Adaptational Badass / Western Animation

Adaptational Badass in Western Animation.

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• Arcane: Not that she was a wimp in-game by any means, but after Singed's operation resulting in her getting injected with a load of Shimmer, Jinx is briefly shown to have extreme speed similar to the Turbo Chemtank thugs that Vi and Jayce fought. In game, Jinx's mobility is actually rather poor compared to many other champions, relying more on CC from her attacks to escape than personal mobility. Shimmer is also known to enhance the user's resistance, while Jinx in-game is, per her class, an extremely fragile Glass Cannon.
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: The show gives us several examples of this trope. However, there are a few notable examples:
  • Wasp gets to take a level in badass for this cartoon. In the very early comics, Janet "Wasp" Van Dyne was younger and had the power to become small and shoot fairly powerful "stinger" energy blasts. In the series, she's older and makes Spider-Man level wisecracks all the way in addition to being more.
  • On the villains' side, the Grim Reaper is definitely far more badass and sinister than his comics version. In the comics, he was pointlessly racist and non-functionally crazy, wore purple spandex with a Galactus-style head gear, and many considered him a joke in that regard. In the series, he wears a dark hooded cape and is a Soft-Spoken Sadist Psycho for Hire with a Slasher Smile. He effortlessly broke into and out of a prison that was designed by Tony Stark and guarded by SHIELD, and can slash Hawkeye's arrows and Cap's shield from mid-air with his scythe.
  • Believe it or not, Hulk undergoes this trope in a way. He's not just the team berserker that they point at something to hit (which normally isn't the case in the comics but it something the general public sometimes thinks). This Hulk is smarter (think how he was in World War Hulk, for example) unless he's pissed off beyond belief (at which point the villain simply can't win anyway). Notably, there's almost no Hulk Speak to be found (he only uses it whenever he is angry), he understands and uses sarcasm, and got Hawkeye to stay with the team by teasing him. And his favorite teammate is Wasp. So if you do hurt her Adaptational Badass self, you get to deal with him.
  • Surprisingly, Ant-Man is taken to a level in badass in this adaptation as well. In the comics, Ant-Man (especially whenever the identity was used by Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym) has been considered something of a joke for a while now. In this adaptation, Hank is portrayed as using the Ant-Man persona and the Giant-Man persona simultaneously and he is very much a capable scientist and superhero from the get-go. In addition, Hank (especially when he is either Ant-Man, Giant-Man, or Yellowjacket) is portrayed as being much more powerful, useful, and effective to the Avengers than his Earth-616 counterpart has ever been portrayed (that is until this Hank had created Ultron and you know how that situation turned out). One particular highlight of Hank's badassery is his "fight" with Abomination where he uses his size altering powers to a more spectacular effect than his comic version.
• The Batman:
  • The Joker is more known for being murderous and unpredictable than being an amazing hand-to-hand fighter, with only a handful of adaptations showing him as any physical match for Batman. Here he was given enhanced strength, agility, and dexterity. In the first episode he was climbing all over the place like a monkey, though this was toned down in subsequent appearances.
    • The two part season 1 finale is based on The Killing Joke, revolving around Joker setting out to drive a hero cop (Detective Ethan Bennett here) insane and prove that everyone is only “one rotten day” from being like him. Here, he succeeds and Ethan becomes a regular member of the rogues gallery.
  • The Penguin is likewise an exceptional combatant, a far cry from his usual portly, nonathletic portrayal. (This is more a case of Older Than They Think, as Depending on the Writer the Penguin has been written as a skilled judoko and a physical match to Batman, while other writers elect to use the above interpretation, often for easier story telling.)
  • The Terrible Trio were social outcasts at Gotham University who stole the Man-Bat formula and became werebeasts for Batman and Batgirl to fight. Their comics counterparts were little more than criminals wearing animal masks.
  • Mr. Freeze has genuine ice powers and can physically overpower Batman.
• Batman: The Animated Series
  • The Terrible Trio were a trio of rich brats who wore animal masks and got rather lucky against Batman. However, they crossed the Moral Event Horizon so well by the end of the episode that other series (The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) brought them back.
  • In the comics, Clock King was a gimmicky joke villain whose powers were usually treated as fairly useless (think Superfriends Aquaman). Batman: TAS showed just how useful and creative his talents could be.
  • While the Rupert Thorne of the comics has mob ties, in Batman: TAS, he takes over Carmine Falcone's role as Gotham's most powerful crime boss. He also takes over Sal Maroni's role in Harvey Dent's fall from grace and transformation into Two-Face.
  • The Riddler was re-imagined from a character that declined into being a pathetic has-been in the contemporary comics into a smooth intellectual who presents riddles and puzzles so believably challenging that in his premiere episode, he is able to largely achieve his objective and escape Batman. As with many elements of Batman: TAS, this filtered back into the comic books, but the extreme difficulty of writing a competent Ridder has still limited his use.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
  • Aquaman is fifty times more OUTRAGEOUS than his typical portrayal.
  • The Question is shown beating up on parademons. Double-sized parademons. These are Mooks that can give Superman at least a little trouble (and think of how strong something has to be compared to a normal human in order to give Superman trouble).
  • In this adaptation, The Terrible Trio are Arrogant Kung Fu Guys who betrayed and killed their master, controlled a clan of Shadow Ninja and planed to take over the city. Oh, and they also stole a talisman that turned them into werebeasts too.
• Ace "the Bat-hound" in Batman Beyond and Krypto the Superdog. (In the former, he's a normal guard dog, but one who's been trained by the goddamn Batman and has actually helped out on cases, without resorting to actual Silver Age Wonder Dog antics.)
  • Batman Unlimited makes him a giant robot wolf that can change into a motorcycle Transformers-style. At first part of the villains' horde, then reprogrammed by Batman.
• Beware the Batman:
  • This series took Alfred Pennyworth up a notch, playing up his experience at MI6 from the comics and actively helping train Bruce Wayne and Batman for combat (his first scene in the pilot has him staging a mock attack on Bruce to gauge his readiness, and calculates the number of strikes it took and should have took to subdue him). He also helps Simon Stagg and Michael Holt escape from Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad; and manages to pull a shotgun on Silver Monkey when he invades Wayne Manor.
  • On the villainous side of things, Cypher goes from being a plains-clothed hypnotist to a stealthy cyborg with a rather creepy method of mind-control.
• Blood of Zeus:
  • Goddess Hera gets this. In Classical Mythology she’s much more of a schemer than a fighter using tricks (both physical and mental) and traps to hurt those she despises — mainly the women her husband Zeus (unwillingly) got pregnant with his Semi-Divine children. Famously one of said children, Heracles had to step in and save Hera from Porphyrion, earning her gratitude. In Blood of Zeus, conversely Hera is incredibly powerful and even Zeus, Poseidon, and other gods fear her wrath, and rightly so as in the Final Battle she can equal Zeus in a battle with Mind over Matter powers and nearly kills him with a stab to the neck.
