2024.10 DC is thriving in one key place where Marvel Studios is failing

Source: The Escapist
DC Is Thriving In One Key Place Where Marvel Studios Is Failing
Leon Miller Published: Oct 5, 2024 06:00 pm

Specifically, DC isn’t afraid to it have its baddies be, well… bad. Even big screen blockbuster The Joker and prestige miniseries The Penguin avoid the temptation to frame the legendary Bat-foes that head them up as bonafide heroes. Do these productions help us understand where Arthur Fleck and Oz Cobb’s antisocial behavior comes from? Sure. Do we sympathise with them, even root for them to win at the end? Absolutely. But we’re never in any doubt as to either character’s moral alignment. There’s no redemption arc for these nefarious folks (and they wouldn’t want one).

By contrast, Marvel is allergic to villainous protagonists. Loki wrapped up by reforming its titular, self-styled God of Evil once and for all. New Disney+ series Agatha All Along seems poised to similarly rehabilitate hitherto gleefully wicked witch Agatha Harkness. The result is less nuanced, less satisfying storytelling, that tips the scale in DC Studios’ favor. Which begs the question: why does DC embrace villains and Marvel shun them?

But let’s be honest: odds are that by the time we reach Agatha All Along‘s series finale, we’ll learn that none of the horror stories about Agatha’s past are true, that’s she’s really a terribly misunderstood creature, and that she isn’t that bad after all. Sadly, we’ll probably have to wait a little while longer for our first true, unwaveringly villainous MCU protagonist. And until that happens, DC will have the edge over Marvel – in this one area, at least.