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DC vs. Marvel: Transportation

http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/dc-vs-marvel-transportation/

The most important category of objects in the comic book universe of DC and Marvel has to

be the weapons. I look at this topic at: http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/marvel-vs-dc-weapons/

I would argue that the second most important category of objects in the DC and Marvel

comic book universe are objects of transportation. Superheroes fight supervillains and

weapons are needed to do this. Unfortunately for superheroes, supervillains are often a

cowardly lot that will flee with the loot rather than fight. Some warrior supervillains like

Doomsday will stand and fight Superman but many supervillains try to flee Superman. This

means the superhero needs a speedy mode of transport to catch the supervillain and the

supervillain wants a mode of speedy transportation to escape. Plus when a crime occurs, the

superhero needs to show up at the scene of the crime in the first place. Last but not least,

most superheroes patrol anything from a sector of a galaxy, Green Lanterns, to a section ofcity, Daredevil and Hells Kitchen, and need a way of getting around.

In other science fiction universe there is a vehicle category but comic books are more

speculative fiction than science fiction and some of the most iconic and important forms of

transport only vaguely fit even the most general definition of vehicle. This post will look at

vehicles but also discuss other objects that provide transportation. Does DC or Marvel have

the coolest objects of transportation?

DC Transportation

Below is a list of objects of transportation in the DC universe.

1. Adam Stranges Jetpack

2. Alpha Centurions Pax Romana

3. Ambush Bugs Teleport Suit

4. Batboat

5. Batcycle

6. Batmobile

7. Batplane

8. Birds of Prey Aerie One

9. Birds of Prey Aerie Two

10. Black Mantas Sea Saucer11. Black Mantas Walker

12. Blackhawk Planes

13. Blue Beetles Bug

14. Blue Tracer

15. Boom Tube

16. Booster Mobile

17. Brains Submarine

18. Braniacs Skull Ship

19. Braniacs Star Ship

20. Brontadon (Ship)

21. Catwomans Catmobile22. Catwomans Catplane


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23. Challenger SST

24. Clockincopter

25. Cluster Ship

26. Cometeer

27. Craddock Carriage28. Diib

29. Doomsday Ship

30. Eye of Zared

31. Fiddlers Fiddle Car

32. Flashs Cosmic Threadmill

33. Flying Fish

34. Flying Sundial

35. Fokker Dr. I

36. Gentlemans Horse

37. Gibel Ship

38. Golden Knight Flying Horse39. Gorandian Battle Tripod

40. Gorandian Submarine

41. Green Arrows Arrowcar

42. Green Arrows Arrowplane

43. Green Lantern Ring

44. Grumman XF5F

45. Gyrosub

46. Haunted Tank

47. Hawkmans Wings

48. Hourmans Timeship

49. Huntress Motorcycle

50. Javelin-7

51. Jokermobile

52. Jonah Hexs Mechanical Horse

53. JSAs Steel Eagle

54. Justice League Cruiser

55. Justice League Teleporter

56. Kal-Els Rocketship

57. Kanjar Ros Spaceship

58. Lansarian Morphing Disk

59. Legion Cruiser60. Legion Flight Rings

61. Legion of Superheroes Flying Rings

62. Legion of Superheroes Time Bubble

63. Legion of Superheroes Time Cube

64. Lobos Spacehog

65. LX-811 Star Cruiser

66. Mark 494 Star Cruiser

67. Mitsu-Bishi

68. Mobius Chair

69. Multipurpose Intercept/Reconnaissance Vehicle

70. Mustang Three71. Nautilus of Earth ABC


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72. Newsboy Legions Whiz Wagon

73. Omega Men Mothership

74. Orions Astro-Harness

75. Owlship

76. P-40 Warhawk77. Pacos Convertible

78. Panzer-Ship

79. Peacemaker Hog

80. Pilgrim One

81. Quantum Jet

82. Rip Hunters Timesphere

83. Robins Redbird

84. Royal Flush Gangs Flying Cards

85. Sam

86. Samsons Chronomobile

87. Sandals of Hermes88. Scanner One

89. Scarlet Skiers Cosmic Skis

90. Scorpion-Ship

91. Sea Witch

92. Sheba

93. Space Cab

94. Space Shuttle Excalibur

95. Star-Rocket Racer

96. Starhunters Sunrider

97. Steel Eagle

98. Super-Cycle

99. Supermans Phantom Zone Projector It transports you to another dimension!

100. Supermobile

101. Swinging through the rooftops Batman

102. T-Jet

103. T-Sub

104. Teen Titans Helicopter

105. Thangarian Star Cruiser

106. Time Bubble

107. Tricksters Air Shoes

108. User: Bonesaw 19109. Vig-Cycle

110. Vigilantes Motocycle

111. Warehouse X Toys

112. Warhound

113. Warlords Plane

114. Whirly-Bat

115. Whiz Wagon

116. Wildcats Motorcycle

117. Wingcycle

118. Wonder Womans Invisible Plane

Some of the more famous objects of transportation are Adam Stranges Jetpack, the


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Batmobile, Flashs Cosmic Threadmill, the Haunted Tank, Hawkmans Wings, Green

