Which is better at romance/relationships: The Arrowverse shows or the MCU films

[QuinnFillory]

The Arrowverse and The MCU are two of the biggest (and arguably, the most successful) comic book universes to grace our screens. There are a lot of things that they get right and wrongs. One of the things that gets a big focus in both universes is the romance factor. Most of the heroes in the universes are in relationships or just have love interests. So, which universe is better at the whole romance thing?

[XPac]

I don't watch much of the arrowverse, so I can't say which does it better.

I theory though, I do believe a TV should be able to handle romance much better than a movie. You have 20 hours to convey a relationship instead of just 2. If the MCU is handling this better, then the arrowverse is doing something wrong.

[Gray Lensman]

I don't watch much of the arrowverse, so I can't say which does it better.

I theory though, I do believe a TV should be able to handle romance much better than a movie. You have 20 hours to convey a relationship instead of just 2. If the MCU is handling this better, then the arrowverse is doing something wrong.

Pretty much this. And, anything shown on screen has to be epically bad to be beaten by things that happen off of it.

[TriggerWarning]

Arrowverse in many cases simply because as others said TV shows have much more time to do it whereas the movies get about 10-15 minutes top per movie to explore the romance.

Best example of it is Felicity on Arrow. I know people nowadays love to hate on Felicity but in the early days she was beloved by most as her quirks hadn't grown to irritating levels yet. She also had actual chemistry with Ollie on the show unlike Laurel. So the show runners wisely ditched the whole Green Arrow / Black Canary romance canon from the comics and went with what was working. Some hated it because it wasn't following the comics and then later Felicity's quirks did go from being cute to annoying but it was nonetheless a well developed relationship based on character chemistry and the fact that Felicity didn't have to be forced onto Team Arrow as the skills she brought to the team before the romance was even considered made her an asset.

Conversely a case where its been poorly handled in the Arrowverse is on Flash. Iris is an extremely annoying character and there is little chemistry on screen between her and Barry. Iris, unlike Felicity, also is utterly useless to Team Flash and it takes a lot of forced plotting to make her relevant - like the countless examples where she comes up with scientific ideas rather than the scientists on the team just to make her seem useful.

[TriggerWarning]

I'd also give a huge nod to the Arrowverse for handling gay relationship correctly as they don't even talk about them being gay relationships. They are front and center yet never even made into any kind of big deal. Which is awesome because this is the best way to normalize them to the masses plus it keeps the characters from being the "gay" character whose major defining characteristic is being gay. Curtis on Arrow was gay and had a husband but he was always first and foremost Mr Terrific who made gadgets for the team. Too often on TV when a character is gay everything else becomes secondary. Its sort of what worries about Batwoman because there is so much focus on her being lesbian that I worry it will overshadow everything else about her. And its not as if she's even remotely the first gay character in the Arrowverse or even lead character as Sara is the lead character on Legends and is bisexual but mostly is with women.

While not a comic book show another CW show, The 100, also does it right. Many gay and lesbian characters front and center and no makes into a deal. And the lead character is lesbian - some might say she's bi but she hasn't been with a guy since season one so I view her as a lesbian who didn't accept her own sexuality til early adulthood and will continue to do so unless she ends up with a guy again.

[Tofali]

Neither. Arrowverse is Soap Opera/Superheroics which I find cringe-y and off-putting because they lean on the soapy side too much while MCU is a dehydrated 50s romantic movie or a period Victorian drama romantic plot without the good parts.

[BeastieRunner]

I can't even name one from either that I don't start laughing at how bad it was/is.

Both do the same thing, too, start off with a great idea (i.e. Peter/Gamora, Hulk/Widow, Oliver/Laurel, Siren/Diaz) and proceed to ruin it with nonsensical melodrama or forget about it, sometimes within the same hour.

[Powerboy]

I'd also give a huge nod to the Arrowverse for handling gay relationship correctly as they don't even talk about them being gay relationships. They are front and center yet never even made into any kind of big deal. Which is awesome because this is the best way to normalize them to the masses plus it keeps the characters from being the "gay" character whose major defining characteristic is being gay. Curtis on Arrow was gay and had a husband but he was always first and foremost Mr Terrific who made gadgets for the team. Too often on TV when a character is gay everything else becomes secondary. Its sort of what worries about Batwoman because there is so much focus on her being lesbian that I worry it will overshadow everything else about her. And its not as if she's even remotely the first gay character in the Arrowverse or even lead character as Sara is the lead character on Legends and is bisexual but mostly is with women.

While not a comic book show another CW show, The 100, also does it right. Many gay and lesbian characters front and center and no makes into a deal. And the lead character is lesbian - some might say she's bi but she hasn't been with a guy since season one so I view her as a lesbian who didn't accept her own sexuality til early adulthood and will continue to do so unless she ends up with a guy again.

That's a good point. I remember Tom Selleck doing an interview about a character he played that was gay and admitting he learned a valuable lesson. The director was gay and Selleck kept trying to figure out how to play the character, who he was, basically method acting. One day, he went running to the director and said, "Hey, I finally know how to play this character. I understand who he is. He's gay." The director responded, "Wow, it's a good thing for us you didn't bring that kind of profound insight to the role of Thomas Magnum, otherwise "Magnum, P.I." would have lasted one season and nobody would remember it".

So very true that the CW shows handle homosexuality in the best possible way. Captain Singh isn't a gay character. He's a police captain who happens to be gay. It's completely normalized which may be the best way to, well, normalize it.

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, some shows were criticized for normalizing race, showing black and white people working together and being friends with no racial tensions. The argument was that it did not reflect the real world but it may well have changed young people's perceptions of how things should be.

To answer the actual question, the CW does some things better than the MCU largely because they have more time but they also do some things worse because they have more time.