More so than ever, superhero movies are the main focal point of cinema. They’re actually the driving force in box office numbers, and looking at the top 20 of all-time grossing movies, a lot of them are comic book movies.
It seems as though it’s always Warner Bros. DC vs Disney’s Marvel. We get our die-hard fans for each, but I’ll be taking an unbiased stance here as I love both Marvel and DC equally. So please bear that in mind whilst we go through this.
Let’s begin with the Marvel Cinematic Universe which has been the most successful franchise of all time. Grossing easily 100’s of billions of dollars since 2008’s Iron Man. This includes box office, merchandise, blu-ray sales, and more.
Disney managed to create a 23 movie storyline ending with Infinity War and Endgame, giving us some of the best superhero moments we will ever see. I even still stand by today that the portal scene in Endgame was the best movie moment in history and will perhaps never be topped.
Marvel isn’t perfect though suffering missteps in itself. Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 are prime examples, more recently Eternals and Black Widow as well. They make mistakes but the one major point here to Marvel is that they do learn from their mistakes. They seem to also listen to fans more than DC does.
Looking at the success of the DCEU, it’s had some fantastic moments, especially at the box office. Aquaman surprised the numbers when it hit over $1b, Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman were notable hits. Even some underwhelming performances but fantastic movies such as Shazam as well. Shazam still stands as my favorite DC movie of all time.
But for me, in the last 2 years, WB has made some monumental mistakes. I’ll not go into detail but firing Johnny Depp but maintaining Amber Heard in Aquaman was a no-go for me. Even as a die-hard fan I will not be entertaining Aquaman 2 because of this. Domestic abuse is no joke whichever way you look at it.
They fired Ray Fisher from The Flash for speaking out. They also seem to have a vendetta against Zack Snyder despite his director’s cut of Justice League being far superior to Joss Whedon’s weak version of the film.
This is further testament to ignoring their fans as millions have been calling for the Snyderverse to be restored, but in the upcoming Flash movie, it seems as though WB will be undoing a lot of Snyder’s work by using the Flashpoint storyline which I don’t agree with.
It continues the mess the DCEU is under. They can’t seem to just create a roadmap and stick with it. They consistently change releases, fire actors, and change specific aspects of the timeline. It’s no wonder Marvel’s had 5 successful team-up movies (Civil War included) whereas DC struggled with the first one.
I do believe out of the releases coming soon, DC will struggle half and half.
This is my own opinion of course but I think Batman, Shazam, and Black Adam will do alright. I do believe however that The Flash and Aquaman 2 may do poorly due to the overgrowing concerns from fans around the world.
Even Eternals post covid did okay at the box office bringing in just over $400m. I think critics had a part to play in that as well mind. Although it does seem like fans are divided on whether the movie is good or not. But it just shows that fans will still trust Marvel even when they’re taking a risk.
It’s not the same for DC, however. Birds of Prey fell drastically at the box office because fans don’t trust DC and WB to take risks on their movies. This is a shame because Birds of Pray was actually a lot of fun.
Truth be told, to answer the question to the title of the article, I don’t think DC now will ever catch up to Marvel.
I feel like DC had their chance once Endgame/Far From Home had finished. Fans were a bit hesitant and scared as to where the MCU would head to which is a fair worry, but Disney has proved now especially with Spider-Man: No Way Home they have no intention of slowing down.
Even now the MCU has destroyed DC’s TV side. On the small screen, the DCEU was predominately movies, and on the TV side, we’re always separate universes in the DC Universe and Arrowverse, whereas Marvel has now ensured their TV side will coexist alongside the movies. Something I feel like now only Disney could do given their massive catalog of established heroes and villains.
I honestly believe due to the continuous missteps and ridiculous directions from WB, it may be time to sell the DC IP to another studio. I am fully entitled to my opinion but I have zero respect for WB and the decisions they’ve made. I feel like there could easily be another studio out there that would look after its IP. I truly also believe that’s the only way DC could stand toe to toe with Marvel.
Marvel is just too far away now to be caught by anything. Even despite directors and actors coming out slating our nerd obsessions, the truth of the matter is that Disney’s Marvel isn’t going anywhere in our lifetime. That’s how big the universe they’ve created now is.
