The MCU is close to having a monopoly on comic book movies, but Chris Evans played his biggest comic book superhero character role), with the first Avengers film released two years later. Though vastly different in style, both the MCU and Scott Pilgrim have their sources in comic books, and the latter comes out on top in this specific context.
The film follows the simple comic story of Scott who falls in love with a delivery driver, Ramona, but in order to date her he has to defeat her seven evil ex's. Scott fights the ex's video-game style, which is perfectly integrated into its fairly grounded premise. Though Scott Pilgrim bombed at the box office, there is one way Edgar Wright's movie beats the mammoth that is the MCU.
Scott Pilgrim is faithful and loyal to its comic source in its entirety, whereas the MCU isn't, sometimes even making its characters unrecognizable from the comics. Its styling, colors, effects and overall aesthetic are nearly perfectly accurate to the comic, even recreating s from the book, completely leaning into its outrageous and exaggerated origin. The MCU, however, took a more vague route of adapting its comic stories, with an overall muted palette and more mature storytelling.
Scott Pilgrim isn't afraid to make its comic book origins blatantly obvious to the audience, despite the source being fairly niche and indie at the time. This is similar to the MCU's beginnings, as Iron Man originally wasn't a stand-out star of Marvel comics. In fact, when the 2008 film was released he was a fairly unpopular character. Yet, the MCU handled their niche film differently, essentially creating one formula that appealed to the masses and sticking to it (though WandaVision on Disney+ set up a new promise in the MCU), leaning towards a typical action film with a good dose of comedy. Scott Pilgrim is not ashamed of its conventional "Bam!" and "Pow!" comic moments, which, in turn, authentically celebrates the medium it's derived from in a way that the MCU doesn't.
The MCU is one of the most successful enterprises in cinema, and its formula clearly works. Yet, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World's endeavor into forming a comic book on the big screen was transformative and loyal to its source, making it a true transmedia piece of storytelling. At its heart, it's a celebration of comic art and stories.
