DC vs Marvel

[mytoyz085]

What brand is better for collecting and selling? Screw it what brand will make me the most money!

 

Thanks for everybody's time

 

Happy Collecting

[El Guapo]

I like Marvel...but Batman is pretty awesome. Darkness....No parents....continued darkness.

[wallwebber]

Chima!

[wallwebber]

I meant marvel :-)

[TheOrcKing]

Marvel (in Lego) has been bringing up some good heavy hitters lately but DC will always feature Batman prominently at the frontlines. I believe there will be a tipping point (if we have not already hit it) where just being a Batman set won't cut it anymore and those sets will need something special about them to carry their weight in value aside from the caped crusader. This year's offerings on both sides of the spectrum are a rather mixed bag in my opinion.

[El Guapo]

Yeah...overall Batman is the strongest in my opinion. But if its DC as a whole then you have to consider the Man of Steel sets which I think are just boring (power armor lex being the exception). I am kind of getting bored with spider man too though. Really, how much can you do with him?

[TheOrcKing]

Yeah...overall Batman is the strongest in my opinion. But if its DC as a whole then you have to consider the Man of Steel sets which I think are just boring (power armor lex being the exception). I am kind of getting bored with spider man too though. Really, how much can you do with him?

Looking over all the DC Superheroes sets, Lego has focused on nothing but stuff for Batman with only four sets revolving around Superman, and the Power Armor Lex was actually comic book based so no wonder that design was great. I understand the popularity of Batman but it isn't like he is the only DC character in the universe. I suppose though designing sets for him is easier than the other super heroes considering he has so many "wonderful toys" as The Joker once put it. Everyone else can either fly, levitate, teleport, run, some other means of transportation, and would probably need some sort of playset as an excuse for them to be released in.

Spider-Man is another hero being dragged out a little too much without any sort of variation on himself. I may just pick up Doc Ock Truck Heist just for classic Doc Ock but that's about it for me. I am more amped up for the X-Men set even with its horrible retail and really would like to see more of the classic mutants.

In any case, Marvel has definitely already won the award for variation as having sets revolving around more than just a single superhero compared to DC but then again DC does have Batman so there.

[zskid00]

They are both good, but you have to pick and choose from each wisely.  Man of Steel sets are probably going to languish on the secondary market for a long time.  Some of the Avengers sets were hit or miss and Spider-man is featured in so many sets with the exact same printing even though they could delve into some additional costumes just like they do for Batman to keep things fresh. 

[scuttfarkas]

MARVEL has done less with a wider variety and bigger stable of recognizable characters. DC has done very well just basically utilizing the BATMAN franchise.  If MARVEL ever got their LEGO act together....they would dominate. 

[jeff_14]

I second DC. Marvel's already run out of gas for name recognition characters as far as the lego buying public is concerned. Multiple Spider-man sets, multiple Avengers sets. Whereas DC still hasn't put out all of the Justice League characters and even in Batman there are lots of characters we haven't seen yet. Plus the Batman sets are so classic and will always have appeal, unlike a SHIELD jeep or Hulk helicarrier, or Spider-bike ?!?!?! When the Justice League movie hits, there will be primo demand for the Supes/WW/Lex set. I'm holding mine until then.

[scuttfarkas]

I second DC. Marvel's already run out of gas for name recognition characters as far as the lego buying public is concerned. Multiple Spider-man sets, multiple Avengers sets. Whereas DC still hasn't put out all of the Justice League characters and even in Batman there are lots of characters we haven't seen yet. Plus the Batman sets are so classic and will always have appeal, unlike a SHIELD jeep or Hulk helicarrier, or Spider-bike ?!?!?! When the Justice League movie hits, there will be primo demand for the Supes/WW/Lex set. I'm holding mine until then.

 

X-Men?  Fantastic Four?  X-Men themselves could be their own line.

 

There's also a half dozen other Avengers AND secondary characters like Daredevil and Dr. Strange that are comic icons. 

