A short sample of DC & imprint based movies:
- A History of Violence
- Road to Perdition
- Stardust
- The Dark Knight
- Losers
- V for Vendetta
- Push
- R.E.D. (Retired, extremely dangerous)
- Constantine
Movies based on Marvel comics
- Blade
- Thor
- Hulk
- Spiderman
- X-men
- The Punisher
- Ghost rider
- Fanstastic Four
- DareDevil
- Elektra
- Wolverine
In all honestly, in terms of movies being 'good' that can be judged using various metrics. One is box office sales (DC wins that one, with a movie like The Dark Knight alone beating all Marvel movies combined apart from the Spiderman movies), in terms of academy awards (again, DC wins that one), and in terms of reviews (another homerun for DC). Where Marvel rules is in movies directed for a certain demographic, primarily the 13-19 year old demographic (e.g. Wolverine and X-men fans), with the only shift from that demographic being the Spiderman movies that had a much wider audience. However, in that limited niche of comics books, Marvel really doesn't hold a candle to DC. Especially when you have some comic books from DC (e.g. The Dark Knight Returns, The Sandman, and The Watchmen) making it into the New York Times Bestseller list. No Marvel comic has ever come close. Actually a comic like The Sandman, have won awards traditionally meant for books.
Anyways, different tastes for different folks, but when it comes to the big three ways of determining what movies are 'good' (namely box office returns, awards received, and critical reception) DC easily takes all three.
However, if I had a 7 year old that I wanted to take for a movie, and I have to chose between a DC grown-up movie like Road to Perdition (based in the Great Depression and starring Tom Hanks as a mob enforcer trying to survive with his son against a mobster) or another DC movie like A History of Violence; or take my kid to a Marvel movie like the Fantastic Four (four people, one who is a rock, another can turn into fire, another invisible, and the last can stretch really far) or Ghostrider (a guy whose face is a flaming skull and rides a bike) ...well, I would take my kid to watch the Marvel movies.
I beg to differ with your box office statement. Spiderman 1 set records.
V for Vendetta was published first under “Quality comics” and only REPRINTED in the USA under the D.C. off brand “Vertigo”.
So when it comes to reprinting good graphic novels - and then making a decent movie out of it - D.C. may well be tops.
When it comes to making good superhero movies (or comics)from the Universe that has Superman, Batman, WonderWoman, Flash, Aquaman - OR - the Universe that has Spiderman, Captain America, the X-men, and Thor - there isn't even a contest.
