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Adaptational Badass

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Guess the people atNamco X Capcom hadn'tdug the original.

"I'm not really into this fighting stuff unless it's in a courtroom. ...Oh, and with words!"

There are characters in the media who are known, simply put, for beingless-than-dangerous. He might even beThe Load, or at least aDamsel in Distress. When danger rears its head, the character generally beats feet and lets histough-guy friends deal with the problem.

But then, for some unexplainable reason, when the work is being adapted into another type of media, the character is made a bonafideBadass. The reasons for this are myriad. Regardless of the whys, the producers have to be careful because quite often the character wasdefined by being aNon-Action Guy, and turning him into aBadass might result in a fandom backlash.

And yet the opposite is often true, especially if the character isThe Scrappy whose job was to getcaptured by the bad guys and rescued by the real heroes. Actually turning such a character into someone useful can be warmly received by fans who may have wanted them to be like that from the beginning. In this way it can also result in a more preferred version of the character, as well as possibly making aRet Canon to the original character.

Be aware that the main intention of the trope is one of non-badass to a solid badass. A character just having a different level of power doesn't really count unless it changes the way their character is able to navigate through the story, such as making them aBadass Abnormal. If that was the case then with all the different power levelsSuperman has had over the years he would count for this trope, as a result ofPower Creep, Power Seep.

A variation ofTook a Level in Badass. For a sister trope specializing in female characters, seeXenafication. A common result ofAdaptational Villainy, in which anAnti-Villain, neutral character, or the odd good guy becomes much more evil in an adaptation. Also compareHistorical Hero Upgrade andHistorical Villain Upgrade.

Examples of Adaptational Badass include:

Anime andManga

  • The title character ofLyrical Nanoha. She was originally conceived as theToken Loli ofTriangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～ whose only role was to be the cute and innocent little sister of main protagonist Kyouya. Even in the mini-scenario where she became aMagical Girl, she was more adorable than threatening with her heart-shaped wand with little wings. Then whenThe Anime of the Game came, Nanoha's wand was replaced with aSwiss Army WeaponWave Motion Gun as she was re-imagined into aLittle Miss Badass savior ofThe Multiverse who have been called a "(White) Devil" by foes and fans alike due to her ferocity and destructive powers which she does not hesitate to use on even her friends.Befriending, you know?
  • Mazinger Z: Boss was theButt Monkey andComic Relief character in the original manga and anime series. In theSuper Robot Wars games he slowly got upgraded fromJoke Character to midly useful to pretty good character.
  • Inverted in theRockman Zero manga with the eponymous hero;Badass incarnate in the video games, withering coward in the manga.
  • In theYu-Gi-Oh! GX manga, Manjoume - theButt Monkey and heavily subjected toThe Worf Effect - becomes a certifiedStoicBadass, beatingBoring Invincible HeroJudai in a tournament. Sure, he gets curbstomped byKaiserRyo in his next duel, but he certainly getsmuch more respect than his anime counterpart.
  • The Gym Leaders inPokémon Special. They're so strong that it's generally accepted that only an extremeBadass can beat them all.[2] Furthermore, being a Gym Leader also means that your side job is to protect your region from things such as, you know, various terrorist groups. So yeah, expect to see a lot more ass-whooping coming from these guys.
  • In the Mitsuki Oosawa manga adaptation ofFire Emblem Seisen no Keifu,White Magician Girl Diadora moves closer to the Competence Zone. Especially when shetakes King Clement's castle with only back up from Lachesis and Aira,without killing anyone and relaying in trickery and magic than brute force, and the expanded version of her confrontation withManfroy, in which shedoes get kidnapped to follow the melodramaticDowner Ending of the first generation but still attempts to fight him in self-defense and to protect little Shanan.
  • Several characters who suffer from a bad case ofWhat Measure Is a Non-Badass? in theNaruto manga finally get to catch a break in the anime. By far the most glaring example is Hinata, who got to learn a powerful technique the anime team just made up for her, defeat menacingFiller Villains on her own and actually land a hit during what was in the manga aCurb Stomp Battle.
  • Analyser fromUchuu Senkan Yamato. 3-foot-tallLoveable Sex Maniac in the anime,over 20-foot-tallHumongous Mecha in the 2010 movie.
  • Syaoran Li to an extent in theCardcaptor Sakura anime. While still under the same inability to catch cards himself, stipulations allow him to earn several cards of his own, most of which he is rather apt with. This allows him to act as a far more effective rival for Sakura, even earning his own trial in the Final Judgement. Even after losing all his cards to Sakura his acts in assisting and protecting her often prove astonishing, with him suggested to still be at a similar or higher level of magical power than her by the closing movie (albeit partly due to lacking a plot point of the manga that rendered Sakura unmatchable in power).
  • Invertedhard in theKimba the White Lion2009 TV Special where the title character went from being a poster boy of theKiller Rabbit trope to a total coward whose hunting is so bad that even hisprey laughs at him.
  • Envy fromFullmetal Alchemist. In the manga andBrotherhood, Envy isThe Brute andUnskilled but Strong, relying on either its shapeshifting to trick an enemy into submission, or if it must fight, the raw power it can put behind each blow. This usually results in Envy goingClipped-Wing Angel and getting its ass handed to it. The Envy in thefirst anime adaptation (which went off in a very different direction after itOvertook the Manga) is aDance Battler andHero-Killer who serves asThe Dragon and manages tokill Ed during their final confrontation.
  • InMy-HiME andMai-Otome a few characters' power levels vary based on which series and media they appear in.
    • Shizuru typically has the superpowers associated with the series in all versions except the Mai-Hime manga.
    • Haruka is aBadass Normal in the Mai-Hime anime who can't win any fights butlives long enough after Yukino's child is killed to headbutt Shizuru and toss Yukino her armband, but is a Hime in the manga. The opposite is true in Mai-Otome; she is a powerful Otome in the anime, endowed withSuper Strength and second in her class after Shizuru, but an ordinary police officer in the manga.
    • Both of Yukino's Mai-Hime incarnations are Himes, but play supporting roles (in the anime, she primarily uses her powers for surveillance, while in the manga, she uses hers to support Haruka). In Mai-Otome, she has no powers, and is the president of Airies in the anime and a Windbloom police officer in the manga (albeit skilled enough with a sniper rifle to arguably be more effective in battle than her Hime incarnations)
  • Persona 4: The Animation gives us Izanagi. Inthe game, Izanagi's just a cool-looking Persona with low-tier stat growth/elemental affinities/skills that most players will have gotten rid of by the second dungeon; but in the anime he comes off as the biggest badass of the entire bunch, regularly being the go to Persona when Yu needs to wipe out a particularly dangerous Shadow. Then again, it is possible to fuse a really badass Izanagi with skills like Primal Force, Angelic Grace, and Power Charge.Much later in the game, that is.
    • Similarly, Beelzebub is a good, late-game Persona, but far from the best. In the anime,Yu fuses him during the battle with Shadow Naoto, uses Megidolaon, andturns the entire dungeon into a smoking crater.
  • TheDigimon franchise has Gotsumon. Several series, which are AU to each other, have the little guy as aRecurrer with the same or similar personality and voice portrayal. Each version tends to be badder than the last.Digimon Adventure? A cute little guy who'd rather party than fight, his death (along with that of his partner, Pumpkinmon) was used to show how much of aBad Boss the arc's villain was.Digimon Frontier? His tiny little pebble attack has grown into the ability to creategiant boulders and he is able to hold off enemy enforcers who, according to their stats (type, level, element, etc.), should stomp him like a bug without even knowing they'd done so. He can now become Meteormon, aPalette Swap who surprises everyone by being ultra-powerful.Digimon Savers/Digimon Data Squad? let's make him bad again, butgood at it! He bedevils the team for the entirety of their first extended stay in the digital world, then becomes Meteormon. They laugh at his dramatic,Large Ham-moment-prefaced transformation intohimself, but with lighter coloring for all of two seconds before he starts wiping the floor with them.

