TV, video games, and comics to compare each new DC story to. Whereas with Marvel I’m very specifically interested in the MCU, which has never inspired me to pick up a Marvel comic. So I take the MCU versions of these characters at face value.
To be fair, the Sara from Arrow and the Sara from Legends (especially after Season 1 of Legends) are two very different characters. And the Legends version of Sara is so much better.
I really appreciate how you try to acknowledge the Jewish history of comics as a medium, superheroes as a character type, and the Jewish lived experience of a lot of the creators you critique. You don't always recognize all the aspects of that experience, but you try and overall you do a good job.
"Tom Hiddleston can get my bussy." I just literally screamed, girl same. What I really liked about the first Avengers movie that I think was a unique signature of Joss Whedon was the conflict amongst the individual members of the Avengers with each other and how organic it felt when they rallied to save the day. Beyond just the previous movies building up to it, there were great steps taken to make these characters make sense in the same movie together. This is something that I think DC should have taken notes on. Wonder Woman and Superman don't make sense on the same team together. Sorry, not sorry. He is an alien with his powers being based in his extra-terrestial physiology and most of his main villains being aliens and technology based. While a character like Wonder Woman is more magic based, with villains being based from mythology. These types of archetypes CAN work together, and also are fundamentally at odds. The MCU did the foot work of establishing that Asgardians were not "magical" (although as a viewer, I don't think the magic was diminished) but that they were sufficiently advanced technologically. So when Thor fought beside Iron Man, it didn't feel shoe horned in the way that the Justice League did. Overall I prefer DC still, for all of the reasons that you discussed. Although I greatly appreciate Marvel too and I low key just feel blessed that we are getting more high quality super hero media than ever before.
You basically explained why I have seen every X-Men movie, despite the fact that they aren't good. I love the X-Men, that's my team I will watch and rad any and everything to do with them.
LITERALLY ME. Im really critique on dc and mcu films, but when is about x men films am always like "I LOVE THEM but theyr also kinda pieces of shit and i hate them"
For me as a Marvel fan, the most shocking thing about the movies is that they can get me to like characters I didn't like from the comics. I never liked Ant-Man in the comics, but love the movie. I never liked Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics, but loved them in the movies. A lot of the movie versions of these characters are better than the source material (such as Killmonger, Black Widow). Making Hawkeye less of a jerk was unforgivable, though.
There are too many jerks in the MCU already. Next generation Hawkeye might end up an adaptation of the more jerky personality though. After all, they can mix and match.
Danny is brilliant as is the episode he's introduced in. I think what's most bafflingly wonderful about Doom Patrol is every time we meet a new character I google them expecting that whatever absurd new addition is here, they just made up for the show, only to find the character has this long and deep history with Doom Patrol that presents them exactly as they are in the show. It's insane and I love it.
I've kind of been wanting to get more into DC lately, and couldn't really understand why so many DC characters just aren't interesting to me, but this video helped me realize why. I simply don't have the emotional attachment to any DC characters from growing up with them. I don't read the comics so my exposure to these characters is entirely through other forms of media, namely cartoons and video games. As a kid the Marvel shows like Spider-man and X-men were more interesting to my little kid brain than DC shows like Batman and Justice League. They just seemed too "serious" and meant for older people, while the Marvel cartoons were more cartoony and appealed more to my little kid brain. There's also the fact that Marvel has overall had much better video games based on their heroes, mainly Spider-man. I grew up playing many different Spider-man games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and X-Men Legends. Those games gave me a lot of exposure to the characters and helped learned their history, and exposed me to many heroes who weren't in the various animated shows at the time, years before the MCU came along. DC has not really had any good video game representation other than the Batman Arkham games, and even in those games Batman is by far the least interesting character and is outshined by all the villains and supporting cast. My emotional attachment to Marvel heroes is what makes me enjoy most of the MCU movies, even if a lot of them are kinda flat and formulaic. While I do appreciate some DC movies, I liked Birds of Prey, I could tell that I wasn't getting as much out of them as I would if I had known these characters before this movie.
@@Princess_Weekes the worst thing for these marvel/DC characters was trying to make them popular to both sexes. It's like trying to make soap operas popular to both sexes. You have to make it something it is not.
I think it's cool that you're so willing to admit that you have your own biases that affect your views as a critic! I see so many youtube "critics" who act like they're completely objective in their criticisms (which I don't think is even really possible) so it's refreshing to see someone take a completely different approach
I do like DC better because there are some interesting concepts/ideas throughout DC media but for some reason it's not often executed very well. Marvel is very samey and safe to me, which is why most Marvel media is average and entertaining but not boundary-pushing.
Really good advice, I think, on how to critique art, despite the fact that everyone has specific tastes and biases. I thought it was really well put at the end!
First video of yours I have watched. Loved it. Just by you existing you are blazing a trail for our people for years to come. You now have a loyal subscriber.
Okay, speaking of the Fast and Furious, why is that franchise not brought up more often in conversations about superhero film franchises? Everyone talks about Marvel and DC, but no one talks about the Fast characters and their car-based superpowers.
I'm a comics fan, and I've never been hooked by FatF franchise, and I think it's because either I'm expecting car stuff to be boring (because it's just cars) it that it's unbelievable because cars can't do that. With superheroes I can suspend my belief and buy into the fact that superman is super or that Tony's suit can do that. Just my guess.
I really appreciate your in put. Even after months of no marvel and DC releases, I'm stupid tired of people tripping over one another to write a glowing review of every single MCU film that comes out and having an existential crisis everytime DC releases a movie. Even my friends who consume media more critically than others tend to just accept everything marvel does and shit on anything DC as a knee jerk reaction.
I'm an old fart. Internet culture twisted Marvel va DC into something it never was before, where you have to hate the other in order to like one. For whatever reason, internet culture encourages out of control tribalism. For those of us who read these comics before the days of the internet, Marvel vs DC was just a preference. I like both, I just happen to like Marvel better, and so I call myself a Marvel fan. The MCU movies are genuinely better than DCEU movies, but that's just for now. It wasn't that long ago when Nolan's Batman movies raised the bar above what FOX or Sony could do with X-Men or Spider-Man movies, and back then, I simply enjoyed the DC movies and hoped the Marvel movies would eventually get better. They did. I think the success and critical acclaim of the Nolan movies set up the DCEU movies for failure. WB executives imitate the mistakes of the comic book industry in the 1990s, and didn't understand why the Nolan movies were popular. So they tried to make every property have the same "dark and gritty" tone as the Nolan movies, even Superman. If they bothered studying the source material, they would know that fans never liked it when the comic books tried to make Superman dark and gritty either. Anyway, part of what makes the MCU successful right now is that Kevin Feige understands that each Marvel property needs its own separate tone and themes. Ant-Man is very different from Black Panther, and both are better for it. I think Walter Hamada at WB understands this. Ever since he got involved, each DCEU movie feels different from the others. Aqua Man feels very different from Shazam. I really think DCEU movies are finally on track to get better, and I hope they do it in a way that preserves some of the unique character of DC. Now all they have to do is keep Snyder away from the movies.
I'm consistently satisfied to find how your perspective adds to my understanding of the big picture issues I care about! I appreciate your videos so very much!
I will say tho, having felt out of touch with superhero movies for a while before the Avengers came out, I kind of liked how bland (or maybe safe?) the MCU appeared to be. Kind of like a narrative palate cleanser!
snyderverse characters are not the heroes i grew up with either. they were going for.. "realism" and it just did not work for me. snyder is ambitious, his cinematography and symbolism etc gets a lot of praise but the characters! they matter and he does not understand or even like them. symbolism and looks aren't the only things that make a movie and good god the sYmBoLiSm, we get it! it's not subtle! his hereoes don't feel like heroes, don't feel like characters i should or can root for. that's my preference, and you know what idc about dc's edgelord fans' opinions. dc's comics have gotten worse because edgy writers catering to edgy fans i don't have agree with or please any of them. you get exactly what i feel about comics and cbm and.. those capes. subscribed!
I eventually lost interest in Agents of SHIELD because it was so disconnected from the movies. I enjoy that they explored obscure corners of the Marvel universe (such as Deathlok, who was the original RoboCop). I especially like getting backstory on Quake. In the comics, she's just a mysterious bad*ss who appears out of nowhere, kicks everyone's butts, and disappears just as fast. It's good that she is powerful and mysterious, but I like getting the whole backstory of how she became such a bad*ss and see her when she was more vulnerable and less sure of herself. Sort of like Batman: Year One. But ultimately, I just couldn't stay with it. And yes, I also really like Ming Na Wen.
Oh, I feel this. I will be watching FATWS, but I don't care about the other shows. I never bothered with AOS. Growing up I was really attached to Batman characters and the X-Men. I watched all the X-Men movies in theaters (except for Dark Phoenix). I loved Smallville. I loved Young Justice and JLU. Yet, when it comes to comics...I prefer to read Marvel. We're the same age because I was also 16 when Iron Man came out, but I already knew the character and liked him. MCU has completely changed how Marvel writes these characters and it's upsetting. The Guardians have totally changed since their intro to the MCU.
Dude, you are my spirit animal. Finally someone (who happens to love Superman as I do), noticed how Thor draws the short straw on all the ensemble movies.
As a much older comic book fan, I was reading mostly Marvel back in the 60s and 70s. Now I'm watching films with my kids and my biases often show as we discuss what we like. Your point of which version of a character are the ones we connect with struck me strongly. In my past, Spiderman was my bias as I was a teenager when he was. The new Ms. Marvel hits those same notes for me.
@MortalGamerDC1 85 That wasn't my experience in the 60s and 70s, when I developed my biases. I loved reading about Peter Parker, another school kid like me. Reading Kamala Khan now makes me smile despite not being a kid anymore, nor a Muslim or Pakistani. However my bias has me loving that, not anything I've seen by DC.
Refreshing honesty=new sub. Even the most ardent critical thinker has biases that are formed by their unique life experiences, and no one who claims pure objectivity in their critique of anything in the realm of entertainment should be followed blindly, no matter how many hours they spend explaining their data and asserting their authority. I feel it's a sign of maturity to recognize and counteract those prejudices even as the hind-brain is screaming to keep those proverbial arms crossed when experiencing something we expect to hate, but it's not easy and that's why many people just give in to the emotional impulse to double down and lash out. In the Marvel vs. DC debate, I have a "home team" that I've always preferred due to the psychological phenom of First Exposure, and no matter how hard I (now) try to give both sides equal space in my brain, that little voice that tells me "I like X better' is never fully silenced. In my youth I felt a measure of smug glee when the "opposition" failed, but through considerable effort and time I've taught myself to head off that inner monologist before he's allowed to finish writing my opinion. I don't always succeed, but I'll never stop trying. All that said, in the subjective world of comics (all art), "liking what you like and wanting what you want" is perfectly ok because it's doing no harm to the quality of life of those around you. In the REAL world however.........
