Even before the Marvel Cinematic Universe revolutionized the modern superhero movie genre, there were several groundbreaking Marvel movies. Adapting the heroes and stories of Marvel Comics onto the big screen has been one of the most consistently successful cinematic endeavors and has led to many iconic movie moments. The movies of the MCU, in particular, have found major success around the world, bringing the comics to life in live-action in a massive, shared universe continuity that has faithfully adapted many aspects of the comic book canon. Despite the MCU’s success being based almost entirely on the comics, that isn’t to say that Marvel movies don’t sometimes take creative liberties with their stories.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Over the years, Marvel movies have made a number of notable changes to the stories of the comics. Many of the best Marvel movie twists have done so by subverting expectations, deliberately moving away from the established ideas and plot points of the comics. Sometimes this occurs in a way that actually improves the story or the character in question, making some of these changes unexpected improvements on the comic book canon.
7) Making Civil War A Smaller Conflict
In the comics, the Civil War storyline was a massive story that shook the very foundations of the Marvel Universe. For the movie adaptation, it was rewritten to be a smaller conflict contained within the ranks of the MCU’s established characters. By tying it into Steve Rogers’ story, it delivered some of the best Captain America moments in the MCU, but also made its stakes feel more personal, better connecting it to the beloved heroes in the franchise rather than fleshing it out superficially to blindly match the comics.
6) Making Hulk’s Father A Superpowered Villain
Before the Hulk appeared in the MCU, he featured in his own live-action solo movie. 2003’s Hulk is a hugely divisive film, but one of the creative decisions made for the movie was actually genius. In the film, Bruce Banner’s father, played by Nick Nolte, transformed into a superpowered villain based loosely on Marvel’s Absorbing Man. Having the film’s central themes hone in on the dysfunctional father-son dynamic brought an added touch of tragedy to Hulk that worked brilliantly, even if it was never a part of the comics.
5) Making Bucky An Adult
When Bucky Barnes was first introduced in the comics, he was Steve Rogers’ young sidekick. The boy hero was a literal child when he was killed working alongside Captain America, but the Bucky Barnes of the MCU was instead written to be an adult and Rogers’ childhood best friend. The change worked far better, as it established a bond of brotherhood between the two that also allowed the MCU to delve further into Bucky’s tragic Winter Soldier story.
4) Giving Wolverine A Definitive Ending
Widely considered Wolverine’s best movie appearance, 2017’s Logan is one of the best Marvel movies of all time. The film loosely adapted the Old Man Logan arc from the comics, but with a key difference. Instead of faithfully adapting the many elements of the story, it streamlined the narrative, reworking it as a final farewell to Hugh Jackman’s iteration of the character. Though he later returned in the MCU, the quality of Logan continues to stand out, especially for the ways it improved upon its source material.
3) Magneto’s Helmet Protecting Him From Telepathy
It’s no secret that Magneto is one of the most powerful mutants in Marvel movies, but his first live-action appearance in 2000 innovated one key part of the character. After identifying Professor X’s telepathic edge over the villain, the movie established that Magneto’s helmet protected him from Xavier’s mental interference. It was a simple change, but a brilliant one, and one that has since come to shape the character’s comic book story due to the way its effective logic resolves many possible plot holes.
2) Iron Man Announcing His Identity To The World
The Infinity Saga provided many great MCU Iron Man moments, but one of his earliest remains one of the best Marvel movie changes of all. At the end of his first solo movie, Tony Stark abandons the script and announces himself to the world as Iron Man. While the comics traditionally had him maintain a secret identity, the MCU opted to abandon the idea. It perfectly fed into the notion that Stark was as much a celebrity as a hero, and that his ego was often his own undoing. It later came to define his character arc, making it an excellent change to the comic book canon.
1) Completely Transforming Blade As A Character
Long before the MCU revolutionized the superhero genre, there was Blade. The 1998 movie not only reshaped how the world thought about superhero movies, but it also completely reworked its central character. In the comics, Blade had previously been a human vampire hunter with no supernatural powers other than being impervious to vampirism. Instead, the movie reimagined him as a half-vampire with a range of abilities and a whole new edgy look. The comics swiftly followed suit, in what proved to be the ultimate acknowledgment that the movie’s changes were some of the best in Marvel’s history.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Crunchyroll -
Image via NBCUniversal