Comic Books

  • Vertigo'sFables cranks most fairy tale characters' attributesUp to Eleven. The talking wolf ofRed Riding Hood becomes a reformed half-god terror,Snow White is a master strategist and diplomat,The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a psychotic ally to anEldritch Abomination, Goldilocks is a sadist andProfessional Killer, anda kindly woodworker is thepuppeteer of a multi-planetary empire. In general, the morePopularity Power a character has in this reality, the more raw power they have.
    • Mowgli is an international spy who can fight wolves with his bare hands and win. In this case, though, his awesomeness compared to the original may be mostly due to the fact that we're seeing a grown-up version.
  • From Marvel'sThe Mighty Thor:
    • Balder wasn't much of a fighter inNorse Mythology, but here he's one of Asgard's greatest warriors (not as great as Thor, but close) called Balder the Brave. He also survived Loki's attempt on his life in this reality and many others due to Odin's personal intervention, because much like his mythological counterpart, his death is the catalyst that would trigger Ragnarok, and Odin is taking far greater precautions to prevent it.
    • Sif, Thor's wife and goddess of plenty in Norse Mythology, is a genuineAction Girl in the comics.
    • Hela was, at most, aNon-Action Big Bad in mythology; in the comics she's anEvil Sorceress who can even hold her own against Thor. Even more soin the movie adaptation.
    • Hades was, if anything, aRetired Badass in mythology, and it was the same in Marvel's history (where he's called Pluto, his Roman name). However, he was hit with this andAdaptational Villainy for a while, coming out of retirement and trying to defy Zeus' non-interference edict. He's been an occasional enemy of Thor and Hercules, but seems to have called a truce with both for now.
  • In mainstream Marvel, Gwen Stacy is best known for her death, an eventSpider-Man often considers his greatest failure.There's even a Trope named after it! The Earth-65 version of Gwen isvery different, however, asshe - not Peter - was bitten by that radioactive spider, becoming her reality's version ofSpider-Woman, theGhost Spider (AKASpider-Gwen).