Loved this video. Very good and insightful and TRUE. Thank you for pointing out that some Marvel movies are boring as hell. And that the films are very homogeneous, and can get stale.
I have the same experience, I really have a heavy DC bias. So when DC is awesome I'm ecstatic, when DC is bad, I feel it in my soul. For Marvel, my feelings aren't that extreme. For marvel, there are just 5 movies I think are really good, the others I don't think I would have seen had they not been partnered up with the entirety of the MCU. Also really curious what your thoughts are on the new CW Superman and Lois show!
Legends Sara Lance is completely different from Arrow Sara Lance! Legends is so good! And super gay. (Though you can probably fast forward through the first season, it really hots it's stride in season 2)
Steve Rogers did grow and he did have a character arc in the MCU. He was too trusting of authority and didn't make time for himself and, you know, living a life. Natasha and Tony both nagged him about it.
very nice exposition , thank you for your time, and hard work. Marvel has opened the door for Stark and Ultron being a stolen asset by the revelation by Mysterio in Far From Home. The main problem in fans allowing biases to influence which comic company/characters they identify with/ root for is a tendency to think that if they like one companies pool of characters, by default they MUST dislike the other. Having been a collector of both companies simultaneously, I found that rather than following certain characters, my "taste for escapist fantasy" followed writers, and artists; who when given enough time would change teams. If the professionals who create for us can enjoy batting for both sides, why can't we? My experiences in the movie adaptations/disappointments changed after X-men 3, when Jean disintegrated professor X, i came to the realization that "oh, they're not trying to reproduce anything from the comics." I was able to "let go", and just objectively view each film. Without the baggage of expecting them to respect the source material, I was then able to call trash, TRASH, and superior film making, really well produced. Oh well we will see what the 'corono does to comic movies. PEACE dear sister. God bless, and strengthen your every endeavor.
It's nice to not subscribe to only one Comic Publisher and just be a fan of borh I'm glad you admitted your Biases, not many are willing to admit they're wrong or for example change they're mind on a movie
This is exactly how I feel as I also grew up with a lot of the DC characters and those animated shows, especially Superman since I discovered the Justice League animated series, Superman animated show, 'Smallville' and the 78' Superman movie all around the same time. In comparison, the only Marvel properties I knew were the Raimi Spider-Man movies and re-runs of the 80's X-men animated series. I also enjoy the MCU movies and like you, really liked The Avengers when it first came out and watched it multiple times but in retrospect - not so much. On the other hand, for some reason, I've really enjoyed the DC movies even with the hate they get with the exception of SS and JL (which were trash). I had mixed feelings about 'Man of Steel' since its Superman is so different to the Superman I grew up with. I've only seen the Ultimate Edition of BvS and I really enjoyed that movie and I just couldn't understand how so many people seemed to hate that movie. I think that has to do with my DC bias where my love of the characters and excitement for seeing them together in live action for the first time has just made it impossible to hate.
I would actually love to have a conversation about the marvel movies bias and I would love if you haven't already made a video addressing it for you to go into detail about the middling or more boring movies you refer to. My parents and I discuss these films pretty much every time I see them (i was raised by comic nerds) and we struggle pretty much every conversation we have to criticize anything after iron man 3 in the chronology. I typically argue against Dr. Strange myself in these discussions. If you can find the time to respond though I'd love to read more of your thoughts
I love the DC characters so much more. It's like the DC cast of characters and the spider-verse. Marvel got good movies but I honestly only love Spiderman lol
I love this video. So glad there are other "nerds" who love the cultural history of comics. I am always amazed by world building, even the issues. What is also funny is that I am so able to suspend my disbelief that I actually enjoyed the first Daredevil movie... raving about the soundtrack (which hasn't aged well).. and snatched up that Director's Cut, which is actually BETTER, because Coolio's part was in it, and that subplot actually knit together things that made no sense from the theatrical cut, plus the Elektra-Daredevil scene where Daredevil was actually meant to LEAVE Elektra, but studio execs forced in a "love scene" for the theatrical cut, which was inconsistent character development and just stupid.. anyway.. see? I get carried away! :)
I couldn't get into Arrow because they turned Green Arrow into "Batman, but with a bow" and that really bugged me. To me, Green Arrow is at his best when he's the swashbuckling social justice warrior guy, scolding other heroes for micro-aggressions and questioning the whole concept of the vigilante thing.
YES!!!! My major break with Man of Steel was the Pa Kent thing and I have not been able to get past it. I love Henry Cavill as Superman, but I have MAJOR issues with what the writers did to Pa Kent.
I've always been a DC. It's always just felt like a home to me. I like Marvel just fine, but my comic pull list is largely DC titles. I'll critique DC all day because they just have this uncanny ability to almost always make the wrong decision with their characters, but I still root for 'em. Also, thank you for acknowledging the greatness of Superman: The Animated Series. That show never gets any love outside of the Superman community and it's a shame.
Same... like DC is just home and different and I can just relate more to it compared to Marvel. The backstories are fleshed out and the powerful but down to earth heroes are so real. I hate the live action movies but the animated movies/shows hold a special place in my heart especially Justice League Unlimited.....
The MCU is its own universe. It mirrors the comics to some degree, but it was never set-up or promised to be a visual rehash of the stories as comics fans knew them. And it can't be. Films are just a totally different thing. Comics roll on forever with several coming out a month. They can be convoluted and drawn out and that's part of the charm. The MCU, up to this point, had 2 or 3 films a year and a limited number of film appearances for each actor. The universe is necessarily smaller, things have to be condensed or a general audience couldn't understand it. To get some idea of what that would have been like, watch _Buckaroo Banzai_ sometime. The Rug Suckers' appearance is "fan" service. They're from the massive Banzai Universe that no one knows.
Both are capable of creating great material. The majority of the montly offerings of both isn't particularly good. I'd say that the peak of DC tends to be better than the best of Marvel, while the average quality of Marvel seems a bit higher. Amusingly enough this has extended to the movie universe as well. I've been trying to read more current offerings from both, but outside of Hickman's X-men I haven't read anything that truly grips me.
I feel the same way about this issue: i grew up reading DC golden age-era issues that were handed down to me in a cardboard box, & then as a teenager got into watchmen. i have basically all the vertigo TPBs on my comics shelf. DC is my comics home but i have really enjoyed marvel stuff. my one big gripe with the MCU is that they didn't take the opportunity to rename the Kree aliens, given that hundreds of thousands of Cree people still live in what's now called Canada. (Former Miss Universe Ashley Callingbull, is Cree, for example.) it just doesn't sit right with me, especially because you can't hear the spelling difference
I agree with you on lots although I’m attached to both dc and marvel through comics and tv, animation etc. With that being said I love the dceu and I enjoy the MCU not as much as before when it was first started.
Agents of SHIELD is one of my favorite shows. All the characters are so well developed and it has some of the best representation of heroic women and people of color ever done on TV. To a lesser extent I feel kind of the same way about Legends of Tomorrow which also manages to have interesting gay, lesbian, and bisexual representation. Aside from the FF & Spider-Man family, most of the Marvel comic book characters that I really love were X-Men and they were done so dirty in the live action movies.
Comic book characters are brands and none of us are immune to propaganda and brand loyalty (and that's okay!). This video is a great exploration of the consequences of that for fans and critics alike. Phenomenal.
I also have a huge bias of DC over Marvel, even though I didn't really get into DC until after I fell in love with the MCU. Also disliked Sara Lance on Arrow but love her on Legends (post season 1)
DC has much, much better characters, but Warner Bros. has no idea what to do with them. You can't get more complex and better written characters than Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, The Flash ect... in comic books and Warner Bros. doesn't understand that. They made the mistake of trying to copy Marvel's films, and because of that, they have a confused and convoluted timeline and non-comic book movie fans find them alienating. That is why Birds of Prey and Shazam! really under-performed. Marvel took some of the most obscure comic book characters ever and made them the most popular characters in the world. On what planet is Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk on a bigger level of popularity as Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and The Flash? Ours, apparently. It's just frustrating watching a studio ruin two franchises (Harry Potter) that has extraordinary potential. MCU might be a little generic and visually flat, but I'd rather that than an ugly color palette, terrible characters and atrocious writing. Also, yeah, going into the MCU blind and DC not really is a big factor.
I think they mostly haven't understood that Gods are f... terrifying if they are portrayed as overly flawed. The Flawed hero, that is mostly Marvel's thing. (There is also nothing generic about the MCU).
That's really interesting... I'm kind of the polar opposite when I see adaptations with characters I love from the comics vs. adaptations with characters I don't follow in the comics. If it's a really, really good show in its own right, I'll love it regardless, but if it's less than stellar, I can be a lot more forgiving towards shows about characters I'm _not_ emotionally attached to. I remember seeing Superman Returns in the theater, and it was... just fine. Pretty forgettable. And I liked Smallville quite a lot, and really liked Clark's and everybody else's characterization. But watching the Daredevil movie (the one with Affleck) made me want to throw something heavy at my TV because it felt like a character assassination. It was especially bad at the time because there weren't any better adaptations of Matt's character back then. But I loved loved loved loved _loved_ the Netflix series - like, to the point where it's probably my favorite comic-book adaptation of all time - precisely because it's about my favorite comic-book character. So I guess if it's not about a character I love, it ranges from, "I don't think that was very good," (for bad shows) to, "I really enjoyed that. That was _really_ good" (for good shows). But when it comes to shows about characters I love from the comics, it's more like, "this is the greatest thing ever!" or "that was the worst thing I've ever seen!" Nothing in-between. :D
I grew up watching DC Super Friends, The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, The Flash live action series from 1990, X-Men The Animated Series, Batman The Animated Series, Superman the Animated Series, Spider-man The Animated Series, Fantastic Four The Animated Series, Iron Man The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Teen Titans. I now watch Teen Titans Go! with my son and point out to him all the references to the comics and prior media. The first comics I read on a regular basis were Uncanny X-men (with the Storm-led Gold Team) and Punisher War Journal. My favorite comics of all time include Marvels, Kingdom Come, and All-Star Superman. Even my favorite comic book series, Astro City, which is not a DC or Marvel series, is a pastiche of DC and Marvel superhero universes. The greatest comic book event of all time to me was DC vs. Marvel and the Amalgam comics. I am a fan of both big two publishers. I love seeing superheroes in a grand universe with other superheroes, and the adoption of this idea by the superhero film genre is a big part of why I watch them. I have a major bias when a superhero film depiction of a favorite character of mine is incongruent with their characterization in the comics. I still have never seen Man of Steel because Superman is one of my favorite characters and what I know about the movie ruins it for me. Meanwhile, Spawn is another of my favorite characters, and I can rewatch the technically bad Spawn film adaptation because Spawn's creator had so much input and the character is how he is in the comics. I hope I live long enough to see films cross over the Marvel and DC universes.
