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Adaptational Heroism / Marvel Universe

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Marvel Universe

Adaptational Heroism in this series.
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    Comic Books 
  • The Eternals: One of the most prominent Eternals is the fashion model and occasional member of The Avengers Sersi, who is in Marvel continuity the same person as Circe (the evil sorceress who turned Odysseus' men into swine in The Odyssey). In her backstory, it was clear that Homer distorted the facts quite a bit; yeah, she turned them into pigs, but to make a long story short, they started it.
  • Exiles:
    • One of the main characters of the team throughout the book's run is a version of Mimic, the original Sixth Ranger turned Sixth Ranger Traitor of the X-Men who in the original timeline spends his time in a decades-long Heel–Face Revolving Door. This Mimic never experienced any such moral lapses, and to highlight his heroism, he's even drawn more attractively than the 616 Mimic, having a very clean-cut all-American look while 616 Mimic often looks like nothing so much as a winged hobo.
    • Much later in the book a Rule 63 version of Mystique is introduced, dubbed Mystiq. This version lives as a man thanks to their shared Voluntary Shapeshifting and, as you might have guessed, is much less of a Manipulative Bitch than 616 Raven.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Believe it or not, Groot's first ever appearance was in the November 1960 Tales To Astonish comic book, "The Monster From Planet X", where he was an evil alien invader looking to abduct humans and perform inhumane experiments on them. His first appearance as a hero was in the 2008 reboot of Guardians Of The Galaxy'', where he was remade into a good guy. And while he's still larger than humans, and still retains his plant-based powers, he's a lot smaller than the original incarnation. But much better looking and less scary. The two Groots were later retconned into separate characters.
  • The Incredible Hercules: Ares is actually given this in later comics becoming an Anti-Hero. While still brutal and callous like the original myths he’s still far more honourable and heroic than his mythical counterpart or his DC version. This Ares is ironically actually more similar personality-wise to the original Herakles/Heracles than the hedonistic Marvel version.
  • Ultimate X-Men (2001):
    • While Professor X himself is case of Adaptational Jerkass (being a Dirty Old Man who uses his powers to amuse himself and to manipulate others, lusts after his female students, and amounted his love for his son to an owner of a pet), his becoming Onslaught was the result of Cable (here the future counterpart of Wolverine) fixing his spine, giving him armor, and training him to prevent a Bad Future ruled by Apocalypse, as opposed to Magneto's dark side fusing with Xavier's repressed anger and becoming a split personality bent on taking over the world.
    • A straighter example is the UXM adaptation of Emma Frost. 616 Emma started out as a sadistic Rich Bitch whose evil deeds made her the X-Men's preeminent villainess before her Heel–Face Turn in the '90s and decades-long redemption arc (and thanks to her abusive relationship with Cyclops, even at the end her redemption is questionable). This Emma, on the other hand, is infinitely less sadistic, is in fact an Actual Pacifist, and never engages in any kind of mind games or intimate psychic tampering like 616 Emma did with/to Scott. The result is an unambiguously heroic Emma who, sadly, was among the hundreds of UXM characters pointlessly killed off in the shock-for-shocks-sake event Ultimatum.
    • UXM's adaptation of Pyro started out as one of these, being a much more sympathetic character who was a Minion with an F in Evil and even joined the X-Men after proving his new heroism by helping other mutants. Unfortunately, while Pyro survived the events of Ultimatum, a Fate Worse than Death at the hands of writers awaited him when during The Ultimates 3 he experienced steep Adaptational Jerkass and transformed from a decent guy into a leering wannabe-rapist, something 616 Pyro wasn't even at his worst. Mercifully, he was Killed Off for Real shortly after.
  • X-Men:
    • The Age of Apocalypse inverted the moral alignments of several long-running X-Men characters, and more than a few of them were villains:
      • First and foremost was Magneto, who in the comics has been the X-Men's oldest Arch-Enemy. In his universe, he is in fact the X-Men's founder, having organized and named them in memory of his fallen friend Charles Xavier. And in filling Xavier's shoes, he's the closest thing the heroes of this universe have to a Big Good. He also has a much healthier relationship with his children, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, whereas his Earth-616 counterpart is generally known to be a pretty terrible father.
