History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / MarvelUniverse

* After his first appearance in ''ComicBook/TalesOfSuspense'' #39, ComicBook/IronMan spent the next few issues traveling back in time to visit Cleopatra, fighting a robot caveman built by aliens, preventing a race of people who lived inside the Earth from invading the surface world, and having several other wacky adventures. It wasn't until ''Tales of Suspense'' #45 (the first appearance of Virginia "Pepper" Potts, Harold "Happy" Hogan, and supervillain Blizzard) that he started to edge more towards superhero territory.

* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica has a different shield and costume in his first issue.

* In ''ComicBook/IronMan'', Tony Stark's suit requires an incredible source of energy for its size. Modern stories explain the arc reactor as generating it, while early issues explain the suit's energy as being amplified by the suit's transistors[[note]]Real transistors allow a small amount of current to control the flow of a larger amount of current, but that larger amount still has to ''come'' from somewhere; the transistor doesn't just make it out of nothing[[/note]]. Maybe Stark designed ''super'' transistors.

* Both Marvel villains and Iron Man used HypnoRay technology consisting of swirling spiral patterns and some vaguely defined energy to automatically hypnotize the target.
* {{Magnetism|Manipulation}} was the force used by Iron Man's repulsor technology, being just as powerful and versatile as Magneto, lifting others by their blood's iron content and juggling cars.
* James Rhodes is nowadays best known as buddy of Tony Stark and one of the most iconic members of Iron Man's supporting cast nowadays. He didn't debut before the 70's and was more portrayed as an AngryBlackManStereotype than anything else. Also, he actually [[AffirmativeActionLegacy became Iron Man as his first superhero identity]] before finally took on the identity of MilitarySuperhero ComicBook/WarMachine, the superhero persona he is mostly associated with.

* ComicBook/ThePunisher was all but stated to be a mercenary (albeit one who would NeverHurtAnInnocent) in his first appearance, depicted as having been hired by The Jackal to kill Spider-Man. His straight up VigilanteMan persona came later, and that was subject to this as well: there was a period in his early days where he actually went about killing people [[DisproportionateRetribution for simple crimes such as littering and running a red light]]. (Why did they run the red light? Because a madman was shooting at litterers!) When it was decided that he'd work as a gritty protagonist, those incidents were retconned into him being drugged.

** The origin story of the trio has Reed Richards make a rather rash decision to go into space without proper knowledge of the effects of cosmic rays, despite Ben warning him about it. This seems odd considering modern-day Reed would never go into any situation unprepared unless he had no choice, though some writers state this higher degree of carefulness is [[CharacterDevelopment a lesson he learned from that accident]].

* Bobbi Morse didn't become ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}} until about 9 years after she was created. When she first appeared, she was actually a scientist who usually showed up in stories featuring characters like Ka-Zar and ComicBook/ManThing. This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the first issue of ''ComicBook/TheUnstoppableWasp'', where Bobbi says that nobody ever remembers all the stuff she did before she became a costumed superhero.

** In the '60s, Namor had powers modeled after various sea creatures, such as puffer fish and electric eels. These are almost never brought up anymore, [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain especially the puffer fish powers]]. Which is actually kind of a shame since [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower puffer fish toxin is one of the deadliest poisons in the animal kingdom]].

** Daredevil's original costume was yellow with some red highlights. He sports that costume until it was changed in issue 7 of his original series to the more iconic red, truely devilish costume that Daredevil usually is associated with.
** Creator/FrankMiller's run on the character introduces a lot of elements that Daredevil is known for today. Many may suprise that Daredevil's original run misses iconic supporting characters like his mentor Stick and his love interest Elektra as well as the Hand as [[BigBadEnsemble Daredevil's main antagonists]].
** The Kingpin is generally seen as Daredevil's ArchEnemy in both the comics and various other media adaptations. However, he started out as a ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain before Miller [[RoguesGalleryTransplant brought him over to Daredevil]] much later after both characters' introduction.