I like the marvel movies because they're consistent in their quality level, for the most part. I tolerate the dc movies because I love the comic characters. But they keep skinning the characters and shoving strangers into the flesh suits. Wonder Woman is the only character I can look at in those movies and be like "Yep, that's my Wonder Woman." Whereas when it comes to marvel movies, I have character consistency. Steve is always trying I stand up for the little guy, Tony is trying to protect his ego, until he has that trauma and tries too hard to protect literally anyone. I definitely don't feel bad ragging on the dceu when all they actually offer me is a plate of not garbage disguised as the comic book characters I actually love. The mcu always keeps the core of their characters, and add some new elements to set them apart from their comic counterparts. I look at comic Natasha and movie Natasha and I'm like, yes these are recognizably connected, but superman? Nope. Batman? Nope. The Flash? Definitely huge big nope. Aquaman? Nope. Though in that case it's a positive because comic Aquaman is.... Bland. The DCEU manipulates us into thinking we'll get to see the characters we love on the big screen, then pushes is down a trapdoor with spikes at the bottom and laughs. I love Wanda, and sure the mcu might not have done much with her... But she is still definitely my Wanda. And the X-Men films were somewhere in the middle, they were the comic characters, but had been sanded down to a point where they were almost unrecognizable, but still there was something there at least. And the cw shows do the same thing as the dc movies. My green arrow tells bad jokes, and my laurel finds his annoying Ollie-isms endearing. Not on the CW though, they only share names. My Kara is angry, and lonely... Not a copy-paste of Clarks personality. My flash is Wally West, I get that sure Barry had to come first but they made Wally.... empty he was such a non character the actor didn't even want to be in that role anymore. I have no comments on black lighting it's pretty much perfect in my book. My Batwoman is... definitely not Ruby Rose. I guess, the marvel movies actually do give me what I want, sure maybe kinda slowly, (Wanda getting her own story is way I overdue I'm so goddamn excited) but at least they actually listen to the fans. While the dceu can't even get basic characterisation right, but I have decades of comics where the characters actually are themselves that I can enjoy. Dc is trying to play catch up even though the dceu doesn't need to be rushed, just adapt the actual comic characters! But nope, they'd rather continue doing whatever they're doing right now, which from what I see, it's just them making a mess and then looking at that mess and saying omg how did this happen? It happened because y'all keep trying to do too much too fast while also changing things too damn much. And nobody asked for that. Y'all have the better source material to draw from, but still somehow marvel is doing so much better. And now that they have the x-men? Dceu is over, don't need it. Bye y'all it's done because X-Men are like, best characters, best stories, best everything. The mediocre 'attempts' of the dceu will just never be enough at this rate of going
My Marvel vs DC bias only comes down to the movies. Mostly really anything involved with Snyder. Man of Steel was his Ayn Rand, objectivist wet dream. Doing what he did to Pa Kent. Jonathan and Martha are why Clark doesn't go Kid Marvelman on the world. They are what separate him from a Batman. Went and made them all selfish and depressing. Let me woosah. Other than that I enjoy both. I lean more towards Marvel, but on DC Universe, I love Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, Stargirl and Harley Quinn. I enjoyed Shazam. For me my enjoyment in all of this, is because that little kid back in 84 who would ask grandma to buy him to comics while at the bodega playing her numbers, and tried to use dental floss for web shooters, is loving all of this.
I don’t agree with your stance about DC because, though representation is great, and reverence to the source material is beyond appreciated amongst us geeks, story telling is still key and the Arrow-verse has struggled like hell with that, as has the DCEU for lack of coherent vision or direction, and - as someone who near-adoringly finished rereading Jim Krueger and Alex Ross’ Justice - I expect so much better, especially after the blueprints of how to do so have basically been laid out by the competition. Despite that, loved hearing your stance and I totally understand/appreciate hearing it.
So, I really loved the MCU experience. It was a thing me and my friends, and someone I really liked, very much bonded over. And seeing Endgame was a fantastic cap to it. But now with that over, all the extra stuff coming ... I feel I can live without - ALL - of it. I didnt obsessively watch every one, but I saw most of them, and enjoyed them. I do want to watch more Captain Marvel, more Black Panther, Doc Strange, and Antman/Wasp. But I dont need another subscription to see the, ~now~ official cannon, shows. I feel like I got that experience, and I'm ready to ween off it, to make room for the next experience. So if there are additional heros to get movies, it will be a case by case basis. My group of friends is not exactly what it was. They guy I liked moved away. Life has changed for me, I have a perspective on the MCU that only hindsight can give. And I'm ready for that to end, when ever it does, and move on with my fan-life.
Titans really frustrated me because I love the teen titans so much. I just couldn't. They put a wig on starfire that just looks weird.they could have givin her her afro hair in orange. I liked beast boy but the cgi was lacking. And Dick was nice. But yeah everything was just...no
So many DC cartoons, from BTAS to Young Justice, have some of the best storytelling in all of cartoons, maybe even better than a good amount of TV shows in general from the past 30ish years.
Sigh* I don’t put much energy into Marvel VS DC. Each do something bad / good. I respect what Marvel was able to accomplish with the MCU especially with character limitations. DC has so much potential. Personally loved Man of Steel. BVS DIrector’s Cut had some of the best imagery and comic book action to date. Justice League was straight trash. A better version of Suicide Squad exists somewhere but the theatrical release was bad. Birds of Prey did not do it for me. Aquaman and Wonder Women were entertaining. My frustration with DC movies is that they have amazing characters and the potential to have a successful event film that rivals anything that the MCU has put out. If we blindly evangelize the mediocre DC films, that won’t help DC get the movie treatment that there characters deserve. X-Men is my favorite comic book team. But I am not a fan of those Fox movies. I did not support the later films in the theater. For the most part, I feel that DC fans that truly love DC characters are getting labeled as MCU fan boys because we can acknowledge what Marvel does right and we can criticize what DC does wrong. Do we want DC to mimic Marvel? Absolutely not. They tried that with JL. Do we want a consistent vision for the universe? Absolutely.
as a dc fan (and automatically a dc hater because i love the characters) and a compulsive watcher (?) of titans...... and a selective fan of marvel ip... SAME.
Growing up I was exclusively Marvel based mainly the X-men, then I got into Fantastic 4. I think I was a true Marvel fan boy and wouldn't go anywhere near DC, I bought my first DC comic when I got older...
Sometimes I have a hard time putting into words why I prefer the DC universe more than Marvel but I think a lot of it comes down to what parts of those properties I jive most with. The Marvel films have, overall, been pretty fun but I don't really care about most of the characters they've put in the movies except for Spiderman and the X-Men and I think I'm most into those because I grew up watching the cartoons--and that's a lot of the reason I like DC more is because I grew up watching Batman, Superman, Justice League, Teen Titans. Those shows were just flat out better than Marvel's. Spiderman and X-Men were fun as a kid but if you go back and watch them now they're hardly more cohesive than GI-Joe or He-Man because those were made expressly for selling toys; the DC cartoons still hold up pretty well (especially Justice League Unlimited, that series is a masterwork), and you only need to go to the animated films to see where DC really shines! I guess I've always preferred DC's comics to Marvel as well, but that's definitely where I just can't put a finger on why; I think it's because of the tone and subject material. Marvel's comics always seemed kind of superficial to me? Despite DC's penchant for being "dark" and "gritty" I guess I just think they deal with real life type stuff better.
I was raised primarily on Marvel, but I kinda don't like the MCU and it has nothing to do with the interpretation of the characters. I have grown up on various versions of Marvel and DC characters that I'm fine with different versions. It's more how homogenous the movies became. At first, it was cool because you had movies that could be from different genres. Captain America TFA and Thor are very different movies. But the more recent outings have been, with a very few exceptions, mostly the same. And I was really hoping DC would pull together and provide a viable alternative. But their solution was to get Joss Whedon and make another Marvel movie. But they did give us Birds of Prey. I have a clear Marvel bias, but I tend to follow what's good. I remember wishing Marvel had something as good as the DCAU back in the 90s, and then they killed some of their better shows for an MCU-alike. Arrowverse is better than most Marvel shows IMO, and I would love to see Marvel get that. The different tones between Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning and Legends is refreshing. I don't even know a lot of the characters in these shows, but I enjoy them immensely.
You and I are in the same boat. DC characters mean the world to me,but the MCU has been stronger overall. Even when the Flash or Batwoman make no sense,I will be invested enough to even rewatch because I care about the characters ,and the shows do as well. I won't watch Piece of Sh-I mean Man of Steel because I feel it is made by and for people who don't like and get Superman.Compare that to WandaVision which was fun and smart ,but I probably won't watch it again. Jessica Jones ia the exception. She's my girl 💪🏾. I could almost compare it to my Charmed vs Buffy. Buffy is a good show with something today,but Charmed gives me a feeling Buffy can't touch.
I read no comics as a child, and X-Men only in college at the recommendation of my unrequited crush. I saw Christopher Reeves as Superman before ever setting eyes on a comic book! Liking him and the X-Men books is why I gave my snobby friends the finger and went to see the X-Men movie. I almost wrote off superhero movies because I was so disappointed in that one. My boss actually made me watch Iron Man that time I was the orphan at her Thanksgiving dinner and I've preferred Marvel ever since. TL;DR RDJ did it for me, too, though Gal Gadot is def a draw.
As a fan of the pre 2000's Thor Comics, I don't mind that he got the short straw in the Team ups, he was the least interesting character in his own comics as well. The comics were great despite a so-so lead.
