Super Hero movies: The Apparent Battle Between Marvel & DC!

[cachibatches]

Originally Posted by Colt Cassidy

I hear ya, bloke. Marvel certainly has its entourage, and I am most assuredly respecting your choice. Greatly appreciate your descriptions of my DC guys (and gal), as I'm slowly but reluctantly catching up!

Cheers!

Originally Posted by AFtrEFkt

I'm not why you'd just gloss over Batman like that. He's the original dark superhero, inspired by both the Shadow and Zorro (even referenced in his origin), who as a kid witnessed both his parents killed in front of him in cold blood. Robin didn't come in till later because giving a hero a sidekick was trendy (Cap and Bucky, for instance). Also, in his earliest days...Batman carried a gun! Of course, they did away with that and emphasized his detective and combat skills and gadgetry.

The Punisher is one of my favorite characters, but he's an antihero, neither villain nor true hero.

(Also, writing Hawkman off as a "bird guy" is hasty. He comes from another planet.)

I also have to mention the X-Men were arguably a rip-off of DC's Doom Patrol, who initially sacrificed themselves in their final conflict (the writer decided to take them all out when the comic got cancelled, which was the first time anyone had done that).

You want dark DC characters? Swamp Thing (now there's a tragic story, one that got an amazing overhaul courtesy of Alan Moore), Sandman, Lobo, and how about those Watchmen?



I can tell. It's all good. I love both companies, I just hate what Marvel has done with some of their characters in recent years.

Glad to see there is no hard feelings. The entire Marvel VS DC thing can run very deep.

Even though I am a Marvel kid for life, Batman is the best guy in either company, and the Nolan/Bale Batman films were EASILY the best comic book movies ever.

The rest of the seminal DC universe just does not do much for me. I understand Lobo was popular in the 90's...I found it more to be along the line of broad humor than dark. The head collecting contests, and all.

Sandman was a quality book, as was Preacher, Hellblazer, etc. The entire metaphysical line they put out in the late eighties though 90s really worked.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by reed067

I was meaning dark overall I mean to say that in the case of DD the acting, storyline & overall feel of the show is (to me) beyond anything else Marvel/DC has done. Certain heroes are dark & they should be but I agree not all heroes have to be dark.

Yes but making something dark just to be dark doesn't make a good idea. The Amazing Spiderman 2 was a movie to introduce a larger Spider-verse with the various villains and even at one point another potential Parker love interest. Several other films have done that and it worked. It just didn't in ASM2. Being dark kinda sorta worked in Man of Steel but not really. The Flash movie can't really look dark in it of itself. The problem I see is that we need a reason to get dark like Batman v. Superman. Being dark in it of itself is not a good idea.

FYI, while I love Marvel, I do love DC characters like the Bat Family, Cyborg, Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Firestorm and even Green Arrow.

[Colt AZ]

Originally Posted by mkpunk

Yes but making something dark just to be dark doesn't make a good idea. The Amazing Spiderman 2 was a movie to introduce a larger Spider-verse with the various villains and even at one point another potential Parker love interest. Several other films have done that and it worked. It just didn't in ASM2. Being dark kinda sorta worked in Man of Steel but not really. The Flash movie can't really look dark in it of itself. The problem I see is that we need a reason to get dark like Batman v. Superman. Being dark in it of itself is not a good idea.

FYI, while I love Marvel, I do love DC characters like the Bat Family, Cyborg, Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Firestorm and even Green Arrow.

I have admit that I've been enjoying the Arrow episodes, mainly because I greatly enjoy the actress playing Felicity! Very beautiful lady.

[AFtrEFkt]

Originally Posted by Colt Cassidy

I have admit that I've been enjoying the Arrow episodes, mainly because I greatly enjoy the actress playing Felicity! Very beautiful lady.

Isn't she? The actress who plays Talia al Ghul is stunning, too. Arrow is a very good show, second to Gotham, which, IMO, has knocked it out of the park considering the limitations it has to work within.