      • Another very prominent X-villain to get a moral shift was Sabretooth, number one Arch-Enemy to Wolverine and one of the X-Men's most bloodthirsty foes. In this continuity Creed starts out similarly to his 616 counterpart, but quickly decides that Apocalypse's Omnicidal Maniac goals are Not What I Signed on For. This steers him towards Anti-Hero territory, but he acquires true heroism through his relationship with Blink, a teleporting mutant who comes to see him as a father figure. This version of Creed ended up being one of the most popular of the AoA characters, so much so that he was brought back (along with Blink) to be a main character in the Exiles title.
      • Magneto's disciple Exodus also received an alignment switch as a direct result of his mentor's adaptational heroism. While the 616 Exodus was radicalized into being a Super Supremacist by Magneto, this Exodus is much more accepting of both humans and mutants, as well as being more kind and less prone to Pay Evil unto Evil. Came with a Redemption Demotion in his case though, as this Magneto deliberately keeps Exodus from knowing his true potential as a Superpower Lottery winner and even affixed Power Limiter devices to him to keep him from being corrupted by his own powers.
      • Classic X-Men baddies Mastermind, Sauron, and Toad became heroic members of Forge's Outcasts, an independent La Résistance group that came across Nate Grey and adopted him.
    • Receiving this must be In the Blood in the Age of Apocalypse, because Sabretooth's son Graydon Creed also got a taste of this. Rather than being a Fantastic Racist and aspiring President Evil, he's the deeply troubled but heroic resistance fighter Horror Show. He's so heroic, in fact, that he even becomes the lover of Jean Grey!
      • Inverted with Abyss. Originally created as an Original Generation member of AoA Apocalypse's Four Horsemen, he proved popular enough to get adapted into the regular 616 continuity. But since 616 Earth isn't a Crapsack World, Abyss was reimagined as a hero.
    • The 2011 storyline Age of X accomplished this for 90's baddies Frenzy and Unuscione, with particular emphasis on the former. A pair of villainesses hailing from Magneto's Acolytes, these two ladies were about as evil as evil came — Unuscione Would Hurt a Child even if that child was a developmentally disabled member of her own race (and terrorized a school bus of human children while doing it), while Cargill was a true believer that Murder Is the Best Solution and remorselessly killed off X-Men supporting character Sharon Freidlander. But thanks to this storyline's giving them a chance to find out that Good Feels Good, the duo turned their backs on supervillainy afterward, with Frenzy even going so far as to join the X-Men (Unuscione has since relapsed into supervillainy, but spent a good few years trying to live a normal life before the inevitable reset button push).
  • X-Men '92:
    • Genocidal Social Darwinist Apocalypse is reinvented into a Well-Intentioned Extremist and outright Big Good who has been putting the X-Men through Training from Hell to prepare them for the threat of a cosmic Fantastic Racist Celestial on its way to Earth. While Apocalypse has occasionally been presented before as having Well-Intentioned Extremist leanings, this is the only interpretation of the character to date which has tipped over into outright heroism. Note that the series is a direct sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series, where Apocalypse is even worse than his traditional depiction! Apparently, it was all an act for when the heroes had to face someone who really was everything Apocalypse was only pretending to be.
    • Cassandra Nova is also more idealistic and noble than her comic counterpart even being an ally to this version of Apocalypse.
    • Joseph is depicted in his original 90's characterization as a hero, while the mainstream version has since undergone a (rather forced) Face–Heel Turn.

    Films 

The following have their own pages:

  • Daredevil (2003):
    • Elektra wants to avenge her father's death by killing Daredevil, whom she falsely believes to be his killer, and the worst thing she does is to attack Daredevil under false pretenses. In the comics, she's a contract assassin who killed people for kicks while in college, and once belonged to an evil cult of ninjas known as the Hand.
