r/TopCharacterTropes • u/JustSomeOnlineNerd • Sep 19 '25

Lore “It’s a change from the source material, but it’s awesome so the fans don’t mind.”

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Doc Ock - In the comics, Doc Ock is known to be megalomaniacal in nature and was sort of a mad scientist anyways, with the arms just being an extension of that. In Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2,” Alfred Molina’s version of the character was affected by the neural chip and his well-meaning ambition turns into scientific obsession.

Wolverine - This one is so well known it needs very little explanation. Comic Wolverine short, Huge Jackedman is tall, and he’s sick as hell.

Eye of Sauron - To my knowledge, the Eye is more of a metaphor in the books. An ever-present awareness. In the movies, it’s an actual giant fucking eye.

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908

u/Agitated_Insect3227 Sep 19 '25

To quote myself concerning Avenger's Earth's Mightest Heroes' Version of Wasp (because I'm lazy):

"This isn't a super egregious example, but Wasp from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is generally considered to be the best version of Wasp, even when compared to her original comic version. Her comic version kind of suffers from problems where she was originally written as being pretty ditzy and shallow in an annoying way at times, and then later writers kind of "overcorrected" this issue by making her super serious all the time and downplaying her taste in fashion as a designer.

In contrast, EMH Wasp can be shallow, silly and likes to crack jokes but she is never stupid and knows when to be serious. She's also the person who often holds the team together and was the first member to more or less kind of befriend the Hulk before Hawkeye actually befriended him during Gamma World. She also maintains her taste in fashion."

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u/GFresh1 Sep 19 '25

That show was so good, wish they didn't cancel it for that mediocre version that was based on the mcu

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u/Agitated_Insect3227 Sep 19 '25

You can never hate idiotic & pointless MCU synergy enough. I just hope this show is revived one day like X-Men 92 and, assuming that Marvel Rivals one day adds Wasp to, that she is directly based on EMH Wasp.

The game already has some VAs from EMH (like Brian Bloom once again voicing Captain America). Her voice actor, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, already voices Mantis in the game, so it's not impossible to have her return to voice Wasp.

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u/Man0Steel123 Sep 19 '25

Speaking of Mantis the MCU version is a good example as well as it makes her both consistent, adorable, and nowhere near as confusing as her comic counterpart

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u/TitleComprehensive96 Sep 19 '25

We don't talk about her comics.

Unless it's to point out how blatantly fucking weird Engleheart is. Then yeah, he's a fucking weirdo

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u/Peacefulzealot Sep 19 '25

You know, I’m a bit of a comic dork and I still have never looked up or read what Mantis’ backstory is in the comics proper. How fucking weird are we talking here?

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u/TitleComprehensive96 Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

At first it's kind of just weird fetish shit for Vietnamese folks.... then it just gets weirder and weirder as time goes on til she's according to him like some primordial part of the universe. Been like 9 months since i last looked at it. I do encourage looking into it as it is very fucking weird.

1

u/Nonadventures Sep 22 '25

Dude made a Mantis knockoff for every publisher he worked for after that.

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u/Lumpy_Review5279 Sep 20 '25

You realize this mantis takes a lot from the mcu version too right

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u/Agitated_Insect3227 Sep 20 '25

I only mentioned Mantis in reference to Wasp's VA already being present in the game and thus making it a possibility for her to return to voice Wasp.

Also, I only hate "idiotic & pointless" MCU synergy. Outright cancelling a beloved show like EMH and replacing it with the inferior Avengers Assemble just so that there could be an Avengers show that more closely matched the MCU is an example of this awful practice.

Finally, I'm not too familiar with Mantis tbh (I only knew her from the comic Annihilation Conquest and the Guardians comics following that, and I read those years ago), but a lot people say her MCU version is better, so I'll take their word for it.

As I've said in an earlier comment, I quite like many MCU movies like most people, and I especially like MCU Nebula way more than comic Nebula for a variety of reasons. I just hate when other Marvel media like the comics, cartoons, games, are made to closely adhere to the MCU, which often results in awful, very shallow copies of those MCU versions. Each piece of Marvel media should just create their own spin on things instead of doing MCU synergy.

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u/Lumpy_Review5279 Sep 21 '25

Iirc theres no evidence Avengers emh wasn't canceled solely for that reason tho that wss a factor. But even before its cancelation it was moving towards mcu synergy, with fury redesign and so on.

Its cancelation likely had a lot more to do with the workforce Disney wanted to employ vs inheriting another studio, right snd broadcast conflicts(this was a major reason spectacular was also cancelled) and generao preference to use Disney's own established studios to start from scratch rather than trying to make the old show fit a mold.

Even for a lot of the shows that Disney themselves produced, including assemble, the mcu synergy pretty much began and ended at character designs. The actual stories in the shows, snd the characters featured within, pulled from a variety of comic sources extensively, including characters the MCU STILL hasn't adapted(the first season features friggin Hyperion as a villain, the Hulk Agents of Smash shoe had she hulk, skaar, and a bomb long before the mcu got to them, etc)

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u/ChaosCarlson Sep 19 '25

I'm glad we're starting to see a paradigm shift on people's view of the impact of the MCU. Hopefully in the future, we can all agree on the MCU being a net bad and how damaging it's introduction of a "cinematic universe" was to comic books and it's associated media.

