Line #146 Main/AdaptationalAngstUpgrade


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7	->'''Character:''' Hey there! I'm the lovable character from your favorite story!\
8	'''Fan:''' Oh boy!\
9	'''Character:''' Yup!\
10	'''Fan:''' It'd be a shame if someone were to...write dark fanfiction about you.
11	-->-- '''WebVideo/ThomasSanders'''
12
13	Sometimes when Hollywood decides to [[TheFilmOfTheBook do a movie adaptation]] they'll try to make a character more interesting by giving them some angst not present (or not discussed) in the book. Reasons vary: it makes the character easier to empathize with, it is an attempt to avert an InvincibleHero, it adds more conflict to the story, etc. Often used to add more CharacterDevelopment.
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15	It may be caused by historical ValuesDissonance. Many of the examples below are adapted from older works, or even TheOldestOnesInTheBook. In the past, TheHero of the Monomyth was expected to accept his destiny as a great hero and leader, but modern ideals would rather support the character of a Cincinnatus-style humble Everyman.
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17	AdaptationalJerkass is one of the possible outcomes. Compare and contrast with TrueArtIsAngsty. Compare AdaptationalSeriousness, where a character is a lot more serious and less humorless in the adaptation than they were in the source, but not quite broody and melancholic (though the two can occasionally overlap). Usually contrasts with AdaptationalAngstDowngrade and AdaptationalComicRelief and can overlap with DisabledInTheAdaptation.
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19	Subtrope of RuleOfDrama.
20	----
21	!!Example subpages:
22	[[index]]
23	* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade/FanWorks
24	* [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
25	[[/index]]
26
27	!!Other examples:
28	[[foldercontrol]]
29
30	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
31	* In the ''Anime/{{Ace Attorney\|2016}}'' anime, similar to the [[Film/AceAttorney2012 live-action movie]] before it, the anime expands on how DL-6 ruined Yogi's life, though not to the same extent as the film.
32	* The anime adaption of ''Anime/DevilSurvivor2'' does this to the [[HelloInsertNameHere protagonist]] (here called Hibiki Kuze) removing much of his literal BunnyEarsLawyer attitude in the game and replacing it with this trope.
33	* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' anime had this happen on a few occasions:
34	** Ed has a TenMinuteRetirement from being a State Alchemist after hearing about Nina's death and Tucker's execution [[spoiler:which actually turned out to be a cover-up]].
35	** There's also the scene from [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist the manga]], when Al thinks that Ed may have fabricated his entire personality when binding his soul to the armor. Originally, it only takes Winry telling him that the question Ed was scared to ask was whether Al hated him to bring him to his senses (that and hitting him on the head with a ''wrench''). In the first anime, he parts ways with Ed but realizes the truth when helping a pair of Ishvalan refugee brothers.
36	** In the first anime, Ed and Al both tend to angst about their struggles a lot more overall. Edward has [=PTSD=] symptoms he mostly lacks in the manga.
37	** Roy has significantly more guilt and trauma in the first anime than in the manga, and it's portrayed much more explicitly. This could be partly due to him being the one who [[spoiler: killed the Rockbell's]] in this version, but he has PTSD flashbacks to other parts of his actions in Ishval throughout the series (see: "Fullmetal vs. Flame").
38	** There's also Rose, who was little more than an extra in the manga, who wound up [[spoiler:raped, kidnapped, and traumatized to the point of becoming mute.]]
39	* The Seventh Diary Holder(s) in ''Manga/FutureDiary'', Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami had this in the anime. Originally their backstory was that they were both orphans who fell in love with each other as teenagers, but the anime expanded on it by adding a subplot with Ai getting gangraped and Marco almost being DrivenToSuicide over his failure to prevent it.
40	* The ''Manga/DotHackLegendOfTheTwilight'' anime is a DarkerAndEdgier adaptation of the manga and changed pretty much the entire storyline to make everything become more dramatic. For example, in the manga, the twin protagonists Shugo and Rena are just a pair of siblings playing games together. In the anime, their parents are divorced, and they're playing ''The World'' because it's the only way they can meet each other. In the manga, the characters embark on a light-hearted journey to reunite a friendly, though mischievous, A.I. to her mother. The anime somehow involves a hostile A.I. that threatens to destroy ''The World'', and several people fell into a coma along the way.
41	* The ''Manga/KotouraSan'' anime does this by shifting the focus from Manabe to Haruka and adding in the very angsty DownerBeginning.
42	* ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa'':
43	** In the adaptation of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', Kafei is ashamed of his ForcedTransformation into a child and does not want to see his fiancé Anju until he's freed from his curse. His game counterpart only cared about getting his handmade wedding gift to her on time.
44	** The adaptation of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' has this with Melari. In the game, Melari jumps at the chance to help Link reforge the Picori Blade. Here, he abandoned his craft after his wife died and he needs more encouragement.
45	* The title character of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' in TheMovie [[ComicBookAdaptation manga]] continuity. Fans gave this version of Nanoha. This is especially noticeable in the part after the movie's events where, in contrast to the anime where she's pleased with the outcome but somewhat worried about Fate, she believes in the movie manga that she failed to help anyone. At the beginning of their mock battle in the manga, Fate believes that since she caused Nanoha trouble, she doesn't deserve to be friends with her.
46	* ''Manga/MiraculousTalesOfLadybugAndCatNoir'': The manga adaptation of [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug the cartoon]] expands upon Adrien's loss of his mother. At the start of Chapter 4, Adrien wakes up from a dream about her and bursts into tears, being distracted by it for the rest of the day. This contrasts with the show, where Adrien's specific grief about Emilie is rarely touched upon.
47	* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'': There is no indication in the original Sherlock Holmes stories that Professor Moriarty has TheseHandsHaveKilled and BeAllMySinsRemembered-style self-loathing, but Professor William James Moriarty is actively suicidal for a significant portion of the series as a VillainProtagonist.
48	* Kaji from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' receives this in the form of a [[Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelion manga-original]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast tragic backstory]]: [[spoiler: after being orphaned during the [[ApocalypseHow Second Impact]], he and a gang of fellow orphans would raid military bases for supplies. One night, he is caught and threatened by a soldier into [[TheStoolPigeon selling out his comrades]], which results in their deaths]]. His continuous SurvivorGuilt spawned by these events has led him to believe that he doesn't deserve happiness and motivated him to contribute to the war against the Angels as a means of [[TheAtoner atonement]].
49	* In the manga adaptation of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', it's implied that Sayaka killed the two guys on the train. However this wasn't the case in the original anime.
50	* Shauna in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' is a CheerfulChild who's always smiling and happy. In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' she's very sarcastic and bitter, likely because in this canon she watched a dear friend fall into depression and was unable to do anything for him.
51	* In the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' manga anthology ''[[Manga/RWBYOfficialMangaAnthology Red Like Roses]]'', Ruby is a lot more emotional than in the cartoon. After she berates Cardin for teasing Weiss about her scar, she starts tearing up. When she's visiting her mother's grave she also starts sobbing (while in the show she's always kept herself together while visiting the gravestone).
