Adaptational Heroism in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel Studios
- Tony Stark aka Iron Man himself, compared to his flawed and often antagonistic comic book counterpart who even Stan Lee admitted was intentionally written to be unlikeable. Notably, all Tony's worst qualities (i.e alcoholism, egotism, arrogance, paranoia, and self-hatred) are either toned down or removed completely. At worst, he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold which is a damn slight better than the pseudo-fascist he readily becomes in the comics. Hell, MCU Tony astoundingly is more of a Messianic Archetype than even Captain America (The Paragon) at times, which is really saying something. Avengers: Age of Ultron is the one time where Tony verges on his comic book-Well-Intentioned Extremist ways, though it took Scarlet Witch screwing with his brain, and some fans actually feel it was an Out-of-Character Moment for Tony. It's most clear in Civil War as in the comic, Tony ruthlessly chucked his best friends in prison if they didn't agree with the Super Human Registration Act while in the movie version, Tony is genuinely horrified to see his friends imprisoned by Thaddeus Ross. Also in the film, Tony's arguments and motivations are portrayed as equally justified as Steve's are.
- MCU Tony also has pulled off two Heroic Sacrifices to save Earth and the universe in general, the first time by throwing a nuclear missile into space to stop the Chitauri and nearly dying from it, the second time channeling the power of the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos and his armies for good, which ultimately kills him. In the comics, Tony has endangered Earth and has brought humanity close to destruction multiple times.
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness puts the final nail in with the introduction of the morally dubious The Illuminati, as unlike the comics where Tony is a prominent member (helping carry out things like shooting Hulk into space and brainwashing Cap for him opposing destroying other universes to save 616), here Iron Man isn’t part of it. While not shown, it is hinted another version of Tony Stark was at least a close ally of the group, but it certainly wasn’t the same Iron Man the audience got to know and love.
- While the MCU version of Nick Fury is no stranger to keeping secrets and manipulating events to fit a desired outcome, he doesn't go nearly as far with it as the character he's based on (Ultimate Nick Fury), who's an outright Villain Protagonist at times.
- The same goes for Maria Hill, who is more overtly heroic and lacks most of her comic counterpart's more morally dubious qualities.
- Captain America: The First Avenger: In one scene of Steve trying to join the army, he claimed his parents both served until they died. In the comics, Steve's dad was an unemployed and abusive drunkard. Then again, Steve was already lying about his home town to have another chance to join the army. In the sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there's a flashback to pre-serum Steve after his mother's funeral where Bucky tries to console him and Steve says it's alright since she's "now with Dad", implying a healthier family life compared to the comics.
- Iron Man 3: The Iron Patriot armor gets adapted into the new suit that Lt. Col. James Rhodes gets to use. In the comics, the armor is best known as the one used by Norman Osborn during the Dark Reign storyline, in the film, the suit is eventually stolen and misused for the criminal actions of The Mandarin or rather Aldrich Killian, meaning its worst crimes are committed against the wishes of its actual owner.
- Loki gets this quite a bit in the movies, as in the comics (at least before his Reincarnation) he was a Manipulative Bastard whose schemes brought Earth and the universe to the brink of destruction multiple times, and while Loki has a few redeeming qualities overall he's a
Chaotic Evil Jerkass. But in the films Loki from the get-go is more of a Tragic Villain, whose villainous actions were born out of jealousy of getting constantly shadowed by his brother and desire to prove himself to Odin. Unfortunately Loki falls under Thanos's wing in The Avengers (2012) but even then he somewhat regrets the chaos he's causing during the Final Battle (to the point of Manly Tears). The Dark World and Ragnarok furthers this, as Loki actually aids Thor against the villains as well as becoming more and more selfless and caring. Avengers: Infinity War tops it off with Loki performing a Heroic Sacrifice to protect Thor from being killed by Thanos.- Once Loki got his own series, he was reset to his characterization in The Avengers, making him a Villain Protagonist due to being a variant from the timeframe of The Avengers that escaped during the time heist from Avengers: Endgame, but gradually re-developed his heroics from the later MCU films to once again become more selfless.
