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  • The Adventures of Tintin (1991): The Tintin stories underwent significant Adaptation Distillation, and so some characters got omitted during different stories.
  • Angry Birds Toons:
    • Hal, the green boomerang bird, has never appeared in any episode, despite having an established design for that show. Same goes to Stella, who was even shown in some promotional images.
    • Like Hal and Stella, Mighty Eagle is also absent.
  • The Animals of Farthing Wood:
    • The cartoon pars down the original Cast Herd, compressing the multitudes of lizards, squirrels, rabbits, mice, voles and hedgehogs into two mated rabbits with their two kits, a mated pair of newts with a single child, two mated mice, two mated shrews, two mated squirrels, and a male vole and his mother, whilst also removing the two leverets accompanying the single pair of mated hares from the book. Concidentally, this makes the death of two hedgehogs crossing the motorway towards the end of the journey far more tragic in the cartoon.
    • The third season, being far more strictly censored, outright abandons the storyline of the fifth novel, The Seige of White Deer Park, a borderline horror story about the park's residents being stalked by a panther or leopard.
  • Archie's Weird Mysteries
    • Despite having several scenes that take place at Jughead's house, Jellybean does not appear in this series. This is justified as she's a baby who would have little, if anything, to contribute to the plots of a horror/mystery series.
    • Hot Dog is completely absent from The Archies In Jugman, making it the only animated Archie adaptation where he does not appear.
  • Avengers Assemble:
    • The series removed the Soul Gem from this version of the Infinity Gauntlet. Additionally, despite the heavy presence of Thanos in the second season, Mistress Death never appears. This causes problems in the show's adaptation of The Infinity Gauntlet, since instead of restraining himself to impress Death, Thanos does it out of vanity or sheer stupidity.
    • Speaking of The Infinity Gauntlet, the show's adaptation of that storyline drastically reduces the number of heroes involved. In the comics, around 20 heroes (and Doctor Doom) united to fight Thanos, while in the TV show, it's just the eight principal Avengers.
    • The same thing can be said for the Civil War adaptation in Season 3. In the comics, the conflict was fought by dozens of heroes, while in the show, the number of combatants is around 14.
    • Likewise, despite adapting the initial arc of Thunderbolts, Jolt, the Token Good Teammate, is absent.
    • However, for the first time in a long time, Igor Drenkov, the spy who ignored Bruce's wish to delay the firing of the gamma bomb, is actually acknowledged, averting this with him.
    • Despite the heavy MCU focus of the series, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver never appear, even when The Vision (who, like them, made his film debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron) joins the cast in the fourth season.
    • The fifth season, Black Panther's Quest, very heavily features the kingdom of Atlantis. However, Namor never appears, even though he has a history as Black Panther's enemy and rival. Instead, Atlantis is ruled by Attuma, who is given a role and characterization similar enough to Namor's that he borders on Expy / Suspiciously Similar Substitute status at times. Presumably, Namor was deemed off-limits due to Marvel not having complete control of his film rights, which was also why the X-Men and Fantastic Four-related characters like the aforementioned Doctor Doom suffered from Chuck Cunningham Syndrome after the show's first season.
  • The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: The adaptation of Secret Invasion ignored Spider-Woman and divvied up her role in the plot between Mockingbird and Black Widow. Elektra was also omitted in favor of Viper. Also, though understandable due to the franchise having tons of characters, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were left out as well. It's only notable since Hawkeye, who joined the Avengers in the same issue as them, and Black Panther, who came much later, were included as part of the team.
  • The cartoon version of Baby Blues focuses on when Zoe is a baby, and therefore her little brother Hammie is nowhere to be seen. Youngest sibling Wren wouldn't have appeared anyway, as the cartoon predated her introduction in the original comic strip.
  • The Batman:
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
    • Lashina and Stompa are the only members of the Female Furies. Additionally, Mongal replaced Granny Goodness as the Furies' master.
    • In the comics, Tatsu Yamashiro became the vigilante Katana after her husband and children were murdered by a Yakuza boss named Takeo. In the show, Tatsu instead became Katana after Takeo murdered her sensei Tadashi. This was mostly due to the cartoon's version of Katana being far too young to have been married.
