The Avengers have become the center of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that was not a real surprise. Phase 1 of the MCU was about introducing team members who were rewarded at 2012 The Avengers. The film was a huge success, opening doors for many of the great Avengers characters, both heroes and villains, to make their big screen debuts. There’s no doubt that the MCU made an amazing adaptation of the Avengers characters, but not all of the characters did that well. The MCU may be the most beloved superhero cinema universe, but it is not always perfect in adaptation.
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The MCU has seriously cheated on some classic Avengers characters. Ironically, many of these characters were still popular, but multiple factors have led to them not being as great as they should have been, especially looking at the source material and the appearance of the previous MCU. That’s what it means. These five Avengers characters were ruined by the MCU and kicked the whole character in the mud.
Thanos
So, let’s keep this out of the way right away. Josh Brolin’s portrayal of Thanos is phenomenal. Avengers: Infinity Wars is the biggest MCU movie by many, and Thanos is a big reason for that. Thanos is easily one of the most hated villains in the MCU, but that hatred is informed by how much everyone watching the film is aware of Thanos for a second on screen . But that doesn’t mean that the MCU didn’t ruin Thanos’ character.
In the first place, there is Thanos’ reason to destroy half of the film’s universe. Thanos believes that killing all half will somehow save the universe. His whole idea is pointless at best. Why didn’t he use the stones to make more resources? His solution is temporary, so one day the number of beings reaches what it is, putting all beings at risk again. However, the biggest problem with this is what you do with Thanos as a character.
MCU fans love to point out how stupid the idea is when they learn that Thanos from the comic is in love with the death of his mistress. However, Thanos’ love for death in the manga is a clever philosopher. Thanos is a nihilist. He doesn’t believe in any value in life. His love for death is the ultimate act of a nihilist. This is a much better version of Thanos than what we saw in the MCU. Big Screen Thanos is shortsighted and honestly, ridiculous, but Comic Thanos is a deep character with layers.
Ultron
Avengers: Age of Ultron is considered to be the weakest Avengers film by many fans, and Ultron is a big reason for that. The MCU Ultron is the definition of everything wrong about how Marvel Studios adapts villains. The comic Ultron is a scary, genocide monster. His hatred for humanity is an internal organ, and it is all caught up in his Oedipal’s hostility towards his creator Hank Pym. In many ways, Ultron is a member of the Avengers family and makes their rivalry much more personal. Ultron is not kidding, he is always fatally serious. To call him “inhuman” is to praise Ultron. The Avengers feared Ultron more than Thanos.
McU Ultron is basically Loki as an Android device. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki always steals the show because he’s smart and funny. Avengers: Age of Ultron tried to make Ultron for such a villain. Stopped Ultron, Ultron was funny, Ultron was smart. One thing Ultron wasn’t like that is scary. James Spader did a great job in the vocal role, but he was definitely not Ultron. McU Ultron discarded everything that made Ultron the great villain of the comics and destroyed the characters. Hopefully, if Ultron returns to the MCU, they’ll make the villain right and become the cold monster he should be.
Baron Zemo
Technically, MCU’s Helmutzemo didn’t appear in the Avengers movies. However, Helmut Zemo has been a character mainly from the Avengers since he took his father’s house as Baron Zemo in the comics. On top of that, many fans there jokingly call him Captain America: Civil War “Avengers 2.5” so we count him. Captain America: The Civil War is one of the more beloved MCU movies, but the Zemo, played by Daniel Bruhl, is actually one of the worst parts of the film. He’s like a cliché – he hates heroes because of the death of his family – and rarely encounters him as a one-dimensional character in the film. Zemo’s next appearance in Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a bit better as it adds another aspect to the character, but makes him a joke more than an actual threat to the hero.
(Related: Marvel fans are sure Thanos’ snaps were not random in Infinity War)
Baron Zemo in the comic is also a cliché of the evil Nazi legacy villain, but it’s a much better cliché, as it’s basically a perfect villain cliché. Zemo from the comic is a great tactician, hand-to-hand combatant, and can fight Captain America. He became Bucky’s enemy when he was in a hat. Comic Zemo was also interesting in a different way than MCU’s Zemo. Comic Zemo was melodramatic at the top, which made him easy to laugh at once. But unlike McU Zemo, he was by no means a joke. That’s an important distinction and why MCU Zemo isn’t a great character.
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen, is a very interesting character. Wanda Maximoff was featured alongside Avengers brother Quicksilver. It is Age of Ultron in the Avengers and has become a beloved part of the MCU. Olsen did an amazing job playing the characters and became a fan favorite. But Olsen can only take what she was given and what she was given since the Avengers. Endgame ruined the characters.
Scarlet Witch is a common rope for the character to lose to personal life and become evil. That happened many times in the comics. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The MCU pulled one of the latter. Wandavision’s Scarlet Witch is a monster. She enslaved the entire town and played her fantasies until the time they begged for death – and the show tries to pretend she was justified. Scarlet Witch from Doctor Strange in the Madness Multiverse is portrayed as evil at least, but she lacks something as a character. Say what you do about Wanda Vision, but it showed Wanda’s layer. The crazy multiverse dumped all of it, basically poisoning the well for the characters. Many fans hope that Scarlet Witch will return to the MCU, but it’s almost impossible to imagine her being red. The comic Scarlet Witch has returned from some pretty vicious things.
Black Widow
Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow first appeared in Iron Man 2, and fans loved her. Natasha Romanov in the MCU is a great character, and the Avengers solidified it. Her next appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is also great, and it’s easy to say that Black Widow is one of the best MCU characters. But things changed with Avengers: Age of Ultron. Black Widow felt like she had stepped into the background. The film also included the most breaded Black Widow moment. We’re talking about the Red Room taking away the ability to have children. This is a very controversial moment. In some respects, it makes sense to sterilize femme fatal assassins, as pregnancy slows them down. The question is not the idea, but the way the film frames this idea.
Black Widow never recovered from Ultron’s age, and the MCU continued to do damage to the characters. She lost the tenacity and humor that was characteristic of the character. Sometimes it makes sense like Endgame, like Avengers, but most of the time it felt like no one was writing her. Black Widow’s death was a tragedy, but after years of alienating the character, no one was surprised. They waited until after she died to eventually give her a solo film. This is a film that had highlights, but overall it was disappointing for the audience. It’s mysterious.
It’s not so much that the MCU ruined the comic version of the characters. They certainly were heading towards the end, but at that point it feels like they had already stopped caring for the black widow. Her sudden downfall is even more tragic as Marvel Studios did the incredible job of building Black Widow in one of the best parts of the MCU. Hopefully, Florence Pugh’s Jelena Borova Black Widow is very, very powerful and doesn’t go as well as Johansson’s Natasha.