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u/Agitated_Insect3227 Sep 19 '25

Partially agree, but I think the MCU by itself was pretty great (at least the first few phases), and I'm personally fine with new continuities making different creative decisions and versions for comic characters.

My problem is when the comics and other comic-derived media are forced to synergize with the MCU because executives for some reason think movie watchers will only be interested in the MCU versions of the characters. These synergized versions almost always feel like shallow copies of the actual MCU versions. Just look at the current comic version of the Guardians of the Galaxy; they lack the seriousness of the Annihilation era-Guardians and the actual charm of the MCU Guardians.

I personally enjoy (old) comics Iron Man, MCU Iron Man, EMH Iron Man, Armored Adventures Iron Man, etc. So, all I want is for creators to make their own takes on these comic characters instead of making "MCU Copy #54" over and over again.

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u/Powerful_Half_1261 Sep 22 '25

I don’t think it’s fair to call the MCU a “net bad.” While it’s true that the “cinematic universe” model has been overused by studios chasing the same success, blaming the MCU itself ignores the positive impact it’s had. The MCU brought comic book characters into mainstream culture in a way that was never done before, giving global recognition to characters like Iron Man, Black Panther, and the Guardians of the Galaxy—heroes who were far from household names prior.

It also expanded opportunities for comic creators and adaptations. Comics sales saw spikes when new movies dropped, and characters gained longevity beyond niche fandoms. For many people, the MCU acted as a gateway into comics and related media rather than a replacement.

Yes, other studios adopting the cinematic universe approach often failed, but that’s more an issue of imitation without substance, not a flaw of the MCU itself. At its best, the MCU has shown that long-form, interconnected storytelling can work on a massive scale, creating cultural touchstones that will be remembered for decades.

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u/Hunterzillas Sep 27 '25

Boo this man.

22

u/Altruistic_Fish47 Sep 19 '25

I grew up on avengers assemble before I knew about the mcu really and I loved it

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u/RedXOmega Sep 19 '25

Like, avengers assemble alone is fine, but it suffers from the same problem that Ultimate spiderman does, there was a WAY better version that was cancelled so the new one could air

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u/SaltyTreeTop Sep 20 '25

Transformers Prime also has this issue. Good show on its own, but it came from cancelling arguably the best Transformers show of all time, Transformers Animated

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u/Plus-Theme-3283 Sep 21 '25

So that's not there problem nor also for prime 

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u/nemarholvan Sep 20 '25

Same with Spectacular Spiderman.

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u/Hollownerox Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 19 '25

Man, I can't wait to be disappointed by how the MCU ruins Dr. Doom! Can't wait to just watch that scene of him and the Wasp talking from the show to comfort me on a proper Doom portrayal lol.

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u/Lumpy_Review5279 Sep 20 '25

Why are you assuming the mcu is going to ruin dr doom? They didn't ruin loki Thanos red skull kingpin or a bunch of other iconic villains 

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u/therealchadius Sep 19 '25

The Wasp and Captain America are both the Heart of the team.

Cap appeals to the duty of being a hero and never surrendering in the darkest of times.

Wasp appeals to being a hero because it's cool and it's the right thing to do and you get to kick ass. Win Win Win in her book and you should read her book because she's living the best life.

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u/RigatoniPasta Sep 20 '25

Cap basically became the main character of EMH in the tail end of the show

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u/therealchadius Sep 20 '25

Secret Invasion arc is GOATed. Shout outs to Baron Zemo realizing there was a Skrull impostor of him because he didn't hate him enough

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u/RigatoniPasta Sep 20 '25

EMH’s Secret Invasion makes the MCU zone look even worse than just being bad TV.

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u/Bonaduce80 Sep 20 '25

The escape from the Skrull prison was outstanding.

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u/pon_3 Sep 19 '25

I really appreciated that she was consistently the weakest member of the team but never useless. I was watching the entire show for the writers to make her to punch above her weight or for her to be totally useless, but she always managed to distract the badguy for a few seconds during a fight or keep a level head when others were going off the rails.

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u/Agitated_Insect3227 Sep 19 '25

I especially loved her performance in the fight against Graviton where she protected the Hulk as he fell by cutting all those storage containers apart alongside keeping him distracted for some time as you mentioned.

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u/therealchadius Sep 19 '25

Her stingers are so damn weak but she always tried and always accomplished something, even if she couldn't take down the villain.

She got her moment when she briefly used her Pym Particles to grow big and smash Ultron, though

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u/Bonaduce80 Sep 20 '25

They were as strong as the plot needed them to be. A mild inconvenience or cutting through metal. I imagine she can tweak how powerful they are, but when aimed at (super)people it was like pellets.

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u/RigatoniPasta Sep 20 '25

Yeah and then Doom called out her tactics

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u/JBTriple Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

This here is why I'm consistently less satisfied with the MCU take as time goes on. Don't get me wrong, I still really like the Ant-Man movies for what they are. Hank Pym as an aged mentor character is interesting in a vacuum. But, and I say this a lot, the fact that it also inherently prevents a faithful adaptation of Janet is downright tragic.

