Lighter And Softer / Marvel Cinematic Universe

Films

• The MCU movies in general were and are still considered to be this in comparison to previous and concurrent non-Disney Marvel properties like the X-Men Film Series or even Darker and Edgier adaptations like The Punisher (2004), the Blade Trilogy, Deadpool, Logan, or The New Mutants due to having less violence, gore, profanity, and sexuality and remaining firmly seated in the PG-13 bracket.
• Phase 1 adapts a few elements from the Ultimate Marvel line (Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. being the linchpin of the Avengers, an alien invasion led by an In Name Only Chitauri), but leaves outside the Adaptational Villainy and greater violence of the Ultimate comics.

• Almost every MCU film after Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk is comparatively Lighter and Softer partly due to Disney buying Marvel in 2009 and pushing for more family friendly standards and more due to the cinematic universe itself getting wackier like the comics as it went on. Iron Man had sex, alcohol, smoking, and unflinching and gritty depictions of Afghanistan that were very close to real life, and The Incredible Hulk similarly is quite gritty and even its more fantastical elements are mixed with Body Horror. Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers do have very violent and dark moments, but embrace the more spectacular and lighthearted comic book tone rather than be gritty and grounded like the first two MCU films. One massive exception is of course Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which is easily the darkest film the studio has ever produced and features a character actually saying “fuck”.
• Guardians of the Galaxy is a comedy Space Western, with more humor and jokes than most of the other films.
• Ant-Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Spider-Man: Far From Home are lighter than the rest of the films; focusing on far smaller stakes than most films and playing Peter's and Scott's antics for laughs a lot of the time. The latter two examples are Breather Episodes compared to the films that come before them, which are the two most serious films of the entire Infinity Saga. However, the latter two both have some darker themes and Cruel Twist Endings.
• Thor: Ragnarok plays with this; overall it has a Lighter and Softer tone than the two previous Thor films. The humour is taken up to eleven, the colours are vibrant instead of muted, Thor (per the request of his actor) is a much more fun and goofy character, both Hulk and Bruce Banner are more humorous, Jeff Goldblum delightfully chews scenery, a New Zealand voiced rock monster Korg provides Plucky Comic Relief, and even the Big Bad Hela is full of Laughably Evil quips. Although on the other hand the film has the permanent death of four major characters (Odin, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun), the dark murderous history of the Asgard royal family uncovered, the near genocide of Asgardain race, the explicit annihilation of Asgard at hands of Surtur (which gets Played for Laughs), and Thor loses an eye. Thor Ragnarok comes across as a lighthearted Black Comedy which is conversely very colourful.
  • Thor: Ragnarok is also a loose adaptation of Planet Hulk with the Gladiator Games on Sakaar. But the film naturally doesn't include Iron Man and other heroes launching Hulk into space on purpose nor does it have Hulk starting a family and having his wife killed by the shuttle he arrived in exploding, triggering Hulk's Roaring Rampage of Revenge in World War Hulk. The bug alien Miek is also Plucky Comic Relief rather than the bastard who made said shuttle explode in the first place.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming, the first Spider-Man film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity, is this full-force compared to the previous, more angsty and gritty Spider-Man films. Instead, Homecoming is a teenage comedy about a young teen boy learning to be a true hero. It's also the lightest MCU film, even compared to the two other MCU comedies released in 2017, due to the relatively small stakes; Spider-Man's just trying to save a few neighborhoods in Queens instead of the entire world/galaxy/universe.
• Avengers: Endgame is relatively lighter than its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War in some points. Thanos is killed off very early on in the movie, thus keeping him and his devastating powers out of most of the film until Nebula encounters a past version of him and he uses her technology to bring him and his army back for the climax. While various plot threads of Infinity War were all focused around trying to stop Thanos and his forces and had a general feeling of impending doom, Endgame's plot threads are simply based on stealing the Infinity Stones from the past, and most (barring Nebula's and Natasha's / Clint's) have a generally light-hearted feeling with plenty of references to previous films in the series. Unlike Infinity War, which had 4 major characters die as casualties of Thanos' crusade, Endgame has only two major character deaths (although both are more important than the characters who died in Infinity War), both of whom successfully sacrifice themselves to save the universe. And while Infinity War's finale is comprised of several losing battles that culminate in Thanos successfully wiping out half the life in the universe, Endgame's finale has the heroes who fell in Infinity War as a result of the Blip being revived and joining the survivors in a grand, triumphant battle against Thanos' forces.
• In general a lot of the dark elements of the Marvel characters in regards to their personalities and backstories from the comics are either toned down or removed completely in the MCU.
  • Tony Stark in the films isn't The Alcoholic and Broken Ace and his extreme Strawman Political actions from Civil War (2006) are expunged. He's a more relatively mentally stable character, who generally learns from his mistakes rather than making more.
  • Steve Rogers' Dark and Troubled Past with his drunken and abusive father Joseph is omitted from Captain America: The First Avenger. Cap implies in one Flash Back in The Winter Soldier that his father was a good man.