    • The Justice League's evil doppelgangers from another dimension known as the Crime Syndicate appear as the Injustice Syndicate, but Batman's counterpart Owlman is the only member from the comics to appear and the team isn't shown to have Ultraman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick or Power Ring as members. Ultraman and Superwoman's absences are somewhat understandable, given that the Injustice Syndicate appeared before Superman and Wonder Woman's restrictions from use were resolved.
  • Battletoads: Robo-Manus is nowhere to be seen in the pilot.
  • Due to the limitations of CGI at the time, many characters from the Beast Wars toyline do not appear in the cartoon, as with such gimmicks like the "mutant head" (this is why some characters, like Tarantulas and Waspinator had what was originally supposed to be their mutuant heads be changed into their ''actual" heads instead) or the Transmetal forms (only Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, Megatron, and Tarantulas ended up with Transmetal forms due to an encounter with the Vok, although Terrorsaur was about to be Transmetalized by the Vok, but fell into lava before he did so).
  • In the Beetlejuice cartoon, the Maitlands, the central protagonists from the original film, do not appear at all. Otho and Juno are also omitted.
  • In Beware the Batman, Katana takes Robin's place as Batman's traditional sidekick. The show intentionally ignores Batman's most iconic foes in favor of trying to raise the profile of his more obscure villains. For instance, Magpie and Anarky serve the roles traditionally held by Catwoman and The Joker, with some cases bordering on outright Expy status.
  • Ben 10 (2016): Ripjaws, Ghostfreak and Wildmutt are left out of the original 10, replaced by Overflow, Cannonbolt and Wildvine. Subverted in Season 4, as Ripjaws and Wildmutt appear according to DNA pods, although Ghostfreak still doesn't seem to be appearing anytime soon.
  • Bibleman: Unlike the original series, the Bible Team's computer is no longer a character in her own right, given how the human cast is more than big enough for the shortened run time. LUCI is also absent.
  • Michael Caesar is completely absent from The Boondocks cartoon series, despite being Huey's best friend and the second most frequently seen character in the comic strip.
  • In the Brady Bunch Animated Adaptation The Brady Kids Alice and the parents don't appear, and the dog Tiger is replaced by Moptop.
  • Bunnicula: The Monroes' Dachshund Howie isn't seen.
  • Castlevania (2017):
  • Catscratch: Simon from Gear does not appear alongside his brothers. But considering how far he makes it into the comic, it makes sense.
  • In El Chavo Animado, the Animated Adaptation of El Chavo del ocho, The Chilindrina didn't appear because Maria Antonieta de Las Nieves (her actress) owns the rights to that character.
  • Curbside was an unsuccessful pilot that intended to revitalize the classic Terrytoons characters through an Animated Anthology show. Tom Terrific appears in the Mighty Mouse segment, but he is not accompanied by his canine companion Mighty Manfred.
  • DC Animated Universe:
    • Jason Todd, the second Robin, was completely skipped over in Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. Though some argue that their version of Tim Drake is more a Composite Character of Tim and Jason, both in origin and personality. That said, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett did introduce a version of Jason into Batman: The Adventures Continue.
    • Crime bosses Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni were removed from Batman: The Animated Series, with Rupert Thorne taking over the former's role as Gotham's most powerful crime boss and the latter's role in Two-Face's origin.
    • Steel is the only replacement Superman from Reign of the Supermen to appear in this continuity, as Superboy, Cyborg-Superman and the Eradicator never show up.
    • Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, also never appeared in the DCAU, though his job as a forensic scientist was given to his nephew, Wally West, who is the Flash in the DCAU. That said, both a cop in the episode "The Brave and the Bold" and Wally's boss in "Flash and Substance" both resemble Barry and in the latter episode, Wally also mentions an uncle who's flying in.
    • Likewise, the Hal Jordan version of Green Lantern is not a founding member of the Justice League in this continuity, though he is still established to exist (including a scene in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Once and Future Thing" where he briefly replaces John due to a Timey-Wimey Ball, and a cameo as a statue in Justice League vs. The Fatal Five). Instead, he and Barry have their spots as founding members of the Justice League taken by John Stewart and Wally West, their successors in the comics, with Static Shock revealing that John also took Hal's role as the Green Lantern responsible for the removal of Sinestro from the Green Lantern Corps.
