The MCU has taken a lot of it's inspiration specifically from the Ultimate line of comics. Thor's Stormbreaker, Spider-Man being in high school again, and Tony Stark's personality. Tony Stark has always been snarky, witty, and a pretty swollen ego, but a lot of the mainline comics' Tony Stark's rough edges have been sanded down. Stark was one of the founding members of the Illuminati, working for Kang the Conqueror, shooting Hulk into space, lots of his actions in both Civil War storylines, and not to mention his stint as Superior Iron Man, exploiting people and lots of other dubious actions.
My question is, have we lost something? Are the rough edges what make Iron Man so compelling in the comics? Has the MCU's more palatable Iron Man worse or just different? What about other comic characters who've lost nuance like Wolverine in every movie besides Logan?
Further, how do we go about adapting these characters from these thousands of issues to hours of film? Is it even possible? Is the loss of some nuance a necessary evil?
Might be useful to include some examples of what Ultimate Iron Man did and how he was different from mainline Tony. – noahspud2 years ago
I think that the rough edges in 616's Iron Man positioned him as more of an antagonist in many popular storylines. I think that the MCU definitely made conscious attempts to water down his actions, even in the Civil War storyline. Whereas in the Ultimate line of comics, he was definitely still snarky and narcissistic, but didn't make as many huge mistakes as 616 Tony, who's contributions to making the 'Thor' android lead to the death of Goliath in 'Civil War', who literally took Peter Parker in to Avengers tower and then sent a squad of villains after him who very nearly killed him. In the Ultimate Universe, Peter looks up to Tony, and I feel that the MCU very much ran with this idea, especially after Robert Downey Junior had endeared this character to so many people through the Iron Man and Avengers Films. I think that for this topic, it's worth considering the loss of the original characters' personality, and the replacement of something new — but not necessarily less palatable or less nuanced. I think that nuance depends greatly on the writer, director, and actor concerned with whatever iteration of Stark is present, whether in comics or film — such as with Logan, which you referenced. Adapting characters with nuance is definitely possible. It's all about going into the character with confidence, in my opinion. – Patrick2 years ago
Comic books, back in the day, were the dose of tiger balm to the congested chest. They were painful narratives that made us think, that put our problems into the perspectives of a false world so a hero could show us they can be solved and the villains of our lives vanquished. Unfortunately, the solutions are solely on the page or on the screen, now with the Netflix series' of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, but does that erase the effect they have on us as viewers and readers?
Do the shows take some issues too far? Present them too blatantly or too straight-forward for escapism?
Are they too real and too relevant? Or exactly what we need?
Something else to consider would be whether or not the intention of comic books is still escapism. As entertainment becomes increasingly politicized, the escapism aspect may sit on a balance with a desire to provide political commentary. If you wanted to do that more broadly, too, you could look at the balance of escapism and commentary in modern comic books or their adaptations (like Daredevil/Jessica Jones/Luke Cage), which I feel like is what you might be trying to do. There's an excellent article about Ta-Nehisi Coates discussing his run of Black Panther which touches on this --> http://kotaku.com/ta-nehisi-coates-is-trying-to-do-right-by-marvel-comics-1769418783 – Sadie Britton8 years ago
I think the subjective nature social consciousness makes this a hard question to answer. Comics have always run the gamut from utterly ridiculous to uncomfortably real but a lot of that is in the personal interpretation. Most comics aren't going to be as clear in their messaging as Captain America punching Hitler in the face. The X-Men arose as an allegory for the Civil Rights movement but not every white comic reader in the 60s was thinking "I see, this is like how we treat black people". However black comic readers may have connected with the story in a different way. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage both seemed overtly political but technically were recreations of plot lines that were decades old. When Brock Turner is making headlines, Jessica's inability to consent holds more weight. When Black Lives Matter plays a large part in the political sphere, a bulletproof black guy (in a hoodie) holds more weight. Your environment and your gender/racial/sexual identity change whether you view it as a nice work of fiction or a very political one. – LC Morisset8 years ago
Whoever decides to write a piece about this topic, must keep the line about comic books being "the dose of tiger balm to the congested chest." Otherwise, no success will be achieved. – T. Palomino2 years ago
For someone who's just joining the comic scene and has no idea where to start when faced with the vast collection of Marvel Comics. The article should be more of a list on where the person can start, what can be skipped (if anything can be), and what is essential.
I, for sure, think it's personal preference. Depends on what the person wants to read because there is a vast spectrum full of comics that one CAN start with. I like the topic a lot, I'm just sitting here like "where does one start?" I kind of just picked up a comic book, and started reading. I was very into Aquaman when I started, but he doesn't really have a list or anything. He's basically a character by himself, so I didn't have much to go off of other than Justice League probably. But, the thing about comics is none can be necessarily "skipped" you just don't read them, there's not an order you read them in, so the topic would be kind of difficult on that aspect. Just personally. It's not like the TV shows. They have spin-off and crossover comics, but you don't have to read them in an order unless you wanted to. I would just choose something you like first--if Avengers looks appealing read that and then read the iron man, cap, loki, thor, etc., comics for each character. I guess that could work, explaining Avengers comics and then the character comics that Avengers derived from. So, the order of reading certain comics to get to Civil War would be interesting. There's comics you should read before getting to Civil War, there's a bunch of crossovers and spin-offs. I really like this topic, though, never really gave too much thought about it because I just tell my friends specific ones to read like Deadpool and Iron Man etc. :) – scole9 years ago
Personal preference will always come into it, although I think this is still a great topic. A couple of different comic books could be highlighted from a variety of characters/stories. – Jordan9 years ago
Possibly mention the Ultimate Universe, as it was created to be a jumping on point for new readers at the start of the millennium. – IanMcKinzey9 years ago
on this one, it would be kind of cool to see different generations; such as, millennials and where they should start compared to the generation after and "all-new" was aimed towards them and etc., – scole9 years ago
