Why prefer marvel over DC?

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

No, it remains true. If you want to take a myopic view of Marvel and DC as being virtually the same, it's your choice but they are very different.

Whoa, whoa, I'm not saying DC and Marvel are "the same." I'm not saying that they have the same characters or that their lore is the same. Of course not. Different characters have different lore.

However, what my main point has been is that there is no difference in the capacity of writers to tell a certain type of story at one as opposed to the other and any assertion that there is is disingenuous. You can tell dark and gritty stories at DC just as easily as you could tell dark and gritty stories at Marvel, just like you could tell uplifting and inspiring stories at Marvel as easily as you could at DC. You can tell grand space operas at Marvel just as easily as you could tell those same stories at DC and you could tell small-scale, down to earth adventures at DC as easily as at Marvel.

Any preference just depends on which lore you are more attracted to.

Those characters are not the norm. They were add-ons and DC typically defaults back to favoring the most iconic versions of their heroes.

When those characters are so prevalent and play a large enough role in the universe, they are the norm. Wally West and Kyle Rayner aren't some C-listers. They're kind of big deals in the DCU.

The bare bones of a story can be transplanted but the final story will not be the same.

Had Kraven's Last Hunt been told as a Batman/Joker story, it would have been fundamentally different in tone.

Which is the entire point here. Surface similarities can exist but the universes are not identical or interchangeable.

Of course it would have been a different story just by virtue of it dealing with different characters, instead dealing with the personal circumstances surrounding Batman as opposed to Spider-Man. However, I fail to see how it would have been different in terms of tone. The original pitch to DC was about Joker finally killing Batman. That's not very light or optimistic in terms of subject matter or tone.

So, not only did DeMatteis feel comfortable pitching that not once, but twice to DC but they rejected it because they already had a very tonally-similar story already in development. Doesn't that at least suggest that that type of story is no more out-of-place at DC than it is at Marvel?

He is. And he is often shown to be and many stories regarding Cap revolve around the fact that his values are in conflict with a harsher, more cynical world.

Not from what I've seen. People idolize him in the Marvel Universe. In fact, that's part of why Secret Empire played out the way it did: because people did love Cap so much that he was able to use that capital to deceive and conquer in the name of Hydra. Cap is beloved, just like Superman is beloved. And not only that, but that "fish out of water" theme is prevalent in both their comics.