With a storied history with literally thousands of characters and hundreds of stories, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is bound to get some things wrong in the eyes of some people. Whilst they’ve got many adaptations right throughout the last fourteen years, there’s plenty they’ve got wrong, and as Reddit discussed, here are the worst changes from the comics to the MCU.
A Lack of Returning Villains
“they’ve wasted a lot of great villains as one and dones. The MCU moves too quickly for all of them to be featured again but still” – u/bigtableman
Whether it’s the likes of Andy Serkis’ Ulysses Klaue, Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger, or even the CGI James Spader as Ultron, it’s hard to argue against this. Some of the best villains in the MCU are the ones who are built up over multiple entries, showing their motivations and the lengths they’ll go to to get what they want. Take Thanos and Loki as fantastic examples of that.
Read also: Andy Serkis: Playing Gollum Helped Him Direct Venom 2
In the comics themselves, these very villains are a regular thorn in the side of their respective heroes and appear multiple times throughout the years. Whilst it may be unfair to expect every single villain to return for multiple altercations with the heroes, and play devil’s advocate, arguably a disservice to the franchise as a whole, a few more reoccurring ones wouldn’t hurt.
A Waste of Taskmaster
“Taskmaster being an unrecognizable drone with none of the personality of the original character…” – u/mugenhunt
Still, on the topic of villains, it’s hard to disagree that the portrayal of Taskmaster in the recent Black Widow film is one of the worst adaptations from the comics to the MCU. In the comics and other media, Taskmaster is a smart, snarky, cunning, and devious mercenary hired by the villains of the MCU, sometimes even leading them on their individual crusades. In the MCU, she’s a mute, brainless lackey that can’t think for herself or do anything without permission. Not on the same level, but this just reminds me of the travesty of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
One Scene of Butchering
“Gorr butchering gods off screen” – u/NearingShadow
The Jason Aaron run of Thor is seen as one of the best of the character and also the one where Gorr makes his first appearance. Throughout the consequent issues, we see many examples of Gorr butchering a lot of different types of Gods. In the latest Thor film, Thor: Love and Thunder, we see a few action scenes of Gorr fighting, but the only scene of him actually butchering a God comes in the first five minutes of the film. Other than that, he doesn’t kill another God on screen whatsoever. Waste of potentially one of the most terrifying villains the MCU had from its comics.
Read also: Christian Bale Reveals Two Major Characters Were Cut From Thor: Love and Thunder
It’s becoming a clear pattern that the way villains are handled and adapted from the comics to the MCU receive some sort of ire from fans.
Secret Identity?
“Characters constantly taking their masks off even in battle, Iron Man and Spider-Man are wild for it.” – loganx0
More so the creation of need due to contracts and bankable faces, after all, having actors like Robert Downey Jr, Tom Holland, and more hidden behind CGI masks wouldn’t be the best in the eyes of studio executives. That said, with a character like Spider-Man, whose secret Identity is such a massive part of his character in the comics, it’s almost jarring to the average comics fan when we constantly see Peter taking his mask off in front of anyone, especially when it’s in public. Hopefully with his recent erasure of himself from the lives of the people he loves, going forward we’ll see less of the random unmasking and a little more protection of his secret Identity. Here’s hoping.
Not Enough Running Time
“Not reaching a point in Civil War where Peter sided with Steve.” – CaptainTurtle3218
The comics to the MCU adaptations and the hits and misses of them all really came to the forefront of fans’ discussions with the release of Captain America: Civil War. Fans of the comics will know that this was one of the biggest stories to date when it was released in 2006, featuring a huge roster of pretty much every Earth-based hero, taking one of two sides between Iron Man and Steve Rogers.
Spider-Man chooses to side with Iron Man, shockingly revealing his secret Identity to the world. A show of such faith was a huge deal to the other superheroes, and many followed suit, joining Iron Man. However, after a shocking event resulting in the death of one superhero, Spider-Man realizes the error of his ways and swaps sides, helping Steve Rogers.
There’s no dismissing just how good Civil War is, but unfortunately as an adaptation from the comics to the MCU, it’s quite poor. So many key moments are missed it’d be interesting to see how they would have handled the film after they regained the rights back from Fox.
And many more…
This was but a small section of comments from the Reddit thread, there are hundreds more from big mistakes to tiny nitpicks regarding the comics to the MCU mistakes…
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