Marvel movies are great, but their characters are usually just a screen-friendly shadow
of their ink-and-paper origins.
While some are spot on, the Avengers' movies costumes don't always do the originals justice.
Here's how the Avengers should really look…
Hawkeye and Black Widow
For the big screen, Clint Barton dropped his pointy mask and traditional uniform for a
tactical look.
But in 2012, Hawkeye's comic costume was redesigned to look more like the film's version.
And less like a scaly, purple Wolverine.
Both versions of Hawkeye are master marksmen and former agents of SHIELD.
But movie Hawkeye has a secret civilian family, while comics Hawkeye gets around with romantic
relationships with Black Widow and Mockingbird, a.k.a. Bobbi Morse.
Fun fact!
Mockingbird later appeared on Agents of SHIELD, but in a completely different relationship.
On the other hand, after Black Widow’s comics outfit underwent a significant change in Amazing
Spider-Man #86, she’s barely changed her modern look.
Both comic book and MCU versions share the basics: red hair, black bodysuit, and wrist-mounted
weapons.
They're nearly identical in the ways that matter.
Despite appearing in five different movies, we still don't know much about movie Black
Widow.
Age of Ultron's flashbacks revealed a little of her history—specifically her training
to be a Soviet assassin from a young age.
She switched sides after Hawkeye spared her life and has been a good guy ever since.
Her comic counterpart has the same broad strokes, including her Soviet training and defection
to America.
Pretty sure that Natasha's never been Tony Stark's assistant in the comics though.
Captain America And Falcon
MCU Captain America is undeniably classic Cap, but his costume often changes subtly.
Like his shield: originally, it was simply, well, shield-shaped.
Soon it evolved into the frisbee he flings today.
In all the ways that count, the MCU's Captain America is almost completely comic-faithful.
In the movies, Cap's a patriotic mascot before he becomes a hero, even using a shield similar
to his early comic appearances.
In the comics, Cap goes undercover as a bumbling private who's sent on secret missions.
Since then, comic book Cap has lost his powers, regained them, died, un-died, and even thought
he was a HYDRA agent.
So movie Cap's got plenty to look forward to.
In the comics, Cap's longtime partner, the Falcon, wears funky super-suit with enormous
red wings and a plunging neckline, resulting in plenty of unprotected, bare chest.
Movie Falcon is a somewhat more realistic ex-paratrooper in army clothes and a set of
highly-advanced, technological wings.
Not a military man, comics Falcon is an ex-criminal who was...mentally fused with a falcon by
the Red Skull.
Like Aquaman, but on land, Falcon has limited control over all birds.
If you ever see Falcon hanging around a pack of ostriches, just run.
Interestingly, it remains to be seen if we'll ever see Sam Wilson wield the shield...like
he did in the comics in 2014.
Thor
Thor's first appearance in 1962 featured the largest helmet wings you've ever seen, and
kneepads that'd make a goalie blush.
Movie Thor occasionally wears the helmet, and makes the practical choice to cover his
arms in armor.
And that beard?
Comics' Odinson generally prefers a clean shave.
Interestingly, the movies largely ignore Thor's onetime alter-ego, Donald Blake.
Originally, Thor suffered amnesia and was trapped in the body of a disabled doctor for
years before accidentally rediscovering his hammer.
He also fell for nurse Jane Foster, who's obviously a far cry from the MCU's storm-chasing
Jane.
In fact, pick up a recent comic book and you'll be surprised to discover that Jane Foster
is Thor.
Jane Fos-Thor.
Heh.
Comics are complicated.
Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver
The MCU created a less revealing costume for its Scarlet Witch.
In the comics, she wears a skimpy bodysuit and a weird headdress.
Fortunately for Marvel’s MPAA rating, her on-screen costume is more "autumn fashion
collection" than "naughty magician's assistant."
Also kind of different?
Her powers.
In the comics, she wields "chaos magic," while in the movies her abilities are a lot less
defined.
She basically, and pretty inconsistently, changes probability.
Good for Vegas.
Not always great at fighting an army of Ultrons.
Still better than the ‘90s Iron Man Animated Series Scarlet Witch, though.
"La la la la la, la la la la la"
Yeesh.
Comics Quicksilver has worn a lot of costumes, ranging from a green with a lightning bolt,
all the way to blue with…a lightning bolt.