  • Ares the God of War once again gets this. In classic myths he’s depicted as a Dirty Coward and Boisterous Weakling who got his ass beat on a regular basis (mainly due to his unpopularity among ancient Greeks). In Blood of Zeus Ares is a stoically badass God who overpowers his brothers Hermes and Apollo in a two on one fight twice, almost killing Apollo in a later fight.
  • Hermes the Messenger God, despite his Super-Speed, rarely engaged in physical confrontations in the myths and when he did fight he mainly used tricks like putting the 100-eyed monster Argus to asleep before taking out his eyes. In Blood of Zeus he’s more akin to The Flash as he fights with his speed and can even make tornadoes by clapping his hands.
  • Aphrodite Goddess of Love, Dionysus God of Wine and Demeter Goddess of Harvest — traditionally non-combative Gods — are shown fighting and kicking ass alongside the rest of Pantheon.
  • The Giants get this as well. In the ancient myths while they are strong and enemies of the Gods they are still far less mighty than the Titans. In the show the Giants are almost indestructible and Zeus has to convince two of them to join his side just to defeat the others. One giant in particular Porphyrion, is best known for trying to rape Hera and getting killed with a simple arrow courtesy of Heracles. In the show Porphyrion overpowers both Zeus and Hera and even survives Zeus’s Taking You with Me self-destruction. It’s likely the showrunners combined Porphyrion with another monster Typhon who did give Zeus a genuine fight and had snakes on his shoulders similar to the Porphyrion seen in Blood of Zeus.
• Castlevania:
  • Sypha Belnades is the crowning example, in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse she's got a pretty quick staff attack but has weak offensive, weak defensive, weak attack range, slow movement, poor jumping ability and she only has one sub-weapon. In the Netflix show however she's an absolute magical◊ badass◊ sorceress◊ who deals out more damage than Alucard and Trevor combined. Also unlike the games Sypha has aerokinesis powers which just prove to be just as effective as her Fire, Ice, Lightning power. She even blows back Dracula's Dark Inferno.
  • The base Gargoyles are common enemies with 2 HP in the games, whereas in the show gargoyles are immensely strong and can butcher crowds of humans in a matter of seconds.
  • The Minotaur in the games is just a mild pain to deal with at 92 HP, but in the show the Minotaur has the ability to grow in size and briefly gives Trevor a hard time.
  • Arguably, Trevor Belmont is much more badass here than he's depicted in the NES game or most Castlevania media as other Belmonts tend to outshine him. In the show aside from his whip skills being dialed up, Trevor is now also a Master Swordsman (equaling Alucard) and One-Man Army as he single-handedly slays a horde of monsters armed only with two sticks. Season 3 takes this even further as in games Trevor of course needs the Vampire Killer whip and other weapons to kill monsters, but in the show he kills a Werewolf with his bare hands and in the finale he dual wields his holy whips, something that cannot be done in the games. Trevor also has good leadership skills in the show that aren't prevalent in the games. In Season 4, Trevor takes on a giant-sized Death all by himself and actually manages to kill him with a Godzilla Threshold magical dagger and survives... way more badass than anything Trevor did in the games.
  • Carmilla isn't just a recurring boss or a female servant of Dracula, she's a major player in her own right, having manipulated Hector into betraying Dracula and at one point pulling off a Speed Blitz on fellow vampire Godbrand. Although on the other hand, Carmilla does lack a lot of supernatural powers she has in the games. In Season 4, Carmilla manages to go One-Woman Army against an entire horde of demons armed only a sword and holds out for quite awhile.
  • Isaac gets a good dose of this in the show. In Castlevania: Curse of Darkness he's a despicable Smug Snake who relies on trickery and his Forgemaster powers and gets his ass handed to him by Hector who's always been better than him. In the show on the other hand Isaac is a One-Man Army with his knife and other weapons, easily more powerful than Hector (who's largely a Non-Action Guy in this version) and takes down Legion all by himself. In Season 4, he defeats the aforementioned Carmilla and brings down her empire with only minor difficulty.
  • Downplayed compared to others but in the show, Lisa is more competent and less of a plot device for Alucard to be created and a reason for Dracula to despise humanity. For example in the games, we never actually learn how Lisa met Dracula, whereas in the show we see her kill a bat outside Castlevania (while ignoring the thousand bodies on spikes) and then, completely unafraid, bangs on his castle door with her knife wanting to learn medicine, impressing Dracula enough to make him fall in love with her and give humanity a chance. Lisa even gets Spared By Adaptation and brought back to life in Season 4 and hides away with her husband Dracula in a case of Earn Your Happy Ending.
  • Hell, the Count himself runs with this trope in the Netflix series. Yes, it’s true Dracula is treated as a nigh-unbeatable God of Evil in the games, but in the show we actually see it. In the first episode he's twice able to appear as a massive Sky Face made of out either fire or bats. In the game, the heroes were able effectively to take Dracula down, in the show Dracula despite being blood starved, serves Alucard, Trevor, and Sypha's butts up on a silver platter to point where they can't actually defeat him and only “win” thanks to Dracula having a Heel Realization and letting Alucard stake him. Also unlike the games where Dracula is eventually Killed Off for Real and reincarnates into a different person, Season 3 shows Dracula actually lives on in Hell and can be brought back anytime with Infinite Corridor.
  • In the games, Death is little more than a recurring boss and is usually subservient to Dracula. Here, he's the Final Boss of the entire series and does a hell of a lot more than swinging his scythe around.
• Castlevania: Nocturne:
  • Elizabeth Bartley in Castlevania: Bloodlines is the mastermind behind World War I and the one who resurrects Dracula in her only game outing, but otherwise she's just a regular vampire and an endgame boss. Here, Erszebet Bathory is the Big Bad who's so incredibly powerful that after powering up, nothing our heroes throw at her inconveniences her at all.
  • Elizabeth's minion, Drolta Tsuentes, is just an aged cultist in the same game whose only significant contribution to the plot is to revive Elizabeth who then proceeds to wreak the aforementioned havoc. Here, Drolta is a vampiric succubus demon who outclasses the heroes until the very last episode where they finally manage to get even with her.
  • Out of the four Damsel in Distress in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, only Maria has any fighting capability whatsoever. Here, Annette is a capable sorcerer and swordsfighter who can fight with conjured swords she wields or throws, and Tera is a Speaker magician who wields elemental magic. (Iris has yet to appear, so this trope may or may not apply to her)
• In Celebrity Deathmatch it would likely be easier to list the celebrities who did not qualify for this Trope. Even the ones who were pretty badass already (such as WWE stars) were even more so here.
• Not that they weren't badass originally, but in Defenders of the Earth, both The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician are both even more so than they are in the original comics. The Phantom, who is just a Badass Normal in the comic, can gain a temporary burst of Super-Strength in the cartoon by invoking his "Ten Tigers" ability. Mandrake, who was simply a skilled illusionist in the comic strip, can use actual magic in the cartoon.
