The Marvel vs DC Comics movie battle is really heating up. We are living in the Golden Age of Comic book films. On the heels of DC releasing its movie lineup that goes up to the year 2020. Marvel has released its lineup for Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel has had great success at building its universe. So much success that other companies have been trying to emulate what Marvel Studios has accomplished. Marvel has really stepped its game up with the announcement of nine new film titles including an “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and 2.” The Oct. 25 announcement also included the likes of Captain/Ms. Marvel, Black Panther, Doctor Strange and The Inhumans, all being made into feature length films. Marvel also announced sequels for its already established titles such as, “Captain American”, “Thor” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.” “Captain America: Civil War” will officially kick off Phase 3 on May 6, 2016. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” was also scheduled to be released the same day as “Captain America 3” before it opted to move to a March 25. The concept of a Marvel movie and a DC Comics movie releasing on the same day only heighted the idea that both studios were battling for Comic-book-movie supremacy. That does raise the questions of who is winning the battle or is there even a battle being fought?

Marvel Studios began its universe back in 2008 with the first “Iron Man” movie and laid the groundwork for what would become a massive franchise. Six years later they have released ten films that have all been relatively successful at the box office including Marvel’s “The Avengers” which is the third highest grossing movie of all time. In 2013 DC Comics began its universe with the film “Man of Steel.” “Man of Steel” was received hot and cold by fans and critics but went on to gross over $650 million. Even with Marvel’s five year head start DC still believes they could build cohesive Universe with characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. DC writer David S. Goyer stated during an interview with IGN, “It is too early. I know that Warner Bros. would love to make its universe more cohesive. There have been a lot of general conversations about that, but it is really, really early. I am not sure. Marvel has had enormous success, but I am not sure that everybody should try to emulate them either. It is just been vague conversations so far.” Nonetheless DC has put in a lot of effort to establish its own unique universe.

The DC shared universe lineup announced in mid-October features some hotly anticipated titles. After the release of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” the next film to be released will be the “Suicide Squad” on Aug. 5, 2016 followed by solo Wonder Woman film in 2017. All of these movies will lead up to the first ever live action Justice League movies. They are set to debut in 2017, “Justice League Part One” and 2019, “Justice League Part Two.” “The Flash” and “Aquaman” will be released in 2018 while “Cyborg” and “Green Lantern” will round out the first wave of films in 2020.

It is not hard to say which universe is more successful with one already established with ten movies under its belt. It is a little fuzzy to say who has the better plan going forward with the amount of movies already announced. Marvel has plans to release movies all the way up to 2019 concluding Phase 3 with “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2.”

However DC has plans that go all the way to 2020. It would be foolish to say Marvel does not know what they want to do beyond 2019 because they most likely know what direction they want to go for Phase 4 they just have not announced it yet. DC’s concept is sort of an accelerated form of Marvel Studios Phase 1. DC wants to establish its characters but not wait for each character to have its own solo movie before they team up for the Justice League. They have the idea it would be easier to cram characters and elements of the shared universe into the fold in 1or 2 films and then place them in its own solo films. Man of Steel laid the foundation for the franchise, Dawn of Justice will tell us where they want to go as franchise and a Universe. The Suicide Squad will give the audience a different perspective of seeing a team full of anti-heroes. Justice League will be what everyone has been waiting for. Fan will want to see can DC make a successful team up movie like Marvel’s The Avengers. I think the fact the Avengers already debuted and the raised the expectation level will diminish the film’s release in minor way. It will still be historic but it will not be first of its kind.

Marvels plan seems to follow the pattern of what they have been doing but with a twist. They have been masterful at establishing characters and building sequels from those characters a la Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. The have a sort of new strategy of releasing three films a year and giving new characters films its first feature length film. Starting in 2017 we will get 2 film sequels with Guardians and Thor, but also a new character in Black Panther played by Chadwick Boseman. Marvel has stated Boseman will make his official debut in Captain America: Civil War. The next year we will get one already established product, “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and 2” new film with Captain Marvel and the Inhumans. The newer films will most likely lay the groundwork for Phase 4 and its sequels will tie in to further build on the Universe.

What I am looking forward to most of all is how will Avengers part 2 and Justice League part 2 fare being released so close to one another in 2019. The third Avengers flick will finally bring everything together since the after credit scene we saw in the first Avengers film with the Mad Titan Thanos. We got a glimpse of him in this summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy. In Avengers 3 we will see Thanos assemble the Infinity Gauntlet and take on earth’s mightiest heroes and most likely the Guardians of the Galaxy in a huge team up film. Fans believed the Thanos would actually be the villain in the Avenger’s sequel but that honor went to Ultron instead. The infinity Gauntlet has been talked about since we got a glimpse of it in Odin’s Vault in the first Thor. We know once Thanos has all the Infinity stones and combines them with the gauntlet he will wreak havoc upon the universe and try to finish what he started when his army invaded earth for the tesseract. There is not much I can say about Justice League part two but there are some rumors floating around saying Darkseid will be the villain the DC heroes take on in the sequel team up with Brainiac being the villain in the first Justice League. For those of you who do not know Darkseid is the DC counterpart to Marvel’s Thanos. This would be a juicy storyline if the rumors turn out to be true to have these two villains going up against the franchise’s superhero teams in the same year. The possibilities are endless to how much Marvel and DC would benefit from the hype.

The way I see it Marvel has the inside track on having a shared universe and knowing where they want to go with it. Man of Steel is the only film that has been released by DC so far and it was not well received. DC has also stated they want to model its Universe on the elements of its lone film. Marvel has ten films under its belt that have been mostly well received at the box-office, The Incredible Hulk notwithstanding. “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” is already creating massive buzz for itself with the trailer debut. “Ant-Man” will be out later in the summer and show fans something they have been wanting since Phase 1. Dawn of Justice will not be released for another year and a half. DC is rolling the dice with Justice League part one and two. As of today we do not even know what the actual roster will look like but we know it will include the likes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Giving the amount of information we already know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe I have to say they are well seated at the top of comic book movie supremacy. DC just has too much ground to cover and it seem they are rushing its franchise by trying to play catch-up to Marvel. Maybe DC plan will work maybe it will not it is up to the fans to decide. I do know the one thing everyone can agree on it is the next five or six years is going to be a great time for comic book movie fans.

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