Adaptational Badass in Film.
Works with their own pages
- The African Queen: The titular ship actually succeeds in destroying the German warship "Louisa" (actually Königin Luise) even after capsizing herself in a storm, as the "Louisa" happens to run into the overturned African Queen, striking the detonators of Charlie Alnutt's home-made "torpedos". In C. S. Forester's novel the Queen anticlimactically sinks in a storm and the "Louisa" is finally sunk by two modern British gunboats transported piece by piece overland and then assembled on the west coast of the East African lake. (In the film the captain of the "Louisa" also receives a villain upgrade, condemning Charlie and Rosie to be hanged. In the novel he decides it would be uncivilized to have the two executed as spies so he hands them over to the British under a flag of truce).
- Tim Burton's film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (2010) 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 a Scottish claymore. Arguably all of the characters in the movie, as well, to some degree.
- Blade Trilogy:
- Blade himself actually gets this. In the early comics, Blade was initially more of a Badass Normal Vampire Hunter whose mom was bitten by a vampire giving him heightened senses, but in the film, he's an outright Dhampyr who has all the pros of being a vampire and none of the cons. Thanks to the massive success of the movies, comic Blade was bitten by Morbius and thus gained all the abilities he had on screen.
- Blade: Trinity did this in regards to Marvel's Dracula, who was vulnerable to sunlight and all the typical vampire weaknesses like crosses, holy water, garlic and the like. Here he is a Daywalker just like Blade himself and the typical weaknesses don't do anything and it takes an artificial virus to actually kill him at the end. In all fairness, Dracula was a Daywalking Vampire too in the Bram Stoker novel, something which Drake points out in the movie and being based on him, so this trope only applies to the Marvel version.
- The the 2007 film adaptation of Blood and Chocolate (1997) does this to Aiden. In the book he's not especially athletic or badass, although he does manage to shoot two werewolves (the second time he hits the wrong werewolf and he's freaking out). Here he was raised to be a tough survivalist by his ex-military dad and he's more of an Action Survivor, bordering on Action Hero, taking out multiple werewolves with guns, knives or even just a silver pendant and a long drop.
- The Bravados:
- In the book, Deputy Pepe Martinez is a Non-Action Guy, and Deputy Primo is a particularly Clueless Deputy. In the film, both come across as tough and competent while trying to keep their prisoners under secure guard.
- In the book, Douglas only kills one of the fugitives and needs some help to do it. In the film, he defeats three of them single-handedly across the course of the movie.
- The Chronicles of Narnia much like the Tolkien examples below, most of the cast get this.
- The Pevensie siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are seriously badass compared to the books. Not that they were wimps by any stretch in C.S Lewis's original work, they being pacifistic kid heroes just fought battles infrequently and in some books (like The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) not at all, instead relying on Aslan to save the day. In the films however, Peter and Edmund give Aragorn a run for his money in the badass One-Man Army Master Swordsman department as well as showing hand to hand combat skills they didn't display in the book. Edmund in particular not only personally foils the White Witch Jadis's resurrection with a sneak attack in Prince Caspian but in the The Voyage of the Dawn Treader he's the one who saves the day by killing the Big Bad Sea Serpent with Peter's Cool Sword Rhindon, neither of which happened in the books. By the same token Caspian is made to be more of an action hero, enaging in several fights in his movie and the sequel unlike the books where he either just fled to safety or resolved matters non-violently.
- Susan deserves her own special mention. Due to the Stay in the Kitchen Values Dissonance of the books Susan didn't get involved with in any of the battles like Peter and Edmund did and is too "tender hearted" to hurt anyone, she only uses her bow and arrow to fight once in Prince Caspian to startle a Telmarine who was going to drown Trumpkin by shooting an arrow at his helmet. In contrast to the films, especially the second one where Susan gets involved in the action alongside her brothers and racks up a large Telmarine body count with her own incredible archery skills, including at one point throwing one of her arrows into mook's torso to kill him. To a lesser extent Lucy gets this in Voyage of the Dawn Treader as she fights slavers who attack her, Edmund and Caspian in Doorn, unlike the book where she and the others got captured immediately.
- Eustace get this upon turning into a dragon in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In the book version, he is only transformed for a brief peroid before Aslan cures him and due to it being a Despair Event Horizon for him, he didn't do anything particuarly cool as a dragon just flying around and lighting a campfire with his dragon's breath. In the film Eustace's time as a dragon is expanded and he helps the Dawn Treader go faster by pulling it along with his tail while flying and he actually helps out in the Final Battle as both a dragon and a human (once Aslan changes him back).
- Trumpkin the Dwarf, while skilled with a sword and bow is still a very goofy character in the book version of Prince Caspian. In the film Trumpkin is much more grizzled and badass, displaying Nerves of Steel even while captured and at Big Bad Miraz's mercy and of course does much more fighting beyond just slaying one wild bear to save Lucy like he does in the book. Since he's played by Peter Dinklage, this is to be expected.
- Reepicheep the talking mouse, while fearless in the books is more of a silly character like Trumpkin who doesn't do any real fighting and whose main role is in the story is being The Heart who inspires others into bravery. In the films he still provides moral support and comedic relief, but also shows real badassery taking down scores of men himself with his tiny sword. His hammy moments from both the Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader books are toned down and he's cooler and more sauve in the films as a result.
- Miraz the antagionist of Prince Caspian gets a great deal of this. In the book he was the usual Dirty Coward monarch who got manipulated by his more competent subordinates and most embarrassingly he knocks himself out during his duel with Peter by tripping over a tussock. In the film Miraz is made to be geuinely threating displaying a calculating cold bloodedness, not even showing fear when his nephew Caspian holds a sword to his throat and when a goddamn minotaur climbs to his balcony to kill him Miraz just pushes the beast off. He also puts up a better fight againist Peter, almost killing him in their duel.
- The Sea Serpent in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In the book it's described by Lucy as a "dumb creature" as all it does is wrap itself around the Dawn Treader before the crew free themselves by pushing againist the Serpent's coils making the ship pop out, which seems to amuse the creature and it doesn't pursue them. In the film, the Sea Serpent is an Animalistic Abomination Mental Monster brought to life by the Dark Island through Edmund's thoughts and it acts the Final Boss of the film trilogy.
- The Dark Knight: The Joker himself is this for his character. In the comics and cartoons, Joker had numerous moments of being an incredibly pathetic Dirty Coward, where he would either beg for mercy or run away whenever he pissed off the wrong person. Not to mention that, in most adaptations, the Joker is more of a schemer than a fighter, as well as a scrawny mobster who would hardly stand a chance against Batman when cornered. This Joker, on the contrary, has an absolutely uncanny ability in planning terrorist tactics and using all sorts of warfare weaponry, and is entirely capable of taking down, knocking out, and overpowering mafia thugs and police officers with very little effort. He also seems to have knowledge in psychological warfare tactics. And we're talking about an individual who doesn't even have any explicitly mentioned military training and/or affiliation with the League of Shadows, unlike Bane.