    • Guy Gardner was also absent from the Justice League cartoon (despite the large number of Justice League International characters who showed up during the Unlimited seasons), making Guy the only GL Corps member from Earth other than Jade (whose absence was justified by her not having been a member of the Justice League in the comics when the show was running) not to appear in the series in any capacity. An unnamed mugger who looked a lot like Guy previously made a cameo appearance in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "In Brightest Day." However, like Hal, a 31st century museum in the Justice League vs. The Fatal Five movie features a statue of Guy, but how exactly he fits into the team's history or the established canon is left unexplained.
    • While many members of the Justice Society of America appeared in the Unlimited seasons (such as Stargirl, Mister Terrific and Wildcat), Alan Scott and Jay Garrick, the original Green Lantern and Flash, respectively, never showed up. Curiously, despite this, they did appear in the show's tie-in comic and the official toyline from Mattel.
    • Static Shock:
      • In the original Static comics, Puff was part of an Evil Duo with another girl named Coil. In this animated series, Puff's partner is changed to a hulking male villain called Onyx.
      • There are a lot of Dakotaverse characters who aren't present, with the most noticeable omissions including Holocaust, Xombi, most of the Blood Syndicate, Icon and Rocket.
    • In the last season of Unlimited, the Legion of Doom appeared, but for either story reasons or Executive Meddling, it lacked Brainiac (as a physical presence; he was subject to an Ambiguous Situation on if he was still in Luthor's head, but he was defeated in the penultimate episode of the prior season), The Riddler (DC deciding to limit the use of his character to The Batman), The Scarecrow (limited to his use to Batman Begins), Black Manta (due to a planned Smallville-esque pilot, Mercy Reef, which never got off the ground), and Solomon Grundy (Killed Off for Real in "Wake the Dead" and appeared in an episode of The Batman as a disguise for Clayface, though it was implied Grundy was indeed real after all).
    • While Jessica Cruz appeared in Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, there was no sign of Simon Baz (who doesn't even appear among the aforementioned statues of the Green Lantern Corps' human members when Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner were included), though Star Boy ended up as a Composite Character and took his role.
  • DC Super Hero Girls (2019) , much like its predecessor uses Jessica Cruz, but both shows omit her partner in the comics, Simon Baz. For the latter, she started out as Lois Lane's camerawoman and most of her interactions are with Batgirl. For the former, Hal Jordan took the role as Jessica's partner.
  • The 2018 Dennis the Menace (UK) CGI adaptation, Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed!, makes Dennis's gang a Gender-Equal Ensemble by introducing two girls and writing out Flat Character Curly.
  • The Dick Tracy Show omits numerous characters from the comic strip including his wife Tess Trueheart, Junior, B.O. Plenty and his daughter Sparkle and wife Gravel Gertie. His fellow officer Sam Catchem appears in silhouette driving a patrol car with Tracy riding shotgun and is called by name.
  • Duck Dodgers: The Green Lantern Corps crossover episode "The Green Loontern" only uses one of the Guardians of the Universe (Ganthet) and features appearances by all but one of the human members of the Corps who existed at the time the cartoon aired (Hal Jordan being the main focus because Dodgers gets involved with the Corps due to a laundry mix-up getting him Jordan's costume and ring, John Stewart and Guy Gardner having cameos among the Green Lantern Corps' crowd shots and Kyle Rayner not showing up at all).
  • The Earthworm Jim cartoon had several characters from the original game who never appeared in the animated series. The most notable omissions are Chuck, Major Mucus and Dr. Duodenum.
  • On Fangbone!, the Animated Adaptation of children's book series Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian, the character Duncan, who was The Bully and recurrent nemesis of Fangbone and Bill at Eastwood Elementary, is entirely absent. This might be related to the fact the cartoon puts more focus instead on Fangbone and Bill's conflict with Big Bad Venomous Drool, who was The Ghost in the books.
