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These MCU stories should have stuck with the source material.
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00:00More than 30 entries later, the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows no signs of slowing down as it
00:05makes its way through phase four. The colossal franchise has brought to life a myriad of
00:11characters and turned some of them into household names and seminal pieces of the pop culture
00:16mythos. That said, the following entries prove that the MCU still has a long way to go in treating
00:21the comics with more reverence. I'm Emil from WhatCulture and these are 10 MCU storylines the
00:27comics did better. 10. Captain Carter's story. What If was a fun and breezy exploration of the
00:33MCU's newly minted multiverse that unfortunately did not reach the dizzying heights on the comic
00:38series it was inspired by and played things disappointingly safe. This can be seen in its
00:43introduction of Captain Carter, an episode that felt like a condensed rehash of the first Avengers
00:48plotline with Peggy Carter as the lead, despite the game lead performance by Hayley Atwell. The
00:53comics version of the World War II icon has a more storied life that saw her engage in multiversal
00:57adventures in a more inspired and zany manner compared to her animated counterpart. She took
01:03on the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers was assassinated and ended up in the present day,
01:08much like Rogers did in the main timeline. She later joins the Exiles, a team of interdimensional
01:12heroes such as dystopic Kamala Khan and cartoonish version of Wolverine known as Wolvie in order to stop
01:19Kang the Time Eater, a version of Kang the Conqueror with Galactus' powers. Peggy shines in a story that
01:25embraces the oddities of traversing the multiverse with glee. 9. The Kree-Skrull War. Captain Marvel's
01:31debut film chose to portray the Skrulls in a more sympathetic light compared to their more sinister
01:36depiction in the comics. Although this bit of subversion worked in favour of Carol Danvers' character
01:40development, it meant that the Kree-Skrull War barely had any weight in the film. This was rather
01:45disappointing seen that the actual conflict in the comics had a far-reaching scope and featured more
01:50moral complexities than the film's depiction of a one-sided conflict. The story follows a weakened
01:55Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, not Danvers, who requires the aid of the Avengers after his time in the
02:00negative zone left him at the mercy of a lethal dose of radiation. Unfortunately, the heroes are
02:05unable to help the Kree hero due to the intervention of the Kree warrior Ronan the Accuser and the
02:10Super Skrull, who captures Mar-Vell and forces him to build a doomsday weapon to counter the Kree's plans
02:15to turn the Earth into a base for use in the war. The story is intimate by kicking off the
02:20Vision Scarlet Witch romance and also sweeping, showcasing how a planet such as Earth can be
02:25easily caught up in the often subtle but devastating machinations of an interstellar war.
02:308. Hawkeye
02:31Much like What If, Hawkeye's first solo effort was a light and fun affair that helped flesh out
02:36Clint Barton's arc, introduce and reintroduce major street-level plays in the MCU, as well as
02:41a new legacy hero in Kate Bishop. The series explored Clint's tenure as Ronan and how his
02:46time as the feared vigilante eventually came back to bite him in the form of Maya Lopez's
02:51Echo, the daughter of a crime lord he killed during the blip. Although the story was well
02:55told, it sometimes played like a safe and familiar MCU effort that never lived up to the zany,
03:00stylish and weighty heights of the beloved comic run it's based on. Just like the series,
03:04the comic's tone is grounded and small-scale and features the first meeting between Clint and Kate,
03:09as well as the first appearance of Lucky the pizza dog. Where the comics excel in comparison
03:13to its live-action counterpart is in its execution. The beloved run commits to its irreverent tone and
03:19offbeat humour far more often than the series due to the latter falling into familiar MCU trappings.
03:24Furthermore, the comic's iconic moments have more room to breathe and are woven into the narrative
03:28in a more organic manner. I guess you could say they hit the target, right?
03:317. Demon in a Bottle
03:33Iron Man 2 was the first sign that films based in a nascent cinematic universe would buckle under the
03:38weight of expanding said universe. The film had to juggle a lot of elements and set the stage for
03:42future instalments and this meant that it could not do justice to its own story and sources of
03:47inspiration. This was seen in its admittedly loose adaptation of Demon in a Bottle, the seminal 1979
03:53Iron Man tale that explores Tony's struggles with alcoholism. The film depicts Tony's growing
03:58alcoholism as a side effect of grappling with his impending death as caused by his arc reactor.
04:03Although the film's concept was solid, the plotline simply had no room to breathe due to the film's many
04:07moving parts. The comic on the other hand built up towards Stark's addiction in a manner that was
04:11more sombre than expected. The hero's wars are explored in greater detail and his failures cannot
04:16be hand-waved by a clever but convoluted invention. Demon in a Bottle helped make the hero more relatable
04:21and its portrayal of Stark's allies showed that some of his greatest gifts in life are not always
04:25powered suits of armour. 6. Ragnarok
04:28Thor Ragnarok helped revitalise Chris Hemsworth's character's story and introduced fan favourites such as
04:33Korg and Valkyrie. In addition to this, it infused the MCU with an unconventional sense of humour that was
04:39different from the quip-heavy, weed-nesque writing that defined the franchise. Despite those achievements,
04:43the film somewhat faltered in its handling of the apocalyptic events in its finale. In all fairness,
04:48Asgard's destruction at the hands of Surtur served as a lesson for the God of Thunder in that he realised
04:53that there is more to Asgard's identity than a location. Beyond that, the film seemed more interesting in
04:58being an undeniably entertaining space-buddy comedy and this choice worked against the development of
05:03characters such as Hela and Scourge. Walt Simonson's legendary 80s run in the Thor saga was a better
05:08grasp of Ragnarok and gives the supporting characters such as the Warriors 3 and the villains
05:12much-needed depth as compared to the film. Asgard itself and its people feel more fleshed out and
05:17this portrayal helps the stakes feel more palpable when the world-ending threat of Ragnarok came along.