  • Bruce Banner's truly horrific childhood, where he created the Hulk as a coping mechanism for the abuse he got at his father Brian's hands and witnessing Brian kill his mother Rebecca first hand is all Adapted Out. At worst, Bruce felt he was unable to impress his father according to The Incredible Hulk tie-in Motion Comic, which isn't nearly as severe compared to the comics. Hulk is also a less monstrous character overall, having a lower body count and becoming a Gentle Giant in Avengers: Endgame. Bruce himself becomes a more humorous and lighthearted character as the movies go on.
  • Peter Parker's high school life is comparatively more breezy and lighthearted in the MCU than it was in the comics. Peter in Spider-Man: Homecoming isn't constantly bullied and taunted by Liz and Flash and while the latter is still a dick to Peter, delighting in opportunities to publicly humiliate him, he doesn't get into physical fights with him like he did in the comics and previous adaptations. Not to mention Peter's own attitude is far more upbeat, rather than irritable, like it was in the original Stan Lee and Steve Ditko run. The grief and angst over the Uncle Ben's death has seemly already happened off-screen. This doesn't last, as the public reveal of his identity and the fallout of restoring it end up getting aunt May killed, making all his remaining loved ones forget he even exists, and force him to drop out of high school and get a GED while living by himself.
  • Thanos's backstory is significantly less messed up. In the comics his mother tried to kill him as soon as she saw what he looked like and after killing some cave aliens who ate his classmates in revenge, he becomes an outright serial killer who kidnaps and cuts his victims open — spurred on by Death. In the movies Thanos cherished his race despite being born different looking to them and the destruction of his homeworld is the source of his insanity and desire to "balance out" the universe. His infatuation with the personified Death is Adapted Out.
  • Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne had a loving marriage in the comics which turned sour and divorced due to emotional and physical abuse. This along with building Ultron eventually resulted in Hank Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and becoming Fallen Hero. In the movies, Hank and Janet's relationship remains loving and enduring as seen when they reunite and have a Big Damn Kiss in the Quantum Realm during Ant-Man and the Wasp. Their daughter Hope is also a hero rather than a villain as she was in Marvel Comics 2.
  • Clint Barton's dark past with two abusive fathers in a row and being raised by supervillains isn't brought up in the films. He seemly had a normal healthy childhood growing up in Iowa.
  • Natasha Romanov in the comics had a terrible childhood and backstory in Russia being subjected to the Black Widow Program's Training from Hell in the Red Room and was put in a Arranged Marriage. In the movies, while Nat still suffered greatly from the Black Widow Program, she has (as her solo film reveals) adoptive parents Alexei and Melina and a sister Yelena who care for her greatly. In the comics Nat only had her foster dad Ivan who personally enlisted her for the Red Room and became a Pervert Dad to her.
  • Nick Fury and Maria Hill are loyal and supportive allies to the Avengers rather than totalitarian anti-heroes who distrust Marvel's heroes and go against them frequently. At worst they come off as Good Is Not Nice in the movies whilst in the comics, they are frequently antagonistic and unpleasant.
  • Loki in the comics was abused by his real father Laufey and the Frost Giants and after being adopted by Odin, Loki spent the rest of his life trying to take over Asgard and kill Thor out of jealousy. In the films Loki is still an antagonistic character, but thanks to Odin and Frigga's upbringing he does genuinely love his Asgardian family and comes to regret his villainous actions and sacrifices his life to save his brother Thor from Thanos.
  • Comic book Dr. Strange prior to his Took a Level in Badass sorcery training is depicted as a greedy, money oriented and selfish Dr. Jerk who couldn't care less about his patients. MCU Strange, while definitely arrogant and abrasive in his surgeon days, is the kind of guy who would continue trying to save his patients while the Chitauri battle is raging outside the hospital.
    • While Strange is shown dismissing certain patients out of hand, it is not because of financial reasons but either because he thinks the cases are too simple for his genius (yeah, stuck up, but it implies that the patients are going to be okay in any case) or because he believes they are beyond medical help (in which case the surgery would be an unnecessary risk for all parties). Far more forgivable a motive than the comic book version.
  • Zigzagged with Gamora, her origins are technically more messed than the comics. As rather than Thanos rescuing her from the genocide of her people, Thanos abducts her while killing half her race himself. On other hand in the films Gamora's brutal Training from Hell is not shown and her brainwashing from Thanos and the bit where she's gang raped by alien thugs is all understandably omitted.
  • Nebula isn't nearly as deeply complex or sympathetic in the comics compared to the films. She's an unapologetic Dark Action Girl who gets put in a horrific between state of life and death in The Infinity Gauntlet and tries to kill Marvel's heroes herself once she gets the Infinity Gauntlet. In the films Nebula starts off as a nasty character, but softens over the course of the movies to the point of becoming a compassionate and heroic Nice Girl in Endgame. Her torture at Thanos's hands is less gruesome than the comic too.
  • The Skrulls in Captain Marvel, while they don't have clean hands in their war with the Kree, are still an amicable race willing to help the heroes of Earth. In the comics only a handful of Skrulls are nice, while the rest are tyrannically evil infiltrating Earth to take it over, rather then just hiding there to escape genocide. The Kree conversely become Darker and Edgier with Adaptational Villainy.
  • Shang-Chi's family is decidedly less messed in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings than it is in the comics. His father Zheng Zu, aka Fu Manchu, is abusive and controlling and his mother Jiang Li was one of Manchu's concubines. In the film, his father Xu Wenwu genuinely loves his wife Ling Xi as well as children, and his actions in the film are born out of a grief-stricken and manipulated desire to bring his wife back. Additionally Xu Wenwu is a Composite Character with The Mandarin who again is darker and more unapologetically evil and, unlike his film counterpart, is a terrible father.

