Superhero logos: Examining DC and Marvel's very different approach towards branding

I love logos. I love superheroes. That gives you an accurate assessment of where my mind wanders during the day. Since I was a kid obsessed with superheroes, their logos, costumes, and moral alignments since I was a kid. In my current mature state (says the man waiting for his son's motor skills to solidify so we can play with action figures together), I realized I was always inadvertently paying attention to how these characters were branded.

Evil variants of your favorite heroes donning darker or straight black versions of their outfits or reimagined characters that tend to fall flat for lack of character brand consistency (here's looking at you, electric Superman). I couldn't articulate as a child why some things resonated while others bombed in my mind. Now, armed with my extensive design knowledge, it all makes sense. Superhero brands are globally recognized and timeless based on their iconic logos or popular aesthetics, from colors to icons.

I was a DC kid growing up, primarily due to my mother gifting me a large set of DC Comics trading cards as a boy. The pantheon of DC Comics heroes is what we fans would consider 'classic' superheroes. Their elaborate costumes, vibrant colors, zero moral ambiguity, and bold logos are emblazoned on their chests. In contrast, their competitors at Marvel, who could be considered more grounded characters, lean more into aesthetics than hero identity. Let's explore the brands of these heroes, see how they differ, and how those differences ultimately shape our perception of them.