The age-old debate of which comic book franchise is better is still raging on as Marvel and DC become bigger than ever in their movie universes. Right now is the height of the superhero movie era with movies like the Avengers and Justice League coming out, now is the time to decide if you are a DC or Marvel fan. And what better way to do that than to join team Avengers or team Justice League.

Many people would say that the obvious winner in the battle of comic book franchises goes to Marvel, however, these 20 memes suggest otherwise. Many DC fans bring up excellent points and flaws in Marvel movies which make DC the obvious winner. DC and Marvel are both titans when it comes to the film industry raking in millions of dollars by fans of the comic books and casual fans. Marvel is ahead in terms of the number of movies in their franchise reaching numbers in the twenties with no end in sight. DC is slowly catching up with their first Justice League film releasing and making an impact in the DC film franchise.

While these memes are meant to be funny and make fans laugh, the deeper meanings of the memes and divide the fanbases — but it's still pretty hilarious. There are many casual viewers who are fans of both franchises and don't care which one is better and will go see all of the superhero films that release. On the other end, there are the die-hard fans that will only see films from their respective franchise. These are the people who will point out the smallest flaws in films to win over respect from casual viewers.

20 Alien Termination

In the first Avengers film, the team assembles to take down an alien race led by Loki, Thor's brother. There are a total of six Avengers that had to come together to take down the large alien race that was attacking New York City. A similar concept came with the writing of the first Superman film Man of Steel. After the introduction of Superman, the films turns to the main villain General Zod who has an alien race attacking Earth. This meme explains that it only took one man to take down a larger alien invasion rather than taking six people to take down a small invasion of one city in America. This just shows the sheer power that Superman has. Sure, The Avengers have The Hulk, but he isn't invincible like Superman is.

If Thanos can take The Hulk around the block, then you can be sure Superman could handle him.

Considering Superman is as strong as all six Avengers combined, he is even stronger combined with the rest of the Justice League. There is no doubt that the Justice League could take down the Avengers. It's also very likely that Superman himself could take down the Avengers one by one all by himself.

19 It Is All About The Atmosphere

When making a film one of the most important parts of the filmmaking process is choosing locations to film in. A lot of the time for big-budget superhero films most fight scenes will be green screened in at a later point. However, more recently the superhero genre of the film industry has been taking a more practical stance when it comes to their locations. Take Captain America: Civil War for example. The film's major fight scene takes place in what appears to be a parking lot. Upon further inspection, it actually takes place in an airport, which is a strange place to fight especially for superheroes.

Meanwhile in DC's Batman Vs. Superman the battles were on the levels of Gods fighting each other. The fight scenes took place all across the well-known cities of DC such as Metropolis and Gotham. It is important to establish a setting as much as it is important to establish the characters around it. Otherwise, you will have the problem that Captain America Civil War suffered from, people asking "why are they fighting in a parking lot!?" DC has their ideas in line when it comes to location scouting and planning out their fight scenes while with Marvel it sometimes feels like they chose their locations last minute.

18 Batman Vs. Spider-Man

Origin stories are always an important part of what makes up a superhero and their motivation for what they do. Most superheroes have tragic backstories that made them go over the edge into dressing up in weird costumes and fighting crime. For Batman, it was the fact that his parents left him at a young age at the hand of a burglar, and for Spider-Man, it was the fact that his uncle was eliminated at the hands of a burglar as well. This is why this meme works so well. Batman asks Spider-Man if he wants to have dinner at his place.

Batman starts the argument by suggesting to have Uncle Ben's rice (the joke being Uncle Ben was the name of Spider-Man's uncle.

After that Spider-Man takes a quick jab back at Batman asking if Batman's parents will be there. This is obviously a jab at the fact that Batman's parents are gone. After that Batman comes right back at him and asks the same question. Many people forget over the tragedy of Uncle Ben's death that Spider-Man also lost his parents at an even younger age. Spider-Man seems unamused but at the end of the day, this meme shows how much the two actually have in common.

