11 Best Things The MCU Did Differently To The Comics

2. Nearly Everything About The Guardians Films - Guardians Of The Galaxy

Guardians Of The Galaxy Planning
Marvel Studios

James Gunn was to the Guardians of the Galaxy what RDJ is to Iron Man - a pivotal influence that impacted not only Marvel's films, but their comics too.

Prior to 2014, to say that the Guardians were an obscure property would be the understatement of the century. They'd floated in and out of mainstream Marvel continuity for several decades, and while their 2008 comics reboot curtesy of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning was important, their respective characterisations were still a far cry from the ones audiences became accustomed to in Gunn's films.

While Rocket Raccoon mostly stayed the same, as did Gamora and Groot, Star-Lord and Drax underwent several key changes. Peter Quill now has a tremendous arc revolving around his mother and the classics of the sixties and seventies, and Bautista's Drax boasts an oblivious quality that makes for one of the team's most hilarious dynamics.

Then there's Yondu. In the comics, Yondu was an OG Guardian and rocked a design that differed drastically to his onscreen counterpart, played to great effect by Michael Rooker. Throw in the father-son dynamic between him and Quill, as well as that of Kurt Russell's Ego (who was literally a living planet in the comics), and it becomes clear as day why Guardians owes so much of its success to Gunn, Nicole Perlman, and the cast themselves.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.