DC Comics

The people at DC are some of the most open minded, creative, educated people I have ever met. You’re dealing with characters that are global icons with an audience. It’s not about what DC wants to do, it’s about what the audience will respond to. ~ Jason Badower

The company declared: "A deep respect for our obligation to the young people of America and their parents and our responsibility as parents ourselves combine to set out standards of wholesome entertainment." Henceforth, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and DC Comics other superheroes would never take a life. Focusing on the market of young readers and their parents, the company did not go deeply into the horror and crime comics that outsold superheroes in the late 1940s. ~ J. L. Bell

It's kind of a difference based upon mood and vibe of the material. There's something about the stoic heroes of DC that could be contrasted against the hyperkinetic heroes of Marvel. ~ Alex Ross

DC Comics, Inc. is the world's largest comic book company and is perhaps best known for publishing the adventures of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Captain Marvel and the Teen Titans.

DC Comics is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., a division of Time Warner.

DC Comics the well known perhaps other original highest-grossing, best-selling and longest-running early era media franchises such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Spider-Man and Teen Titans.

Characters

• Superman
• Batman
• Wonder Woman
• Green Lantern
• The Flash
• Aquaman
• Captain Marvel
• Teen Titans

Comic Books

• The Books of Magic
• Elfquest
• The Filth
• Hellblazer
• The Invisibles
• Kingdom Come
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• Legion of Super-Heroes
• The Losers
• Lucifer (comic book)
• Preacher
• The Sandman
• Swamp Thing
• Transmetropolitan
• Trials of Shazam
• Uncle Sam (Vertigo)
• V for Vendetta
• Vimanarama
• Watchmen

Franchise

Superman

• Superman
• Lex Luthor: MOS

Batman

• All Star Batman and Robin
• Batman (comics)
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
• Birds of Prey (comic)
• Gotham Girls
• Gotham Central

Wonder Woman

• Wonder Woman

Films

DC Extended Universe

• Man of Steel (film)
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• Suicide Squad (film)
• Wonder Woman (2017 film)
• Justice League (film)
• Aquaman (film)
• Shazam! (film)
• Birds of Prey (2020 film)
• Wonder Woman 1984
• Zack Snyder's Justice League
• The Suicide Squad (film)
• Black Adam (film)
• Shazam! Fury of the Gods
• Blue Beetle (film)
• The Flash (film)
• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Live action

• Batman (1966 film)
• Batman (1989 film)
• Batman Begins
• Batman Forever
• Batman Returns
• Batman & Robin (film)
• The Batman vs. Dracula
• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Batman (2022 film)

Animated

• All-Star Superman (film)
• Batman: Assault on Arkham
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (film)
• Batman: The Killing Joke (film)
• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
• Batman: Under the Red Hood
• Batman: Year One (film)
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
• DC Showcase: Catwoman
• DC Showcase: Green Arrow
• DC Showcase: Jonah Hex
• DC Showcase: The Spectre
• Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
• Green Lantern: First Flight
• JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time
• Justice League: Doom
• Justice League: Gods and Monsters
• Superman vs. The Elite
• Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
• Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
• Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam
• Superman: Brainiac Attacks
• Superman: Doomsday
• Superman: Unbound
• Wonder Woman (2009 film)

Television

Live action

• Arrow
• Batman (TV series)
• Wonder Woman (TV series)
• Birds of Prey (TV series)
• Legends of Tomorrow
• The Flash (2014 TV series)
• Supergirl (TV series)
• Black Lightning
• The Penguin (TV series)

Animated

• Batman: The Animated Series
• Superman: The Animated Series
• Batman Beyond
• The Zeta Project
• Static Shock
• Justice League (TV series)
• Justice League Unlimited

Video Games

• Superman (video game)
• Superman: Shadow of Apokolips
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Batman: Arkham City
• Batman: Arkham Knight
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
• Injustice 2

About DC Comics

Mistakenly in the past I think the studio has said, ‘Oh, DC films are gritty and dark and that’s what makes them different.’ That couldn’t be more wrong. It’s a hopeful and optimistic view of life. Even Batman has a glimmer of that in him. If he didn’t think he’d make tomorrow better, he’d stop. ~ Geoff Johns

• The people at DC are some of the most open minded, creative, educated people I have ever met. You’re dealing with characters that are global icons with an audience. It’s not about what DC wants to do, it’s about what the audience will respond to.
  • Jason Badower as quoted by Kate Roetzinger and Quartz, "DC Comics's Wonder Woman Endorses Marriage Equality", The Atlantic, (September 1, 2015)

• In the summer of 1941 DC instituted a formal code for all its comics perhaps a response to early comic critics. The company declared: "A deep respect for our obligation to the young people of America and their parents and our responsibility as parents ourselves combine to set out standards of wholesome entertainment." Henceforth, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and DC Comics other superheroes would never take a life. Focusing on the market of young readers and their parents, the company did not go deeply into the horror and crime comics that outsold superheroes in the late 1940s.
  • J. L. Bell, “Success in Stasis: Dick Grayson's Thirty Years as a Boy Wonder”, “Boy Wonder: Scholars and Creators on 75 Years of Robin”, edited by Kristen L. Geaman, McFarland and Company, (2015), p. 13.

• I wanted to put a reference to masturbation in one of the scripts for the Sandman. It was immediately cut by the editor [Karen Berger]. She told me, "There's no masturbation in the DC Universe." To which my reaction was, "Well, that explains a lot about the DC Universe.”
  • Neil Gaiman, The Sandman Companion (1999)

• Mistakenly in the past I think the studio has said, ‘Oh, DC films are gritty and dark and that’s what makes them different.’ That couldn’t be more wrong. It’s a hopeful and optimistic view of life. Even Batman has a glimmer of that in him. If he didn’t think he’d make tomorrow better, he’d stop. ~ Geoff Johns]]
  • Geoff Johns in "DC's Geoff Johns Reveals How 'Justice League' Will Address 'Batman V Superman' Criticisms." by Britt Hayes, Screen Crush, 2016.

• It's kind of a difference based upon mood and vibe of the material. There's something about the stoic heroes of DC that could be contrasted against the hyperkinetic heroes of Marvel.
  • Alex Ross, “Meet the artist who put a realistic spin on comic book superheroes”, CBS News, (December 22, 2018).