The movies cleverly and subtly incorporated the pattern, so this is another instance where
we're glad they ditched the spandex.
Sure, Quicksilver is really, really fast; that's hard to screw up.
He also started out his career as a villain before joining the Avengers, not unlike the
MCU's version...though comics Quicksilver doesn't die on his first adventure.
Instead, he marries an Inhuman woman and has a full life.
Let's not even touch Ultimate Quicksilver...and his romantic relationship with his sister.
Let's leave that for Star Wars, shall we?
Uueehh
Vision
On the page, Vision's an android with a simple design: bright red face, green and yellow
costume.
It's punctuated with a solar jewel on his forehead.
Movie Vision is distinctly more robot-like, covered with mechanical patterns, as though
the designers wanted folks to be sure that this guy's a robot.
The giant yellow comics collar?
Gone.
The biggest difference is that while Vision's solar jewel is powerful in the comics, it's
nothing like the Infinity Stone his live-action counterpart wears.
On the other hand, Vision and Scarlet Witch are an item in both the comics and the movies.
Ah, romance.
Hulk
Movie Hulk and comics Hulk are both big green rage monsters, but MCU Hulk leapfrogged over
his original look.
When Bruce Banner first transformed, he was gray.
Hulk soon turned green, but occasionally turned gray again, switching wildly between smart
and stupid depending on the color and whatever the writers wanted to to do at the time.
Comics Hulk became irradiated during a heroic act, but movie Hulk turns into a monster because
of a failed science experiment.
It took years for comics Hulk to change from a semi-intelligent grey dude into an incoherent
green dude, but Hulk's film transformation omitted Hulk's sad decline into madness.
He just started out stupid.
And that Black Widow romance?
Ya know, the one that came outa nowhere?
Straight-up movie bunk.
Black Panther
Prince T'Challa hasn't changed much, usually just some variation on black spandex.
Occasionally, he makes a mouth-hole, and sometimes he rocks a cape, necklace of teeth, or gold
accoutrements.
Movie Panther is much of the same so far.
In the comics, Wakanda wasn't known to the U.S. until it traps the Fantastic Four.
But by the time we meet movie Black Panther, his country's already set up diplomatic relations
with the rest of the world.
Sadly, we'll never see Black Panther's marriage to the X-Men's Storm, because those movie
universes just can't touch.
Ant-Man
During Ant-Man's early comic appearances, he had the spandex-and-underwear look, and
his helmet was a huge silver dome.
Solid sci-fi, but bad on the big screen.
Fortunately, the movie hero's outfit looks much more like a high-powered fight suit.
While both helmets have an ant-like appearance, the MCU version nails it.
There's more than one Ant-Man in both the MCU and the comics.
Comics Hank Pym hung with the original Avengers, and Scott Lang later stole the suit from Pym
to help his family, which should sound familiar.
The movies mix and match timelines, Ant-Men, and evil corporations…but it's hard to argue
with the awesome results.
Spider-Man
Since debuting in Civil War, Spidey's accurate super-suit made fans crazy happy.
No raised webbing, no energy drink logos—just pure Spider-Man.
Still, MCU Spidey has some weird half-belt.
What's that about?
Like most other comic heroes, Spidey has worn roughly a million different costumes since
his first appearance, but his current MCU costume is a totally fair average of the classic
red and blues.
War Machine And Iron Man
Also known as 'gray Iron Man,' War Machine's always been a variation on Tony's armor.
Movie War Machine is extremely comic accurate—but the Iron Patriot's a different story.
In Iron Man 3, Rhodey's armor gets a patriotic paint job.
But in the comics, the Iron Patriot is actually Norman Osborn, better known as the Green Goblin.
Osborn is, of course, completely insane, and the armor provided an extra layer of protection
from public scrutiny.
Because how could anyone waving an American flag possibly be evil?
Movie Iron Man is damn near perfect.
Even though Tony's changed armors more times than most people change their underwear, his
films' armors are really comic-accurate.
And under the armor?
Robert Downey Jr. was born for the role.
Still, the cocky billionaire from the movies is a caveman compared to comic book Tony,
who was recently flying around in his Bleeding Edge armor, which is conveniently stored inside
his body.
Not gross at all.
Kinda makes that armor suitcase in Iron Man 2 look like a pile of fancy trash.
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