• DuckTales (2017):
  • Beakley is the most notable example, going from a kindhearted apron-wearing heavy-set nanny to a quick-witted apron-wearing competent adventurer with an awesome vacuum cleaner. See for yourself.◊. This also applies to her granddaughter, Webby. In the original she was akin to a very girlish little duck and hated to be devoid of her signature Companion Cube. That was then◊.Now◊ she is able to hold her own against full grown adults that carry weapons. She has a fair amount of knowledge concerning various artifacts and cryptids and, thus far, her favorite doll has been reduced to the status of an Easter Egg.
  • Donald Duck himself — while still very much a Butt-Monkey like in the classic cartoons — borrows far more from his comic counterpart who is an iron-willed Determinator of the highest order. Webby even refers to him without a hint of irony as "one of the most daring adventurers of all time", a reputation that he more than lives up to.
  • Also on the villains side: previous versions of Magica De Spell were originally reliant on magical artifacts to cover the fact that her own magic was rather weak. This version is Scrooge's Arch-Enemy, and has incredibly powerful shadow magic that warranted Scrooge sealing her away fifteen years ago. Subverted when the Season 1 finale reveals she still relies on magical artifacts for her power: once Donald breaks her magic staff, she's reduced to much the same level of power she had in past versions.
  • A standout example has to be Faris D'jinn. In the original series, he was Dijon, the greedy, cowardly servant of Merlock from DuckTales: Treasure Of The Lost Lamp. Here, however, he's a sword-slinging badass warrior that Scrooge is actually intimidated by.
• The Fantastic Four (1967) has a minor example. In the original comics, Sue seemed pretty worthless as a crimefighter until the writers expanded her powers from simply turning herself invisible, to also creating invisible force fields and turning other people and things invisible. This cartoon had Sue also use those abilities in retellings of early comics, so that she wouldn't seem too useless.
• Thing from Fred and Barney Meet the Thing is so goddamn strong the laws of physics mean nothing to him. Thing from the comics is pretty damn strong in his own right, but this version is practically a god.
• Invincible (2021):
  • In Invincible #7, when Omni-Man lured the Guardians of the Globe into their home base and violently murdered them, it took Omni-Man only a few seconds to kill them all. In this series, the Guardians of the Globe actually put up a fight with Omni-Man to the point where they wound him. Though Omni-Man still wins the battle and the Guardians of the Globe are killed, he was so hurt that he faints.
  • Doc Seismic. While his comic counterpart was able to capture nearly every superhero, he still lost fairly easily in his earlier encounters, but here he was able to hold his own against both Mark and Eve.
  • Atom Eve herself. While undeniably powerful in the comics she’s mostly overshadowed by Mark her Love Interest. In the show her Imagination-Based Superpower is dialed up as she uses it in a variety of creative and badass ways that she didn’t do in the comic. In fact she makes her first appearance by saving the less competent Mark and later unleashes a massive Ground Wave on the invading Flaxans, and in the next episode she defeats Doc Seismic and saves Mark’s butt a few more times for good measure.
  • The Flaxans in the comics mostly just existed to show up, try to invade, and retreat once their method of fighting off their Rapid Aging has been neutralized. Here, they stage three back-to-back invasions over the course of a single week (which from their vantage point would be literal decades) and by the third, they've outright circumvented the aging effect altogether. Omni-Man showing up was the only thing that saved the Teen Team from dying by their hands.
  • Damien Darkblood seems much more capable here than in the comics, where he was largely a joke and got laughed off when he showed up and revealed it was Omni-Man who killed the Guardians of the Globe months after that had become common knowledge. Here, he's suspicious of Omni-Man from the get-go and is more actively investigating the matter.
  • In the comics, Shrinking Ray regularly bemoaned the uselessness of his shrinking ability. Here, Rae gets to demonstrate just how useful shrinking can be from her introduction by taking down a larger and stronger opponent by attacking their inner ear, and later on using it to put a villain in a very tight chokehold.
• Iron Man: Armored Adventures
  • The cartoon did this with Whiplash, prior to his movie incarnation, where he goes from a loser in a stupid costume with whip weapons to a cyborg in Powered Armor, who notably in the second season after a Mid-Season Upgrade defeats both Iron Man and Warmachine and destroys Iron Man's original armor. Also done with Justin Hammer, a Non-Action Big Bad in the comics, who in this series has his own armor as Titanium Man.
  • All of his villains get an upgrade, as there's something of an arms race between Tony and the Big Bads. Most enemies are in armor designed to try and outdo or replicate some of the powers of Stark armor, similar to the first two films.
• Ivanhoe: The King's Knight portrays Ivanhoe as a bit more capable of a warrior since he had never received as grievous a wound as his literary counterpart had at any point in the series.
• Jellystone!:
  • Quick Draw McGraw is far more competent as "El Kabong" in this series.
  • The Funky Phantom is a former pro-wrestler.
• Justice League Action:
  • Space Cabbie is able to help Superman in his chase against Lobo^note Whereas his sole previous encounter in him with the comics was as an imperiled, if unfazed, hostage, and even catches Mr. Mind^note not a small feat as Mr. Mind is one of the smartest villains in the DCU initially by outsmarting him.
  • Another example is the Nuclear Family, showing them off to a great degree. Especially 'Dad' being able to take on Firestorm one on one.
  • Black Adam. In this series, not only does he still have his usual powers, he can now cast spells and use his Black Lightning as an Imagination-Based Superpower.
  • Solomon Grundy. While still using Hulk Speak, he is actually a crafty and patient planner, along with having a knowledge of the occult to back up his immense strength.
  • Constantine: While still powerful like his comic book counterpart, he's now able to stand up to Superman and Black Adam-level threats with ease, likely the most powerful caster of magic who doesn't have a beard. (Merlin and Shazam's wizard)
  • Klarion the Witch Boy also gets in this boat as well. Yes he's taken over Etrigan in The New Batman Adventures and was Dr. Fate's arch nemesis in Young Justice (2010), but here? He's able to overpower three of the most powerful mages of DC (Zatanna, Constantine and DR. FATE) and temporarily GET the Helmet of Fate!
• Legion of Super Heroes:
  • The cartoon upgrades Ron-Karr, who in the comics merely has the power to make himself flat. In the cartoon he's a Shape Shifter and Evil Counterpart to Chameleon Boy (until his Heel–Face Turn).
  • From the same series, Grimbor & Terra-Man. The former in the comics was just chain-weapon themed villain who sought revenge for his wife's death, while the cartoon one was a skilled mercenary who owned the team (sans Karate Kid). The latter was originally a environmental terrorist who dressed in a cowboy-inspired battlesuit (and was exclusively a Superman foe, no less), while the cartoon version was a Terminator-like robot who was nearly unbeatable.
  • Brainiac Five. Originally The Smart Guy with a force field gadget, here, he's a descendant of a Superman: The Animated Series-style Brainiac 1.0, making him a super-genius and a super-powerful Do-Anything Robot.
