Decomposite Character / Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Decomposite Characters in this series.

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Film

• Nick Fury's many roles in the comics so far have been given to four different characters: himself (Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., morally grey overseer of superhero activity, Maria Hill's boss), Coulson (also Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daisy Johnson's surrogate father figure and the overseer of the Secret Warriors, fights a personal war against HYDRA), Captain America (leader of the Howling Commandos and drinking buddy of Dum Dum Dugan), and Peggy Carter (secret agent following War who eventually co-founds S.H.I.E.L.D.).
  • Maria Hill in the comics is Nick Fury's successor as director of SHIELD, a role Phil Coulson and later others take on in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. While Maria never became boss in this continuity she is instead portrayed as Fury's Number Two, a role usually taken by Dum Dum Dugan's LMD. Dum Dum Dugan only ever appears as a Posthumous Character in Captain America: The First Avenger and Agent Carter.
• Though Mr Fantastic is confirmed to exist in the MCU (with an alternate universe variant of the character appearing in the flesh in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), Iron Man in general took many of his roles as Earth’s Big Good Science Hero, due to Marvel Studios only more recently reacquiring the rights to Fantastic Four and X-Men with the Fox Disney merger. Even Reed Richards’ more minor roles such as a Family Man with a precocious daughter who takes after him and being a father and mentor-figure to Spider-Man are both directly given to Tony (whom in the comics hasn’t got a family and isn’t particularly close to Spidey).
• Tony Stark's butler Jarvis is split into two; the JARVIS AI assists Tony in the Iron Man movies while Edwin Jarvis is a regular human butler who serves Howard Stark in Agent Carter. Harold "Happy" Hogan, Tony's long-suffering chauffeur turned Head of Security, also draws on some elements of Jarvis, such as his Bodyguarding a Badass status, acting as a connecting character between Iron Man and other superheroes, and even a romance with Spider-Man's Aunt May.
• Anton Vanko the original Crimson Dynamo, Iron Man’s foe turned late friend gets split up into multiple characters. There’s Anton himself who was colleagues with Howard before betraying him (see below in Agent Carter), his son Ivan who has the Genius Bruiser Clothes Make the Superman clash with Tony in Iron Man 2 (as well getting composited with another villain Whiplash) and the moniker of the “Crimson Dynamo” is used by Alexei Shostakov the Red Guardain from Black Widow (2021) who like the original Anton defects from Russia to be a hero.

• Thor:
  • Following the lead of the '70s TV show, the first movie makes Thor and his alter-ego Donald Blake two separate characters, though Blake is The Ghost and is just a Mythology Gag with Thor briefly using his name as an alias.
  • Thor's hammer Mjolnir has many powers in the comics, not all necessarily thunder-related. One of these is the power to teleport by spinning the hammer. Mjolnir in the MCU only controls thunder (as in nearly all adaptations of Thor) but much later in Avengers: Infinity War, Thor is given another weapon, Stormbreaker, with the ability to summon the Bifrost and thus transport its wielder to any location. This of course also makes it a composite with Beta Ray Bill's Stormbreaker.
• Iron Man 3:
  • Iron Man 3 somehow manages to do both this and Composite Character. The Mandarin is decomposed into Trevor Slattery, an actor playing the part of an evil terrorist mastermind, and Aldrich Killian, the Big Bad who hired him who at the end proclaims himself the real Mandarin; the first Iron Man also had the Ten Rings, which are also an allusion to the Mandarin. Yet, Aldrich Killian is also a one-shot character from the comics (the co-creator of Extremis, the super serum that drives the plot) and here is a composite of himself, Mallen (the villain of the Extremis comicbook arc.), The Mandarin, as stated, and the AIM Scientist Supreme- although admittedly that's more of a job title than one character, it's still not one who has anything at all to do with the comic book Killian. All Hail the King and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings confirms that there is also a real Mandarin out there, making that three separate characters calling themselves the Mandarin at some point or another. Beyond the identity, Trevor Slattery's costume and rings (worn on his fingers) are similar to the comics Mandarin, while Wenwu (the true Mandarin, although he doesn't call himself that) wears a dark blue outfit into battle, and the actual Ten Rings are reimagined as forearm rings similar to those used in certain martial arts such as Hung Gar.
  • Iron Man 3 has an example between its pitch and final script. Originally, Tony was to seduce a fellow scientist while helping her with some ideas (the basis for Extremis) and then ditch her. The spurned scientist would then become the Big Bad. Executive Meddling forced them to split the role between two characters: Aldrich Killian (spurned scientist who becomes the Big Bad), and Maya Hansen (scientist Tony helped while seducing her, who becomes Killian's Number Two).