Never underestimate nostalgia bias. Also, comic book fans aren’t exempt from the “book reader” effect. When you go in with expectations and knowledge of the stories and characters, you’re going to interact with movie and tv adaptations differently than if you go into a movie blind.
I think cap changes natrully due to events The thing with Marvel is their so good at character development.we really grow to love these characters in their movies. They pick the best actors for the part. The writing is well done .and the special effects teams really outdo themselves. They may have their defaults but for the most part thier amazing BUT can't deny that DC has the best characters and comics. Joker? Harley? Catwoman? The list goes on
10:38 did she say "tom hiddleston could get my bussy" 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 but on a less memetic note, this is an interesting video and i like hearing your thoughts about it (even tho i truly don't know anything about superhero comics or movies)
@Melina Pendulum, To be blunt, Your channel is awesome. How would you rate the Bruce Timm-Verse/DCAU (Batman/TT TAS - JLU/BBeyond) and the 90's Marvel Animated Universe (X-Men T.A.S. - Avengers - United They Stand), in comparison to each other ? How would you rate the "off/non continuity" shows to those above (XME, W&TXM, The Batman, Young Justice, etc.) ?
I've always thought the DC vs Marvel thing was stupid and couldn't understand why people can't just either enjoy both or like what they like without being a dick. I have a bit more attachment to DC characters, but I love a lot of stuff from Marvel as well (TMNT are my favorite comic characters), so I never understood why there needed to be a clash between the fandoms. The internet has for sure taken the stupid tribalism to another level and it makes the whole experience a lot less fun.
Legends of Tomorrow is one of the best dc TV shows right now. No one else really captures the campy ridiculousness of both comics and the concept of time travel
I love the X men comics, but the movies are trash and I won't support them. I liked Superman movies from the 80s and animated series. But the DC movies have been trash. I have read Teen Titans, and Outsiders with Robin as the lead but I can't stand that Titans tv show. Like you said it's badly written. At the end of the Day, I'm not going to support trash. It's important that people hold them accountable. MCU overall has been really good and more consistent than any other comicbook style universe, but it can and should be held accountable when they create great plotholes. The movie industry has made it very clear they are not making these movies for comicbooks fans, so they shouldn't be judged by the comics standard at all. They are their own thing, and they expect those fans to come to the movies to support these characters that they love, because they want the coins. They should be held to a consistent standards for any comicbook character films, not with bias. If you are claiming you are a "fan" remember that fan is short for "Fanatic" so you're already approaching the film the wrong way. These fans are what create the toxic community in the vs. nature of "DC vs Marvel" to begin with.
when it comes to DCEU vs MCU, there isn't even a contest going on. Marvel is the clear winner. DC still is good, the movies are just being written and looked after by incompetent people in general. If they didn't announce Michael Keaton coming back, I would never see another DCEU movie and be happy
Was gonna do a big 'whatabout' post about all the things I don't like about the DC universe, but I'll just say this: for all the toxic garbage that does sneak into Marvel movies (Iron Man 1 comes to mind), Justice League was worse about it. Apparently Gal Gadot even refused to shoot scenes, scenes that *very much* stuck out as fan service of a low level.
For Marvel or DC i don't give 2 craps lol which one of you can give me a show with a Black girl main and central character, like name in the title type main character and none of them has done that yet
Well I still hope for a Storm solo movie one day. And if the next Captain Marvel film is about Mónica Rambeau se can add too. Also haven't DC release something with Vixen as the lead? I think It was a webseries
I like that you address the issue of Disney taking over the film industry because to me that is the #1 concern. No marginalized group benefits from that group of assholes calling the shots.
It's a short sighted pespective. Look at the "rivals" so to speak. There is Universal on the one hand, which is owned by Comcast, and is the product of a merger which was only allowed under specific rules, rules which Comcast then went and broke with no consequences whatsoever. By all rights the merger should have been forbitten. Then there is Warner Bros, which is owned by Time Warner which is now owned by AT&T in another recently permitted merger which should have NEVER been allowed. In BOTH cases we are talking about companies which don't just own the means of production but also the means of distribution (meaning distribution over cable), something which was supposed to be stopped forever when anti-Trust laws forbit studios to own their own theatre chains. And in this market place, Disney's and Fox's one chance to survive in the long run was this merger. Am I pleased with this? Nope, but I would have been even less pleased if Disney and Fox had gone under in the long run.
I mean, we are talking about a huge problem here, but Disney's merger only put it eye to eye with Comcast and AT&T, and I find it really odd that after I spend years screaming about how damaging their mergers were, now suddenly Disney gets all the flag for following THEIR parts. Disney in the newcomer in this set-up after all.
And currently there is a huge danger that Corona might put Disney into a situation in which they might fall victim to a hostile take-over, possible by apple. Which would be a catastrophe. Disney as last media focussed company needs to provide a counter-balance to all those "we own the studios AND can control your internet" types out there.
@@swanpride I agree and oppose all such mergers. I have been screaming for what feels like decades (and is stretching out to nearly as much) for all the good it has done any of us.
@@swanprideDisney merging with Fox to me sounds extremely obvious, both are very socially conservative and share biases. I also oppose all monopolistic mergers as that is extremely harmful for both the economy and the consumer, but Disney burning their infinite coffers in the streaming wars while devouring the rest of the industry is very concerning to say the least.
I remember some complaints about Robert Downey Junior as Tony Stark and my brother and I said, “Hm. A rich, alcoholic, playboy. I kinda think RDJ can pull that one off.”
Yeah. I remember thinking it was genius, and I ran off to see the movie in the theaters. The problem for him is that his career totally came back because of Iron Man, but now he IS Tony Stark (and also Sherlock Holmes.. ha.. well when Doctor Strange Cumberbatch isn't.. or.. ha) and that is going to make his choices tougher.
It is also worth noting, too, that Iron Man wasn't (and in comics still isn't) one of the most popular characters, so the synergy between actor and role was huge for both the character and the actor. That alchemy can probably never be reproduced.
@@jso6790 when the first Iron Man film came out it was genius and added a ton to the character and story, which has since influenced the characterization of him in the comics (to some degree).
The problem is that at some point the films forgot that all the stuff that makes RDJ's Tony Stark interesting are also horrible *flaws* and started romanticizing him instead.
Like, Civil War was basically Stark recognizing one of his flaws...as something just inherent to superheroing and projecting it onto the rest of the Avengers instead of going to therapy/putting himself in check.
And yet the film takes his side in trying to say that he's correct about it not just being him that has a problem (even if it is more murky on if he was right on what needed to be done bc of it all).
@@tahlialysse Thank you. I loved your analysis. The one thing I remember thinking, when reading Civil War, was that I am sure most of us reading it took Cap's side, but in the real world, I am sure most of us would be on Tony's. (As an aside, I loved the story where Reed Richards brought in the Mad Thinker to check his math and they had a good discussion) I agree with your assessment about the filmed version, but also understand that they had to shorthand it. It's the old "the book is better than the film" trope.
@@jso6790 to some extent, but it also would have been very easy for the film itself - not necessarily the characters - to acknowledge Tony's projections and hypocrisy. Like I was saying, he became romanticized rather than treated as interesting but severely flawed character
*Thank you.* I vastly prefer DC over Marvel, I just connect with the characters so much more. And I also thank you (as someone who is part Romani) for addressing that Marvel has a... tendency to take minority characters and make them not anymore. On the other hand, I appreciate DC taking Jericho, for example, and casting a deaf, transgender POC activist for the part! DC is trying, I really feel that way.
absolutely, yes, Superman the Animated Series is a JAM AND A HALF and so under-appreciated. Has some of my favorite versions of characters (Luthor? Metallo? Brainiac?) and consistently found ways to challenge Superman and make it feel like he's in danger while still working with the full range of his superpowers - any time anyone talks about how "Superman is boring because you can't have an invulnerable character and have any dramatic stakes" needs to watch that show.
Birds of Prey has preformed very well in the box office but because it’s not pulling MCU-level numbers, and sexism, it’s being called a flop. Sad. This is coming from a MCU fan.
Just Niquol As a movie it’s the best this new DC era has put out...they’ve been getting better but this one was the least messy
FreyaEinde Definitely improving. BoP and SQ are my favorites.
I'm sorry, but no. The movie is fantastic, but financially it flopped. It had a budget of $85 million - $100 million and made $200 million. A film needs to make 2.5x it's budget to be considered successful, and it did not. It needed to make $250 million total, minimum and not taking into account marketing, which for a film with that budget is probably around $25-30 million. So, it cost a minimum of $100 million if the budget and marketing are on the lower end of the spectrum. It flopped.
((Also, I realize this is not a rant anyone asked for, but I feel that to some degree, we're all English major's at heart, so I hope someone appreciates this. If not, it was cathartic to write, so, that's that.))
As a die-hard Harley Quinn fan, and die-hard birds of Prey fan, I loathed the movie. The characters were weak interpretations of their comic book selves and honestly felt like the director just read their Wikipedia pages. I loved the quirky comic book aesthetic, and the idea of us seeing Gotham though Harley Quinn's eyes, is a really neat idea. However, when a film markets itself as a great feminist paragon, I expect it to pay off. I don't mind feminist movies- in fact, I love them. But this felt like a disingenuous cash grab. The movie never addresses the abuse Harley went through, which is a huge point of contention on modern PC culture. She gets that one scene where she blows up the factory?? In fact, the majority of the film is Harley suffering from the consequences of something that Joker had an influence on. It doesn't seem like much of an "emancipation."
So, the movie doesn't address abuse, which, maybe, it's fine, it's a superhero movie. But, the Birds of Prey aspect of the whole film is also very weak. Renee had some wasted potential, but honestly, I'm not particularly enthralled by her comic book character anyway, so I can't speak to it. She was fine. Huntress was also..fine. the whole socially awkward assassin parody fell flat with me, but it was a cool idea. Other than that though, she had no personality. I adore Dinah, but again, her character fell really flat with me. Why the hell did she not use her Canary cry before the ending scene? Why didn't she stop the other girl from nearly being assaulted? If I had watched the movie with no prior comic nook knowledge, I would have been so confused at the end when she conveniently decides to actually be a superhero. (wait this was a superhero movie?)
