7) Mantis
Comic Books: Originally humanoid, Mantis was kidnapped by the Cotati alien race who believed her to be the prophesied Celestial Madonna, the mother of the Celestial Messiah (Space Jesus, in other words). She transformed into her green-skinned, insectoid form after conceiving the child with her Cotati husband. As well as being a master martial artist, Mantis also possesses a range of empathetic and psychic abilities. She’s a confident, kickass lady and has served as an Avenger as well as a Guardian over the years.
MCU: For Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, director James Gunn once again heavily rewrote the character. This Mantis is shy, socially-awkward and very naive and doesn’t share her comic book counterpart’s tic for referring to herself in the third person.
Bereft of her martial arts mastery and human backstory, Mantis only has her empathetic powers left. She does, though, eventually achieve something like her level of power in the comics when she fights against Ego the Living Planet during the movie’s climax.
What’s also interesting to note is that the changes to the character are so significant that Mantis’ creator Steve Englehart has said that he doesn’t even recognize Pom Klementieff as playing his creation.