Instigator / Pro
7
1702
rating
574
debates
67.86%
won
Topic
#3834

On balance, Flash is to DC what Spiderman is to Marvel, if powers and nitpicky details are ignored.

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
3
0
Better sources
2
0
Better legibility
1
0
Better conduct
1
0

After 1 vote and with 7 points ahead, the winner is...

RationalMadman
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
One week
Max argument characters
30,000
Voting period
Two weeks
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
0
1496
rating
1
debates
0.0%
won
Description

This is an 'on balance' debate, it is about which side you buy more of, not requiring Pro or Con to prove their side absolutely true.

Kritiks are banned.

It is primarily about the Comic book characters but TV series and movies are allowed to be brought as additional evidence, including physical casting choices and demographics that the characters appeal to.

I believe that Spiderman and Flash are the heroes that scrawny/weak, socially awkward victims of bullying and torment can relate to most immediately in both comic universes but I am entitled to stray from this narrative in other links between them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFRi2xsei_o

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@Barney

Con FF'd

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@RationalMadman

I don't disagree. I think the only real exposition on Joker's motivations were in Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" which was a cringeworthy read.

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@Athias

Green Goblin has way more to him than Joker does in one respect and in another he's just shallow as it gets where Joker had some depth.

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@RationalMadman

"There are no characyers truly like Hulk and Punisher in DC"

Solomon Grundy and Vigilante.

"as epic as Joker"

Green Goblin, especially when he killed Gwen Stacy.

"In turn, Marvel ends up with more fascinating heroes and DC ends up with more epic, polarising villains."

I can see how this is your impression. I'm biased though, since I typically preferred DC. But your characterization isn't off the mark.

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@Athias

I am sure even the real life illuminati was responsible for putting the illuminati into Marvel, to make a joke of it. I am okay with the idea it is pagan, luciferan even and that it is what you say.

However, there are clear genuine differences and it is not all a game of repetition.

There are no characters truly like Hulk and Punisher in DC nor are there villains as epic as Joker and Reverse Flash in Marvel.

I prefer Marvel but the difference is this:

DC focuses entirely on making their heroes the ones you root for by ensuring the villains are so screwed up and epicly evil that you truly cannot help but root against the villains.

Marvel focuses on a balance by regularly showing flaws to heroes and humanising their villains to an extent that you are not always sure that you entirely root for the heroes.

Magneto and Silver Surfer (as an original villain to the fantastic four) are two examples of villains that genuinely are only villainous due to acting against the agenda and narrative of the heroes.

Marvel tries to make you constantly think, question and reassess. It shows the scarring behind almost all villains that led to their downwards spirals.

DC keeps it simple, you can explore the villains but they are just so absolutely evil and corrupt in their agenda that you barely ever can deny they are the malignant one.

In turn, Marvel ends up with more fascinating heroes and DC ends up with more epic, polarising villains.

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@RationalMadman

"I firstly can but do not want to arm Con with arguments and secondly, if you have a character that you feel is more like one, in the other comic's multiverse, then go ahead and debate it.

I should note that Marvel believes in universe where DC believes in multiverse but that distinction is only truly relevant to time travel mechanics.

Marvel later changed to support multiverse or omniverse anyway."

This in part informs my criticism. How does one resolve this debate? Perhaps if you word it as: "Flash in the DC universe is the closest approximation to Spider-man in the Marvel Universe, powers notwithstanding." At least this creates a metric where no other heroes measure up in order for the debate to be resolved.

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@Public-Choice

Superman is gleaned from Zeus-Ammon (a.k.a. Amun-Ra.) And Spider-man is gleaned from the scarab form of Ra, known as Kheper.

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@RationalMadman

"It has an actual resolution. Thanks."

No, it doesn't. You're essentially asking prospective voters to consider stipulations that aren't quite stringent. Perhaps if you itemize a set of parameters on which you and your would-be opponent would be arguing in favor or against this comparison, there a might be a semblance of a resolution.

"Captain America and Iron Man are actually two halves of Superman's persona and role ripped apart, if you ask me."

"Arrow of DC is the Iron man in Marvel but Iron Man's way of operating is far less secretive and lowkey than Arrow's.

Arrow is actually more like Daredevil but without question daredevil is linked to batman."

I don't deny any of this. Most of these superheroes are quite similar to each other (particularly because they're gleaned from mythology.) I could compare both Batman and Superman by stating they're both orphans who have mothers named Martha (a point explored in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.)

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@Public-Choice

I firstly can but do not want to arm Con with arguments and secondly, if you have a character that you feel is more like one, in the other comic's multiverse, then go ahead and debate it.

I should note that Marvel believes in universe where DC believes in multiverse but that distinction is only truly relevant to time travel mechanics.

Marvel later changed to support multiverse or omniverse anyway.

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@RationalMadman

Well, I can't think of any reason spiderman and flash are different if you ignore details and powers. Might as well debate any two items with that gross oversimplification lol

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@Public-Choice

I can think of several other ways oranges differ to apples.

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@Athias

There is no pagan origin of Superman that I know of. He was originally the communist ubermensch gone evil. Simon and Schuster stated this themselves.

On balance apples are just like oranges if flavor and texture are ignored.

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@Athias

Arrow of DC is the Iron man in Marvel but Iron Man's way of operating is far less secretive and lowkey than Arrow's.

Arrow is actually more like Daredevil but without question daredevil is linked to batman.

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@Athias

Captain America and Iron Man are actually two halves of Superman's persona and role ripped apart, if you ask me.

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@Athias

It has an actual resolution. Thanks.

If we're going to compare Spider-man to a DC Superhero, it would be Superman. I can go into the pagan origin of both, but aside from that, you have two geeky orphans turned reporters, who are heavily influenced by the paternal figures in their lives, and have longed for the "redhead" (this is on purpose) next door. Now if we're talking about Barry Allen's Flash, which I presume you are, then a comparison can be made between all three of them. But Spider-Man to Superman would be the closest comparison, in my opinion.

I may have accepted this debate if it had an actual resolution. It's no surprise that many superheroes can be comparable.

Both use re-writing time to keep from growing up!

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@whiteflame

To avoid spoilers I will just say this:

There are way more similarities and parallels than you may first think. I haven't seen anywhere near the depths that I'm about to explore on any fan-based article or even Quora thread etc so I am pretty confident I can go full blast here and not accidentally plagiarise or whatever.

I will give you 3 similarities that avoid spoiling much because they are early season 1 reveals for Flash and in Spiderman are well-known:

1) Both are orphans but have an adoptive alpha dad type that is overall sided with 'good' and both of their 'dad' figures are well-seasoned cops that don't entirely approve of their methods, especially when others influence them (in Spiderman it's his uncle, in Flash's it's his neighbour who was close to his dad until it was believed that his dad killed his mother).

2) Both have a female they fawn after that was their neighbour and is more like a sister to them, making the feelings a bit inappropriate and then have a continual 'cuck' vibe throughout their story with a lot of hit and miss. The female they are after is very kind but oblivious to the fact the respective boys-turned-men like her that much despite having known them for so many years.

3) Both have a link to the primary newspaper exploring them, ensuring they get the best press by getting either closer to a reporter or in Spiderman's case being that reporter (at least in his original storyline, that changes with this newer guy and how they're playing it out there with him as a younger goofy type).

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@Ehyeh

I think he’s talking more about personality and how he fits in with the other heroes. In those respects, I can see how the two speedsters differ.

i get the sense that quicksilver is more alike to the flash than Spiderman.