10 Ways the Marvel Cinematic Universe Has Changed Marvel Comics
Marvel Studios’ big summer blockbuster in 2018 was Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel Comics’ summer blockbuster in 2018 is a book called Infinity Wars. The connection is no accident or coincidence. When one arm of your company has the fourth biggest movie in history, it would be foolish not to have another arm try to capitalize on it with a concept featuring a similar cast and themes.
Infinity Wars’ story is not the same as Avengers: Infinity War; the movie is actually adapting a miniseries from the 1990s called The Infinity Gauntlet. In other ways, though, it very strongly resembles the film. Back when Thanos was assembling the Infinity Gauntlet in the pages of Marvel Comics, he was after the Infinity Gems. They only became the Infinity “Stones” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But suddenly in Infinity Wars, they’re not gems anymore. They’re stones as well. And certain MCU characters, like Doctor Strange, have the stones they’re most associated with onscreen.
This is hardly the first time the comics Marvel produces have been rejiggered to more closely resemble their movies. It does seem to be a more common phenomenon now than ever before, though. Fans famously freak out about superhero movies staying loyal to the comics. Yet increasingly the opposite is much more important. Will we reach a point where people will start complaining that the comics aren’t accurate to the movies? It suddenly seems possible.
That’s something to monitor in the years ahead. In the meantime, here’s ten ways Marvel Comics have already been changed by the MCU, sometimes for good and sometimes not.