The Marvel Cinematic Universe has worked hard to create unique movies and stories, while also paying tribute to the comic book stories that laid the foundation for their success. This included several Avengers moments that were lifted straight from the comic book pages and ended up transposed to the big screen almost unchanged. The MCU has to diverge from the comics in many areas because of complications with telling a comic book story in a movie, as well as the changes of characters that are often out of the individual director’s control. However, when the movies deliver a pitch-perfect scene pulled from the comics, it offers fans a special moment that adds to the experience.
From Thanos’s retirement to Captain America passing on his shield, here is a look at five accurate Avengers comic book scenes brought into the Marvel movies.
In Captain America: Civil War, the Avengers imploded and fractured, with half the team siding with Iron Man and the other half with Captain America. This entire storyline was based on a comic book tale that had the same two heroes going to war after disagreeing on a new law that required all heroes to register and serve as operatives for the government. There were a few moments in the movie that called on the comics, but one of the best came with two minor heroes.
There was a scene in the movie that showed Hawkeye pulling back his bow, preparing to fire an arrow. However, the camera then zoomed in and showed Ant-Man kneeling on the tip of the arrow, a nice trick shot that took their opponents by surprise. This shot was pulled straight from a comic book cover. In The Avengers #223 (1982), the cover had Hawkeye aiming his arrow with Ant-Man on it, and the movie delivered the perfect homage to this artwork.
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Captain America went back in time to return all the Infinity Stones to where they got them from to ensure the timeline didn’t break. However, he never returned. This led to Falcon (Sam Wilson) noticing someone sitting alone on a bench in the distance. When Sam went over, he saw it was Steve Rogers, now an older man, and the two had a moment of reflection when Sam realized that Steve lived out his life rather than return to the present.
That is when Steve gave Sam the shield and passed on the role of Captain America to the man who just helped save the world as the Falcon. This scene is copied from Captain America Vol. 7 #25 (2014) by writer Rick Remender and artist Carlos Pacheco. In the comics, Steve had started aging because his Super-Soldier Serum was neutralized. An older Captain America did the same thing, passing on his shield in almost the exact same setup.
Captain America: Civil War ended with Captain America, the Winter Soldier, and Iron Man all in battle. Iron Man had learned that Bucky had killed his parents while brainwashed and under Hydra control, and he wanted to kill Bucky for it. This led to Captain America coming to Bucky’s defense, and a massive battle between Iron Man and Captain America took place. This one-on-one battle is how the comic book storyline ended, but the movie changed things.
Instead of Captain America surrendering as he did in the comics, he stopped the fight and then left Iron Man alone as Cap went into hiding, and Bucky gained shelter in Wakanda. However, the scene lifted from the comics was the one where Iron Man fired his repulsors at full blast at Cap, while Cap held up his shield and let them deflect off the metal. This moment happened in Civil War #7 (2007) by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, and the shot is a duplicate of the scene from the comics.
At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos won. His goal was to gain all the Infinity Stones and then snap half of all life out of existence in the universe. In the comic book storyline, he succeeded, and in the movie, he also found success. It wasn’t until Avengers: Endgame, in which the Avengers went back in time to gather their own Infinity Stones, that they could reverse the actions.
In some readings of the first movie, Thanos was the hero of his own story, believing that he was saving the future of the universe by culling the overpopulation that threatened to destroy all life. That made the final shot, which was pulled straight from The Infinity Gauntlet #6 (1991) by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, so perfect. In both the comics and the movie, Thanos sat in quiet satisfaction on a farm, retired and content with his actions.
The idea of Steve Rogers waking up in the present day and not knowing how he got there was pulled straight out of the comics and his Marvel introduction in Avengers #4 (1964). In the comics, Captain America was one of the original superheroes who existed before Marvel Comics began publishing books under that name, and he was lost during World War II when he attempted to stop a launched missile.
The same thing happened in the MCU with Captain America: The First Avenger. At the end of that movie, he woke up in a small room that seemed like a hospital, but then realized that something was wrong, and he fought his way out to find himself in the present day, with no understanding of what was happening. Both the comics and the movie had the same emotional beats, from him being in disbelief, trying to fight or flee, and his eventual realization that his entire generation was gone.
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