Just me talking about how much I hate the MCU and how it’s ruining the comics because bla bla bla capitalism
One very major flaw of recent comics (I’m talking about the last decade-ish) is that, in hopes to benefit from the financial success of the MCU, comics began to change the personalities, looks, backstories, costumes, and aesthetics of their characters to match their MCU counterparts.
Before an MCU fan spouts some bullshit like “Well it shouldn’t matter because it’s still the same character and if you’re a true fan you should love them anyway,” I simply can’t help but struggle to enjoy seeing everything special about my favorite characters be retconned. It’s one thing when the MCU adapts my favorite characters and changes them beyond recognition, but at least I can live with that because I can simply not watch MCU content. It’s another thing when the MCU’s same shitty changes are made in the comics, effectively ruining that character.
A prime example is the terrible jokes. Before 2008, comics would mostly have little to no humor. And if/when they did, it would usually be the focus of the story (Deadpool’s entire character for example). But following the release of Iron Man, comics began to change to mimic MCU!Tony Stark’s silly little one liners that somehow gave Marvel Studios a blockbuster hit. What I’m about to say is just personal opinion, but I honest to god hate the “comedy” in the MCU. A couple movies pull it off by making it the focus of the movie (Thor: Ragnarok and Ant-Man 1+2), but for the most part, the inconsistent dry humor is awkward and boring. I didn’t realize this until The Batman, a movie that consistently maintains its dark aesthetic, came out and my mind was blowed by the cinematography. My best friend @gothictoxicc pointed out to me that that movie was so good because it didn’t ruin every dramatic scene with a dry joke that ruins the vibe. Anyways, I fucking hate that I can’t read a new Avengers comic without finding several random jokes that ruin the seriousness of the situation at hand.
Another example of an MCU fuckup that dripped into the comics is Wanda Maximoff. Oftentimes when a character is adapted to the MCU, their 616 version is subsequently drawn to look exactly like their MCU actor, despite that character clearly looking very differently for decades prior. Now if you’re an MCU fan you may be wondering why this is so frustrating for a comic fan, and I’ll tell you. It’s because of whitewashing and lightwashing. Wanda’s been around since the 1960’s and often has a distinct look (kinky/curly hair that’s either auburn or brown depending on the illustrator, and sometimes other ethnic features such as a hooked nose, tan skin, and dark eyes) yet once Elizabeth Olsen was cast in the role, Wanda began to be drawn like this in the comics. The erasure of Wanda’s ethnic features for the sake of pale skin, straight hair, and green eyes matters because Wanda is Romani. However now, her whitewashing is more easily excusable by MCU fans because “she looks white in the comics anyway.”
Side note for paragraph above: The same thing has happened with many other characters such as Natasha Romanoff, and although it’s not necessarily bigoted in any way to draw Nat like Scarlett Johansson in the comics, it does make me want to cry every time I see it.
While we’re on the subject of things that make me want to cry, let’s talk about Clint Barton. In the comics, he’s rocked a lot of funky (honestly the best adjective for them) and colorful costumes that make him stand out and look easily identifiable in comics. However, since the MCU is goddamn boring, they put Jeremy Renner in all black and called it a day. Following that, 616!Clint started dressing like a boring loser. I personally can never forgive the MCU for stripping Clint of his camp (I’ve never used that word but it feels right) outfits.
MCU influence changing the comics: Honorable mentions:
- The entire GoTG team being changed to fit their MCU counterparts in both looks and personalities. I’m talking Gamora, Peter Quill, Nebula, Groot, etc. Literally all of them.
- A younger Black Nick Fury was introduced to the comics following Samuel L. Jackson’s popularity in the MCU (which I have no problem with because who doesn’t love Samuel L. Jackson)
- Loki is now portrayed as morally grey rather than an evil little slut
- Magneto and the Maximoff twins suffered that atrocious retcon where they were revealed not to be Magneto’s children, nor to be mutants at all. This happened as a result of the dispute between Fox (daddy company of the x-men movies) and Marvel Studios over rights to the Maximoff twins, whose terms were unclear because Fox claimed rights to mutant characters while Marvel Studios claimed rights to Avengers characters, and the Maximoff twins were both. To simplify things, the twins had their origins changed in the comics so Fox wouldn’t be able to claim them. Ultimately, the two companies agreed that Marvel Studios could include both twins but had to kill one off, and Fox could include the twin that would be killed off.
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