Fan Works

Film

  • Esmeralda fromThe Hunchback of Notre Dame changed fromThe Ingenue in the original story to anAction Girl in theDisney animated version.
    • Frollo too. The original version was at best aNon-Action Big Bad, but the version in the film was pretty good with a sword. While the ending was changed to a happy ending where Frollo doesn't survive, he certainly goes down fighting in this one.
  • Malificent inSleeping Beauty. The Old Fairy in the original story shows up at the baptism, curses the poor infant, and is never seen again; by the time Sleeping Beauty wakes up, her assailant is presumed dead by old age. Malificent is afar more hands-on villain andEvil Sorceress who in the climax, [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons| changed into a ferocious dragon that likely gave generations of children nightmares. She's so dangerous that this is a rare Disney villain where the hero needs help to win.
  • Ursula inThe Little Mermaid takes the place of an old crone called the Witch of the Sea. In the original story, she never interfered directly, much less in any climatic battle of spells.
  • Toothless ofHow to Train Your Dragon went from a tiny green dragon which could fit onHiccup's shoulder in the book series to a "Night Fury" (the dragon every viking fears most—rather, theonly dragon vikings fear) inthe film adaptation.
  • Rapunzel fromTangled.
    • Technically, you could sayeveryone inTangled, since the original story doesn't really have any sort of "action."Gothel is a sort of weird example—she becomes moreBadass by becomingless powerful, going from a witch in the fairy tale to a knife-wieldingBadass Abnormal (she knows a spell to retain her youth but otherwise seems powerless).
  • In the originalJungle Book novel,Shere Khan was portrayed as being crippled due to a leg deformity he received during birth, and was a rather patheticSmug Snake to boot. In theDisney adaptation, however, Khan is portrayed as a menacing, bloodthirsty, yethammy andwhimsical predator who is feared by everyone in the Indian jungle and is constantly determined to kill Mowgli for being a human. In the sequel, however, he isflat out menacing.
    • And in Soviet animated adaptation, Shere Khan is a scary villain from his very first appearance.
    • This seems to make the anthropomorphic transition as well, ifTale Spin is of any evidence. A ruthless and extremely savvy business man that could easily have Baloo hunted down and crushedif not for his moral code.
  • Corporal Jensen fromThe Losers went from Computer whizNon-Action Guy to being a capable soldier. Justified as The Losers are supposed to all be special forces soldiers.
  • Mina Harker fromThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic was originally the team leader, and was a completely normal human being.The Movie turned her into aThe Lancer with vampire powers.
  • LongtimeX-Men villain the Toad was originally conceived as a deformed, sniveling hunchback who served asThe Igor to Magneto. His super power washe could hop... really high because of having very low-grade super-strength, concentrated in his legs. However, afterthe first movie, in which stuntman Ray Park played him as a wisecracking martial artist with wall-crawling abilities and a tongue that he could use as a whip, the comic book characterwas reimagined and upgraded to have the same powers, thus making him more capable of holding his own in a fight with other heroes. Also, he could spit slime projectiles.
  • Daphne inScooby-Doo was transformed this way. She even beats someone up in the live action film.
    • She also evolves in a similar way in the newest series. She at least takes over intelligent leadership.
  • Tim Burton's film adaptation ofAlice in Wonderland gives the Mad Hatter this treatment; he goes from a silly joke character (as most of the cast in the original work) to a silly joke character who charges into battle with aScottish claymore.
    • Arguablyall of the characters in the movie, to some degree.
  • Hammond's granddaughter inJurassic Park wasThe Load in the novel. In the film, she got her brother'sPlayful Hacker skills, while he kept his knowledge of dinosaurs.
  • In theHellboy comics,Kroenen was a third-rateEvil Genius. In theHellboy movie, he's aDual-Wielding,Clockwork CreatureGhostapo who's nigh-unkillable and serves asThe Dragon toRasputin.
  • Pretty much every non-powered hero inWatchmen becomesa lot tougher anda lot stronger in the movie version ofWatchmen.
  • Bumblebee's main role inthe original cartoon was evacuating the humans to safety while the bigger, tougher Autobots went into action, and that was about it. In theTransformers film series, he has a Decepticon kill count second only to Optimus Prime himself, and he's the go-to guy for being aBig Damn Hero, and is quiteBadass inTransformers Prime as well.
  • Holmes and Watson's portrayal in the recentSherlock Holmes movie has been seen as this. Interestingly, it was supposedly intended as a return to roots, since, in the original stories, Holmes excelled in every fighting style known to man and Watson was an army doctor who'd been sent home after suffering injuries.
  • Peggy Carter and Howard Stark inCaptain America: The First Avenger not only went intoAscended Extra territory, they were also upgraded into a badass army officer and aNo Celebrities Were Harmed Howard Hughes that help Cap in his missions.
  • As stated above, Hela is this in the Marvel Universe, but takethat version of her, multiply the badass-meter by aboutten, and you've got the Hela inThor: Ragnarok. Powerful enough todestroy Thor's hammer, she could only be defeated by fulfilling the conditions of Ragnarok and destroying Asgard. Clearly, Hela was only slightly behind Thanos himself for badass Marvel Cinematic villains.
  • Harry Potter films took this both ways with Buckbeak. On one hand, they gave Buckbeak his ownCrowning Moment of Awesome by showing him protect Harry and Hermione from the werewolf, which wasn't in the book. On the other hand, the sixth and seventh books described him flying around attacking Death Eaters, which wasn't in the movies. A borderline example, if you will.
  • Three notable examples inJohn Carter:

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • Smallville: Season 9 transformed B-list villain The Icicle II into aGame Breaker whose presence alone was enough to turn any room intoan arctic wasteland. He's able to take out three Justice Society members before being stopped. Season 10 does the same thing withDesaad, changing his from a snivelingDirty Coward into aSerial Killer whosePsychic Powers allow him to take onSuperman.
  • InA Song of Ice and Fire, Eddard Stark is a renowned general with a penchant for winning the undying loyalty of his men through his honor, integrity, and approachability, but who is not particularly imposing as a warrior in personal combat, although he is famous for having killed Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, in single combat, so he's obviously pretty tough. (He is nevertheless of average height and weight for his social class, and not heavily built.) It was Robert Baratheon, a giant of a man, the demon of the Trident, who led from the front.Game of Thrones, the TV adaptation, adds to Ned both fearsome skill with a blade—enough to duelJaime Lannister to a standstill—and a few inches in height and perhaps a couple stone in weight by having him played by the physically imposing Sean Bean, who is as tall as Mark Addy, who plays Robert.
  • In a series that typically keeps most characters similar to the originals, Kat fromPower Rangers SPD is shown to be a better and more competent fighter than her counterpart inTokusou Sentai Dekaranger. Unlike her counter-part, Kat does battle a group of mooks unmorphed, and generally is presented a lot more serious and determined.
    • Also,Ben-G, who had had a beef with sentai Doggie for capturing him earlier, is now ageneral of the invaders who nearly wiped out Doggie's planet in the backstory, and gets a two-parter as Doggie tries to overcome hisHeroic BSOD and avenge his world.
  • InWednesday there is, well Wednesday herself. While past adaptations of The Addams family often show her asSociopathic Hero who derives pleasure from inflicting pain on others, most of her victims in those versions are helpless or unable to resist (or in the case of Pugsley, notwanting to resist).This version of Wednesday is very athletic and often encounters foes who can and do fight back. She can use a fencing foil as well as her father, and knows martial arts. To give just the pilot episode as an example, she gets into a fight with three male students who are older and larger than she is, and wins.

Oral Tradition,Folklore, Myths and Legends

  • Ares fromGreek Mythology. Originally he is portrayed as abully who can only win against unaided mortals, gets his butt kicked by anything supernatural, and casually dismissed by fellow gods Zeus and Athena. Then the Romans came around and identified him with their god Mars making him patron god of Rome, second in importance only toJupiter, ideal soldier, and all-around badass. This might make him theUr Example. In many modern adaptations Ares is usually portrayed as a massive threat sometimes to the entire pantheon or world includingGod of War,DC Comics, andMarvel Comics.

Tabletop Games

  • In most editions ofDungeons & Dragons, kobolds are classified as humanoids, and with some exceptions (such as the infamous Tucker's Kobolds and works inspired by it) they are considered the lowliest of mooks in the game, often cannon fodder for aStarter Villain. However, 5th edition gives them a subtle yet significant upgrade by classifying them as Dragons. While this does not make them nearly as formidable as true dragons, any Dragon type monster has an immunity to spells that target humanoid creatures, such ascharm person,hold person,dominate person, andcalm emotions, making them more of a threat to low-level PCs, as those spells are common for such players. This also makes PC kobolds (something that hasbeen available for a long time) more formidable.