- Ant-Man:
- Henry Pym, much like Tony, has all of his shortcomings, flaws, and villainous actions Adapted Out in the movies. Instead of being a mentally unblanced Fallen Hero, MCU Hank is a passionate Family Man whose cynicism and grouchiness come from losing his wife and having S.H.I.E.L.D. try and seize his technology. In addition, Hank's decisive and troubled relationship with his wife Janet from the comics is changed to a sincere and loving one. It's also helps this Hank didn't create Ultron in this universe, leaving him pretty mentally and morally positive.
- While Scott Lang is still an ex-con, it's because he was a Robin Hood-like thief who hacked a company that was intentionally overcharging its customers. This is in contrast to the comics, where Lang was a burglar who used to rob people for the sheer thrill.
- Hope Van Dyne helps the heroes in their plan to save the world. In the MC2 comics, Hope is a villainess known as the Red Queen. This is because movie Hope is a Composite Character of her comics version and the original comics Wasp, who was her mother Janet Van Dyne.
- Guardians of the Galaxy:
- The film sees Gamora as the most moral of the group, and the first to stand by Peter, as opposed to the comics where she has a well-earned nickname of "The Most Dangerous Woman in the Galaxy" and is on the side of the good guys out of a combination of boredom, spite, and self-preservation.
- Secondary character Nova Corps Dennerian Garthaan Saal is a cynical jerk, but heroic for the most part. In the comics, he became insane and went on to oppose Nova and the Avengers as the villain Supernova.
- Nebula also gets this in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War and especially Avengers: Endgame. In the comics, Nebula is a vicious villainess who destroyed Xandar and after being tortured by Thanos, claims the Infinity Gauntlet herself, and tried to kill the remaining heroes before Adam Warlock stopped her. In movies, she's more of an Anti-Hero whose attitude and actions are justified thanks to years of abuse under Thanos's hand but thanks to some sisterly bonding with Gamora, she becomes nicer. In Endgame, Nebula takes it even further as she's completely selfless and does her best to aid the Avengers and restore the universe, demonstrated when she kills a past incarnation of herself that had yet to develop any more heroic traits.
- Downplayed in Captain America: Civil War. Helmut Zemo is still a villain, but his motives are much more sympathetic than his comic counterpart. In the comics, he was the son of a literal Nazi and displayed racist attitudes (though he eventually grew out of this). In the film, he wants to tear the Avengers apart as revenge for his family being accidentally killed in one of their battles. He also demonstrates that he lacks his Neo-Nazi values by killing a HYDRA agent earlier in the film. Not too surprising since in the same film, Iron Man and his pro-Registration side have much more sympathetic and logical motives than in the comics where they are Strawman Political. Zemo even returns in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a somewhat ally of Falcon and Winter Soldier, more along the lines of a Token Evil Teammate, and vocally expresses his opposition to the Nazis and HYDRA at multiple points.
- Adrain Toomes aka The Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. In the comics, he's a cruel and greedy old bastard who steals the youth away from people and has many Kick the Dog moments. In the film, Toomes is an Affably Evil Family Man who’s just trying to support his family, especially his daughter Liz, albeit committing grievous theft, property destruction, and accidental murder while running an underground alien weapons ring to do so. At the end, despite knowing Spidey's identity, Vulture refuses to rat him out to the Scorpion, having Villain Respect for Peter by contrast in the comics, where Vulture tried to kill Spider-Man when he unmasked himself.
- Doctor Strange (2016):
- Dr. Stephen Strange himself gets this overall. Despite having a good amount of Adaptational Jerkass on multiple occasions, being far ruder and impatient than he is in the comics, Strange in the films never crosses line into full blown Anti-Hero like his comic counterpart, who has done numerous questionable actions from endangering people who called him a fraud, erasing Captain America’s memory to personally letting Doctor Doom acquire godhood. In the MCU, Strange’s worse actions like giving Thanos the Time Stone or messing up the universe making everyone forget who Spider-Man is, were for the greater good in the former and out of a selflessly genuine desire to help a friend in the latter. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reinforces this, with MCU Doctor Strange being the only version of the doctor across the infinite universes who never went too far or betrayed his allies.