- DC Extended Universe:
- Man of Steel
- Jor-El is depicted fighting Zod and his forces, and going to great lengths to get the Codex to keep Zod from getting it. Jor-El didn't just fight Zod, he was, by all appearances, winning and only got stabbed when he was distracted while watching Kal's ship launch.
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:
- Following the examples set by Batman: Earth One and Beware the Batman, Alfred is said to be more hand-on in helping Batman. In fact
, much like in Earth One and Beware, this Alfred was the Wayne family's bodyguard, not their butler. - Thomas and Martha Wayne are depicted as going out fighting on the night they got killed, as Thomas takes a swing at Joe Chill before getting killed and Martha tried to get the gun from Chill's hands before she's shot.
- Jimmy Olsen is an undercover CIA agent.
- In Suicide Squad (2016) Deadshot, Harely Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Katana, Killer Croc and Rick Flagg defeat The Enchantress, who is a Humanoid Abomination. For reference in the comics it took Madame Xanadu assembling Justice League Dark just to put Enchantress down while in the film a bunch of criminals do the same with explosives. Power Creep, Power Seep at its finest.
- Wonder Woman (2017)
- Ares was able to kill all the other Olympians, including Zeus, in his backstory, while comic Ares is nowhere near powerful enough to do that. He also lacks his comic counterpart's dependence on constant war to survive and maintain his powers. In Zack Snyder's Justice League during the Flash Back to the ancient invasion, a younger Ares mortally wounds freaking Darkseid himself with his axe, forcing his army to retreat. In the comics, not even Zeus can defeat Darkseid.
- In Justice League (2017), Superman qualifies, to the point that everyone else is pretty much an Adaptational Wimp by comparison. While neither Aquaman or Wonder Woman are supposed to be quite as strong as him, they are normally able to at least fight him toe to toe. In Justice League, when he is resurrected and unaware of himself he easily overpowers both of them and Cyborg at the same time. He also handily tosses Steppenwolf around with little trouble, where in other adaptations any of the New Gods are able to stand up to or beat him. Similarly, while Superman is usually portrayed as being just slower than the Flash, in the movie he's as fast or even faster at times (though it should be noted that this Flash is much less experienced with his powers). note A possible explanation to this was that he was brought back to life with the use of lightning caused from Barry tapping into his Speed Force and a Mother Box to bring him back, granting him a broader use of his powers and allowing him to reach his maximum use of his potential.
- SHAZAM! (2019): Unlike his comics counterpart, Dr. Sivana now has super strength, super speed, telekinesis, flight, and electrical powers on top of his genius intellect.
- In Wonder Woman 1984 Diana is able to use the Reality Warper powers of her father Zeus to make the jet, she and Steve are flying turn invisible. In the comics Diana generally lacks any such ability and when Wondy does receive reality warping powers, like from the World Forge or Goddess Hecate, she tends to lose them from her arsenal very quickly.
- Zack Snyder's Justice League:
- The Flash is more action oriented than in the theatrical cut, taking on Parademons more directly (with a signature "tap with two fingers" attack) and utilizing Flash Step to save people from falling debris. He is also more confident with his powers, with the range and upper limits more fully explored, culminating in him managing to reverse time by a few seconds to save the League and the rest of the Earth from the Unity.
- Wonder Woman and Aquaman are more impressive compared to the theatrical cut, especially in the final fight against Steppenwolf. Arthur actually impales Steppenwolf through the back with his trident and Diana outright kills him with her Cool Sword, in the Earth 2 comic quite the opposite happens.
- Compared to the theatrical cut, Batman steps up more to coordinate the team and strategize, making him more visible in the action sequences. He gets tossed around less and his ability to multi-task is increased, making his role in the Final Battle considerably more useful, essentially handling the elimination of Parademons and their defense turrets around Steppenwolf's base all on his own. Oh, and he does know Icelandic.
- The Suicide Squad:
- Polka-Dot Man in the comics is largely considered one of the lamest Z-list Batman gag villains alongside Condiment King thanks to his awful costume and gimmicky polka-dot powers. In the film, while he’s still got a silly costume, he’s a borderline Person of Mass Destruction with his polka-dots being upgraded to Blasting Time-level capabilities. He’s even able to critically wound Eldritch Abomination Starro with his power.
- Ratcatcher, on top of being a Legacy Character through his daughter, is much more impressive than his/her comic counterpart. In the Batman comics, Ratcatcher is another C-tier gimmick villain who is a nuisance at best. In the film Ratcatcher II has incredibly useful and destructive capabilities being able to summon millions of rats who take down Starro in the climax and use the rats to solve complex tasks and look out for her while she sleeps.
- Harley Quinn, while very dangerous in other media, gets upgraded to Charles Atlas Super Power levels that give even Batman a run for his money as well as insane John Wick Gun Fu antics. In the finale she even leaps into Starro’s eye and climbs back out, something that would certainly kill her in the comics Popularity Power or not.
- Zigzagged with Bloodsport; he lacks the teleporting guns from the comics, having instead a Morph Weapon. But in the film, on top of putting Superman in the ICU with a Kryptonite bullet similar to the comics, he’s got more extreme hand to hand combat abilities able to kill a man with single blow and is also able to out-marksman Peacemaker and go One-Man Army on a horde of Starro controlled zombies, none of which has comic Bloodsport pulled off.
- The live-action movies of Death Note turn L, who was already a genius and capoeira trained badass in the original source material, and have him take down Light, a reversal from the original material where L was killed by Light.
- Many people aren’t aware that Professor Abraham Van Helsing wasn’t nearly as badass in the original Dracula novel compared to most film and media incarnations. Being an old man, Helsing couldn’t keep up with the rest of the guys on horseback requiring to travel safely with Mina on a carriage and the Professor also relied on holy weapons to protect himself while Jonathan and co took down the Count with blades. In most films however Helsing can overpower Dracula all by himself (e.g The Monster Squad) and the Peter Cushing portrayal even personally staked the Count unlike the book where the Professor just watched from the sidelines while Jonathan did the finishing blow. Bram Stoker's Dracula takes it a step further implying Helsing (played by Anthony Hopkins) is even supernatural as he performs a Stealth Hi/Bye on Jack, Arthur and Quincey.
- Oddly enough, from Dragonball Evolution, the Kamehameha Wave. In the source material it's a powerful attack, the strength of which is limited only by how much energy its user can put into it, but that's about it. In the movie it becomes a Swiss-Army Superpower. We see it used to light and extinguish fires, and even to heal a person from near death!