Toys

Video Games

  • Super Robot Wars tends to do this quite a bit.Boss and his Boss Borot originally wereJoke Character tier in the early games, but by the Alpha series had upgraded to low-medium usefulness, and by the J/W/K/L handheld era he got very good if not outstanding.Bright Noah, already badass in his own right and a competent ship captain in the early games only got better to the pointhe can kick the ass of theAngels!
  • Taizo Hori, hero of the originalDig Dug, and member of theMr. Driller cast, pictured above in his appearance inNamco X Capcom.
    • Ditto for Hudson'sBomberman andLode Runner. Although you'll never see Lode Runner's new look without playing the cell phone version of this game. And, after all, new Lode Runner will looklike a kid. Yeah...
    • Sierra, on the other hand, made him look like a more matured adventurer.
  • In the universe ofWarhammer 40,000, the Tau Fire Warrior is a basic grunt unit. When adapted to theWarhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior, the eponymous Tau grunt is able to single-handedly take on the forces of Chaos. And said fire warrior can also be said to be able to take out several contingents of the Emperor's finestSpace Marines.
    • The fire warrior in question went insane after the events of the game and was never able to fight again.
    • The novel delves into some of the Tau lore and explains it a bit better. Kais is fighting a different battle, only his enemy is the very warlike and self destructive aspect that pushed the Tau to the verge of extinction that they thought they no longer had to worry about. His mentor explains that it is something every Fire Warrior has to face and come to grips with.
  • A milder example is the 'commando' fromCommand & Conquer, who sufferedCrippling Overspecialization and was weaker than basic grunts against vehicles. TheFirst-Person ShooterRenegade made him a badass wielding all weapons and more, which includedthree vehicle-killers.
  • For twenty years, Garland inFinal Fantasy I was known for two things: his famous declaration that he "will knock you all down!" and being the first boss in the series. ThenDissidia Final Fantasy was released. Now Garland is aBoisterousBlood Knight with atransformingBFS bigger thanentire characters, hishamminess wasramped up, and he got a few shades ofDeadpan Snarker. His archrival, Warrior of Light, went from being aFeatureless Protagonist to being aFetteredCape, a paragon for light and goodness thatrefuses to give up no matter the odds. And theBig Bad of the original game, Chaos? He's raised up from a generic demon to aPhysical God that is able to call upon the other Final Fantasy villains to serve him, effectively making him theBigger Bad of the entire series.And just waituntil you see him fight...
  • Mickey Mouse gets this inKingdom Hearts andDisney Epic Mickey, becoming aBadass Adorable who fights freakishEldritch Abominations.
    • Of course, this is just an expansion of the currently underutilized in America side ofMickey as a great adventurer. Comics have always been a place for hisBadass side to shine, especially in Italy.
    • Also from Epic Mickey, there's thePhantom Blot, a minor (though admittedly effective) criminal mastermind from the comics and a fewcartoonappearences, who becomes ahorrific monstrosity.
  • Pretty much the whole cast ofAmerican McGee's Alice.
  • The Hobbit (2003) does this to Bilbo. Sure, he doesn't get to fight trolls or dragons but he can fight hordes of goblins, giant spiders, the undead and liches. He can break enemy shields with his sword, and create a shockwave on the floor with his walking stick that sends enemies flying. And he can pole vault with the stick too.
  • The guy fromMinecraft (who's apparently named Steve? (? included)) got this kind of treatment in his cameo appearance in the PC version ofSuper Meat Boy. Just like in Minecraft Steve? can both lay blocks in the game world as well as dig through anything, making the usually challenging platforming gamecomically easy. Essentially this ability goes so far beyond game breaking that Steve? isbasically bending the game over a table and having his way with it.
  • Bumblebee in hisTransformers: War for Cybertron incarnation is aHot-Blooded playable character who can easily rack up a triple-digit kill count over the course of the Autobot campaign. He doesn't have the raw power of Optimus Prime but he makes up for it with speed, skill and determination.
  • Phoenix Wright from theAce Attorney games, a fairly normal lawyer, is playable inUltimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. Among the cast arePhysical Gods such asThor,Amaterasu andthe otherPhoenix to name a few. I'll let that sink in. He's set up as aLethal Joke Character, with abilities focused on, appropriately, defense.
  • Alan Grant in just about every single video game adaptation ofJurassic Park. In both the book and film, he'sThe Worm Guy who largely gets by running and hiding and doesn't ever kill anything. In games, he becomes aBadassAction Hero who expertly wields a plethora of guns and who cankill legions of dinosaurs singlehandedly.
  • Some of the gods inGod of War are depicted are being much stronger than the Greek Myths presented them as. Ares, theBig Bad of the first game, is presented as a titanic warrior the requires aMacGuffin for Kratos to have a fighting chance against, where in the Greek myths he was a coward that would run away from a fight at the first sign of trouble despite being immortal (though Ares as an Adaptational Badass is also done in every other adaption of him—includingRoman mythology), and Persephone inChains of Olympus, who was simply mentioned as being dragged off by Hades in the Greek myths, is presented as being able to fight Kratos in hand-to-hand combat.
  • TheFist of the North Star: Ken's Rage game by Koei (ofDynasty Warriors fame) featured Mamiya as a full playable character. In the series, she was shown to be reasonably affective against small groups ofMooks, but against large forces or serious Martial Artist types, she'd inevitably turn into aDamsel in Distress in need of rescuing. Being a playable character, however, means that she's now fighting on par with Kenshiro himself - tearing through armies of hundreds if not thousands, and singlehandedly disassembling top-tier bosses. It probably helps that she's picked up anAutomatic Crossbow somewhere - heck, she can even pull a SECOND one out ofHammerspace for one of her Signature Moves.
  • The originalSimpsons arcade game from 1991 took a rather combatically intept family and made them able totake on the entire town of Springfieldand then some with household items (Marge), toys (Bart and Lisa), and bare fists (Homer).
  • Liu Shan in the originalRomance of the Three Kingdoms is the definition ofSuck Sessor, completely inept at fighting and ruling, and in the first sight of danger, he surrenders.Dynasty Warriors turns him into an actuallyBadass Pacifist by the virtue of being playable. Not exactly top tier, but much more competent, savvy and in a way, virtuous like his dad, although he's a bit scatterbrained (or so he presents himself to public). On the assault on Cheng Du, he fought against Sima Zhao first before retreating, rather than surrendering on sight. Only after their next encounter he surrenders.[3]
  • In theKinnikuman manga, Kinnikuman Big Body is aJobber for Kinnikuman Super Phoenix. InKinnikuman: Muscle Fight, he's given a complete moveset based on the moveset fromKinnikuman: Muscle Grand Prix 2. He also has two new supers, which are variations of the Muscle Inferno and Muscle Revenger.
  • Rockman 6: Unique Harassment
    • Compared to their original appearances, the Eight Robot Masters[4] are given new difficult patterns and a second life meter.
    • The Keeper andGiant Metool minibosses are given upgrades and turned into fortress bosses.[5]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters
    • In the 1987 cartoon, the Rat King is scrawny filthy guy who lives in the sewers who claims to be the King of Rats (a title nobody has likely challegned him for). He was dangerous in one episode where he brainwashed Master Splinter, but was a big joke afterwards. In the game, however, the Rat King is the Final Boss of tournament mode (as opposed to Karai in storyline mode) and according to April, is the previous champion defending his title. He has added some pro wrestling moves to his moveset, and is certainly built like a pro wrestler, far more muscular than his animated counterpart.
    • April O'Neil too (Genesis version only), being a playable character and a full-fledgedAction Girl in the game, as opposed to theDesignated Victim she usually is. Probably due to the need to include a female hero character.
  • April O'Neil is also anAction Girl and playable characterTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge covering thebreaking news story while breakingfaces. In fact, gameplay-wise, April is one of the best characters, being aLightning Bruiser with excellent knockback, combo, and recovery ability.