• Masters of the Universe: Stinkor was created as a gimmick toy (the action figure had a stinky scent) and the character never appeared in the original cartoon because he was deemed too ridiculous (and given some of the characters who did make it, that's saying something). The 2002 reboot showed just how much a threat Stinkor could be. If it weren't for the fact he wasn't immune to his own scent, the guy would be nearly unbeatable.
• Mega Man (Ruby-Spears):
  • In the cartoon, unlike in the game, Pharaoh Man can just punch you in the face when you try and pull the Power Copying bullshit on him.
  • Roll shows us how dangerous kitchen utensils are, and occasionally wields things like axes and buzzsaws.
• Oddly enough, done with Warmonger in Mighty Max. Warmonger had only one appearance in the toyline the show was based off of, the playset "Mighty Max Trapped In Skull Mountain." In the corresponding mini-comic Warmonger is depicted as an ineffectual minor villain whose only accomplishment of note was getting splattered by friendly fire from Skullmaster's catapult. In the cartoon, he's The Dragon to Skullmaster and a capable villain in his own right, who's even managed to stand his ground against resident badass Norman a time or two.
• My Adventures with Superman:
  • The show's version of Livewire zig-zags this. While her Shock and Awe powers are far more limited than they are in the comics or the previous Superman cartoon that she originates from (even after she obtains natural electric powers), her depiction here portrays her as far more naturally skilled in combat than either of the versions previously mentioned, being able to put up an even fight with Slade even before breaking out the Powered Armor. This is even more emphasized in "Zero Day, Part 2", where, after gaining her natural electric powers, she manages to completely curb-stomp him in combat before finishing him off by taking out one of his eyes.
  • This show's version of Slade Wilson zig-zags this trope. In the comics, Deathstroke is already a fairly powerful and skilled fighter and assassin, but his abilities tend to align more with the human scale of the DC universe, usually having to rely on specialized weapons to stand a chance against more powerful characters. In this show, after being equipped with Powered Armor, Slade proves to be an extremely formidable threat to even the likes of Superman, matching him in strength and speed and leaving visible injuries after the fight is over. That said, he's ultimately shown to be a Fragile Speedster, as for all the damage he can do to Clark, he still ends up getting taken out in a single punch. It's just landing that single punch that proves to be the difficult part.
  • In the comics, Amanda Waller is normally just an intelligent and very intimidating government bureaucrat, with no physical capabilities prior to that. In this show, she has a military background as a former soldier and used to be rather muscular.
  • While Professor Ivo of the comics is a genius capable of inventing Justice League level threats such as Amazo, he himself has never been a major physical threat. Dr. Ivo, his counterpart for this show, meanwhile, due to being a Composite Character with Parasite, is equipped with the dangerous, energy draining powers of the latter, allowing Ivo is be a genuine physical threat to Superman.
• My Little Pony:
  • The toy line has always been rather peaceful. However being an 80s cartoon, the original cartoon was considerably darker and more action packed so several characters became more Badass than before.
  • Megan is a normal little girl in a pretty dress in the toys. She plays the role of insert character for kids and is also just one of the kids the ponies are friends with. In Rescue from Midnight Castle she's a farm girl tomboy and a badass. Future incarnations give her a Girliness Upgrade but she's still quite capable, smart, and the Team Mom.
  • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, this happens to pretty much everypony sharing their name with a previous-gen pony. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are near-unrecognizable compared to G3 Rainbow Dash and G1 Applejack — the former goes from basically having FIM Rarity's exact personality, dahling, to being much more athletic and competitive, and does things like demolishing an old barn by flying into it at Super-Speed causing a rainbow-colored mushroom cloud, while the latter goes from having a whole song about how she's a silly pony, to pretty much becoming The Big Guy of the series, being a tomboyish cowgirl. Sweet Apple Acres' apple harvesting method is basically "Applejack kicks the tree so hard that all the apples fall at once while everyone else runs around with buckets." Pinkie Pie goes from being vaguely similar to her G4 self, but very bland (like most G3 characters) to being awesome. Rarity goes from a naive child to a competent and experienced fashion designer who is not much for action but can still kick some flank when the situation calls for it. G3 Fluttershy was a photographer (her name is a pun on "shutterfly"), and G4 Fluttershy may be a Shrinking Violet, but she has proven capable of feats like shaming dragons into submission, overpowering a cockatrice's Deadly Gaze, while it was turning her to stone, standing up to a Mad God and eventually befriending him, and flying into a rage like you wouldn't believe.
  • The original Tirac was no pushover by a long shot, in the original Vile Villain, Saccharine Show, but his main threat was being the wielder of the Rainbow of Darkness and having an army whom he mutated with it at his command. Lord Tirek? He has no army nor Rainbow of Darkness, and is still such a massive threat that sending Discord after him is considered the best means of defeating him. Somewhat played with, though — he starts out far weaker than Tirac due to his imprisonment, and Discord was sent out because his abilities let him sense Tirek's magic and track him down effortlessly. It's only after he drains enough ponies that he becomes a real threat. But once he gets going, there's no stopping him — he is able to duel Twilight Sparkle (who is wielding the power of four alicorns) to a standstill, and that's not even the highest power level he reaches in the episode. Celestia has all but stated that Tirek could potentially become virtually unbeatable in Equestria.
• Gmork in The Neverending Story and its film adapatation was, whilst a fearsome monster, ultimately just a brute. In The Neverending Story: The Animated Adventures of Bastian Balthazar Bux, he is the Dimension Lord of the Nothing; the sapient manifestation of its endless hunger.
• Scooby-Doo
  • Scooby-Doo himself in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Over the course of the series he's delivered at least one Pre-Mortem One-Liner, turned his catchphrase into a Badass Boast and helped destroy an Eldritch Abomination. Simply put, you mess with his friends and nothing can stop him from taking you down.
  • Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur gloriously gives Shaggy Rogers this treatment as thanks to hypnotism he gets Nerves of Steel leading to the Lovable Coward becoming so badass he curb stomps an entire biker gang, races the biker leader and fights the titular supernatural T. rex. This depiction of Shaggy helped transform him into a Memetic Badass on the internet.
  • In Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy, we have their previous villains. Granted they still failed in logic for the opposite reason they usually do^note mainly the fact they legally owned a large natural gas mine, but that wasn't the point, they wanted revenge. They nearly killed the gang while manipulating them like a fiddle by exploiting Wrong Genre Savvy on the gang and preying on their flaws (and not just kill them. They nearly manipulating Velma into doing it herself which probably would have driven her to kill herself out of guilt). Oh, and there is an entire network of them who want revenge on the gang.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
  • Despite lacking her original's ability to transform into a panther, Catra is far more competent than her 80s counterpart. She's far more intelligent, being capable of manipulating others with ease, has claws sharp enough to cut through steel, and is a much better fighter; being able to go toe-to-toe with She-Ra, effectively take over the Horde by Season 4, and defeat Hordak in combat in the season finale.
