Antagonism as Marketing

DC became popular in a vacuum. However, Marvel became popular in a world where DC was already a big deal.

So Stan Lee came up with one of the best and oldest marketing tricks known to man: Start some s**t. He took to the letters columns, and started referring to the company across the street as The Distinguished Competition. Get it? Stan would constantly rail against the competitors in a charming, tongue-in-cheek way.

There’s no better way to get brand loyalty going than to create an enemy. But while Marvel was building a counter-cultural identity out of sniping at DC, DC really kind of ignored Marvel. Yeah, they take a shot now and then, but they have mostly sat out the squabbling, leaving Marvel to spearhead the rivalry. Heck, Marvel has created some of their best (and worst) comics through this rivalry.

True, Marville and Ultimate Adventures were crimes against sighted people. But Squadron Supreme is one of the greatest Marvel Comics of all time, and that’s nothing but Marvel proving they could make the greatest Justice League story to not actually feature the Justice League. Impressive.