Web Comics

Web Original

  • In the character's source series,Pokémon,Atop the Fourth Wall'sThe Entity is mildly creepy if you start applyingFridge Logic, somewhere between useful and annoying if you don't, and is nigh-universally pathetic in battle to the point of usually being incapable of victory. Now, he's a horror that makesSlenderman look friendly and harmless, and reduces entire worlds to nothingness.
    • And according toWord of God,every other glitch Pokemon is just a different from of this version of Missingno.

Western Animation

  • The Joker is more known for being crazy and insane than being an amazing hand-to-hand fighter. In fact only a couple of adaptations show him as anything close to Batman's level. But forThe Batman, he was given the strength, agility, and dexterity of a monkey.
    • Likewise, The Penguin is an exceptional combatant.
    • Depending on the Writer, Batman's various villains will display varying levels of fighting ability, intelligence and general threat, even in the comics.
  • Justice League Unlimited gave this toAquaman as well, at least compared toSuperfriends (the comics version was always pretty badass). They ended using almost any "joke" character in the past to great effect.
  • Ace "the Bathound" fromBatman Beyond.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold has residentBadass NormalThe Question beating up on parademons.Double-sized parademons. These areMooks that can giveSuperman at least a little trouble (and think of how strong something has to be compared to a normal human in order to give Superman trouble).
  • The Terrible Trio inBatman: The Animated Series were a trio of rich brats who wore animal masks and got rather lucky against Batman. However, they crossed theMoral Event Horizon so well by the end of the episode that follow-up series brought them back. InThe Batman, they were social outcasts at Gotham University who stole the Man-Bat formula and becamewerebeasts for Batman and Batgirl to fight. InBatman: The Brave and the Bold, they are wereArrogant Kung Fu Guys who betrayed and killed their master, controlled a clan ofShadow Ninja and planed to take over the city. Oh, and they also stole a talisman that turned them into werebeasts too.
    • Mr. Freeze was originally just a campy cold-themed villain from the DC Silver Age, and had been killed off by the Joker in the comics years beforeBatman: The Animated Series. His appearance in TAS as a more seriousAnti-Villain with aDark and Troubled Past gained enough popularity that he was brought back in the comics, with his backstoryretconned to more closely fit the animated version.
  • Spider-Man villainElectro could get pretty lame in the comics, with his power just about enough to almost kill the web-slinger once before getting beat every time after. InSpider-Man: The Animated Series however, he was aBig Bad by the last episode of the story arcin his first appearance, replacing theRed Skull as the primary threat. The guy then easily dispatched the Six American Heroes (a team ofGolden Age heroes which includedCaptain America (comics)), theInsidious Six,and Spider-Man, and made it clear he could kill any of them at any time, took control of the Earth's satellites through the electrical signals he fired to broadcast himself to the world's media, announce he's the newPresident Evil of the world, and when all of S.H.I.E.L.D. chose to disagree, he handled them single-handedlyby SHOOTING DOWN their base:

(Nick Fury jumps off the collasping S.H.I.E.L.D. base, then pulls his parachute)
Female S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent:(on Nick Fury's earphone) Agent Nick Fury, do you copy?
Nick Fury: I copy, what it's worth. He took down all of S.H.I.E.L.D. with only a gesture.Heaven help us all.
(S.H.I.E.L.D. base crashes in the sea then explodes)

