The Marvel Cinematic Universe vs The Dark Knight Trilogy

Which classic superhero interpretation do you find better? Marvel's modern, cinematic take on their pantheon of superheroes, or Nolan's gritty reboot of DC's seminal flagship character?

Just so we know what each series entails:

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

• Iron Man
• The Incredible Hulk
• Thor
• Iron Man 2
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• The Avengers

THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY

• Batman Begins
• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Rises

Which one do you find better, and why?

My answer is simple: the Dark Knight Trilogy outdoes the Marvel Universe. Batman is one of the greatest characters in history, and Nolan's masterful take on him reinvents him for a new time, bringing modern audiences up to speed with his legend. That, and the fact that it has three incredible movies, to Marvel's wildly varying quality, and the fact that The Dark Knight Trilogy might be one of the greatest cinematic trilogies in history (seriously, I think it's second only to Lord of the Rings, and that was filmed as one movie).

How about you guys?

I voted Batman, but as I mentioned in similar thread comparing the Dark Knight Rises and Avengers, they are really too different to compare. Both are superhero franchises, but they are very different, which I think is good. It's showing that the superhero genre is being taken more seriously.

The Dark Knight Trilogy. All three films are in my top ten favorites list (of all time). While I think the Marvel Cinematic Universe is mostly great, they just don't stand up well to the Dark Knight trilogy. But who really cares about that? I own them all!

The Dark Knight Trilogy redefined just how far you could push a comic book adaptation and for me, is the definitive live-action adaptation of Bill Finger and Bob Kane's characters. Sorry, Tim Burton.

The MCV on the other hand, like you said, do vary in quality (I enjoyed the first Iron Man, Captain America, and Hulk to an extent, but did not like Thor or Iron Man 2), but I'll be damned if I didn't say that The Avengers was one of the most entertaining and satisfying action comic book films that I've seen. Besides, you do have to give Marvel some credit for taking chances on their lesser lesser knowns in the upcoming Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Marvel and DC are both dying. Marvel is trying to go crazy with infinite crossovers and has this fetish of heroes fighting heroes (Fear Itself, xmen schism, AvX, now Avengers Arena all in a row), DC is losing writers (Rob leifeld, some people may like this though, Grant Morrison, and others) although I applaud DC for trying to put aside some of the iconic villians and try to create new ones at the start of their post-Flashpoint new 52 (court of owls was well done, but Scott Snyder is a great writer). And I like how Hickman and Waid are onboard for Marvel NOW! (I'm not reading any of that though, waaaaaaaayyyyyy to much for me to still read)

Now onto movies, Marvel makes great movies, recently (yesterday) a rumor circulated that two staff members of WB walked into a comic shop and asked dumb questions like : "what superhero films have had good Facebook pages?, Do you think comic fans would accept a superhero film without Nolans involvement, would him serving as a producer suffice? What do fans think of Aquaman? Hes lame isnt he?, What is regarded as the strongest lineup of the Justice League and would work as a film?, What should DC do film wise?, making me die in the fact that anyone at WB has ever read DC comics.

Don't get me wrong, I have the Batman chronicles laying on the ground beside me along with Panic in the Sky and They Saved Luthor's Brain, I like these big heroes, they just need to go back to telling great stories and not trying to get a quick cash grab by doing some huge crossover (2012 AvX: Marvel , 2013 Trinity War: DC) And please get Dan didio to know what he's talking about and get DC editorial back on its feet. Don't say that Final Crisis happened then that is "sort of" happened and then that it didn't happen at all. :roll:

Oh and to answer your question, the Marvel movies, I like DC comics better, but I hate this whole "Let's make superheroes dark, gritty, and real" because they aren't supossed to be. Superheroes aren't supossed to be real, that ruins the fun of them. Just my opinions BTW cause I know I'm gonna get hammered.

[QUOTE="JohnF111"][QUOTE="charizard1605"]LIES :Pchampion837

I think I'm the only one that liked Thor more than the rest of the Marvel movies save Avenegers and X-Men:First Class.