  • Also, in the comics, the Iron Patriot was Norman Osborn. Because Marvel hadn't yet made the deal with Sony to integrate Spider-Man into the MCU when Iron Man 3 was made, James Rhodes ended up being the movie version of Iron Patriot instead. And when Norman does show up, it's a version from a world where Iron Man doesn't exist.
• Avengers: Age of Ultron:
  • In the comics, Ultron was built by Ant-Man. In the movie, the role as Ultron's creator was split between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner while Hank Pym has no role in Ultron's existence.
  • While Black Panther does exist in this universe, it's Ultron who severs Klaw's hand here, not T'Challa.
  • The Vision was created by Ultron and Professor Horton in the comics, but their role is divvied up between several other characters in the movie. His body is first created by Helen Cho as a new vessel for Ultron, but Bruce Banner and Tony Stark place the sentient JARVIS AI inside of it instead, while a bolt of Thor's lightning is what finally brings Vision to life.
  • While Bobbi Morse (aka Mockingbird) was appearing on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time of the film's release, Age of Ultron introduces Clint's wife Laura (from The Ultimates). Hawkeye takes it a step further, with the final episode revealing that Laura once worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. and held the title of Agent 19, although no mention is made of the Mockingbird callsign.
• Ant-Man:
  • Ant-Man makes Hank Pym a retired superhero who used to be Ant-Man back in the 80s. Yellowjacket, the costumed identity Pym later adopted in The Avengers, is used by Darren Cross (a completely separate character in the comics). This makes Cross both a Decomposite Character and a Composite Character.
  • Similar situation with the Giant-Man-identity. Usually hold by Pym in the comics after alsp evolving growing powers for his suit, the MCU's Giant-Man is Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man. Scott also is the main Ant-Man in this continuity and the one mostly associated with the Avengers.
  • The same thing is done with Janet Van Dyne, aka The Wasp. Jan is the original Wasp back in the 1980s, and in the present, her daughter, Hope Van Dyne, takes over the identity as the modern Wasp. Like Yellowjacket, this manages to be a mix of a Decomposite and Composite Character.
• Captain America: Civil War:
  • Ulysses Klaue appears in Age of Ultron, but not Civil War, where his role as King T'Chaka's murderer is given to Helmut Zemo instead.
  • More like Decomposite Identity, but in the comics, the Black Panther is the title given to the ruler of Wakanda. In the film, it's established that the two roles aren't necessarily one and the same, with T'Challa only ending up as both the Black Panther and the king because his father, the current king, is murdered.
  • Spider-Man is in the movie, but with a much smaller role than he had in the comic. Consequently, his arc as the conflicted member of Team Iron Man who ultimately switches sides at a key moment is given to Black Widow.
• Doctor Strange (2016):
  • Baron Mordo is introduced as an ally of Strange, and is a more complex character instead of an outright villain. His more overt Card-Carrying Villain tendencies were given to Kaecilius.
  • The Netflix series were originally written to involve Night Nurse as someone who gave medical aid to superheroes, but then the movies called dibs on the character. So the Netflix shows instead used Claire Temple and had her act like Night Nurse, while Doctor Strange included the comics' Night Nurse Christine Palmer as one of Strange's medical associates & ex-girlfriend.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming
  • In the original comics, Herman Schultz was the only Shocker. In the movie, Jackson Brice (who in the comics is an Enforcers member called Montana) is the first person to use the Shocker identity, with the name and gear later being passed to Herman after the Vulture kills Brice.
  • Both the Shocker and the Vulture were gifted inventors who built their respective gear by themselves in the comics. In the movie, they're both working-class villains who get their tech from the Tinkerer.
• In the comics, one of the primary powers granted to Gorr the God Butcher by his shapeshifting Necrosword is Spontaneous Weapon Creation. Thor: Ragnarok instead gives this power to Hela, while Gorr mostly sticks to using his blade when he appears in Thor: Love and Thunder. Also, while Venom briefly appears in the MCU, even leaving a drop of the Symbiote behind, it’s (thanks Sony owning Venom’s film rights) a seperate entity from the Necrosword, whereas in the comics they are intrinsically connected due to having both been created by God of Evil Knull.
• Black Panther (2018): T'Challa's character in the comics is split between his film counterpart and his sister Shuri. Comic!T'Challa is a genius engineer, and was initially stated to be responsible for Wakanda's futuristic level of technology (though subsequent Retcons would establish that Wakanda has always been technologically advanced). The film version is still intelligent, but more focused on being a charismatic politician. His sister Shuri takes his place as Wakanda's resident Gadgeteer Genius (despite her comic counterpart previously having been associated with magic), and is in fact the one who provides him with most of his weapons and technology. Her Wakandan Design Group is also responsible for Sam Wilson's vibranium wings, which were originally crafted by T'Challa in the comics.