  • In fact, the only way for anyone to defeat him was for Spider-Man to play to his ego, and basically goad him into destroying himself. Had he not been so obsessed with proving his own power, he may well have won.
  • The series also turned the Spot into a genuine threat, capable of running rings around Spider-Man with his ability to create masses of portals.
  • Comics-verse Black Cat is aBadass Normal who occasionally wields bad-luck powers. The 90s cartoon version starts out as a classmate of Peter's before gaining powers from theSuper Serum that createdCaptain America.
  • Teen Titans made Aqualad a badass, water-bending Atlantean cop who was lusted after by Raven and Starfire (for one episode, at least). Not too bad considering he was written out of the originalTeen Titans comic book because the writer thought he was useless.
    • Raven as well. In the comics, she can simply teleport, heal other people, and sense other's feelings (nothing actually useful during a fight). Here, she uses telekinesis, can fly, knows sorcery, etc.
    • Killer Moth. In the comics, he's the most ineffectual of theIneffectual Sympathetic Villains with a completely ridiculous costume that looks like it was put together by someone who was colorblind. Here, he's a half-man, half-moth hybrid with an army of genetically modified bugs at his command.
  • Doctor Robotnik from theSonic the Hedgehog franchise, both inverts this trope and plays it straight. In the original games, he was a silly and childish, yet competent and effectiveMad Scientist. Inthe first Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon adaption, he is a complete buffoon,Large Ham, andFoil for Sonic and Tails; nearly all of his plans are failures, and his robot minions are incompetent. Inthe second cartoon adaption (andits comic book adaptation), he's a downright scaryDiabolical Mastermind.
    • More recent games have struck a middle ground, where he's generally competent but almost always gets pushed aside by the game's final boss, which is usually something hebuilt/freed that went out of control. In the very recent games, while as buffoonish and comical as ever, he has actually posed even more of a genuine threat and finally regains the role of final boss.
    • Tails inverts this. In the games, he's one of the fastest and strongest characters. In the TV adaptations, he's usually all but useless when it comes to fighting.
    • Amy has always been a fairly realistic character for her age. You don't expect her to be badass or whatnot, she's just a girl who's in love with Sonic. InSonic the Comic however she's quiteThe Lancer to Sonic. She's far more lethal than any other version of her to date, and sports someImprobable Aiming Skills.
  • Bumblebee, once again, featuring inTransformers Prime. His first foray into robot combat in the pilot episode had him coming to Arcee's aid by driving off an overpass, transforming, landing with a thud and by the next beat his fist connects with an Vehicon's face. He doesn't appear to bequite the same bruiser as in the movies, but he is no less reliable.
    • Also, while the originalStarscream was pretty much aRunning Gag of one transparent backstabbing plan after another, often openly telling Megs what an idiot he is and how Starscream should be in charge, and only being kept alive because his Megatron was no brighter than he,certainlaterincarnationsare nigh untoMagnificent Bastard class, and the second-most-powerful Decepticon next to Megs himself to boot. At one point inTransformers Cybertron, he borrows a portion of the power of the god Primus and spends an arc handily kicking aroundall the Autobots and Decepticons singlehandedly.
    • Megatron himself. G1 Megatron wasToo Dumb to Live when it came to Starscream, and would trust him again ten seconds after beingshot at by him. He had a high-pitched voice - higher than any Starscream but his own (Most Starscreams arekinda high and scratchy. G1 Starscream sounded like the actor inhaled helium before each recording.) - that wasn't striking fear into any Autobot's spark. "Decepticons, retreat! RETREEEEEAT!!" was practically hisCatch Phrase, and even the series' most diehard fans admit that he'd yell it when the going got tougheven if he still actually had the upper hand. Oh, and he turned into a gun that couldn't move or fire himself and was usually held by... go on,guess who. Since then, he's had highlyBadass vehicle and beast modes, and has been freakishly powerful and/or a brilliantDiabolical Mastermind.
    • On a similar note to Starscream, Waspinator went fromThe Chew Toy inBeast Wars, to a sinisterWoobie, Destroyer of Worlds inTransformers Animated. Notably, a few of his lines arere-purposed quotes; the most well-known being "Waspinator have plans...", which changes meaning considerably when the context goes from himfacing down impending doom togradually pulling himself back together after being blown apart, lesscomedically and more "too much hate to die." Even his design is creepier. Theyactually did the research to make him look and sound more creepily insectlike, in design and movement.
  • InThe Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes another wasp gets totake a level in badass. In the comic, Janet "Wasp" Van Dyne has the power to become small and shoot mildly painful "stinger" energy blasts. It's...as useful in combat as it sounds. In the series, she'll fly circles around enemies, is as capable of dealing with villains on her own as any of her teammates with her much-stronger stingers, and makesSpider-Man level wisecracks all the way.
    • And she's the only person who constantly stays optimistic about being a hero and is just generally good (again, like Spidey).
    • On the villains' side, the Grim Reaper is definitely far more sinister than his comics version. In the comics, he wore purple spandex with goofy, Galactus-style head gear, and was pretty much a joke in that regard. In the series, he wears ahoodedcape and is aPsycho for Hire withDissonant Serenity and aSlasher Smile. Oh, and he's voiced by Lance Henriksen.
    • Believe it or not, Hulk has this in a way. He's not just the team berserker that they point at something to hit. This Hulk is smarter (think how he was inWorld War Hulk, for an example) unless he's pissed off beyond belief (at which point the villain simply can't win anyway). Notably, there is almost noHulk Speak to be found, he understands and uses sarcasm, and got Hawkeye to stay with the teamby teasing him. And his favorite teammate is Wasp. So if you do hurt her Adaptational Badass self, you get to deal withhim.
  • Young Justice took the incredibly lame and gimmicky Sportsmaster and turned him into aBadass Normal mercenary who has a keen enough eye to spot Miss Martian whileshe's invisible andthrow a javelin that would have impaled her if she hadn't moved at the last second.Even then it still exploded and sent her flying.
    • Klarion the Witch Boy is a full blownLord of Chaos and arch rival ofDoctor Fate in this series instead of being just another magic user. He is still as childish as ever, though.
    • Similarly, Mister Twister, originally a rather feeble villain whose powers came from a magic stick, becomes an incredibly powerful android who effortlessly solos the entire team (up to and includingSuperboy) while spouting arrogantone-liners left and right.