  • Glimmer goes from a General Failure and borderline Faux Action Girl who's often in need of rescue, to a frontline fighter and capable leader who has saved Adora just as much as she has saved her.
  • Downplayed with Shadow Weaver. In the original series, as Light Spinner, she was a mediocre sorceress who sold out Mystacor to the Horde in exchange for greater magical power. Here, she was Castaspella's predecessor as leader of Mystacor, meaning that she was already quite powerful, but sold out her people anyway.
  • In the original show, Scorpia didn't have Super Strength and was easily defeated by She-Ra in physical fights. Here, she is roughly as strong as She-Ra and fights evenly with her.
  • In The New Adventures of He-Man, Mara served as a replacement for He-Man's love interest Teela and normally wasn't involved during fight scenes. This version was Adora's predecessor as She-Ra.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): Doctor Robotnik. In the original games, he was a silly and childish, yet competent and effective Mad Scientist. Here he's a downright scary Diabolical Mastermind.
  • Sonic Boom: Shadow. He's already a strong character in the original games, being about evenly matched with Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles. Here however... He chains Chaos Spears and Chaos Blasts together, not even bothering to wait more than a few seconds between attacks, is still just as fast, uses Teleport Spam even more than his original self (without any Chaos Emeralds), and does a variant of the move he does in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) to take out an army of Mephiles clones — Only this time, he doesn't even need to remove his Inhibitor rings. He's easily able to fight Sonic, Tails and Knuckles at the same time.

• Spider-Man:
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series:
    • Electro could get pretty lame in the comics, with his power just about enough to almost kill the web-slinger once before getting beat every time after. In this version however, he was a Big Bad by the last episode of the story arc in his first appearance, replacing the Red Skull as the primary threat. The guy then easily dispatched the Six American Heroes (a team of Golden Age heroes which included Captain America), the Insidious Six, and Spider-Man, and made it clear he could kill any of them at any time, took control of the Earth's satellites through the electrical signals he fired to broadcast himself to the world's media, announce he's the new President Evil of the world, and when all of S.H.I.E.L.D. chose to disagree, he handled them single-handedly by shooting down their base:
      (Nick Fury jumps off the collapsing S.H.I.E.L.D. base, then pulls his parachute)
      Female S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent: (on Nick Fury's earphone) Agent Nick Fury, do you copy?
      Nick Fury: I copy, for what it's worth. He took down all of S.H.I.E.L.D. with only a gesture. Heaven help us all.
      (S.H.I.E.L.D. base crashes in the sea then explodes)
    • The series turned the Spot into a genuine threat, capable of running rings around Spider-Man with his ability to create masses of portals. Since the Spot always had dangerous powers in the comics, this was accomplished by making him not a moron.
    • The Kingpin much like the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse version is made to be ridiculously badass. In the comics while Fisk is the epitome of Stout Strength who is capable of incredible feats of superhuman strength through Charles Atlas Super Power, he’s still a human and Spidey and Daredevil can usually kick his ass with only mild difficulty. The show’s Kingpin is pretty much The Juggernaut as can easily put Spider-Man and Scorpion into a Bear Hug, break out of manacles that held Rhino in place, smash Electro into a wall and hoist him over his head whilst being electrocuted and in another episode he casually flips over a Humongous Mecha.
    • The Big Wheel was such a joke in the comics that Spidey often uses him as a comparison to other joke villains. (When the Grizzly and Gibbon were held hostage by the White Rabbit, which was humiliating, he remarked that they could have done worse and been kidnapped by the Big Wheel.) Again, the cartoon made him a dangerous and legitimate threat, his tank-like wheel-shaped vehicle giving the hero such a problem he couldn't even beat the thing alone.
    • Comics-verse Black Cat is a Badass Normal who occasionally wields bad-luck powers. Here, she starts out as a classmate of Peter's before gaining powers from the Super Serum that created Captain America.
    • Jason Macendale's Hobgoblin, in the comics a sad wannabe who always lived in the shadow of original Hobgoblin Roderick Kingsley, is a much more respected and feared foe here, since Kingsley is absent from this continuity.
    • On top of that, in the comics, Kingsley's Hobgoblin was sort of this for the original Goblin, the Green Goblin. The writers wanted to use Gobby, but didn't want to bring Norman Osborn Back from the Dead, so they put some other guy in the suit and made it orange. In the show, the Hobgoblin came first and was an impressive Big Bad in his own right from the word go.
    • The Shocker is often treated as a joke in the comics, despite scoring some hits. In the show, both in-universe and out, he's treated as a respected badass and went toe-to-toe with Spider-Man while he had the black suit.
    • While the Adaptation Origin Connection to tie The Whizzer, Miss America, the Destroyer, Black Marvel, and the Thunderer into a flawed attempt to recreate the Super Serum that made Captain America resulted in the former three undergoing Adaptational Achilles Heel to their powers now being unstable and needing special rings to work, even with that same limitation, this applies to the latter two. In the comics, Black Marvel and the Thunderer were Badass Normals with the latter's sonic scream being the result of a device he put together from parts of a microphone and speaker. Here, thanks to the serum, Black Marvel, much like Black Cat, has similar powers to Captain America and Thunderer's sonic scream is an innate power.
    • In Web of Spider-Man Vol. 1, #100, the Spider-Armor Peter wore was simply a suit he made because he was going up villains who were out of his power class. The alternate Spider-Man who sported the look in the finale is outright wearing Powered Armor.
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man:
    • Comics-verse Tombstone is a formerly Badass Normal now superstrong thug who works for other villains. Here, he's not only inhumanly strong, but a Magnificent Bastard crimelord who poses as a respected philantropist.
    • While not quite at the same magnitude as Tombstone, the Rhino is upgraded from a regular Jobber to Spider-Man to a Nigh-Invulnerable juggernaut. Spider-Man is only able to beat him through clever exploits of his mass and the environment, and while still Dumb Muscle, this Rhino is smart enough to learn from his previous mistakes.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man (2012)
    • Electro is a Badass here too. Starting out like his B-list comic self, he gets upgraded into being more like the Ultimate and 90s cartoon versions, with unlimited control over all things electrical within his range, and his range seemed to be "everywhere". If he'd been capable of saying "screw fighting you guys, I'm gonna Take Over the World; good luck punching living electricity!" he could have done so. His real weakness, established throughout the episode, is that for all his newfound power he still thinks like a B-list hood.
    • The Sandman took the ability to add the sand around him to himself to its logical conclusion. You know why that island you're on isn't on any map but SHIELD's, with a "seriously don't go there, for reals" warning? Every single bit of soil on the island is him, making it a Genius Loci that doesn't like you. Taking the smallest bit of him — oh, like the dirt on your clothes after you think you're done fighting him — back to the mainland would be bad. Using no powers he doesn't have in other continuities, just being smarter about how he used them and having a reason to be really pissed, it was very nearly "arrivederci, North America."