- Every time the Fantastic Four has been made into a film, Doctor Doom is shown with actual superpowers as opposed to a man wearing Powered Armor. The 1994 film depicted Doom as a Cyborg and both Fantastic Four Duology and 2015 reboot take after Ultimate Fantastic Four in showing Doom gaining powers from the same accident that the Four did.
- Godzilla:
- In most films, Godzilla's Nuclear Pulse can only stun enemies. In Godzilla 2000, it deals the death blow to Orga.
- Godzilla: Final Wars sees Godzilla as a One Kaiju Army, with only Monster X/Keiser Ghidorah and an upgraded Gigan giving him real trouble.
- The Guillotines, a remake of the Shaw Brothers classic, Flying Guillotine, does this to the titular object. The original guillotine can sever heads from a distance, like the name implies, but is otherwise just a mundane Blade on a Rope and can only target one victim maximum each throw; in the remake the guillotines can be controlled mid-flight, Precision-Guided Boomerang-style, decapitates more than one unfortunate victim with a single throw in the opening massacre, bisects a guy by the waist and even cuts down a tree!
- Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters: Hansel and Gretel, who were just two ordinary kids in the original story who managed to outsmart a single witch, are portrayed as gun-toting, evil-slaying witch hunters.
- Harry Potter:
- The films took this both ways with Buckbeak from The Prisoner of Azkaban. On one hand, they gave Buckbeak his own 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.
- The Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets is much bigger and puts up a much better and much longer fight than it does in the book.
- In a similar vein, the Hungarian Horntail in the book merely just sat in one place while Harry flew around it till he annoyed it enough to grab the golden egg it was guarding. In the movie the Horntail breaks free of its chains and chases Harry around Hogwarts until it falls into a ravine to its death.
- In the book version of Order of the Phoenix, Umbridge gets rolled pretty much instantly by the Centaurs once she pisses them off, showing that for all their bluster, the Wizards are only in charge largely because of the forbearance of the other magical races. In the film, she's able to hold off a group of angry and heavily armed Centaurs pretty much effortlessly all by herself right up until Grawp sneaks up on her and relieves her of her wand, demonstrating the Wizards ended up being able to boss around all the other magical races by being just that dangerous.
- The same movie does this to Retired Badass "Mad Eye" Moody. In the book he was quickly taken out by Dolohov during the battle, while in the movie Moody effortlessly one-shots◊ a Death Eater by slamming his staff down. It's almost like the whole battle is beneath him.
- The seventh film significantly ups the badassery of Hedwig's death. In the book, she's hit by a stray killing curse while inside her cage. In the film, she's released from her cage ahead of time and intercepts a killing curse meant for Harry.
- Hellboy:
- In the comics, Kroenen was a third-rate Evil Genius. In Hellboy (2004), he's a Dual Wielding, Clockwork Creature Ghostapo who's nigh-unkillable and serves as The Dragon to Rasputin.
- Professor Bruttenholm in the comics was not one properly equipped to deal with action and was quickly killed in the first chapter of Seed of Destruction. In Hellboy (2019), Ian McShane's Professor Bruttenholm showed up to the site where Hellboy was first summoned dressed like something out of a pulp adventure and armed with a double-barreled gun aimed right at the young Hellboy's head in caution.
- Played with in It (2017) as The Losers Club’s Psychic Children-powers are toned down greatly from the book but the kids don’t physically beat the living shit of Pennywise like they do in the movie. Beverly in particularly is much closer to Action Girl than her book counterpart and while ironically she does become the Damsel in Distress in this version, Bev regardless happily stabs Pennywise through the skull with a fence spike something she doesn’t do in the book and 1990 Mini-series. She’s also not afraid of Pennywise by the end while Bev in the book certainly was.
- The sequel takes it even further as the Final Battle gives every member of the Losers’s Club a moment of badassery and it's their combined Power of Friendship that beats the titular Eldrich Abomination. Whereas in the book (and Mini-series) Mike is hospitalized and unlike the film doesn't have a crucial role in the battle, Eddie gets killed rather needlessly instead of a Moment of Awesome where he wounds Pennywise with a javelin throw and Ben as well as Beverly get sidelined while Bill and Richie are the ones who take IT down; but the film has Ben and Beverly have a Power of Love moment to free themselves from IT's traps together. Lastly in the book it's Bill (the Stephen King Author Avatar) who deals the killing blow, in the film however all the remaining Losers reduce Pennywise to a Voldermort-Esque baby through taunts and belief, and then they crush Its heart together rather than just having Stuttering Bill do all the work.
- The Hunger Games: Peeta sees a lot more action in the films than in the books; being able to hold his own against Cato on top of the Cornucopia in the first, and overpowering and drowning another tribute in the second.
- On the other hand, the movies fail to show him fighting at the Cornucopia, fighting Cato after the tracker jacker attack and killing Brutus.
- James Bond
- In the book Live and Let Die, Tee Hee's a perfectly ordinary mook whose only quirk is giggling while torturing people and who dies very early on. The film adaptation of the story ups him to second-in-command to Mr. Big.
- Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me. He is loosely based on the villain Sol "Horror" Horowitz from Ian Fleming's novel of the same name, who is a thug with a metal-capped teeth whose villainy is limited to terrorizing a helpless woman. He later gets unceremoniously killed by Bond as he tries to make a getaway on a car (and is outlived by his partner, who became Sandor in the same film). Jaws, however, is a man who just won't die, and is one of the most remembered aspects of the film, and its subsequent sequel.
- Skyfall does this to Miss Eve Moneypenny and to a lesser extent, Ralph Fiennes' Gareth Mallory, the new M after the death of Judy Dench's M.
- The Man with the Golden Gun: The book version of Fransisco Scaramanga has fairly good gun skills, but is basically an upper mid-tier thug who only ended up on Bond's radar through (good or bad, depending on your perspective) luck in choosing and executing his assignments. The film version is a genuinely terrifying assassin with Improbable Aiming Skills whose claim to be "The Deadliest Man In The World" is less hot air and more a fairly nuanced description of his capabilities.
- Depending on the movie, Bond himself may count. Fleming's books (at least, the early ones) tend to be less splashy affairs than the movies, and Bond often gets his ass handed to him by the villain and/or his henchmen. Meanwhile, some of the movies (espeically the modern ones) portray him as a Made of Iron One-Man Army who can mow down dozens of mooks without stopping for a breath (only for a smoke).
- Jaws: While the shark in the both the film and the novel is unusually large for a great white, the one in the novel eventually dies from exhaustion and is unable to go underwater with three barrels. The one in the movie shrugs off virtually everything thrown at it, and despite Quint's insistence that there's no way it can go under with three barrels hooked on it, it proceeds to do just that. It takes blowing up its face to finally kill it.
- Three notable examples in John Carter:
- Pretty much everyone from The Jungle Book (2016):
- Mowgli in this one is inventive, clever, and brave, unlike his '67 counterpart.
