Generally, a lot of characters from the comics have been hit with this in order to make a more cohesive story, especially considering the number of characters constantly suffering from a case of Strong as They Need to Be and how downright ridiculous comic feats are (e.g Hulk once punched time itself).
- The Avengers (2012): The Chitauri are just alien cyborgs with no shapeshifting abilities like in the Ultimate Marvel comics where they were introduced. They can also be defeated very easily if their mothership is destroyed. Rocket even dubs the Chitauri "the suckiest army in the galaxy" in a deleted scene in Avengers: Endgame.
- Nick Fury in general gets this to some extent. Nick still has all his resources and influence as head of SHIELD, but in the comics he’s strong to enough to fight Cap to a stand still and has Crazy-Prepared Batman-like gadgets for every occasion. In the MCU as seen in movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier he’s a Badass Normal who is almost killed by titular Implacable Man and other big threats like Loki. This also bleeds over into the Ultimate Marvel version (which the MCU version is based on) as Fury was the first Super-Soldier with enhanced strength and abilities, which he lacks in the films. Though a Downplayed Trope since he’s still Samuel L. Jackson at the end of the day.
- Black Panther (2018): In the comics, Ulysses Klaue replaces his lost arm with an Arm Cannon that can fire sonic blasts and shape sound energy into solid objects. While Klaue's prosthetic in the movie does have a sonic emitter function like in the comics, it is nowhere near as powerful and lacks the ability to make objects of solid sound energy. Klaue also is not transformed into a being of sound energy like his comic counterpart which makes him functionally immortal and as a result he is killed by Killmonger.
- Iron Man 3 Zig Zags this trope. The Mandarin seems like a ridiculously Exaggerated Trope example when it's discovered that he's really a drugged-out actor playing a part. This is then subverted when you discover that the actor is a Body Double for seemingly the real Mandarin, an evil mastermind (that said, his powers aren't the same as in the comics — instead of magical rings, his powers come from genetic manipulation). All Hail the King zig-zags this even further by revealing that the man who claimed to be the real Mandarin in Iron Man 3 was himself merely an imposter; the real one is apparently a warrior king who's "inspired generations of men".
- Baron Von Strucker in the comics is the founder of HYDRA, a big name villain, and a serious physical threat to anyone who tries to fight him via the Satan Claw, a gauntlet he can use to suck the youth out of people. In Avengers: Age of Ultron he is an unimportant Smug Snake who unconvincingly insists that his mooks can beat the Avengers, surrenders to them in groveling, humiliating style, and gets killed off-screen by Ultron, especially since he lacks the Satan Claw here.
- Ultron in the comics is one of Marvel's most dangerous villains ever. His entire body is Made of Indestructium, and The Mighty Thor has a hard enough time leaving a dent in it before it repairs itself anyways. Ultron also has Technopath abilities, where he once enslaved the techno-organic Phalanx through sheer force of will, and then went on to conquer to the Kree Empire and nearly took out Nova Prime (who had to be put into a coma to prevent herself from being taken over). In the movie, while being a dangerous, world-class threat, he gets dispatched much more easily at the end, and even struggles keeping up with Captain America in a one-on-one battle (which is compounded by Cap getting the reverse treatment). Getting overpowered and killed by The Vision would never happen in the comics — Ultron once one-shotted him with no effort. Really
◊. Ultron notably still had an extremely resilient body by the end of the film (albeit from vibranium rather than the adamantium from the comics) as well as powerful technopathy, but Vision was deliberately created by him from the same material and has abilities powered by the Mind Stone, which likely contributed to him being able to more easily match him. - Strong as he is, The Incredible Hulk is this because there is little indication of the Hulk having incalculable strength, or that he gets stronger the angrier he gets like in the comics. Thor: Ragnarok and Word of God does confirm his strength rises the angrier he gets, however, Hulk's potential is much lesser than the comics since he can be overpowered and even knocked out by savvy opponents, who exploit his mindless fighting style (Thanos being a noteworthy example in that he defeated Hulk while having only one Infinity Stone, and not needing to use its power during the battle). In Avengers: Endgame he does become Professor Hulk but even when compared to the comics he's a Gentle Giant and doesn't display the benefits of being Strong and Skilled.
