For the past decade, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has dominated the film industry and brought superheroes into mainstream recognition like never before. Disney’s announcements of future MCU projects shows it has no intention of slowing down and will continue to further advance the entertainment industry. Yet, the enormous success of the MCU has not only altered the cinematic landscape, but the original source material, too. Since comics are serialised stories being published parallel to their adaptation, characters often more closely resemble their cinematic counterparts.

This practice is nothing new. Originally, Batman’s loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth was portly and clean-shaven, but after the 1943 Batman serial feature an Alfred portrayed by the slim and mustachioed William Austin, the comics changed to reflect this. Similarly, supporting characters like Jimmy Olsen, Harley Quinn and X-23 were also introduced in other media — The Adventures of Superman radio-show, Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: Evolution, respectively — before being integrated into the comics.

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Character traits can also be established in adaptations before being folded into the source material. 1978’s Superman: The Movie had a running joke about Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) being dyslexic, which has been reiterated in both Batman: Hush and Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins’ Lois Lane: Enemy of the People. A more fundamental change was to Spider-Man’s web-shooters. Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man gave Peter Parker organic web-shooters instead of his original, hand-crafted ones. Then, in Spectacular Spider-Man #20, following a transformation into a human-sized spider, Spider-Man was left with organic webbing. However, shortly after the Raimi trilogy ended, Spider-Man’s “One More Day” reboot (among other things) gave the wall crawler his original web-shooters back.

This leads to the present day's MCU. While the source material certainly influenced the cinematic properties, the films have, in turn, influenced recent comics.

The MCU's Impact On Its Source Material

The MCU is more sustainable than previous franchises, and inevitably some of its changes have filtered back into the source material. Following Jeremy Renner’s appearance as Hawkeye in 2012’s The Avengers, the comic Hawkeye was redesigned, ditching his extravagant purple costume and mask for a sleeker and modernized look. Matt Fraction and David Aja’s acclaimed Hawkeye run popularized this stripped-down aesthetic, and even emulated the moment when Renner shot an arrow while diving off a building. In turn, Renner’s new Disney+ Hawkeye show is clearly inspired by Fraction and Aja’s run.

Loki is another character obviously influenced by the fan-favorite MCU portrayal by Tom Hiddleston. Although the actor is fairly faithful to the character, he introduced a mischievous sympathy to Loki in Thor, which only grew in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarök. Meanwhile, in the comics, Kieron Gillen had been exploring Loki’s perspective by reincarnating him as a child in Journey into Mystery. Then, in the pages of Young Avengers, Gillen and artist Jamie McKelvie aged Loki into a teenager closely resembling Tom Hiddleston, particularly with his long black hair. This appearance and “anti-hero” attitude was also used throughout Al Ewing’s Loki: Agent of Asgard and Christopher Hasting’s Vote Loki, the latter of which Hiddleston’s own Loki Disney+ series seems to be borrowing from.

More fundamental changes include Star-Lord being turned from a no-nonsense, peacekeeping astronaut to a red-trenchcoated scoundrel closely resembling Chris Pratt from Guardians of the Galaxy. Hank Pym's character was also changed. In the comics, he had no children, but after 2015’s Ant-Man introduced his daughter, Hope van Dyne, Marvel Comics then added Nadia van Dyne as Pym’s secret daughter "The Unstoppable Wasp." Additionally, the MCU influenced Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Due to rights-sharing with 20th Century Fox, at the time of 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, the super-powered twins could not be referred to as mutants or as Magneto’s children. So, in the comics, these traits were also retconned to fit with their MCU versions.

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The Influence of the Ultimate Universe

This circular symbiotic relationship between the MCU and the source material is only further complicated by the Ultimate Marvel universe. Following the speculator crash and Marvel’s bankruptcy in the 1990s, the “Ultimate” imprint was established as distinct from regular “616 continuity” to modernize Marvel characters. Such reinterpretations were often designed to be purposefully cinematic. Mark Millar wrote Ultimate X-Men while knowing little about X-Men lore, with only Bryan Singer’s X-Men (2000) for reference.

These reinterpretations themselves were often drawn from for cinematic adaptations. For instance, Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four was heavily inspired by Ultimate Fantastic Four, including using a teleporter instead of cosmic rays for the team’s powers. Early stages of the MCU drew upon The Ultimates (the Ultimate universe’s Avengers), with S.H.I.E.L.D. being involved in the Avenger’s inception and Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk by trying to replicate Captain America’s super-soldier serum.

Perhaps the most blatant example was with Nick Fury. As opposed to the gruff Caucasian 616 counterpart, The Ultimates’ Nick Fury was redesigned as a trenchcoated African-American resembling Samuel L. Jackson (a reference called-out in The Ultimates itself). Of course, Jackson ended up playing Nick Fury in the MCU. Indeed, Jackson’s portrayal became so iconic that the 616 Marvel Comics even integrated his version, introducing Nick Fury Jr. in the Battle Scars mini-series, which also introduced Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson to the comics. Therefore, the MCU has acted like a bridge, popularizing the Ultimate version of Nick Fury, which then fed back into regular continuity.

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Purists might balk at how films and outside media have shaped the original comics. But truthfully, comics and continuity have always been influenced by the times they were written in, perpetually shaped and re-shaped by external forces, whether this is physical appearances, cultural trends or simply the popular idea that audiences have of them. Within their continuous universes, comics become a living document of the world they were created in, which extends to the widespread popularity of their cinematic adaptations. The MCU influencing Marvel Comics shows the worthwhile attempt to open their universe to newcomers, and demonstrates that, in the long-running serialization of superhero stories, adaptation is a two-way street.

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