52	* In the original game ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'', Morte was a gleeful MadBomber GenkiGirl who was ''incredibly'' upbeat about the prospect of ending the world - in addition to solving the problem of FantasticRacism, it would be just plain awesome to watch (never mind the fact that even she wouldn't survive). TheAnimeOfTheGame removed almost all of her excitability and replaced it with a grim determination, which, while perhaps more fitting with her goal, makes quite a jarring start to her character; it also added [[spoiler:the death of her parents and younger brother]] as an explanation for her desire to see the world ended. The [[Manga/SandsOfDestruction manga]], which was released about a year later, attempts to blend the two, with Morte being gung-ho at the start of the story but revealed to be steadily sadder as it progresses, but changes the source of her angst: [[spoiler:she's now The Planner, the incarnation of the celestial being responsible for deciding the parameters of the world each time it was reincarnated. Because she was mentally exhausted at the last incarnation, she wished for a world filled with talking animals but forgot to wish they would be friends with humanity, resulting in the deep-seated racism of the series. Yes, in the manga, Morte was the '''entire reason for the sorry state of the world'''. She was roughly aware of it when she was a child, claiming someone like herself wasn't supposed to be happy, but repressed it during her teen years, resulting in the bouncy character we met at the start; when she recovered all her memories, she was suitably shocked]].
53	* ''Literature/TrashSkillGacha'', has the protagonist Crest meet his older brother Albert in [The Lower World] after being banished there, to near certain death, by their father, with the older brother looking to bring him back, at the request of the king, because a prophecy says Crest is needed to deal with a coming monster stampede and save the kingdom. Thing is, Crest's four older brother and father loved to torment him as "murderer who escaped justice" and "devil's child" because his mother died in childbirth, and Crest has good reason not to trust the guy, so the guy came with a "brilliant" plan, ''enslavement.'' How the novel and manga handle Crest's response differs. The novel has Crest ignore his trauma with HeroicResolve, defeat his abusive older brother with ease, [[ExitPursuedByABear at which point Albert gets dragged off by monsters.]] In the manga, Crest's trauma isn't so easily dismissed. Despite being way, way stronger by this point, Crest is still '''horrified''' by what he went through and folds like a napkin. It takes his tamed monsters coming to his rescue and showing him that he can actually fight back before he decides to beat some sense into that BarbaricBully, who still gets dragged off by monsters afterwards.
54	* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', after Vash is [[spoiler: forced to kill Legato]] he immediately falls into a state of shock after being horrified at his actions. In the manga, he is able to get over this fairly quickly after remembering that he still needs to stop Knives who is threatening everyone on the planet Gunsmoke. On the other hand, in the anime Vash remains in this depressed state for over a month, even growing suicidal before Meryl and Milly are finally able to snap him back to normal. It's also notable that the anime actually did this scene ''first'' long before the manga one was published, but it is based on what the creator was planning to do for the manga.
55	* ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'''s DarkerAndEdgier movie adaptation begins with Hitomi attempting suicide, and a huge part of her CharacterDevelopment involves overcoming her depression. In the series, she was fairly more balanced, with most of her issues stemming from her [[LovingAShadow romantic]] [[LoveDodecahedron conflicts]] and lack of confidence.
56	* In the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga, Yugi's grandpa wasn't really kidnapped by Pegasus; his soul was instead sealed inside a videotape, and Yugi could talk with him through a camcorder whenever he liked. [[Anime/YuGiOh The anime]] makes it a straight case of YourSoulIsMine, and anime Yugi is appropriately angstier about the whole affair. Yugi's guilt and fear over almost killing Kaiba is also played up more, especially in the dub where it continues into his duel with Mai.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Comic Books]]
60	* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': ''ComicBook/AfterlifeWithArchie'' plays a lot of its tropes more seriously than the source material and thus there's a lot more of this, along with any obligatory trauma from being set in a ZombieApocalypse. For example, Betty and Veronica aren't their normal VitriolicBestBuds and instead have a rocky relationship.
61	* The comic adaptation ''Animation/BoBoiBoyMovie2 - Evolusi Kuasa'' portrays Hang Kasa as more emotional during his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Retak'ka compared to the movie, where he simply states that [[spoiler:he is no longer the friend he once knew]]. The same scene in the comic has him in tears over [[spoiler:how much of a monster his former friend has become]]. To really hit the nail on the angst, [[spoiler:Retak'ka silences Hang Kasa by ''stepping on him'' as opposed to smacking him with a giant hammer.]] Even his horse mourns for him.
62	* Creator/DCComics:
63	** ''ComicBook/BatmanTheImposter'': Bruce Wayne gets hit by this ''hard'', due to his somewhat different circumstances from most other interpretations. He has ''no'' close friends or support system, since Alfred quit when he was a child, and Gordon was fired from the GCPD for working with him. He was a highly disturbed child diagnosed with OCD and acute anxiety, who was prone to violent outbursts. As an adult, he remains an emotionally damaged individual, who [[spoiler: falls in love with Blair Wong, but has no qualms about manipulating her to gather intel from the GCPD's investigation of Batman]]. His therapy sessions with Leslie ''do'' help him to an extent, but by the end [[spoiler: he hasn't changed ''that'' much, and his circumstances as Batman have gotten even worse, since the authorities and the public still view him as a dangerous vigilante at best and a serial killer at worst.]]
64	** One of the most notable examples of this is the case of Barry Allen, ''ComicBook/TheFlash''. Originally a humble do-gooder who was motivated to become a superhero mostly because he liked comics and had just gained superpowers, meaning superheroics was the next logical step (he was already a police forensic scientist, so he already had a sense of right-and-wrong and desire to help justice), later retcons when he was brought into the present era included giving him a new backstory of a murdered mother with his father being falsely accused and convicted of her murder. Notable is the fact that this was both ''unneeded'' (Barry, while a NiceGuy, wasn't exactly without his angst as it was, what with the death of his first love Iris, and killing his arch-enemy Professor Zoom, Iris' killer, in order to save his second love), ''and justified'' at the same time (the retcon was explained away as Zoom going back in time to mess with Barry's life, killing his mother to give him more misery).
65	*** In ''The Flash'' #174, when Barry reveals his secret to Iris, and she in turn explains that he talks in his sleep, so she's known it since their wedding night, her attitude is somewhere between matter-of-fact and pleased to be getting one over on him. In ''The Life Story of the Flash'' by Creator/MarkWaid, being a SecretSecretKeeper has been tearing her apart, and she ''screams'' it at him, then collapses in tears.
66	** ''ComicBook/StaticSeasonOne'': Static, and most of the Bang Babies for that matter, suffered a ''lot'' more trauma during the Big Bang compared to their previous versions. Not only are the circumstances much more traumatic, being the result of police using experimental chemical weapons against innocent protesters instead of from a drug deal gone bad, but it's also directly stated many of those present outright ''died'' while the police responsible sat by and did nothing. It's also implied Virgil's awakening of his powers was a lot more painful in this version.
67	** In ''ComicBook/WonderWomanOdyssey'' the Amazons are left as remnants hiding as refugees from those who destroyed their Paradise Island and killed their queen and most of their people. Diana is in turn a more violent, but still opposed to killing, ComicBook/WonderWoman in this series as she searches for what's left of her people and struggles to protect them.
68	* ''Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy'' (a modern-day retelling of ''Literature/LittleWomen''):
69	** Amy is bullied for being mixed-race (she's half-black here) instead of being poor. Amy also seems to know that if she stands up to her white bully, Amy will more than likely be accused as the aggressor because of her race.
