Terminologi and Jargon pt. 1 :- Who's who In Comic Book World

Some of the question that I get is why is Batman is not a part of Avengers ? Well in this first part of Term and Jarg, I'll answered that question for you once and for all.



It's been quite some time since I write for Terminology and Jargon. Today I decide to cover on some of the popular question asked by non-comic book reader,why are Batman or Superman not a part of Avengers ?

To start with, each of this superheroes characters are licensed to their company. To make simple Batman and Superman didn't come from the same one that The Avengers came from.  Now that we have created the foundation, lets go to the nitty-gritty of it.

Basically, there two biggest company in US that published this superheroes comic. You can see the logo of this company at the beginning of the superheroes movies themselves which are Marvel and DC Comics. I wouldn't go to the history of the company itself as that is the work of wikipedia. What I gonna do is to cover what superheroes they hold licensed of  and if you want to follow their comic book counterpart, where should you start. Now, lets begin.

Marvel
Marvel or also know as The House of Idea currently hold the majority of the superhero movies through their Marvel Cinematic Universe. All the superheroes in Marvel's The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble, depends on where you are) are a part of Marvel Universe. That means Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Capt. America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, and even Maria Hill is belong to Marvel. Addition to that, the whole mutant community of X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, and Spiderman are also belong to Marvel Comic. Notice I used Marvel Comic for the latter list, this is because despite their comics are published by Marvel, their movie rights belongs to another movie company (20th Century Fox, Sony, etc) which is the reason why Spiderman is not a part of Marvel Cinematic Universe. I'll explained on the movie right side on part two next week. However, recent news reported that the rights of The Punisher, Daredevil, and Ghost Rider have been reverted back to Marvel.

Where to start if you want to follow their comic counterpart? Marvel has recently semi-rebooted their titles due to Avengers vs X-men events last summer. Hence known as Marvel NOW, all the comics book with this flagship has only started at least six months ago, and a perfect starting point to follow up their comic book universe. Suggested titles includes All New X-Men, Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Avengers, and Superior Spiderman.

For movie counterpart, it still not to late to follow Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact it is the perfect time as they just finished the first phase last year with Marvel's The Avengers and kick start their second phase this year with Iron Man 3.  X-Men cinematic universe is a bit complicated but X-Men's trilogy is the good place to start followed with X-Men: First Class. Spiderman cinematic universe on the hand, you can just start with last year The Amazing Spiderman as it was the rebooted after the Sam Raimi's trilogy.

DC Comics
Dc Comics is another major company that published superheroes comic. Unlike Marvel , DC holds the majority of animated movies and series. Their cinematic universe currently only consists of Super-family (Superman, and Supergirl), The Bat-family (Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Catwoman), Green Lantern and Constantine (yes, it was a part of DC Comics universe) also Watchmen. Addition to that is Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Teen Titans and Justice League all belongs to DC. Unlike Marvel, almost all movie right to DC Characters belong to Warner Bros which actually easier for them to make a movie like The Avengers which in DC Universe is known as Justice League.  This is the reason why you can't see Batman and Superman fight alongside Iron Man. However, it is possible to see Batman and Superman kick each other ass as their come from the same company.

While DC has a small number of superheroes movies on the silver screen, they had quite a numbers on the small screen. Smallville is based on Superman and featured several other popular Dc Comics superheroes like Green Arrow, Impulse, Aquaman, Supergirl , Hawkman, and Blue Beetle. Arrow which was announced as the most viewed series this year featured the early years of Green Arrow and featured Huntress as well as numbers of DC Comics villains like Deadshot and Deathstroke. Amazon which is currently in the making focus on the early years of Wonder Woman and also Booster Gold well tells the story about Booster Gold. There is also a short live series known as Birds of Prey which focus on another version of Huntress and also a paralyzed Batgirl (search DC's A Killing Joke on wikipedia to know why)

But DC has been monopolizing the animated movies counterpart with their DC Animated Universe. Animated series like Batman The Animated Series, Superman The Animated Series, Justice League, Teen Titans, and the recent Green Lantern The Animated Series and Young Justice are some of the suggested titles for their animated counterpart. In term of Animated movies universe, some of the suggested titles are Batman The Mask of Phantasm, Batman Under The Red Hood,Superman/Batman Public Enemy, Justice League Crisis of Two Earth, and Justice League:Doom. All of this animated universe is a stand alone series, hence you can start at any series without getting lost of the storyline.

Where to start for their comic book counterpart ? Unlike Marvel, DC rebooted their whole comic universe two years ago due to The Flashpoint events. So any issue #1 of The New 52 is a good place to start. For some print like Constantine (known as Hellblazer) which is on DC mature flagship known as Vertigo, you have no choice than to start from #1 and follow up to its 300+ episodes or go directly at Constantine #1 at The New 52 but less violence.

Their movies counterpart ? Well the Nolan Trilogy is a good place to start Batman and the upcoming Man of Steel is a perfect starting point not just for Superman but also for DC Cinematic Universe which is supposed to lead to Justice League some time in the future.


So there you go, a hopefully compact but informational on the who's who in comic book world. Of course there's a lot more like Hellboy, The Spirit, etc but I'll cover that later in the future. In the next part, I'll focus on movies right which made everything become more complicated. What do you think of this articles? Does it help you to understand the comic book world better? Sound off your thought in the comment section. Stay tuned for more info from us and be sure to be a fan of Comikrew Studio.