Tonytony gives an update on the state of competition between Marvel and DC in 2016
Video games -DC win
dc has the batman games and the studiio that makes them wb games studio was the number one video game studio last year. So here there is no contest. Also Injustice was the first fighting game to take the number 1 spot for almost 15 years. Injustice 2 is hugely anticipated so you can expect DC dominance to carry on next year and beyond.
Comic book sales- DC
Marvel had been winning this but the recent launch of rebirth has been exceptionally successful despite marvels attempt to draw attention away with caps hydra story and the civil war run. However audiences have been turned away due to most marvel comics having almost unrecognisable characters. Ie bruce banner no longer being the hulk, Steve rogers no longer being captain america, tony stark no longer being iron man.
But with DC the focus was on recapturing the heart of the characters and this has paid dividends as they are now the top comic book company this year and have been the top selling comic book company ever since the release of rebirth.
you can check out the sales figures for the year here
http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales.html
TV- Marvel
This is a pretty tough one as It is hard to know how succesful marvel is in this space because their netflix shows dont release viewership numbers. What i can definitely tell you is that in dctv, shows like supergirl and flash and gotham have viewership numbers that exceed any of the marvel shows where they release their viewing figures.
If this was just comparing the non- Netflix shows it would be an easy dc win but with the netflix shows it is very close, but im going with my gut and giving this to marvel
these are the viewing figures i could find for Netflix shows, over 85% of viewing is done in the first 16 days
so these are pretty solid ratings for daredevil and Jessica Jones, Most DC TV shows average between 3 and 4 million viewers per episode, impressively they do this on the CW too this not only means those characters have overperformed but they have helped significantly increase the value of the CW and has made WB stake in them more valuable. So WB earns on the shows but also earns alot more from the increase in awareness and stature of the cw due to their co-ownership of the cw.
As a special Note- as of today its come out that DCTV generates over 1billion dollars in revenue for WB, i wager marvel tv does not generate anywhere near this much revenue, this is because of the model they have with netflix. After the defenders the original contract will be up and they will be able to renogatiate.
Animation Marvel
simply put marvel wins this by default as DC isnt doing any recent animation series i can think of, while marvel have the avengers series, justice league action will provide competition when its released but for now marvel wins this.
Movies- Marvel
the MCU is on its 14th movie while DCEU is only on its 3rd movie. Also the MCU movies have been better recieved. In my opinion civil war is this years best comic book movie they have had time to find their voice without crippling expectations and fanboys & bloggers overcritiquing everything they do (like they do to DC). They are now in a place where they have a process that works for them and it works very well.
As a consolation for DC fans its worth noting that the DCEU is outpacing the mcu by almost 50%. the first 3 dceu movies have grossed as much as the 1st 5 mcu movies and with wonder woman and JL coming next year, you can expect that trend to carry on.
The Winner - Comic book fans
i wager we would not have gotten a daredevil netflix show if we didnt get the other batman-esque show called arrow. I also wager we would not have gotten Jessica Jones if we didnt a supergirl TV show too. Just like the WB only got the push they needed to do a dceu after Avengers. But this is to be expected. The history of DC and marvel is one of intense rivalry that pushes each company to raise their game.
A strong MCU will inevitably mean a strong DCEU and vice versa. We are now living at a time when we can get movies about the sucicide squad and doctor strange.