- Baloo too. In the original cartoon, Baloo grabs Shere Khan by the tail and is dragged around a lot. In this movie, he helps Bagheera in fighting the monkeys and fights Shere Khan with brute force, teeth, and claws. He actually almost wins the fight until Shere Khan deals a blow to the neck. It doesn't kill Baloo, but it's enough to finally get him out of the fight.
- Bagheera is no longer the Non-Action Guy from the original. Much like his original self, he's now a badass who fights Shere Khan. Twice!
- Shere Khan racks up a higher body count than he did in the original movie. He murders Akela, takes control of the wolf pack, and fights Baloo, the wolf pack, and Bagheera and wins.
- King Louie is far more intimidating than his '67 counterpart, who was a fun-loving buffoon. Now he's like a mob boss, showing his viciousness and brute strength.
- Unlike the 1967 Kaa, this Kaa is female, and she is more sinister and less comical. She's a Composite Character of the original Kaa from the book and Kaa from 1967, in size, wisdom, and villainy.
- Hammond's granddaughter in Jurassic Park was The Load in the novel. In the film, she got her brother's Playful Hacker skills, while he kept his knowledge of dinosaurs.
- Wilhelmina Murray and Alan Quatermain, the two central characters of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, get this in the film adaptation. In the comic, Mina's major gimmick was that of a tough, reserved Femme Fatale with a mysterious Dark and Troubled Past (with the fact that she was really Mina Harker left hidden from the reader at first), and Quatermain was a burnout ex-adventurer trying to kick his crippling opium addiction. In the film, Mina (who's called "Mina Harker" from the get-go) has vampiric abilities from her past encounter with The Count, and Quatermain is a badass Great White Hunter played by Sean Connery.
- Les Misérables (2012) gives this treatment to Inspector Javert as while Javert was ruthless in the book, he was only really a threat to the superhuman Jean Valjean due to his position and posse of police officers at his command. This is seen in the chapter where Fantine dies of shock thanks to Javert arresting Valjean at her sickbed, enraged Valjean easily breaks free of Javert’s grip and with verbal intimidation makes the inspector retreat across the room in fear, allowing Valjean to make a promise to Fantine’s lifeless body before surrendering. In the same scene in the movie Javert duels Valjean with a sword, forcing the latter to flee the scene. This doubles for some versions of the Musical where Valjean overpowers Javert during the confrontation like the book, whilst in the movie Javert is easily a match for Valjean.
- Corporal Jensen from The Losers went from Computer whiz Non-Action Guy to being a capable soldier. Justified as The Losers are supposed to all be special forces soldiers.
- Unlike in the comics where she was an old, paralyzed and blind psychic, Cassandra Webb in Madame Web (2024) is a paramedic. Once her precognitive powers kick in, she's able to keep up with the much stronger and faster Ezekiel via her anticipating all his moves.
- In Mirror, Mirror, Snow White becomes a tough action girl.
- Miss Marple: The title character herself. Margaret Rutherford's take on the character got far more involved with the day-to-day investigations than her literary counterpart, often going undercover or otherwise enmeshing herself with the suspects. Even beyond that, Rutherford's Marple was apparently a champion rider and won awards for small arms (pistol shooting) and fencing as a young woman and hasn't lost a step as an older one.
- MonsterVerse:
- King Kong in Kong: Skull Island, partly as a result of being similar in size to his King Kong vs. Godzilla incarnation, beats off a full assault by an entire squad of attack helicopters, whereas other versions were famously killed by a few biplanes. He also now has the intelligence to use makeshift weapons.
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): All the leads get this treatment, harkening back to their Showa Era depictions.
- This version of Godzilla proves himself to be one of the most powerful ones yet; he kills Ghidorah with the Nuclear Pulse (an ability that, barring its use against Orga, was originally only a sidearm at best), and in an epic case of Spared by the Adaptation, survives the Oxygen Destroyer (the weapon that killed the original Godzilla) and safely utilizes Burning Godzilla as a Super Mode (as opposed to it being a Superpower Meltdown that kills him) — and keep in mind, these killed two different Godzillas in two different movie; this Godzilla survived both in the same movie.
- Rodan is capable of lasting two minutes alone with Ghidorah, can destroy a city by merely flying over it, and has a long drag-out fight with Mothra, making him considerably stronger than his Heisei and Millennium incarnations (who were largely manhandled by their opponents in short order). He's even partially made of magma (the very thing that killed one of his previous incarnations).
- Mothra is considered an "Alpha" Titan not far behind Godzilla himself in power, as opposed to her other post-Showa incarnations who often needed help to match him. She's even referred to as the "Queen of the Monsters". She's capable of defeating Rodan one on one, finishing the fight by impaling him with her stinger.
- King Ghidorah was a badass already, but this version is not only the largest version in any live-action film, he is capable of generating a cataclysmic storm system simply by being awake, casually lifting Godzilla all the way into the skies, no-selling the Oxygen Destroyer, and just straight-up beating Godzilla in a 1v1. In particular, he has an incredible Healing Factor which regenerates a severed head (an injury that was a movie-ending death knell for previous Ghidorah iterations) in minutes, and this healing factor means that unlike earlier Ghidorah's, it takes being completely atomized to kill this one; and even then his remains retain enough conciousness to become a menace come Godzilla vs. Kong. Also, whereas every Ghidorah since the original except the Rebirth incarnation has been The Dragon to someone else, this Ghidorah is the one giving the orders to other monsters.
- Godzilla vs. Kong:
- King Kong has grown even bigger since his last Skull Island appearance, being roughly the size of MV-Godzilla himself, and is tough enough to survive being grazed by Godzilla's Atomic Breath. He also gets an axe capable of absorbing Atomic Breath to become a Hot Blade.
- This Mechagodzilla is probably the strongest incarnation to date; prevous versions had a wider array of flashy weapons but were usually no match for Godzilla in a direct fight, while this version outright humilates Godzilla in their brawl (to the point of being to overpower the Big G's Atomic Breath with his own), and would have killed both him and Kong if not for his control system being briefly interrupted.
- Mortal Kombat: The Movie: Johnny Cage was the Plucky Comic Relief in the games up until this point. While he is still the most overtly comedic character in the film, he also shows why he was chosen to defend Earthrealm, managing to defeat both Scorpion and Goro.
- Mortal Kombat (2021):
- Sonya, Jax and Kano get this thanks to Adaptational Superpower Change. In the games Kano and Jax have cybernetics with former having a metal eye that can shoot a laser and the latter has bulky metal arms. In Sonya’s case, she has special gauntlets that can shoot pink energy rings but is otherwise a Badass Normal. In the movie, due to the arcana subplot, Sonya, Jax and Kano gain genuine superpowers with Kano getting an actual Eye Beam, Jax growing high-tec metal arms out of spindly little prosthetics and Sonya can shoot the pink ring blasts from her bare hands.
