You would think that anyone heading into Marvel Studios to make an MCU movie should have some idea of the characters they are about to work with. However, according to Marvel producer Nate Moore, it can be much more of a hindrance than a help. Moore recently told The Town with Matt Belloni that for him, there is a “red flag” moment when writers come in with specific detailed knowledge of Marvel Comics. He said:
"One thing I think is interesting, and specifically for writers, I would say, a lot of times, we're pitched writers who love Marvel. And to me, that's always a red flag. Because I go, 'Oh, I don't want you to already have a pre-existing idea of what it is, because you grew up with Issue 15 and that's what you want to recreate.’ I want somebody who's hard on the material, who goes, 'What is this? I think there's a movie here, but maybe we should be looking at it in this way.'"
The producer cited certain people who have made a significant impact on the MCU recently without being heavily invested in the world of comics and therefore were not afraid to bring something different to the characters they were putting on screen. He continued:
"The best example of that for me was Markus and McFeely, who weren't comic guys coming up, but were like, 'Wait, Captain America, this seems a bit weird. What if we kinda looked at it in this way?' And they weren't married to anything, nothing was, you know, there was nothing sacrosanct, and I think that's important to be able to go, 'Look, the source material is great, and I love it, and comics work in the medium they were built in, but that's not a direct, one-to-one translation to the best version of the movie.' And sometimes it takes someone who's out of this culture to go, 'Hey, I know you think it should be this, but maybe it should be this other thing.'"
Are All Changes to Marvel Canon a Good Thing?
Clearly, some canon changes work for the best, and others simply seem to rile up long-term Marvel Comics fans. Obviously, some changes are out of the hands of everyone, such as those seen in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever following the death of Chadwick Boseman. The handover of the Black Panther mantle happens much later in the comics, but due to circumstances, the replacement of T’Challa as Black Panther needed to happen now in the MCU.
When it comes down to it, the MCU is an adaptation of a long history of Marvel Comics, which has seen some characters being reinterpreted several times by different writers and artists. The MCU is an extension of that, so having writers and directors who are not excessively invested in a particular comic book version of a character will bring something new to the party. As long as the majority of these changes land well with MCU fans, we can expect more surprises for those who know the comics and those who don’t.