70	** Beth's illness is also changed from scarlet fever (which while deadly during the Civil War, is now practically a non-existent threat) to leukemia, which while having a high survival rate, still has a large chance of being deadly.
71	* ''ComicBook/{{Noob}}'': Due to the more advanced timeline on the live-action and text versions of the story, it's a ForegoneConclusion that Arthéon will eventually reach a RageBreakingPoint. The comic version makes the stress under which Arthéon puts himself by being the OnlySaneMan ReluctantRuler of a RagtagBunchOfMisfits more visible than the two other versions.
72	* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'':
73	** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen2001'': Unlike the mainstream Wolverine whose memories of his Weapon X are hazy and fractured, this Wolverine has full knowledge of what was done to him and what he experienced when being used as a living weapon for Weapon X and remarks that is literally all he remembers from his past.
74	** ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour''
75	*** Both Mister Fantastic and ComicBook/DoctorDoom have abusive fathers, whereas their 616 counterparts had loving fathers, albeit [[DisappearedDad Reed's dad got sucked into the future thanks to an experiment]] and [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest Doom's parents died when he was a kid]].
76	*** While the Thing of the classic Franchise/MarvelUniverse ComicBook/FantasticFour infamously doesn't like being BlessedWithSuck into having the appearance of an orange rock creature that he can't change out of, he didn't contemplate suicide like his ''Ultimate'' counterpart.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
80	* Cloud Strife in ''Anime/AdventChildren'' '''big time''', it's very important to note ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII FFVII]]'' writer Yoshinori Kitase writes Cloud ''very differently'' to how Tetsuya Nomura likes to portray him. Kitase made Cloud a very RoundedCharacter being a pretty chill dude only interested getting paid initially, wants to stop Sephiroth and puts up false bravado thanks to FakeMemories. Sure he goes through HeroicBSOD but all other times Cloud isn't that troubled, he cares for his friends thanking and apologizing for his mental breakdown. Cloud is also far more goofy in his original portrayal cross dressing, entering parades, and doing squats to counter motion sickness. ''Advent Children'', however, throws said traits out the window in favor of making Cloud TheWoobie guilt stricken over Aeirth's death and aloof to his TrueCompanions to point where ''Vincent Valentine'' has to tell Cloud to buck up.
81	* Vakama in the 2nd ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' animated film is nearly perpetually angsty, emotional and self-loathing, though he has brief moments of confidence and courage, becoming a brave leader by the end. While he definitely had issues accepting his status as a leader in the books and comics, he was generally a capable hero with only occasional moments of uncertainty. The film focused more on his emotional side and his self-blame for the downfall of his predecessor, Lhikan, traits that barely factored into previous stories. After the film, the books and comics would start to play up his angst more too.
82	* ''Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon'':
83	** In the fairy tale of ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', the Beast is certainly not happy with being cursed, but still is stable enough to be kind and gentlemanly towards Beauty. In [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast the Disney adaptation]], being cursed has caused the Beast to fall into a spiral of self-loathing and depression and has all but given up on everything by the time Belle shows up (WordOfGod has said that if Belle hadn't come, the Beast would have lost his mind and turned into an animal entirely). Much emphasis is also put on his despair when Belle leaves for her father and [[spoiler:he is mortally wounded by [[StalkerWithACrush Gaston]]]] instead of his more quiet DeathByDespair in the story.
84	** In ''Literature/TheFrogPrince'', the female lead is a princess whose worst worries are getting her ball out of a pond and having to deal with her promise to a frog. In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Tiana is a workaholic bordering on a nervous collapse because she feels that if she doesn't achieve her dream of owning her own restaurant, she will let down her dead father (who shared the same dream and, in fact, inspired her). She also seems aware of what her friends, family, and the town in general thinks of her devotion to her dream and it gets to her.
85	** ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' ages up Jim Hawkins and gives him single-parent and teen-rebel angst not present in the original book, ''Literature/TreasureIsland''.
86	** In ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}'', while Rapunzel being kicked out of the tower isn't very pleasant, it still isn't emphasized as being the worst thing ever. In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', Rapunzel has to deal with [[spoiler:discovering that her "mother" actually kidnapped her in infancy and intends to imprison her for as long as she lives. And when Rapunzel fights back, it ends with watching Mother Gothel die in front of her and Flynn nearly dying.]] She [[AngstWhatAngst doesn't react nearly as much as expected]] but still has more trauma than in the fairy tale.
87	* ''WesternAnimation/Nimona2023'': A minor but significant one. [[spoiler:Nimona in the comic was just generally wrathful towards the rest of the world for how it treated her, while Nimona in the movie has suicidal thoughts over how long she has been discriminated against, admitting to Ballister that a part of her just wants to get killed so she doesn't have to deal with being feared and hated anymore. Her rampage in the end tellingly is less her destroying things in a rage and more wandering through the streets confused and in emotional agony before she finally has enough and attempts to commit suicide by running herself through the heart with the outstretched sword of Gloreth's statue.]]
88	* [[Literature/TheBible Moses]] in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', compared to other films such as ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956''. In the original source however, he's arguably even more angsty. Aside from not realizing he was adopted, this version also emphasizes the fact that he and Rameses were raised as brothers and friends, giving them a tragic CainAndAbel dynamic not present in the Bible or other versions.
89	* Mrs. Brisby in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'' is shown as a much more timid character on her quest to save her son than in [[Literature/MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH the book]] which focused more on the rats' escape from NIMH. The film places much more emphasis on the values of courage, which is justifiable since Mrs. Brisby is a mouse.
90	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'':
91	** Lumalee in the games is shown to be just as cheerful as the other Lumas. In the movie, he's the main source of BlackComedy as he cheerfully accepts being one of Bowser's prisoners [[spoiler:and sacrifices]].
92	** Mario himself. In the games, he is a FunPersonified character and almost never gets truly sad or depressed unless it's a great tragedy, but in this movie, he is a NoRespectGuy who has to deal with a lot of insecurity regarding his own competence and earning the respect of his father, has some HeightAngst issues, and even when he's happy, his happiness is a lot more toned down compared to the games and he's given more grounded emotions.
93	** To a lesser extent, Donkey Kong is also trying to earn his father's respect, and wants to prove he's not just a guy that smashes things and gets ''seriously'' angry when others around him accuse him of such which just shows that he has some very clear insecurities. Compare that to the games where he is more of an always confident, but very gullible gorilla who never lets anything truly get to him.
94	* The 1982 Soviet adaptation of ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Through the Looking-Glass]]'', though generally faithful to the original, does it to the White Knight scene. The more comic moments (such as the Knight constantly telling Alice about his inventions) are toned down, and instead of reciting a poem about an absurd old man sitting on a wall, he sings a sad song about how there are many animals in his forest but he doesn't have a jolly elephant cub. The premise is only slightly less absurd than in the original, but it's the delivery that makes it absolutely heart-wrenching. Several birds that the Knight and Alice meet on their way are shown weeping.