Then we have Cassandra. Cass, baby what did they do to you. As an Asian American, knowing they had an Asian American director, I have no idea how they managed to fuck up her up so badly. Asians (East Asians less than south Asian's) are one of the least represented "major minority's" in American comic books. Asian characters have never particularly been developed well in media, and the original Cassandra (as much as I love her) is extremely problematic as well, so I appreciate the fact that they tried....but the changes they made to her literally made her no better as a person. I won't go into a whole rant about Asians intentionally being either overpowered oriental fetishes or weakened oriental fetishes in pop culture..because honestly, it's not incredibly relevant. What is relevant is the decision to make her "Cassandra" was literally only there to fill some sort of woke diversity quota. Replace her with anyone else, and the exact same plot would have played out. They completely stripped her of any original meaning and erased the essence of the character altogether. It's fucking insulting.
And that's my problem with the movie. I love all these characters so deeply. But, the director's intention to make a woke movie surpassed her devotion to the characters and the story. It's a comic book movie. The story doesn't have to be great (and it wasn't) but the characters are what makes comic book movies so damn fun. I want a woke feminist birds of prey/Harley Quinn movie that kicks ass and is unapologetic. But I want one that doesn't feel like it's manipulating parts of myself in order for the movie to succeed at the box office.
There are all sorts of other problematic things I could point out. Like how queer-coding Black Mask and Mister Zsasz by making them flamboyant and having some sort of subtextual reference in 2019 is extremely detrimental to the LGBT community and the "gay villain" trope we've fought so hard to upheave. The only people I know who actually loved the fact that Black Mask and Mister Zsasz are apparently gay are white cishet's who just want to seem woke. And yes, technically Renee and Harley are queer, but it didn't mention that in the movie, so it doesn't get to be a huge point of appreciation. As far as I'm concerned, they went out of their way to make the villans and only the villans homoerotic, and I have a problem with that.
I know this sounds nitpicky, but, if the directors are going to go out of their way to market this film as super progressive and for a progressive audience, I am going to hold it to a higher standard. I expected better of this film, and ultimately it failed at even the most basic tasks.
I remenber a really mean comment I read a while ago about the film in the comment section of the vid Amanda the Jedi did about the movie (in which a lot of people where trash talking because she dared to enjoy the film) and one incel said the movie was made "for Amber Heard".
See? That's why I loved Ant-Man and The Wasp. Hope was clearly written as more skilled than Scott. She dead should've been in the Avengers film. I also liked tht Ava Starr was a Black WoC, and Laurence Fishbourne was in it. MCU films kept doing the Smurfette trope (Black Widow, Gamora)
Speaking of Romani people. I genuinely hope a little Romani boy is cast as Dick Grayson.
With X-Men this wouldn't happen (Jean Grey, Storm, Polaris, Rogue, Dazzler, Shadowcat, Jubilee, Psylocke, Emma Frost, Moonstar, Karma, Wolfsbane, Magik, Husk, M...)
@@guillermodebaskerville7117 right! And I'm excited to see them. Especially since none of them got any due in the Singerverse...which was terrible.
Hope could've and should've been in an Avengers movies, but she is poorly written. So much so, they had to dumb down Scott in AM&TW. But they can't change the fact that Paul Rudd is the bigger star. So that's why Antman was in the Avengers movie instead of Wasp. If they actually tried to make Hope interesting, maybe she could've been in EG.
I loved the Justice League cartoons, especially Justice League Unlimited because it exposed me to the obscure parts of DC lore.
I started reading DC Comics in college in 2014 because I missed the characters from the 2003-2006 Teen Titans animated series and I was desperate to know what they were up to. That’s how attached I was, and still am, to those characters I grew up with. So I’m always harsher on DC than Marvel because I have 20 years of movies, TV, video games, and comics to compare each new DC story to. Whereas with Marvel I’m very specifically interested in the MCU, which has never inspired me to pick up a Marvel comic. So I take the MCU versions of these characters at face value.
To be fair, the Sara from Arrow and the Sara from Legends (especially after Season 1 of Legends) are two very different characters. And the Legends version of Sara is so much better.
And one of the only really bi women on tv.
I really appreciate how you try to acknowledge the Jewish history of comics as a medium, superheroes as a character type, and the Jewish lived experience of a lot of the creators you critique. You don't always recognize all the aspects of that experience, but you try and overall you do a good job.
"Tom Hiddleston can get my bussy." I just literally screamed, girl same. What I really liked about the first Avengers movie that I think was a unique signature of Joss Whedon was the conflict amongst the individual members of the Avengers with each other and how organic it felt when they rallied to save the day. Beyond just the previous movies building up to it, there were great steps taken to make these characters make sense in the same movie together. This is something that I think DC should have taken notes on. Wonder Woman and Superman don't make sense on the same team together. Sorry, not sorry. He is an alien with his powers being based in his extra-terrestial physiology and most of his main villains being aliens and technology based. While a character like Wonder Woman is more magic based, with villains being based from mythology. These types of archetypes CAN work together, and also are fundamentally at odds. The MCU did the foot work of establishing that Asgardians were not "magical" (although as a viewer, I don't think the magic was diminished) but that they were sufficiently advanced technologically. So when Thor fought beside Iron Man, it didn't feel shoe horned in the way that the Justice League did. Overall I prefer DC still, for all of the reasons that you discussed. Although I greatly appreciate Marvel too and I low key just feel blessed that we are getting more high quality super hero media than ever before.
You basically explained why I have seen every X-Men movie, despite the fact that they aren't good. I love the X-Men, that's my team I will watch and rad any and everything to do with them.
Stop the Cap
LITERALLY ME. Im really critique on dc and mcu films, but when is about x men films am always like "I LOVE THEM but theyr also kinda pieces of shit and i hate them"
X-men movies are terrible, a real wasted opportunity to make something amazing with great production values.
For me as a Marvel fan, the most shocking thing about the movies is that they can get me to like characters I didn't like from the comics. I never liked Ant-Man in the comics, but love the movie. I never liked Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics, but loved them in the movies.
A lot of the movie versions of these characters are better than the source material (such as Killmonger, Black Widow). Making Hawkeye less of a jerk was unforgivable, though.
There are too many jerks in the MCU already. Next generation Hawkeye might end up an adaptation of the more jerky personality though. After all, they can mix and match.
have you watched doom patrol? it’s probably my favorite DC show that i’ve seen so far. i think it’s very good.
Agree, hope you've enjoyed the first 3 episodes of the 2nd season
Doom Patrol is awesome as heck.
Best, weirdest TV show ever. I Fell in love with it After Dany was introduced
Danny is brilliant as is the episode he's introduced in. I think what's most bafflingly wonderful about Doom Patrol is every time we meet a new character I google them expecting that whatever absurd new addition is here, they just made up for the show, only to find the character has this long and deep history with Doom Patrol that presents them exactly as they are in the show. It's insane and I love it.
That and Stargirl
I've kind of been wanting to get more into DC lately, and couldn't really understand why so many DC characters just aren't interesting to me, but this video helped me realize why. I simply don't have the emotional attachment to any DC characters from growing up with them.
I don't read the comics so my exposure to these characters is entirely through other forms of media, namely cartoons and video games. As a kid the Marvel shows like Spider-man and X-men were more interesting to my little kid brain than DC shows like Batman and Justice League. They just seemed too "serious" and meant for older people, while the Marvel cartoons were more cartoony and appealed more to my little kid brain.
There's also the fact that Marvel has overall had much better video games based on their heroes, mainly Spider-man. I grew up playing many different Spider-man games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and X-Men Legends. Those games gave me a lot of exposure to the characters and helped learned their history, and exposed me to many heroes who weren't in the various animated shows at the time, years before the MCU came along. DC has not really had any good video game representation other than the Batman Arkham games, and even in those games Batman is by far the least interesting character and is outshined by all the villains and supporting cast.
My emotional attachment to Marvel heroes is what makes me enjoy most of the MCU movies, even if a lot of them are kinda flat and formulaic. While I do appreciate some DC movies, I liked Birds of Prey, I could tell that I wasn't getting as much out of them as I would if I had known these characters before this movie.
that makes total sense (and yes Marvel does have amazing video games and video game crossovers although i do enjoy the Injustice franchise)
@@Princess_Weekes
the worst thing for these marvel/DC characters was trying to make them popular to both sexes. It's like trying to make soap operas popular to both sexes. You have to make it something it is not.
@@citycrusher9308 That's bullshit, depending on where the world you are soap operas are popular with most people.
@@citycrusher9308 Uh, there are plenty of women into comics, bro. You're watching a video from one of them.
@@anakaliahaoa2551 Ah, no.
I think it's cool that you're so willing to admit that you have your own biases that affect your views as a critic! I see so many youtube "critics" who act like they're completely objective in their criticisms (which I don't think is even really possible) so it's refreshing to see someone take a completely different approach
I do like DC better because there are some interesting concepts/ideas throughout DC media but for some reason it's not often executed very well. Marvel is very samey and safe to me, which is why most Marvel media is average and entertaining but not boundary-pushing.
Except for Infinity War and Endgame
Really good advice, I think, on how to critique art, despite the fact that everyone has specific tastes and biases. I thought it was really well put at the end!
“Probably not gonna watch Wandavision, idc about them”
2 years later: *several Wandavision breakdown videos, theory videos, and discussions* 😭
First video of yours I have watched. Loved it. Just by you existing you are blazing a trail for our people for years to come. You now have a loyal subscriber.
I feel the exact same about Titans. Also Superman, Batman (though I acknowledge is overhyped), and the Pre-52 Wonder Woman.
Okay, speaking of the Fast and Furious, why is that franchise not brought up more often in conversations about superhero film franchises? Everyone talks about Marvel and DC, but no one talks about the Fast characters and their car-based superpowers.
Maybe because they're not comic book adaptations. It's the best explanation I can think of.
I'm a comics fan, and I've never been hooked by FatF franchise, and I think it's because either I'm expecting car stuff to be boring (because it's just cars) it that it's unbelievable because cars can't do that. With superheroes I can suspend my belief and buy into the fact that superman is super or that Tony's suit can do that. Just my guess.
FatF is a super successful action movie franchise. It is not a super hero franchise.
Agreed. Ever Fast 6, the franchise has been full on superhero films. And tbh, I'm here for it.
@@krim7 No shit Sherlock
I really appreciate your in put. Even after months of no marvel and DC releases, I'm stupid tired of people tripping over one another to write a glowing review of every single MCU film that comes out and having an existential crisis everytime DC releases a movie. Even my friends who consume media more critically than others tend to just accept everything marvel does and shit on anything DC as a knee jerk reaction.
I'm an old fart.