    • Elektra's father was an abusive husband and implied to have molested his daughter. While not much is shown, it's clear he's just an overprotective father who still has security following Elektra despite the fact that she's an adult capable of protecting herself.
    • In Elektra's spin-off film, Stick is a nicer, more caring person than the cynical hustler who put Matt through Hell while training him.
  • Ultimate Avengers:
    • In The Ultimates 2, Black Widow turns out to be The Mole in the team and a murderous traitor. In the movies, she's not only a legitimate hero but also much kinder to boot. She even ends up hooking up with Captain America at the end of the second film.
    • The films notably soften the character of Hank Pym/Giant-Man. While he's very impulsive, egotistical and hotheaded, he's not a violent, unstable Domestic Abuser like he was in The Ultimates. In fact, his relationship with Jan is far less volatile here, and he ultimately dies a hero in the second film, in contrast to the comics, where he was kicked off the team in disgrace after the other Ultimates found out what he did to his wife — and that's without getting into the fact he ended up aiding Widow in The Ultimates 2.
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse:
    • Wilson Fisk a.k.a. the Kingpin gets this to a certain degree. In the comics, while he has the very occasional Pet the Dog moments, Fisk is still pretty much an unrepentant Jerkass. In the movie, we learn that Fisk is just trying to get his wife Vanessa and son Richard back after they were killed in a car accident, which makes Kingpin a helluva lot more sympathetic despite his crimes.
    • Aaron Davis a.k.a. The Prowler get this as well, since in the Ultimate Marvel universe, which Miles's universe is based on, "Uncle Aaron" was an utter bastard who abused Miles and tried to forcefully make his nephew join him as a villain before getting Hoist by His Own Petard. In the movie, Aaron genuinely loves Miles and has a Heel Realization when he discovers (by unmasking him) that's he's been fighting his nephew the whole time. Aaron also protects Miles's identity from Kingpin (who shoots him) and apologizes to Miles for his actions while dying.
    • On the heroes' side, Spider-Man Noir gets this a bit, his violent Anti-Hero behavior is toned down making him more of a Nice Guy and unlike the comic where Noir happily kills criminals, the movie version notably spares villains he beats. The comic version of Noir is also a Politically Incorrect Hero who holds some of the racist and sexist views that were common in his time, an aspect of his character that was also abandoned for the film.
  • Spider-Man Trilogy:
    • In Spider-Man 2, Doctor Octopus is rewritten a good man turned into a monster by an accident, and he even dies heroically in the films' climax. Reaffirmed in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as while Ock begins the movie trying to kill Peter Parker (although, as he discovers, it's not his Peter), he gets his fractured mental state fixed and helps the good guys out of gratitude in the climax, even getting Spared by the Adaptation.
    • The Green Goblin is less sympathetic but gets a dying moment of decency that would be utterly foreign to the comic-book version of Norman Osborn. Though at the very least prior to being the Green Goblin, Norman was shown to be a good man if a bit of an aloof father and stressed businessman, the Goblin formula drove him insane and created a split personality. In the comics, as Peter pointed out, "He was a bad man turned worse". Inverted in Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Norman is Truer to the Text — personally believing that the Goblin formula was a blessing, not a curse, he encourages the other villains to embrace their power as "gods", straight-up kills MCU Aunt May purely For the Evulz, and tries to goad that universe's Peter into committing murder. While he is ultimately rid of the Goblin formula and Spared by the Adaptation, it's only after severe damage is done and it's still left ambiguous if he's truly reformed.
    • The Sandman is similarly softened in Spider-Man 3, but this may simply be an adaptation of his heroic, reformed characterization in the 1980s and 1990s. In the comics he makes a Heel–Face Turn, but in the movie, he only ever stole to get the money needed to save his Delicate and Sickly daughter and departs on good terms with the hero after telling his story. This is... not how their early encounters went in the comics. Sandman's heroism also crosses over universes, as he selflessly aids MCU Spidey while fighting Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home, a level of goodness beyond even his reformed comic counterpart.
