Marvel and DC have a war no one is talking about

According to Chris Snellgrove
| Published 32 seconds ago

It’s been a rough few years for DC fans. The DCEU has its fans (Snyder Bros, you’re still pretending Rebel month was he good?), but this failed cinematic universe mostly got the MCU in the teeth every year. Still, fans of heroes like Batman and Superman could take solace in one thing when arguing with Marvel fanboys: that DC has always had better animation, from groundbreaking TV shows to consistently awesome cartoons. However, the war is shifting and the quality X-Men ’97 as well as the noise around Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man means that Marvel may become the new king of cartoons.

How the Marvel DC Animated Movie War Began

The rivalry between the animators of Marvel and DC probably hit in the 1990s. The two companies have previously produced some exceptional cartoons (e.g Spider-Man and his amazing friends for Marvel and Super friends for DC), but the 90s gave us X-Men: The Animated Seriesthe legendary cartoon that eventually led to the excellent X-Men ’97. This performance and Spider-Man: The Animated Series would have helped Marvel animators dominate the entire decade if it weren’t for a little show called Batman: Animated series.

Building on the momentum of Tim Burton’s excellent live-action films, this Batman franchise was popular enough to spawn several spinoffs, including Superman: The Animated Series, Justice Leagueand Batman Beyond. All of these series existed in the shared DC Animated Universe, and DCAU ironically turned out to be a many a more successful cinematic universe than the later DCEU. While Miracle went on to produce some fun stuff over the next few years (including fan favorites X-Men: Evolution), DC has maintained its reputation as the undisputed masters of animation with shows like these Teen Titans and Young Justice as well as a number of amazing direct-to-video animated films.

As the Marvel DC Animated War continues

Given that Marvel has spent decades getting its ass kicked by rival DC animation departments, why do we think Stan Lee is he going to get this cartoon crown? for one thing X-Men ’97 he was better than anyone else he hoped could be, quickly establishing itself as the best animated superhero show since Batman: The Animated Series. And while we’ve only seen the trailer so far, Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man looks set to continue Marvel’s dominance of animation by telling smart, modernized stories using an animation style that hearkens back to Web-Head’s earliest designs.

While Marvel’s animators are coming into their own, DC’s animation doesn’t have the impact it once did. For example, the most recent “original” movie was a two-part adaptation Guardians which didn’t resonate with fans, and even the film’s biggest defenders are reluctant to admit that it’s yet another pointless adaptation of Alan Moore’s classic comic that fails to capture its original charm. However, the biggest mistake can actually be Batman: The Caped Crusaderan Amazon-exclusive show that everyone thought would be a smash hit.

The show creates Batman: The Animated Series created by Bruce Timm and set in the 1930s, it was a critical success: on Rotten tomatoesThe Caped Crusader has a critical rating of 94 percent, with critics. Notably, however, Popcornmeter shows that viewers are giving the show a much more dismal 55 percent, with some fans not liking the major changes the show is making to characters like Harley Quinn and even Bruce Wayne. Others have taken exception to the poor animation, and it’s hard to deny that this show isn’t nearly as great as Timm’s earlier work.

Meanwhile from Marvel X-Men ’97 was a hit across the board and sparked strong rumors of a new interconnected cartoon world that threatens to leave DC’s modern animation efforts in the dust entirely. Meanwhile, DC’s top animator is back to try and repeat the magic Batman: The Animated Series and fell significantly short of the mark. This is the year that will decide whether the live-action DCU will be a hit with moviegoers, but when it comes to cartoons, audiences already have the old rallying cry for the new year: “do my Marvel.”