95	* In ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' Vanessa idolized Wonder Woman and saw her as a pseudo older sister, only betraying her after being forced to undergo painful BodyHorror and cybernetic enhancements that exaggerated any lingering feelings of insecurity. In ''WesternAnimation/WonderWomanBloodLines'' Vanessa despised Wonder Woman from the start for stealing her mother's attention and affection and chose to undergo her transformation into villainy out of willful resentment.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Literature]]
99	* Many Literature/SherlockHolmes pastiches and adaptations do this. Some (e.g. ''Literature/TheSevenPerCentSolution'') play up the drug addiction theme; others purport to explain Holmes' strange and solitary character by giving him a [[TheLostLenore lost love]] or other [[DarkAndTroubledPast tragic past]].
100	* ''Literature/ATaleOf'': In [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs the original film]], Snow White's step-mother isn't given a backstory but it's assumed she's just evil, vain, and jealous. In ''Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen'', she has a FreudianExcuse of having had an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who blames her for his wife [[DeathByChildbirth dying in childbirth]]. She's much more anxious and depressed than in the film, especially after [[TheLostLenore the King dies in battle]]. The Queen is also shown hating her downward spiral. [[spoiler:She ends up [[DeathEqualsRedemption redeeming herself]] by letting herself [[DrivenToSuicide be killed]].]]
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
104	* ''AlexRider2020'': While the constant trauma of Alex's missions slowly creeps up on him ''eventually'' in the books, it is downplayed at best, whereas the series plays up the psychological consequences of being a borderline ChildSoldier ''much'' harder. At the beginning of the second series, Alex has [[ShellShockedVeteran full-blown PTSD]] up to and including [[{{Hallucinations}} seeing Yassen Gregorovitch around every corner]]. This, unfortunately, doesn't help his case when Gregorovitch starts showing up for real and [[CassandraTruth nobody believes him]].
105	* ''Series/AlteredCarbon'': In the series, Takeshi Kovacs frequently asks WhoWantsToLiveForever and is shown to dislike sleeving into a new body. In the novels the series is based on, Takeshi is specially engineered to ''not'' have adverse reactions when sleeving, and has come to terms with being functionally immortal. Also, Book!Takeshi never angsted about taking the job that kicks off the series, but was willing to do whatever it took to get out of storage (essentially prison for digitally stored consciousnesses) and get a body again.
106	* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'':
107	** ''Series/{{Arrow}}''
108	*** The titular character, Oliver Queen has a lot more grief in his life than his comics counterpart ever had. His ordeal on the island was much more bleaker and torturous. As a result, he is much more violent, aggressive, and serious.
109	*** Quentin Lance. His family problems are a lot bleaker. He had to go with one of his daughters dying [[IThoughtYouWereDead twice]], his wife leaves him, his job takes a hit due to working with the vigilante, and then his other daughter dies as well (permanently.)
110	** ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
111	*** The Reverse Flash. In the show, he's been TrappedInThePast for 15 years (originally being from an over a century in the future) and is ''desperate'' to get home, and his scheme to do so is the driving force behind Season 1. In the comics, he doesn't care about getting back to his time at all and is mostly just focused on screwing over the Flash in any way possible.
112	*** Barry himself, revisiting his mother's death and history becoming even worse from ''whatever'' decision he makes from it, each season's DarkestHour being darker than the last, many more people who are not able to be saved no matter what anyone does, his dad dying not long after being freed from his false conviction, going through his ''own'' ClearMyName arc that sees him in the same cell his dad once occupied, and with certain death in the Crisis hanging over his head for most of the series (with the timetable ''suddenly being pushed up'' as the title event looms.) Mind you, a lot of this came from, or has ''some'' counterpart in, the comics. However, it happens to Barry in ''very'' rapid succession in the show; the comics character has been around since TheFifties with the events these were based on spread out over his history.
113	* ''Series/AshesOfLove'':
114	** In the original novel Jin Mi and Xu Feng don't fall in love or communicate their feelings until the denouement of the story. In the series they come to an understanding during their trial together in the human world. This makes their confrontations during and after the wedding a lot more heart-wrenching.
115	** Run Yu's mother died long before the novel starts. Her on-screen death, the elaboration of her backstory, and their impact on Run Yu is one of the most emotional and pivotal plot points in the series.
116	* ''Series/AvatarTheLastAirbender2024'' in general is a lot more willing to show how traumatizing and harmful living in a world that's been at war for a hundred years can be for people then the source material was able to:
117	** While the death of her mother was a significant part of her character arc in the animated series, here it's made explicit that Katara has PTSD from witnessing her mother's murder (in the original she only arrived after her mother was already dead and so never witnessed the act itself), up to and including trauma-induced flashbacks to the incident.
118	** In [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the original series]], King Bumi was TheWonka and an EccentricMentor who only put Aang through his series of trials as a sly way of teaching him a lesson. The live action adaptation, he's still unquestionably a huge CloudCuckoolander but he's also a lot more cynical, jaded, and traumatised from a century of non-stop war with the Fire Nation, and has a lot of pent-up anger towards Aang for not being there to stop the war from happening, even after learning it wasn't his fault.
119	* ''Series/TheBoys2019'':
120	** Butcher and Frenchie. The former struggled with [[AbusiveParents an abusive father]] and a younger brother who was DrivenToSuicide over it[[note]]In the comic he died in a car crash[[/note]] [[spoiler: in addition to finding out that his wife was still alive and left him because she was afraid ''before'' watching her die in front of him]], while the latter is indirectly responsible for the death of Malory's grandchildren and has been beating himself up over it for years.
121	** Hughie in the comics had a stable family life, while his show counterpart's [[MissingMom mother walked out on the family]].
122	** Zig-zagged with Starlight. Unlike the comics, [[SuperSerum Compound V]] is a ''very'' well-kept secret and no superheroes are born naturally, leading to conflict with Starlight and her StageMom who had her treated with it as an infant on top of [[BreakTheCutie everything else]]. However, unlike her comic counterpart who maintains that EvilStoleMyFaith throughout the series, she does eventually regain her faith in God following her TraumaCongaLine.
123	** The Female/Kimiko definitely had an unhappy childhood in the comics as she spent most of her formative years as a lab rat, but her situation in the show was even worse as she and her brother were kidnapped by foreign terrorists and the trauma left her unable to speak entirely, before having to watch Stormfront murder her brother in front of her in the present day.
124	** A-Train in the comics was a static {{Fratbro}} with no remorse for his actions, while in the show he struggles with drug addiction and regrets some of the things Homelander made him do.
125	* ''Series/BraveNewWorld'': The book was basically the story of John struggling to find a place in New London but later eventually leading to self-exile and suicide with his actions never causing any change. The series instead heads in the direction of his presence causing upheavals in society and citizens beginning to question the cost of the "utopia", along with a violent resistance/terrorist movement who rise up in the "Savage Lands".
126	* ''Series/FateTheWinxSaga'':
127	** In a flashback on, Bloom accidentally starts a house fire after arguing with her parents, causing her tremendous guilt. She also feels guilty about hiding her powers from them. In the cartoon, Bloom discovered her powers while trying to protect Stella from an ogre, she never gets into a fight with parents, and her parents are fully aware of magic from the beginning.
128	** In contrast to the cartoon, Stella has a troubled relationship with her mother, feels great pressure to keep up appearances, and [[spoiler:accidentally blinded her friend because she couldn't fully control her powers]].