    • In the comics, Arcade was pretty much synonymous with failure, especially in the aftermath of Avengers Arena. In this show, however, he's a mutant with the ability to control anything electronic, engineers a series of simulations that would have likely killed Wolverine and Captain America if Spidey wasn't around, and was literally ONE digit away from cracking the launch codes and starting World War III. For the hell of it. Wow.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man:
    • Spidey himself. While superhuman strength was always part of Peter's powers, this Peter (who's a teenager as most versions when he's starting out) can already stop a falling helicopter or careening van. Likewise, he's capable to creating a miniature cyclone by swinging a heavy object around him. Even the symbiote got a power boost, capable of creating a shockwave when punching to cause Sandgirl to stand down.
    • Keemia Alvarado was just a little normal girl in the comics. Here, Keemia Marko's a teenager who has the same powers as her father, the Sandman.
    • While most versions of the Man-Wolf are threats, most can't take on the Hulk. This version can.
    • Miles Morales's Venom Sting is no longer a Fingerpoke Of Doom, but can seriously damage machinery.
• New Looney Tunes: Sniffles the Mouse has a Batman-esque alter-ego in this show called DarkBat, which gives him fighting skills, Flight, Super-Strength and even a deeper voice.
• Everyone in Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars got a huge boost to their power level and competence. The most spectacular cases being General Grievous and Mace Windu. The former went from a Smug Snake whose Jedi killer status is never lived up to on screen to a bonafide No-Nonsense Nemesis that, on more than one occasion, took on several Jedi at once and won, while the latter — already one of the most badass Jedi ever — is seen slaughtering a droid army with his bare hands. Indeed, the spectacular destruction committed by the cast is so at odds with most Star Wars "canon" that it's a widely accepted Wild Mass Guess the series is in-universe propaganda.
• Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels. In Legends, Thrawn's physical prowess was never touched upon with most works focusing on his planning and leadership. In Rebels however, Thrawn not only has the cunning intellect of his Legends counterpart, but is also a skilled physical combatant who spars with specialty droids and defeats Kallus in hand-to-hand combat. He also manages to defeat the Bendu — a powerful Force entity who can summon a lightning storm — without any assistance from a ysalamir (a creature which was notable for naturally being able to negate the Force around it in Legends).
• Super Mario Bros. (DiC):
  • Princess Toadstool sometimes gets kidnapped in the cartoons just like in the games but also has her shining moments. In an episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, she grabs a Starman, defeats the Hammer Bros. and Shy Guys who were holding her hostage, and saves her friends.
  • In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, she single-handedly foils Koopa's plan to have his kids take over the continents. After escaping from captitivy, she blows up the obstruction in the Warp Pipe to the Real World. Even the Mario Bros. and Toad were impressed.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
  • In the original cartoon, the Rat King is a man who had a connection with rats with speaking to them, but he usually left the fighting to his partner Leatherhead and was quite cowardly. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), he gains Psychic Powers and becomes a powerful villain as Dr. Victor Falco, being able to easily telegraph the Turtles' moves in combat and having a mind link to the rats, manipulating Splinter on a much higher level than he did in the 1987 cartoon. It forces the Turtles to "fight without thinking" on their first encounter (something difficult for The Smart Guy Donatello).
  • The Shredder does this on multiple levels. In the original comics, he was the Token Motivational Nemesis. Like the burglar that killed Spider-Man's uncle or the thug that killed Batman's parents, his role in Splinter's tragic backstory led him to train the Turtles... and that's it. Shredder's first encounter with the Turtles ends in his death. The cartoons... not so much. The comedic 80s version treated him as a comedic 80s villain and so he's not thought of as too badass nowadays, but his role in the cartoon is the titanic step up from "that guy who died in the premiere" to "Big Bad of the whole series, and often only beaten by the skin of the turtles' teeth, and always escapes to menace them and the world another day."
    • And Shredder's threat level only seems to increase over time. The later cartoons are more serious than the 80s one, so we go from cartoon villain antics to a deadly dangerous fighter and Diabolical Mastermind who has absolutely no trouble handing the Turtles their shells in early encounters and never becomes a routine, easily beaten foe. Learning of his involvement in a situation never fails to elicit an Oh, Crap! from Splinter. Also, specific to the 2003 series, he is almost supernatural in his unkillability, allowing him to show himself as badass in defeat as well as in victory.
    • The 2012 series tops even that via presenting the deadliest version of the Shredder yet. He's a virtually unstoppable One-Man Army that can easily handle the Turtles and their allies all at once, absolutely unrivaled in combat against any opponent in the show other than Master Splinter. It takes multiple seasons for the Turtles to put up anything resembling a fight against this Shredder, and he doesn't outright lose a single fight until the fourth season's midseason finale.
    • And then there's Rise, in which Shredder is a demonic suit of armor with the mind of a feral animal— and even still, he might be the Shredder's most dangerous incarnation of all. While most other verions were merely proficient in combat, this Shredder has straight-up Super-Strength and is able to level buildings with the air pressure of his blows alone— let alone when they actually connect. Not only that, but he's also an Implacable Man who's practically impossible to even scratch. Every encounter with him before the finale is a Curb-Stomp Battle on the Turtles' end. And when he regains his sapience in "E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", he becomes even more dangerous. In most incarnations, Splinter alone proves to be a worthy adversary to the Shredder. Here, though, even Splinter is hopelessly outmatched against the Shredder.
  • April has usually been a Damsel in Distress in the older cartoons, only showing "badass" qualities on the sidelines. Over the course of the 2003 series, she becomes a good fighter in her own right after some training from Splinter. The 2007 CGI movie portrays her as someone who is skilled enough to hold her own against Karai for a short while, who was leading the Foot at that point. This is taken further in the 2012 series, however, she's taken actual training as a Kunoichi and was able to defeat Raphael in a sparing match (Raph keeps insisting she's "almost fully trained", although that really only means she hasn't completed the course). The same goes for her Rise incarnation. While she's still untrained, she is able to fight alongside the Turtles from the get-go, and being just as capable of defeating villains on her own, even landing the finishing blow on a Shredder-armor-empowered Baron Draxum.
  • Leonardo in the 2003 series is one of the most skilled, powerful, and competent incarnations of Leonardo in any media format. Even now, there aren't many other versions of Leo who can boast that they've been able to casually defeat all of their brothers at once in sparring matches and even out-fight Splinter later on. For reference, Tales of the TMNT revealed that in the future, Mirage Leo achieved enlightenment and gained a small degree of mystical powers only during his elderly years, whereas in this show, 2003 Leo unlocked his mystical potential under the Ninja Tribunal while he was still a teenager.