Internet culture twisted Marvel va DC into something it never was before, where you have to hate the other in order to like one. For whatever reason, internet culture encourages out of control tribalism.
For those of us who read these comics before the days of the internet, Marvel vs DC was just a preference. I like both, I just happen to like Marvel better, and so I call myself a Marvel fan.
The MCU movies are genuinely better than DCEU movies, but that's just for now. It wasn't that long ago when Nolan's Batman movies raised the bar above what FOX or Sony could do with X-Men or Spider-Man movies, and back then, I simply enjoyed the DC movies and hoped the Marvel movies would eventually get better. They did.
I think the success and critical acclaim of the Nolan movies set up the DCEU movies for failure. WB executives imitate the mistakes of the comic book industry in the 1990s, and didn't understand why the Nolan movies were popular. So they tried to make every property have the same "dark and gritty" tone as the Nolan movies, even Superman. If they bothered studying the source material, they would know that fans never liked it when the comic books tried to make Superman dark and gritty either.
Anyway, part of what makes the MCU successful right now is that Kevin Feige understands that each Marvel property needs its own separate tone and themes. Ant-Man is very different from Black Panther, and both are better for it.
I think Walter Hamada at WB understands this. Ever since he got involved, each DCEU movie feels different from the others. Aqua Man feels very different from Shazam. I really think DCEU movies are finally on track to get better, and I hope they do it in a way that preserves some of the unique character of DC.
Now all they have to do is keep Snyder away from the movies.
''Now all they have to do is keep Snyder away from the movies''
LOL - true.
Sucks now internet culture has made both horrible.
Yeah, Snyder was the worst thing ever happening to DC/WB, he just doesn't understand the source material.
I'm consistently satisfied to find how your perspective adds to my understanding of the big picture issues I care about! I appreciate your videos so very much!
I will say tho, having felt out of touch with superhero movies for a while before the Avengers came out, I kind of liked how bland (or maybe safe?) the MCU appeared to be. Kind of like a narrative palate cleanser!
snyderverse characters are not the heroes i grew up with either. they were going for.. "realism" and it just did not work for me. snyder is ambitious, his cinematography and symbolism etc gets a lot of praise but the characters! they matter and he does not understand or even like them. symbolism and looks aren't the only things that make a movie and good god the sYmBoLiSm, we get it! it's not subtle! his hereoes don't feel like heroes, don't feel like characters i should or can root for. that's my preference, and you know what idc about dc's edgelord fans' opinions. dc's comics have gotten worse because edgy writers catering to edgy fans i don't have agree with or please any of them.
you get exactly what i feel about comics and cbm and.. those capes. subscribed!
I eventually lost interest in Agents of SHIELD because it was so disconnected from the movies.
I enjoy that they explored obscure corners of the Marvel universe (such as Deathlok, who was the original RoboCop).
I especially like getting backstory on Quake. In the comics, she's just a mysterious bad*ss who appears out of nowhere, kicks everyone's butts, and disappears just as fast. It's good that she is powerful and mysterious, but I like getting the whole backstory of how she became such a bad*ss and see her when she was more vulnerable and less sure of herself. Sort of like Batman: Year One.
But ultimately, I just couldn't stay with it. And yes, I also really like Ming Na Wen.
Oh, I feel this. I will be watching FATWS, but I don't care about the other shows. I never bothered with AOS. Growing up I was really attached to Batman characters and the X-Men. I watched all the X-Men movies in theaters (except for Dark Phoenix). I loved Smallville. I loved Young Justice and JLU. Yet, when it comes to comics...I prefer to read Marvel. We're the same age because I was also 16 when Iron Man came out, but I already knew the character and liked him. MCU has completely changed how Marvel writes these characters and it's upsetting. The Guardians have totally changed since their intro to the MCU.
Dude, you are my spirit animal. Finally someone (who happens to love Superman as I do), noticed how Thor draws the short straw on all the ensemble movies.
As a much older comic book fan, I was reading mostly Marvel back in the 60s and 70s. Now I'm watching films with my kids and my biases often show as we discuss what we like. Your point of which version of a character are the ones we connect with struck me strongly. In my past, Spiderman was my bias as I was a teenager when he was. The new Ms. Marvel hits those same notes for me.
@MortalGamerDC1 85 That wasn't my experience in the 60s and 70s, when I developed my biases. I loved reading about Peter Parker, another school kid like me. Reading Kamala Khan now makes me smile despite not being a kid anymore, nor a Muslim or Pakistani. However my bias has me loving that, not anything I've seen by DC.
Refreshing honesty=new sub. Even the most ardent critical thinker has biases that are formed by their unique life experiences, and no one who claims pure objectivity in their critique of anything in the realm of entertainment should be followed blindly, no matter how many hours they spend explaining their data and asserting their authority. I feel it's a sign of maturity to recognize and counteract those prejudices even as the hind-brain is screaming to keep those proverbial arms crossed when experiencing something we expect to hate, but it's not easy and that's why many people just give in to the emotional impulse to double down and lash out.
In the Marvel vs. DC debate, I have a "home team" that I've always preferred due to the psychological phenom of First Exposure, and no matter how hard I (now) try to give both sides equal space in my brain, that little voice that tells me "I like X better' is never fully silenced. In my youth I felt a measure of smug glee when the "opposition" failed, but through considerable effort and time I've taught myself to head off that inner monologist before he's allowed to finish writing my opinion. I don't always succeed, but I'll never stop trying. All that said, in the subjective world of comics (all art), "liking what you like and wanting what you want" is perfectly ok because it's doing no harm to the quality of life of those around you. In the REAL world however.........
Loved this video. Very good and insightful and TRUE. Thank you for pointing out that some Marvel movies are boring as hell. And that the films are very homogeneous, and can get stale.
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
I feel the same way you feel about Titans about The X-Men... I'll watch every movie no matter how much they continuously mess it up...
Oh my goodness, I've never met someone who has extremely similar opinions about comicbooks as me. XD Your channel is amazing!
Okay i really stan you now that i know you stopped watching Arrow when they killed off Laurel bc thats exactly what i did too
You mentioning the old Superman show was such a blast to the past for me, I used to watch it with my mom all the time. What a good show
the bi explanation ... i’ve never related on something so specific ...LMFAOOO
I have the same experience, I really have a heavy DC bias. So when DC is awesome I'm ecstatic, when DC is bad, I feel it in my soul. For Marvel, my feelings aren't that extreme. For marvel, there are just 5 movies I think are really good, the others I don't think I would have seen had they not been partnered up with the entirety of the MCU.
Also really curious what your thoughts are on the new CW Superman and Lois show!
Legends Sara Lance is completely different from Arrow Sara Lance! Legends is so good! And super gay. (Though you can probably fast forward through the first season, it really hots it's stride in season 2)
Steve Rogers did grow and he did have a character arc in the MCU. He was too trusting of authority and didn't make time for himself and, you know, living a life. Natasha and Tony both nagged him about it.
very nice exposition , thank you for your time, and hard work. Marvel has opened the door for Stark and Ultron being a stolen asset by the revelation by Mysterio in Far From Home. The main problem in fans allowing biases to influence which comic company/characters they identify with/ root for is a tendency to think that if they like one companies pool of characters, by default they MUST dislike the other. Having been a collector of both companies simultaneously, I found that rather than following certain characters, my "taste for escapist fantasy" followed writers, and artists; who when given enough time would change teams. If the professionals who create for us can enjoy batting for both sides, why can't we? My experiences in the movie adaptations/disappointments changed after X-men 3, when Jean disintegrated professor X, i came to the realization that "oh, they're not trying to reproduce anything from the comics." I was able to "let go", and just objectively view each film. Without the baggage of expecting them to respect the source material, I was then able to call trash, TRASH, and superior film making, really well produced. Oh well we will see what the 'corono does to comic movies. PEACE dear sister. God bless, and strengthen your every endeavor.
cant wait to binge a bunch of your videos today❤️❤️
It's nice to not subscribe to only one Comic Publisher and just be a fan of borh
I'm glad you admitted your Biases, not many are willing to admit they're wrong or for example change they're mind on a movie
This is exactly how I feel as I also grew up with a lot of the DC characters and those animated shows, especially Superman since I discovered the Justice League animated series, Superman animated show, 'Smallville' and the 78' Superman movie all around the same time. In comparison, the only Marvel properties I knew were the Raimi Spider-Man movies and re-runs of the 80's X-men animated series. I also enjoy the MCU movies and like you, really liked The Avengers when it first came out and watched it multiple times but in retrospect - not so much.
On the other hand, for some reason, I've really enjoyed the DC movies even with the hate they get with the exception of SS and JL (which were trash). I had mixed feelings about 'Man of Steel' since its Superman is so different to the Superman I grew up with. I've only seen the Ultimate Edition of BvS and I really enjoyed that movie and I just couldn't understand how so many people seemed to hate that movie. I think that has to do with my DC bias where my love of the characters and excitement for seeing them together in live action for the first time has just made it impossible to hate.
I would actually love to have a conversation about the marvel movies bias and I would love if you haven't already made a video addressing it for you to go into detail about the middling or more boring movies you refer to. My parents and I discuss these films pretty much every time I see them (i was raised by comic nerds) and we struggle pretty much every conversation we have to criticize anything after iron man 3 in the chronology. I typically argue against Dr. Strange myself in these discussions. If you can find the time to respond though I'd love to read more of your thoughts
your vid’s are soooo good. keep up the great break downs and essays
I love the DC characters so much more. It's like the DC cast of characters and the spider-verse. Marvel got good movies but I honestly only love Spiderman lol
I love this video. So glad there are other "nerds" who love the cultural history of comics. I am always amazed by world building, even the issues. What is also funny is that I am so able to suspend my disbelief that I actually enjoyed the first Daredevil movie... raving about the soundtrack (which hasn't aged well).. and snatched up that Director's Cut, which is actually BETTER, because Coolio's part was in it, and that subplot actually knit together things that made no sense from the theatrical cut, plus the Elektra-Daredevil scene where Daredevil was actually meant to LEAVE Elektra, but studio execs forced in a "love scene" for the theatrical cut, which was inconsistent character development and just stupid.. anyway.. see? I get carried away! :)
I couldn't get into Arrow because they turned Green Arrow into "Batman, but with a bow" and that really bugged me. To me, Green Arrow is at his best when he's the swashbuckling social justice warrior guy, scolding other heroes for micro-aggressions and questioning the whole concept of the vigilante thing.