[Colt AZ]

Originally Posted by AFtrEFkt

Isn't she? The actress who plays Talia al Ghul is stunning, too. Arrow is a very good show, second to Gotham, which, IMO, has knocked it out of the park considering the limitations it has to work within.

Gotham rocks! The dude playing Penguin not only makes the character ultra-annoying, he pushes well into great villain status as well!

[NVplumber]

Originally Posted by Colt Cassidy

Super Hero movies and TV series keep coming at us like arch-enemies, don't they?

It's been seemingly one after another, with apparent competition between both the Marvel people and the DC Comics people.

I believe I used to be a comic books enthusiast back before there were today's type of comic book enthusiasts. Used to get into almost ALL DC super heroes entirely, because Marvel seemed rather hokey and boring to me, and that included Spiderman, of all things!

However, since the endless yearly spurt of Super Hero movies continue to be cranked out, I've gotten more acquainted with the Marvel heroes and characters. They're pretty decent, if not totally cool.

Until all of this recent explosion of both movies and TV, I was mostly only into Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Flash, Justice League of America and a few others which haven't totally been brought out. Officially.

Yet.

Lately, they're bringing in Ant-Man (Marvel), but where's DC's Atom?

They brought in Daredevil (Marvel), but the series was way better than the ridiculous movie with Ben Affleck!

Regarding super hero movies and TV, glaringly missing are Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman (all DC). However, I've been continually wondering if they will EVER put out either a movie or series on the Metal Men (DC)? Anybody remember those guys? They were terrific! Google them!

Also... as an aside, I admit I was also into ridiculously stupid (yet addictive) mags like Mad magazine, including Panic, Sick, Frenzy, Cracked & others like Crazy! Also car mags like Roth the cartoonist's Rat Fink, and all of his car crazy Race? and Drag? cartoons!

Thoughts?

L, Metal Men! I have issues of them, k paid 10¢ for, off the rack. Your dating
yourself amigo. . I also have a bunch of really obscure stuff. Westerns. Like Kid Colt, The Outlaw Kid,Two Gun Kid, , etc. One issue of Yang, which is a Chinese warrior in the old west.

My favorites are my Tarzans. I have fist and second editions, and have read all the books. More than once. I would LOVE to see someone do a GOOD Tarzan film. One that follows the books.

[mkpunk]

I just saw Ant-Man and that want dark nor did it need to be. Not EVERY character lends itself to a darker take, nor should they be shoehorned to be.

[AFtrEFkt]

I saw Ant-Man tonight, too. In spite of some predictable moments and the requisite Marvel It's a joke! Laugh! moments, it works as a very good origin and debut. I was surprised at how well the micro-environments Lang/Ant-Man ran and battled across looked and worked. Paul Rudd did a fine job. This movie is what Green Lantern should have been: something not too expensive, with a decent cohesive origin story piloted by a guy known for comedies but knows he can branch out.


:::SPOILERS:::


(Really, don't read this if you intend to see the movie.)

Plusses: Michael Douglas. When you have an actor of his caliber, with his commanding presence and expert speech control, any scene that involves him is a surefire win.

The mid-credits scene is great. So is the post-credits scene, which is not what I expected (but obviously factors into Captain America: Civil War).

Also: The Falcon. For a guy who's conspicuously absent during the climactic battle of Avengers: Age of Ultron, he gets some face time here.

One big minus is (again) the throwaway villain and his How To Be A Bad Guy manual, this time played by Corey Stoll, who isn't given enough material to work with. It's the same trope we've seen in Batman Begins and (more so) Iron Man, with two individuals vying for control of a corporation and/or its weapons technology because one or the other is selling out to the bad guys or doing things beyond the influence and control of its rightful owner/heir.

Another minus is, as is the norm with Marvel, a third act that doesn't measure up to the first two acts (the two Captain America movies are the exception). This time, though, we actually get partway into the third act before things get stupid. The final battle delves into silliness that may have carried over from Edgar Wright, whose films I do like, but it's the sort of content that they didn't need to indulge when there was plenty of intentional and unintentional humor in the movie in the first two acts. I did like the "subatomic" interlude, though. (And the overgrown ant? Groan.)