17 The Award Winning Joker Performance

The battle between Marvel and DC has entered a new era of big blockbuster superhero films like the Avengers and Justice League. We can't forget, however, that DC and Marvel have been duking it out for years. Many people will look at the cast of Marvel characters as the best actors that could have been chosen for those heroes and for many this is true. However, no actor really transforms a character and makes it their own quite like Heath Ledger did for his performance as the Joker. As mentioned before The Dark Knight is held in high regard as one of the best superhero films to date.

Heath Ledger received an Oscar for best supporting actor in the film and proved to many actors that just because a character is written a certain way that it doesn't mean it doesn't have room for change. Many people now see the Joker as Heath Ledger and his performance in the Dark Knight. Not many other actors can say that about their role in a film, especially a superhero film. Heath Ledger had one of the best performances as one of the best villains and it is a performance that has yet to be topped to this day. Josh Brolin as Thanos was amazing, but at the end of the day, it wasn't a transformative role.

16 Who Are The Real Superheroes?

DC is always known as the franchise that takes their characters way too seriously and makes them super dark for no reason. The characters have strangely dark backstories and the films always depict them as broken people with dark origins. Meanwhile, Marvel's films have tried to take a lighter take on their superheroes. While many see the Marvel films as more successful and family friendly the reality is much more skewed than many realize.

This meme shows the truth behind the Avengers "light-hearted" romp through the movie industry.

While the DC universe is shown as a darker world through the origins of most of its heroes, and even the editing in the actual films, their heroes have a strict code of not eliminating their enemies. Meanwhile, Marvel's Avengers can be seen on multiple occasions wiping out tons of enemies for good and even wiping out innocent civilians alongside their worst enemies. Meanwhile, in Man of Steel, the ending of the film shows Superman having to make a difficult decision of either perishing his enemy General Zod or letting him harm the public. These are high morals that DC still tackles unlike Marvel who's body counter is through the roof.

15 How Quicksilver Catches Bullets

In both Marvel and DC universes, there are some obvious differences and some glaring similarities. These similarities are usually based around similar superheroes. For example, two superheroes that are similar in both universes is the Flash and Quicksilver. They both have the ability to run at quick speeds and use different abilities around this quickness. In the Flash TV show, there is a scene that shows the main character Barry Allen catching a bullet at high speeds. This scene was to showcase just how fast the Flash can move, so fast that it slows time around him down to where he can act quickly.

This meme compares this iconic scene from the Flash TV show to the scene where Quicksilver also catches a few bullets.

During the film Avengers Age of Ultron, there is a scene where the villain Ultron is firing down upon the Avengers in a bullet storm. Quicksilver decides to save the character Hawkeye who is trying to protect a small child from the rain of bullets. In this, he sacrifices himself for the greater good. This is where the meme comes into play. Many people question why Quicksilver couldn't simply slow down time similar to the Flash to redirect the fire elsewhere.

14 Training For DC vs. Training For Marvel

This meme is very subjective and depends on what side of the Marvel vs. DC argument you stand on. However, many people see this meme as being in favor of DC movies because it shows that the actors take time to fully resemble their character rather than just read up on their original comic books characters. This meme enraptures the willingness of the DC actors to warp their bodies in a way to better fit the physical characterization of the characters on the big screen.

What is the point of having a knowledgeable actor if they don't look the part?

DC is great for choosing people to represent their superheroes. Often times the actors they choose will reinvent each character and make them more relatable for modern day audiences to enjoy. Take Aquaman for example, after getting Jason Mamoa to play the character, it looks like DC was trying to get rid of the tights and bring out the muscles for Aquaman. Overall the reception was good for the redesign of Aquaman and as mentioned before it reinvented the character to better fit this time period.

13 The Recruitment

A big thing in the comic book universes is young heroes. These heroes are usually young adults or teenagers that discover they have superpowers and are in search of guidance. For Marvel, that youngster is Spider-Man while in DC they have the Flash. Both characters are written as young characters, as they appear in the comic books they are born from. In the films, both characters discover they have powers and are quickly sought out by leaders of the super teams known as the Avengers and the Justice League.