- Baron Mordo. In the comics, he's a Card-Carrying Villain with little to no redeeming qualities, while in the movie, he's one of Strange's allies and helps him take on Kaecilius, the allegedly real Big Bad of the film. Even his inevitable Face–Heel Turn has more understandable motivations, a retaliation against wizards breaking the rules they had preached about, and curbing these wizards in the process. Kevin Feige said they do intend to have Mordo become an antagonist in future installments, but hope that introducing him as a hero early on will make him a more interesting and morally gray villain. Played With regarding the Mordo seen in The Multiverse of Madness as first it seems like Earth 838 Mordo is the Good Counterpart and even his role as part of The Illuminati could be construed as Good Is Not Nice. However as Strange manages to prove when goading him into a fight, 838 Mordo deep down is just as vindictive and resentful of Strange as his MCU version.
- Doctor Nicodemus West was introduced in the comic book miniseries Doctor Strange: The Oath as the main antagonist of this story arc. In the movies, his role and impact are a lot smaller than in that and is just shown to be a fellow doctor of Strange and Christine Palmer who Strange occasionally mocks. While he does call out Strange's arrogance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he never acts as a villain and lacks his abilities and knowledge of the Mystic Arts from the comics.
- Miek in Thor: Ragnarok. In Planet Hulk where the film draws influence from, Miek is an utterly despicable and vile creature, wanting Hulk to destroy Earth he is complicit in the death of Hulk's wife Caiera along with the Red King and fools Hulk into thinking the spacecraft The Illuminati sent him to the planet on exploding was responsible, leading to Hulk's Roaring Rampage of Revenge in World War Hulk. In Thor Ragnarok on the other hand, Miek is Plucky Comic Relief who helps save the Asgardains from genocide and by the time Avengers: Endgame is helping Earth’s heroes save the universe from Thanos.
- Black Panther (2018):
- M'Baku, who in the comics is a straight villain known as Man-Ape, is an honorable Worthy Opponent to T'Challa with a Deadpan Snarker personality who takes him in and cares for him when he's defeated and near-death, and allies with him at the end against Erik "Killmonger" Stevens in a textbook Changed My Mind, Kid moment. He remains heroic in his minor appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, and he becomes a strong ally and counsel for Shuri throughout Wakanda Forever.
- Nakia is a genuinely kind and empathetic person who wants to use Wakanda's wealth and power to help those in need. This is in contrast to the comics, where Nakia was a crazed and murderous Stalker with a Crush who was mostly defined by her obsession with T'Challa. Again, her heroism is only magnified in Wakanda Forever thanks to a lot of her character traits being fused with Storm, right down to being T’Challa’s lover and the mother of his child.
- Of all people, Infinity War gives us a Thanos who is considerably more sympathetic than his comic counterpart. In the comics, his motive was that he'd fallen in love with the Anthropomorphic Personification of Death and kills to try and win her favor, to no avail - yes, going as far as famously killing half the universe with the Infinity Gems. In the film, he believes the universe doesn't have enough resources to go around, and half must be sacrificed to spare the rest the fate his own planet suffered due to an Overpopulation Crisis. He takes no pleasure in it at all, genuinely cares for his "daughter" Gamora, and one of his Badass Boasts to the heroes about the failure they will soon taste turns out to have been genuine sympathy and referencing how he felt in failing to save his people! Though it should be noted that, in Avengers: Endgame, he loses many of these sympathetic traits when he realizes all the people post-Snap are trying, and succeeding, to undo the one act of "good" he sacrificed everything to achieve; he decides he's better off just pushing the Reset button and watching everything from the start instead, hoping to kill 100% of life this time. In all fairness, the Thanos that the Avengers fight at the end of the film is from an earlier point in the timeline and thus had not actually made those sacrifices yet, the Avengers having executed the present-day Thanos at the start of the movie, and traveled forward in time when the Avengers attempt to time travel and gather the Infinity Stones to undo his plan, alerting him to their actions. Said present-day Thanos leans to the opposite trope because the morally worse Thanos of the comics came to consider himself unworthy of having the god-like power of the Infinity Stones, but the version in the film never came to realize this in the slightest.