 

DC will get some recognition out of the Teen Titans cartoon....but when it seems half the investors/collectors/fans on this site don't even know who the Martian Manhunter is....I would'nt put too much stock in DC's non Batman character stable.....and that's coming from a huge DC fan. 

[jeff_14]

My point is the public isn't very familiar with most of the X-men or F4. Your average kid (or their parent) has no idea who Dr. Strange is. Whereas most people and their kids know the Justice League and Teen Titans characters.

[scuttfarkas]

My point is the public isn't very familiar with most of the X-men or F4. Your average kid (or their parent) has no idea who Dr. Strange is. Whereas most people and their kids know the Justice League and Teen Titans characters.

 

X-Men will have had 5  movies in the past 15 years; not including two Wolverine movies and have been in a cartoon rotation since 1992.  The public must be pretty dense not to be familiar with a 7 movie franchise that's generated hundreds of millions and 3 different cartoon series.

 

The Fantastic Four had two movies and a couple of cartoons and are historically synonymous with the MARVEL brand.

 

I'll give you Dr. Strange though.

[Darth_Raichu]

Looking over all the DC Superheroes sets, Lego has focused on nothing but stuff for Batman with only four sets revolving around Superman, and the Power Armor Lex was actually comic book based so no wonder that design was great. I understand the popularity of Batman but it isn't like he is the only DC character in the universe. I suppose though designing sets for him is easier than the other super heroes considering he has so many "wonderful toys" as The Joker once put it. Everyone else can either fly, levitate, teleport, run, some other means of transportation, and would probably need some sort of playset as an excuse for them to be released in.

Sorry TOK, the PowerArmor Lex set was based on LEGO Batman 2 video games where Lex is controlling the armor as a mech. In comics he wears the armor like a spacesuit (ie. the polybag is closer to comics version). Other than that, excellent post

I am still waiting for the LEGO Marvel video games inspired sets, btw :)

[jeff_14]

X-Men had 2 good movies over a decade ago and forgettable movies after. The last one wasn't even X-Men but just Wolverine. This summer's movie should be good though with Singer back. Even still, none of the characters other than Wolverine are really household names or popular with kids. Who's looking for an Ice Man figure, or a Kitty Pride that can't become intangible? The F4 movies were both flops and while popular with comic fans decades ago, they have little popularity right now. They just relaunched the title for the 3rd time in 5 years.

 

Whereas any kid who watched Justice League Unlimited knows who Martian Manhunter is. I'm surprised they haven't done a Hawkgirl or John Stewart Green Lantern yet.

[TheOrcKing]

Sorry TOK, the PowerArmor Lex set was based on LEGO Batman 2 video games where Lex is controlling the armor as a mech.

Ah, well that explains it. Still a tad more comics based than the Man of Steel film sets but now I actually get the true reference.

As for the general discussion of which brand of characters is better known, well, that can go either way really. If you want to just go by popularity based on commercial success of the film properties then DC seems takes the cake with all those Batman films although Marvel has had more movies in the mainstream (that I can recall) with plenty on the way and then there is all the animated TV series' that have aired or currently still are. Come to think of it, is there another DC related film on the horizon? I honestly can't remember any off hand.

I understand considering the viability of sets as investments based on the included characters and their respective notoriety from current media exposure to the general population but considering the comic book form continues to stay around meaning people still read that sometimes certain heroes and/or villains are just so well known, they don't really need a film or cartoon for self-promotion though it wouldn't hurt if they did. If you know DC then you know of Green Lantern just as if you know Marvel then you know of Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme.

Anyway, I believe there is supposed to be an Ant Man film coming up soon in another year. I wonder what kind of sets Lego may do for that guy.

[njseale]

Marvel has good sets, good characters, bad sets and bad characters. DC has good sets, good characters, bad sets and bad characters. By the best from both and ignore the garbage and we will be golden.

[Blackjack]

Batman/DC comic sets are great, but Man of Steel sets suck.  Marvel has some great sets recently to compete with the Batman ones.  I think the Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 sets were the worst of boths lines so far.