In Spider-Man, Peter Parker is seen arguing with Tony Stark about joining the Avengers because he has homework. Peter Parker is a high school student and values his education first before anything. Many people wouldn't believe this coming from a high school teen which is why many say that the Flash's appearance in the Justice League film is more realistic and relatable.

When Bruce Wayne comes to ask Barry to join the Justice League he immediately cuts Bruce off to tell him he's in.

This is where this meme originates and it explains how the writing of these different films are more thought out than many may first think.

12 Too Quick To Harm

As mentioned before the DC universe carefully mimics the comics by making sure their heroes stick to a strict moral code of not perishing anyone. Meanwhile, each of Marvel's characters has at least perished one person who probably wasn't deserving of that punishment. For example, this meme shows Batman confronting the Joker by beating him up but not destroying him even though he got rid of the woman he loved. Then in the next panel, it shows Tony Stark (Iron Man) holding someone at gunpoint because he simply broke someone's watch.

The divide between these heroes is amazing. 

DC doesn't get the credit it deserves when considering the moral compass of its heroes and how true they stay to their original comics. While Avengers is praised for the poor writing of its so-called "heroes," and they're moral compasses when it comes to dealing with good-byes. There are many other situations that show the differences between universes and the differences in characters.

11 Batman Gets Buffed

Many comic book characters have superpowers that make them better than just a regular human being. That is except for Batman who is just a human being who is rich and intelligent. Batman is also one of the most popular superheroes in the history of comic books because he is relatable. He is just a human being with an advanced fighting ability and with this, he has become the favorite of millions of people across the world. There are many different interpretations of Batman, but at the end of the day, he is still just a human.

Yet the phrase "I'm Batman" has so much power to it that it's unforgettable

This meme depicts this perfectly by combining the Marvel and DC universes. It pairs up Thor the God of Thunder and Batman. In Marvel, it is known that the hammer of Thor can only be picked up by the God himself. In this meme, Thor is looking up in shock as someone is now holding his hammer. It seems as if Thor was throwing the hammer at this person and they caught it with one hand. As the third panel is revealed it shows Batman on the other side with his catchphrase "I'm Batman" and nobody gets to question it because Batman is the best hero.

10 Frenemies

A topic that is popular in modern day superhero films is the main good guys going against each other in a Civil War type battle. This idea was first presented on the big screen when Captain America: Civil War was released. This film showed a divide in the Avengers between Captain America and Tony Stark over a conflict with Bucky, Captain America's lifelong friend. During the film, the tension is raised enough to divide the conflict between the Avengers splitting the team into two different teams that fight each other throughout the film.

Meanwhile, on DC's side of things, they decided to pit two of their top heroes against each other in Batman Vs. Superman. Throughout the film, Batman and Superman fight over the ethics of what they are doing. The film takes place right after the event of Man of Steel, and Batman sees Superman as an invader on Earth. After fighting it out they realize they need to work together for the better of the universe. This is another example of DC taking the moral high ground. It wasn't until Avengers: Infinity War that Iron Man and Captain America sorted out their differences. That is a long timespan between the two characters to settle things while Batman and Superman settled things in the same film.

9 Schwarma Time

The ending to Marvel and DC films differ greatly and show the serious nature of DC and the layer back nature of Marvel. At the end of Batman Vs. Superman, the character of Bruce Wayne can be seen monologuing about how men are still good and the state of humanity after the death of Superman. Meanwhile after the Avengers fight a good fight they can be seen ordering food and shooting the breeze. This again goes to show the impact of the writing between the two companies.

DC takes their writing very seriously and it shows all the way to the end of their films.