  • Tigger ofWinnie the Pooh isn't largely different from his novel incarnate, howeversome of the bleaker situations used in the Disney adaptions have proved just how badass bouncing really is. Abiding byThe Tigger Movie Roo could apply for this trope as well (only the Disney adaption can lay claim to "the Whoopty-Dooper Loopty-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce" at least).
  • Matt Olsen ofWITCH, prior to the comics turning him in to a failed version ofThe Obi-Wan. In the cartoons, Matt was a normal guitarist who, after getting fed up with Will ditching him on dates, decided to find out what the hell was going on. After finding out her double life, he decided he wasn't going to stand there and let her get hurt all the time. Not only does he take combat lessons from Caleb, he also gains a massive power boost when he's forced to take up a fraction of the Heart of Earth, putting him at equal (if not greater) footing of Will herself!
    • Caleb himself is aBadass rebel leader in the series who is much more of a fighter than the original and doesn'tspend most of the series as a flower because of Phobos, either. A fan only familiar with the comics who read this page would likely say "back up a sec,Caleb is giving somebody combat lessons?"
  • Mumm-Ra ofthe 2011ThunderCats reboot. His original1980s incarnation has nostalgic charm, but was incredibly inept given his power level. He'snever proactive in his weakShapeshifter Default Form, playingOrcus on His Throne. HisEver-Living form alternately has aWeaksauce Weakness to his own reflection or suffersVillain Decay. 2011 Mumm-Ra's first acts onscreen, as a frailSquishy Wizard, are to use hisMaster of Illusion powers to commit full-blownregicide,boast of how nightmarish he is, make aBig EntranceWreathed in Flames, spout aPre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner and promptlyslaughter nearly the full complement of the dead monarch'sPraetorian Guard with aKamehame Hadouken.That'swithout powering up.
    • His underlings the Mutants (now members of the other animal races populating Third Earth) continue the pattern, with the Jackalman and Monkiananalogs Kaynar and Addicus in particular portrayed as vicious, ruthless criminals before being appointed generals in Mumm-Ra's forces, and devastating fighters in battle.
  • My Little Pony‍'‍s toy line has always been rather peaceful. However being an 80s cartoon, the original cartoon was considerably darker and more action packed so several characters became more Badass than before.
  • Legion of Super Heroes upgrades Ron-Karr, who inthe comics merely has the power tomake himself flat. In the cartoon he's aShape Shifter andEvil Counterpart to Chameleon Boy (untilhisHeel Face Turn).
    • From the same series, Grimbor and Terra-Man. The former in the comics was just chain-weapon themed villain who sought revenge for his wife's death, while the cartoon one was a skilled mercenary who owned the team (sans Karate Kid). The latter was originally a environmental terrorist who dressed in a cowboy-inspired battlesuit (and was exclusively a Superman foe, no less), while the cartoon version was aTerminator-like robot who wasnearly unbeatable.
    • Brainiac Five. OriginallyThe Smart Guy with a force field gadget, he is now a descendant of aSuperman: The Animated Series-style Brainiac 1.0, meaning he is a super-genius and super-powerfulDo-Anything Robot, though some fans felt that it was an unnecessary beef-up that came of underestimating and not really respecting the original character enough. The series finale finds him under Brainiac 1's influence, and he basically becomes ten times the god of destruction that S:TAS Brainiac 1 was,killing freakingImperiex, aGalactic Conquerer andBig Bad of the season, dead, and taking apart the Thanagarians, a whole world ofProud Warrior Race Guys, and even taking over his home planet Colu - andall the Coluans are Brainiac-based machines, apparently. Hisfirst act was to put a crown of Kryptonite onThe MessiahSuperman even after Supes had wrecked most of his original body. It was basically two episodes of eachBadass moment making you say"Holy crap!" even louder than the last one did.
  • Speaking of Terra-Man, inJustice League Unlimited, he appeared under his civilian name Tobias Manning. Manning wasactually a cowboy, living in the 1800s, until he got his hands on Chronos' time travel tech. Now (well, notnow-now) he and his thugs rule the west with an iron fist using future technology. Not too shabby.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a franchise that has spanned comic books, cartoons, toys, and live action movies, and there have been many variations of the characters throughout the years.
    • First off, the Shredder is this on multiple levels. Hard as it is to believe, he wasn’t much of a villain in the original comics. While he was indeed theToken Motivational Nemesis and played a large role in the backstory, he was more to the Turtles what Joe Chill was to Batman. He was killed in the first issue and only appeared one other time, as a mindless zombie, that’s it. While the depiction in the 80s series makes him a comical villain typical of cartoons at the time, he was still much, much more badass than “that guy who was killed in the first issue”.
    • Subsequent versions of the series and the live action movies tend to make him far more dangerous. In the 2003 series, he has an almost supernatural knack for being seemingly unkillability, allowing him to show himself just as badass in defeat as in victory. The 2012 version was more lighthearted than the 1987 version (but not as much as in 2003) and the Shredder here tended to be aKnight of Cerebus type for episodes that forget it’s a lighthearted version.
    • April O'Neil has usually been aDamsel in Distress in the older cartoons, only showing "badass" qualities on the sidelines. In the 2012 version, however, she's taken actual training as a Kunoichi, and most recently, was able to defeat Raphael in a sparing match. (Raph keeps insisting she's "almost fully trained", although that really only means she hasn't completed the course.) The same goes for herRise incarnation. While she's still untrained, she is able to fight alongside the Turtles from the get-go, and being just as capable of defeating villains on her own, even landing the finishing blow on a Shredder-armor-empowered Baron Draxum.
  • InLooney Tunes, the Tasmanian Devil is a "vicious, evil-tempered brute with jaws like a steel trap" and certainly lives up to that description.A real Tasmanian devil, however? Actually sort of cute, and while clearly a dangerous predator if provoked, not nearly as much as the one in the cartoon.
  1. ↑In fact, his fighting style is pretty muchexactly like that
  2. ↑In this 'verse, you don't need any badges to actually compete in the League, but having all 8 badges mean you can skip the preliminaries. This incentive guarantees plenty of challengers
  3. ↑And the reason he surrenders wasn't because he's scared as hell, but to preserve the people of Shu from theHopeless War brought forth by his subordinates who simply doesn't know when to quit.
  4. ↑Tomahawk Man, Spark Man, Chill Man, Pharaoh Man, Jewel Man, Dust Man, Napalm Man and Galaxy Man
  5. ↑Mr. X Stage 1 and Dr. Wily Stage 2
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