Personally, the Editorials are my favorite section on this site. I love reading what people think in both the articles and the comments. That said, I have to say that the crap has been getting pretty deep in here as of late. I don’t know if it’s just nuclear fallout from the giant flame war this summer or what, but things have been bordering on delusional as of late.
I’m not trying to be the “voice of reason” or anything like that. Honestly, as much as we like to say that they are childish, I think we have to admit that the flame wars are fun, at least until someone takes it too far. But that’s not what this article is about. This is about the absolute ridiculousness that gets thrown around by all sides. Like most arguments, all sides have their goods and bads, rights and wrongs, strengths and weaknesses. But no one is willing to admit that and it just gets crazy. You want to argue to the death for Marvel or DC, have at it, but at least keep it real. Lets see if I can shed the light of truth on some of our heated debates.
Marvelites, yes, it is pretty obvious that Marvel is ahead in the movie department. However, to quote Dr. Bob Kelso, “…after a while, Perry, you’re just beating up an old man.” We don’t need to be reminded on every article about everything how well Marvel Studios are doing. Also, stop acting like Marvel has conquered the CBM industry already. Especially since the only Marvel Studios films to gross over $500 million all starred Robert Downey Jr. Weird, one could almost say that its RDJ that’s the cash cow and Marvel is just going to milk him dry. Personally, I hope that is not the case, but until Marvel Studios has another hit NOT starring RDJ, that is the only logical conclusion. Hopefully, Thor: The Dark World and/or Captain America: The Winter Soldier breaks this trend. That’d be sweet considering Thor and Cap got the short end of the stick in Phase 1, but I digress. All I’m trying to say is that Marvel hasn’t cornered the market CBMs quite yet. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But, as of right now, they’re just a “one trick pony”. So chill out.
DC-ites, Nolanites, Snyderites or what ever you’re going by nowadays, SLOW DOWN! I love DC, I get it. Marvel already released the Avengers, but where’s the Justice League??? Its not a race guys and gals. I’d rather take the time and get it right than rush movies out just for the sake of ”that’s what Marvel did.” Give them the time to get the right people in place. If we don’t get a JL movie until the 2020s, that’s cool if its awesome. Also, Marvel will be just about done with Avengers flicks by then and can reboot in the 2030s. If they alternate decades and we consistently have awesome team-up CBMs in the theatres every few years, I’d die happy.
Every WB/DC success is not a jab at Marvel, or visa-versa, so let’s not treat it as much. We don’t have to be jealous of eachother’s success. Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was awesome, but we don’t have to measure every Marvel release against it. Lets just be thankful for what DC fans do have. DC is great at making shows. Smallville kept me hooked for 9 seasons(lets not mention Season 10). Arrow is damn good from what I’ve seen. Every year we get a couple of incredibly awesome animated features that are better than 90% of the live action CBMs. How many “hardcore” DC fans bought Flashpoint Paradox? HUH??? Exactly. There’s more than enough DC content available to ever care what’s going on at Marvel so stop trolling. And, if you’re not reading New 52 Justice League, shame on you. SHAME! Just get the trades, dammit.
To everyone on both sides, there is a difference between good and successful. Like I said above, I love editorials and good comments. If you all want to write about what you think will make a Marvel or DC movie GOOD or how they weren’t GOOD, I promise you I’ll probably read it. However, not to pick on any individual because there have been A LOT, who on here is qualified to make a business plan for a multi-billion dollar company? All of these how “Company X can be SUCCESSFUL” articles are just ridiculous. I mean c’mon people. Don’t get me wrong, if you are an industry analyst or have a business degree or something, by all means, let’s hear it. Otherwise, this goes way beyond someone’s personal tastes and takes more than being a fan of comics or movies to comment on intelligently. Studios literally spend millions of dollars on market tracking and research run by people with multiple degrees and years of experience. I’m not going to outsmart all that just because I’m huge fan. But if you are that confident in you plans, go ahead and call WB or Disney and tell them how a to better get returns on their $200 million investments. I’m not downing anyone’s opinion about what they’d like to see. But, again, let’s keep it real.
In closing, I’d just like to keep it real with a few subjects that have popped up in the flame war. Let’s see… Thor and Cap’s movies were just “OK” at best and could have used better action. Man of Steel was just ok. Brian Singer is a hack and should never be allowed near another CBM. Zach Snyder is a hack and should never be allowed near another CBM. All of his movies suffer from the same problem. Everything that is not an action or sfx shot is just a time waster between action or sfx shots. I think Synder, in his head, really says “Punch blah blah destruction blah blah slow motion, etc” MoS, 300, Watchmen and Sucker Punch all suffered because of the lack of attention the “Meat” of these films received. Let’s see, what else… TDKR was amazing. IM3 was incredible. No one was a big Madarin fan before the twist, so shut up about it. New Superman suit is cool and it’s about time. Superman would destroy any hero at Marvel, he’s just too overpowered. No one at Marvel is as fast as the Flash and Superman is almost that fast = can’t be touched. Get over it. Batman is the best character in either company. Batman can’t beat everyone, but he could actually beat 75-80% of all other heroes and villains on a random encounter. That number becomes 90% with prep time. Marvel’s comics have gone down in quality as of late, New 52 turned out pretty well so far. We’re not getting another Hulk movie because TiH didn’t make enough money. Marvel Studios is run by people who love comics, WB, Sony and Fox are run by a bunch of business people who don’t care about the quality of their product, only whether or not it sells. Agents of Shield is not that great so far, but is only 4 episodes in and will probably get better... And there is no Easter bunny.
I think that about covers it. I hope I didn’t bore you guys too much. FLAME ON!