10 MCU Characters That Are Totally Different From The Comics

1) The Entire Supporting Cast Of Spider-Man: Homecoming

Comic Books: A huge swathe of the supporting cast of Spider-Man: Homecoming are derived from the comics in some way but have been heavily modified to fit the movie’s story and setting. For one, Ned Leeds and Betty Brant are usually his colleagues at the Daily Bugle – Betty is his first girlfriend and Ned later becomes the supervillain the Hobgoblin. Significant figures in the comics such as Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy are nowhere to be seen in the movie, though.

MCU: In the films, Ned Leeds is merged with Ganke Lee and becomes Peter’s best friend and one of the few to know his secret identity. Liz Allen and Flash Thompson, meanwhile, broadly fulfill the same roles as in the comics, but their personalities are reimagined. Several minor characters were Peter’s classmates in the source material, though (Sally Avril, Jason Ionello, Cindy Moon and Seymour O’Reilly).

The supporting character who changed the most from the page onto the screen is Mary Jane Watson. In Homecoming, the role of ‘M.J.’ is filled by Zendaya’s Michelle Jones, who it’s hinted will go onto become Peter’s main love interest. With M.J.’s personality, ethnicity and even name being entirely different, Mary Jane and Michelle are hardly the same person – but the familiar initials make it clear that the latter is intended to be a loose adaptation of the former.

And that’s not even mentioning the movie’s wholly different interpretation of Aunt May!