10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Comic Books

4. That DC is Dark, And Marvel Is Light

JLA Avengers
DC/Marvel Comics

Since the DCEU came along with the release of 2013's Man of Steel, a consensus has slowly but surely been building. According to quite a lot of moviegoers, Marvel - today represented by the monolithic Marvel Cinematic Universe - specialises in the lighter aspects of superhero stories, while DC - until recently dominated by Zack Snyder's dark and gaudy features - is just grim.

Fans of both companies know better. The actual reality is that both the Marvel and DC universes publish about the same in terms of lighter and darker content, with both boasting a diverse selection of books.

It's never been the case that one publisher is darker than the other, and while there are certainly distinguishing features between each world, such as Marvel's tendency to reflect 'the world outside your window', or DC's slightly more epic gods and monsters-esque set-up, tonally, they're just as varied.

So, who's to blame for this misconception? Well there's a lot that must be said about Warner Bros., and how they've managed to present only one version of the DC Universe outside of the comics medium since the start of the decade. Everything is genuinely grim, and though it might frustrate Marvel fans wanting to see what DC's all about, it's doubly frustrating for those familiar with the publisher's comics.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.