129	** In the series, Sky's father was a famous warrior who died when Sky was a baby [[spoiler:or so everyone thinks]], thus Sky grew up in his father's shadow. There's also no mention of his mother, since he was raised by Silva. In the cartoon, both of Sky's parents are alive and involved in his upbringing.
130	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
131	** In the books, Tyrion is impressed that his niece Myrcella ''doesn't'' cry when she leaves for Dorne. In the show, she's bawling her eyes out.
132	** Sansa Stark. Not that she doesn't undergo TraumaCongaLine in the books, but her wedding night rape with Ramsay is entirely native and exclusive to the show as a result of her character's storyline becoming a composite with that of Jeyne Poole's in the book.
133	** Selyse is much more affected by the many stillbirths than her book counterpart. She also has had to endure the Siege of Storm's End while she wasn't there in the books. And then there's the sacrifice of Shireen...
134	* ''Series/GoodOmens2019'':
135	** Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship has more conflict than in the original book. Both characters worry more about their bosses potentially finding out about their ForbiddenFriendship and they have heated arguments about Crowley wanting holy water from Aziraphale that could kill him and Aziraphale denying that a demon like Crowley could be his friend that aren't present in the book.
136	** Crowley's reaction to [[spoiler:finding Aziraphale's bookshop burning and thinking that Aziraphale perished in the fire]]. In the book, he's distressed about this but is able to pull himself together enough to continue trying to stop Armageddon on his own. In the show, he gets so upset that he flies into a screaming rage, gives up completely on his plans to escape or stop Armageddon, and tries to [[DrowningMySorrows drown his sorrows]] at a bar.
137	** [[WalkingTechbane Newt Pulsifer]] gets this via TechnologyMarchesOn. The book was written in the 1990s, when it would be merely inconvenient for Newt to be unable to use computers; he joins the Witchfinder Army for a lark because he's bored at his old job. In 2019, Newt bricking every computer he comes near makes him ''borderline unemployable''; he gets fired on his first day after shutting down the whole office, and only Sgt. Shadwell can take him in because he doesn't use computers.
138	* Moist von Lipwig in the TV adaptation of ''Film/GoingPostal'' broods much more on his past crimes and their consequences than he does in the book. Also, Adora Belle Dearheart has [[DeathByAdaptation lost more than just her brother]].
139	* The second ''Series/HoratioHornblower'' series was based on ''Lietuenant Hornblower'', which involved paranoid Captain Sawyer losing his mind, mysteriously falling down the hold, and being replaced by his [[TheDitherer indecisive]] first lieutenant Buckland. In the book, Sawyer's paranoia and mental break were never explained, but the series makes him a LivingLegend whose many bloody and traumatic memories [[ShellShockedVeteran finally catch up to him]] and make him unable to tell friend from foe. Buckland, meanwhile, is ''painfully'' aware how inadequate he is next to the clever and decisive young Hornblower and his envy drives him to both the UriahGambit and a public accusation of pushing Saywer (as opposed to a few testy remarks).
140	* In the live action of ''Literature/TheKingsAvatar'':
141	** Chen Guo starts having problems with her friend Tang Rou playing Glory every day, despite that being what she wanted originally, as she feels she is being ignored and left out. In the novel, she didn't find it an issue.
142	** She was also more upset than in the original novel about Ye Qiu's sudden retirement and spends a good chuck of an episode depressed about it before she bounces back. She hits her lowest point at the All-Stars Competition where a friend tells her to accept reality and that Ye Qiu would never return to Glory. Chen Guo's angst comes from the fact in the live action, she is a dedicated member of the Ye Qiu club and she got into Glory because her father was a fan of Ye Qiu as well.
143	** In flashbacks, Yu Wenzhou is seen struggling during the training camp and ranked the lowest amongst his classmates due to his slow hands and his classmates are seen frequently mocking him for it.
144	* The original series of ''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker'' had Kolchak investigating strange stories of the supernatural solely because he kept running into them on his beat. The short-lived remake ''The Night Stalker'' had it so that he was driven to investigate the strange after the mysterious death of his wife, for which he was still considered a suspect.
145	* The original ''Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' books notably ran on AngstWhatAngst The [[Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie seventies TV show]], derived plenty of its drama from things that didn't remotely happen in the books/in RealLife. The 2005 miniseries stuck closer to the letter of events but sometimes added emotional overtones where none had been, including mining angst from the books' characteristically restrained hints at the WellDoneSonGuy element in [[DaddysGirl Laura]]'s relationship with her father.
146	* In ''Literature/LockwoodAndCo'', Lucy Carlyle seems to have somewhat more angst in the television series than in the books. While in the books her mother is described as being somewhat remote, in the TV series she's depicted as downright awful, basically just using Lucy for her Talent to get money and not showing an ounce of love. Lucy also at one point nearly quits Lockwood & early on because of Lockwood's attitude.
147	* ''Series/LostInSpace2018'' changes the original by introducing drama and personal conflicts to the Robinson family. In particular, their father's absence on military duty has estranged him from the children and brought the parents to the brink of divorce.
148	* The 2004 ''Series/{{Marple}}'' adaptation of ''Literature/TheBodyInTheLibrary'' makes the character of Mark Gaskell a lot more sympathetic by turning him into a former war hero suffering from shell-shock and SurvivorGuilt after the deaths of his wife and his two best friends.
149	* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' is ''made'' of this -- people that were originally just [[BlackAndWhiteMorality motiveless fairy-tale villains]] mostly have incredibly angsty pasts that make them somewhat sympathetic, though of course FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse. Rumplestiltskin [[TraumaCongaLine pretty much got the worst]]: neither parent wanted him, he was tormented by townsfolk for his cowardice, lost his first wife, ''crippled himself'' out of fear of losing his son, took up dark powers to prevent this, lost his son ''anyway'', drove away a new love and thought she'd been killed...and that was all in the backstory, ''before'' the Queen cast the curse and sent everyone to the World Without Magic. The Queen herself is another example, as she was abused by her mother, whose plot to make her queen resulted in the murder of her first love.
150	* ''Series/OnePiece2023'':
151	** When Usopp finds out Luffy knew his father, he has a displeased look on his face, showing he harbors some resentment towards his father who had abandoned him and his mother. And because the Usopp Pirates were adapted out of this adaptation, Usopp had to face Kuro and the emotional fallout of being the village outcast alone.
152	** In the manga/anime, Nami secretly told Nojiko about her plan to buy Coco Village back from Arlong who would then tell the rest of the villagers who pretended to hate Nami to not arouse Arlong's suspicions. In this series, Nami never told Nojiko the truth and Nami was genuinely ostracized by her sister and the villagers until they find out why Nami was working for Arlong.
153	** Prior to Zoro and Mihawk's fight, Nami was the one most vocal and panicky about Zoro recklessly endangering his life, not wanting him to see him hurt or killed due to his stubbornness of fulfilling his dream. When Zoro asks why she cares so much, Nami nearly yells in frustration because he is her friend. And when Zoro accepts his defeat, Nami grabs Usopp's hand as a means to brace herself for Mihawk to deliver the final blow.
154	*** In the aftermath of the fight, Luffy suffers a crisis of confidence over his abilities as a captain as many characters, including Nami, calls Luffy out for not stopping Zoro when it was clear Zoro was in over his head for challenging Mihawk to a DuelToTheDeath. During the time Zoro was unconscious, it's clear that Luffy was truly afraid that Zoro would lose his life. He ultimately learns that a good captain must make the hard decision to step in and help when things are going awry regardless of the circumstances.
