Current Events > The 'DC Heroes are unrelatable' argument seems pretty dated now

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think it did make sense in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s when Spider-man and X-Men were the faces of Marvel and the Justice League were the faces of DC. All of the Marvel stories are generally about normal people dealing with powers and that was what most people were generally exposed to. DC was often perceived to be a bit more fantastical.

But now with the MCU dominating the brand with a much more diverse line-up of heroes, the X-Men overall feeling less relevant and the Spider-man MCU movies going for a very different tone it feel like this is as relevant as it used to be. The MCU movies are all massively successful. But they fit the mold of what people criticized the DC heroes of being far more.

Basically all of the MCU heroes are either;

• Rich
• Scientific genius
• Soldiers
• People who spent their lives being the absolute best at something
• Gods
• People who lived in space
• Royalty
• Descendent of someone powerful
• Often a combination of the above

Which is really what the DC heroes are as well. Ant-man, Spider-man (although significantly less than he used to be) and the Netflix heroes feel the closest to being regular people dealing with superhero stuff.

This isn't a criticism or anything. Hell I don't even think I really see this DC complaint anywhere near as much as I used to. Just an interesting observation. I think it shows that people can relate to exceptional heroes that are overall just better than us just fine. It's all about the writing.

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Marvel is corny as f***

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SSJPurple posted...

Marvel is corny as f***

...and?

Look at the good DC movies, at least since Watchmen:
Lego Batman, Shazam, Aquaman. All corny.

Questionmarktarius posted...

...and?

Look at the good DC movies, at least since Watchmen:
Lego Batman, Shazam, Aquaman. All corny.

Shazam was actually funny in some parts though. Joker was f****** awesome.

Marvel movies are all full of corny dad jokes , they might as well have a laugh track.

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It's the Whedon dialogue

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Not really, irregardless of what Marvel has done, DC's Superman and a lot of other DC superheroes are unrelatable.

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Netflix did daredevil and punisher pretty Aight

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ArchHero posted...

Not really, irregardless of what Marvel has done, DC's Superman and a lot of other DC superheroes are unrelatable.

Based on what?

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I always saw DC heroes as larger-than-life icons, while Marvel heroes are more just regular people with superpowers.

Generally, at least

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Never heard this argument.

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The relatable of Marvel isn't really from the individual characters necessarily but from how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and others mirrored the sociopolitical climate in their comics. Jubilee isn't relatable because she can only make fireworks as her only power and otherwise is unremarkable. She's relatable because she's part of a marginalized minority struggling for equality and people see themselves in her.

DC's characters were not designed to be reflections of real life but to be role models that we aspired to.

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

I always saw DC heroes as larger-than-life icons, while Marvel heroes are more just regular people with superpowers.

Generally, at least

Yeah that's what I'm pointing out. That this was most certainly the case when X-Men and Spider-man represented the brand.

But the MCU is mostly larger-than-life icons with only a couple of exceptions. But it managed to overall avoid a similar perception.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

The relatable of Marvel isn't really from the individual characters necessarily but from how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and others mirrored the sociopolitical climate in their comics. Jubilee isn't relatable because she can only make fireworks as her only power and otherwise is unremarkable. She's relatable because she's part of a marginalized minority struggling for equality and people see themselves in her.

DC's characters were not designed to be reflections of real life but to be role models that we aspired to.

If you watch ItsJustSomeRandomGuy's videos on YouTube, he honestly portrays the DC characters better than most adaptations, particularly Superman.

One of the storylines is about Superman feeling irrelevant and unwanted in an era of "relatable" superheroes and edgy anti-heroes (this was probably around the time TDK came out). Spider-Man and all of the other DC/Marvel characters basically tell Superman that the only reason they're even able to keep going on is because they want to be Superman.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

The relatable of Marvel isn't really from the individual characters necessarily but from how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and others mirrored the sociopolitical climate in their comics. Jubilee isn't relatable because she can only make fireworks as her only power and otherwise is unremarkable. She's relatable because she's part of a marginalized minority struggling for equality and people see themselves in her.

DC's characters were not designed to be reflections of real life but to be role models that we aspired to.

I get that. It's just that personally I don't really get that same sort of feeling from the MCU.

It was actually Shang-Chi and Hawkeye that inspired me to make this topic. I really enjoy both but yeah it's just interesting how different all of the MCU stories feel from the Spider-man and X-Men stuff I liked as a kid.

Again this isn't a criticism as I like the DC heroes too.

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Youre kind of dismissing the relatable parts of Marvel here. Alcoholic, isolated, coming to terms with responsibilities, father issues, abusive childhood, etc. all correspond with the same people you described in the OP.

DC is also dismissed because people only make their argument about Superman and Wonderwoman because they don't know many others. Even though those two characters have had a lot of their humanity explored as well.

It's a stupid argument for the ignorant.

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I think Superman gets an unfair rep tbh. A large part of his character is still him trying to live a normal life with people despite being ridiculously powerful. He is morally righteous because of his loved ones and the ideal side of humanity that inspire him just as much as he inspires others. I find him a more relatable than characters like Thor, Starlord and the like who barely have had a normal life. I think people get hung up on his abilities too much.

I think the big issue with Superman is that it has been nearly half a century since he has had a great blockbuster movie. That's really what defines a superhero to the general population these days. I've heard his new TV show is good though and I really need to get around to it.

Jiek_Fafn posted...

Youre kind of dismissing the relatable parts of Marvel here. Alcoholic, isolated, coming to terms with responsibilities, father issues, abusive childhood, etc. all correspond with the same people you described in the OP.

DC is also dismissed because people only make their argument about Superman and Wonderwoman because they don't know many others. Even though those two characters have had a lot of their humanity explored as well.

It's a stupid argument for the ignorant.

True enough. I don't really agree with the DC argument to begin with.

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Punished_Blinx posted...

I get that. It's just that personally I don't really get that same sort of feeling from the MCU.

Well you definitely won't get that feeling from the MCU but this deposition/postulate/assertion/whatever is way older than the MCU.

Of course the idea was never really valid in the first place and it arose from the selection bias of the two companies most profitable lines. DC has plenty of characters that are just "normal" as far as normal can go in comics. The lanterns are a good example of this. Yeah the rings are kind of OP but they almost never use them to do the OP things that they're described as being capable of.

And then in reverse you've got the Fantastic Four who are composed of supermodel ultra genius astronauts capable of bending universal cosmic forces to their will.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

Well you definitely won't get that feeling from the MCU but this deposition/postulate/assertion/whatever is way older than the MCU.

Of course the idea was never really valid in the first place and it arose from the selection bias of the two companies most profitable lines. DC has plenty of characters that are just "normal" as far as normal can go in comics. The lanterns are a good example of this. Yeah the rings are kind of OP but they almost never use them to do the OP things that they're described as being capable of.

And then in reverse you've got the Fantastic Four who are composed of supermodel ultra genius astronauts capable of bending universal cosmic forces to their will.

Yeah I agree with you. That's why I don't think the argument is relevant anymore. It's all overall balancing out to be the same these days. Hell DC came out with Shazam not that long ago and it was a hit.

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The argument was always a dumb one, probably by people that never read a floppy in their life.