Sucks To Be You, DC!



With the recent success of Marvel‘s deluge of superhero flicks, it’s hard not to cast a smug, gleeful glance towards the other behemoth of comicdom and tauntingly shout “Sucks to be you, DC!”. After all,  they’re the company that started this whole caped do gooder trend with the creation of the two most dominate figures in fandom, Batman and Superman.  But even with all their historical clout and the strength of an in house film studio (Warner Bros, for you slackers), DC is losing the great comic book movie wars.

Ignoring the success of Nolan‘s Batman trilogy, which is admittedly one of the greatest film series to date (given that The Dark Knight Rises rocks our collective socks off), DC has allowed Marvel to beat them to the punch at the movie theatres time and time again.  They should have been able to catapult their back catalogue into the stratosphere after the resounding success of 2008’s The Dark Knight, but they’ve muddle their opportunity with missteps and fiery failures (Green Lantern, anyone?).  In the meantime, Marvel brazenly launched their own film studio, and through one of the finest Cinderella stories of the decade, has become the big kid on the ‘superhero’ block.

Just think about this for a moment.  Do you remember the great days of yester year, when you sat in the local post-bar diner at 2 in the morning, drunkenly shoveling mound after mound of frittata into your gaping mouth while your ‘party friends’ argue with you over who would win in a fight, Iron Man or Hulk?

Yea.  Me neither.

If you were ever going to have a geeky, comic centered conversation with the indoctrinated masses, the best you could eek out was a basic acknowledgement of the existence of Batman or Supes.
Even then, it was a desperate challenge, but with Marvel’s new cinematic initiative, their huge roster of characters have become pop culture icons (thanks in no small part to RDJ‘s portrayal of Tony Stark), climbing passed the plateau of even the most popular of Bat cowled detectives.  DC, you really kinda f***ed up, didn’t you?

Sure, the fact that the obscure cast of characters comprising Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (when compared to the Justice League, of course) has successfully been  marketed as the premier superheroes in the world is a bit embarrassing.  That’s not even the worst part, though. The extra vinegar in DC’s wound is that Marvel is introducing their lineup faster than Warner Bros., and they’re doing so with completely stolen characters (as our Managing Editor Dane Ingham recently revealed in his Another Top 5 Rip-Off Characters)

Remember the baddie during the second Avengers after credit scene?  That purple son of a bitch is a cosmic entity known as Thanos.  As any fanboy can tell you, this Mad Titan is a blatant ripoff of DC’s own space faring tyrant Darkseid, the quintessential villain of their universe.   While that’s well known information to we educated few, the rest of the world isn’t so keen, which means without serious (and dilutive) revisions to some of their characters, DC can’t throw them onto the big screen for fear of being copy cats.  With the list of potential upcoming Marvel films reading like a who’s who of classic ripoffs, there are only more headaches headed to ol’ Detective Comics.

Doctor Strange, only 1 of 3 upcoming Marvel films based on a character ripped from DC

Oh DC.  We all love and cherish your contribution to the world of fandom, but seriously brah, pull your sh*t together.  If not to fill your corporate coffers, then do it for we fanboys who gleefully beg you to “shut up and take our money!”

Hey, it’s not all bad though.  You’ve still one last Nolan film to go.  That should be fun… while it lasts!