How The Valiant Universe Compares To Marvel And DC

There is a new challenger in the world of superhero cinematic universes, though not according to the creative founder Dan Mintz who stresses that he is a big fan of the other universes and views them more as fellow creatives than business competitors. Dan Mintz discussed this when interviewed, along with many other key components of the latest superhero franchise. It seems the Valiant Universe compares to its contemporaries in several areas while remaining somewhat unique.

It has accessible stories to tell

Superheroes and comic books have been around for almost a century now, and the main players are still churning out new characters and stories all the time. For those new, to the genres, it can be quite overwhelming. With so much on offer, where is the best place to start? Valiant characters date back to the early nineties, but it relaunched in 2012 with just four stories. Add to this the more recent character sensibilities and Valiant appears to be a universe that is narrower and therefore more accessible to newer audiences.

It has a potentially bigger Universe

Both Marvel and DC have vast universes featuring characters from different planets and other dimensions, so it’s hard to imagine Valiant out-competing them in this area. However, Valiant is not only a match for the size and scope of DC and Marvel Universes; in some ways, it goes further. Valiant has created a universe with a full internal history that allows stories to take place in the long-ago past and the far-future. This is quite different from Marvel and DC, who only set their stories in the present day.

The characters are more diverse

DMG hasn’t needed to re-imagine the Valiant Universe to cater to a contemporary audience, much like other superhero franchises. This is mainly because the original universe was created in the 90s, which made it more progressive initially. The original universe already featured characters from various backgrounds and ethnicities, like Japanese characters, and Latin American characters – notably, the superheroes in the Valiant Universe are not superhuman, they are more like ordinary people which makes them more relevant and relatable.  

The characters are more realistic

In general, the Valiant universe is more realistic than Marvel or DC. While Marvel and DC tend to have gods, goddesses, and magical elements to create their stories, Valiant is more science-based. The universe does feature occasional aliens, such as The Vine, from X-O Manowar, but these are few and far between. Valiant characters are more human on the whole and acquire their superpowers through scientific experiments gone wrong, or paranormal phenomenon. In some cases, characters have no superpowers at all but instead use weapons very well – such as swords.  

It needs time to catch up  

All of this might seem biased in favor of the Valiant Universe, but in truth, it comes down to your superhero preferences. We know what Marvel and DC offer by now, but the new Valiant Universe is something different. And that’s a drawback. The other superhero universes are well established, and Valiant has a lot of catching up to do, not least to win over some of the many Marvel and DC fans who have come to expect a particular brand of superhero movie. Can Valiant remain unique in the world of cinematic universes, or will it also resort to the big-budget formulas of Hollywood?