With a couple of obvious notable exceptions, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is widely regarded as being ahead of the DCEU in the majority of areas. That's been the case since the DCEU began in 2013, five years after the MCU's inception. From the general quality of its movies to the development of its characters and plots, Marvel Studios' mega-franchise has proven superior to its live-action DC counterpart.
However, Warner Bros. decision to release Wonder Woman 1984 and its entire 2021 slate on HBO Max may finally give the DCEU the upper hand. Here's why.
Marvel has held court over DC largely because the latter has been playing catch-up for the duration of the DCEU's existence. By the time Man of Steel hit theaters, seven MCU movies had already been released to great acclaim. As a result, a lot of what's happened in the Warner Bros. franchise has felt rushed. Since 2010, Marvel Studios has also released at least one movie every year -- with the exception of this year, due to COVID-19 -- while Warner Bros. didn't release its Man of Steel follow-up, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, for three years.
Releasing Wonder Woman 1984 and its 2021 films on HBO Max gives Warner Bros. a chance to reposition itself and potentially dominate, at least for a while. Marvel Studios is sticking to theatrical releases and has pushed off its entire 2020 slate.
Black Widow has been delayed twice and will now hit theaters in May 2021. That'll mean two months shy of two years will have passed since the MCU's last release, Spider-Man: Far From Home. It's a risky tactic, as the more impatient Marvel fans might simply lose interest in the franchise in that time. Moreover, given how complex the MCU's timeline already was, following the time-travelling exploits of Avengers: Endgame, moving the dates of upcoming movies around is only going to confuse audiences further.
It's also worth noting that the MCU only recently wrapped a major chapter in its universe with Endgame. While there's something of a lull in the franchise, with no truly major events on the scale of the Infinity War set to unfold in the immediate future, the DCEU has a fantastic opportunity to kick-off its next major event before the MCU gets a chance.
If the DCEU can have its movies telling the big story in superhero cinema in the next couple of years, it has a great chance of superseding its rival as the king of the genre.
Warner Bros. simply must exploit this opportunity. For far too long, Marvel has reigned supreme as the master of comic book movies. Given how competitive Marvel and DC have been for such a long period of time, that's actually been something of a shame. Whichever side of the fence fans fall on, everyone would surely like the two companies' modern cinema rivalry to be more competitive. It's just more exciting that way.