Omg the bisexual explanation is actually helpful for my identity explanation thank you 😩
YES!!!! My major break with Man of Steel was the Pa Kent thing and I have not been able to get past it. I love Henry Cavill as Superman, but I have MAJOR issues with what the writers did to Pa Kent.
I've always been a DC. It's always just felt like a home to me. I like Marvel just fine, but my comic pull list is largely DC titles. I'll critique DC all day because they just have this uncanny ability to almost always make the wrong decision with their characters, but I still root for 'em.
Also, thank you for acknowledging the greatness of Superman: The Animated Series. That show never gets any love outside of the Superman community and it's a shame.
Same... like DC is just home and different and I can just relate more to it compared to Marvel. The backstories are fleshed out and the powerful but down to earth heroes are so real. I hate the live action movies but the animated movies/shows hold a special place in my heart especially Justice League Unlimited.....
The MCU is its own universe. It mirrors the comics to some degree, but it was never set-up or promised to be a visual rehash of the stories as comics fans knew them. And it can't be. Films are just a totally different thing. Comics roll on forever with several coming out a month. They can be convoluted and drawn out and that's part of the charm. The MCU, up to this point, had 2 or 3 films a year and a limited number of film appearances for each actor. The universe is necessarily smaller, things have to be condensed or a general audience couldn't understand it. To get some idea of what that would have been like, watch _Buckaroo Banzai_ sometime. The Rug Suckers' appearance is "fan" service. They're from the massive Banzai Universe that no one knows.
Both are capable of creating great material. The majority of the montly offerings of both isn't particularly good. I'd say that the peak of DC tends to be better than the best of Marvel, while the average quality of Marvel seems a bit higher. Amusingly enough this has extended to the movie universe as well. I've been trying to read more current offerings from both, but outside of Hickman's X-men I haven't read anything that truly grips me.
I rarely comment on videos, but I’ve been trying to change that lately; been a long time viewer and really enjoy your content. thank you 💜
I feel the same way about this issue: i grew up reading DC golden age-era issues that were handed down to me in a cardboard box, & then as a teenager got into watchmen. i have basically all the vertigo TPBs on my comics shelf. DC is my comics home
but i have really enjoyed marvel stuff. my one big gripe with the MCU is that they didn't take the opportunity to rename the Kree aliens, given that hundreds of thousands of Cree people still live in what's now called Canada. (Former Miss Universe Ashley Callingbull, is Cree, for example.)
it just doesn't sit right with me, especially because you can't hear the spelling difference
I agree with you on lots although I’m attached to both dc and marvel through comics and tv, animation etc. With that being said I love the dceu and I enjoy the MCU not as much as before when it was first started.
I love how you look at the camera when you about to read and call it some BS!
Your moment in man of steel was the exact same as mine. That's exactly when my brain noped the hell out.
I found this all very relatable. Including the preference for DC. And the bisexuality parts.
I know this video is older but I recently found your page and just subscribed! Love the intelligent, pro-black nerdy perspective you provide!!
Agents of SHIELD is one of my favorite shows. All the characters are so well developed and it has some of the best representation of heroic women and people of color ever done on TV. To a lesser extent I feel kind of the same way about Legends of Tomorrow which also manages to have interesting gay, lesbian, and bisexual representation.
Aside from the FF & Spider-Man family, most of the Marvel comic book characters that I really love were X-Men and they were done so dirty in the live action movies.
Comic book characters are brands and none of us are immune to propaganda and brand loyalty (and that's okay!). This video is a great exploration of the consequences of that for fans and critics alike. Phenomenal.
I also have a huge bias of DC over Marvel, even though I didn't really get into DC until after I fell in love with the MCU.
Also disliked Sara Lance on Arrow but love her on Legends (post season 1)
DC has much, much better characters, but Warner Bros. has no idea what to do with them. You can't get more complex and better written characters than Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, The Flash ect... in comic books and Warner Bros. doesn't understand that. They made the mistake of trying to copy Marvel's films, and because of that, they have a confused and convoluted timeline and non-comic book movie fans find them alienating. That is why Birds of Prey and Shazam! really under-performed. Marvel took some of the most obscure comic book characters ever and made them the most popular characters in the world. On what planet is Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk on a bigger level of popularity as Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and The Flash? Ours, apparently. It's just frustrating watching a studio ruin two franchises (Harry Potter) that has extraordinary potential. MCU might be a little generic and visually flat, but I'd rather that than an ugly color palette, terrible characters and atrocious writing. Also, yeah, going into the MCU blind and DC not really is a big factor.
Absolute truth.
I think they mostly haven't understood that Gods are f... terrifying if they are portrayed as overly flawed. The Flawed hero, that is mostly Marvel's thing. (There is also nothing generic about the MCU).
That's really interesting... I'm kind of the polar opposite when I see adaptations with characters I love from the comics vs. adaptations with characters I don't follow in the comics. If it's a really, really good show in its own right, I'll love it regardless, but if it's less than stellar, I can be a lot more forgiving towards shows about characters I'm _not_ emotionally attached to. I remember seeing Superman Returns in the theater, and it was... just fine. Pretty forgettable. And I liked Smallville quite a lot, and really liked Clark's and everybody else's characterization. But watching the Daredevil movie (the one with Affleck) made me want to throw something heavy at my TV because it felt like a character assassination. It was especially bad at the time because there weren't any better adaptations of Matt's character back then. But I loved loved loved loved _loved_ the Netflix series - like, to the point where it's probably my favorite comic-book adaptation of all time - precisely because it's about my favorite comic-book character.
So I guess if it's not about a character I love, it ranges from, "I don't think that was very good," (for bad shows) to, "I really enjoyed that. That was _really_ good" (for good shows). But when it comes to shows about characters I love from the comics, it's more like, "this is the greatest thing ever!" or "that was the worst thing I've ever seen!" Nothing in-between. :D
I grew up watching DC Super Friends, The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, The Flash live action series from 1990, X-Men The Animated Series, Batman The Animated Series, Superman the Animated Series, Spider-man The Animated Series, Fantastic Four The Animated Series, Iron Man The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Teen Titans. I now watch Teen Titans Go! with my son and point out to him all the references to the comics and prior media. The first comics I read on a regular basis were Uncanny X-men (with the Storm-led Gold Team) and Punisher War Journal. My favorite comics of all time include Marvels, Kingdom Come, and All-Star Superman. Even my favorite comic book series, Astro City, which is not a DC or Marvel series, is a pastiche of DC and Marvel superhero universes. The greatest comic book event of all time to me was DC vs. Marvel and the Amalgam comics. I am a fan of both big two publishers. I love seeing superheroes in a grand universe with other superheroes, and the adoption of this idea by the superhero film genre is a big part of why I watch them.
I have a major bias when a superhero film depiction of a favorite character of mine is incongruent with their characterization in the comics. I still have never seen Man of Steel because Superman is one of my favorite characters and what I know about the movie ruins it for me. Meanwhile, Spawn is another of my favorite characters, and I can rewatch the technically bad Spawn film adaptation because Spawn's creator had so much input and the character is how he is in the comics.
I hope I live long enough to see films cross over the Marvel and DC universes.
Well argued. You just gained another subscriber.
I like the marvel movies because they're consistent in their quality level, for the most part. I tolerate the dc movies because I love the comic characters. But they keep skinning the characters and shoving strangers into the flesh suits. Wonder Woman is the only character I can look at in those movies and be like "Yep, that's my Wonder Woman." Whereas when it comes to marvel movies, I have character consistency. Steve is always trying I stand up for the little guy, Tony is trying to protect his ego, until he has that trauma and tries too hard to protect literally anyone. I definitely don't feel bad ragging on the dceu when all they actually offer me is a plate of not garbage disguised as the comic book characters I actually love. The mcu always keeps the core of their characters, and add some new elements to set them apart from their comic counterparts. I look at comic Natasha and movie Natasha and I'm like, yes these are recognizably connected, but superman? Nope. Batman? Nope. The Flash? Definitely huge big nope. Aquaman? Nope. Though in that case it's a positive because comic Aquaman is.... Bland. The DCEU manipulates us into thinking we'll get to see the characters we love on the big screen, then pushes is down a trapdoor with spikes at the bottom and laughs. I love Wanda, and sure the mcu might not have done much with her... But she is still definitely my Wanda. And the X-Men films were somewhere in the middle, they were the comic characters, but had been sanded down to a point where they were almost unrecognizable, but still there was something there at least. And the cw shows do the same thing as the dc movies. My green arrow tells bad jokes, and my laurel finds his annoying Ollie-isms endearing. Not on the CW though, they only share names. My Kara is angry, and lonely... Not a copy-paste of Clarks personality. My flash is Wally West, I get that sure Barry had to come first but they made Wally.... empty he was such a non character the actor didn't even want to be in that role anymore. I have no comments on black lighting it's pretty much perfect in my book. My Batwoman is... definitely not Ruby Rose. I guess, the marvel movies actually do give me what I want, sure maybe kinda slowly, (Wanda getting her own story is way I overdue I'm so goddamn excited) but at least they actually listen to the fans. While the dceu can't even get basic characterisation right, but I have decades of comics where the characters actually are themselves that I can enjoy. Dc is trying to play catch up even though the dceu doesn't need to be rushed, just adapt the actual comic characters! But nope, they'd rather continue doing whatever they're doing right now, which from what I see, it's just them making a mess and then looking at that mess and saying omg how did this happen? It happened because y'all keep trying to do too much too fast while also changing things too damn much. And nobody asked for that. Y'all have the better source material to draw from, but still somehow marvel is doing so much better. And now that they have the x-men? Dceu is over, don't need it. Bye y'all it's done because X-Men are like, best characters, best stories, best everything. The mediocre 'attempts' of the dceu will just never be enough at this rate of going
It was a shame Marvel didn't explore Wandas romani heritage
My Marvel vs DC bias only comes down to the movies. Mostly really anything involved with Snyder. Man of Steel was his Ayn Rand, objectivist wet dream. Doing what he did to Pa Kent. Jonathan and Martha are why Clark doesn't go Kid Marvelman on the world. They are what separate him from a Batman. Went and made them all selfish and depressing. Let me woosah. Other than that I enjoy both. I lean more towards Marvel, but on DC Universe, I love Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, Stargirl and Harley Quinn. I enjoyed Shazam. For me my enjoyment in all of this, is because that little kid back in 84 who would ask grandma to buy him to comics while at the bodega playing her numbers, and tried to use dental floss for web shooters, is loving all of this.