  • While badass in every incarnation, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' version of the titular team deserves a special mention. While less experienced than some of their other incarnations, they also possess actual superpowers thanks to their mystic weapons that allow them to perform feats that their other counterparts could only dream of. You're probably not going to see any other version of Leonardo redirecting enemy attacks by spamming portals or Michelangelo hurling a giant tanker for instance. Also, with the exceptions of the 2003 series where Leonardo was able to defeat Splinter during some rage-fueled sparring in the later fourth season and the 2012 Leonardo defeating Splinter during a couple of sparring sessions (one where Splinter was injured), most versions of the Ninja Turtles are shown to be outclassed by Splinter to varying degrees in fights. In Rise, after undergoing some serious training, the Turtles are able to take down Splinter during a practice session towards the end of just the first season alone. It's especially apparent compared to the 2012 turtles, who are somewhat infamous for constantly receiving humiliating beatings from every character on the show except the Purple Dragons.
• Teen Titans (2003)
  • Here, Aqualad is a water-bending Atlantean cop who was lusted after by Raven and Starfire (for one episode, at least). Not too bad considering he was written out of the original Teen Titans comic book because the writer thought he was useless.
  • Raven as well. In the comics, she can simply teleport, heal other people, and sense other's feelings (nothing actually useful during a fight). Here, she uses telekinesis, can fly, knows sorcery, etc.
  • Killer Moth. In the comics, he's the most ineffectual of the Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains with a completely ridiculous costume that looks like it was put together by a colorblind 6-year-old. Here, he's a half-man, half-moth hybrid with an army of genetically modified bugs at his command.
  • Kid Flash also counts. In most incarnations, the writers have to work around his Story-Breaker Power of Super-Speed. Here, they take it and use it to his full extent, and he spends most of the episode running circles around the Hive Five. The only way they manage to bring him down is by tiring him out, and that takes a long time.
  • Madame Rouge. In the comics, after a short tenure as a recurring villain, she winds up Killed Off for Real and a source of guilt for Beast Boy. A rarity for a comic book character, she remains dead for decades, no matter how many other characters return from the dead or how many times history gets altered. Jason Todd lives, Madame Rouge's dirtnap continues. Here, her powers (stretching, Human Shifting) are greatly upgraded, making her an unholy fusion of Reed Richards and the T-1000. Nothing hurts her, except heat, and she just has to take a second to shapeshift into an undamaged form. The episode with Hot Spot alone being hunted by her makes her almost Nightmare Fuel, an implacable threat that can come from anywhere, look like anyone, and can't be held back for long even when your power is her Kryptonite Factor, and when she returns to battle Kid Flash, she's every bit as badass. He runs circles around the HIVE Five and looks so good doing it... then she shows up and it's a whole 'nother story, able to shift fast enough to actually stretch out to grab Kid Flash when he's looking like a yellowy blur and then proceed to lay down a beatdown.
• ThunderCats:
  • Mumm-Ra of Thunder Cats 2011. His original '80s incarnation has nostalgic charm, but was incredibly inept given his power level. He's never proactive in his weak Shapeshifter Default Form, playing Orcus on His Throne. His Ever-Living form alternately has a Weaksauce Weakness to his own reflection or suffers from Villain Decay. 2011 Mumm-Ra's first acts onscreen, as a frail Squishy Wizard, are to use his Master of Illusion powers to commit full-blown regicide, boast of how nightmarish he is, make a Big Entrance Wreathed in Flames, spout a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner and promptly slaughter nearly the full complement of the dead monarch's Praetorian Guard with a Kamehame Hadouken. That's without powering up. When he does assume his Ever-Living form, it's even more powerful than in the original, and on top of the raw power he gains wings allowing him to fly and a freaking huge sword and shield. He uses this form with the same dangerous competence that was seen in his initial appearance, and it's a desperate struggle by the entire team of heroes just to survive.
  • His underlings the Mutants (now members of the other animal races populating Third Earth) continue the pattern, with the Jackalman and Monkian analogs Kaynar and Addicus in particular portrayed as vicious, ruthless criminals before being appointed generals in Mumm-Ra's forces, and devastating fighters in battle.
• Transformers:
  • Starscream was a Running Gag of one transparent backstabbing plan after another, often openly telling Megs what an idiot he is and how Starscream should be in charge, and only being kept alive because his Megatron was no brighter than he. Certain later incarnations however reimagine him as a Manipulative Bastard, and the second-most-powerful Decepticon next to Megs himself to boot. At one point in Transformers: Cybertron, he borrows a portion of the power of the god Primus and spends an arc handily kicking around all the Autobots and Decepticons singlehandedly.
  • Megatron himself. G1 Megatron was Too Dumb to Live when it came to Starscream, and would trust him again ten seconds after being shot at by him. "Decepticons, retreat! RETREEEEEAT!!" was practically his catchphrase, and the series' most diehard fans admit that he'd yell it when the going got tough even if he still actually had the upper hand. Oh, and he turned into a gun that couldn't move or fire himself and was usually held by... go on, guess who. Since then, he's had highly badass vehicle and beast modes, and has been freakishly powerful and/or a brilliant Diabolical Mastermind.
  • Transformers: Animated:
    • This series's version of Megatron is this writ large — he went from being able to just barely match Optimus in combat to being able to outclass a team of Autobots plus Optimus put together (with an arm missing). He's also much less willing to retreat, and usually wins (or at least concludes the episode on favorable terms) whenever he heads out personally. If that wasn't enough, he's also quite intelligent.
    • Waspinator went from The Chew Toy in Beast Wars, to a sinister Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Even his design is creepier. They actually did the research to make him look and sound more creepily insectlike, in design and movement.
  • Transformers: Prime:
    • Bumblebee's first foray into robot combat in the pilot episode had him coming to Arcee's aid by driving off an overpass, transforming, landing with a thud and by the next beat his fist connects with an Vehicon's face. He doesn't appear to be quite the same bruiser as in the movies, but he is no less reliable.
    • Both Starscream and Megatron have outdone themselves here. The latter's a soulless Bad Boss who coldly tortures his enemies and allies, and plots to use his Necromancer abilities to raise the dead of all Cybertron as an army. Starscream, not to be outdone, has become a sociopathic Bastard Understudy who casually murders a named character in the first ten minutes of the show, and successfully betrays Megatron some episodes into the series. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't last.
    • Breakdown. Traditionally one of the Stunticons, and a paranoid Conspiracy Theorist and Dirty Coward to boot, Prime has turned Breakdown into The Brute of the Decepticon team. He's an independent character and a total badass who lives to beat on unsuspecting Autobots (especially his Archenemy, Bulkhead). He's also got shades of Noble Demon, an Eyepatch of Power, and a partnership with Evil Genius Knock Out that makes him all the more dangerous.
    • Arcee, who in her G1 cartoon incarnation is presented as just The Heart, here is presented as a badass Action Girl.
    • Wheeljack in the original cartoon he is presented as something of a Mad Scientist archetype, edging into Gadgeteer Genius due to his tendency to invent things (and build the Dinobots). This carried over to similarly named, similarly-designed characters in both the movies and Animated series. Prime, however, turns him into a Dual Wielding Samurai Cowboy with a love for mayhem and explosives, an ace pilot, and a former Wrecker to boot.