** The OriginStory of the trio has Reed Richards make a rather rash decision to go into space without proper knowledge of the effects of cosmic rays, despite Ben warning him about it. This seems odd considering modern-day Reed would never go into any situation unprepared unless he had no choice, though some writers state this higher degree of carefulness is [[CharacterDevelopment a lesson he learned from that accident]].

** When Comicbook/TheInhumans were first introduced, Comicbook/BlackBolt did not use his trademark [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic scream]], with more emphasis placed on his FlyingBrick status and his ability to gather electrons with his antenna. Furthermore, his inability to speak was explained to be due to an injury that had been "accidentally" caused by his brother Maximus, rather than a voluntary vow of silence.

** The Hulk being a founding member of ComicBook/TheAvengers. It didn't take Stan Lee long to figure out that the Hulk wasn't exactly a team player, such that by the third issue of the series he's actually fighting ''against'' the others in full-on supervillain mode. Later comics have dealt with his on-again, off-again membership in all manner of ways as his intelligence has fluctuated.

!!Franchise/MarvelUniverse
!!!The following have their own pages:

* James Rhodes is nowadays best known as buddy of Tony Stark and one of the most iconic members of Iron Man's supporting cast nowadays. He didn't debut before the 70's and was more portrayed as a stereotypical AngryBlackMan than anything else. Also, he actually [[AffirmativeActionLegacy became Iron Man as his first superhero identity]] before finally took on the identity of MilitarySuperhero ComicBook/WarMachine, the superhero persona he is mostly associated with.

* ComicBook/ThePunisher was something of an odd case as there was a period in his early days where he actually went about killing innocents [[DisproportionateRetribution for simple crimes such as littering and running a red light]]. (Why did they run the red light? Because a madman was shooting at litterers!) When it was decided that he'd work as a gritty protagonist, those incidents were retconned into him being drugged.

** Creator/FrankMiller's run on the character introduces a lot of elements that Daredevil is known for today. Many may suprise that Daredevil's original run misses iconic supporting characters like his mentor Stick and his love interest Elektra as well as the Hand as [[BigBadEnsemble Daredevil's main antagonist]].
** The Kingpin is generally seen as Daredevil's ArchEnemy in both the comics and various other media adaptations. However, he started out as a ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan'' villain before Miller [[RoguesGalleryTransplant brought him over to Daredevil]] much later after both characters' introduction.

* As our page on ''Comicbook/{{Bloodstone}}'' has to thoroughly mention, that series introduces Elsa Bloodstone, a chipper blonde starting on her monster-hunting ways. Four years later, ''ComicBook/NextWave'' had Elsa as a FieryRedhead who knows basically everything to slaughter beasts, and that characterization stuck to make the original BroadStrokes at best.

** The Hulk was also originally gray.

** The ComicBook/HumanTorch looked like a featureless yellow blob of flame, taking after his Golden Age incarnation.
** As well as ComicBook/{{The Thing}} looking very lumpy and uneven. The rest of the team also called him 'Thing' all the time instead of Ben... which is pretty dickish and insensitive in hindsight.
** The Thing also had a crush on [[ComicBook/InvisibleWoman Sue]] in the early issues, a subplot that was eventually dropped and has rarely been revisited since.

** Today, the ''Ultimate'' version of ComicBook/NickFury is probably best known for being [[ComicBookFantasyCasting closely modeled after]] actor Creator/SamuelLJackson (with Jackson's permission), with the assumption that Jackson was always destined to play Fury on the big screen. Understandably, it can be a bit jarring to read Ultimate Nick Fury's first appearance in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'''s 2001 story arc "Return to Weapon X", where [[ArtEvolution he looks nothing like Samuel L. Jackson]]. While [[RaceLift he's still African-American]], Fury is drawn with noticeably lighter skin than Jackson, and he has a fade haircut instead of Jackson's distinctive shaved head. Also, he's initially depicted as a snappy-dressing ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} field agent with an arsenal of elaborate gadgets (not unlike his depiction in the old ''Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' comic book series) rather than as the BaldOfAuthority of ComicBook/TheUltimates.

