The 5 Worst Changes The MCU Made To The Source Material

5

The Inciting Event Of Civil War Was Much More Meaningful In The Comics

Civil War was a comics crossover event that masterfully explored themes of freedom and security. Captain America: Civil War was an MCU movie that happened when they needed to introduce Black Panther, but also needed to cap off Steve Rogers' trilogy with something loud.

If that seems harsh, look at the differences in how the story plays out. The inciting event of the comics version involves a group of superheroes who are filming a reality show. They basically stage an encounter with a group of supervillains and fight them while nodding to the camera, until one of the supervillains goes supernova. The explosion kills 600 people, including many, gulp, school kids.

The resulting public backlash causes some heroes to publicly disclose their identities, others are assaulted by civilians, and it ultimately leads to a congressional act requiring superheroes to register with the U.S. government. This is powerful because it creates a real moral dilemma. The supposed "heroes" clearly acted irresponsibly. Who gave them the authority to fight crime in the first place? Who decides which superhuman is a "hero" and which is a "villain" if both groups think they're above the law?

4

The MCU Really Flubbed The Mandarin (Repeatedly)

Let's get one thing straight right away: The comics portrayal of the Mandarin has often been offensive. For much of his existence, he's been like a Voltron of Asian stereotypes. That said, as times have changed/improved, so has the sensitivity. With the right comics treatment, he's a supremely cool character, and comparatively, the MCU has all but ruined him.

3

Comics Hank Pym Has A Much Darker, More Complex Past

Comics Hank Pym has been the following: Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket. He switches identities more than a first-semester college freshman, and it's a bit much. MCU Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) has only been Ant-Man, but that doesn't make him better, because he's relegated to being Obi-Wan Kenobi with more smirks.

Comic Hank Pym's main trait is his instability. He created the comics Ultron, so he has to deal with the guilt from that forever. He then goes through a stretch where he exhibits some terribly bad judgment, including attacking a villain who had already surrendered from behind. For his un-Avengers-like behavior, he's kicked off the team by Captain America, and soon has a mental breakdown. I would too if Chris Evans even hinted that he was disappointed in me.

2

Against All Odds, The MCU Screwed Up Quicksilver

Quicksilver basically has to do two things: run really fast and have some light angst about his dad, Magneto. He's tailor-made to be the focus of cool sequences, which somehow the goddamn X-Men film series figured out and the MCU was baffled by.

The problem for MCU Quicksilver and his sister, the Scarlet Witch, begins with the fact that they couldn't be called mutants, because Marvel licensed all rights to the mutants a long time ago to Fox in exchange for a case of beer. So in Age Of Ultron, they are HYDRA creations, empowered using Loki's scepter. This is cute, but a little less interesting than them being the abandoned children of a magnet god.

And while he gets a few interesting scenes, the slide off the slope really starts when MCU Quicksilver opens his mouth. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's stab at an Eastern European accent is somehow worse than Mickey Rourke's Boris Badenov routine in Iron Man 2. Also, as anyone who has seen me dress knows, I know zero about clothes, but what's with his outfit? HYDRA couldn't do better than some $9 Under Armour specials from Ross (Dress For Less)?

1

Jarvis As The Vision Just Totally Sucked

Jarvis is the Avengers' butler in the comics, and it was a solid adaptation choice to make him Tony Stark's Amazon Alexa in the MCU, but it should have stopped there. The cool dynamic between them in the first few films was lost when his consciousness gets stuffed into the Vision during Age Of Ultron. They were total besties for four movies, and then it was over. Did Stark even talk to Vision after the Jarvis transformation? Did he ever even make a wisecrack about how his personal Siri became a purple robot god?

Vision isn't some dynamic personality in the comics. He most definitely has all the charm of an android, but the MCU Jarvis was way more distinct as a character before he became the Vision. Since that happened, Vision has pretty much been reduced to a less-interesting version of either comics character, one of whom at least wields a vacuum cleaner, while the other sometimes has yellow speech bubbles.

The MCU has tried to humanize Vision by kindling up a romance with the Scarlet Witch, but that's handled in far greater detail in the comics. And the MCU all but acknowledged it by announcing WandaVision, a Disney+ show that will explore the relationship further and test how long viewers will put up with a title that dumb. Let's hope Vis turns out better there. Honestly, did you feel a single thing when he died in Infinity War? Nope, and neither did anybody else. And I don't know of a bigger sign of a wasted character than them having an agonizing death after playing a role in seven movies and my reaction being "Huh. Well OK."

For more, check out After Hours - Awkward Scenes That Must Have Happened In Marvel Movies (Captain America, The Hulk):

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