- Bi-Han aka Sub-Zero while incredibly deadly in the games, he is in the long run overshadowed by his younger brother Kuai Liang, who becomes the Stronger Sibling. Bi-Han besides killing Scorpion when he was human, isn’t that much more than a powerful henchmen with only a few feats to his name. In the new timeline, all Bi-Han does is get his ass kicked by Sonya before getting burned to a skeleton by a vengeful Scorpion. In the movie however Bi-Han is firmly The Dreaded and The Dragon of Shang Tsung, being more powerful than even Goro as he’s able to turn very rain into ice as a Person of Mass Destruction. The heroes concede trying to fight him one on one would be outright suicidal. Even when Scorpion shows up to help out, Bi-Han still puts up a helluva fight and it takes the combined effort of Cole and Scorpion to overpower and kill him.
- Mowgli, another adaptation of The Jungle Book, keeps up the trend of making Shere Khan more of a threat than the source material. In the book, he was a bully who was more bark than bite, particularly considering his crippled paw. Despite retaining said crippled paw in this version, Khan is portrayed as a lot more dangerous, mostly due to being more mentally unstable and openly contemptuous of the jungle's laws.
- Imhotep in the original The Mummy (1932) played by Boris Karloff, was a shambling Evil Sorcerer who crumbled to dust when the scroll keeping him immortal was set on fire. In The Mummy (1999) and its sequel Imhotep played by Arnold Vosloo is upgraded to a Walking Wasteland and Person of Mass Destruction who is nigh-indestructible, can manipulate sand and water, has telekinesis and even when Brought Down to Normal still gives Rick quite the fight.
- Night of the Living Dead (1990) does this to Barbra. In the original film, she became a near-catatonic load from all the horror surrounding her. In the remake, she takes an active role in defending the house from the zombies, to the point of being the sole survivor in the end.
- Zig-zagged with Count Orlok in Nosferatu, one of the earliest film adaptations of Dracula. On the one hand, Orlok's powers are upgraded from Dracula's; where Dracula had to actually bite people in order to kill them, Orlok can cause mass deaths simply by existing. On the other hand, Dracula's weaknesses are also exaggerated; where Dracula's power was only slightly weaker in daytime than at night, Orlok disintegrates into nothingness the instant sunlight touches his skin.
- Oz the Great and Powerful
- In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Glinda is a relatively tame character that does help the heroes, though through indirect means, which translated into The Wizard of Oz. In Oz the Great and Powerful, Glinda is a much more active character seeking to avenge the death of her father, the previous wizard who uses her magic to battle the Wicked Witch of the West and play a large part in getting the people of Oz to revolt against the Wicked Witch.
- The Wicked Witch of the West herself. In the book and the 1939 film, she does have spells that can help her accomplish her goals, (including poppies and an enchanted hourglass that ends a person's life when the sand runs through it); but both are foiled (by Glinda's snow and The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion rescuing Dorothy) and she ultimately meets her end by being splashed with water. Now, she has fire-based magic and actively tries to harm the people of Oz in part for being manipulated into becoming the Wicked Witch of the West.
- Raoul De Changy in The Phantom of the Opera (2004) as in the book and especially the stage show Raoul was a bit of a fop, he only managed to graze the Phantom with his pistol and even Raoul’s petite girlfriend Christine could physically overpower him twice in the book. In the film however Raoul is a Master Swordsman who kicks the Phantom’s ass in their duel at the graveyard and when Raoul falls into the Phantom’s trap at the end, he gets himself free while in book Raoul would’ve died without the Persian and Christine’s aid.
- Downplayed in Pokémon Detective Pikachu: In Detective Pikachu, the titular electric rodent isn't good at using Electric-type moves and prefers to use his wits (though he later uses Thunderbolt to put a stop to a rampaging Noivern). The film has Pikachu actually doing Electric-type attacks like Volt Tackle very well, having once even beaten (and even scarred) Sebastian's Charizard and using Volt Tackle on Mewtwo. But the downplayed part comes from Pikachu forgetting his moves due to his amnesia, but once he starts getting his memories back, he uses his moves more effectively.
- Zig-zagged with Tim Goodman: the video game does show he has good deductive skills, but is otherwise just an ordinary young man who's come to Ryme City to search for his missing father Harry. The movie portrays him similarly, but also adds the detail of him being a former Pokémon Trainer who retains his skills by going for the tail of Sebastian's Charizard above and also directly defeats the main villain by removing Howard Clifford's neural link to Mewtwo with the help of Pikachu's above-mentioned Volt Tackle. Neither of these happened in the video game.
- Ditto is portrayed similarly to its anime counterpart, going from only being able to use Transform and copying the moves of the Pokémon it transforms into to being able to shapeshift into other Pokémon and people at will, largely thanks to Howard Clifford's genetic experiments. It can also assume the role of the aide Ms. Norman to gain intel on others and is surprisingly skilled at melee combat. Just imagine Ditto as the T-1000 and you've got it. Justified, as this particular Ditto is the result of genetic manipulation.
- Like the above, Psyduck also gets the same treatment as in the anime. In the games, it's a less than mediocre, dirt-common mon (hell, even its evolved form Golduck is a Master of None). Here, it's a greatly feared, nearly uncontrollable Mon of Mass Destruction that can defeat multiple genetically-enhanced Greninja in a single hit.
- Will Graham gets in the Red Dragon film. In the Thomas Harris book, Will is more of a realistic subversion of the cool detective, being largely a Non-Action Guy whose sole (off-page) moment of real action: shooting Garrett Jacob Hobbs while the latter was murdering his own family, psychologically scarred him to point of needing intensive psychotherapy. Will's "capture" of Hannibal Lecter in the book wasn't a splashy affair, with Will just realising Lecter is the killer he's hunting after picking up clues in the doctor's office and going to make the phone call — at which Lecter sneaks up behind Will and slashes him with a knife almost disemboweling him and the FBI are the ones who save the day. In the film Graham is more traditionally badass, as when Lecter suprise stabs him, Will manages to stay concious long enough to subdue the doctor stabbing Lecter right back with some nearby arrows and shooting him a few times for good measure (impressive given how much of an Invincible Villain Hannibal is usually portrayed as). A similar occurance happens during the climax when Francis Dolarhyde in the Twist Ending attacks Will and his family at their house. In the book, Dolarhyde takes Will completely by surprise, overpowerng him and disfiguring him with a knife — forcing Will's wife Molly to have be a Action Mom and kill the sonofabitch herself. In the film, Dolarhyde takes his stepson Willy hostage and Will exploits Francis's childhood truama to make him let the boy go and he manages to wound Dolarhyde despite getting cut up himself. While Molly is the one who finishes off Dolarhyde like in the book, it's clear Will did the heavy lifting in this version.