    • Peter himself in the famous burglar incident. In the comics, he'd let the burglar go figuring it just wasn't his problem. That's why it was such a turning point when that guy went on to kill Uncle Ben. The "great responsibility" thing really hadn't sunk in. Here, he lets the robber go because the underground wrestling arena had cheated him, so it feels like poetic justice to him, and his mistake is more understandable. This change goes with a change to Peter's personality in all adaptations — early Spidey could be legitimately hotheaded or arrogant at times and had to grow out of it.
    • Even with all the flaws without which J. Jonah Jameson wouldn't have been recognisable as a character, this version never takes his hatred of Spidey to such extremes as becoming a villain by funding illegal genetic experiments to dispose of him. As for Scorpion he may appear in the tie-in videogame and is still a genetically engineered, cyborg man but one that Jameson has not a hand on.
  • Venom (2018): Both the symbiote and Eddie Brock get this. At the time of Venom's origin, Venom was a standard villain and it took an entire decade for Venom to grow into a Noble Demon before growing further into an anti-hero. Even then they still spent several years trying to kill Peter Parker. In the film, the symbiote decides pretty quickly that it actually kind of likes Earth and Eddie is much more heroic and is very quick to restrict the number of people it is allowed to eat and under what circumstances. Basically skipping straight to their anti-hero transition.
  • Unlike the comics, in which he eventually betrays the Punisher, Microchip spends all of his screentime in Punisher: War Zone as still loyal to Frank.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Agent Carter:
    • Roger Dooley, whose comic counterpart is a creep who had She-Hulk strip searched for his own enjoyment, is portrayed here as A Father to His Men and a Reasonable Authority Figure.
    • In his single comics appearance, (a "weird science" type story in Tales of Suspense #25), Jason Wilkes plans to sell his inventions to the Dirty Communists. His live action counterpart is briefly framed for this and later temporarily throws his lot in with Whitney out of desperation, but is a good guy.
  • Daredevil (2015):
    • In the comics, Gladiator is a career criminal and supervillain, albeit one who attempts to mend his ways. In the show, Melvin Potter is a somewhat innocent idiot-savant who is forced to serve Fisk to protect his girlfriend, and then turns to being Matt's fulltime armorer once Fisk is arrested. Even his return to working for Fisk is against his will.
    • Karen's father was a supervillain named Death's Head in the comics, but here, he's just a diner owner who doesn't know how to be fiscally responsible with his cash.
  • Iron Fist (2017): In the comics, Ward Meachum was basically a one-note villain; Harold Meachum’s scumbag brother who schemes and connives and tries to look cool in front of actual, competent villains, before finally getting himself killed by the Super Skrull. This version of Ward is Harold's son, and as the show progresses, does a Heel–Face Turn.
  • In Legion (2017): In the comics, David only barely counts as a Anti-Hero, as he's frequently a Person of Mass Destruction due to his severe and unstable Split Personality, with some of his evil alternate personalities making him lash out and kill people with his power Psychic Powers. Almost every attempt at heroism from David backfires hard, like when he went back in time to kill Magneto to "help" his father Charles Xavier and accidentally created the entire Age of Apocalypse Bad Future. In the TV show, David while obviously not the picture of good mental welfare or above morally ambiguous actions, is still not nearly as unhinged as he in the comics being much nicer and calmer. In fact, when David does learn to control his abilities by locking the Shadow King away in his head, he follows his father's footsteps by protecting his friends and loved ones from The Government and fights off the Shadow King himself. Additionally, most of David's extreme actions are attributed to the Shadow King's influence in the show, while in the comics, David is just as dangerous even when the Shadow King isn't controlling him.
  • Luke Cage (2016): In the comics, while Luke was definitely still a hero, he was initially Only in It for the Money and even later on still wasn't shy of trying to turn a profit. Many older comics also presented Cage as something of a downplayed "Angry Black Man" Stereotype. Here, Luke discards both of these qualities and is actually just a Gentle Giant and helpful Nice Guy, to the point that Cottonmouth at one point calls him "Harlem's Captain America".