TV series

• Iron Fist (2017) is inherently lighter in tone compared to other Netflix MCU series. Claire even brings up the comparison, noting to Danny that he has an aura of sweet innocence that Matt, Jessica, and Luke don't have, and which he should see as a quality worth keeping.
• Runaways (2017) is Lighter and Softer than the Netflix MCU shows, rated TV-14 instead of TV-MA. That said, this show still features frequent swearing, sexual content and fanservice, violence, depictions of abuse, cheating, attempted rape, and murder.
• WandaVision is rated TV-PG, a lower rating than other Marvel productions. This rating is ironic though, since WandaVision has extremely dark and disturbing subject material beneath its campy Sitcom setting.
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has two character-specific Lighter and Softer examples while remaining a Darker and Edgier show overall.
  • Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier. In the movies as well as the comics, Bucky is a shell of his former self who struggles to adapt to a life of non-violence after being The Dreaded Implacable Man for so long. Even when cured of brainwashing in Captain America: Civil War, he's still a trigger-happy wreck who only lets his guard down around Cap. In the show, Bucky has been completely cured of the Winter Soldier program and regularly goes to therapy. He's also willingly to crack jokes and socialise, displaying a similar personality to how he was in Captain America: The First Avenger before getting captured by Zola.
  • Baron Helmut Zemo. When he first appeared in Civil War Zemo was a cold and ruthless antagonist determined to rip the Avengers apart in revenge for his family who were accidentally killed in Sokovia after succeeding in doing so, tried to kill himself before Black Panther stopped him. In the show, Zemo has mellowed out considerably and isn't out to destroy superheroes, only justly targeting dangerous super soldiers like the Flag Smashers. He's also Affably Evil, being extremely polite and helpful to Sam and Bucky and willing to get down and "dance" at a club. This also extends to comic Zemo, a Smug Snake and whose identical grandfather was a Nazi, both of whom aren't nearly as pleasant as the Zemo found in the show.
• A few What If…? (2021) episodes such as Episode 1 "What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?", Episode 2 "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?", and especially Episode 7 "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?" are considerably Lighter and Softer than even the most lighthearted elements of the films. Red Skull and Zola are more cartoonishly evil and the terrifyingly destructive villains with genocide-level power such as Thanos and Surtur are Gentle Giants with the former being The Big Guy for T'Challa's team after reforming. The humour and one-liners are also more greatly emphasized. Averted hard with the rest of the What If...? episodes which are extremely Darker and Edgier for MCU standards and even borderline nihilistic in their conclusions.
  • Episode 5 "What If... Zombies!?" while easily one of the darker episodes in the series, due to censorship is much lighter and less gruesome than the comic it's based on, which is far Bloodier and Gorier and less hopeful. Spider-Man is also Spared By Adaptation most likely to prevent traumatising kids (and probably some older fans) by seeing their beloved icon getting horribly zombified like he did in the comic.
• After three live-action shows with heavy themes and serious stories, Hawkeye (2021) is a lighthearted and low-stakes show concerning Hawkeye being pulled into An Ass-Kicking Christmas by a big fan of his whom he eventually accepts as a successor.
• Ms. Marvel (2022) is presented as a light, John Hughes-influenced series in the vein of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and especially by contrast with the Bloodier and Gorier Psychological Horror of its immediate predecessor on the platform.
• As a whole, the Disney+ shows are much lighter in tone and content than the Marvel shows on Netflix, which could be quite graphic in their depictions of violence, sex, rape, organized crime, drug abuse, etc. That being said, the decision to move all MCU TV properties to one network—and that network being Disney+—has caused many fans to wonder if the MCU will ever release darker, grittier fare again.