155	* In the original ''Series/PartyOfFive'', the titular kids just had to contend with child services coming for them when their parents died. In [[Series/PartyOfFive2020 the reboot]], their counterparts also have to worry about Immigration Control and Enforcement, which has already deported their parents and may come after the eldest brother, too.
156	* ''Series/{{Poirot}}'':
157	** In the adaptation of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'', Literature/HerculePoirot agonizes a lot more over whether to turn in the person or persons responsible for the murder than he does in the novel.
158	** The adaptation of ''Literature/SadCypress'' raises the stakes by having Elinor Carlisle be convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang, forcing Poirot to race against time to find the real murderer before the innocent girl gets executed for it.
159	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': While often it's the inverse for most characters, a few examples have popped up throughout the franchise.
160	** ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'': Kakeru Shishi/[=GaoRed=] in ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' went through some trials and grief throughout the season but otherwise led a perfectly happy life, Cole on the other hand was orphaned as a toddler, had to leave the tribe that adopted him to achieve his destiny as the Red Ranger of the Wild Force and later on discovers the AwfulTruth that [[spoiler:his parents were murdered by their former colleague, Viktor Adler, who in a fit of jealously ate the Master Org's seeds to become more powerful and enact his petty vengeance. Adler almost breaks him with the revelations until Cole gains his valor back to defeat Adler.]]
161	** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': Virtually the entire human cast suffers this, in ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'' the Gaiark were the typical ''Sentai'' villains with offscreen worlds conquered and whose goal was to pollute Earth but never quite accomplished it; here all of humanity has been severely thinned thanks to Venjix's genocidal campaign and many of the Rangers lost their loved ones to the war against the Venjix Virus Network's forces. Particularly is the team's mentor, Doctor K., [[spoiler:who was kidnapped as a young child and forced to create weapons against her will and in her attempts to escape created the very same virus that nearly wiped out humanity leaving her feeling very guilty about her role in humanity's extinction, her relative counterparts in ''Go-Onger'', Jum-bowhale and BOMPER, don't have anything remotely close to her backstory in terms of angst.]]
162	* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' seems made with the intention of deconstructing and darkening ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' as much as possible. There is traditionally ''no'' angst in ''Archie'' whatsoever, and even the more dramatic ''ComicBook/ArchieComics2015'' isn't nearly as angsty:
163	** Archie is described as dealing with multiple issues and harboring a dark secret. He's also been MistakenForMurderer.
164	** Betty is a StepfordSmiler with self-esteem issues who is tired of seeming "perfect".
165	** Summaries outright call ''Jughead'' {{emo}}. He is no longer friends with Archie due to an argument.
166	** Archie's father Fred is described as having skeletons in his closet.
167	* ''Series/Runaways2017'' makes a significant change to Nico's background, with the end result being that she's already a StepfordSnarker when the series begins. That change being giving her a CanonForeigner older sister... who died in mysterious circumstances.
168	* ''Series/TheShannaraChronicles'': In the books, though Eretria had an indifferent father who used her to steal, the show made this even worse, with him letting his abuse her and it's implied she was raped (or nearly so) as well.
169	* The Granada ''Series/SherlockHolmes'' series flip-flops on inverting this or playing it straight for different incidents, the decisions usually hinging on the absence of Watson's narration from the books. Holmes's cocaine addiction, at any rate, is given a good bit more active screentime.
170	* ''Series/TheUntamed'': The fall of Lotus Pier is made even more tragic by having Jiang Yanli be there to see her father one last time, and cry alongside Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng when they inform her of their parents' deaths.
171	* ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'' has a few examples, but none more than Rick Grimes. While the comic book version of Rick has his fair share of angst and problems, the ones in the show stick with Rick for entire seasons and have a much larger effect on him and his group.
172	** Rick takes Lori's death much harder in the show than in the comics, causing him to suffer a severe case of SanitySlippage. He seems to recover by Season 4.
173	** A much bigger example was in Season 7. When [[BigBad Negan]] made his debut and murdered [[spoiler:Glenn]] in the comics he shook Rick, but Rick only pretended to submit to protect his community and friends, all while making secret plans to take Negan down. There was no secret plan in the show because Rick was actually broken. He tried to convince his friends that this was the only way they could survive, by giving Negan what he wants. He regains the will to fight halfway through the season when he realizes that no matter how hard he tries, The Saviors will keep hurting his friends and Negan will still kill people.
174	* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime2021'' gives Perrin a CanonForeigner wife whom he [[AccidentalMurder kills by accident]] while fighting off Trollocs in the first episode.
175	* ''[[Theatre/TheWiz The Wiz Live!]]'' shows more of Dorothy's grieving over her parents' death than did the original play, or even ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. Aunt Em, the sister of Dorothy's mama, also mourns the loss.
176	[[/folder]]
177
178	[[folder:Multiple Media]]
179	* The Franchise/MonsterVerse version of [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingKong King Kong]] doesn't get shot down in New York, but he ''does'' get to witness and live through the destruction of his island home by PerpetualStorm, claiming the lives of all but a few of the natives and creatures that he spent his entire life bleeding in defence of. ''WesternAnimation/SkullIsland2023'' also reveals that he made friends with a native girl sometime between 1973 and the mid-1990s, only for her to die in his hand [[spoiler:after he was too late to save her and her village from a monster that fatally injured her; essentially, for this Kong, it was his Beauty instead of him, the Beast, who died]].
180	[[/folder]]
181
182	[[folder:Theater]]
183	* In mythology Hades and Persephone had one of the happiest, healthiest relationships in the entire pantheon, while in ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'' their marriage is on the rocks and has been for some time. [[spoiler:By the end, they're both working on trying again]].
184	* One could argue that this trope was the basis for the musical ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar''. In fact, it was precisely this reason that many people initially protested the film -- because the all-powerful Christ isn't supposed to show feelings like the rest of the mortals, dammit (never mind that the Bible does have several entries in which he does just that).
185	* ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'' does this to everyone from [[Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors the 1960 movie that was its basis]], particularly Seymour (who goes from a poor schlep living with his nagging mother to a poor schlep taken from a boy's home to work at Mushnik's flower shop and never formally adopted) and Audrey (who has now been abandoned by her father and is in an abusive relationship).
186	* In ''Theatre/OrfeoEdEuridice'', the conditions for leading Eurydice out are even worse than the norm, as not only can Orpheus not turn to look at Eurydice, he can't speak to her to tell her why. Eurydice thinks he no longer loves her and ''begs'' him to look at her, and he ultimately gives in.
187	* Early theatrical adaptations of ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' did this, converting the story's BigBad into a VillainProtagonist and radically changing his motives. In the original penny dreadful "Literature/TheStringOfPearls", he's simply a straight-up sociopath who kills his barbershop patrons out of pure greed for their valuables, whereas later plays and films depict his SerialKiller career as him taking revenge on the judge who destroyed his life and the society that did nothing to prevent it. Hence, although still evil in the extreme, he's at least marginally sympathetic for all that.
