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Why does the Statue of Liberty look bronze in ‘The Marvels?’

Isn't the Statue of Liberty supposed to be green?

Statue of Liberty - the Marvels
Image via Marvel Studios

Fresh trailers for the next film in the MCU lineup are already sparking widespread conversations, as predictable Brie Larson hate clashes with genuine excitement for The Marvels.

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Complain all you want, you won’t change my mind. This movie looks great, in sharp contrast to several recent MCU attempts, and no amount of whinging will change that. It will affect the film’s reviews online, but it won’t alter the genuine enjoyment non-salty viewers like myself will find in it.

There are a few non-argumentative conversations accompanying the film’s early looks, as well, even if they are buried beneath countless attempts at manufactured outrage. One detail that’s behind increased fan scrutiny is the look of the Statue of Liberty in trailers. The commonly green-tinted sculpture appears bronze and utterly strange-looking in the MCU’s latest flick, and fans want to know why.

Why does the Statue of Liberty look like that in The Marvels?

There’s actually a very simple explanation for the Statue of Liberty’s new look in The Marvels. That bronze-looking color is actually copper — the metal that, in real life, serves as the primary component of the statue. Yes, the Statue of Liberty was always made of copper — and, in fact, it took two full decades for its color to shift — but over time, oxidation caused it morph from copper in color to green. Between 1886, when it was first gifted to the U.S. by France, and 1906, however, that statue was just as brown-toned as the one appearing in trailers for The Marvels.

Now, obviously, The Marvels doesn’t take place in the late 1800s, so why doesn’t the statue look like it does IRL in 2023? That’s due to the inner workings of the MCU, which established back in 2021 that the statue was undergoing renovations. In the year’s final release, Spider-Man: No Way Home, the statue is blocked off and currently under construction. In the inevitable fight that kicks off atop the scaffolding surrounding the statue, its revealed that the iconic torch held aloft by Lady Liberty is being swapped out for another symbol of freedom: Captain America’s shield. The ongoing construction likely included a refurbishment of the century-old monument, which removed the oxidization coating that copper interior, and polished the whole thing up to shine in the sunlight.

So there you have it. Its the same old Statue of Liberty we know and love, with a shield in place of a torch, and that outer layer scraped off to reveal the shiny copper coating underneath.