I’ve noticed that DC and Marvel have historically tended to derive their characters’ abilities from sources which are, more or less, specific to the companies and predominant as themes in their published works. DC’s supercharacters’ abilities have mostly been derived from various supernatural and/or otherworldly non-human phenomena (Superman, Womer Woman, Hawkgirl), while Marvel’s supercharacters’ abilities have mostly been derived from mutogenetic and/or otherworldy human phenomena (Spider-Man, X-Men, The Hulk).

Is it because Marvel, the younger and more financially-troubled of the two rivals, has historically sought to bring a predominately-human, predominately-current feel to the supercharacter, or is it because DC, the elder and more conservative rival, wanted to sandbox its supercharacters within almost entirely alternative histories and realities which are similar to ours but have much more of a fantastical and fictionally-flexible atmosphere for the writers?

As per above, the "superworlds" of the two companies are different: Marvel mostly retains real-world communities like New York and Washington, while DC creates such alternate-but-similar communities as Metropolis and Gotham City.

Heck, that may be a partial rationale for why Marvel also went the extra mile to bring pre-inauguration Obama in as himself in the current Spider-Man title (he did give Spidey a ringing endorsement), while no similar move came from DC’s running publications.

But back to the main question. If Marvel sought to push the superhuman into a greater quantitative status over the average supercharacter, then what will the next big comic publisher bring to the table?

Maybe, for that next publisher, the Internet and networking media will play a role within the framing of a fictional reality (or fictional virtuality, if you will), where the hubs of the Web and the so-called "Metaverse" will become framed as stages for superhuman ("superavatar"?) action, drama and wonder.