Why prefer marvel over DC?

[XPac]

Honestly I've been more interested in Valiant comics than the "big 2". But I like Marvel for it's superhuman races(Inhumans being my favorite) and cosmic properties (I'm still waiting for a new LOSH from DC)

Yeah, I do agree about the cosmic stuff.

I think the 2 areas Marvel does better than DC are on the street level stuff (with all due respect to Batman, which is great... but marvel has more variety in that regard) and cosmic stuff. The really high and really low end stuff are where marvel IMO has always outsided DC a bit.

[Raye]

Mostly, I just prefer Marvel's characters, some of that is just that I happened to dive into the MU first in a major way, so I am more familiar with them, but I also think it is how Marvel handles characters in general. Though there are some exceptions on both sides, in general, Marvel treats their characters as people first, heroes second, and DC's characters are handled as heroes first, people second. DC's are more symbols and are more about what they represent, while Marvel's are more about being relatable on a human level, and Marvel characters tend to have more character flaws. I mean, like I said, there are exceptions, but generally. And I just prefer the more relatable approach Marvel takes.

[Anthony Shaw]

The majority of my favourite comic runs come from Marvel.

Same with me. My favorite comic stories are various Marvel runs from the Jim Shooter era.

[Jman27]

First Marvel has Spiderman so that's an automatic win. Second I feel like Marvel have more memorable characters than DC does. I can relate more to Marvel characters there is only like maybe two Dc characters I understand but thats it.

[pageturner]

I dont

I dont prefer one over then other.

I get books from both companies both have characters I have interest in and enjoy. I never got the hate of one over the other.

[Rosebunse]

I dont

I dont prefer one over then other.

I get books from both companies both have characters I have interest in and enjoy. I never got the hate of one over the other.

It really isn't about hate so much as a preference. Marvel and DC are very similar, but they are also somewhat different from each other. I don't think any true comic book fan can truly hate either company, even if we disagree with their practices and styles.

[gurkle]

Also, I should add, I think Marvel's refusal to do a full-on continuity reboot has helped me get and stay addicted to their comics.

DC has done so many continuity reboots and patches since the 1980s that it has lots of obvious jumping-on and jumping-off points. There are series I got into before the New 52 that I haven't really gone back to since, others that I started recently but don't feel a need to go back to the past. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, depending on the series, and sometimes it works with what I mentioned before about some DC characters being better suited to shorter stories and limited runs.

Because Marvel has maintained the illusion (even though it is just an illusion) that everything in the past kinda sorta "happened" to the character you're reading now, it makes the comics more addictive because I can have the illusion that the back issues inform the current story and so I have to read everything.

Again: Not better or worse, just different. Marvel is the home of the in-continuity Marvels and DC is the home of the (mostly) out-of-continuity Kingdom Come. The Marvel approach just explains why I read more Marvel, not that I think Marvel is "better."

[LifeIsILL]

I actually prefer DC over Marvel.

But one thing that Marvel does better than DC is team books.

Avengers has always been better than Justice League, the intricate storytelling and the interaction of the team is something that the Justice League wasn't able to match. In fact, the best Justice League was by Keith Giffen, which featured a team without Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman....which tells you something right there.

Fantastic Four is certainly better than Challengers of the Unknown, and X-Men slightly edges the Teen Titans.

DC has two fantastic properties in Omega Men and LEGION but chooses to ignore them sadly.

[Lee Stone]

I don't prefer one over the other, but there's certain things I like better from one than the other...

Street level heroes - Used to be DC. I remember when I played the Mayfair DC RPG and the TSR Marvel RPG, it seemed that DC had more characters that were non-powered and skills-based. But as time went on, it degenerated to Batman and Friends and super-powered people became more important. While at Marvel, the Denny O'Neil influence was strong with Daredevil, Moon Knight and Power Man & Iron Fist and although they all had powers, their books were more grounded and became what I wanted in modern street level heroes.
Winner - Marvel

Magic/Mystical/Supernatural - DC does this really good, when they try. Swamp Thing #50 (and pretty much the rest of American Gothic) and Books of Magic (the mini-series) were phenomenal and went a long way in establishing the rules and world of their mystical corner. But they never utilize it. They have great ideas then ignore them. And years later, instead of building on those ideas, they replace them with another idea because writer A doesn't want to be held to writer B's rules. There seems to be less of this at Marvel. Meanwhile, Marvel's mystic corner has been touched on a few times, but ever since the end of Dr. Strange's '80s series and the original Defenders title, most writers today either don't have an interest in the characters or don't have the imagination to handle magic. Not to mention Marvel keeps Dr. Strange constantly on a treadmill cycling between 'lost powers, how do I cope?' and 'journey to regain powers'.
Winner - Neither

Continuity - DC is constantly rebooting. Granted, if you like certain characters, you'd either not notice or the changes would be minimal. But, if you're like me and don't care much for Batman, most of the characters you do like will either be rebooted or cast into limbo. Marvel has better continuity, even with a sliding time scale.
Winner - Marvel

