So, not long ago I went and saw the movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It was a very good movie and I would recommend it. However, there was something that did bother me as someone who's been in and out of superhero comics for a long while. Now, there is valid reasoning for some of the omissions that happen. Usually, they happen by way of condensation and omission. Hollywood likes to adapt the origins of superheroes and then skip ahead to whatever the hottest new storylines for the character are. For example, the Captain America movies started with World War II and the Red Skull, which were stories from the actual 1940s with some elements of 1960s Cap thrown in. But then the second movie raced ahead to the Winter Soldier storyline, which is a story from 2005. Then the third movie adapted the Marvel Comics Civil War storyline which was from 2006-2007. There were decades of unused storylines in between those events. It wasn't until the Falcon and Winter Soldier series on Disney+ that they doubled back and adapted the Flag Smasher, Power Broker and John Walker stories from the 1980s.
But alas, I know comic books aren't going to be 100% just like decades-long runs of comic books. And I know fans can get awfully nitpicky about this stuff. But, as catharsis, I would still like to go into the things I missed and that I wish the moviegoing public could have seen. So, stick with me a little as I get these off my chest.
The Funny Damage Control
This is the one that came up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The depiction of Damage Control. In Brand New Day, as well as Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man, the Department of Damage Control is a meddlesome, and antagonistic government agency that seems intent on locking up and controlling superhumans at the expense of human rights. But what if I told you that Damage Control in the comics, usually was not a government agency, not corrupt and not trying to lock up anyone?
 |
| The cover of Damage Control #1 |
First appearing in 1988, created by writer Dwayne McDuffie and artist Ernie Colon, Damage Control was a comics miniseries about a private construction and engineering firm whose sole job was rebuilding after superhero and supervillain fights caused collateral damage in the city. It was also a workplace comedy. The company was originally founded by a woman named Anne Marie Hoag, but actually owned in secret by the unlikely alliance of Wilson Fisk (the Kingpin) and Tony Stark (Iron Man), who both had their own interests in keeping New York City from being torn down by superhumans. Other principal characters include traffic manager Robin Chapel, comptroller Albert Cleary, account executive John Porter, intern Bart Rozum, and technician Eugene Strausser. Damage Control would deal with such problems as how to remove the remains a giant robot from the city, how to fish the entirety of Avengers HQ out of the river, and how to deal with the employee shortage caused by one of your workers discovering an alien artifact at a job site and having an “superhero origin”. All while bantering and dealing with their own personal stuff and various guests from the rest of the Marvel Universe. Though Damage Control rarely has series of its own, they have become a staple of the worldbuilding of the Marvel Universe.
So, why does the MCU have an evil, decidedly unfunny version of Damage Control? Well, needing some kind of government villain is one reason. The other seems to be them expanding on a subplot from the comic Civil War in which Damage Control's CEO at the time, Walter Declun, was dealing Mutant Growth Hormone to villains in order to amp them up and create more collateral damage and thus more paying work for Damage Control. This small blip of a story that was largely separate from most of Damage Control's appearances, seems to have cemented the idea in the MCU that Damage Control are the bad guys. It's a shame, though. The MCU could use more neutral people and organizations that are germane to the superhero world itself.
The Great Thunderbolts Ruse
The year is 1997. Due to a big event storyline that was published across Marvel's whole line of comics entitled Onslaught, the Avengers and Fantastic Four have disappeared and are presumed dead. With these heroes gone, that leaves a big gap in the world's defenses. Who could fill it? Suddenly, a new team appears: The Thunderbolts! Their roster: sword-wielding leader Citizen V, super-strong giant Atlas, genius inventor Techno, sound-manipulating Songbird, energy-wielding Meteorite, and one-man jet squadron Mach-1! For all of an issue, the Thunderbolts avail themselves fairly well as a superhero team like any other, taking on a number of villains and easing the fears of the citizenry. That is . . . until the last page of issue #1. That's when it's revealed that the Thunderbolts are not actually superheroes, but the Avengers' archenemies the Masters of Evil in disguise! Citizen V is really Baron Zemo! Atlas is really Goliath! Techno is really the Fixer! Songbird is really Screaming Mimi! Meteorite is really Moonstone! Mach-1 is really the Beetle! As the series goes on, cracks start to form in the team. Some members like Citizen V and Meteorite stick to the original villainous plan. Others like Atlas, Songbird and Mach-1 start to realize that they like being superheroes. And Techno just goes along with whatever side will benefit him the most.