188	[[/folder]]
189
190	[[folder:Video Games]]
191	* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnFrontierStory''
192	** [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc Makoto Naegi]] in his home game takes his averageness in stride and manages to overcome the Killing Game's horrors to become the Ultimate Hope. This Makoto, despite living in a world when The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History never happened, has horrible luck, gets teased a lot and is so depressed by his average nature that [[spoiler:he once nearly committed suicide.]]
193	** [[VideoGame/{{Valis}} Yuuko Asou]] had her bestie die in front of her home game and learned she was separated from his birth parents as a baby. The Yuuko in this game will have a worse backstory than that.
194	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'':
195	** ''Remake'' have Tifa plays up her insecurities and ReluctantWarrior traits a number of times.
196	*** Tifa in the original game was largely dedicated to the cause of Avalanche with little issue on her side about being involved, though the lifestream event says she didn't want to be known as a violent person. In ''Remake'', she's unsure of herself and often wonders if the group's actions are justifiable.
197	*** In the original game, Barret and the others had no reason to question Tifa's resolve, but her reluctance to hurt innocents with Avalanche's bombing plan in the Remake causes Jessie to wonder whether Tifa is truly committed to their cause. During the trip to Mako Reactor 5, she also admits to being nervous, something she never truly expressed in the original game.
198	** Jessie in ''Remake'' admits she's appalled that the bombs she created for Avalanche have killed so many people, [[spoiler: and when accidentally mortally wounded by her own grenade (due to the interference from the Whispers of Fate) she even claims she had it coming]]. In the original it was never indicated that Jessie felt this way about her work.
199	** PlayedWith concerning Cloud himself. Compared to the original, he has a much more troubled and somber attitude as well as less enthusiasm when it comes to his allies and love interests. This is due to an added subplot that reveals his magical treatments that gave Cloud his strength have drastically shortened his lifespan, which isn't indicated in the original and explains his angst as well as his stronger reticence to get involved with people. On the other hand, Cloud's behavior overall is [[AdaptationalAngstDowngrade downplayed]] in ''Remake'' compared to most depictions of him, with his dorkier and lighthearted traits from the original emerging as the game goes on.
200	** The Turks namely Reno and Rude, in the original had no real qualms about the fact they were ordered to killed thousands of people when dropping the plate on Sector 7. In ''Remake'', both Reno and Rude display great reluctance and conflict over what they have to do and Reno despite his brash nature, ultimately can't go through with it, forcing Rude to do the deed. Later they both express their guilt and horror over Sector 7 to Tseng their boss.
201	* In the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series, the remakes generally have their characters react with more realistic horror and trauma to the terrifying events of their stories:
202	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'':
203	*** The main heroes zigzag this, though rather effectively. While the original portrayed them as typically stoic 90s heroes, the remake portrays the entire cast as far more emotional and struggling to come to terms with the horrors they experience. Leon, Claire and Sherry give themselves pep talks to get through frightening experiences, curse and plead with the monsters attacking them and show their [[NaiveNewcomer relative inexperience]] as a bunch of 20-somethings and a preteen trying to survive. On the other hand, Leon's reason for arriving in Raccoon City LateToTheTragedy is changed from DrowningHisSorrows after an ugly breakup to being warned to stay away because of the developing crisis.
204	*** Minor character Robert Kendo in the original game was a goofy, yet somewhat helpful shopkeeper who is eaten by zombies after a few lines of dialogue. In the remake, he lashes out angrily at Leon and Ada. [[spoiler:This is because the remake adds a wife and daughter to his backstory; the wife having been infected and been killed, while his daughter is slowly succumbing to the T-Virus. He takes the daughter away, and a gunshot is heard. A bonus mode implies this experience drove him to suicide.]] The much more serious take on Kendo elevated him to a more memorable part of the game.
205	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'': Jill and Carlos get this to quite the extent, ''especially'' Jill. In the original while she was sad at the situation she and her town had found themselves in and angry at Umbrella for causing it, Jill was still confident and undaunted, not mention to sassy when U.B.C.S. (namely Nikolai) doubted her abilities. In ''[=RE3make=]'' however Jill is much more messed up with PTSD over her [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil experinces at the Spencer Mansion]], apparently spending her nights racked with nightmares and throughout the game has lucid [[NightmareSequence nightmare sequences]] about being forced to kill herself or Carlos as they turn into zombies. Carlos for his part never questioned his job working for Umbrella in the original, shrugging off Jill's acusations by saying he's "just a mercenary". Here, Carlos soon learns exactly how evil Umbrella is, becoming wracked with guilt over the fact Jill found it in her heart to trust him anyway.
206	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake'' has Leon acting a lot more melancholy and distant compared how he was in the original game. The remake has Leon still dealing with the trauma caused by his nightmare of trying to stay alive during the Raccoon City Incident in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' and his failure of protecting Marvin and Ada. Leon's initiation in the government is also played much more darkly; while Leon is forced to join because [[HeKnowsTooMuch he witnessed things he wasn't meant to see in Raccoon City]], the original has him more or less joining without a hitch. The remake shows Leon's daily training nearly has him [[TrainingFromHell nearly killed every time]] and despite that fact, he prefers to put up with it since it lets him be distracted from remembering what he went through in Raccoon City.
207	* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilDuringTheStorm:'' The game begins with [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak Kevin]] killing a man during a police standoff and sinking into depression until the ZombieApocalypse forces him to put it aside. This is in sharp contrast to the more cool-headed and affable Kevin from ''Outbreak.''
208	* In ''VideoGame/Halo2'', in the original, when Arbiter responds to Rtas stating he doesn't care if the former lives or dies with "That make two of us", he is staring Rtas down, emphasizing his defiance. In the anniversary version, he instead drops his eyes while delivering his line, emphasizing his DeathSeeker mindset and his sense of shame over his failure.
209	[[/folder]]
210
211	[[folder:Webcomics]]
212	* An interesting case in Lucy and Fisk Black, characters across two different webcomics. In ''Webcomic/BadlyDrawnKitties'', where the two are adults, their BrotherSisterIncest is played as comedy, and considered something the other protagonists are rather used to from them. In the later comic ''Webcomic/BetterDays'', which follows the two in an alternate universe as they grow from kids to adults, these incestuous feelings are played entirely for drama, which the two of them angst quite a bit over and ultimately grow out of.
213	[[/folder]]
214
215	[[folder:Web Original]]
216	* In ''WebVideo/TheHeroOfTime'', Talon is a lot more serious about things than his carefree self and Malon is considerably more shy and nervous when she first meets Link, although both are explained as a result of them recently moving to Hyrule Castle Town and being unused to living in a populated area (which obviously never happened in the game). [[spoiler:Five years in the future, Talon has become even more depressed and bitter, due to the fact that Malon ''died''.]]
217	* ''WebVideo/TheLizzieBennetDiaries'', the modern vlog version of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'', has a few examples:
218	** While Lydia Bennet initially comes across as just as shallow, irresponsible, and self-absorbed as her literary counterpart, her own spin-off vlog and later videos show her HiddenDepths - because [[AdaptationSpeciesChange Kitty Bennet is a cat and not her sister]] and her mother doesn't spoil her the way she does in the novel, Lydia is a lot more lonely in this version. She feels more overlooked compared to her accomplished older sisters, who are closer to each other than to her, and her AttentionWhore tendencies are her misguided way of being with them. She is also implied to struggle with getting slut-shamed and bullied at school. On top of that, her relationship with George Wickham leaves her in a worse position than in the book, [[spoiler: since instead of eloping, she is essentially emotionally abused by him before horrifically finding out George secretly taped them having sex, planning to sell the tape online without her consent. Lydia does ''not'' take it well.]]
