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Wave 59* **: X-citing possibilities. (*edited for posterity [**again])


Nessex

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If anybody in 1991 told me that Guardians of the Galaxy would one day become a major property for Marvel, I would have laughed in their face. Such a terrible comic.

Given the quality of many X-related titles over the past 20+ years, probably ought to be careful about calling other comics terrible.

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Exactly! It's both companies respective failures and successes. On the one hand, sure, Warner Brothers has completely dropped the ball with respect to marketing the DC Universe as a live action property. But at the same time, you have to respect Marvel stepping up to the plate and making a guardians of the galaxy movie, of all things, with an AntMan movie on the horizon.

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To be fair, there's no "DC Studios." Warner Bros. produces and distributes a lot more than just comic book movies. To date, Marvel Studios hasn't done anything but comic book flicks. Disney does everything else but from what I've seen they haven't interfered with Marvel Studios they way many expected them to.

DC Entertainment is little more than a production shingle on the WB lot, a brand logo to give the impression that DC Comics has a lot more to do with the creative drection of these films than they really do. On the other hand, the whole reason Disney took notice of Marvel was because of their success with Marvel Studios by partnering with Sony, Universal, Fox, and Paramount.

Warners has always had more potential when it comes to comic book crossovers and well-known super-hero properties but they've always had a full slate of other films in other genres as well. I think people tend to forget about that when they compare DC to Marvel, especially in the past.

That said, WB seems to be taking more of an interest in DC properties now that they're got a new studio head. It also helps that Man of Steel was the studio's highest grossing domestic film, in front of Gravity, The Desolation of Smaug, and We're the Millers.

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Define "underperforming."

Disclaimer: Obviously this is a dated infographic since it doesn't list the most recent films. I haven't fact-checked it. I just use it to illustrate that the disparity between DC and Marvel films might not be what many think it is.

Assuming it's correct, it looks like Marvel movies have made something like 3 times as much in the past decade... although that's box office, not profits, so take out production/marketing and add in dvd sales, plus as you say it's outdated... so who knows.

Edited by battlecat
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Define "underperforming."

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Disclaimer: Obviously this is a dated infographic since it doesn't list the most recent films. I haven't fact-checked it. I just use it to illustrate that the disparity between DC and Marvel films might not be what many think it is.

I don't necessarily mean dollar wise. I'm talking about growing the brand, as much as anything. 8 of those 14 DC films were Batman movies. I could sell a kid a rock if I painted a bat symbol on it. Marvel has taken chances and they've paid off. It's modern movie renaissance started with Blade. They played it safe with big names Spider-Man and The X-Men next, but then made the anchor of their multi-movie franchise IRON MAN! ? STARRING ROBERT DOWNEY JR! ? And it worked! Now phase two will include GotG and Ant Man while DC has still only managed to make their big two TRULY marketable.

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In terms of brand, I'd agree that Marvel has done a stellar job of introduing (and re-introducing) contemporary movie audiences to their best comic book properties. Spider-Man and Hulk were the safest bets, which is why Sony and Universal grabbed those. Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Punisher, not so much.

What Marvel's done very right is to get direct creative control of certain properties. They've built "Marvel Studios" as a brand name associated with entertaining superhero films, much the same way Pixar became synonymous with quality, CG family fun for all ages. Guardians or the Galaxy and especially Ant-Man will test whether audiences will flock to a film featuring characters even comic fans aren't very familiar with.

DC films have simply been terribly mismanaged by a parent studio that just didn't know how to translate such venerable characters to the screen. Despite the fact that DC characters enjoyed a higher Q score than Marvel's at the time, WB rested on their Bat-laurels, like you said. I think they got lucky with the Dark Knight trilogy, pure and simple. And as a life-long Batman fan, I wasn't all that satisfied with the results. Superman Returns was at best a safe way to recoup the money spent on previous false starts. Green Lantern was just… ugh.

I know WB wanted to do a DC movie crossover before Batman Begins with Wolfgang Petersen's Batman vs Superman but the studio heads lost their balls and postponed the idea. I have higher hopes now that there's been a regime change and I'm enjoying Arrow a lot more than I ever did Smallville. Hopefully that's a good sign that DC projects are headed in a better direction.

I'm really hoping that Marvel's Netflix shows can match or surpass that level of success. Agents of SHIELD isn't exactly setting the fandom ablaze so I'm cautiously optimistic at best.

You know, it would be great to go back in time 20 years and tell myself I'm even having this kind of conversation. I'd probably tell me to shut up and enjoy the damned popcorn!

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  • 2 months later...

Zach said it - it's out there. . . A current X-Men wave is coming to specialty stores.

With Waves 55 & 56 allocated to Winter Soldier & ASM2 respectively, one might assume that 57* will be the X-Men wave.

It appears that one was wrong...

DoFP is now Series 59. 57 is GotG, 58 is X-Men comic. That should also be the order of release.

Wave 58 will be comic x-men

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