EDITORIAL: Is Marvel's animation really inferior to DC?

Yes and no.
Justice League is my favorite cartoon to date, cannot be topped.
There is ONE (actually TWO) problem(s) in DC's animation - the focus on Batman and Superman. They'll work so hard to push out some really good material that isn't Worlds' Finest, but then they'll backtrack like you wouldn't believe.

On the other hand, Marvel is mostly about Spider-man and X-Men, and their motion comics truly do not count.

The two studios have that in common, just as they have two shows with great promise - Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Young Justice. If these shows can continue promoting awareness to characters outside the big movie icons, then their respective studios will benefit greatly.

My money is on DC though.

Marvel needs better writing when it comes to animation and comics.

Marvel did great in the 90's.
There was a show about pretty much every character.
However, DC has always been the top dog in animation
Batman TAS
Superman TAS
The New Batman Adventures
Batman Beyond
Justice League
Justice League: Unlimited
Static Shock
Teen Titans
Young Justice
And over 14 animated films

the best marvel animation

-hulk vs
-planet hulk
-x-men anime
-iron man anime
-x-men (90s)
-spider-man (90s)
-spectacular spider-man
-x-men evolution
-wolverine & the x-men

the best dc animation

-all batman animated shows (apart from batman brave & the bold)
-justice league/unlimited
-young justice
-most of their direct to dvd movies

i'd say its pretty even but i would give the slight edge to dc.

Good editorial.
I think the short answer is : " Not for long"!
Animation is Disney's bread and butter, so eventually they'll get around to maintaining a 'brand' of animation consistent with DC's.

Best DC:
#1- Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
#2- Wonder Woman

Best Marvel:
#1-Blade
#2-Planet Hulk

Marvel's coming along while DC is still well ahead. What I find interesting that despite their animated series being terrific, I have not found myself engrossed in any of DC's books. While Marvel's books keep me interested and its cartoons are just okay.

It would be impressive if Marvel could make up the difference with a series that lasts as "Smallville" did.

For the record, despite my 'handle,' I proudly own the entire "Superman TAS" and the entire "Justice League" run.

dc does it better in factors of animation and even writing sometimes but you do have to admit though, marvel has more cool heroes than dc.

I do not agree that DC has better animation than Marvel. However, I think DC wins on videogames and I get very upset about Marvel's lack of good videogames.

What video games does DC have that can be considered critically acclaimed? Other than Batman's Arkham series?

I guess I'm the only one who thinks that Spider-Man 90s sucked, really, REALLY bad.

Marvel is bad with it, because I'm not there offering ideas. LET ME STOP LOL!! Seriously I've been disappointed with Marvel's animation direction- especially since I've always liked Marvel more so than DC. DC actually seems to cater more towards older people. Meaning people in their early mid and late 20's, 30's 40's, and 50's even.

This age group actually enjoyed their stories and even animation back in the 90's with Batman animated series, then later with Superman, and Justice League- and now with Young Justice, and the movies they put out on bluray/dvd its only gotten better.


Marvel tends to go more for the youngins, I'm not sure if being linked with Disney has anything to do with it (lol). But I and many others find their stuff a bit too childish. Its always centered around high school issues, and the animation is either mediocre, or they tend to go too Japanese anime-ish. Although Spiderman should always be high schoolish- he's more exciting in that setting- but I was annoyed with the X-MEN cartoon that did this too, and then later Iron Man... Tony Stark as Iron Man in high school.... Seriously?

Then we get The Avengers. Stories are decent of course, but the animation or character design is terrible- again too cartoony for my taste- and later the X-MEN animation that appeared on G4TV was too anime-ish for me... SO, I decided to actually do something, instead of sitting about being annoyed. I'm not expecting it to go anywhere, I doubt anyone will listen, but its better to try and fail, than to have never tried and forever wonder what could have been- besides it will be a fun side project for me anyway.

I draw, and have been working on a graphic novel/video game designs. My influences include Jim Lee, Joe Madureira, former SNK artist Shinkiro (famous for Fatal Fury, and King of Fighters), and some of the artist (who are often nameless and faceless) of CAPCOM.

I'm drawing Marvel characters, as if I were designing them for animators. I also don't understand why Marvel doesn't get into using the many great stories of their books. I also feel music and sound- should be done by the team who worked on the Marvel Superheroes/CAPCOM vs Marvel games. I was so amazed by the sound, and soundtrack- it captured the Marvel universe perfectly in my view. I remember first hearing Doctor Doom's track in Marvel Superheroes, and was like "That's Doctor Doom!".

Could you imagine watching an awesome Fantastic 4 series, with better animation/character design, with that music going as they are fighting him! Or the Genosha track of X-MEN Children of the Atom, playing while fighting on the island, or fighting sentinel!? These are the things that popped into my mind when I first heard all of these sounds.

Marvel kills it with the live action movies, I want them to kill it with Animation as well.