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Karli Morgenthau and the Flag-Smashers come off as a much more earnest group than they are in the comics, due to Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters being in play (something lampshaded by Karli herself in the fourth episode). As the series goes on, their only crimes as a group amount to helping refugees and providing medicine for those in need, while Karli herself increasingly escalates them into terrorist acts and threatening Sam's family - she doesn't exactly like doing so, but feels that it is all necessary for the cause, yet by the end even her supporters are visibly uncomfortable/reluctant with following through these acts. Notably, Sam defends the group on numerous occasions, with his main concern being the fact they've all got Super-Soldier abilities, making them dangerous. At the end, even after Karli had been killed by Sharon, he tears into the senators that because the situation was as bad as it is, people helped "a misguided teenager" fight against governments because her/the Flag-Smashers goals were well-intentioned, and that they'd better try to improve the situation before the next Karli gets desperate enough to resort to such extreme measures.
  • The Punisher:
    • In the comics, Curtis Hoyle became The Dragon for a criminal General's organization, and was ultimately killed by Frank. The show's version of the character is one of Frank's friends and allies, and currently runs a support group for veterans with PTSD.
    • While the show depicts Senator Ori as being unscrupulous, in the comics, he was outright corrupt and in league with both dirty cops and an Italian crime family.

    Video Games 

    Western Animation 
  • Titanium Man is generally a complete villain with no redeeming qualities in the comics, but in Iron Man: The Animated Series (particularly in his final appearance), he's treated as more of a Noble Demon who wants to restore the Soviet Union because he genuinely believes that capitalism has brought corruption and economic inequality to the people of Russia. He even gets a dying moment of redemption after realizing the error of his ways.
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures:
    • Andros Stark (the future Iron Man) was depicted as a futuristic superhero, and only battled Tony Stark in order to save the timeline, and knew if he succeeded, he himself would most likely vanish with the Bad Future he came from. In the comics, Andros is a psychotic supervillain who made a mockery of Tony's legacy.
    • Ghost is portrayed in this show as a Professional Killer and a Punch-Clock Villain who only cares about being paid. He still isn't exactly a nice guy, but that's definitely better than his Ax-Crazy comic book counterpart who had a severe Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
    • Obadiah Stane, while still a villain and Jerkass that's willing to work with criminals, frequently shows he still has standards while his comic book incarnation was a straight up villain.
    • The Mandarin in the comic is an Evil Overlord motivated by megalomania, as well as an Abusive Parent. This one is on the receiving end of the abuse, has redeeming qualities and genuinely believes he can make the world a better place by ruling it. That said, some of this is probably in part because this Mandarin is a Composite Character between the comics Mandarin and his son, Temugin.
    • The Living Laser has more sympathetic motives for his actions and even does a Heel–Face Turn; the one in the comics would eventually get some sympathy, but never completed his turn.
    • Howard Stark is a much warmer person than his comics counterpart, who was a straight-up Abusive Dad.
    • Tony himself displays none of the negative qualities that he’s unfortunately gained at the hand of writers in the comics. Justified since this is a younger version of Iron Man.
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series:
    • The series actually rewrote Kraven the Hunter and Calypso entirely, with both becoming heroes once Spider-Man resolved the issues with their Psycho Serum-derived powers. (Kraven softens some and eventually makes a Heel–Face Turn, but Calypso is totally overhauled; from an evil sorceress to a friendly scientist who is only villainous in one Psycho Serum-involving episode.)
    • Similarly, minor villain the Spot was recast as a Punch-Clock Villain whose episode shows him going through a Heel–Face Turn after committing a few ill-advised bank robberies. The comics version, by contrast, is an unrepentant petty criminal with a sideline in contract killing.