- Doctor Strange:
- Downplayed with Doctor Strange himself. In his debut film, he starts off as a training novice Magic Knight who lacks the skill of Karl Mordo and even Wong (the few instances he had been shown warping something were mainly through the Eye of Agamotto, which in this continuity contains the Time Stone). But Avengers: Infinity War shows that Strange can bust out the big guns if he wishes (i.e holding his ground against Thanos with four Infinity Stones, while Strange only had one stone which he does not use in the battle). He's not as overpowered Reality Warping Sorcerer Supreme as he is in the comics, but still sufficiently powerful enough to place him among the MCU's big guns, as seen in later films such Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness where he’s one of the very few people able to give Physical God Scarlet Witch (who largely didn’t get Adaptational Wimp) any difficulty at all.
- Strange's fellow doctor, Nicodemus West, got hit hard with it: He was introduced as the main antagonist in the comic book miniseries Doctor Strange: The Oath as an Mad Doctor who himself has abilities and knowledge of the Mystic Arts and is able to give Strange a hard time in a magical fight. In the movies, he has no such abilities nor it seems has he any motivation to get some.
- In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness an Expy of Shuma-Gorath Gargantos (a minor Namor villain in comics) appears due to Signature Heroics whom own Conan the Barbarian holding the rights to Shuma-Gorath. In the comics Shuma is the greatest of the Old Ones, being apparently omnipotent and an entity of the primal power of Chaos, unlike Wanda who "merely" taps into Chaos. Shuma cannot be killed by any of Marvel’s mightiest, even Doctor Strange, and can only be stopped by being sent back to his own dimension. His MCU expy is just a monster henchmen summoned by Wanda who doesn't do much better than knocking the sorcerer out briefly and Strange after recovering fairly easily kills him with a streetlight through the eyeball. Though this hardly the first time any version of Shuma-Gorath has gotten Adaptational Wimp, see Marvel vs. Capcom.
- Thor:
- The Asgardians as a whole are hit hard with this due to the early MCU's attempts at Doing In the Wizard. In the comics they are legitimate gods of varying power who are all immortal to a degree and can reform after being killed. Their cinematic counterparts are downgraded to simply being powerful, long-lived aliens who inspired Norse mythology, rather than being the actual beings of said mythology. Thor is a downplayed example, given he survives the force of an ignited Star and mortally wounds Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, feats that are close to his comics version. But on the other hand like MCU Hulk, Thor still hasn’t shown the strength to destroy entire planets (at best cracking Gorr’s small planet in Love and Thunder) and needs a spaceship or the Bifrost through Stormbreaker to fly through space, unlike his comic counterpart.
- Loki gets a good deal of this; yes he isn’t nearly as strong as his brother Thor in the comics either but he more than makes up for it with his powerful sorcery. MCU Loki's sorcery is nowhere near as extensive as in the comics, being primarily limited to illusion-casting, shapeshifting and telekinesis. The most notable example is how he gets treated like a minor nuisance by Doctor Strange in Ragnarok, which is a sharp contrast to their first encounter in the comics, where Loki (despite being handicapped by his magic not being as strong on Midgard as it is on Asgard) had Strange on the ropes during their Wizard Duel and only bails when it looked like Thor was about to intervene. And although MCU Loki is still an impressive fighter as he decisively overwhelms Captain America, he's not shown to be as physically strong as he is in the comics who could level a building or send a person flying through several walls with a single punch.
