Not debating popularity of Superman/Batman, but DC's problem is that it was inherently aimed at a young juvenile audience. Most of their characters are from that era and they're hard to write for an older audience without coming across as campy,
unrealistic, or too dark when they try to go the dark route....Marvel was a very small company in the 60's when Stan Lee went up against the huge corporate juggernaut that was DC. As an alternative, he developed characters that were like real
life people with real life problems. And it clicked instantly with a much older audience than DC had. So those initial characters, that are the bulk of the Disney/Marvel Universe, have characters and backgrounds that are very relatable to the core
movie and theme park audience. Before Disney, the people making the various Marvel movies tried to do them like DC characters, but that proved unsuccessful except for a film or two. Disney/Marvel took full advantage of these unique characters, and
with a few minor adaptations to update some origins, wrote stories taking advantage of their characters and the realistic way they reacted to events. Great success. Could Disney have done the same if they had DC instead of Marvel? My opinion, and of course that's what forums are about, is that it probably would have not worked out as well as Marvel. Disney did Star Wars films with a 'weak' group of characters. Hard to write for a weak character, and the films, while successful at the box office, proved very fleeting in popularity. There may well be a legit reason why 'so many' (with lots of talent) have failed 'so many' times to get DC going. Namely, a problematic cast of characters that has more appeal with juveniles than an older audience.....Marvel characters still translates well to real people and their problems. Stan Lee hit the nail on the head. Still amazes me what he did. He wrote most of the stories, and back then comics had tons of dialogue, not like today's almost all artwork issues. Marvel operated out of a tiny office, with mostly freelance contributors. Back in the day you could stop by and visit the office unannounced. I was in college and in NYC for a couple days. My brother and I stopped by, and Stan Lee was there and welcomed us. If I recall the office was a small reception area and two or three offices. That was it. An empire built on the workaholic habits of Stan Lee, bless his soul.