- This hardly the first adaptation to give Will this treatment however. In 1986's Manhunter, Will is a grizzled Cowboy Cop and all around loose cannon who kicks far more ass than he did on the page. Take for example the moment when Immoral Journalist Freddy Lounds bugs Will as he's leaving the station, in the book he just ingores him and in the 2002 film shoves him away, but in the 80s film Will actually judo throws Freddy onto a car (breaking the windscreen) telling Lounds in no uncertain terms to fuck off. In the climax, Will is the one who kills Dolarhyde, unlike the book and 2002 film. Hannibal would make Will Truer to the Text, greatly downplaying the Action Hero elements to his character.
- Rurouni Kenshin: the eponymous hero is more competent in unarmed combat. In the source material, Kenshin is more or less useless without a sword.
- Daphne in Scooby-Doo was transformed this way. She even beats someone up in the live action film.
- Sherlock Holmes (2009)
- Holmes and Watson's portrayal, although not nearly to the degree that some viewers accused it. Watson was a veteran Army doctor in the books, while Holmes was a martial artist and bare knuckle boxer with surprising strength. The movie turns them both into outright action heroes who take on multiple opponents at once in hand-to-hand combat and defeat all manner of armed attackers.
- Irene Adler as well. In the book, she was a singer/adventuress who had a fling with the King of Bohemia, and Holmes was hired by the king to recover some letters he wrote to her, so they don't end up embarrassing him later. Her main distinction is that she outmanoeuvres Holmes and moves the letters beyond his reach, leaving a note to Holmes in their former hiding place. For this, she earns Holmes' respect, and he always afterwards refers to her as the woman. In the movies, she is a brilliant career criminal who is more than capable of defending herself. At one point she is mugged, and she turns the tables, mugging her muggers.
- Moriarty himself. In the books, he's really a Non-Action Big Bad, relying on his underlings to do all the work for him and Holmes easily overpowers him in their confrontation at Reichenbach. In Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows on other hand, Moriarty is a geuine phyiscal threat as well as a Evil Genius. Being the boxing champion of cambridge it's shown in his own Awesome by Analysis slowdown he would've easily defeated the wounded Sherlock and thrown him into the falls, if not for Holmes taking third option by blowing his tabacco pipe in Moraity's face and pulling him over the ledge with him. Additionally book Moriarty's schemes never escalated beyond London, here he's an international terrorist who would've successfully instigated a world war across Europe if not for Holmes and Watson.
- Snow White & the Huntsman: In this movie, Snow White becomes Lady of War.
- Star Trek Into Darkness gives this treatment to Khan. Not that Khan wasn't always a badass, being genetically enhanced, but his strength only made him one of Kirk's most difficult adversaries, and capable of being defeated with a blunt weapon. This version of Khan is much more physically powerful, a One-Man Army able to wield what looks like a converted starship weapon literally single-handed. He could take just about any amount of physical punishment and keep fighting, as well as take multiple stun shots from a phaser (and No Selling the Vulcan Neck Grip) before going down.
- Star Wars:
- Boba Fett in the films misses every shot and gets knocked into a Sarlaac pit by a blind man. The dozens of Legends books, comics, and video games that have used him since have ignored this in the interests of making him the badass Bounty Hunter the fandom wanted him to be. Canon comics and The Clone Wars shows that he was like this even as a child. The Mandalorian has a live action showcase of Boba Fett being a One-Man Army, who decimates an entire army of Stormtroopers and blows up one of their landing ships when they try to escape from him. It is hinted that Boba’s years on Tatoonie have made him take a level in badass.
- Similarly Darth Maul was a minor part of The Phantom Menace and while he was a memorably badass antagonist he still got unceremoniously sliced in half by Obi-Wan and fell down a shaft seemingly to his death. Old EU Legend comics, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Stinger of Solo all had Maul be Spared By Adaptation and the former examples detail how he is one of the most powerful and skilled Sith Lords to ever live and a Big Bad in his own right.
- Also of note is Darth Vader in the shift from the old Expanded Universe (now branded Star Wars Legends) to the new "Disney Canon". While it obviously has no bearing on the movies themselves, the old EU occasionally had him suffer The Worf Effect and Badass Decay, with several characters other than the Emperor capable of defeating him (such as, infamously, Galen Marek) and more emphasis was put on Vader's Angst. On one occasion, he actually almost got killed because a random surviving Jedi pressed one of the buttons on his suit, and on another, a well-prepared Tusken Raider was able to critically injure him. In the new, post-Disney canon, it's repeatedly made clear that Vader is second only to the Emperor in Force power, and possibly the greatest lightsaber duelist of his time, as well as one of the greatest of all. New EU materials such as Star Wars Rebels are devoted to depicting him as a nigh-unstoppable force of death, while the Star Wars: Darth Vader comics depict him as capable of such feats as single-handedly killing a Kaiju-sized opponent, besting an ancient Sith Lord that had come Back from the Dead even after being critically injured beforehand, and, through an elaborate ritual, ripping open a gate to the afterlife. It helps that the old EU depicted Darth Sidious as viewing Vader as little more than a glorified attack dog, whereas in modern canon he still viewed Vader as a viable apprentice and is shown actively teaching him in the ways of the Sith.
- We finally get a live-action taste of how unstoppable Vader is in Rogue One where Vader massacres a squadron of poor Rebels in a single minute, this also serves as Fridge Horror if you reflect upon the original trilogy and realize Vader could've shred Luke to pieces in The Empire Strikes Back if he wanted too, while he likely could have bested Obi-Wan very easily if hadn't been so overtly cautious with him in A New Hope.
- Similar to his dad Vader, Luke Skywalker’s Jedi abilities are greatly enhanced in later media compared to the original trilogy where he was in training for two movies and only became a master in the third. In Star Wars Legends Luke can perform all sorts of crazy feats as a Jedi Master like pulling down AT-ATs with a gesture, walking across lava, becoming one with the Force and communicating across the universe and defeat Palptine in a lightsaber duel multiple times. In the Disney cannon we do get a taste of this, like in The Last Jedi where Luke projects himself across the galaxy to save rebellion and in The Mandalorian when we see a younger Luke make scrap metal out of an army of Dark Troopers with his lightsaber, including crushing one to pieces, which is the kind of raw power he didn’t display in the original trilogy.
- Princess Leia’s Force powers are also greatly expanded upon past the original films, where she only used telepathy briefly. Multiple EU Legends stories have her learn the Force and even become a Jedi Knight. In The Rise of Skywalker a Flash Back confirms, Leia did train with Luke and could even overpower him with a lightsaber, but she gave up on her training.