 |
| The cover of Thunderbolts #1 |
The movie Thunderbolts was decidedly not that. And with good reason. Other than Baron Zemo, none of those villains had been introduced into the MCU. The Thunderbolts movie was good for what it was and still managed to drop a twist ending on people when they got introduced as the “New Avengers” at the end. And to tell the truth, that original version of the Thunderbolts didn't last forever anyway. It kind of got passes around as a title for various different villain or antihero team books. But man, do I wish I could have seen Marvel Studios drop that particular twist on the moviegoing public! “You thought you were watching superheroes! Well, surprise! These are actually the bad guys!” Oh, well.
The Many Faces of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
One of the most consistent antagonists introduced in recent MCU movies is CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis Dreyfus. She appeared in a post-credits scene in Black Widow, she recruited U.S.Agent in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and she was revealed to have done all sorts of morally repugnant things in Thunderbolts. Hard to believe she used to be Nick Fury's girlfriend, isn't it?
 |
| A very famous (and scandalous) Steranko page featuring Fury and Val. |
ContessaValentina Allegra de Fontaine was created by famed comic book writer and artist JimSteranko in Strange Tales #159 in 1967. Steranko himself is an interesting guy, having worked as an escape artist and magician as well as an artist, as well as being the artist who introduced elements of psychedelia and op art. But that's a subject for another day. Anyway, Val was introduced as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who knocked Nick Fury for a loop upon first meeting her. She had a very long career with S.H.I.E.L.D. And an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Nick Fury until 2009 when it was revealed that Val was a mole working for a terrorist organization called Leviathan.
Look, I'm not the biggest fan of the Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. comics or Val in particular. But seeing her just show up from the beginning as an antagonist feels abrupt to me. Like, I get that they're adapting the newer stuff, but in the comics her being a villain had emotional weight because the readers and other characters thought she was a good guy for so long.
Hawkeye the Rabblerouser
Of all the first crop of Avengers in the movies, people seem to dismiss Hawkeye the most. He's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He's a guy who shoots arrows and he has a family. That's it. Just a standard, stable, family man. The most normal guy in the Avengers. Now, what if I told you that Hawkeye had one of the biggest personalities in Marvel Comics?
 |
| Cover of Hawkeye miniseries from 1983. |
Hawkeye first appears in Marvel Comics as a misguided villain in Tales of Suspense #57 in 1964 as a foe for Iron Man and an accomplice of the Black Widow, who was also a villain at the time. Later on, when most of the original lineup of Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and Wasp) quit, he showed up at Avengers mansion to try out for a spot. And as an Avenger, boy did Hawkeye make himself known. Clint Barton proved himself to be loud, rebellious, in-your-face, cocky, flippant. It was such that Captain America had to work overtime just to gain Hawkeye's respect. Also, if we associate Marvel heroes with “quippiness”, then Hawkeye was the “quippiest” Avenger. He was especially known for branding his teammates with all sorts of nicknames, like calling Iron Man “Shellhead”, or Thor “Goldilocks”. Hawkeye was the Avengers' resident wisecracking urban roughneck. The team rebel and the guy who would take risks no one else would (kind of a necessary thing when you're the only member of the team with no powers). Eventually, he would grow up and become something of a leader, but he wouldn't completely lose his rebellious streak.
So, how did Hawkeye go from the most quippy Avenger to possibly the least quippy Avenger. Well, part of it is that they based a lot of his characterization on a version of Hawkeye from a comic called The Ultimates, which depicted him as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a family. But another contributing factor is that, through Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal, they ended up giving most of Hawkeye's more flippant and rebellious traits to Iron Man instead. So, Hawkeye ended up having to be put into a different role.
And . . . I think that's all I've got for now. I'm sure I could come up with more. Like how Hank Pym (you know, Michael Douglas's character) was originally the one who built Ultron. Or how Bucky Barnes was originally depicted as Cap's kid sidekick rather than as a peer. Or how Drax the Destroyer was originally human . . .
Y'know what? I'd better stop before I've bored everyone.
Until next time . . .