Another fun, thoughtful video. I'm also on the Sara Lance hate train, and Steve's ending was THE WORST.
I don’t agree with your stance about DC because, though representation is great, and reverence to the source material is beyond appreciated amongst us geeks, story telling is still key and the Arrow-verse has struggled like hell with that, as has the DCEU for lack of coherent vision or direction, and - as someone who near-adoringly finished rereading Jim Krueger and Alex Ross’ Justice - I expect so much better, especially after the blueprints of how to do so have basically been laid out by the competition. Despite that, loved hearing your stance and I totally understand/appreciate hearing it.
So, I really loved the MCU experience. It was a thing me and my friends, and someone I really liked, very much bonded over. And seeing Endgame was a fantastic cap to it. But now with that over, all the extra stuff coming ... I feel I can live without - ALL - of it. I didnt obsessively watch every one, but I saw most of them, and enjoyed them. I do want to watch more Captain Marvel, more Black Panther, Doc Strange, and Antman/Wasp. But I dont need another subscription to see the, ~now~ official cannon, shows. I feel like I got that experience, and I'm ready to ween off it, to make room for the next experience. So if there are additional heros to get movies, it will be a case by case basis. My group of friends is not exactly what it was. They guy I liked moved away. Life has changed for me, I have a perspective on the MCU that only hindsight can give. And I'm ready for that to end, when ever it does, and move on with my fan-life.
Titans really frustrated me because I love the teen titans so much. I just couldn't. They put a wig on starfire that just looks weird.they could have givin her her afro hair in orange. I liked beast boy but the cgi was lacking. And Dick was nice. But yeah everything was just...no
So many DC cartoons, from BTAS to Young Justice, have some of the best storytelling in all of cartoons, maybe even better than a good amount of TV shows in general from the past 30ish years.
Sigh* I don’t put much energy into Marvel VS DC. Each do something bad / good. I respect what Marvel was able to accomplish with the MCU especially with character limitations.
DC has so much potential. Personally loved Man of Steel. BVS DIrector’s Cut had some of the best imagery and comic book action to date. Justice League was straight trash. A better version of Suicide Squad exists somewhere but the theatrical release was bad. Birds of Prey did not do it for me. Aquaman and Wonder Women were entertaining.
My frustration with DC movies is that they have amazing characters and the potential to have a successful event film that rivals anything that the MCU has put out. If we blindly evangelize the mediocre DC films, that won’t help DC get the movie treatment that there characters deserve.
X-Men is my favorite comic book team. But I am not a fan of those Fox movies. I did not support the later films in the theater. For the most part, I feel that DC fans that truly love DC characters are getting labeled as MCU fan boys because we can acknowledge what Marvel does right and we can criticize what DC does wrong. Do we want DC to mimic Marvel? Absolutely not. They tried that with JL. Do we want a consistent vision for the universe? Absolutely.
as a dc fan (and automatically a dc hater because i love the characters) and a compulsive watcher (?) of titans...... and a selective fan of marvel ip... SAME.
Growing up I was exclusively Marvel based mainly the X-men, then I got into Fantastic 4. I think I was a true Marvel fan boy and wouldn't go anywhere near DC, I bought my first DC comic when I got older...
Sometimes I have a hard time putting into words why I prefer the DC universe more than Marvel but I think a lot of it comes down to what parts of those properties I jive most with. The Marvel films have, overall, been pretty fun but I don't really care about most of the characters they've put in the movies except for Spiderman and the X-Men and I think I'm most into those because I grew up watching the cartoons--and that's a lot of the reason I like DC more is because I grew up watching Batman, Superman, Justice League, Teen Titans. Those shows were just flat out better than Marvel's. Spiderman and X-Men were fun as a kid but if you go back and watch them now they're hardly more cohesive than GI-Joe or He-Man because those were made expressly for selling toys; the DC cartoons still hold up pretty well (especially Justice League Unlimited, that series is a masterwork), and you only need to go to the animated films to see where DC really shines! I guess I've always preferred DC's comics to Marvel as well, but that's definitely where I just can't put a finger on why; I think it's because of the tone and subject material. Marvel's comics always seemed kind of superficial to me? Despite DC's penchant for being "dark" and "gritty" I guess I just think they deal with real life type stuff better.
I was raised primarily on Marvel, but I kinda don't like the MCU and it has nothing to do with the interpretation of the characters. I have grown up on various versions of Marvel and DC characters that I'm fine with different versions. It's more how homogenous the movies became. At first, it was cool because you had movies that could be from different genres. Captain America TFA and Thor are very different movies. But the more recent outings have been, with a very few exceptions, mostly the same.
And I was really hoping DC would pull together and provide a viable alternative. But their solution was to get Joss Whedon and make another Marvel movie. But they did give us Birds of Prey.
I have a clear Marvel bias, but I tend to follow what's good. I remember wishing Marvel had something as good as the DCAU back in the 90s, and then they killed some of their better shows for an MCU-alike. Arrowverse is better than most Marvel shows IMO, and I would love to see Marvel get that. The different tones between Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning and Legends is refreshing. I don't even know a lot of the characters in these shows, but I enjoy them immensely.
You and I are in the same boat. DC characters mean the world to me,but the MCU has been stronger overall. Even when the Flash or Batwoman make no sense,I will be invested enough to even rewatch because I care about the characters ,and the shows do as well.
I won't watch Piece of Sh-I mean Man of Steel because I feel it is made by and for people who don't like and get Superman.Compare that to WandaVision which was fun and smart ,but I probably won't watch it again. Jessica Jones ia the exception. She's my girl 💪🏾.
I could almost compare it to my Charmed vs Buffy. Buffy is a good show with something today,but Charmed gives me a feeling Buffy can't touch.
wow i don't think i've agreed this much with anyone re:comics stuff in.. so long... thank you.
Just discovered your channel. Loved your commentary on Sleepy Hollow. And.... I have that Marvel mug 😁
I read no comics as a child, and X-Men only in college at the recommendation of my unrequited crush. I saw Christopher Reeves as Superman before ever setting eyes on a comic book! Liking him and the X-Men books is why I gave my snobby friends the finger and went to see the X-Men movie. I almost wrote off superhero movies because I was so disappointed in that one. My boss actually made me watch Iron Man that time I was the orphan at her Thanksgiving dinner and I've preferred Marvel ever since. TL;DR RDJ did it for me, too, though Gal Gadot is def a draw.
As a fan of the pre 2000's Thor Comics, I don't mind that he got the short straw in the Team ups, he was the least interesting character in his own comics as well. The comics were great despite a so-so lead.
There neeeeeeds to be a storm movie 💚
Yeeeeesssssd
Never underestimate nostalgia bias. Also, comic book fans aren’t exempt from the “book reader” effect. When you go in with expectations and knowledge of the stories and characters, you’re going to interact with movie and tv adaptations differently than if you go into a movie blind.
I am mostly drawn to Harley quinn and Gotham related stuff personally. :)
I think cap changes natrully due to events The thing with Marvel is their so good at character development.we really grow to love these characters in their movies. They pick the best actors for the part. The writing is well done .and the special effects teams really outdo themselves. They may have their defaults but for the most part thier amazing BUT can't deny that DC has the best characters and comics. Joker? Harley? Catwoman? The list goes on
10:38 did she say "tom hiddleston could get my bussy" 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
but on a less memetic note, this is an interesting video and i like hearing your thoughts about it (even tho i truly don't know anything about superhero comics or movies)
hae you caught up on Legacies? they straight pullin Dark Willow shit this season (right down to the fuckin look)
@Melina Pendulum,
To be blunt, Your channel is awesome.
How would you rate the Bruce Timm-Verse/DCAU (Batman/TT TAS - JLU/BBeyond) and the 90's Marvel Animated Universe (X-Men T.A.S. - Avengers - United They Stand), in comparison to each other ?
How would you rate the "off/non continuity" shows to those above (XME, W&TXM, The Batman, Young Justice, etc.) ?
I've always thought the DC vs Marvel thing was stupid and couldn't understand why people can't just either enjoy both or like what they like without being a dick. I have a bit more attachment to DC characters, but I love a lot of stuff from Marvel as well (TMNT are my favorite comic characters), so I never understood why there needed to be a clash between the fandoms. The internet has for sure taken the stupid tribalism to another level and it makes the whole experience a lot less fun.
Legends of Tomorrow is one of the best dc TV shows right now. No one else really captures the campy ridiculousness of both comics and the concept of time travel
I love the X men comics, but the movies are trash and I won't support them. I liked Superman movies from the 80s and animated series. But the DC movies have been trash. I have read Teen Titans, and Outsiders with Robin as the lead but I can't stand that Titans tv show. Like you said it's badly written. At the end of the Day, I'm not going to support trash. It's important that people hold them accountable. MCU overall has been really good and more consistent than any other comicbook style universe, but it can and should be held accountable when they create great plotholes. The movie industry has made it very clear they are not making these movies for comicbooks fans, so they shouldn't be judged by the comics standard at all. They are their own thing, and they expect those fans to come to the movies to support these characters that they love, because they want the coins. They should be held to a consistent standards for any comicbook character films, not with bias. If you are claiming you are a "fan" remember that fan is short for "Fanatic" so you're already approaching the film the wrong way. These fans are what create the toxic community in the vs. nature of "DC vs Marvel" to begin with.
when it comes to DCEU vs MCU, there isn't even a contest going on. Marvel is the clear winner. DC still is good, the movies are just being written and looked after by incompetent people in general. If they didn't announce Michael Keaton coming back, I would never see another DCEU movie and be happy
My bias is MC. But I can still tell their weak points. Mc has the best movies(I personally like their comics better). DC has better shows.
Was gonna do a big 'whatabout' post about all the things I don't like about the DC universe, but I'll just say this: for all the toxic garbage that does sneak into Marvel movies (Iron Man 1 comes to mind), Justice League was worse about it. Apparently Gal Gadot even refused to shoot scenes, scenes that *very much* stuck out as fan service of a low level.
For Marvel or DC i don't give 2 craps lol which one of you can give me a show with a Black girl main and central character, like name in the title type main character and none of them has done that yet
HBO watchmen series
Well I still hope for a Storm solo movie one day. And if the next Captain Marvel film is about Mónica Rambeau se can add too.
Also haven't DC release something with Vixen as the lead? I think It was a webseries
@@guillermodebaskerville7117 Yep a Vixen Webseries exist. It had two seasons