11 Best Things The MCU Did Differently To The Comics

8. Steve And Bucky's Friendship - Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America First Avenger Steve Bucky
Marvel Studios

Of all the things the MCU did differently to the comics, the portrayal of Bucky Barnes is right up there with the very best.

In the comics, James Buchanan Barnes is only a teenager when the war breaks out. He encounters a still-skinny Steve Rogers during boot-camp, where he acts as a mascot of sorts, before discovering that he and Captain America are one and the same. Wanting to join the fight, 'Bucky' undergoes an extensive training regimen until he eventually accompanies the Captain to the European Theatre, at which point he follows in Steve's footsteps, until they're separated and... well, the Soviets find him.

The rest, as they say, is history. Bucky becomes the Winter Soldier, and it's this particular incarnation (Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's) that the Captain America films drew their inspiration from.

In any case, the decision to make Bucky a capable soldier, and the more confident of the pair, is one of The First Avenger's best legacies. It makes their friendship more believable, and is a major step-up from the Robin-esque caricature that followed Steve around the fields of France in the comics.

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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.