TDK movies were consistently good. While some of the Marvel movies were good (Iron Man, Avengers), the rest (Thor, Hulk, Cap) were just okay at best. I also penalize Marvel for that whole licencing crap with Spider-man. To make up for that, at least the X-men movies were good. Now, if it was Marvel vs. DC movies, I'd give it to Marvel because the Green Lantern left a bad taste in my mouth.flipin_jackass

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

• Iron Man
• The Incredible Hulk
• The Avengers (haven't seen it yet, not in any rush as of yet)

THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY

• Batman Begins
• The Dark Knight Rises (haven't seen it yet, not in any rush as of yet)

Only ones I like out of these, minus what I haven't seen obviously

charizard1605

I liked the first spiderman, first two blade movies, and the first of the more modern punisher films.

For dc, I like all of the original batman movies(yes, all. Mainly the first 2 though), the original superman movies, and Watchmen.

Figured I'd list the actual marvel vs DC, instead of DK since I'm not hot in the sack for Nolans vision on batman. That said, I'm pretty torn with what I did like from both sides. I guess I'd give the edge to Marvel movies, but between the first two batman movies, and Watchmen, it makes it extremely close.

Recently re-watched The Avengers.

That movie is just a lot of fun. Something that you just don't get with a lot of DC films.

Batman of course....LJS9502_basic

I haven't seen Rises but I thought TDK was vastly, vastly overrated and Batman Begins was just average. Marvel sort of wins by default.famicommander

[QUOTE="famicommander"]I haven't seen Rises but I thought TDK was vastly, vastly overrated and Batman Begins was just average. Marvel sort of wins by default.charizard1605

I absolutely adore TDK (mostly for Ledger's Joker and little else) but would take the Marvel group any other day of the week before a single Batman movie Especially for Iron Man and Avengers.Zeviander

If this also applies to Mask of the Phantasm, I challenge you to a hockey goalie fight.famicommander

[QUOTE="famicommander"]If this also applies to Mask of the Phantasm, I challenge you to a hockey goalie fight.Zeviander

[QUOTE="charizard1605"][QUOTE="famicommander"]I haven't seen Rises but I thought TDK was vastly, vastly overrated and Batman Begins was just average. Marvel sort of wins by default.famicommander

I wouldn't call it pretentious, but I do think the only saving grace for that film was the performance of Ledger. Begins was enjoyable for me though, because in terms of how he became batman, and how he matured to the mindstate his training provided, I thought it was a really interesting take on the whole process. It kind of fell flat on it's face when the whole "city is going nuts" thing started though, and even before that in certain aspects. Just wanted to chime in:P

Marvel comes out well ahead for me.

Batman. Why? Batman, that's why.

Marvel, I'm biased though because Iron Man's my favorite comic book hero by a longshot.

The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are better than every Marvel movie, so...

Batman, i feel as marvel movies are just too action-y. Nolan's batman actually paid attention to a decent story, WITH action. Marvel movies are kind of the same too, with the action, dialogue and "quirky" humor all the same.kris9031998

The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are better than every Marvel movie, so...

mitu123

[QUOTE="kris9031998"]Batman, i feel as marvel movies are just too action-y. Nolan's batman actually paid attention to a decent story, WITH action. Marvel movies are kind of the same too, with the action, dialogue and "quirky" humor all the same.charizard1605

The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are better than every Marvel movie, so...

mitu123

[QUOTE="champion837"][QUOTE="JohnF111"] Okay you got me. Still Marvel movies are damn good, maybe not the best of the best but still pretty high up.charizard1605

Gotta disagree with you there, man. If we're talking "to the extent", I'd say it's almost the reverse. Before the first X-Men, superhero movies were kind of a joke. Tim Burton's Batman? Chris Reeves' Superman? X-Men proved that the genre was financially viable and could provide a thought-provoking story with depth. Did Batman do it better? Maybe. But X-Men did it first.

I'll give you Batman Begins gave birth to the darker superhero story, but a lot of its "revolutionary" features are more to do with aesthetic and style. It's hard to see what Batman exactly revolutionized, though, since the only superhero films that are in the same vein currently are Nolan's own stuff, Singer's Superman Returns (bleh), and now the upcoming Man of Steel... all WB productions that I feel are just trying to capitalize on TDK's popularity.

Marvel, on the other hand, is sticking to its own formula. If Joss Whedon continues to helm and the Avengers is any indication, it's one that works extremely well.

Batman trilogy is MILES better.

Batman Begins: 9.5/10

The Dark Knight 10/10

The Dark Knight Rises 8.5/10

---------------------------------

But I'm not just a fanboy, I did enjoy marvel movies too.

Iron man 8/10

Iron man 2 7.5/10

The Avengers: 9/10

Haven't watched the others, I have watched Spider 1-4 and they were all rather meh, especially the last one.