- The Destroyer. In the comics, it's even more powerful than Ultron, all but impossible to damage physically and possessing cosmically destructive energy blasts (as it was created to fight the Celestials). When fighting the Destroyer all Thor can do most of the time is stay alive until the consciousness inhabiting it leaves. In the movie, it is only a threat because Thor has been Brought Down to Normal and he puts it down pretty easily once he regains his powers.
- The Grandmaster was originally an Elder of the Universe, having the power to warp reality thanks to having a remnant of the Big Bang's energy. His cinematic counterpart in Thor: Ragnarok has none of these powers, except for halted aging, only having power through influence (filling the role Red King had as ruler of Sakaar).
- Miek is a member of Hulk's Warbound in the Planet Hulk-story arc and also the mastermind behind the events of World War Hulk. In his movie appearances she isn't even able to talk and never gets involved in any of the action scenes in the movies except for Avengers: Endgame where her fight scenes aren't shown to the audience.
- Zeus would get hit with this in Thor: Love and Thunder, likely intentionally. In both the Greek Myths and the comics Zeus is a total powerhouse with his Marvel version famously beating the absolute piss out of the Hulk in a melee and in another comic defeated Galactus while possessed by the Chaos King, even Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet classified Zeus at the same power level as Odin himself. His film counterpart however is far less impressive, being a showboating Large Ham Paper Tiger who whispers in Thor’s ear that he’s really terrified of Gorr the God Butcher and hiding from him, when forced into a real fight Zeus gets taken down effortlessly by Thor throwing his own lightning bolt back at him.
- Guardians of the Galaxy:
- The Nova Corps are nowhere near as powerful as in the comics where each of their members had super-strength, flight and could project energy blasts, as well as many cool things thanks to the Nova Force. Not only do they lack these powers in the movie, but they also function as a Redshirt Army getting killed by the hundreds when Ronan attacks Xandar.
- Drax the Destroyer in the comics was a stoic badass who succeeded in what he was created for by murdering Thanos (he got better) as well being able to fight alongside the Hulk and match Mar-Vell in combat. MCU Drax while strong is also incredibly silly, and easily swatted aside by Ronan and Thanos, and is regulated to Large Ham Plucky Comic Relief.
- Gamora in the 616 comics is considered the deadliest woman in the Galaxy, very agile and skilled in martial arts, sword fighting and infiltration. She can regenerate after being almost burned alive by an artificial sun, she can paralyze her opponents by striking their pressure points and she defeated a large platoon of human soldiers. Picture She-Hulk with Batman's fighting skills and you'll get Gamora. In movies, however, she's just a skilled cybernetically enhanced alien lady with a sword who can be physically overpowered by Groot, Drax, and her father Thanos. Despite this, she is still considered the most dangerous woman in the galaxy, and still has massive Super-Strength.
- Nebula while not quite on Gamora's level in the comics, has still fought the likes of Silver Surfer, killed Thanos's son Thane and wielded the Infinity Gauntlet herself. In the films she's repeatedly overpowered by several characters including Mooks and her cybernetics hassle her frequently limiting her combat prowess. Though Nebula does hold her own against Thanos on Titan and according to him nearly killed him in an offscreen assassination attempt which is still impressive regardless.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:
- Ayesha had an entirely different backstory in the comics than she does in the movie, and also lacks similar superpowers that the Nova Corps has, being more of a Non-Action Big Bad that can't be bothered to do things herself.
- Downplayed with Mantis. In the comics, she is a top-tier martial artist who has successfully traded blows with the likes of Thor and Doctor Strange, whereas she does not seem to possess any combat capabilities in the movies. However, her empathic powers are still nothing to be messed with, able to temporarily put Ego the Living Planet (who's a Celestial) to sleep against his will, along with keeping Thanos himself restrained for a bit while he wore the Infinity Gauntlet, which was outfitted with four of the six Infinity Stones.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3:
- Downplayed with Adam Warlock. He's still an absolute powerhouse and easily the most powerful character in the film, beating seven kinds of shit out of the Guardians in his first scene; his comic version however is ludicrously tough and OP even by Marvel cosmic standards having fought and endured attacks from Thor, Silver Surfer and Thanos. For the sake of the plot and to give the heroes a remote chance, Adam is paired back significantly with Nebula able to debilitate him with a Hot Blade through the torso and being inside a exploding spaceship fatigues Adam enough that he collapses necessitating All-Loving Hero Groot to save him (in the comics none of that would've likely even winded him). In-Universe though it is explained Adam only just recently hatched from his cocoon, meaning he will very likely get stronger over time.