Lanterns Ring, Kal-Els Rocketship, Legion of Superheroes Time Bubble, and Wonder

Woman Invisible Plane. The top two of this list, the crme de la crme, are the Batmobile

and Kal Els Rocketship. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then the Batmobile has

been praised again and again. The Arrowmobile, Catmobile, Jokermobile and to some extentthe Spider-Mobile, as parody, are all derived from the Batmobile. Kal-Els Rocketship refers

to the space ship that delivered Superman to the planet Earth from Krypton. The Batmobile

has been the subject of schematics from the beginning and you can buy toy collections of

Batmobiles from the golden age to the present. Supermans rocket is a very different affair

and the particulars of how the ship looks have varied tremendously from the golden age to the

present. This is a contest between a very visually defined vehicle and an icon. The historic

significance of Supermans rocket ship is more important than the Batmobile. The rocket

ship is an integral part of the Superman mythos and that mythos in turn largely defined comic

books from the beginnings to the present. On iconic grounds I would say Kal Els rocketship

is the most important object of transportation in the DC universe and the coolest.

Marvel Transportation

Below is a list of objects of transportation in the DC universe.

1. Asgardian Star Jammer

2. Avengers Quinjet

3. Big Wheel

4. Dr. Dooms Time Machine

5. Dr. Stranges Cloak of Levitation

6. Fantastic Fours Fantasti-Car

7. Fantastic Fours Pogo Plane

8. Flying Horses Valyky, Black Knight

9. Galactus Ship

10. Ghost Riders Hell Cycle

11. Green Goblins Glider

12. Guardians of the Galaxy Freedoms Lady

13. Hawkeyes Sky-cycle

14. Iron Mans Armor

15. Kangs Time-Ship

16. Moon Knights Helicopter

17. Nextwaves Shockwave Rider

18. Quasars Quantum Bands19. Runaways Leapfrog

20. S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car

21. S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier

22. Silver Surfers Board

23. Spider-Mans Spider-Mobile

24. Stiltmans Stilts

25. Swinging through the rooftops Spiderman, Daredevil

26. Thors Hammer Mjolnir

27. X-Mens Blackbird

Some of the most important objects of transportation in the Marvel universe includethe Fantasti-Car, Iron Mans Armor, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Thors hammer and X-


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Mens Blackbird. I have to mention the Spider-Mobile that is largely forgotten but was in

Spider-Man during the seventies and was hilarious. The Spider-Mobile was a parody of

consumerism. Spider-Man agreed to ride the Spider-Mobile for an ad agency. Spider-Man I

just about always broke. The problem was the Spider-Mobile was constantly break having

troubles. Webhead would have been better of sticking to his webbing and swinging throughthe roof tops.

My Marvel favorites are the Fantasti-Car and Iron Mans armor. Both are marvels of comic

book engineering. Schematics of both were provided early on and you could almost believe

these machines could be created. They represent very different ideas of design. Iron Mans

armor is a sleek, streamlined, minimalist machine that is a high tech, red and yellow, hot rod

of the skies. If Iron Mans armor is a hot rod then the Fantasti-Car is a Volkswagen that is not

streamlined but very practical. The Fantasti-Car has a modular design that looks goofy but

allows the individual Fantastic Four members to break away from the main ship and fight

more effectively as a group. Iron Man led to any number of armored imitators and again if

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Iron Mans armor wins. However, does IronMans armor deserve to win in this sort of contest? Iron Mans armor is more weapon than

transport. I think because of this the Fantasti-Car is the winner in the Marvel universe. The

modular design of the Fantasti-Car might have real life applications.

The Soviet Union often used tank riders instead of trucks for transportation during WW II.

Men hung onto tanks for dear life. This was done due to a lack of trucks on the part of the

Soviet Union. However, later many tactical advantages came out of this experience. The

men could quickly jump from the tank and provide support to the tank and vice-versa in a

way troops in trucks could not.

I wonder if there is the possibility of some sort of helicopter rider system in which special

forces could break away from a helicopter using some sort of individual pod rocket system

attached to the outside of the helicopter allowing for greater speed in exiting than the current

rappelling system used by special forces. You enter the external rocket pod using a door on

the inside of the helicopter to provide maximum protection until the moment of exit. The

rocket pod also allows quicker dispersal of special forces around an area and the pod also

offers some extra protection upon exiting the protection of the helicopter.

