This is why Marvel movies are better than DC movies

With Black Panther, Infinity War, Aquaman, Deadpool 2, Venom and Ant-Man and the Wasp on the horizon for 2018, the superhero movie juggernaut continues to power onwards. But some fans and casual moviegoers have noticed something of a difference in quality between the Marvel cinematic universe and DC's brand of superheroes and villains. Comic book aficionado Robert Frost thinks there's one simple reason for this quality contrast...

In two words - Zack Snyder. Zack was selected to helm the effort to bring the DC Comics universe to the silver screen because of his success with adapting two comic books to film: Watchmen and 300. He did a fine job with both. He showed a strong visual talent - the ability to take a panel from the page and bring it to life. That made him seem a natural to do it again, for the core DC universe.

And this is where the “but...” comes in. Zack is of the age where his formative comic influences were some experiments that writers such as Alan Moore and Frank Miller did in the 1980s. Specifically, Moore’s Watchmen and The Killing Joke and Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Those books were outside of the regular comic book universe. They were subversions and deconstructions of the superhero genre. To quote Snyder, himself:

The difference between ‘Watchmen’ and a normal comic book is this: With ‘Batman’s Gotham City’ you are transported to another world where that superhero makes sense; ‘Watchmen’ comes at it in a different way, it almost superimposes its heroes on your world, which then changes how you view your world through its prism.

There’s nothing wrong with telling a story that deconstructs the genre, but it has to be understood that such a story does stand outside the genre in a Heisenbergian way - to observe the genre separates one from the genre. Watchmen, The Killing Joke, and The Dark Knight Returns are all great comic books and could make great films. But those films cannot form the foundation of the cinematic comic book universe. Building a foundation and deconstructing a genre are antonyms. Zack Snyder and Warner Brothers had very different goals, but neither seemed to realize this.

The foundation of a comic cinematic universe needs to reflect the foundation of the source material. Once that foundation is established, there is room, just as in the comics, to diversify and conduct experiments such as deconstructions. That foundation, as Snyder said in the above quote, serves to transport the audience into another world. The very nature of the superhero story requires it be in an imaginary world. Superhero stories require suspension of disbelief and that requires the storyteller to establish the rules of the world. The physics have to be malleable. The tropes have to be respected. The essence of the characters that have prospered for many decades have to be appreciated.

That’s what Marvel Studios did and Warner Brothers didn’t. Marvel ensured that the foundation of their universe was built upon the essence of what people loved about their comic books. They also understood that to bring the masses to what has historically been a niche culture requires gentle coaxing. They slowly and smoothly fed us Iron Man and used Nick Fury to make us curious about Captain America and then Thor. They got us to love those three characters and then satiated us by pulling them all together in the Avengers.

Warner Brothers should have had an easier job. Their characters were much better known to the general public. An argument can be made they shouldn’t have had to introduce characters that every kid grew up watching in cartoons. But when their deconstructed universe was so skewed from those comics, those characters became unrecognizable, and audiences were confused.

Warner Brothers’ DCEU greatest success has been Wonder Woman and everything about that film proves all of the above is true. Patty Jenkins and Allan Heinberg chose to untangle themselves from the cynicism and deconstruction and gave the audience the Wonder Woman they knew and loved. That movie reflects what has made comic books beloved for eighty years.

This article originally appeared on Quora

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