** The Hulk was also originally gray. According to Stan Lee, "Well, my first choice was gray 'cause he was a monster, he was supposed to be scary and I figured gray might be a scary color. But there was a problem. When the book was printed, the printer had trouble keeping the color consistent. So I had to use a different color and I figured green, no superhero I knew wore green at the time. So I said, 'Okay, let's color him green.' It was as casual as that."

** Hulk also had an ever-changing number of toes. When he first appeared, he had five toes. When his book was cancelled and he resurfaced in ''Fantastic Four'', he now had three. When he joined the Avengers, he then had four, but went back to three by the second issue, only for this number to vary wildly in each subsequent appearance before the artists finally settled on five in ''ComicBook/TalesToAstonish''. This was the subject in a MythologyGag in ''ComicBook/UltronForever'', where the Hulk transported from the past still had three toes.

* Comicbook/TheAvengers did not have their trademark CoolPlane, the Quinjet, until ''Avengers'' #61, a short while after Comicbook/BlackPanther joined the team. Prior to this, the Avengers used a few less memorable transports, and on at least one occasion left to fight Kang the Conqueror in a chartered jet at J.F.K. International Airport.

** Cap's cowl was originally a separate piece of material like a hat, which was soon changed to a full connected cowl. Creator/JohnByrne later explained that Cap had it knocked off in a fight and his secret identity was almost exposed as a result. To fight that, Cap modified with connecting material to the rest of his costume, which had the added benefit of covering his neck with his costume's armor.

* James Rhodes is nowadays best known as buddy of Tony Stark and one of the most iconic members of Iron Man's supporting cast nowadays. He didn't debut before the 70's and was more portrayed as an AngryBlackGuyStereotype than anything else. Also, he actually [[AffirmativeActionLegacy became Iron Man as his first superhero identity]] before finally took on the identity of MilitarySuperhero ComicBook/WarMachine, the superhero persona he is mostly associated with.

* ComicBook/DoctorStrange started out looking much older than his eventual appearance, with slanted eyes and vaguely Asian features, and was [[RedBaron dubbed]] the "Master of Black Magic." Nowadays this seems like a [[ObligatoryJoke strange]] title to give the character, as later stories have established that a) Black Magic is only a specific type of magic, and Strange is master of all of them, and b) Strange [[GodzillaThreshold only uses black magic in times of great need]].

* ComicBook/{{Thanos}} was much slimmer in his first appearance, and had an outfit similar to ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}'s, complete with bare legs and a sleeveless top. Also, the Titans were uniformly shown to have purple skin, while later stories would establish that most Titans resembled humans, and that Thanos' odd skin color was the result of his Deviant genes. His backstory was also slightly different, with him being the grandson of the Titan Kronos from Greek mythology. Subsequent {{Retcon}}s would instead have Kronos be an [[ComicBook/TheEternals Eternal]], removing Thanos' connection to the Greek pantheon. These early appearances also portrayed Thanos as more of a generic galactic conqueror, which today would seem at odds with his more ponderous and complex characterization.

* Before ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' made her a star, Miss ComicBook/AmericaChavez debuted in an obscure mini-series called ''Vengeance''. She was originally only 15-years-old and didn't have the power to create portals, and there was no indication that she was from another dimension. Perhaps most jarringly, America wore a (very {{Stripperiffic}}) costume, despite ''Young Avengers'' later establishing that she prefers CivvieSpandex because she thinks costumes are stupid.

** The other members of Namor's race looked completely different in the earliest stories, with large, bulging eyes and more fish-like appearances. This was gradually toned down until they came to resemble humans with blue skin instead.

* James Rhodes is nowadays best known as buddy of Tony Stark and one of the most iconic members of Iron Man's supporting cast nowadays. He didn't debut before the 70's and was more portrayed as an AngryBlackManStereotype than anything else. Also, he actually [[AffirmativeActionLegacy became Iron Man as his first superhero identity]] before finally took on the identity of MilitarySuperhero ComicBook/WarMachine, the superhero persona he is mostly associated with.