There is a handful of franchises and properties that help shape the majority of the geekdom side of pop culture zeitgeist as it is in today’s digital world, from the likes of Game Of Thrones to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the entire genre of anime. Two of the most significant and prominent examples of this are the fantastic and fantastical franchises of Harry Potter and Star Wars.

Both are fantasy films born from the mind of a single person, one more contained on Earth while the other is vast across a different Galaxy, and both have incredible highs and meh lows, and there are various ways in which one is better than the other.

11 Harry Potter – The Books

While Star Wars kicked off as a singular film from the mind of George Lucas, Harry Potter began as a book series, and one of the most popular book series of all time at that.

The books make sure that even if you love the movies but are left wanting more, you can dive in and get far more detail and far more story. Then, if you dislike the films, there are books there to enjoy instead. Star Wars has books for its movies, but most of them are not fully canon, and quite simply are nowhere near as good, except for the Revenge Of The Sith iteration.

10 Star Wars – Vastness

It may be unfair to compare Earth to an entire Galaxy, but the fact of the matter is that it is one of the most significant differences between the two, and one of the biggest positives for Star Wars.

There is so much to explore in the Galaxy, so many planets, species, and stories to dive into, with an immense timeline and an insane amount of places to go to. In contrast, the Potter-world has a huge timeline, but far less to explore, and far less that actually has gotten, or likely ever will get explored compared to what Star Wars has done.

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9 Harry Potter – Coherency

Going on to the movies themselves, the most well known and most consumed aspects of the franchises, one big thing Potter has over the Galaxy far, far away is the coherency and the plan in place.

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Of course, the movies are based on the books and so have a plan in place, but even the rules of the world tend to get followed better than Star Wars, whose sequel trilogy had zero narrative plan, and the previous two trilogies had a lot made up along the way.

8 Star Wars – Villains

Harry Potter has an iconic villain in the form of Lord Voldemort, with other bad guys of the franchise, including the Death Eaters, Draco – to a much lesser, more childlike extent – and Grindelwald. Star Wars far overpowers Potter in this respect.

Just on the movies alone, Star Wars has Darth Vader, perhaps the greatest cinematic villain of all time. On top of that, there is the Emperor (Darth Sidious) and Kylo Ren, both fantastic. Then, when you move past the central movie antagonists, the likes of Maul, Boba Fett, Asajj Ventress, Cad Bane, Count Dooku, General Grievous, Thrawn, the Inquisitors, and many more who make the franchise that much better.

7 Harry Potter – Need To Enjoy The Star Wars Prequels or Sequels

When comparing which is better of these franchise, focusing on the movies, you have to look at what the fans will believe. All Harry Potter movies are at the very least watchable/enjoyable for Harry Potter fans, but that is not the case for Star Wars.

There is an entire, frequently toxic side of the Star Wars fandom that hates on the prequels or sequels. If three movies from a series are deemed not outstanding, it is hardly a hard choice between Star Wars and Potter. Star Wars requires you to like at least one of these two trilogies to give it a shot against Potter’s eight.

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6 Star Wars – Higher Highs

There is absolutely no doubting the fact that when Star Wars is at its best, it is better than anything the Harry Potter movies have to offer, not in moments, nor in films overall.

The Empire Strikes Back is far superior to any Potter movie, even though there are a couple of those eight that are truly incredible. Scenes like Luke Vs. Vader, the throne room scene(s), the Battle of the Heroes, the Duel of the Fates, the binary sunset, and more, far surpass scenes from Potter, although there is an admitted amount of subjectivity there.

5 Harry Potter – Time Spent With Characters

Again, looking at just the movies, when you compare the nine of the Skywalker saga, and even the three standalone, to the eight of Potter, the time spent with the central characters gives the latter a big positive over the former.

Fans spend three movies, spread across over a decade with Anakin Skywalker, and it truly harms his story and turn into Darth Vader. Luke’s journey is phenomenal, but the three movies he is in do not compare much to spending seven consecutive years through eight movies with Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they grow and develop.

4 Star Wars – Spin-Off Content

Going back to the topic of Anakin Skywalker and his fall to the Dark Side and into Darth Vader, that is one of the countless things improved hugely by the spin-off Star Wars content.

Comics, both canon and Legends, have absolute gold, as do novels with prime examples being Lost Stars, any Darth Vader comic, and more. Of course, there are the three standalone movies, one admittedly is not good, but two very much are. Then, there is the créme de la créme of Star Wars spin-off content, Rebels and The Clone Wars, both of which are utterly incredible for the most part.

3 Harry Potter – Consistency

Consistency got touched on earlier, but it truly is the most significant factor on the side of Harry Potter and is something that is arguably lacking in the Star Wars movies or at least is not up to the standards of Potter.

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Every Potter movie of the central eight is at least watchable and enjoyable, arguably getting better and better in craftsmanship, whereas the Skywalker saga took a dip in craftsmanship and then returned for the sequel trilogy, which fell apart due to a lack of planning. Potter has and will always have an easier to digest consistency than Star Wars.

2 Star Wars – Impact & Influence

There is, though, absolutely no denying the sheer impact of Star Wars. It not only changed cinema forever with A New Hope and the original trilogy, but it changed lives and changed the world in more ways than people give it credit for.

The innovation and technology in the original and prequel trilogy are awe-inspiring and impacted the future of cinema from that point immensely. The original trilogy is also credited with, for better or worse, ushering in the era of the blockbuster and franchise film. Star Wars is more popular and well known, and its cultural influence far surpasses that of Potter.

1 Conclusion

Overall, it is hard to choose between the two objectively; just about everyone who has watched them both has a preference. In terms of movies, Potter is more consistent, but Star Wars has the best movies.

Ultimately, it comes down to the fan and what their preferences are, and what they value most, and what they want out of these franchises.

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