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Growing up as a young boy I was always interested in comic books and comic book movies and today I no longer read comics as I have been taught that when I am a man I put away childish things, but the movies are big and successful and for all generations. nothing wrong with putting in a DVD or clicking the play button on your media player on your PC or Mac. Those are timeless and comic book mythology, whether you are a DC Comics or Marvel Comics fan is something that can’t be undone. They made my childhood and my dad’s as well. He no longer reads comics like myself but he doesn’t watch the feature films either, but that’s cool. I have no quarrels with him about that. It’s his prerogative whether or not he wants to watch or read, but that’s all in his past.

Traditionally DC Comics and heroes have monopolized the movie, video gaming and TV markets but in the late 1990s something changed. That was totally reversed. DC have had Batman and Superman movies and they have had TV shows with Smallville, Wonder Woman, Superboy, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, the Supergirl movie and more. But when Marvel came out in 1998 with Blade starring Wesley Snipes and then in 2000 with X-Men, then in 2002 with Spider-Man the tide started to turn and Marvel started to dominate. Christopher Reeve was a phenomenal actor who got typecast in the role of Superman which defined his career but tragically died due to complications from a horse-riding incident in 1995 which left him paralyzed and would later cause his death in the mid 2000s.

Chris Reeve is the best Superman and he was the Superman from before my generation. But because he played the role so well and became an icon for not just truth and justice and the American way but for all things good. In fact, in comic book mythology he was such a larger than life person that he was almost like a second Messiah. Never felt comfortable with that so I distanced myself from that way of thinking. Henry Cavill played the role well in 2013’s Man of Steel, the Superman reboot which was badly needed after the flops of Superman 4 and Superman Returns in 2006. We hadn’t had a great Superman movie since perhaps 1983’s Superman 3. In 1989 and 1992 Michael Keaton donned the cape and cowl for the role of Batman which were huge successes and in 1995 Val Kilmer replaced him in Batman Forever as the iconic caped crusader. It was darker and edgier but when George Clooney took on the role in 1997 it became a monstrous flop.

It wasn’t until 2005, 2008 and 2012 that Christian Bale would don the armour of Batman for three times, each more successfully than the other that the Batman franchise would be revived and the 2008 movie would see a posthumous Academy award for the late Heath Ledger who died of an alleged suicide. That trilogy was epic and Christian Bale was smart for not wanting to take on the role again as he would probably end up typecast like Reeve. But DC seems to always linger on just Batman and Superman and that’s why Marvel has obliterated them at the box office in recent times. But all that is about to change. In 2016 DC is releasing Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, the sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel and the prequel to the Justice League movie.

To me they should have made a real Superman sequel because calling this Dawn of Justice movie a sequel when it’s all about the major Justice League characters is doing a disservice to the man of steel. I hear Robin will make an appearance and he will be a she. Yes Robin will be a girl and Cyborg, Aquaman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman and more will appear in this sequel. Superman deserves a proper sequel but DC Comics and Warner Bros. studios are too cowardly in taking on such a project. But all things aside it’s good to see DC taking the initiative to release a wave of new movies including an officially declared slate of four of five Justice League sequels, a Wonder Woman movie in the same year as Justice League Part 2, a Flash movie in 2016, a Shazaam movie around 2017 or 2018, two or three Aquaman movies, a Green lantern reboot, a Suicide Squad movie and more Batman movies starring Ben Affleck as Batman.

Now while I am all for DC’s initiative, given their history of delays such feats may be unachievable, even to the least skeptical of movie fans. DC is so notorious for delays it’s not even funny and while the Dawn of Justice, Justice League parts 1 and 2 are to air back to back that’s a lot to accomplish and not even Marvel has been that meticulous and assertive. But DC has committed and it’s better late than never because Marvel owns the movie industry and they have recently been given the title of owner of the most powerful and popular movie franchises in Hollywood history. They are heavy hitters and they keep a closely knit circle with their TV programmes and movies interlinked meaning the same actors crossover from movies into TV and vice-versa while DC keeps their movie and TV franchises separate.

Too bad as Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell would have been great on the big screen. Those shows define the young generation and reinvigorate my generation’s interest in superhero mythology for the new or not so new millennium. I think Marvel carries a lot of weight but DC has been lazy. Some have started to drift from the greatness of Christopher Reeve and have started to prophecize a wave of popularity in Henry Cavill but that’s mostly the new crowd who are less traditional and more liberal in their views towards the Superman franchise on a whole. To me Chris Reeve will be the ultimate Superman and will always define the role and I hope that remains for generations to come as it has with so many generations since he first played the role in 1978, decades ago.

Marvel hasn’t always gotten movies right. Ghost Rider was a disaster and so was Punisher and the Amazing Spider-Man 2 from a rebooted franchise, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra and so many more movies from Marvel have flopped. in fact they are rebooting Fantasstic Four for the second time with an African-American human Torch and filming has been said to have finished and it’s in post production to be released in 2015, ten years after the second incarnation in 2005 with Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and more. Those two movies were disasters but X-Men is going strong but I hear they are replacing the older cast members minus Hugh Jackman who plays the ever immortal Wolverine character.

So it’s essentially an all out war between marvel and DC with DC bringing Justice League and Marvel releasing Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015. Who’ll come out on top? Hopefully it’s DC. In the meanwhile check out several video clips of Superman played by Chris Reeve and Henry Cavill. Judge for yourselves who plays the character better and who’ll have a more successful legacy. Granted Reeve has had four movies under his belt in the role while Cavill has only one but it’s enough to make a definitive comparison so go ahead and judge. Plus I have added two sets of galleries below this post so enjoy!