Meanwhile, Marvel wants to have a more laid back feeling to their films, even though the content beneath the very thin surface is dark. With the Avengers destroying most of New York in their attempt to save the city, it's strange that they would be seen eating at a diner shooting the breeze after elminating millions of innocent of lives. This meme showcases this idea perfectly and captures the two franchises perfectly for these concepts. Marvel and DC fans can take either side of this meme and prove a point of why one is better than the other.

8 New Batman On The Block

Batman is a household name when it comes to comic books and superheroes. Since the 80s when Michael Keaton was playing the caped crusader, to now when Ben Affleck is playing the Dark Knight — Batman has always been a fan favorite. In the early 2000s, a director named Christopher Nolan took on the task of rebooting the Batman franchise choosing Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Many people hold these films in high regard as great comic book films, but great films in general. Many people say that the Dark Knight is one of the best films ever made. That said, after the Nolan trilogy ended it was time for someone else to step up as the role of Batman.

Many were shocked that Hollywood chose Ben Affleck to be the next Batman and many didn't hold high hopes.

Ben Affleck starred in a Marvel movie about another superhero known as Daredevil. In the film, Ben Affleck gave a lackluster performance making the film one of the worst superhero films to date. Fans of comics were dreading Affleck's performance as a much older Batman. Overall, many audiences agree that Ben Affleck exceeded many expectations to bring a new fresh Batman that we have yet to see on the big screen. This meme shows the evolution of Batman in film and uses a Batman catchphrase to describe the two actors and their interpretations of the caped crusader.

7 Hidden Powers

In every comic book universe, there are heroes that are sort of lackluster. Many of them don't get the attention they don't deserve but one always stands out among comic book fans. For many people this superhero for DC is Aquaman. Not many people know the draw of his powers, and how extensive his powers are. Mainly because the big screen never gave Aquaman the time of day to show his skills extensively. Aquaman has the powers to control any and every sea creature he wants.

Many people just see Aquaman as a human who can breathe underwater and has a cool looking spear.

That's why when they introduced him in the Justice League movie many people were unimpressed. The film did a decent job with the amount it was given to show the extent of Aquaman and his powers. No matter how much hate Aquaman gets there are still an extensive amount of Marvel superheroes who are much worse and have less cool powers. This meme showcases the full extent of Aquaman's powers and shows that he isn't as useless as everyone initially takes him for. The redesign of his costume in the Justice League movie definitely makes him more noticeable of a character than in the past.

6 Bow Before DC

As the war wages on between Marvel and DC in the film industry, many people are left to decide which franchise holds the torch. With every new movie that is announced and every teaser that is dropped many people constantly change sides of the argument. After seeing the respective movies opening night, many people claim that both sides have the best superhero film ever made and that statement is constantly changing based on the newest Marvel or DC film. When the trailer for Batman Vs. Superman dropped, many DC fans were ready at the keyboard to claim DC wins the battle.

That is where this meme spawns from. In the trailer, when Superman drops down into the facility and the guards bow, many people saw this as the Marvel franchise and Marvel fanboys bowing down to the DC. Whatever your opinion is on the movie itself, the trailer for Batman Vs. Superman definitely raised hype for DC fans — and even converted some Marvel fans over to DC. With the release of future Marvel and DC films, the turnover ratio for fans of both will get greater and greater. It's no secret that these films bring in a lot of buzz and that DC is just a bit better at creating hype around their catalogue of movies.

5 Open To Collaboration

Shortly after the Justice League movie released the media started to interview the cast of the film and one outlet brought up an interesting question. They asked the cast "would you ever want to see a crossover between Marvel and DC?" Many of the cast members responded with positive responses about collaborating with Marvel Studios. Ben Affleck who plays Batman had this to say "Y’know, I don’t own Marvel or DC, so I’m not in any position to … but I think it would be great. I’m sure, if it could be successful for everybody, people would like to do it. I don’t see why not — it’s a great idea."