    • There's also their version of Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat. In the comics, she's Spider-Man's on again, off again lover who frequently alternates between antagonist and ally. The show's version only became a thief when her father was held hostage by the Kingpin and she becomes a hero once she and her father are both free from him.
    • Norman Osborn is much more sympathetic and less of a monster than he is in the comics, his becoming the Green Goblin more of an victim of circumstances and more preoccupied with work than being an outright Abusive Parent towards Harry in the comics.
    • The Kingpin while still a villain, has several Pet the Dog moments including helping Mary Jane and others escape flooding Green Goblin’s lair. In the comics any Affably Evil moments from Kingpin are either regarding his wife and son or a political stunt and he never would waste his time helping innocent civilians like he does in the cartoon.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man:
    • Though he's still a villain, the Rhino is made out to be a much more sympathetic character. In the show, he's a bullied teenager who sought out superpowers as a last resort against his tormentors, while in the comics, he's just a petty thug in a rhino suit. In Web Warriors, he even has a Heel–Face Turn and joins S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, only returning to villainy via brainwashing which is eventually undone, leading him to be a hero again.
    • While Skurge the Executioner's personality is more-or-less the same, here he's just hunting Spidey because of a misunderstanding caused by Loki, rather than a Mad Love for the Enchantress as in the comics.
    • Norman Osborn. While his comics version was played this way - a Psycho Serum-induced Jekyll & Hyde case - once upon a time, his portrayal for decades now has been that he's more Hyde A and Hyde B, a ruthless and amoral Corrupt Corporate Executive and Evil Genius who is the most dangerous man in the Marvel Universe before he loses his cool to the point of cackling crazily and throwing pumpkin bombs at you - if anything, he's worse when he's in control. In the show, however, his Heel–Face Turn is genuine and is only reversed by Doctor Octopus forcing more of the Psycho Serum on him. Eventually, he is cured again and is redeemed once more. As the Iron Patriot, he is a genuine hero, and Norman's attempt to atone for his actions, both as a Corrupt Corporate Executive and as The Goblin, unlike in the comics, where he never reformed and his time as the Iron Patriot was an attempt to get the public on his side. He even plays a key role in the finale, where he helps restore Peter's abilities after Doc Ock neutralizes them.
    • In the comics, Blood Spider is an Evil Knockoff of Spider-Man trained by Taskmaster. In the show, he's an alternate version of Peter Parker from a world overrun by vampires.
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man: In the comics, Frederick Foswell was the crime boss known as The Big Man and after his release tried returning to crime before going up against the Kingpin, making a Heel–Face Turn, and ultimately sacrificing himself to save J. Jonah Jameson. In the show he's a reporter on the up and up from the beginning.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man:
    • The Sandman is a far more sympathetic character here, being a loving father who only broke the law to provide a better life for his daughter Keemia. In fact, in a major shift from tradition, Keemia is actually the far more overtly villainous one.
    • Also, before becoming the Rhino, this version of Aleksei Sytsevich is a nice guy and fun to be around. He's turned into the Rhino completely against his will, and is clearly not in control of his actions when he goes on his rampage.
    • Herman Schultz/The Shocker is also an eager high school student rather than a career criminal. Spider-Man only ends up trying to stop him after Norman Osborn manipulates Herman into getting into a fight with Clash, which causes a lot of collateral damage to the surrounding area.
    • Screwball becomes this as well by virtue of being a Composite Character. In the comics, Screwball is a criminal who posts her exploits online for hits, with Spider-Man referring to her as "The world's first live-streaming super-villain." In the cartoon, Screwball is actually Liz Allan, who creates the identity to help the community and prank big corporations who she thinks are getting away with unscrupulous activities. While she does begin veering away from that goal in order to prank Spider-Man, she gives up and reaches out to him for help after it becomes clear that her actions have endangered innocent people. The comic version of Screwball wouldn't have given a crap about putting innocent people in danger, and probably would have viewed that as a bonus.
    • Carolyn Trainer, aka Lady Octopus, also follows suit. She's introduced as a geeky, stalker with a crush who tries to impress Otto Octavius. She gives up villainy when she discovered he was just using her.
