Alex Ross Discusses Differences Between DC & Marvel Superheroes

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Alex Ross Describes the Difference Between DC & Marvel Heroes

By Gregg Katzman

Published Apr 4, 2018

While discussing his upcoming books Marvelocity, artist Alex Ross addresses what differentiates Marvel's heroes from DC's.

Known for his photo-realistic artwork, Alex Ross has created hundreds of stunning images featuring Marvel and DC's most popular heroes and villains. Now, the artist has shared his thoughts on what differentiates the characters of one company from the other.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly about his upcoming coffee-table book Marvelocity, Ross elaborated that Marvel's designs possess a "kinetic quality," which he attributes to legendary artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

There’s certainly an argument to make for similarity of iconic status, but what’s always separated the two for me is Marvel’s material has always had a kinetic quality to it, particularly based on the design aesthetics of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. DC characters are not defined by a singular artistic voice influencing all the rest, but that’s what happened with Jack Kirby’s leadership of the entire Marvel brand. Everything is affected by what he led the charge of.

Kirby is famed for co-creating many of Marvel's most recognizable characters, including Captain America, the X-Men, Thor, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Black Panther and Doctor Doom. Ditko, meanwhile, is best known for Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.

While Ross praised the design of Marvel's signature heroes, he also singled out DC's significant role in the history of superheroes.

DC is the foremost component of where the DNA of what makes a superhero came from. They did the very first superhero in Superman, and the first great embodiment of the dark superhero in Batman, and of course the first female superhero in Wonder Woman. All those key things are lined up by them, and they go in a nice descending ladder of importance with their Justice League.

Ross went on to say, "With Marvel it’s clear that Spider-Man is not the same kind of hero as Superman; Cap has similarities but he has differences as well and has been used in very interesting ways that stop him from being a clone of any DC counterpart. The Marvel characters are all over the place in terms of what makes them unique, and there’s a hip energy that’s been instilled in them since their creation. Every other superhero company follows the mold of having their heroes follow those archetypes that DC embodies, but Marvel broke away."

Arriving Oct. 2, Marvelocity reunites Ross with his Mythology collaborator Chip Kidd, and features an introduction by J.J. Abrams. The book features covers, designs, sketches and new art from Ross, including an original story about Spider-Man taking on the Sinister Six.