By Chris Snellgrove | Published
For DC fans, these years have been difficult. The DCEU has its fans (Snyder Bros, you always pretend Rebel Moon was good?), but this failed cinematic universe has mostly been kicked in the teeth every year by the MCU. Still, fans of heroes like Batman and Superman might find comfort in one thing when talking with Marvel fanboys: that DC has always had better animation, from groundbreaking TV shows to consistently impressive cartoon films. However, the war evolves and the quality of X-Men ’97 as well as the buzz around Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man means Marvel could become the new king of cartoons.
How Marvel’s DC Animation War Began
It can be said that the rivalry between Marvel and DC animation creators reached its peak in the 90s. Both companies had already produced notable cartoons (like Spider-Man and His Incredible Friends for Marvel and Great friends for DC), but the 90s gave us X-Men: The Animated Seriesthe legendary cartoon that ultimately led to the excellent X-Men ’97. This show and Spider-Man: The Animated Series would have helped Marvel animators dominate the entire decade if not for a little show called Batman: The Animated Series.
This Batman series built on the momentum of Tim Burton’s excellent live-action films and was popular enough that we had several spinoffs, including Superman: The Animated Series, Justice LeagueAnd Batman Beyond. These series all existed in the DC Animated shared universe, and the DCAU ironically turned out to be a a lot cinematic universe more successful than the last DCEU. While Marvel continued to churn out fun stuff over the next few years (including fan favorite X-Men: Evolution), DC has maintained its reputation as the undisputed master of animation with shows like Teen Titans And Young judge as well as a series of stunning direct-to-video animated films.
How Marvel’s DC Animation War Is Playing Out
Considering Marvel has spent decades getting its butt kicked by rival DC animation departments, why do we think The House Stan Lee Built is about to take that cartoon crown? On the one hand, X-Men ’97 It was better than anyone hoped this could be the case, quickly establishing itself as the best-animated superhero series since Batman: The Animated Series. And even though we’ve only seen a trailer so far, Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man looks to continue Marvel’s dominance in animation by telling smart, modernized stories using an animation style reminiscent of early Web-Head designs.
Even though Marvel animators are starting to come into their own, DC animation is failing to have the impact it once had. For example, the most recent “original” film was a two-part adaptation of Guardians it didn’t resonate with fans, and even the film’s biggest defenders will begrudgingly admit that it’s another meaningless adaptation of Alan Moore’s classic comic that fails to capture its original magic. But the biggest misstep might just be Batman: The Caped Crusaderan Amazon-exclusive show that everyone thought would be a monster hit.
The show is created by Batman: The Animated Series creator Bruce Timm and set in the 1930s, and it made a splash with critics: on Rotten Tomatoes, Caped Crusader has a critical rating of 94 percent, among critics. Notably, however, the Popcornmeter shows that audiences give the series a much more dismal 55 percent, with some fans not liking the major changes the series is making to characters like Harley Quinn and even Bruce Wayne. Others have objected to the poor animation, and it’s hard to deny that this show isn’t as great as Timm’s previous work.
Meanwhile, Marvel X-Men ’97 was a success across the board, sparking strong rumors about a new interconnected cartoon universe that threatens to completely leave DC’s modern animated efforts in the dust. Meanwhile, DC’s best animator has returned to attempt to replicate the magic of Batman: The Animated Series and fell well short of the goal. This is the year that will determine whether the live-action DCU will be a hit with moviegoers, but when it comes to cartoons, audiences already have an old rallying cry for a new year: “make Marvel mine “.
