The MCU and DCEU’s biggest villains of 2021 - seen in Loki and The Suicide Squad - have one key trait in common. The two blockbuster comic book franchises were originally positioned as rivals upon their inception – largely due to the preexisting competition between Marvel and DC Comics – but in the years since, they have gone in very different directions, establishing distinct tones fandoms along the way. However, the franchises’ 2021 installments have created a major parallel between two major villains.
2021 has been a big year for both the MCU and the DCEU, albeit in very different ways. The year kicked off MCU Phase 4 with a string of MCU Disney+ TV shows like WandaVision, Loki, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, marking a shift from the climatic overarching storyline of the Infinity Saga to stories focused more on individual character arcs and the development of the multiverse. The DCEU has had its most successful in years in 2021, starting with the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League and culminating in the acclaimed premiere of The Suicide Squad.
Two of those comic book projects – Loki and The Suicide Squad – share some DNA when it comes to their primary villains. Kang the Conqueror and Starro the Conqueror, despite being wildly different in their narrative roles and genetic makeup, share the same title. Coincidentally, they also share the same iconic purple color. The heroes (and antiheroes) of the MCU and DCEU may live in different stories, but in 2021, they’ve both had to defend their worlds from the threat of invading conquerors – be they from space, or time.
Curiously, the differences between Kang and Starro are themselves quite revealing of the different directions the two franchises have taken. Kang – introduced in Loki as “He Who Remains” – is a multiverse being who exists in many different forms in many different timelines. Loki introduces him, but he’ll only become more important to the overall MCU story in later films like Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Starro, on the other hand, is a one-off villain who, despite his incredibly size and strength, is defeated by the end of The Suicide Squad.
These two different approaches to major villains – one being set up for many more films and shows to come, and the other being used simply as a challenging foe for a single movie – are indicative of the MCU and DCEU’s current approaches to storytelling. Marvel is still focused on larger, web-like, interconnected plotlines, while DC has put its energy into more isolated solo films for its various characters. It’s interesting to see how two villains with the same title and goal can be used so differently in the MCU and the DCEU.
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