Jason Momoa who plays Aquaman had this to say, “Hemsworth? I love him, and to be next to Thor, or even be next to Hulk and be like [looks up], and to just get whacked by him? I’d be like, ‘Ohhh, I’m gonna take you underwater […] It’d be fun.” Other members of the film such as Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot said "Heck yeah" backing up Jason and Ben's responses. It seems like DC is ready and down to collaborate with the Marvel juggernaut. We're still waiting for Marvel to respond, however, we're not holding our breaths.

4 DC Owns All Of Their Characters

Marvel and DC are known to separate their heroes into separate forms of media. Some of them get their own TV shows and some get stand alone movies. However, with this comes to a lot of different people getting their hands on many different properties. The rights of many of these heroes get sloppy behind the scenes, especially for Marvel. Many companies own the rights to certain Marvel properties like the X-Men. The X-Men franchise is owned by Fox along with other franchises like Deadpool. Along with this Sony also has their hands in the Marvel honey pot. They own the Spiderman franchise and are currently working on Venom.

Marvel's universe is very messy as far as licenses go and that is one area that DC has them beat.

While the entertainment division is almost oversaturated with Marvel franchises at least DC still owns all the rights to all of their characters. This means that DC handles their own properties making them how they should be. As seen in the past, with different companies impeding in on Marvel's franchises it can produce less than quality films. This meme comes from the first Avengers film, in which Tony Stark is responding to Loki by saying "we have a Hulk." In this case, the meme maker replaced Loki with Superman saying that they have the rights to their own characters and there was never a better burn in history. DC wins life.

3 DC Has Separate Universes

As mentioned before, DC and Marvel divide their heroes and properties among many different platforms of entertainment. The thing that comes along with this is getting continuity right. Marvel attempts to work in the continuity with the TV shows and the films by making subtle references between the different media giants. Such as in the Netflix exclusive show Luke Cage, where they will often reference the attack on New York from the first Avengers film. This can become messy and the references really end there since different properties are owned by different companies.

This is why we will likely never see Jon Bernthal's Punisher go up against Ryan Reynold's Deadpool.

However, with DC, they are aware of their many different forms of media with their different characters. Therefore, they make sure to keep the TV show universe and the film universe separate. DC has a strong foothold in the TV market with shows like The Flash and Green Arrow. Meanwhile, the character of Flash shows up in Justice League as a different actor and a different timeline for the character. This is a great way of taking on characters because they can tackle many different timelines and versions of the characters.

2 Marvel's Traitors

Many see actors who appear in Marvel or DC movies as actors who should stay with the franchises they first appeared in. That is why when news comes out about an actor switching franchises the fans riot. This happened when it was announced that not one but two of the people who appeared in the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man films would appear in the new Justice League movie. Both Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons would appear in the new Justice League movie abandoning their roles in the Marvel universe.

Most likely they were thinking that a paycheck is a paycheck but to many diehard fans, they want to believe that the two cast members moved over because they like DC better than Marvel. DC's Justice League also has a much bigger budget than the original Spider-Man film due to the increase in demand for high budget superhero films. When the original Spider-Man films were released it was during a time when superhero films were just getting their footing. Therefore the actors from these movies likely hoped that those performances would be forgotten by fans so they could move on to bigger things.

1 DC Owns Everything Else

Many people who wage war against DC and are die-hard Marvel fans only take into account that Marvel is doing great in the film franchise. Meanwhile, they turn a blind eye when someone mentions how well DC is doing in other forms of entertainment such as TV and video games. Marvel may have the top box office hits when it comes to movies but hey are severely lacking in the TV and video game departments. Specifically, their animated TV show and movies are lacking along with their video games.

With Netflix picking up the slack as far as their superhero TV shows go, Marvel could use a lot of work on their video game market. DC has seen some stellar games such as the Batman Arkham franchise. Meanwhile, the best we're getting from Marvel are lackluster Spider-Man games. Same can be said for their animated department. DC has created unforgettable animated series such as the Justice League and Batman and Robin animated series. Marvel barely has their foot in the door in these departments and is pushing all of their chips in on the big blockbuster film scene. DC definitely wins the war when you look past the big screen.