    • The Hobgoblin is also this, due to his human identity, Harry Osborn , taking up the mantle as a legitimate hero. This is also shown in the season 1 finale where when Harry found out that his father also created Hobgoblin armor to smear Spider-Man's name, he then sticks with Spider-Man.
    • Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus, is also this. He starts out as a stern and egotistical, yet well meaning teacher who became a villain when he thought he wasn't being respected. Despite some sadistic and questionable behavior, he ultimately becomes a selfless hero. This is best shown in the season 2 finale, where he sacrifices his life to take down Adrian Toomes.
  • X-Men: The Animated Series/X-Men '97
    • Magneto has always been a complex character, doing acts others consider villainy or heroism as needed to protect mutants, so the sight of him helping the X-Men and meaning it is not too surprising in any continuity. However, when he's bad, look out. His list of villainous exploits is impressive, and everyone's leery of him even when he's been playing nice for a while because they know that "what must be done to protect mutants" being helping old ladies cross the street now doesn't mean it won't be "showdown that could well start World War III" someday. In this series, he's only properly villainous in his introductory two-parter, and every appearance after that has him alongside the X-Men against common foes, and the one time he does fight them again he's being manipulated by Apocalypse.
    • Cable's son Tyler. In the comics he was an Antagonistic Offspring and eventually became a supervillain going so far as trying to follow in Apocalypse's steps. Here Tyler is a straight-up hero and he and Cable are very close. Probably justified via Stryfe, whose actions caused their relationship to go sour in the original comics, being Adapted Out.
    • Senator Robert Kelly. Like his comic counterpart, he starts off as anti-mutant politician in favor of laws to restrict the rights of mutants, and even after the X-Men save him, his views don't change. In the cartoon he does change and accepts that there are mutants who aren't a danger and shouldn't be alienated. One could argue that the change also stems from the X-Men saving him from the Sentinels which were built to protect humans from mutants but proved just as much a danger as rogue mutants.
    • Proteus. In the comics, he was an unrepentant killer and sociopath, and seemed to take pleasure in causing chaos and torment. In the show, he's genuinely misguided and confused, and doesn't kill anyone. Also, when he does hurt people, it's usually by accident or because he didn't realize what he was doing.
    • This extends to Proteus' absentee father, Joseph. While he's still a Jerkass and a lying opportunist, he does eventually come to accept his son and shows remorse over having abandoned him. While he was still a terrible husband, there's also no indication that he ever physically abused Moira, while in the comics, he beat and raped her, which is how Proteus was conceived in the first place.
    • "Fire Made Flesh": Once Madelyne learns the truth of her identity in the comics, she turns evil and stays evil throughout Inferno, even committing suicide in an attempt to take Jean with her, and remains an antagonistic Resenter until the events of Dark Web. Here, once Jean can free her mind, she quickly goes Mama Bear and aids in rescuing Nathan. She is the one who lets Bishop take Nathan into the future and leaves the X-Men on good terms.
    • "Remember It": In the comics, Gambit (albeit somewhat unwittingly) led the Marauders in the Mutant Massacre against the Morlocks at Sinister's behest, an action that later earned him Rogue's scorn and left him with a hefty amount of atoning to do before he finally redeemed himself in her eyes. Here, not only does he play no role in said massacre, he unambiguously dies a hero by pulling a Taking You with Me against the Tri-Sentinel, halting the attack on the Morlocks but leaving Rogue to tearfully mourn for him.
  • X-Men: Evolution:
    • In the Marvel Comics universe, Berzerker was a minor villain and member of the Morlocks. In Evolution, he's a teenager and member of the X-Men.
    • The Morlocks in general. In the comics, they're in the Heel–Face Revolving Door; their suffering from their odd appearances or Blessed with Suck powers is real, but attacking random humans to punish them for it is Not Cool. Sometimes they get better, and sometimes they get Aesop Amnesia. The Evolution version is not known to attack humans unprovoked, and the '90s 'toon version starts out villainous but cuts it out when Storm takes over, and there's no revolving door.
