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Observant fans might have noticed that there are plenty of differences between MCU films and their source material. From tonal shifts to characters being added or removed, films like Captain America: Civil War end up having very little in common with the comic books that inspired them. According to Avengers: Endgame directors, the Russo Brothers, that is very intentional.

During the Main Stage panel for Netflix’s The Electric State and MCM London in October 2024, the Russo Brothers were asked about how they went about adapting the graphic novel the film is based on. “We like to be impressionistic when we do an adaptation. We always said this with our Marvel work – if you want to see, you know, the comic book version of Civil War, go read the comic book. You know, we don’t have to tell you the same story and, frankly, it is probably uninteresting for us to tell you the same story because you know where the story’s going.”

While comic book purists probably balk at the idea of the Russos or anyone else making such drastic changes to the source material, it is hard to argue with that logic. Just like the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series needed to make some big changes to some of the cartoon’s emotional moments, comic book films need to feel like more than a direct adaptation of the source material or what is the point of watching? We can just read the graphic novel we’ve already got on our shelf and save ourselves a trip to the cinema.

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