• In Avengers: Endgame while Nebula and Adam Warlock exist in the MCU, with the former turning against him like the comics, their respective roles from The Infinity Gauntlet comic, such as taking the gauntlet from Thanos and using it to defeat him and restoring the universe, are given to Tony with the restoring universe part is given to the Hulk.
  • The Vision was influenced by Adam Warlock by having an Infinity Stone in his head.
  • Two different cocoons have been seen in The Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, one owned by The Collector in the first movie and another by Ayesha in the sequel. Separate Word of God statements have claimed these were both Warlock, although this was fixed up by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 with Ayesha’s cocoon being the definitive real Adam, making the Collector’s cocoon most likely fake.
• Spider-Man: Far From Home: Mysterio is changed from a single person to a Collective Identity including engineers, special effects wizards, a scriptwriter, and even a costume designer, with Quentin Beck (which may not even be his real name) serving as The Face of Mysterio. Beck also fulfils a similar to Norman Osborn as a corrupt businessman scientist who frames Spidey and (in an illusion sequence) drops his love interest off a bridge.
  • Flash Thompson has his role divided into two characters, Flash himself the Spider-Man fanboy is reimagined as a Nerdy Bully while Brad Davis (who’s a different character in the comics) takes Flash’s stereotypical Jerk Jock role toward Peter. Both characters lack the redemption of comic Flash however.
• In Black Widow (2021) Ivan Petrovich‘s role as Nat’s adoptive father, whom enlisted her into the Black Widow program is split in two other characters. Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian (who’s her ex-husband in the comics) is her adoptive dad while Dreykov is one who forced her into entering the Red Room and made her a Tyke Bomb. Additionally Ivan’s creepy Pervert Dad qualities are given to Dreykov while Alexei is a traditional loving Parental Substitute. Aditionally Avengers: Endgame implies Ivan also being the name of Natasha's biological father as Red Skulls calls her "daughter of Ivan" which led to a reveal that Natasha didn't know her father's name.
• While the Kingpin exists in the MCU, his role of murdering Aunt May in Civil War (2006) - One More Day is instead given to Raimi’s Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Likewise rather it being Mephisto rewriting reality and memories, it’s Doctor Strange who does it (and for more selfless reasons).
• The comic version of Carol Danvers has gone through multiple heroic identities, including Ms. Marvel, Binary and Captain Marvel. By contrast, the MCU version of Carol has only ever gone by Captain Marvel in her hero career, making Kamala Khan the originator of the Ms. Marvel identity in this continuity despite being a Legacy Character and Carol’s successor to the mantle in the original comics. Likewise The Marvels (2023) gives Carol’s Binary codename and costume to an alternate universe version of Maria Rambeau, the mother of Monica Rambeau.

Television

• Agent Carter does this with some of the Howling Commandos as a result of making use of Suspiciously Similar Substitute characters:
  • In Captain America: The First Avenger, one of the featured Commandos is James Montgomery Falsworth, who in the comics is the costumed hero Union Jack. The film version of Falsworth is heavily based on the comicbook Howling Commando member Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton, and is thus a Composite Character of the two. In Agent Carter, since Falsworth's actor was unavailable, Pinky Pinkerton fills his role (which oddly makes him a Composite Character of himself). In the same episode, the Commandos speculate on a nickname to give Peggy, and propose "Miss Union Jack."
  • Likewise, the show's version of Happy Sam Sawyer is Race Lifted into the team's new Token black guy. This is because the writers used Sam as a replacement for Gabe Jones, the team's black member from both the comics and the first Captain America movie.
    • Shared with the Iron Man films, the comic books featured Edwin Jarvis, butler to Tony Stark and eventually the rest of the Avengers. In the movies, the character was changed to JARVIS, Tony's assistant AI; but when Agent Carter started it introduced the human version of Jarvis as Howard Stark's butler.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Lance Hunter is a composite of the comic book Agent of STRIKE with the comics character Clint Barton/Hawkeye, who appears as a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Like the Hawkeye of the mainline comics, Hunter is a Deadpan Snarker divorced from Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird- and with the inevitable Working with the Ex plotline. The Hawkeye of the films is closer to the Ultimate Comics take on the character- having a past as a black ops agent and being Happily Married in the present. This gets a Lampshade Hanging in the comics where Lance hooks up with Bobbi, and she accidentally calls him Clint.
