<p>The question plaguing the world since the early 1960s. Which is better? Why?</p>
<p>Here's my opinion.</p>
<p>I think Marvel has a stronger all around cast. Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Captain America, the Hulk, X-Men, Spiderman, Wolverine, Storm, etc. The Avengers are beastly. Yet, I think that DC has the best heroes and villains. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are beyond awesomeness. The Justice League is pretty awesome itself. And no one compares with the Joker. NO ONE. A distant second is Lex Luthor, and he's still amazing. </p>
<p>In the end, I'll have to give it to Marvel, despite my obsession with DC. DC just doesn't have Marvel's depth, as shown my JLA Unlimited.</p>
<p>I think the fundamental difference between Marvel and DC is this: while Marvel has fewer bad comics than DC, DC has more fantastic comics than Marvel. I recoil in horror when Blackest Night is even mentioned, I for the most part abhor Superman, and I think 99% of DC comics are absolutely atrocious; however, I still prefer DC because the few comics of theirs that I like are absolutely fantastic. DC is behind The Killing Joke, The Hiketeia, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and several other comics that are seen as essential reads, while Marvel tends to be more focused on fun and simple comics.</p>
<p>Another notable feature of DC is the way it handles women. While it’s true that the majority of their writers treat women as cheesecake material, there are a few truly groundbreaking writers, most notably Greg Rucka. His Wonder Woman series was perhaps the best portrayal of her that has ever existed - he and George Perez were the first writers to treat Wonder Woman as a multi-dimensional character and he went into great depth on her mythology. And let’s not forget his Batwoman run, which was truly innovative and unprecedented in the way it handled her as a character and her homosexuality. He won a well-deserved GLAAD Media Award for it. There are a few other examples of female-positive messages in DC, as seen in Gail Simone’s Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, and Secret Six and Amanda Conner’s Power Girl. They actually hire female writers and artists to handle female heroes, and for that reason their comics handle the characters incredibly well. Gail Simone does a particularly good job of this by focusing on the characters rather than events, which is nearly unheard of in mainstream comics. </p>
<p>And last but not least, DC has Vertigo. No more needs to be said on that subject. But in Marvel’s credit, aside from the Batman movies (Adam West and Joel Schumacher excluded) Marvel makes better live action movies, although no Marvel animated film/TV will top Batman: The Animated Series.</p>