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Recently I half-listened to something on TV that asserted most comic fans "pick a side" between Marvel and DC and do not mix and match their fandom. I am not familiar enough with these universes to know which characters are in which.

Sheldon and the gang wear shirts with character logos on them, buy comic books and merch, and go to movies. I understand they don't restrict themselves to just comics; they are Star Wars and Star Trek fans as well, but are they fans of both Marvel and DC characters or have they picked a side?

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    Somewhat related question : Why does Sheldon Cooper love The Flash?. Anyway show is made by WB, so I guess they will prefer DC more.
    – Ankit Sharma ♦
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 6:02
  • Comic fans do pick a side but lots of people do pick a small number of comics from "the other side". I myself am a Marvel guy but I do love Batman. Picking a side is common. Not mixing and matching is not very common in my experience. I can't think of any comic fan, Marvel or DC, who don't like Batman. And I don't know anyone who don't like Spiderman.
    – slebetman
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 12:40
  • If the writers come up with a good joke involving a comic book character, i doubt the show are not going to use it just because of the stable the character comes from.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 15:51
  • Coincidentally, last night's "Young Sheldon" showed the origin of Sheldon's love of comic books (his only school friend turned him on to them). His first title was "X-Men".
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 17:42
  • Not all comic fans pick sides. I'm a Green Lantern and Dr Strange guy, myself. That said, with the high level of interconnectedness within any given comics universe, and the expense of comic books, one does tend to naturally pick up more from one or the other (For instance, my interest in Green Lantern led me to collect as much of Blackest Night as I could.)
    – Tin Wizard
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 17:59

2 Answers 2

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Are they fans of both Marvel and DC characters?

They seem to be fans of both Marvel and DC characters, but we see more DC characters than Marvel ones.

In the S03E13, we see Sheldon agreeing with Raj's request after getting a pair of Hulk Hands signed by Stan Lee. There is also appearance of Stan Lee in S03E16, where he comes to a comic book store to give autograph on comic books. That's when they discuss about the comic book they want to get autograph on. And in one episode, Raj dresses up as Thor.

These are just a few examples of Marvel and there could be more I might have missed. However, the thing is we see DC characters having more appearance than Marvel ones.

Since the show is owned by Warner Brothers, who apparently also own DC comic, we see more DC merchandises and characters in that show. For example, Sheldon wears Flash tshirt many times, they do dress up as Justice League for new year eve costume contest, discussing about scientific accuracy of the dive by Superman to save a lady etc.

This can be a copyright issue to show a Marvel comic book since they don't own it, which is also a reason why we see a few Marvel characters. However, it's really never been stated in the show or by the crew that who are they fan of most.

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    If you search for pictures of the main apartment, you'll see mostly DC toys and comics on display as well. I never knew this was because the show was owned by WB, but makes perfect sense.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 13:15
  • Not only is the show owned by WB, Marvel is owned by Disney which also owns ABC, a rival network to CBS which airs The Big Bang Theory (not considering syndication). If they went too heavy on Marvel, it might upset some executives.
    – alroc
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 14:04
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    Sheldon also wears a Green Lantern shirt.
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 17:40
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    There's absolutely no copyright issue with some book's appearing as a prop in an unrelated show.
    – chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 19:14
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I think they like both DC and Marvel but when it comes to picking up sides, I can say that it's like 55 (DC) - 45 (Marvel).

We know that Dr. Sheldon Cooper is an ardent fan of the Flash (and Spock). If he chooses a DC superhero as one of his favorites, then it must have some logical explanation as evident from another answer.

Examples showing preferring DC over Marvel :

  1. New Year’s Eve party

Wonder Woman ;)

  1. Halloween costumes, all initially come up dressed as Flash.

All flash

  1. Superman is Leonard's favorite superhero and Superman's birth name 'Kal-El' is Leonard's most common computer password. Leonard has over 2000 Superman comics.
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    I'm genuinely shocked that someone with as much geek/nerd/scientific cred like Leonard would A) not use a password manager, B) reuse passwords and C) have such an easily guessable password.
    – Nzall
    Commented Nov 17, 2017 at 23:08
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    I might tell people I use periodic table elements for passwords, but what I actually type when unobserved is a random string of characters found on standard keyboards. But how would anyone know that, if it's only used when unobserved?
    – JDługosz
    Commented Nov 18, 2017 at 6:49

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