With Prep Time, Batman Defeats Fantastic Four

DC Dominates Marvel Again in Decades-Long Cinematic Battle

A popular theory among comic book fanboys on the internet is that, with sufficient prep time, Batman could defeat any opponent in combat, no matter how cosmic their powers and abilities. Such is the nature of his strategic and tactical genius. It's not hard to imagine how this theory developed, once you begin to consider the number of comic book stories in which Batman has handed Superman his ass, or the fact that Bats had contingency plans for eliminating every member of the Justice League in case they ever went rogue.

The Dark Knight's current box office battle with The Fantastic Four certainly bears out this theory. Batman Begins will go down as one of the greatest comic book movies in history, while Fantastic Four is one of Marvel's mediocre efforts (although "ambivalent" might be a better description... more on that later). And one of the FF's primary problems in crossing the Negative Zone between the comic book and movie universes was apparently insufficient prep time, since Fox rushed them to meet a July release date.

Batman Begins is a masterpiece, while Fantastic Four averages out as merely... well, average... once its pros and cons are compared and contrasted. The changes made to Dr. Doom's origin demonstrate that those responsible completely failed to grasp any of the aspects that make the supervillain compelling, and effectively reduced the Darth Vader of the Marvel Universe to a superpowered thug. What makes this all the more disappointing is the fact that they managed to nail almost everything else perfectly. Dr. Doom aside, the movie does an amazing job of capturing the characters, personalities, relationships, and tone of the comic with fantastic casting, performances, direction, and special effects. Really, my only complaints are that the characters' origins could have been more faithful to the source material (Dr. Doom suffering the worst, of course, to the point of character assassination), and that there is no real plot, as the movie is essentially a 106-minute origin story. Problems aside, this movie is still a must-see for FF fans -- Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans truly bring The Thing and the Human Torch to life on the big screen, and Jessica Alba does the same for unstable molecules -- and it has the potential for a kick-ass sequel.

Of course, the best assessment of the movie comes from Dr. Doom himself.

Box Office Mojo provides these current stats for the combatants:

Batman Begins:
Production Budget: $150 million
Worldwide Box Office: $315,026,000

Fantastic Four:
Production Budget: $100 million
Worldwide Box Office: $118,465,213

Over the past few decades, the pendulum of superior quality has swung back and forth between Marvel and DC's live-action offerings, and this summer marks the point where it swings back to Detective Comics. Combine the release of Nolan and Goyer's Batman Begins with the upcoming Superman Returns by X-franchise-abandoning Bryan Singer and a Wonder Woman movie by Joss Whedon, and all signs point to Marvel being Doomed. (Although I must admit I'm eagerly anticipating seeing Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider, and of course Marvel wisely still has Sam Raimi helming the Human Spider franchise).

For fun, lets look back over the decades and compare Marvel and DC's live-action offerings. Decide for yourself who the champion is for any given year. Titles in blue indicate anything that never hit the big screen: TV shows, made-for-television movies, straight-to-video movies, or things that were never actually released.

2005

DC: Batman Begins, Constantine
Marvel: Fantastic Four, Elektra, Man-Thing

2004

DC: Catwoman
Marvel: Spider-Man 2, The Punisher, Blade: Trinity

2003

Marvel: X2: X-Men United, Daredevil, Hulk

2002

DC: Birds of Prey
Marvel: Spider-Man, Blade 2

2001

DC: Smallville (2001-present)

2000

Marvel: X-Men

1998

Marvel: Blade, Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD

1997

DC: Batman & Robin, Steel, Justice League of America (unaired pilot)

Marvel: Generation X

1995

DC: Batman Forever

1994

Marvel: The Fantastic Four (Roger Corman version)

1993

DC: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997)

1992

DC: Batman Returns

1991

Marvel: Captain America (Matt Salinger)

1990

DC: The Flash, Swamp Thing (1990-1993)
Marvel: The Death of the Incredible Hulk

1989

DC: Batman, Return of Swamp Thing
Marvel: The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (with Daredevil!)

1988

DC: Superboy (1988-1992)
Marvel: The Incredible Hulk Returns (with Thor!), The Punisher (Dolph Lundgren)

1987

DC: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

1986

Marvel: Howard the Duck

1984

DC: Supergirl

1983

DC: Superman III

1982

DC: Swamp Thing

1980

DC: Superman II

1979

DC: Legends of the Superheroes (WTF?)
Marvel: Captain America, Captain America: Death Too Soon (Reb Brown)

1978

DC: Superman: The Movie
Marvel: Dr. Strange, The Incredible Hulk (1978-82)

1977

Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man (Nicholas Hammond)

1976

DC: Wonder Woman (1976-1979)

1974

DC: Wonder Woman (TV movie starring Cathy Lee Crosby)
Marvel: The Electric Company (starring Spidey from 1974-77)

1967

DC: Batgirl (short) , Wonder Woman: Who's Afraid of Diana Prince? (I am, that's who)

1966

DC: Batman, Batman (1966-1968)

You can compare the box office success of the big screen movies here. (Spoiler: Spider-Man is #1, Steel is #63).

In upcoming posts I'll do another DC/Marvel list comparing the movies they're promising us for the future, and then point out some of the best comic book adaptations that came from different publishers altogether. For now, let me know if I missed anything, and let the debates begin!