    • The G1 version of Soundwave didn't do much to stick out from the rank and file other than have a cool voice and shoot a bunch of minions out of his chest. The Prime version, on the other hand, looks like a mechanical Slender Man, is eerily silent and frighteningly efficient, and happens to be one of the few Decepticons that can give the aforementioned Wheeljack a run for his money.
    • Where there's a Soundwave, there's usually his most-used minion from the original series, Laserbeak. He's typically used as a spy or distraction. Even the larger, speaking, more independent movie version is mostly used to execute humans who know too much and doesn't last long against Bumblebee. In this series, he's able to bring down Wheeljack's spaceship all on his own.
    • Shockwave in the original cartoon was mostly a Mad Scientist who didn't seem much combat himself and didn't fare that well on the rare occasions he actually did get into a fight. In Prime, however, he's still a Mad Scientist who's packing an Arm Cannon that serves as the turret of his Cybertronian tank alt. mode and is strong enough to throw down with the likes of Ultra Magnus in a one-on-one and hold his own.
  • Transformers: Cyberverse:
    • The Quintessons were often a source of trouble with their Sharkticon Army and tendency to cut deals with other antagonists. The Quintessons themselves were often depicted as weak Non Action Big Bads who would fold in a direct fight. Cyberverse sees their empire as a threat to the multiverse with the Quintesson Judge reimagined as a massive creature with powers on the level of a Physical God. Even the reimagined Scientist and Bailiffs, are much stronger fighters compared to their original incarnations.
    • Astrotrain is usually depicted as a fairly average Decepticon soldier and getaway vehicle. Cyberverse reimagines Astrotrain as a giant who can shrug off the attacks of average-sized bots and throw them around with ease. Further, he can also travel through dimensions, something the original could never do.

• Voltron: Legendary Defender: In previous incarnations, Princess Allura was hardly helpless, but in the newest show, she is a Princess, theoretically the physically strongest character in the group when fighting, gained several powers and has become far more in command than before.
  • Also, Pidge, who was a more or less harmless young boy in the original, has been aged up to fifteen, gender swapped, and is now much more capable in combat.
• The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Birdie the Early Bird comes off as more impressive than her depiction in the standard McDonaldland advertisements, as her well-documented tendecy to have difficulty landing properly after flying isn't brought up and she is shown to take karate lessons in "Visitors from Outer Space", her skill being to the extent that she is easily able to take out her teacher and the rest of the class.
• Tigger of Winnie the Pooh isn't largely different from his novel incarnate, however some of the bleaker situations used in the Disney adaptions have proved just how badass bouncing really is to the point where he is the Big Good of the Hundred Acre Wood. Abiding by The Tigger Movie, Roo could apply for this trope as well (only the Disney adaption can lay claim to "the Whoopty-Dooper Loopty-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce" at least).
• W.I.T.C.H.:
  • Matt Olsen, prior to the comics turning him in to a failed version of the mentor. In the cartoons, Matt was a normal guitarist who, after getting fed up with Will ditching him on dates, decided to find out what the hell was going on. After finding out her double life, he decided he wasn't going to stand there and let her get hurt all the time. Not only does he take combat lessons from Caleb, he also gains a massive power boost when he's forced to take up a fraction of the Heart of Earth, putting him at equal (if not greater) footing of Will herself!
  • Caleb himself is a badass rebel leader in the series who is much more of a fighter than the original and doesn't spend most of the series as a flower because of Phobos, either. A fan only familiar with the comics who read this page would likely say "back up a sec, Caleb is giving somebody combat lessons?"
• X-Men: The Animated Series:
  • Jubilee's fireworks are quite powerful, to the point of being as good as Cyclops' power beam. In the comics at the time, her powers were mostly a distracting light show that she'd flash into opponents' eyes (with the very recent Retcon that if she was really mad, they could go kaboom. The show runners took that and ran with it). When she pulls her Cool Shades down over her eyes, that's your cue to run fast and run far!
  • While Rogue's Mutation makes her a powerhouse in the comics, in the 90s show she has nothing short of a Story-Breaker Power and is by far the strongest individual X-Men as well as the most competent female member besides Storm (especially compared to Jean). Seriously, this Rogue is able to knock around Gladiator (who has regularly matched Thor in the comics) and only loses when a building falls on her, and later even survives Apocalypse's blasts
• X-Men: Evolution: The Sentinels. In most continuities, a Sentinel is little more than a disposable Giant Mook. This version of them, however, are far more powerful and weaponized, to the point where the first prototype made gives the X-Men serious trouble, and three fully finished versions manage to damage Apocalypse before being destroyed.
• Young Justice (2010)
  • This show took the incredibly lame and gimmicky Sportsmaster and turned him into a Badass Normal mercenary who has a keen enough eye to spot Miss Martian while she's invisible and throw a javelin that would have impaled her if she hadn't moved at the last second. Even then it still exploded and sent her flying. And in Season 2, Sportsmaster shows that he can hold his own against Black Manta and Deathstroke.
  • Klarion the Witch Boy is a full blown Lord of Chaos and arch rival of Doctor Fate in this series instead of being just another magic user. He's still as childish as ever, though.
  • Mister Twister, originally a rather feeble villain whose powers came from a magic stick, becomes an incredibly powerful android who effortlessly solos the team (up to and including Superboy) while spouting arrogant one-liners left and right.
  • Count Vertigo, instead of being a guy who makes people dizzy, is a power-hungry despot trying to kill the queen of his country who's more of The Chessmaster than anything else, borrowing from DC Showcase: Green Arrow (which showrunner Greg Weisman was the writer of). His superpowers are more an afterthought.
  • While Mercy Graves was already a bad-ass, this version is an Adaptational Badass compared to her usual portrayal by giving her a cybernetic arm with a built-in cannon and a cold, driven disposition comparable to that of the T-X.
  • The Big Bad of Season 2, the Reach are vastly more powerful than their comics counterparts. In the comics they are a weak military force using subterfuge and trickery to take Earth in a century, with an enforcer who could be beaten by a single hero. Here they are a full fleet of warships, and the Black Beetle took out Mongol in single combat. And according to Impulse's future, it only takes them a couple decades to conquer Earth.
  • Showing that this trope doesn't just apply to the bad guys, they took three of the Captain Ethnics from Superfriends, replaced Black Vulcan with Static, and made them all teenagers. Static was already a Badass, but Tye (Apache Chief) can kick ass while he's asleep, Sam (Gender Flipped Samurai) uses chi waves to bounce herself in rather creative ways, and Eduardo (El Dorado) is a master of Teleport Spam.
  • In the original comics, Halo was kind of a joke and was really only part of the Outsiders because Batman felt sorry for her. Here? So not the case, as we witness just how effective someone with multiple power sets would function even with a lack of training. The Running Gag of her repeated deaths also goes to show that she's beyond-Wolverine-grade unkillable, needing only a couple minutes to heal from pretty much anything. The revelation that she is the goddamn Anti-Life Equation in human form take the effect much further.

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