Adaptation Displacement / Superhero Films

Examples of Adaptation Displacement after an existing work has been adapted into a superhero film.

Many movie adaptations of superhero comics from publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics fall into this category. Superhero comics reach a much smaller audience and may not see a huge surge in sales even if their movie adaptations are massively successful.

Marketing means that most of the audience is fully aware that the characters originated from Comic Books and some people do seek out the original stories, but modern audiences are more likely to be exposed to the characters through movies (and TV series) than through their original comics.

A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. Examples shouldn't be added until six months after the adaptation is released, to avoid any knee-jerk reactions.

---

DC Comics

• The success of The Dark Knight Trilogy helped to get more people interested in Batman (at least those who weren't already thanks to the Batman Film Series and Batman: The Animated Series).
  • Heath Ledger's timeless and acclaimed depiction of the Joker influenced future incarnations in post-2008 media including Batman: Arkham Series and Injustice. This also resulted in future Joker actors being asked to say "Why so serious" including Mark Hamill and Richard Epcar (who would say it in Mortal Kombat 11).
• The success of Superman usually has Superman resembling Christopher Reeve.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • The release of Suicide Squad has helped people discover characters such as Harley Quinn (who's not thought of as solely dressed in a harlequin outfit anymore, although this already predated the film thanks to the New 52) and Deadshot.
  • The success of Aquaman ushered reactions like "Aquaman is not a joke of a character anymore" as if there had been nothing between Superfriends and the 2010s. The comics made him seriously badass way before 2018.

Marvel Comics

• Before Blade, Blade was a human being who was immune to vampirism, but otherwise normal. The comics quickly replaced their version with the half-vampire Daywalker.
• Spider-Man Trilogy: It's not uncommon to meet people who are surprised than more recent and Truer to the Text incarnations of Spider-Man use devices to shoot web instead of doing it organically, due to Sam Raimi's creative choices. Or people who are surprised that Spidey is in love with one Gwen Stacy instead of just Mary Jane Watson.
• The success of Fantastic Four helped cause a Thing spin-off comic series by 2006.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • The month the massive hit Iron Man 3 opened in theaters, not a single Iron Man trade managed to make it into the list of Top 10 best-selling graphic novels at bookstores, which was dominated by fare like Sailor Moon and Naruto.
  • An exception would be when Guardians of the Galaxy was about to be released, and issue #1 of Rocket Raccoon's solo series topped the charts, selling about three times more than the second-place title.
  • Some films make such an impact that the comics shift to match them; often to the frustration of longtime fans. This usually happens to fringe properties (being less popular makes them less defined, giving the movies more room), but there are exceptions.
    • Henry Pym, the original Ant-Man, attacked his wife Janet Van Dyne in one comic that he could never live down, and has become known as a wife beater ever since. The films skipped that baggage by making Ant-Man films that don't star Pym but his Legacy Character Scott Lang, demoting Pym to Mission Control. This was extended to the comics, where Scott Lang is now Ant-Man every time the character is needed. Even lampshaded in the 2018 Ant Man & The Wasp comic. The first scenes feature Pym and Van Dyne, and say "They were a legendary team. Together, they shared a love so bright it shamed the stars. This is not their story".
    • The Hulk was indeed a founding member of the Avengers. He also quit the team two issues later, and didn't rejoin until after the first movie came out. He became a member for a few years afterwards, up until Secret Wars (2015), after which he disappeared off the radar, then got killed; when he finally came back, he wasn't on the team, his cousin She-Hulk instead serving as the Avengers' Hulk.
    • In the mainstream comics, Nick Fury is a white man, and while he and SHIELD often work closely with the Avengers, SHIELD is a very separate entity. In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, however, Nick Fury is a black man modeled on Samuel L. Jackson (who plays him in the MCU), and The Ultimates (an alternate version of the Avengers) were organized by SHIELD and operate under their command. The films followed the design of the Ultimates, and the mainstream comics soon followed them, with the Avengers working for SHIELD after Civil War. This wasn't the first time the Avengers worked for SHIELD in the main Marvel Universe, but it's the first time it lasted. As for Fury, they have created a mixed-race (but appearing black) long-lost son for Fury, who began calling himself Nick Fury, Jr. and essentially taking on the role his father played in the movies.
    • Agent Phil Coulson, an original character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, grew popular enough to become a Canon Immigrant. Later he starred in the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., full of other original characters, and now most of them are Canon Immigrants as well.
    • Yondu's depiction from Guardians of the Galaxy became the 616 equivalent of Yondu, which helps that he was a scene stealer in the films.
  • The Guardians of the Galaxy were originally a niche team that operated in the 31st century. It got relaunched in 2008, set in the present and with the familiar cast of Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot... and Adam Warlock, Quasar, and Mantis. There were oddities (Groot could speak normally at first), and Star-Lord and Drax were quickly killed off. They relaunched again after the movie was announced, this time starring just the "core" five.
    • The fan response to the cinematic Loki got his comics character redrawn to resemble Tom Hiddleston. Compare before◊ and after◊.
  • A very notable and interesting exception is how Marvel has avoided all the canon pairings from the MCU making either an appearance or a comeback in the comics
    • Tony Stark and Pepper Potts never became a couple despite both being single and having a long history of flirtation (although they do sleep together one time which happened around the time the second movie came out).
    • Despite the films portraying Peggy Carter as Steve Rogers' one true love, the comics didn't follow with it and decided to keep Steve with his most well known contemporary partner, Sharon Carter. This stayed true even after Peggy came back from the dead in the current era.
    • Even though Thor and Jane was the most notable pairing for the God of Thunder in the films, the comics didn't paired them back together, preferring to keep Thor with Sif or later She Hulk, while having Jane flirt with other heroes like Sam Wilson when she became Thor.
    • Despite the Hawkeye series revealing that Clint Barton's wife in the movies used to be Agent 19, the comics never paired Clint with Bobbi again (although they have them flirt with each other a lot when they appear together in panel).
    • Black Widow 's romance with Bruce Banner was never explored in the comics, on that same note her flirting relationship with Clint was also never picked up, despite both having paired together in the past. Most of Black Widow's romantic teasing continued to be with Bucky across the past decade.
    • Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne never got back together for good reasons (see above). On that same note, Scott Lang never got together with Pym's daugther Nadya because of a really long age gap that would make it really weird.
    • Guardians of the Galaxy was an exception to the rule for a time as the comics did actually paired Peter Quill and Gamora for a time. However, this was undone in the following volume.

---