- Played straighter with the High Evolutionary. In the comics he has a grab bag of god-like abilites, being able to genetically atlter and forcibly evolve/devolve life-forms with a wave of his hand — on top of having Stock Superpowers like mass manipulation, force fields and a From a Single Cell Healing Factor. Here although he can obliterate a room full of his followers and telekinetically crush Adam into a wall with his gadgets, he lacks his comic's version varied evolution powers and needs equipment, machines and help from underlings to fight or create and alter life-forms. Without said assets he's as vulnerable as any normal man as young Rocket and later on the rest of the Guardians prove when they deliver Extreme Mêlée Revenge (young Rocket even taking his face off). Given this incarnation of the High Evolutionary is a craven and detestable Smug Snake it's pretty appropriate.
- Spider-Man: Homecoming:
- Flash Thompson is depicted as an arrogant, nerdy rich kid instead of a dumb jock like in the comics. The filmmakers said they intentionally remodeled him as a cyberbully to reflect the Information Age.
- The Shocker suffered from this as well, being dispatched fairly easily in each fight as opposed to his comic version who could hold his own against Spider-Man pretty well. Although it's somewhat justified by the fact that the movie version lacked a secondary gauntlet and a protective suit, and was inexperienced with the gauntlet he did have.
- The Prowler aka Aaron Davies is a competent fighter in the comics; in the movie he's a petty and unenthusiastic crook.
- Avengers: Infinity War / Avengers: Endgame:
- Thanos with the completed Infinity Gauntlet in the films is certainly no slouch, but he's a very distinct downgrade from his comics counterpart. In the original The Infinity Gauntlet storyline, killing half of all life in the universe was essentially just a warmup that required no effort, and he didn't even need to be consciously aware of something to use the Gauntlet's power, since the various properties of it also made him largely omniscient. A battle with Thanos using the Gauntlet and facing off against nearly all of Earth's surviving heroes required him to deliberately hold back most of his power just to make it even resemble a fight, rather than simply him stopping time and obliterating them with a thought. In the films, Thanos with the Gauntlet is substantially easier to fight: needing to physically move his hand to activate its power means that individual heroes can actually tussle with him, get the drop on him, or grievously wound him, and while in the comics, he could use it with no problems, in the films, making significant use of it is shown to seriously injure him.
- With the exception of Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian (who remains more or less the same as Black Dwarf), Thanos' minions, are a lot weaker in general than they were in the comics. Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight were capable of fighting against powerhouses such as the Hulk and Luke Cage, while in the movie Badass Normals like Black Widow, The Falcon and Okoye were more than a match for them. The Outriders also had a neat collection of superpowers like invisibility, tactile telepathy and density control, but display none of this in the movie instead of acting like mindless beasts that get killed with impunity by the heroes.
- Captain Marvel (2019):
- The film does this with Kree Starforce members as Yon-Rogg, Bron-Char, Att-Lass, and Minn-Erva (who has matched Carol in the comics) are an absolute cakewalk when the titular heroine gets her Super Mode. They also lack superpowers they had in the comics and rely on weapons which prove to be useless against Carol.
- Mar-Vell also gets this along with a Gender Flip; comics Mar-vell was capable of fighting Thanos repeatedly, movie Mar-Vell is taken out with a single blaster.
