7 Of The Darkest MCU Moments That Didn’t Occur In The Comics

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With nearly fifteen years of movies and television shows under the banner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are countless examples of the Marvel Studios using the source material as inspiration and taking whole storylines, characters, situations and more directly from Marvel Comics.

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Maybe surprisingly though, some of the biggest and darkest moments from the MCU we’ve had to endure over the years weren’t based on anything from the comics whatsoever, but were created by various writers over the years, who clearly seem intent on hurting us more than the comics ever did. Here’s seven of the darkest and most disturbing moments so far…

No Sacrifice Required For The Soul Stone

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Gamora drew the short straw…
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The Soul Stone is one of the more costly stones that Thanos gets his hands on with it requiring a sacrifice before it would allow the person chasing it to obtain it. As Red Skull says ‘A soul for a soul’. We see this play out once in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, with Thanos throwing Gamora from the cliff and then Natasha ensuring she made the sacrifice before Hawkeye did the same.

In the comics though, it was a far simpler affair with Thanos simply ripping it from the head of the In-Betweener and that’s without killing him! Far less drama and far less death involved.

Meredith Quill Doesn’t Have a Brain Tumor

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Meredith Quill killed by Ego…

James Gunn changed the origin story of our MCU Peter Quill quite substantially, with him being the son of Ego as shown in the second Guardians film, rather than that of J’son, the emperor of Spartax. With this change came a necessary major change in his mother’s death, as she was killed in the comics (and the fantastic game from last year) by some members of the Badoon alien race in their attempts to remove the last remnants of the Spartax bloodline.

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Related: James Gunn’s So Tired of Invisible Drax Jokes Invading Social Media That He ‘almost regrets making the joke in the first place

Instead, she’s given the ever more dignifying death of a brain tumor, later found to be put there by Ego in his attempt to create a perfect child for him, so he had some company to rule the universe with, essentially.

John Walker Doesn’t Go Full Bloody Decapitation In Broad Daylight

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John Walker proving he’s not worthy of the shield.

John Walker is exactly what he appears to be in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a demented, morally bankrupt version of Steve Rogers. A character that revels in the violence he’s beholden to as much as he does the glory of being the next Captain America, he’s a pretty accurate version of the character from the comics, except the violence and rage in the scene where he loses it in broad daylight, decapitating someone, doesn’t occur anywhere near as bad in the comics.

Captain America Doesn’t Have Any Sad Goodbyes Before Being Frozen

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Steve Rogers is the calmest man on a crashing plane…
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We all remember the harrowing and heartbreaking conversation between Steve and Peggy at the climax of Captain America: The First Avenger, where Steve is agreeing a date with Peggy whilst ensuring the bomb-carrying plane goes down in the ice, before their conversation across the radio is cut short by the plane hitting the ice. Cap is then on ice for the next few decades, before being found and thawed to fight in The Avengers.

In the comics it was a much less emotional affair, with Cap’s disappearance after WWII just being a convenient story-telling device used by Lee and Ditko when they brought the character back after a twenty year hiatus, as the character’s original outing had waned in popularity.

Hawkeye Isn’t Brainwashed To Kill By Loki

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Hawkeye was a tool for Loki in The Avengers…

Hawkeye has been around for years in the comics at this point, with various iterations and storylines involving him slowly making their way into the MCU. However, one that is a creation of the MCU is the brainwashing and corrupting at the hands of Loki in The Avengers. Hawkeye has been brainwashed in the comics, but not to the same bloodthirsty, near Earth ending lengths that we see in the film.

Wanda And Pietro Aren’t Forced To Stare At A Stark’s Industries Bomb For Days

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Days of starting at an unexploded bomb would make anyone hate the maker…
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Over the years there’s been a few different versions of the origins of the twins but none of them involved the two twins laid under rubble staring at an unexploded bomb with Stark Industries plastered on the side. Whilst Wandavision did a fantastic job of fleshing out the character and her motivations, this particular story was a completely original one, clearly based on her hatred of Stark from Age of Ultron. To be fair, the backstory episode of Wandavision where we saw all these events play out was the best of the series, so it’s a good thing they included it.

Related: ‘I’d give Kevin Feige hair for his bald head, slap his a** cheeks if Wanda’s alive’ Elizabeth Olsen Fans Shower Kevin Feige With Love After He Hints Scarlet Witch’s Return

Vision Isn’t Killed By Wanda As A Sacrifice Play

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Wanda at the start of her villain arc…

An unsurprisingly regular occurrence in the MCU, heroes are all too willing to throw themselves under the bus and sacrifice themselves if they think it’s going to benefit the greater good. Whether it’s Tony snapping his fingers, Natasha throwing herself off a cliff or any other number of times, the heroes have proven themselves willing to risk it all.

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Vision added himself to this list when he talked Wanda into killing him, knowing she’s the only one with the power to destroy the mind stone in his head that Thanos is after, he persuades her to kill the one person she has left and loves more than anything. Of course we all know this is for nothing, as Thanos rewinds time and takes the stone anyway.

There’s no doubt going to be more and more moments in the MCU that’ll be the creation of the writers and nothing to do with the comics, and that’s a good thing. Some deviation from the source material will keep the fans guessing and save everything from being predictable for even the most diehard comic fans.

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Written by Luke Addison

Articles Published: 422

Luke Addison is the Lead Video Game Critic and Gaming Editor. As likely to be caught listening to noughties rock as he is watching the latest blockbuster cinema release, Luke is the quintessential millennial wistfully wishing after a forgotten era of entertainment. Also a diehard Chelsea fan, for his sins.

Twitter: @callmeafilmnerd