MCU Vs DCEU: The Definitive Comparison (So Far)

One of, if not the biggest criticism leveled at both Marvel Studios and DC Films has been the 'villain problem', and these criticims are entirely justified.

Marvel are more than happy to revert to type and give audiences the yawn-inducing archetype of 'hero fights evil mirror version of themself'. We've seen it in all three Iron Man movies, Captain America: The First Avenger, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange. Its beginning to get a little tiresome.

It is surely no coincidence that Loki and Killmonger, the MCU's best villains by far, both believe themselves to be entirely justified in their means and actions, which conveniently enough tie into the hero assuming a position of power that they believe to be their birthright. Their story arcs work because the audience believes in the motivations, even if they don't agree with them.

With such a deep bench of antagonists to choose from, DC could have easily created three-dimensional, fully-formed villains for their movies, in turn adding the dramatic stakes in which the MCU is sorely lacking. Instead, they have inexplicably decided to churn out a production line of frankly terrible CGI end-of-level bosses that ultimately end up harming the quality of the final product.

Michael Shannon did his best with an underwritten Zod and the Jesse Eisenberg experiment failed spectacularly, but expecting the fans to buy into the likes of Doomsday, Enchantress, Incubus, Ares, Steppenwolf and the Parademons as serious threats to iconic characters when they don't even look convincing is asking a bit much.

In short, both studios have a lot of work to do to solve such an irritatingly recurring problem.