05:215. Planet Hulk
05:23In addition to slightly missing the mark with the end of Asgard, Ragnarok gave audiences a very
05:28surface-level exploration of one of the Hulk's most iconic storylines. To be fair, the Jolly Green
05:34Giant was a supporting character in the third Thor entry and this meant that Planet Hulk was not
05:39going to receive an adaptation worthy of the mighty hero. Oh, poor Hulk. Much like Ragnarok itself,
05:45elements such as Sakaar, Korg and the gladiatorial battles felt like means to an end, that being reuniting
05:51Thor with the strongest Avenger, rather than a well-realised locale, characters and events.
05:56The actual Planet Hulk story is a far cry from the colourful events of the film as it demonstrates
06:01the Hulk's sheer might and the threat posed by the planet to beings as powerful as him.
06:06Some fans have bemoaned the Hulk's less savage, more controlled nature in recent films and with
06:11a story such as Planet Hulk in the mix, it is understandable as to why they would want the
06:15iconic powerhouse to be let loose again. Hulk smash!
06:184. The Extremis Arc
06:21Iron Man 3 is more so remembered for its, to put it mildly, controversial handling of the
06:26Mandarin and the twist surrounding the iconic villain than anything else. This is understandable,
06:30as the subversion surrounding Iron Man's arch-nemesis did not amount to much as Aldrich
06:34Killian lacked the menace to serve as the Mandarin. The inspiration for much of the film's plot,
06:38The Extremis Saga, is more beloved than the film and in many ways shaped Tony Stark's initial arc in the
06:44MCU. Some of the comics elements, such as the design for Iron Man's suit, were used in the first Iron Man film,
06:49so this entry will focus on the threequels relation to the storyline. Much like the movie,
06:54the comic book tale explores Tony's mental state, The Extremis Virus and its connection to the likes
06:58of Maya Hansen and Aldrich Killian. Unlike the film however, Hansen has a significantly larger and
07:04antagonistic role in the comics and the nature of The Extremis Virus and its application by Stark
07:09is more complex than its relatively simple cinematic counterpart.
07:123. Ultron Contrary to popular belief,
07:15the sophomore entry in the Avengers franchise was not based on the 2013 comic of the same name.
07:20Instead, it was based on a collection of different Avengers stories featuring the genocidal robot
07:25and at best, the film features superficial references to the comic storyline and is more
07:29focused on telling an original story. The film serves as an origin story for the villainous
07:33automation and explores his reasons behind wanting to destroy humanity and repopulate the earth with
07:39his sentry bots. Unlike the comedic nature of the villain in the film, comics Ultron is gravely serious,
07:44slow to emotional outbursts and is fixated on making Hank Pym, the original creator's life miserable.
07:50The 8th episode of What If feels more in line if ever so slightly with the Age of Ultron storyline
07:55than the film itself and features an all-powerful Ultron who has achieved his goal of destroying humanity.
08:01However, it still lacks the scale of the comic storyline and features significantly fewer characters
08:06and its plot is not as far-reaching and referential to past Marvel events such as the Kree-Skrull War.
08:122. Armor Wars In addition to barely scratching the narrative potential of Demon in a Bottle,
08:17Iron Man 2's scattershot narrative was not able to fully capture the themes of industrial espionage,
08:22guilt and paranoia that defined the 87-88 Armor Wars storyline. Although both storylines take
08:28place at different points in Stark's life, the comic storyline is more coherent and showcases the
08:33consequences of the hero's single-minded approach to solving issues. The film more or less bypasses
08:38the industrial espionage element of the comic in favour of having Justin Hammer's suits solely built
08:43by Ivan Vanko. Now this personalises the conflict as Vanko's father Anton and Howard Stark work together
08:49but the change falls flat due to the younger Vanko's wanting characterisation. Right off the bat the comic
08:55has the advantage of having more heroes and villains in the mix, something the movie cannot be faulted for
09:00and this helps contextualise Stark's actions and fears. Antagonists such as Hammer, the Crimson Dynamo and
09:06Titanium Man push the armoured adventure to his limits and he is forced to come to terms with the
09:11consequences of his technology ending up in the wrong hands. 1. Annihilation Conquest
09:172014's Guardians of the Galaxy was a breath of fresh air for the MCU, a wacky yet heartfelt film
09:23that helped expand the MCU's scope into the cosmic realm and it brought characters such as Groot and
09:28Rocket Raccoon to the forefront of the pop culture discourse. It is a brilliant comic book film that
09:33deserved all its praise and success and this in turn makes Annihilation Conquest success all the more
09:38impressive. This 2007-2008 sequel to Annihilation took its predecessor approach in deepening Marvel's
09:45cosmic lore by focusing on an unlikely group of heroes as they go up against an overwhelmingly
09:50powerful threat. That was Annihilus in the original and the Phalanx in the sequel. While the first
09:54Guardians film took inspiration from Conquest, the comic storyline does a few things better than the
09:58film. For starters, the Phalanx as a villain may not be that compellingly executed but the techno-organic
10:04hive mind is leagues better than the forgettable Ronan the Accuser. As well as that, the film's scale
10:08is impressive but does not come close to incredible moments such as Nova collapsing a dwarf star to
10:13escape the Phalanx field. All in all, the gap in quality between these two pieces of Marvel media
10:18is not that wide but Conquest ever so slightly takes the edge. Luckily Kevin Feige's stash of Marvel
10:24source material is burning a hole in his closet so perhaps we will see these storylines adapted in the
10:29future phases of the MCU in a bit greater detail.
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