When Marvel decided that they were going to attempt their own series of movies, they were determined to keep the spirit of the comics alive. Their characters were going to be treated with the reverence that studios like Warner Bros, FOX, and Sony wouldn't be as motivated to achieve. This is part of the reason that the Marvel Cinematic Universe became so successful. The movies focused on characters and explored them in a way that only Marvel seemed to know how to do, having a fundamental knowledge of what made of these individuals work on the pages. Now the Avengers have become household names when they were once mocked for their appearance and/or powers.
Despite this level of respect Marvel has for their characters, that didn't stop them from taking a lot of creative liberties with even many of their biggest names. In order to fit the vision they had for the MCU, they had to switch around some origins, personalities, and even backstories to create characters that had a lot of differences from their comic book counterparts. Some of these changes were so drastic that the comics ended up changing their stories to fit the movies. While not all of the alterations Marvel made are popular with everyone, they still happened and are helping carry the MCU. For the most part, it still seems to work, considering how much money people are throwing at the franchise. Love them or hate them, here are the 20 biggest changes Marvel made to its own characters for the good of the MCU.
20 EVERYTHING ABOUT STAR-LORD
Just about everything that defined Star-Lord in the comics was thrown out the window for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. He was once more of an authority figure, even wearing an outfit that was reminiscent of a confident leader and police as opposed to a snarky outlaw.
However, James Gunn had a clear vision as to what he felt would work for the movie, and Marvel let him make the change. They probably got away with it because the Guardians of the Galaxy were such an obscure property that not many people were attached to that interpretation of Star-Lord and his comrades.
19 THOR JOKES
When Thor was first introduced to the MCU, he was a character that had a very Shakesperean background like in the comics. Everything from living in a golden city to fighting for the throne with his brother who was secretly adopted screamed a classic play. However, that vision didn't seem to be working with audiences, so Marvel brought in Taika Waititi to shake up the character.
For Thor: Ragnarok, the God of Thunder threw out his serious persona. In its place was a Thor that was much more personable and used humor to deal with a lot of tragic circumstances. The comics never saw that version of the character and it was a bold move.
18 THE CREATION OF ULTRON
Ultron is one of the baddest Avengers villains and part of that is because he was created by Hank Pym and had a bit of that scientist's insanity in his own programming. This is what caused Ultron to eventually go over the edge and become homicidal. During Avengers: Age of Ultron, though, Hank Pym had yet to be introduced to the MCU, so Marvel needed a new creator.
This is where they brought Tony and Banner to create the robot. What drove him over the edge this time was the use of the Mind Stone as a "source code" of sorts.
17 THE VISION'S MIND STONE
The Vision was a robot created by Ultron to fight the Avengers, but who eventually switched sides and joined Earth's Mightiest Heroes. That much is somewhat identical-ish to the MCU version. However, there is one key difference between the two interpretations: the Mind Stone.
In the movie, Vision was powered by the Mind Stone in his forehead, which never happened in the comics and became a series arc for the character. The only other character to have an Infinity Stone in their head was Adam Warlock, who possessed the Soul Stone. Considering Warlock hasn't been introduced yet, Marvel needed someone to fit the bill.
16 SCARLET WITCH AND QUICKSILVER'S ORIGIN
Any comic reader knows that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are the twin children of Magneto and were granted their powers through the mutant gene. That was the reason they became such big characters. When it was announced that they were going to be in the MCU, there was a big problem: Marvel didn't have the rights to the X-Men.
In order to compensate, they threw out every reference to mutants and made the two superheroes be created by HYDRA using the Mind Stone to do experiments on them. They were artificially created metahumans rather than characters who had their powers organically.
15 RED SKULL'S LEGACY
After Red Skull met his strange end with the Space Stone in Captain America: The First Avenger, it left a lot of people wondering what happened to him. They got their answers. In Avengers: Infinity War, Red Skull was sentenced to be the guide to the Soul Stone, forced to lead others to it but never achieve its power for himself.
This is drastically different from anything that happened in the comics. Red Skull did try to take over the world several times and even came back in the modern era, but he was never involved with the Infinity Stones in that way.
14 NOT "THE BLACK ORDER"
During the "Infinity" comic event, Thanos came to Earth to find his son. However, he wasn't traveling there alone. With him were a group of powerful villains known as the Black Order. Consisting of Ebony Maw, Black Dwarf, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Supergiant, they assaulted the planet with extreme prejudice.
When it was announced that they would be in Avengers: Infinity War, many people were referring to them as the Black Order. That is incorrect, though. They were renamed the Children of Thanos to go along with that villain's purpose in the film (and to tie-in with Gamora and Nebula). On top of that, Black Dwarf was renamed Cul Obsidian and Supergiant was left out altogether.
13 KILLMONGER'S MOTIVES
In Marvel Comics, Erik Killmonger came back to Wakanda and had his own village. His endgame was to overthrow T'Challa and restore Wakanda to the ancient civilization it once was, because he felt that the Wakandas had become too modern and blended too many cultures together.
Compare that to the Black Panther movie, where the Wakandans were set in their traditions of the past and Killmonger was ready to bring in a new era and have their civilization go out and take justice against the African-American community. On top of that, Killmonger had a drastically different costume in the comics. He never looked like a slightly different version of Black Panther.
12 ARNIM ZOLA
Arnim Zola was a HYDRA scientist and one of the most loyal servants of the Red Skull. After he died, it was determined that his brain was too useful to be left to rot with his body. Because of this, HYDRA placed his mind in a massive computer that would run for a while. After that, Zola's consciousness was placed into a robot that had him become a supervillain capable of fighting the Avengers.
