by Matt Bird

Created on: May 17, 2009

Personally speaking, I'm always going to take Marvel over DC. That comic book preference is simply a matter of upbringing: like Nintendo over Sega, I grew up with a family that tended to buy Marvel products. My brother was a Marvel fan over DC any day of the week, and because I tended to just steal his comics to read for my own I developed a love of Spider-Man and the Hulk that defeated any appreciated for Batman or Superman.

Looking at it from the perspective of a grown-up, however, both brands have their obvious advantages and disadvantages, and in the end I suppose they're roughly equal in terms of quality and sheer power (if we were to talk about an actual confrontation between the two universes, that is).

Marvel is, to, me, classic. It has far more superheroes that I recognize than DC. The sheer scope of the universe's characters seems to dwarf that of DC; many of even the cheesiest heroes and villains were not abandoned over the years but recycled for later stories, even if their parts in them were small. More, I've found that Marvel has more of a penchant for breathing life back into old, boring characters - and their penchant for not relying so much on capes, which always annoyed me a bit about DC, helped a lot.

Yet DC is not without its perks. Despite having fewer popular superheroes and villains it sits with some of the all-time classics: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, all of whom are instantly recognizable among non-comic book fans in ways that not every Marvel character can match. More, I really have to thank the DC universe for churning out some of the best movie titles to offset some of the truly awful Marvel entries - I think Batman Begins and The Dark Knight alone are vindication enough for all of the bad superhero movies that have been released in the last decade.

So what happens when these two worlds collide? Again, I'd have to say a stalemate. They both have their share of horribly powerful and decidedly weak characters, and I doubt there's any one figurehead that can't be matched successfully against another from the adjoining universe. Arguments could be made for either side, and I think every one would depend on the debater's personal likes.

So, in the end, there's no winner in this contest. Both have great characters and great stories. And I hope there never is a clear winner, as the eternal rivalry between Marvel and DC helps ensure that the two continue to churn out excellent quality titles for years to come.

Learn more about this author, Matt Bird.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.