Relaunches - Marvel gets points off for constantly relaunching. It can be confusing to readers, especially if you miss an issue and have to track down #3 and check the date on each one you find to see which one belongs to the series. At least DC doesn't relaunch as much, but when they do I'd fear of a reboot occurring.
Winner - DC

Character respect - DC seems to have no respect of characters. Pretty much everyone but the Trinity are expendable and they will often be killed on a whim, and maybe even tainted in some way just before getting killed. See Blue Beetle, Maxwell Lord, Sue Dibny, Dr. Light, Heroes in Crisis and just about all the Titans. Marvel's not above killing characters, but they seem to do it less to troll the fans and more to actually progress a story thread.
However... Marvel has been known to push out older characters in favor of 'replacements', but it isn't near as bad as killing them off in graphic ways.
Winner - Marvel

Teams - I tend to like ensemble casts more than solo titles. DC has a hard time maintaining any teams beyond Justice League and Titans. They may have another team title, but they don't last long and the characters usually move to the graphic killings pool. Marvel seems to have more teams, even though many are X-related.
Winner - Marvel

Cosmic - Marvel has been doing really good in this area since Annihilation. DC looked like it was heading in the right direction with Rann/Thanagar War... but nothing really ever came of it. And no, I don't consider Green Lantern enough for a cosmic corner. Imagine if Marvel's cosmic representation was reduced to Nova.
Winner - Marvel

However, I do have favorite characters at both publishers.

[LifeIsILL]

Cosmic - Marvel has been doing really good in this area since Annihilation. DC looked like it was heading in the right direction with Rann/Thanagar War... but nothing really ever came of it. And no, I don't consider Green Lantern enough for a cosmic corner. Imagine if Marvel's cosmic representation was reduced to Nova.
Winner - Marvel

I enjoy Omega Men and Legion of Super-Heroes more than just about any Marvel cosmic stuff but I don't think DC cares for those two teams.

[Lee Stone]

I enjoy Omega Men and Legion of Super-Heroes more than just about any Marvel cosmic stuff but I don't think DC cares for those two teams.

Same here.
They're sitting on a series that could rival Star Trek and Dr. Who in both fandom and mythology.
If they had just kept Legion running and treated it the same as they do Batman in regards to DC's reboots.
It baffles me that they're so blind to it.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Well, I don't. I don't really have a preference. If I pick up a comic, its not because of which publisher's name is on the cover. Having said that, there are of course characters that I'm more likely to follow than others. For example, I'm probably gonna read a Spider-Man or Captain America or Fantastic Four comic before I read a Suicide Squad or Firestorm comic. But at the same time, I'm probably more likely to read a Green Lantern or Batman or Superman comic before I read a Daredevil or Punisher comic.

Honestly, I don't see how anyone reading modern-day superhero comics can even really have a genuine preference for one over the other. All of the classic "reasons" people have thrown out for preferring one over the other have been defunct since at least the 80s. The whole "Marvel characters are more human because they have problems, while DC characters are more godlike because they don't" dichotomy hasn't been true for a very long time. Spider-Man's famous "Parker luck" was unique in the 1960s when he debuted, but you know, for a long time now, Batman, Superman, the Flash, etc. have been presented with personal problems in their own careers and romantic lives as well. And, well, Thor is quite literally a god with pretty much any mention of his human, Donald Blake identity having been swept under the rug. Same thing with the whole idea that DC characters are more powerful and are more likely to win in battle. Again, Thor or Hulk could probably wipe the floor with any member of the JLA except maybe Superman or Wonder Woman. And Franklin Richards can literally create entire universes. Last I checked, Superman couldn't do that.

At this point, all that separates the Marvel and DC universes are superficial aesthetics and which characters happen to be the big guns. Marvel and DC comics (and superhero comics in general) are so similar in tone, employ the same exact tropes, follow the same exact plot beats, have almost identical character struggles, and so on that reading a comic from one is essentially no different from reading a comic from the other. And of course that makes sense, since the two companies have traded off creatives so much that there's essentially a talent pipeline running between them.

[Ptrvc]

Several of Marvel's characters have one me over.

None of DC's ever have.

[Jekyll]

Historically I’ve been more of a DC guy, but here lately I am much more of a Marvel guy. Two Marvel characters in particular have always held a special place for me. Daredevil and Spider-Man! I grew up watching Spider-Man the animated series and remember running around recess playing Secret Wars with my friends, when those episodes came out. Daredevil was just plain cool to me with his costume and powers. Another thing I really admire about Marvel is they really do offer something for everyone.

[JKtheMac]

The thing that can't be ignored is that there are very different flavours to the two companies. Some comic fans seem to want everyone to love all comics, and consequently they minimise the differences, but the differences are real. Because they are different flavours some people will just have tastes that are suited to one or the other.

I would maintain the reason Batman is so universally popular is because he is the most Marvel compatible character DC have. The flavour differences are still present but not as distinct. So those of us that mostly read Marvel are perhaps more likely to read Batman and perhaps less likely to read Green Lantern.

Indeed, I personally believe that certain eras try far too hard to make Batman more iconic and DC compatible, and thereby strip anything I find interesting about him away. I have no interest in reading about a dark personification of the night, for me Batman is best when he is human and fallible.