- In the Superman comics, General Zod was one of Krypton's top military advisors, but often relied more on his planning skills than doing actual fighting. The character's film portrayals have helped make him a much bigger threat. Superman II portrayed Zod as a charismatic leader that took full advantage of the fact that the gained powers from Earth's yellow sun; as displayed in the film's fight scenes. It proved to be so successful that it was integrated into the comics and became a key factor in every subsequent adaptation that featured Zod, not to mention several other Kryptonian villains. There's also the aforementioned Man of Steel.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014):
- Tolkien's Legendarium:
- The Lord of the Rings:
- Pretty much everyone with the sole exception of Frodo gets Adaptational Badass, however the standout when it comes to this trope is clearly Legolas Greenleaf. Sure in the books he kills a Fellbeast but otherwise there's no suggestion Legolas is stronger than Aragorn or Gimli, in the movies however Legolas just makes his companions look incompetent by comparison with his "Leggy Moments" i.e surfboarding on a shield down a staircase while firing arrows and then hurtling the shield into a orc's chest or taking down a pack of Haradrim and massive Oliphaunt (a giant freaking elephant) by himself like a One Elf Army.
- Arwen, while not to same extent as Legolas still gets a big case on this in The Fellowship of the Ring where becomes an Action Girl. In the book all she really does is meet and fall in love with Aragon and get married to him after the War of the Ring is won, in the film due to Glorfindel getting Adapted Out (again) to cut down on the number of characters, Arwen takes his role racing againist the Nazgûl to get the dying Frodo to Rivendell. She's the one who summons the torrent of water to wash the Ringwraiths away in this version. The Two Towers was originally go the extra step further of having Arwen take part in the Battle of Helms Deep too, but Peter Jackson fearing he'd strayed too far from the books, cut her role out of it.
- Merry and Pippin get a good deal of this, they were mostly Action Survivors in the first two books with Pippin being The Load. In the films they're much more badass as seen in Fellowship of the Ring where they not only help kill the Cave Troll by jumping on its back and stabbing it, but they also sacrifice themselves for Frodo leading the Uruk-hai away from him at Weathertop. Although Return of King fails to show the moment where Pippin killed a Mordor troll by himself.
- The Witch King of Angmar gets this in the extended version of The Return of the King. In the book he is incredibly strong and deadly, but it's still left ambigous if the Witch King can actually take on Came Back Strong Gandalf the White, since their brief standoff is interrupted when Pippin gets Gandalf's attenion and he leaves the battle to deal with Denethor. The extended film instead provides a straight anwser with the Witch King easily knocking Gandalf off Shadowfax and breaking his staff, while it succeeded in conveying the Witch King as a threat, since he is beaten the exact same way as in the book (stabbed in the leg by Merry and then killed Éowyn) it did make Gandalf seem like a pushover.
- Orcs in general receive this. In the books, it's often noted that your average orc is far weaker than a human, as well as significantly smaller. Treebeard's musing implies that the reason Uruk-Hai are superior to the standard variety is that they have taken on manlike characteristics, which is treated as a direct upgrade (and they're still generally smaller and weaker), and Sauron's auxiliary human forces are consistently shown to be his best troops. In the films, though orcs have a massive amount of variety in appearance, the ones in Sauron's army are shown to be at least on par with humans in size and skill, and the Uruk-Hai are downright huge. Their leader, Lurtz, is able to actually give Aragorn a run for his money in a sword duel; the idea of a lone orc pulling that off in the book is near-incomprehensible.
- Beleive it or not Sauron himself gets this to a degree. To explain while he is undeniably immesely powerful and god-like in the books, it's specifically his dark magical power that makes Sauron The Dreaded Big Bad that he is, not his phyiscal might. In fact when actually forced into a phyiscal fight, such as againist Huan the wolfhound in The Silmarillion, Sauron actually gets his dark lord ass handed to him. In the films however, Sauron as seen in the opening flashback to Fellowship of the Ring can personally crush and send flying the allied armies of men and elves all by himself with his just his mace — which is likely a result of compositing his character with his master Morgoth who was described as a giant armoured figure who wielded a mace. Similar to Sauron's depiction in the film. On the other hand, as recounted in the book it took combined might of Gil-galad and Elendil to defeat Sauron, whereas in the film Isildur is able to beat Sauron alone by cutting the ring off his finger.
- While Frodo does get Adaptational Wimp overall, Return of King did give him one epic moment of this during the climax at Mount Doom. In the book when he finally gets there and is about to toss the Ring into the fire, he gives into the influence of the Ring and claims it as his own. Its Gollum who unintentionally saves the day by biting Frodo's finger off making Frodo collapse in pain and Gollum while is celebrating his victory, he falls backwards into the fire unmaking the Ring. In the film largely the same happens, except Frodo recovers from Gollum's attack and wrestles with him at the edge, pushing him along with the Ring into the fire himself and accomplishing his journey in a roundabout way.
- The Hobbit:
- Bilbo Baggins is a lot more quick-witted, competent, and takes the initiative in the movie, and on several occasions — most notably the encounter with the Trolls — manages to accomplish more in moments where he was saved by someone else in the book. In the book, he doesn't really start pulling his weight until he saves the Company from the spiders, while the movie gives him a Big Damn Heroes moment saving Thorin from Azog immediately following the Goblin encounter.
- The dwarf company is more badass than they were in the book. All armed to the teeth, they are raking in high kill-counts in many scenes where they simply slipped away unnoticed or with minimal trouble, like Goblin Town and the Barrel Ride. Oh, they also overpower Smaug the dragon at one point.
- In the movies, Smaug's hide is tough all over, and can only be successfully damaged by Black Arrows fired from a dwarvish wind-lance, whereas the book version's scales were soft on the underside and instead had a waistcoat of treasure embedded in them to make up for this. Smaug's weak spot is subsequently changed to a single chink where a scale is missing — and even then, it took multiple hits from two wind-lance fired Black Arrows to give him that weak spot! Furthermore, while the book counterpart was no wimp by any stretch of the imagination, this version of Smaug endures and bounces back from a lot of punishment that his book counterpart was never known to (from having giant metal constructs falling atop him in a seemingly bottomless underground shaft, to getting drowned in molten gold), as well as being somewhat more persistent when the dwarves have entered the Lonely Mountain.
- Radagast the Brown from the books is not portrayed as any kind of fighter. In the first film, he faces off with the Witch-King of Angmar without a hint of fear or hesitation, only escaping when he comes face to face with Sauron himself.
- Transformers Film Series
- Bumblebee's main role in the original cartoon was evacuating the humans to safety while the bigger, tougher Autobots went into action, and that was about it. In the film series, he has a Decepticon kill count second only to Optimus Prime himself, and he's the go-to guy for being a Big Damn Hero, and is quite badass in Transformers: Prime as well.
- From the third film, Sentinel Prime, who mostly appeared in comic series to serve as Optimus Prime's predecessor who gets killed by Megatron, and in as a Jerkass in Transformers: Animated who got beat up every appearance he made. Here, he's Optimus Prime's mentor and never made out to be helpless and after being revealed as the film's Big Bad, actually defeats Optimus in both their fights.
