Purple Marvel Characters Who Were Made into Other Colors in the MCU
Marvel is quite diverse. It has something for everyone, from powerful characters to gay ones and even very obscure characters.
The Marvel comic books are the inspiration for most of these characters, from their looks to their demeanor and even powers and story arcs. However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always had a tendency to stray from the source material in some aspects.
Visuals are one of these aspects. MCU has often made its characters look different from how they looked in the comics.
In this list, we are talking about all things visual and, within that, all things purple.
There have been quite a few purple Marvel characters in the comics, regardless of whether that color might appear in their clothes, their body, skin, or anything else affecting their looks. But, when they are adapted into movies, they often lose their purpleness, so to speak.
Here are the major characters that have lost the purple in their looks while making a move from the Marvel comics to the MCU.
Venom
Venom was first introduced in the MCU in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3. And that Venom's origins are what we are discussing here.
In the movie, Venom is black and attaches to Peter Parker and later Eddie Brock, who then becomes Spider-Man's nemesis. However, the initial inspiration for this movie's Venom was of a different color — Purple.
At one stage in the movie's production, Venom was purple. That was because Raimi and the supporting crew took inspiration from the Ultimate Comics'Â version of Venom. The hint for this comes from the fact that in the film, Brock is Eddie Brock Jr., like in the Ultimate Comics.
During the costume tests, the costume used for Brock was purple. Even the first Venom action figures that were released to the public were purple.
Here’s one for action figure fans, the reason why the first Venom figure was purple was because Venom was purple during costume tests! This was fixed with the Limited Edition Venom figure, with movie accurate colours. pic.twitter.com/NP7MZ6Ks4b — Will (@WilliamD1123) January 30, 2018
However, the decision-makers decided to go for a black and far more comic-accurate Venom suit. And that has been the case ever since, with every iteration of Venom appearing in movies being black.
Hawkeye
Hawkeye is MCU's one of the most beloved characters. The archer has his origins in the comics — his first appearance came in Tales of Suspense #57.
Clint Barton's self-designed suit in the comics has a whole lot of purple. His costume consisted of a wing-eyed purple helmet design with a bold, visible-from-a-mile-away 'H,' purple boots and short sleeves, and bits of the same color scattered all over the rest of his suit.
In the MCU, however, Hawkeye's suit does not have nearly as much of his favorite color. His suits have a mostly dark, often black appearance.
What style costume do you prefer in Ep 2 of #MinuteMatchUps ?! Fav for MCU Hawkeye, RT for classic/comic Hawkeye! pic.twitter.com/gHgD279l2u — Danny Shepherd (@DannyLaShep) May 24, 2015
But, that has been gradually changing. And in Hawkeye the show, Barton wears the most comic-accurate suit to date, with the entire show's aesthetic incorporating a lot of purple.
There was even a cosplay of his original Tales of Suspense #57 suit in one of the promos. However, Barton himself wears a more Ultimate Comics' line of suit, which looks modern and sleek.
Drax the Destroyer
Dave Bautista's Drax the Destroyer is one formidable character and also a funny one. The movie version of the character has been derived from the comics, looks-wise.
However, this top-body naked Drax is not how he looked when he was first introduced in the Marvel comics.
Naw, I don't love the movie DRAX......I love the original JIM STARLIN comic book DRAX THE DESTROYER! pic.twitter.com/42FFatk4m5 — Starrxxfoxx (@Starrxxfoxx) December 21, 2017
Drax was created by Jim Starlin in the '60s, and in his original iteration, Drax has much more clothes on. He is still green-skinned, but he sports a purple cape, providing a nice contrast between his skin tone and his clothing. Also worth mentioning might be the fact that he was much smarter and level-headed than the current MCU version of him.
As for the current Drax, he is a derivation from Keith Griffin's Drax, who chose to make him not want shirts, give him tattoos, have him prefer knives, and make him less intelligent than the original character.
Hulk
Now you might wonder, "Why is Hulk in this list? Has he not always been green?"
And yes, while that might be true, it's not his skin color we are concerned about here. It's his shorts.
Hulk is iconic not only for his green monstrosity but also for his torn and almost-off purple pants. And the contrast between his green skin and the purple pants is popping.
I noticed that they actually turned Hulk's purple shorts into pants for the comic book look.
That's a pretty cool detail pic.twitter.com/wujdXj58zw — Hulk Archives (@hulkarchives) June 6, 2021
In the movies, however, his shorts are never really that obviously purple. In the first few movies of the MCU, his pants appeared more brown and beige than purple, and even blue at times.
Sure, to make things look realistic, the pop in the color might not make sense. However, it should still look purple. In recent movies, his pants do look more purple-ish but still not with that comic-like contrast.