- The Skrulls aren't the devastating Paranoia Fuel shapeshifting warmongers from the comics. This is because they're actually a misunderstood bunch who just want to survive and prosper while the Jerkass Kree empire antagonize them.
- Black Widow (2021):
- Downplayed with Taskmaster, still The Dreaded like the comics and technically never bested in a straight fight. But Antonia Dreykov uses her computerised helmet to analyse and copy her opponents’ fighting styles, whereas in the comics Anthony Masters has Photographic Reflexes which allows him to effortlessly fight the likes of Captain America, Bucky, Punisher, Wolverine and Spider-Man with pure skill, which is much more impressive. It also doesn’t help that this version of Taskmaster is the Brainwashed and Crazy puppet of her father and thus lacks the savvy guile and independence of her comic counterpart.
- Played straight (to a degree) with Red Guardian aka Red Guardian. In the comics Alexei is able to match Captain America evenly both in terms of strength and fighting ability. Here he mostly gets smacked around by Taskmaster in the finale. Then again in comics Red Guardian is just a peak human like Captain America, while in the film Alexei is a Super-Soldier whose got explicit Super-Strength, Super-Speed and Super-Toughness. It’s inferred he’s out of practice due to spending decades in a gulag.
- Wandavision:
- Wiccan just like his mother is a Reality Warper in the comics. In the show while he has inherited Wanda's Telepathy and Mind over Matter powers, he doesn't once show any reality altering powers. Though he and his brother Tommy can age themselves up.
- Agatha Harkness, in the comics she's one of the most powerful if not the most powerful witch in Marvel period. In the comics she's casually overpowered and banished a cosmic force that was killing Silver Surfer, had a Battle in the Center of the Mind with goddamn Dormammu to protect Wanda and above all could make The Chosen One Reality Warper Franklin Richards to go sleep. In the show while Agatha is pretty powerful, she's still nowhere near her comic counterpart as she relies on the power of Darkhold and actively needs and wants Wanda's magic to become stronger. Once Wanda unlocks her Scarlet Witch Super Mode in the finale, Agatha is reduced to a non-threat.
- This happens in-universe to Agent Carter with the radio show, which reduces her to a Damsel in Distress nurse who keeps getting kidnapped by Nazis. She is naturally irritated.
- Daredevil (2015):
- Zigzagged with The Kingpin, who has Charles Atlas Superpower in both the comics and the show, but whereas the comics tend to portray this strength very outlandishly, the show remains more grounded and realistic in what a very strong normal guy can actually do. This also extends to his martial arts skills; while MCU Fisk is repeatedly shown to be an impressive fighter, no mention is made of him having had the extensive formal training of his comics counterpart. To a lesser extent it also applies to hs appearance; Kingpin in the comics is depicted as abnormally large in size and strength. While Vincent D'Onofrio is tall and well built, he doesn't quite match the size of Michael Clarke Duncan's Kingpin from the 2003 film. Though this works out for the best, as Fisk's additional character traits and D'Onofrio's performance were well-received. Averted in Hawkeye (2021) where Kingpin is Truer to the Text i.e inexplicably superhuman as he survives a car crashing into him, easily thrashes Kate, brushes off the arrows she fries into his chest and literally walks off getting exploded by the bomb arrows.
- Nobu is the equivalent of a comics Hand ninja named Kagenobu. In the comics, Kagenobu is the founder of the Hand. The Defenders (2017) reveals that Nobu is a subordinate to Murakami, one of the Hand's founders.
- Jessica Jones (2015):
- Leonard Sirkes, a loan shark that crosses paths with Luke and Jessica in one episode, is actually a mutate with shark-like features in the comics.
- Trish Walker got reduced from the superhero called Hellcat to just being a civilian supporting character for Jessica Jones, but she makes up for it by practicing krav maga. She later gains powers at the end of Season 2, however.
- Luke Cage (2016):
- Cottonmouth doesn't have the super strength and filed teeth capable of piercing Luke Cage's hide that he has in the comics.