- Starscream was considerably more badass than almost all of his previous incarnations in the first live-action film, where he holds his own against Ironhide and Ratchet, easily destroys military aircraft, and is one of the few Decepticons to survive the movie. However, this was inverted in the sequels, to the point where he became one of the most pathetic of the Decepticons, although given that he was beaten up both by Optimus and Megatron, this is somewhat understandable.
- Hound was originally a pacifist who used his wits and holographic projector against his enemies. In Transformers: Age of Extinction, he's a rude and crude fatass-badass who kills enemies left and right, all whilst cracking jokes about his stature.
- The Time Machine (2002) does this with the Morlocks, in the book they’re kinda pathetic being smaller and weaker than the average human, even the Non-Action Guy protagonist can hunt and kill them easily, the only advantage the Morlocks have is numbers and trickery. In the film however they’re 6 foot tall nightmares reminiscent of the Uruk-hai, who kick the protagonist’s ass on multiple occasions. Not to mention the Morlock leader has telekinesis and telepathy and is only beaten when he gets disintegrated by the titular machine when he gets caught in its energy field.
- The Twilight Saga: Esme Cullen is just as adept in combat as the rest of her family, and is shown participating in battles in Eclipse and Breaking Dawn - Part 2. In the books, it's specifically stated a few times that Esme is not a fighter.
- Venom (2018) has Riot. In the comics, Riot is just one member of a Quirky Miniboss Squad and never really battles Venom individually. In this movie, he's more analogous to Carnage in terms of abilities, with Venom being something of "a runt" in comparison.
- V for Vendetta features a tricky one for Gordon Dietrich. On the one hand, the film makes him a chubby, middle-aged comedian (played by Stephen Fry, no less) while he was a younger, more physically imposing career criminal in the book. On the other, in the film he defies Norsefire Government's laws by hiding banned books and films in his house, and openly mocking Chancellor Sutler on his show (which he is eventually executed for), which is far more badass than anything the Novel!Gordon did.
- Gul'dan in Warcraft (2016) gets this treatment. While, like his video game counterpart, he mostly acts from distance and casts spells, when challenged to mak'gora, he holds his own extremely well and wrecks his enemy as much as the other guy does.
- Pretty much every non-powered hero in Watchmen becomes a lot tougher and a lot stronger in the movie version of Watchmen. The film also removes a lot of the deconstruction of super-heroes that intentionally made them seem a bit ridiculous.
- Lawrence Talbot in The Wolfman (2010). His Wolfman is far more formidable than in The Wolfman 1941, killing about 10 times the number of people the original Wolfman did. Even in human form, he's not bad with a rifle.
- X-Men Film Series:
- The comic book version of Pyro was a Laughing Mad pyrokinetic hamstrung by his inability to create flames, relying on an unwieldy pair of flamethrowers with very prominent fuel lines. Naturally, he was often very easily beaten. In the films, he's perfectly rational, albeit a bit temperamental, and he now only relies on a lighter, which in X-Men: The Last Stand, he attached to his glove, allowing maximum firepower with minimum inconvenience.
- Quicksilver is one of the fastest characters in the Marvel comics universe, but he has limitations on just how fast, and is generally well under the speed of sound. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Hank mistakes him for a teleporter, and fans have noted that Peter's Super-Speed and power set (he's capable of redirecting bullets with ease and shattering glass by vibrating his hands) are closer to The Flash, who explicitly has a speed advantage over Quicksilver in inter-company crossover stories. Even more so in X-Men: Apocalypse because he rescues all of Xavier's students from an explosion in only a fraction of a second. Maximoff is one of the most powerful mutants in the whole X-Men film franchise.
- X-Men: In the comics, Toad was originally conceived as a deformed, sniveling hunchback who served as The Igor to Magneto. His superpower was he could hop... really high because of having very low-grade super-strength, concentrated in his legs. However, stuntman Ray Park played him as a wisecracking martial artist with wall-crawling abilities and a tongue that he could use as a whip, thus making him more capable of beating up Storm, Jean and Cyclops simultaneously. Also, Toad can spit slime projectiles unlike the comics. However, considering that Ray Park once played as that red-skinned badass Sith, his badassery has to be expected.
- Kitty Pryde, one of the relatively weaker X-Men, gets a good dose of this in the films. In X-Men: The Last Stand, she defeats The Juggernaut single-handedly and in X-Men: Days of Future Past, she has the power to send Wolverine’s conscious back in time, which saves the world and the timeline. Though in the latter case, this is due to combining her character and powers with Rachel Summers, who is Adapted Out of the story.
- The Wolverine: Mariko Yashida is a much more capable and physical badass than her comic book counterpart.
- X-Men: Days of Future Past: In the comics, the Sentinels are just Humongous Mecha, and mutants with strong powersnote the X-Men in the comics are much stronger than in the movies with Storm, Magneto, Iceman, and Xavier being planetary threats; and it doesn't help that they're made of metal usually take them down by the dozen. They are portrayed as such in the 1973 portion of the film as well. The future Sentinels, however, with their ability to duplicate mutant powers to counter their opponents, are so overwhelmingly powerful that any fight with them is considered outright hopeless.
- X-Men: Apocalypse: In the comics, Angel is sometimes mocked for lacking any sort of offensive capabilities before becoming Archangel. In Apocalypse, he has sharp talons on his wings, making him a formidable physical threat even before he gains his metal wings and Feather Flechettes.
- X-Men: Dark Phoenix: The D'bari in The Dark Phoenix Saga are a harmless Little Green Men-esque race who are decimated along with their galaxy by Dark Phoenix. The Sole Survivor of their species, Vuk, has a human disguise and some Powered Armor, but besides that is a minor villain. In the movie, the D'bari are world-conquering, shapeshifting, telepathic, evil aliens whose leader, a Gender Flipped Vuk, can take on the entire X-Men, overpower Magneto and even hold her own against Jean with her own Psychic Powers. It's more than likely that the filmmakers combined the D'bari with the Skrulls, who are generally that fearsome in the comics, but whom Fox didn't have the rights to.
- The New Mutants:
- Dani Moonstar in the comics has illusionary powers being able to create images that trick and scare opponents, but not actually hurt them. In the film, she's a Reality Warper who can actually summon a Kaiju-sized demon bear and other horrors that can kill people and destroy an entire school. On the other hand, Dani's hand-to-hand combat and weapon-handling skills are missing in the film.
- Ilyanna Rasputin despite her magic is Weak, but Skilled in the comics, even Black Widow can easily hold her own against her in fight as seen in Avengers vs. X-Men and her fancy Soulsword has no effect on non-magic foes. In the film not only does the Soulsword work on anyone but she can open portals to limbo on a whim and boost her physical abilities including covering her sword arm in metal. Particularly impressive, considering Ilyanna didn’t have any magical training in this version.