- Captain Marvel (2019): The Kree-Skrull War is tweaked a bit. Specifically, the Skrulls, while they don't necessarily have clean hands, are victims of Kree tyranny who have been forced to do bad things to survive rather than the recurring enemies in the comics. In general, the Skrulls are a pretty nice bunch and actually help out Nick Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, with the events of Secret Invasion (2023) being carried out explicitly by a rogue faction.
- Black Widow (2021):
- In the comics, Yelena Belova is arguably a Replacement Flat Character for Natasha, displaying the cruelty, viciousness and general lack of regard for human life that Natasha had largely outgrown after becoming a hero. The film presents her as a much more likable and sympathetic character, with her abandoning her role as a Red Room assassin after one of her former comrades breaks her out of the brainwashing she'd been subjected to.
- Both Red Guardian and Melina Vostokoff were outright villains when first introduced in the comics. Despite having been involved with the Red Room in the past, their film counterparts ultimately turn against Dreykov to protect Natasha and Yelena, whom they genuinely love and view as daughters.
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:
- Double example of this with Xu Wenwu who is a Composite Character of Zheng Zu (Shang-Chi's father) and the Mandarin himself. In the comics, both Zheng Zu and The Mandarin are unrepentant villains who abuse and neglect their families and only care about power. In the film, Xu Wenwu/the Mandarin, while still the antagonist, is a Tragic Villain who genuinely loves his family and whose world ending-plot is born out of a manipulated desire to see his beloved wife again. After being defeated by his son, his final actions are pushing Shang-Chi out of the way of the Dweller-in-Darkness's attack in a Heroic Sacrifice and bestowing the Ten Rings to Shang-Chi before dying.
- Xu Xialing is an expy of Fah Lo Suee, Shang-Chi's sister in the comics who was a crime lord and supervillain in her own right. While Xialing is bitter and antagonistic toward Shang-Chi, her behavior is justified by his abandonment of her back when they were children. Also, while she runs an illegal underground fight club, there’s no indication she’s involved in her comic counterpart’s more unsavory activities, such as drug trafficking or murder of innocents.
- Druig in Eternals is far more heroic than his comic counterpart, who was once a KGB operative who enjoyed torturing people. In the film, he uses his mind control powers to form a community of people in hiding and helps the other Eternals oppose the Deviants.
- Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder gets a good deal of this. In Thor: God of Thunder (2012), while he starts off initially as a Tragic Villain with sympathetic rage at the Jerkass Gods of the Marvel Universe, he soon becomes a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist who kills happily innocent gods and in Dramatic Irony becomes a God of Evil himself who has reduced the universe to a hellhole where he rules supreme, ultimately showing he is no different from the gods he made out to be so vile. In the film, Gorr's hatred of the gods is very well founded as Rapu, the god of his own homeworld, was The Hedonist, making his conquest much more righteous. At the end of the movie, Gorr has a Heel–Face Turn after Thor proves that gods can indeed be good * , wishing for Eternity to bring his daughter back instead of wishing for all gods to die like he originally wanted. This not how Gorr's story ended in the comic: after being beaten, he learns he was using a god weapon to kill other gods and gets decapitated mid-wailing Villainous Breakdown by a young Thor.
- The Flag Smashers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In the comics, the first Flag Smasher, Karl Morgenthau, while a Well-Intentioned Extremist, was also Ax-Crazy and hell-bent on mass anarchy after his father was killed in a riot. His Gender Lift version in the show, Karli Morgenthau, is somewhat more sympathetic since her Freudian Excuse is that the GRC reinstated world borders after Hulk brought back the Snap victims, forcing her and her friends out of their new homes and indirectly leading to the death of her adoptive mother. Thus, her goal is to bring back a united world with no borders to help the displaced citizens. Although Karli does end up a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist by the end thanks to a Sanity Slippage (due to taking the Super Soldier serum), becoming like her comic counterpart. Played straight with rest of the Flag Smashers as compared to the psychopaths who the bore the title after Karl in the comics, they have more morals and are willing to call Karli out on her increasingly tyrannical behavior.