    • Arcade, in the comics, is an assassin who entraps victims in game-like deathtraps he calls "Murderworld". In Evolution, he is an ordinary high school gamer kid. He is manipulated by Mystique into hacking into the Danger Room computer in the belief that it's a sophisticated video game. He endangers the X-Men, whom he believes are game characters. Once he realized what he was doing, he regretted his actions and was forgiven by the X-Men.
  • Wolverine and the X-Men (2009):
    • Nitro releases giant explosions of energy whenever he's stressed, or just when enough energy is stored up. Like Plasmus from Teen Titans (2003), he submits to confinement so he doesn't harm others, and is used by the villains as a blunt instrument against his will. In the comics, he's a killer for hire, and caused both the death of the Kree Captain Marvel and the Stamford Incident that killed about 700-ish people. (Interestingly, there was a one-shot child character in Uncanny X-Men who was like the animated Nitro but more adorable.)
    • Shows like Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) and Marvel Anime: X-Men portray Emma Frost in a more sympathetic light, completely turning her into a straight hero rather than a byronic one. Basically, if it was written before her comicverse Heel–Face Turn, she'll be completely evil with no sign she could ever be good; if it was written after, she'll be completely good with no sign she could ever be evil. That said, the Wolverine and the X-Men version of Frost also has Adaptational Villainy, as she's The Mole and still the White Queen of the Inner Circle (and even kicks off the events of the series as it's revealed she's the one who attacked Jean and Professor Xavier, which in turn ended up destroying the mansion—albeit with the intention of taking out the Phoenix before she could be a threat).
  • The Super Hero Squad Show:
    • Songbird. In the comics, Melissa Gold started out as a criminal called "Screaming Mimi" and was a member of the Masters of Evil. During the Masters' scheme to pretend to be a hero team called the Thunderbolts, she's changed her codename to "Songbird" and found that she liked being a heroine and performed a Heel–Face Turn. After a few appearances in earlier episodes, "Deadly is the Black Widow's Bite!" revealed that Songbird was The Mole for S.H.I.E.L.D., spying on the Lethal Legion, and was a heroine from the start.
    • While the Squaddies initially assume them to be a threat, the Space Phantoms that appear in "Revenge of the Baby-Sat!" are depicted as benevolent, when in the comics they were minions of the villain Immortus.
  • Avengers Assemble:
    • Princess Python starts off as a former member of the Circus of Crime, but reforms and joins S.H.I.E.L.D. by the end of the episode.
    • Both men to have operated under the name "Radioactive Man" were supervillains in the comics, but this version of Igor Stancheck is a member of the Winter Guard and helps to dissolve a destabilized facility that was falling towards a village to save said village. Similarly, despite being based on Ivan Vanko from Iron Man 2, the Crimson Dynamo here is a member of the Winter Guard and only stole a capsule because it contained Radioactive Man.
    • All Thunderbolts members rebel against Zemo (minus Zemo himself obviously) and perform a Heel–Face Turn in the adaptation of the Thunderbolts story arc. In the comic, Techno/Fixer actually stuck to Zemo's side and Moonstone remained a Token Evil Teammate who only joined in turning against Zemo for selfish reasons, and has returned to evil later on, such as her stint as a Villain with Good Publicity in the Dark Avengers.
    • Like in the MCU section above, Steve's father is described as a kind, honorable man, rather than a wife-beating alcoholic. Steve trying to remember how his father looked like was a plot point in one episode.
  • Hit-Monkey
    • Yuki is an assassin associated with the Hand in the comics, but in the cartoon, she's described as a legendary protector of Tokyo and an outright superhero.
    • To an extent, the Silver Samurai as well. While Silver Samurai did eventually undergo a Heel–Face Turn in the comics, the show presents him as a celebrity superhero and gives no indication that he was ever a criminal or terrorist in this continuity.

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