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Arnim Zola was preserved in a computer, but he never became a robot. Instead, he was just a screen that spewed out information and let Captain America know that HYDRA had been taking over S.H.I.E.L.D.
11 ORIGINAL AVENGERS
In the comics, the original Avengers team consisted of Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp as they were fighting Loki. This team became iconic and would later add mainstays like Captain America. When the MCU was first imagined, Marvel was insistent on trying to make sure that Ant-Man and Wasp were there in The Avengers. Those plans fell through, though.
As we all know, The Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye initially. Another big difference is that it was Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne who joined the original Avengers.
10 SPIDER-MAN'S SUIT
When we first meet Spider-Man in the comics, he has put together an impressive skin-tight suit that quickly became one of the most iconic costumes in comic book history. Having striking colors, expressive eyes, and webbing that extended throughout his body, it was a massive hit. Most versions of Spider-Man saw Peter Parker creating a costume that looked similar to that original design.
Then came along Captain America: Civil War. In that movie, we were shown a much more homemade suit that contained a makeshift suit with goggles where the adjustable lenses would later go. It was a drastic difference from the upgrade that Tony Stark gave him.
9 TECH VULTURE
The Vulture is one of the most laughable Spider-Man villains of all-time. Essentially an elderly man in a goofy winged costume, he was known as the Vulture and would try to torture the wallcrawler by flying through the air. Because of this, it was clear that Marvel would have to make some changes for the MCU.
While the Vulture is still fairly old, he is a middle-aged, blue collar worker in Spider-Man: Homecoming. On top of that, his green wing suit was thrown out the door for a technological design. It featured wings that belonged to a jet engine and a mask with narrow green eyes.
8 FALCON'S MILITARY GEAR
While a lot of the costumes in comic books are iconic, many of them have to be changed when adapting a character to the big screen in the hopes that they won't be mocked by the public. Falcon is one of those characters. Having a white and red suit that made him look like a circus performer, he always needed an upgrade.
In the MCU, Sam Wilson was an ex-military operative who was involved in an initiative that gave him a special set of wings that allowed him to fly through the air. On top of that, his falcon, Redwing, was turned into a drone that could take out bad guys in one shot.
7 NO REAL SHOCKER
The Vulture was working alone in Spider-Man: Homecoming. He had a team of blue collar workers who were brought different skills to the table. One of his goons was in love with a Chitauri weapon that had electric on the end of it. It made his punches much better and he could shoot electricity. Other than that, he was just a guy who died. After that, the "Shocker" mantle was given to someone else.
This is drastically different from the Shocker in the comics. This character was an over-the-top supervillain with Gauntlets that could fire out electricity. He also had a full costume, something that was only vaguely hinted at in the film.
6 HAWKEYE
Hawkeye has always been a fairly goofy character. First being a circus performer with a penchant for archery, he eventually decided to turn into a vigilante but kept his bright purple costume. Take just one look at his outfit in the comics, and you'll know exactly why he had to be changed for the MCU.
Not only has Hawkeye ditched any iconography apart from his bow in the MCU, but he was also given a family in Avengers: Age of Ultron complete with a few kids. He even named his youngest after Quicksilver. It was a sweet change of pace that really separated comic Hawkeye from movie Hawkeye.
5 CELESTIAL EGO
Ego the Living Planet, in the comics, was just that: a giant planet with a consciousness and a big face. That's why, when it was announced that he was Star-Lord's father in the MCU, there were a lot of people scratching their heads. How would such a character be brought to the big screen?
Ego was a Celestial in the MCU who could manifest himself as a human. Not only did this never happen with Ego in the comics, but he was never Star-Lord's father. That mantle went to J'son of Spartax, who has never appeared in the MCU thus far.
4 THE SECRET SISTER
Hela was known as the Goddess of Death. She didn't appear in the MCU until Thor: Ragnarok, and Odin seemed to be the only one who knew anything about her. The reason for this is that she was the older sister of Thor and locked away by the Allfather. Since he was dying, she was unleashed to fight her brothers and take over Asgard.
Hela was not Thor's secret sister in the comics. As a matter of fact, the God of Thunder did have a secret sister, but that was Angela, who was a character originally from Image Comics. Hela was just the Goddess of Death.
3 NO MANDARIN
The trailers for Iron Man 3 teased a conflict that comic fans were ready to see: Iron Man versus the Mandarin. The comics had shown many impressive battles between the two characters. Iron Man relied on his brains and his technology while the Mandarin had the Ten Rings to give him power against Stark.
However, Iron Man 3 didn't deliver on that front. While the Mandarin was a threatening character in the film, it was revealed that he was just an actor and a pawn set in place by Aldrich Killian. After the Mandarin was proven to be fake, Killian came out as the movie's biggest villain.
2 BARON ZEMO
Baron Zemo is one of the bigger Captain America villains. Having had many different generations, he was usually a Nazi dictator with a classic purple hood and gold crown who used a sword in battle. He was portrayed as the leader of the Masters of Evil to fight the Avengers on a few occasions.
Zemo would appear in Captain America: Civil War, but only in name. The "Baron" part was shoved out entirely. Furthermore, Zemo had no ties to Nazis and never used a costume or a sword in battle. His goal was to tear the Avengers apart from the inside by doing a lot of homework, which is something that the Baron never did in the comics.
1 MJ
Leading up to the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, many people were on the edge of their seats. The reason being that no one was sure what would change with the third attempt at a live-action Spider-Man. It turns out that they would make a massive change to one of the biggest characters. One Midtown student was named Michelle, who revealed at the end of the movie that her friends called her "MJ."
Any Spider-Man fan knows that MJ is the acronym used to describe Mary Jane Watson, the red-headed love interest of Peter Parker who would eventually become his wife.