- Black Mariah is not a hulking Brawn Hilda who can fight Luke to a standstill even without powers, nor does she fight with poisoned knitting needles. She instead relies on her influence as a Corrupt Politician to act as a Villain with Good Publicity who is hard to go after, but is otherwise a Non-Action Big Bad.
- Iron Fist (2017):
- Danny himself gets adaptational wimp in this and in The Defenders, comic book Danny Rand is one of the most powerful fighters in the Marvel Universe being able to take on the likes of Hulk, Hercules, and Thor with his Ki Manipulation. In his Netflix shows, while Danny is no pushover, he's still frequently matched by normal martial artists and even overpowered by Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Elektra.
- The Hand itself overall is more like The Mafia with ninjas in the Netflix's shows as opposed an Ancient Evil cult from the comics that has existed for millennia and even possessed/brainwashed the likes of Daredevil.
- Inhumans:
- In the comics, Black Bolt is a top tier physical powerhouse, and has traded blows with the likes of Thanos, Thor and the Hulk. What's more, his voice can level mountains with a mere whisper. The TV show highlights his vocal powers and completely ignores his enhanced strength and durability, with Black Bolt even being overpowered by a group of human cops early on. He makes a comeback in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it's just as bad there. What's more, his comic counterpart put himself through Training from Hell to avoid making unnecessary noise while in the film he panics and screams while lacking the Required Secondary Powers to not kill himself with sound waves that don't escape his mouth. Although in all fairness he was up against unstoppable Reality Warper Scarlet Witch.
- Maximus, in the comics, has Psychic Powers. In the show, these powers were removed to make Maximus more of an Anti-Villain.
- Medusa’s Prehensile Hair is not only incredibly strong in the comics, it’s pretty much indestructible having survived multiple explosions and fire. It took Medusa getting sick from the Terrigen Mist for her hair to fall out. In the show? Maximus easily shaves her hair off with an electric razor.
- Runaways (2017):
- The Pride is hit with this. In the comics, they're a bunch of people you don't want to mess with being a group consisting of crime bosses, time travelers, dark wizards, mutants, aliens, and mad scientists. Even the ones who don't technically have powers are still dangerous to fight nonetheless. Here, while they have more depth to their personalities, the trade-off to working on a TV budget and trying to be more "believable" is that most of them are reduced to non-combatant roles.
- Molly Hernandez can channel Super-Strength for a few seconds but it really tires her out, and said strength allows her to tear open walls or pull trucks if she puts great effort into it. In the comics, Molly Hayes can use her super strength much more freely. While it does tire her after excessive use she can use it a whole lot more than just "a few seconds", and said strength easily dwarves her TV counterpart. In the show, she can pull a truck if she tries really hard. In the comics, she could lift a truck over her head without breaking a sweat.
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
- John Walker and Lemar Hoskins are merely Badass Normals with extensive military training. In the comics, however, both were given superhuman strength, durability and agility by the Power Broker, and were explicitly stronger than the original Captain America and Bucky. Averted later when Walker out of an inferiority complex does take a Super Serum, that seemingly makes him as strong as MCU Steve Rogers, as he’s able to pull an armored van off an edge.
- Bucky and Batroc get hit with this, both compared to the comics and their previous film portrayals. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier both Bucky and Batroc can match Captain America in a fight and in Captain America: Civil War Bucky even holds his own against Iron Man. In the comics, Batroc has fought the likes of Punisher and Deadpool and Bucky has overpowered Wolverine. In the show, Batroc gets defeated twice by Badass Normal Sam and Bucky gets repeatedly overpowered by the untrained Flag Smashers and an unstable John Walker, needing Sam’s help in the latter fight.
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: In the comics, the Mandarin's ten rings each gave him a unique superpower in addition to his martial arts skills and Ki Manipulation. In the film, to prevent comparisons with the Infinity Stones, Wenwu's ten rings simply enhance and focus his chi along with being tied to his unnatural longevity, but he is otherwise a normal man without the rings.