- Loki:
- Sylvie Laufeydottr, Loki's Distaff Counterpart is a expy and Composite Character of Amora The Enchantress and Loki's female form. Unlike the comic book Enchantress, however, who's an evil Vain Sorceress who's worked for a Doctor Doom and tried to take over Asgard and enslave Thor, Sylvie was victimized by the Time Police TVA, who took her away from her life in Asgard when she was a young girl, and spent her life as a Broken Bird trying to take the organization down as revenge. This is possibly due to taking her name from another character Sylvie Lushton from Young Avengers who like the show's Sylvie isn't a villain, just an innocent girl bestowed with magic by Loki. Then again, Sylvie does in the finale shatter the Stable Time Loop and possibly doom the Multiverse by killing He Who Remains, actions that are far more villainous than anything Amora has done in the comics.
- Played with concerning He Who Remains and Immortus. In the comics, both characters are villainous (especially the latter), having caused chaos and suffering with their Time Travel and are thwarted by the heroes. In the show, He Who Remains/Immortus are Composite Character who, despite being a pompous jerk who enslaves trillions people through the sacred timeline with cosmic Railroading, is actually the Good Counterpart who keeps his evil alternate selves in check and Sylvie taking him down results in one massive Nice Job Breaking It, Hero as the multiverse is restored, allowing his variants to take over.
- What If…? (2021):
- One of the most extreme examples of this is in Episode 2 "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" where Thanos (the guy who's been completely evil in every adaptation) has been turned to good thanks to T'Challa who convinced him that his genocidal "kill half of all life in the universe" plan was extremely flawed and wouldn't work (though he does still think it has merit). Now Thanos works as The Big Guy for the Ravagers and manages to be a Papa Wolf to Nebula (whom he tortured in the comics and films) and regularly goes to father-daughter counseling with her.
- From the same episode: Korath defects from Ronan to join to T'Challa whom he idolizes unlike the film where he tried to kill the heroes. Yondu in this universe didn't abduct Peter at all, picking up T'Challa instead and letting him go home a few decades later, after apologizing for lying to him about Wakanda being destroyed. Nebula is also more heroic than her initial film appearance and comic version, albeit somewhat of a Femme Fatale Spy.
- Played with extraordinarily in Episode 4 "What If… Doctor Strange Lost his Heart instead of his Hands?" as Doctor Strange gets both this and Adaptational Villainy. In both the film and comic, Strange before learning magic was a Jerkass who in the film treated his Old Flame Christine like crap upon getting his Career-Ending Injury, which was entirely his own fault due to getting distracted while driving. This origin is tweaked in the episode as Stephen and Christine never broke up and he completely adores her, which makes things quite tragic when she gets killed in the car accident rather than just his hands getting injured. Filled with grief, Strange learns magic and becomes a hero out of a desire to bring her back. However, upon discovering that Christine's death is an Absolute Point, meaning no matter what he does, Christine will always die, Strange turns to The Dark Arts and becomes a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. However, the Ancient One splits the timeline in half, as one traditionally heroic Strange was able to move on with his life and gets brought in to fight his Evil Twin.
- In Episode 6 “What If... Thor was an Only Child?”, Loki and Nebula aren’t villains or even anti-heroes, the former is a Handsome Lech and friendly Frost Giant who’s best friends with Thor and the latter is a Hard-Drinking Party Girl who by going by her own words at the end, has a much healthier relationship with her father Thanos. There’s also Big Red Devil Surtur who politely fixes the Statue of Liberty after mistaking her for a big green woman. Granted, this episode is intentionally Lighter and Softer in tone.
- Hawkeye: In the comics, Jacques Duquesne is at best an Anti-Hero and often acted as a Psycho for Hire. In the show, Jack Duquesne is ultimately revealed to be Good All Along (if a bit of an Upper-Class Twit), and his worst actions are limited to cutting down some Tracksuit Mafia bros in self-defense.