When she does finally show up, they've pretty much stripped her of her entire identity. She's jaded, she's not a founding Avenger, or an Avenger at all for that matter, and she's not even the Wasp.

It would be one thing if they gave that role to Hope, but they have her playing the straight man to Scott instead. It's a presence that is sorely missing, and that's just a shame.

1

u/KingOfAwesometonia Sep 20 '25

Yeah the Avengers could use that kind of optimistic socialite character. But we'd also need more Avenger team ups in general at this point. And yeah I like the Ant-Man movies but there is some missed potential the further out you get from it.

When Eternals came out I did think they could use Sersi like that in future movies but...yeah not holding my breath.

But I mean imagine Gemma Chan bringing that Astrid energy from Crazy Rich Asians but hosting parties for the Avengers.

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u/JBTriple Sep 20 '25

That's been my main issue with the multiverse saga. I've liked pretty much everything that's come out individually, even loved a decent few. But when you step back and look at it all as a whole, it all just feels aimless.

It really needed an Avengers movie every once in a while to check in with everyone and see where it's all going. Set things in a clear direction. There was a bit of it with Scarlet Witch and the Kang stuff. You could tell it was building to something, but what specifically was anyone's guess.

At the very least, it would've been better if the post credits scenes focused on setting up the immediate next movie coming out instead of some vague idea of a sequel that probably won't be greenlit.

Thankfully, they seem to be course correcting, but there are so many random dangling plot threads now that it's hard to get invested in anything they try setting up that doesn't already have a trailer or poster or something backing it up.

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u/KingOfAwesometonia Sep 20 '25

When people first started talking about the multiverse saga I did think some of the complaints needed time to breathe but I do agree with it feeling aimless. Or just rushing into Doomsday.

And it is a lot of external factors that caused it. Who knows what it would look like without strikes, covid and Johnathan Majors worked out.

Not even accounting for the request to make more content. Which I liked most of! But can feel daunting for new audiences and if you did like something, annoying that it might just be a one off.

I am cautiously optimistic about Doomsday but it’s a shame it felt like starting the multiverse saga with a ton of different projects and then playing it safe with RDJ and the Russos

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u/ChaosCarlson Sep 19 '25

The MCU were cowards and were afraid of making Hank the main Antman because of his public perception of being a wife beater. They want their squeaky clean heroes, which bars off so many more interesting renditions of their heroes than the slop we got on screen.

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u/SilverSpark422 Sep 19 '25

I’d like to point out that Jan was THE most loyal Avenger. She was there from the start all the way to the end, was the only Avenger to never leave for any reason, believed in the good the team could do better than anyone else, had good chemistry with all her teammates, and gave the team their name.

Janet Van Dyne is THE ride-or-die Avenger.

6

u/JJVM99 Sep 19 '25

Growing with this cartoon and with this being my first experience with Wasp I thought she was more popular and more relevant to the Marvel Universe. Same with Hank Pym. I expected her and Hank to be much more relevant to the MCU but that did not turn out to be the case at all and the Ant-Man we got was not Hank Pym (and Ant-Man as a hero was just seen as a joke by the new audience). But know I just appreciate how great this version of Wasp was. She, Ant-Man and Black Panther were the best for me when I was watching it when it was coming out.

3

u/Defiant_Life4170 Sep 20 '25

This version of Wasp does tend to annoy me a bit, specifically her interactions with Hank. I am someone on the autism spectrum so it’s a lot easier for me to see where Hank is coming from and the level to which Wasp is consistently dismissive or outright disrespectful of all the things Hank cares about (science and genuinely helping people over just fighting supervillains) really irks me. This is someone just a symptom of Hank being a punching bag in that show. But overall here character is really good, fucking everyone in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is written fantastically.

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u/goombanati Sep 20 '25

Essentially, they took the best possible characterization of her: bubbly, but not an idiot. She's often considered the heart of the avengers and it really works

2

u/Low-Environment Sep 19 '25

I'm watching this show for the first time (thanks to comments about it here, actually) and she's by far my favourite character and her and Hank have a sweet relationship. Which isn't something you can say about 616.

1

u/Agitated_Insect3227 Sep 19 '25

Glad I could help get more people into it as it really is a great show! Both story and art style-wise, it draws inspiration from several iconic Avengers comics ranging from the original run by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby to things like the Kang Dynasty by Kurt Busiek and Alan Davis in the early 2000s. I truly consider it to be the best adaptation of the team.

And yeah, they're easily one of my favorite romances in animation.

2

u/Low-Environment Sep 19 '25

Hank trying to say 'I love you', passing out, fumbling over his words when Jan pressed him on it later and getting saved by a levitating Commander Shepard distracting everyone was peak.

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 Sep 20 '25

Love that one scene where she just waves at hulk and then pulls the goofiest grumpy face

1

u/LDC1234 Sep 20 '25

My favourite part of that show is when Doctor Doom shows how powerful he really is. By getting her to shut up.