- The Eternals really get hit with this trope. In the original comics, virtually all Eternals are Flying Bricks who come with a "standard package" of powers shared throughout their entire species (coming from their nebulously defined connection to "cosmic energy"), consisting of Super-Strength, a Healing Factor granting them Nigh-Invulnerability, Hand Blasts, telepathy, telekinesis, "matter manipulation", and illusion-casting. A particular Eternal may have a certain power they utilize more than others, but this is generally portrayed less as them being limited to that power in particular a la the mutants of X-Men fame and more them being better skilled in that certain ability (think similarly to a particular person being better skilled at woodcarving than painting). The main cast of the Eternals were all basically Physical Gods because along with the aforementioned Long List of "standard" powers they have, each of them have "specialized" in one of those particular powers to devastating effect — Ikaris has Eye Beams, Sersi has matter transmutation abilities, Ajak has both Healing Hands and a Psychic Link to the Eternals' "bosses" (the Celestials), Phastos is a Genius Bruiser Technopath, Makkari has Super-Speed, Druig has Mass Hypnosis, Thena can create Hard Light projections of handheld weapons to use in combat, Gilgamesh can conjure Hard Light Powered Armor to assist his already tremendous Super-Strength, Kingo has powerful Hand Blasts, and Sprite is a Master of Illusion. Meanwhile in the film, while all of the Eternals still have Super-Toughness as a "baseline" power along with retaining their aforementioned "specialized" abilities, only Ikaris is still a Flying Brick, and the other "common-place" abilities are Adapted Out to make the individual Eternals more unique and vulnerable.
- Additionally, in the comics Sersi's abilities can be used remotely (from at least a short distance) and relatively instantaneously, and can also affect living tissue (letting her turn people into statues, for one). This version of Sersi requires direct, prolonged physical contact to use her powers, and they also don't work on living tissue. Later subverted regarding the living tissue limitation, as after Sersi gets "juiced up" with the Celestial Tiamat's power, she turns the aforementioned Celestial to stone.
- Gilgamesh also gets hit with this. In the comics, Thor, Hulk, and Hercules are Gilgamesh's only fellow Avengers who could hope to match him in strength, durability, and stamina, and the only other Eternals who could overpower him under normal circumstances would be Thanos, Hyperion, and Zuras. In the film, he gets in some very good hits against the intelligent Deviant Kro, but because he's not used to fighting an enemy with above-animal intelligence and Deviant-level strength, gets killed "relatively" easily.
- Moon Knight (2022):
- Steven Grant is this compared to his comics counterpart. In the comics, he's a confident multimillionaire businessman, to the point of being (to at least some extent) Marvel Comics' Alternate Company Equivalent to Bruce Wayne. In this series, poor Steven is a jumpy and meek Butt-Monkey who works a low-paying job in a museum gift shop and is widely considered a loser by both his peers and his "boss" Khonshu.
- Mr. Knight especially is hit with this in the second episode. The persona who in the comics kicked the collective asses of an entire building full of mooks and Guns Akimbo'd a boogeyman can barely hold his own against a basic jackal monster. However, this is justified by the fact that the MCU version of the persona has a more timid Steven Grant under the mask, not to mention that here Mr. Knight was only created for the first time in that very episode, and still has room to grow. By the end of the first season, following with Steven Taking a Level in Badass, Mr. Knight is just as badass as his comics counterpart, being able to easily take out several cultists with just his batons.
- The Marvels (2023): After spending most of WandaVision as a normal human, Monica Rambeau has gained superpowers. Her power in the comics is the ability to transform into any wave on the electromagnetic spectrum, an extreme Story-Breaker Power as it lets her move at the speed of light and end fights in seconds. Consequently, Monica in the film is much less powerful, being capable of flight, intangibility, energy absorption, and laser blasts.