- She-Hulk: Attorney at Law sees Emil Blonsky/Abomination redeeming himself after the events of The Incredible Hulk - a Heel–Face Turn he lacks in the comic books.
- Part of Blonsky's redemption is the founding of a therapy retreat. Members of his retreat group are some minor villains from the comics, including Porcupine, Man-Bull, Wrecker and Saracen who here hope to become better people.
- Downplayed with Attuma in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: While he still belongs to the antagonists of the movie, he is way less villainous compared to the comics, where he was Namor's Arch-Enemy, trying to overthrow him as the leader of Atlantis and being an evil warlord. His movie counterpart stays loyal to Namor 'till the end, cares about his kingdom's safety, and even shows some Villain Respect towards Okoye.
- Deadpool gets this treatment a lot compared to his comic counterpart. In Deadpool, he truly loves Vanessa and goes to great lengths to protect her and keep her safe. He is also shown to never kill anyone who didn't deserve it and that he has a very strong moral compass and he treats Blind Al and Weasel with a lot of respect and care amusingly. Comic Deadpool's relationship with Vanessa does not work out, he is known to be a violent sadist, and he treats Blind Al and Weasel with disdain and anger. His comic counterpart is also much more villainous, but he still has a moral code that is (rather warped).
Marvel Television
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
- In the comics, Lash and Mister Hyde are both unrepentant villains. The show turns both of them into sympathetic AntiVillains, with Cal (Mister Hyde's TV counterpart) being noticeably ashamed of his actions, and Lash having a Split Personality (IE, Lash is the Superpowered Evil Side to Andrew Garner) that he has little control over.
- Donnie Gill, aka Blizzard, does not actually become a supervillain in the show, and bears no ill will towards S.H.I.E.L.D. — in his second appearance, his worse actions are due to being Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Holden Radcliffe, the Big Bad of Machine Teen is reinvented as a more morally ambiguous character, who is initally working with the bad guys (in this case, Hive), out of cowardice, and later inadvertently creates threats out of a dangerous combination of altruism, lack of foresight and selfishness (i.e. it's fine to take shortcuts and break the rules if it helps people ... even if it helps him a bit more), especially given how one of his creations, Aida, betrayed him.
- Agent Carter:
- Chief Dooley, whose comic counterpart is infamous for sexually harassing She-Hulk, is portrayed as A Father to His Men, though with the typical sexism of the 1940s at first.
- Jason Wilkes, whose sole comic appearance had him trying to sell technology to the Russians, is an unambiguously good guy, although he briefly allies with Whitney Frost out of desperation.
- Daredevil (2015):
- Melvin Potter is Forced into Evil, as opposed to his career criminal comic book counterpart.
- Frank Castle is more noble than his comic self usually is, something that's further expanded upon in his own show.
- Luke Cage (2016) portrays Luke himself as a genuinely heroic Nice Guy, while in his early comics, Luke was an "Angry Black Man" Stereotype who was Only in It for the Money.
- Inhumans: Maximus actually has a good reason for wanting to take control of Attilan (to end its Fantastic Caste System) and Earth (to give the Inhumans more living space), in contrast to his more selfish comic book counterpart. He's still a villain, but a more sympathetic and understandable one.
- Ms. Marvel (2022): Kamran in the comic books is a Love-Interest Traitor for Kamala. In the series, he is angry and lashes out, especially when Damage Control attacks him, but he is more sympathetic, and turns against his family, the Clandestine, to protect Kamala.
- Runaways (2017):
- Most of PRIDE, to some degree. In the comics, the Pride all knew from the beginning that the Gibborim's endgame was to wipe out all humanity save six people, and were happy to help in exchange for wealth and power. Here, Jonah has led them to believe his goal is to find a clean, renewable energy source, allowing them to save the world and get rich in the process. Of course, this still involves human sacrifice.
- Molly's parents in particular; in the comic, they were a pair of Smug Supers who, along with the Deans, planned to betray the rest of the group out of self-interest. Here, they tried to sabotage Jonah once they learned how far he was willing to go - which got them killed.
- Alex isn't The Mole in this version.