  • From the Secret Warriors comic, we have JT Slade's role which is split into three characters over in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Grant Ward (romantically linked to Daisy Johnson, The Mole who betrays her team, eventually killed by her father figure), Lincoln Campbell (superpowered member of the Secret Warriors, doesn't actually like working as a spy, and as above, romantically linked to Daisy Johnson), and James (has fire-based powers and the character's first name (possibly full name) and codename).
  • Although Ivan Vanko was already a Composite Character of Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo, the second season features a Hydra mook named Marcus Scarlotti, based on the first Whiplash (although that character was named Marco).
  • The first season introduces Dr. Franklin Hall, the researcher who eventually becomes the supervillain Graviton in the comics. Despite this, it's actually Glenn Talbot who becomes Graviton in Season 5 after infusing himself with the gravity-manipulating substance Hall developed.
• The Defenders (2017):
  • The shows have a few counterparts for the supervillain Nuke, a.k.a Frank Simpson. His most obvious counterpart, Will Simpson, appears in Jessica Jones as a former soldier who uses combat enhancement pills like the comic’s Nuke. On the other hand, the character’s overt PTSD and descent into terrorism are given to Lewis Wilson, a character created for The Punisher. When the Born Again storyline was incorporated into the third season of Daredevil, Nuke’s role as a crazed government agent that Fisk manipulates into going on a murder spree is given to Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter.
• Within Daredevil season 3, Matt is subjected to certain elements of his Born Again arc, like Fisk trying to have him drowned in a cab, and being put under investigation. However, some of Matt's Born Again elements, like Fisk messing with his finances to drive him into debt, are given to Ray Nadeem instead. Nadeem also ends up taking on traits of Nick Manolis.
• In Jessica Jones, Malcolm's Dogged Nice Guy tendencies from the comics are transferred to a Canon Foreigner character named Ruben.
• The original Luke Cage: Hero for Hire comics have a crime boss called "Black Mariah" Dillard. Luke Cage (2016) has the historical Mama Mabel Stokes, who was visually modeled after the original comics character; while her granddaughter Mariah Dillard is a normal-sized politician driven to villainy by her family (and has the nickname "Black Mariah" but finds it offensive).
• In Inhumans, Auran has a Healing Factor rather than parabolic hearing. Her role as the Inhumans' tracker is instead given to a Canon Foreigner named Locus, who has the power of echolocation.
• In the mainstream Marvel Comics continuity, Cameron Klein is a minor S.H.I.E.L.D technician. One episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. features a character named Hank Thompson who was previously a S.H.I.E.L.D agent named Cameron Klein, before having his memories and identity replaced as part of the TAHITI project. Captain America: The Winter Soldier features an unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D technician in a minor role (the guy who disobeys an order from Brock Rumlow in an attempt to prevent HYDRA's scheme) who returns for a cameo in Avengers: Age of Ultron... where he is given the name Cameron Klein.
• In Runaways, Tina Minoru is an icy sorceress and a member of PRIDE. Tina made her MCU debut in the film Doctor Strange (2016), where she was a Master of the Mystic Arts. However, she wasn't identified as such in that film and was only named in the credits.^note She was also explicitly identified as such in a comic tie-in to the film. As such, when the MCU did its own take on Runaways (2017), the show's creators ignored her Doctor Strange cameo and created a new version of the character, meaning that there are two TinaMinorus in the MCU.
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place after Steve Rogers has retired as Captain America, so even though he still exists in this universe, his storyline of rejecting the Captain America mantle before ultimately reclaiming it after taking down the crazed John Walker is instead given to his successor Sam Wilson.
• Hawkeye (2021):
  • Since the MCU's Clint Barton is shown to be a responsible husband and hyper-competent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent rather than the street-level vigilante seen in the Fraction/Aja run that the series is based on, Kate Bishop inherits a lot of those characteristics. She messes things up constantly, runs afoul of the Tracksuit Mafia, rescues Pizza Dog, lives in the apartment building that is attacked by the bad guys, and frequently winds up with cuts and bruises on her face. She even delivers a variation of Clint’s "this looks bad" line herself.
  • While Daredevil is confirmed to exist in the MCU, the series gives his role as the costumed vigilante Maya Lopez blames for the murder of her father (with the death actually having been arranged by The Kingpin) to Ronin.
• Loki: In the comics, Victor Timely is simply an alias adopted by Kang the Conqueror while traveling back in time to the early 1900s. The TV show instead presents Victor as a multiversal Variant of Kang who grew up in 19th century Chicago rather than the far future.

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