Lot of overlap in powers.

Are there some type of heroes or powers that get used much more in one then the other?

Seems to be Marvel uses telepaths more often-from Professor X to Jean Grey to White Queen, they always seem to have a high profile telepath and that gets used more.

But then you have Martian Manhunter so that kinda blows that theory

I'd say the whole 'Superman' power-package is used a lot more in DC.

Not just Superman, but that type of character: Captain Marvel, Mr Majestic, Martian Manhunter even, etc etc etc.

At Marvel, you've got Sentry, and that's really it.

Marvel has a lot more "strong guy" characters and a lot more heroes who look like monsters than DC does.

I was thinking Marvel's super smart guys seem to get a bit more play too.

Marvel seems to have seedier villains as well. The villains of DC - even if they're ordinary, street-level crooks such as Intergang - never seem as sleazy or repulsive as Marvel baddies do. They're still crooks, and they still do evil stuff, but they never seem to be quite as grimy or horrible as the Marvel bad guys.

Also, Marvel have many more secret societies operating. Not just supernatural/cult types either - lots of secretive cabals populated by mad scientists seem to be roaming the MU. Moreso than in the DCU, anyway.

They also seem to have more hidden civilizations on Earth.

Marvel may have more mythical Ruritanian kingdoms like Latveria and Transia. But DC is probably close.

DC definitely has more cities that don't exist in the real world.

Does DC do as much with "gods" as Marvel does with Thor/Asgardians and now Hercules and Greek gods (since he took over the Hulk's book)?

I know they have them-with the Amazonians and Capt. Marvels, just not sure they have them interact as much.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the biggest difference, which is mutants and the public reaction to them.

And, even prior to Civil War, it seems like Marvel had more "illegal" superheroes, or at least superheroes that have problems with, or are sometimes wanted by, the authorities (Spider-Man, Hulk, Namor).

They touched on that in JLA/Avengers.

The DC heroes are, on the whole, more accepted by the public. Pietro's astonishment at the discovery of the Flash museum said it all.

DC has pretty much dabbled in every God universe that there is, but the Greek gods are the ones that get the most play. DC has had at least three versions of Hercules that I can recall, a Thor or two, the asian gods in Deadman, etc. And then you have guys like Spectre that speak with God God.

I also think that Marvel tends to (or use to anyway) have their main focus on the present. DC usually has more titles taking place in the past and future (Superboy, the western titles, war titles, Legion, Kamandi, Hercules, the Silver Age sci-fi titles).

And the alternate reality shtick seems to have flipped heavily. There was a time when DC had a string of titles set on an alternate Earth, now Marvel has three or four universes working at the same time.

Hmm. Yeah the Spectre acknowledges GOD more than Marvel, in the past, ever used to. They used to duck the issue

Does DC have a prominent devil like character like Mephisto?

DC has a few, as well as acknowledging a "real" satan in the Demon's world. Satanus and Blaze are similar to Mephisto. Neron is another one, usually portrayed as the right hand of the devil.

Marvel characters tend to be good, while Dc character other than Superman tend to be lame.

And Batgirl, natch!

Magic seems to be much more powerful in the DCU. In the Marvel Universe you have Doctor Strange, and then way down below that you have every other magic user (excluding gods). At DC, the Spectre, Doctor Fate, the Phantom Stranger, and others are at least as powerful, if not more so, than Strange.

Why is the Watcher coming on to Kamandi like that?

There is that throway line Arid, Stan's favorite IIRC, but in general, for decades they would order the comics not to mention God and to make clear Mephisto wasn't the biblical devil. I think even an issue had Jesus and they censored it.

Ghost Rider had Jesus helping him out and they later changed it so that it was in fact not Jesus.

That's it.

To me, DC had the heroes you fantasized about being while Marvel had the characters you just loved reading about.

There used to be a clear divide between Marvel's "heroes with problems" and DC's more well-adjusted characters. But that went by the board long ago.