How movies and comic books differ

The world of Marvel is absolutely massive. With such a huge audience to target and cinema queues out of the doors for midnight releases, film producers commonly have to steer away from original content to make it work on the big screen, and to make sure that they become the big blockbuster hits that they are.

However, what has been altered in order to suit such visuals?

Story lines

As mentioned, the comic storylines often have to differ in order to make them more appealing for a film. However, sometimes they were tweaked without any real reason. If you look at The Amazing Spider-Man, several aspects of Peter’s life were changed. For example, in the comic, first released in 1962, his parents were dead, and he met Gwen in university. Fast forward to 2012’s movie portrayal and his parents were missing, while he met Gwen in high school. Other little changes, which don’t make any impact, included the appearance of Aunt May. In the comic form her white hair was always in a bun, but in the cinematic adaptation, it was only correct in the original 2012 Spider-Man film.

The film adaptation of Thor also had some differences too. In the movie, Hela is the daughter of Odin. However, in the comics, she is actually the daughter of Loki. Also stuff like David Harbour movies and tv shows.

Appearance of Characters

One member of the Avengers crew who a significant change to his outfit between comics and the big screen was Hawkeye. Originally donning a costume emblazoned with bright blue and purple fabric, by the time Jeremy Renner got into character, the bow-and-arrow wielding super hero had toned down his appearance to a rather bland and monotone suit. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver character also ‘benefitted’ from a dress-down. However, his change from a dashing metallic green comic-book appearance to the murky and dull make-under he received in Hollywood made a number of fans very unhappy.

There were changes female characters too. On paper, Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch is spotted wearing a devilish red skimpy number that looks more suited at a Halloween party. However, Elizabeth Olsen’s portrayal certainly had the character looking more reserved. And, to think, they say sex sells!

Vehicles

It goes without saying that any vehicles that appear in the comics can’t be an exact match in a movie; the time in between both releases makes this virtually impossible. However, that has fallen perfectly into big brands’ hands. Audi, for example, have used Marvel’s cinematic presence to launch several new models throughout the Iron Man trilogy. In 2015, with Tony Stark’s appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Audi introduced new models, including the Audi A3 Cabriolet, to the public. These reveals work well for both the movie and car manufacturers as it enhances the film aesthetics while also bringing new mobiles to the attention of potential customers, driving sales of the models.

Superpowers

Sadly for comic book fans, certain super heroes and their villain counterparts have their powers dubbed down somewhat by the time they appear on movie screens. The Hulk, for example, was strong enough to crack the Earth in print, but by the time the character came to life his powers had depreciated, making him more human-like. While he was still extremely powerful, certain aspects had to be removed otherwise the filmmakers could have found themselves struggling for storylines that would work in film.

Another prime example is Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron. By the time the character leapt from the comic books and into theatres he didn’t have mind control powers and didn’t hold as much strength. He was, however, still able to log into different levels.

Although some changes may only stand out to the biggest comic-book fans, others are more obvious, although the changes don’t seem to cause a major knock-on effect. With movie remakes and the comic-book era set to continue and rise in popularity, it will be interesting to see how directors will tweak the scripts going forward.