I've got Thor and I'm ready too watch it, but cinema surround system is so loud I have to wait for a time where I can sit down and watch it with extremely loud house-shaking bass.. Without neighbors/family complaining.

I thought 'Iron Man' was one of the best paced scripts and most fun I had in a long time, but the ending was quite disappointing.

The Incredible Hulk with Norton was OK, but forgettable. The best thing I liked about the movie was how elegant they handled the origin (short and sweet).

Thor was good.

I found Captain America quite boring and stale. I watched it twice and liked it less the second time.

The Avengers had some of the best fighting scenes I ever saw in a movie. THAT is how comic book action should be. Story wise...it was so-so. Plus I found all the characters a bit one-dimensional. It was fun, just like a comic book.

The Dark Knight series...to me they are graphic novels. Mulit-layered, quite involved, food for thought. Powerful quite often.
Are they perfect? No. The first one I liked much. The second one I can watch over and and over, and I loved the last one. I thought it was a great ending to a lengthy story.

For me, its TDK all the way.

One is like a comic book you enjoy for the moment. The other is something you gladly revisit often.

Marvel and DC are both dying. Marvel is trying to go crazy with infinite crossovers and has this fetish of heroes fighting heroes (Fear Itself, xmen schism, AvX, now Avengers Arena all in a row), DC is losing writers (Rob leifeld, some people may like this though, Grant Morrison, and others) although I applaud DC for trying to put aside some of the iconic villians and try to create new ones at the start of their post-Flashpoint new 52 (court of owls was well done, but Scott Snyder is a great writer). And I like how Hickman and Waid are onboard for Marvel NOW! (I'm not reading any of that though, waaaaaaaayyyyyy to much for me to still read)

Now onto movies, Marvel makes great movies, recently (yesterday) a rumor circulated that two staff members of WB walked into a comic shop and asked dumb questions like : "what superhero films have had good Facebook pages?, Do you think comic fans would accept a superhero film without Nolans involvement, would him serving as a producer suffice? What do fans think of Aquaman? Hes lame isnt he?, What is regarded as the strongest lineup of the Justice League and would work as a film?, What should DC do film wise?, making me die in the fact that anyone at WB has ever read DC comics.

Don't get me wrong, I have the Batman chronicles laying on the ground beside me along with Panic in the Sky and They Saved Luthor's Brain, I like these big heroes, they just need to go back to telling great stories and not trying to get a quick cash grab by doing some huge crossover (2012 AvX: Marvel , 2013 Trinity War: DC) And please get Dan didio to know what he's talking about and get DC editorial back on its feet. Don't say that Final Crisis happened then that is "sort of" happened and then that it didn't happen at all. :roll:

Oh and to answer your question, the Marvel movies, I like DC comics better, but I hate this whole "Let's make superheroes dark, gritty, and real" because they aren't supossed to be. Superheroes aren't supossed to be real, that ruins the fun of them. Just my opinions BTW cause I know I'm gonna get hammered.

Hatiko

[QUOTE="charizard1605"][QUOTE="champion837"] With spiderman and the x men marvel did revolutionize modern day superhero movies.Sharpie125

Gotta disagree with you there, man. If we're talking "to the extent", I'd say it's almost the reverse. Before the first X-Men, superhero movies were kind of a joke. Tim Burton's Batman? Chris Reeves' Superman? X-Men proved that the genre was financially viable and could provide a thought-provoking story with depth. Did Batman do it better? Maybe. But X-Men did it first.

I'll give you Batman Begins gave birth to the darker superhero story, but a lot of its "revolutionary" features are more to do with aesthetic and style. It's hard to see what Batman exactly revolutionized, though, since the only superhero films that are in the same vein currently are Nolan's own stuff, Singer's Superman Returns (bleh), and now the upcoming Man of Steel... all WB productions that I feel are just trying to capitalize on TDK's popularity.

Marvel, on the other hand, is sticking to its own formula. If Joss Whedon continues to helm and the Avengers is any indication, it's one that works extremely well.

Man of Steel is DC, and the Dark Knight movies were their formula (well, Warner Bros., and Marvel was Disney).

But seriously, the Spiderman movies were actually sh*t. The whole Spiderchrist is dying for our sins on the train thing was terrible. Plus, Tobey Maquire is the most feminine and wimpy actor of all time. Batman Begins was a turn in the opposite direction. X-Men... just no.