I disagree. DC has more iconic characters than Marvel but the only one that they having any success with is Batman. Superman Returns was a mess.
Now Batman is easily the best comic book movie franchise but Marvel has had more success with more characters. They have been able to get people to go see Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man and even the X-Men mess they had this summer make money.
Meanwhile DC couldn't even get good play out of Green Lantern. And after that DC have nothing superhero related. Marvel have enough "hits" to make people forget Ghost Rider, FF, Daredevil and Elektra. Along with Halle Berry Catwoman that might be the 4 shittiest comic movies in recent memory.
On the other hand DC has been much more successful with their animated movies than Marvel but them thing don't make big money.
Lol... you go think I disagreeing just to be disgreeable... but I really have to take issue with this. After Superman and Batman who are DC's iconic characters? Other than them two the next big names in the comic pantheon is Spiderman, Hulk and Captain America. Note I eh even mention man like Wolverine (and the rest ah X-men), Black Panther, Thor or IronMan. Could just be my personal bias though.
Disagreement is not a problem, is all opinions.
Actually you could ask after Superman and Batman who iconic superheroes in general. By icons I talking about characters who, before the general public would know something about. Them too so far ahead of anybody else that there is no comparison.
Batman and Superman are easily recognizable by the general non comic public after decades of being in pop culture. The most recognizable 3 from Marvel would be Spider-Man, Hulk and Captain America but Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern have similar status. After that, before this last 20 years of movies none of the properties were mainstream.
If you asked the man in the street about Iron Man, Green Lantern, Thor, FF, Wolverine or even the X-Men and the Avengers they might recognize they exist but could tell you little else. They certainly never hear bout Black Panther, a character that never had a long running series or a cartoon or TV series.
Whereas for Batman and Superman they could tell you details like: alter ego's name, describe a costume, and name a key villain they couldn't do it for most of all the others. Just think about who oblivious people would be to: The Mandarin, Sinestro, Loki, Doctor Doom, Sabretooth and teh Red Skull/Baron Zemo compared to Lex Luthor and the Joker.
My point was DC have two legitimate blue chip franchises and can't even do one of them right while Marvel milking what are by comparison a set of pop culture scrubs for good coin. Marvel is doing a better job.
I can understand the perspective of JDB, he is looking at it from a quality vs. quantity argument, superman and batman are basically household names. I am happy that Nolan and Goyer are taking their time with Snyder to develop a new Superman franchise to outdo the previous versions, and put Superman in the category of the new Batman trilogy that Nolan has done such a successful job with.
Looking back at the Spiderman movie series, I realize it could have been done much better, especially being one of the very few iconic characters in comic book history. The reboot IMO will be better, because they actually have dept in the back story, the protagonist is darker, more realistic and can relate to the average kid, they also have made it a lot more mature, I believe the Toby McGuire Spiderman will pale in comparison to the new franchise, of course that is left to be seen but from previews and what I have read, it seems to have more substance than previously. Marvel are starting to make movies like fast food, DC are spending the time to develop the script and spending time on casting to make sure they are a hit, mainly attributed to the fact they have a limited supply of high profile protagonists to choose from.
Marvel I believe should also adopt this approach with developing their movies, not to say they are doing an absolute terrible job but with their line-up of characters and resources from Disney they should really take the time to make sure it lasts and are impeccable in terms of quality.
Green Lantern was a big flop for DC, they really missed the boat on that franchise but what you learn with the movie business is that the crowd is willing to forgive and Lantern will get a second chance at the box office.
Movies like Wolverine, Iron man and even Thor had exceptional directors but the writers were lacking, it is hard to beat the Goyer/Nolan combo of writing and directing. Marvel got the casting right with Downey, Jackman and Hemsworth but the writing let the directors down on many occasions.
Once again this will come down to critics, comic book fans, the screenwriters, the quality vs. quantity argument and lastly most not least, the box office, but with the box office it can be very deceiving because marketing and promotion is 90% of the reason why most mediocre movies in terms of writing and casting do well.
