Please note that this is a piece on my own experience with superhero media. My experience was very limited in the 1990s and 2000s and was often drawn from early incarnations of the characters shown on TV. I started reading the comics more in the 2010s.
In an era where Marvel has taken over (thanks to Disney) and the latest X-Men animated series has taken pop culture by storm (pun loosely intended), it seems that Marvel is currently winning the long standing rivalry between them and DC. My first introduction to Marvel was through the Spiderman movie from 2002 and the animated series X-Men Evolution. I was aware of other animated Marvel shows from the 1990s, but they weren’t often on the kids channels as reruns.
Though both the Spiderman movie and X-Men Evolution TV series had their dark moments (Uncle Ben dying and learning Nightcrawler’s origin were both traumatic for little me), they were overall lighthearted and fun. Those properties are what I associated with Marvel for a long time and wasn’t familiar with other heroes like Captain America, Iron Man, or Deadpool.
I was much more familiar with DC heroes.
The 1992 Batman the Animated Series (which introduced me to Kevin Conroy as the best Batman) along with the 1989 movie were some of the first superhero properties I watched. Plus, with my dad being a fan of Scooby Doo, Justice Friends, and the 1960s live action TV show, Batman popped up a lot. Sure the older versions were lighthearted like Marvel, but it was the dark and brooding 90s incarnation that caught my attention. That didn’t mean that these versions didn’t have their fun moments. The animated Batman is still one of my favorites, even if his story ends more on the tragic end, and that series joined up with Superman the Animated Series to bring us Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond, and a ton of crossovers with the amazing Static Shock.
Sure, there were dark moments (like what happened to Tim Drake and Richard Grayson), but overall things were still pretty light hearted going into the mid-2000s with Teen Titans (minus any of that “go” nonsense).
And if you’re wondering how I can say all this without mentioning the comics, well… I wasn’t yet a comic book reader. In fact, the only graphic novels I was familiar with, at this time, were the Asterix ones my dad had from the 60s and started bring back from Europe for me to read (I didn’t see an Asterix book in the United States until the early 2010s). My sibling read Tintin.
Superheroes were fun to young me. They could be dark and brooding, but they still smiled and laughed. They had friends and trusted people. Their villains were evil, but never to the point where the good guys lost hope.
Again, wasn’t reading the comics at this time. I had no idea who Jason Todd or how he died. I was only familiar with the Teen Titans version of Slade, not the comic book one. I didn’t know about Bane breaking Batman’s back. The animated series wasn’t allowed to kill anyone, but a child was tortured to the point of insanity on my screen.
And then “Batman Begins” hit theaters.
Suddenly broody superheroes were all the rage. It was quickly followed by the incredible “Dark Knight” and “Dark Knight Rises”. Both had huge body counts, intimidating villains, and high stakes without a happy Batman insight (probably because he didn’t have a Robin dressed as a traffic light to make bad puns while taking down bad guys).
You can even see how it influenced the early “Iron Man” and second iteration of “Spiderman” (the Andrew Garfield version) movies. However, they still maintained some level of fun. It wasn’t until I saw “Avengers” in 2012, that I felt that superheroes were being shown as fun again in theaters.
And while, Marvel (now owned by Disney) had taken Superheroes in a more fun adventure direction, 2010s DC cinema seemed to think that dark and gritty was the only way to go for more “realism” (or that’s the argument I’ve heard). By this point, the CW’s Smallville had ended and the “Arrowverse” was taking off. DC fans, luckily, still had fun adventures with DC Animation, but even that had gotten darker and grittier when not explicitly made for teens and kids (Young Justice was fantastic and was canceled because allegedly the “wrong” demographic liked it more than than the targeted one, it was later resurrected for two more seasons).
DC fans may have liked “Wonder Woman”, but they hated “Batman v. Superman”. “Suicide Squad” was a mess and the less said about “Justice League” the better. DC did have a cool take with “Titan” and “Gotham” has the right mix of Batman 1989 and the 1992 animated series, but they seriously botched the ending.
And then the 2020s came and fans were given the light and joy that is My Adventures with Superman. Superman was suddenly fun again. He was young, inexperienced and hopeful. He wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and he wasn’t fighting with any other hero. He was a dork on a mission to fit in apnea become a reporter. Of course he had to save cats in his down time, he’s a good guy.
The second season is coming out soon and it’s like I’m back in time on a Saturday morning watching Justice League or Static Shock again. I’m excited and happy and, above all, hopeful.
More recently, I’ve become familiar with the Webtoon Batman: Wayne Family Adventures. It is everything I want in a BatFam (what the fans have dubbed Bruce Wayne’s growing collection of children and Gotham based superheroes) media. And it’s officially a DC publication!
Bruce is a tired single dad raising a gaggle of feral children while Alfred tries to keep everything somewhat stable. It is a must read for anyone who has ever wanted Bruce to finally find some measure of happiness. There’s a YouTuber who has been narrating the comic and, though I don’t love all the voices, it does add an extra layer to the experience. Some are calling it the best Batman comic to come out in a long time.
I’ve talked before about the Scooby Doo and Batman crossover comics. The webtoon is similar in tone in that it’s a lighthearted adventure. However, the difference is that the webtoon is a bit more mature. It doesn't shy away from topics like Jason’s PTSD, Tim being a disaster bi icon, and the fact that Bruce makes mistakes, lots and lots of mistakes. He even has a mug that says “World’s Okay-est Dad”.
I hope that DC listens to fans and understands that fans want a balance of fun adventure with the angst. We don’t want “Teen Titan Go”. We want 2000s “Teen Titans”. We like campy Batman villains that are actually threatening (“Gotham” has some seriously scary moments, but still has time for 1960s antics). Superman is a dork. He believes in Santa Claus (who actually does exist in the DC universe) and his costume was made by his mom. We really enjoy Harley Quinn post Joker breakup (she and Ivy are a truly iconic queer couple).
A lot of us grew up with fun superheroes who dealt with tough topics, especially those of us who are products of the 1980s and 1990s.
So, please DC, let your heroes be happy.
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Until the next week.
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