Conclusion

The winner of the DC competition is Supermans rocket ship. The winner of the Marvelcompetition is the Fantasti-Car. I love the sixties campiness of the Fantasti-Car but iconic

value beats campiness and Supermans object wins as the coolest object of transportation!

DC wins! In the course of this study something else stood out.

What is very interesting when comparing the objects of transportation of DC with Marvel is

that there is a giant difference in the number of such objects. This difference in numbers took

me by surprise and is serendipitous result of this study. DC has 117 objects of transportation.

Marvel has 27 objects of transportation. I have done my best to be exhaustive in the

compilation of both lists but still may have missed an important object of transportation here

and there but the difference in numbers is so great that one must come to the conclusion

transportation, as reflected in the numbers above, is more important in the DC universe thanthe Marvel universe. I have my own after the fact theory about this.


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I am old enough to have read comic books from the golden age to the present and let me

assure younger readers that comic books have changed tremendously! The Marvel universe

is a relatively new universe compared to DC whose superheroes and story line foundations

were largely created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the sixties. I would argue one basicdifference between Marvel and DC, especially in the sixties, was that Marvel focused a lot

more on fights than the chase. For example, Superman spent way more time flying around

looking for crooks than Thor. Thor quickly found his enemy and most of the issue focused

on the fight. Thor fought characters like the Hulk. The Hulk does not flee from Thor thats

for sure. I actually bought the first issue in which Thor and the Hulk fought solo and even

then I knew this was something different. For one thing Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created all

these fight scene cartoon blurb sounds that had no equivalent in the DC universe. Jack Kirby

used a lot of lines showing shock waves than anyone else. The fight looked more real and the

key to this was actually using exaggerated action that is less real but interestingly looks more

real due to the nature of the medium. I am into martial arts and have at least fifty books in

the area with pictures that show each move of a kata and the pictures look pretty boringcompared to a well done Jack Kirby punch or kick. I came to the conclusion that Marvel had

better fight scenes and certainly longer fight scenes than DC. The difference in the quality

and quantity of fight scenes between Marvel and DC has largely lessened over time.

I mentioned Doomsday and Superman in the introduction and their fight as chronicled in the

Death of Superman storyline was generally one giant multi-issue series of fight scenes. I hate

to admit it but I enjoyed the series! Remind me to grow up one of these days. For the record,

Superman didnt die despite the title of the series and I knew darn well Superman wouldnt

die and was amazed how my friends and family bought the lie hook line and sinker! And also

for the record, Captain America and Batman are not going to stay dead!

The greater emphasis on fight scenes made Marvel more modern from their beginnings.

Movies and TV were becoming more violent in the sixties and it made sense for comic books

to go this route as well. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were more attuned to modern media trends

than their counterparts at DC at the time and this is one reason Marvel became such a success

at the expense of DC. As a side note, I do not consider comic books overly violent at all

compared to other media.

Comic books have become more violent from the sixties to the present but are still much less

violent than other media. I am especially amazed at some of the cutesy violent video games

on Facebook that have tremendous appeal to my nieces and nephews who are in the six to tenyear old age group. I would much rather my nieces and nephews were reading the most

violent DC or Marvel comic book out there than playing those horrible video games. I guess

I am getting old because despite the best efforts of my nieces and nephews to explain the

games, I had no interest.

It is kind of Hello Kitty meets the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You have these very cute

cartoon characters wielding knifes or whatever and doing terrible things to other cute cartoon

characters with blood and guts pouring out. I like my genres purer than that. I like Hello

Kitty and I like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre but I really dont care for Hello Kitty acting

like Leatherface, the bad guy in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The games are very similar

to Ren and Stimpy ofThe Simpsons fame but again are video games rather than a cartoonwithin a cartoon. I do think the interactive nature of a violent video game as opposed to a


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violent cartoon on TV is worrisome. Back to the topic of this post!

Another example of fight versus chase, many fifties Batman issues were reprinted in 80 page

Giants in the sixties that I read when I was young and in many ways I grew up with this

version of Batman. The fifties Batman is all about the chase! The Batman of the fiftiesinvariably ended up in some sort of scenario with giant objects. Batman chased and fought

crooks in an almost surrealistic landscape. Batmite was introduced at this time and used his

reality warping powers not to fight Batman but to make the chase more interesting. There is

no Marvel counterpart to this sort of chase.

I would argue the greater number of objects of transportation in the DC universe is due to DC

having a golden age inheritance in which the chase was more important than the fight.

Marvel does not share this inheritance and presumably would have more weapons than DC.

Counting weapons is much harder than counting objects of transportation. I spent hours

compiling lists of weapons in the DC and Marvel universe for my last post and am still not

happy with the result. Weapons are ubiquitous in comic books. Objects of transportation aremuch smaller in number and easier to count definitively.