219	** Lizzie herself has a few moments of this, as she struggles to deal with all the changes around her and the prospect of being abandoned by her loved ones, which she does not struggle with in the novel.
220	** The companion book reveals that Jane [[spoiler: had a pregnancy scare after staying over at the Lee's]].
221	** Bing Lee (the adapted version of Charles Bingley) is revealed late in the series to be more than just a rich bachelor studying to be a doctor. [[spoiler: It turns out he was pressured into going to medical school, and part of the reason he was in Netherfield in the first place was because he dropped out to find his purpose in life, to his family's and Darcy's frustration. Then Caroline and Darcy pressured him to go back, abandoning Jane, until he dropped out ''again'' near the end of the series.]]
222	* In the VlogSeries ''WebVideo/LovelyLittleLosers'', loosely based on Shakespeare's ''Theatre/LovesLaboursLost'', a significant amount of the plot hinges on an unhappy backstory that is entirely absent from the original play.
223	* ''WebVideo/MysteryIncorporated2022'': Nearly the whole gang. Fred's parents are killed during the opening narration. Velma's father was killed prior to the events of the show and her mother became an alcoholic as a result. Shaggy has a strained relationship with his cop father and is being blackmailed into remaining a drug dealer. Daphne meanwhile is a StepfordSmiler who is being pressured into an AlphaBitch role not only by her friends, but by her own mother.
224	* FanFilm ''WebVideo/SpiderManLotus'' was created as an adaptation of ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'' & ''ComicBook/SpiderManBlue'', but makes Peter into a JerkassWoobie who lashes out at everyone close to him and has him trauma-dumping to the ''dying child'' from ''The Kid Who Collects ComicBook/SpiderMan''. In the original comic Peter remained well-composed and affable despite the weight of the situation, and only briefly shows open signs of self-doubt when the kid specifically asks him about why he fights crime.
225	[[/folder]]
226
227	[[folder:Western Animation]]
228	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'':
229	** Vi's story changes from saving some miners after the gang she worked with got a little rough now involves [[spoiler: several of her family members dying, and then being locked in a supermax prison for several years.]]
230	** The [[AnimeOfTheGame show]] portrays Jinx as a far more tragic a figure. In the [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends game]], Jinx is almost always seen smiling and giggling, and has an almost child-like cheerfulness which contrasts with the destruction she causes. Here her mood is much more somber and she's haunted by hallucinations of people she's lost. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] however, as her emotional wounds are still relatively fresh with lingering doubts on who she actually wants to be as a constant source of drama between either being [[MeaningfulRename Powder or Jinx]]... [[spoiler:[[ThenLetMeBeEvil at first anyway]].]]
231	* In the ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'' story "80 Years"/"Family Ties", when the triplets learn what happened to Della Duck, they're sad for a panel, then get distracted. Once Gyro contacts her and they learn she's fine, they actually lie to her out of fear that if she knew [[spoiler: relativity meant she'd been away for years]], she might give up, and they like living with Uncle Donald. In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', the triplets' feelings about their MissingMom is one of the driving forces of the first season, they do ''not'' handle learning the truth well, and both their issues over this, and her own trauma from ''knowing'' she's missed them growing up, continue to inform a lot of the plot thereafter.
232	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Green Eggs and Ham\|2019}}'':
233	** The fox from the book is given both [[NamedByTheAdaptation a name (Michael]]) and a potent cocktail of neuroses as he attempts to woo an aloof hen at the farm he works at who looks down on him for eating eggs. His efforts to deprive himself of his favorite food have caused him to become unstable and violent. Mentioning eggs or even the name of his would-be girlfriend is enough to cause him to go on a rampage.
234	** [[spoiler:Sam as well. It turns out that he's a SadClown underneath his beaming smile and his love of Green Eggs and Ham is the one thing that connects him to his long-lost mother.]]
235	** Even ''the mouse'' is also given an angsty backstory, [[Literature/LesMiserables where he was jailed for stealing cheese to feed his family.]]
236	* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'':
237	** This version of [[Characters/HarleyQuinn2019TheCharacter Harley Quinn]] follows her partnership with Poison Ivy, as Harley wants to overshadow the Joker for once while still coming to terms with the abusive reality of their relationship. In season 2, Harley has to learn to trust men and understand what a healthy relationship looks like. She does this because the Joker's abuse tainted her view of relationships and left her with doubts about what an ideal relationship is.
238	** Happens to ComicBook/{{Batman}} as well, as season 3 sees him become deeply unstable from the [[DeathByOriginStory trauma of his parents' deaths]].
239	* ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage'': Casey Jones was originally created as a parody of all vigilante characters with tragic backstories that were in comics, with Casey just being a character who was inspired to be a vigilante, but just from watching too much bad TV, like ''Series/TJHooker'' and ''Series/TheATeam''. [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 The 2003 animated series]] gave him a tragic backstory: When he was a child, his father's shop was burned down by [[TheBrute Hun]] and the Purple Dragons for being denied protection money. Despite being threatened not to, his father (Arnold Casey Jones Sr.) later went to the police over it. It is implied that [[YouKilledMyFather he was killed]] for doing so. This gave Casey his hatred for crime and an essential lifelong vendetta against the Purple Dragons. This backstory, however, was eventually adapted into the original Mirage comics.[[note]]This is best seen in Casey's introduction in both versions: In the comics, he is introduced watching the aforementioned TV shows and cheering for the vigilantes while doing bicep curls with a dumbbell, whereas in the 2003 series, he is introduced in a [[https://youtu.be/QwXzvDwVDpc?t=136 similar manner]], except he is watching a news channel reporting about the Purple Dragons, with Casey's eyes burning with rage with a quick flashback of his childhood encounter with the street gang.[[/note]]
240	* ''WesternAnimation/ATaleDarkAndGrimm'' [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler kicks off the plot]] with Literature/HanselAndGretel's parents [[spoiler:decapitating and then resurrecting]] them, which freaks them out so much that they run away from home. Even when they find out the reason, they take several episodes to forgive their parents for doing it. This plot point comes from the fairy tale "Faithful Johannes"[[note]](or "Faithful/Trusty John," depending on the translation)[[/note]], where the kids are [[AngstWhatAngst cheerfully indifferent]] to this happening to them.
241	* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Waspinator's odd speech and ButtMonkey mannerisms made him the comic relief in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. Here his mannerisms are a result of being locked in a penitentiary for a long time which gradually eroded his sanity to make him into a gibbering mess, and when bad things happen to him they also get played for drama as well as laughs. His lamentations at his lot in life are no longer odd fourth wall-breaking moments, but the insane depressed ramblings of a broken bot.
242	* In ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', The Rhino here has much more angst issues about being mutated and bullied into becoming a criminal than his mainstream counterpart.
243	* Happens to most of the characters in ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', which is a ContinuityReboot of ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''. Pretty much everyone has some unresolved angst of some kind for one reason or another.
244	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / AdaptationalAngstUpgrade