When a movie studio has a new comic book movie coming out they like to advertise anyway they can. Some of these advertisements include television, posters, website ads, that kind of thing. You would assume ads in comic books too, but Marvel Comics is guilty of going a step further.
Comic book movies are inspired by comic books. Sometimes creative liberties are made for the benefit of the story, but that's all. Ego The Living Planet wasn't made a Celestial God to shake the comic book industry, the makers of "Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2" just needed a simple explanation. As such you'll find Marvel-and sometimes DC Comics-changing their continuity, hyping up characters, and establishing non-existent relationships just to match the films they're making. The obvious example of this is with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Up until 2014, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were the children of Magneto and official mutants. They were the first mutants on The Avengers. However, due to a legal dispute between Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox, both companies gained the rights to put the twins in their movies. Now since Marvel can't say their twins are mutants in their Avengers movies-and they didn't want to give Fox any credit-they felt it necessary to change the origins of the twins in the comics so that they were no longer connected to Magneto or mutants. While Quicksilver got to stay the same in the X-Men films, Marvel Studios made it so Wanda and Pietro got their powers from an Infinity Stone, and Marvel Comics retconned the twin's origin to establish they were scientifically enhanced by a supervillain. All of that because of film rights. An easier example is Howard The Duck-a fan favorite around these parts. In the comics-before his cameo in "Guardians of The Galaxy"-he had nothing to do with The Guardians. But after the cameo he ended up meeting The Guardians in issue two of his 2014 series and teaming up with Rocket Raccoon four times afterwards. Then there is Darren Cross, who was just a rich guy before the "Ant-Man". But in "Ant-Man" Darren wore a Yellowjacket suit, and-sure enough-in the 2014 Ant-Man solo series he reappeared and wore a Yellowjacket armor! The list goes on. Characters like Iron Fist were changed in theme to match his show, Vulture and Ego got pushed for more recent appearances, and characters like Phil Coulson and Hope Pym got their own comic book versions to match the films (granted Hope was imitated by a teenaged daughter of Pym). But why? Why!?
See, the reason comic book publishers respond to the films by changing their canon is because they think their comic books are actually being purchased by people who saw the film. I've said this many times, but they fail to understand that the common movie-goer isn't reading comic books. Just because you have four new Doctor Strange books doesn't mean the guy walking out of the Doctor Strange movie is going to read them all. And if you want to say "we're doing it for the hardcore fans" then why do it now when the film just came out? For an excuse to make more books? It just all seems like a hopeless stunt to get more readers who see the films, but the sad fact is nobody is going from seeing "Ant-Man" to a comic book shop to just pick up twelve issues of it. And if they are doing that it's because they were already reading some other comics.
Getting into comic books isn't like getting into baseball. What I mean is, to be a fan of baseball all you have to do is follow a few teams, know some names, know some scores, and know when to watch the games. But comics? There's a lot more. If you want to be a follower of Spider-Man then you better know about his 1960's creation, his various writers and artists, his supporting cast, his villains, his powers, his suits, certain story arcs, editorial changes and upsets, various Spider-Man titles and miniseries, alternate universes, non-canon stories, all of that AND what doesn't actually exist anymore. Unlike actual history, comic book history can change just by a writer saying "oh, that was all fake" or "the universe was changed so it didn't happen". And that's all about Spider-Man! Imagine wanting to be a serious Avengers or X-Men fan. All the characters and their histories combined with the history of the teams. That's way more complicated. Comics require a lot of time and patience, and it's easier to remember a two hour film than 75 years of comic books. Not to mention the streamlined world Marvel Studios has created, no retcons or big changes.
If you ask me, comic book writers should have the freedom of writing whatever they want. Just because Vulture showed up in a movie doesn't mean Spider-Man has to fight him in two different books. Just because the latest Wolverine film was loosely based on "Old Man Logan" doesn't mean Old Man Logan has to be part of the main Marvel Universe. And just because The Hulk, Namor, and Doctor Strange were replaced by the Netflix heroes in that "Defenders" show doesn't mean they shouldn't be excluded out of the comic series. Seriously, the ACTUAL Defenders are pretty badass.
Thanks for reading!
See, the reason comic book publishers respond to the films by changing their canon is because they think their comic books are actually being purchased by people who saw the film. I've said this many times, but they fail to understand that the common movie-goer isn't reading comic books. Just because you have four new Doctor Strange books doesn't mean the guy walking out of the Doctor Strange movie is going to read them all. And if you want to say "we're doing it for the hardcore fans" then why do it now when the film just came out? For an excuse to make more books? It just all seems like a hopeless stunt to get more readers who see the films, but the sad fact is nobody is going from seeing "Ant-Man" to a comic book shop to just pick up twelve issues of it. And if they are doing that it's because they were already reading some other comics.
Getting into comic books isn't like getting into baseball. What I mean is, to be a fan of baseball all you have to do is follow a few teams, know some names, know some scores, and know when to watch the games. But comics? There's a lot more. If you want to be a follower of Spider-Man then you better know about his 1960's creation, his various writers and artists, his supporting cast, his villains, his powers, his suits, certain story arcs, editorial changes and upsets, various Spider-Man titles and miniseries, alternate universes, non-canon stories, all of that AND what doesn't actually exist anymore. Unlike actual history, comic book history can change just by a writer saying "oh, that was all fake" or "the universe was changed so it didn't happen". And that's all about Spider-Man! Imagine wanting to be a serious Avengers or X-Men fan. All the characters and their histories combined with the history of the teams. That's way more complicated. Comics require a lot of time and patience, and it's easier to remember a two hour film than 75 years of comic books. Not to mention the streamlined world Marvel Studios has created, no retcons or big changes.
If you ask me, comic book writers should have the freedom of writing whatever they want. Just because Vulture showed up in a movie doesn't mean Spider-Man has to fight him in two different books. Just because the latest Wolverine film was loosely based on "Old Man Logan" doesn't mean Old Man Logan has to be part of the main Marvel Universe. And just because The Hulk, Namor, and Doctor Strange were replaced by the Netflix heroes in that "Defenders" show doesn't mean they shouldn't be excluded out of the comic series. Seriously, the ACTUAL Defenders are pretty badass.
Thanks for reading!
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