  • The '67 Fantastic Four cartoon completely omitted Alicia Masters, despite doing adaptations of episodes she appeared in. Also, due to rights issues, Ant-Man did not appear in the show's adaptation of "The Micro-World of Doctor Doom." Those same rights issues also prevented Namor from appearing, resulting in the creation of a Suspiciously Similar Substitute named Prince Triton.
  • The 1978 Fantastic Four cartoon adaptation of the Fantastic Four entirely dispensed with Johnny Storm a.k.a. Human Torch, and substituted Herbie the Robot, due to The Human Torch's rights not being available as they had been negotiated separately and were with a different company. The reason was not, as is often mentioned, due to worries that children might set themselves on fire trying to imitate the Torch.
  • Fantastic Four: The Animated Series:
    • Willie Lumpkin, the team's dutiful mailman, never appears.
    • Johnny's best friend Wyatt Wingfoot doesn't show up either. This means that "Prey of the Black Panther," an otherwise very faithful retelling of Fantastic Four #52, gives his key role in rescuing Johnny (and thus foiling T'Challa's trap) to Reed.
    • The Silver Surfer, Terrax and Firelord are the only Heralds of Galactus to appear; Air-Walker is neither seen nor mentioned.
    • Sandman doesn't appear as part of the Frightful Four, with his spot on the team taken by Hydro-Man. Like the Spider-Man: The Animated Series example mentioned below, this was presumably because Sandman was earmarked for use in James Cameron's Spider-Man movie at the time.
  • The 1987 Animated Adaptation of Fraggle Rock cuts out some recurring characters from the live-action series:
    • A few supporting Fraggles and Doozers, including Lou, Tosh, Feenie, Flex, and Hammerhead.
    • Sidebottom, Boober's mischievous alter-ego, is never mentioned in the entire series.
  • The Thing segments on Fred and Barney Meet the Thing completely omitted the other three members of the Fantastic Four Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch, instead having The Thing portrayed as a solo hero with the oddity of having a teenage human form and transforming into his orange alter ego by slamming two rings together and declaring "Thing Ring, do your thing!"
  • Garfield and Friends:
    • The series removed Blue and Cody from the U.S. Acres cartoons. Also, in a rather odd example, one U.S. Acres quickie was an adaptation of an existing comic, but it removed Sheldon.
    • Every woman other than Dr. Liz Wilson that Jon dated or attempted to date is also absent, in favor of playing up Jon's futile attempts to woo Liz. Any woman Jon fell for on the show other than Liz was a Canon Foreigner.
    • The unnamed Spiders (whose antics fill many a Sunday strip) are missing, though mostly because those strips only became commonplace after the cartoon ended. The spiders appeared in at least one Quickie, however.
  • Green Eggs and Ham: The two animals Sam rides in the beginning of the book and TV special are absent in this series.
  • Green Lantern: The Animated Series:
    • As an unfortunate side effect of the show only running for one season, the Sinestro Corps, the Indigo Tribe and the Black Lantern Corps are never established.
    • Kyle Rayner and Simon Baz were the only human Green Lanterns who existed at the time to not appear in any capacity (with Hal Jordan being the main character, Alan Scott being alluded to by the Steam Lantern, Guy Gardner appearing halfway through the show's single season and John Stewart being mentioned by Guy), and it isn't known if either of them were planned to appear later down the line.
  • Harley Quinn (2019):
    • The show is heavily influenced by Harley Quinn's current characterization of being an Anti-Hero who wants nothing to do with the Joker that was established in DC Comics' New 52 and Rebirth eras, but noticeably leaves out several members of her supporting cast who were introduced during that point, including Red Tool, the Gang of Harleys, Edgar Fullerton Yeung, Goat Boy and Big Tony. Sy Borgman is the only one of them to be used as a supporting character in the animated series.
    • Harley's niece Jenny and nephew Nicky are omitted due to her brother Barry dying before he could have children in this continuity. Her other brothers Frankie and Ezzie are also left out.
  • The Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "Inhuman Nature" retells the Fantastic Four's first encounter with The Inhumans, but with the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. replacing the FF. A-Bomb is even given the Human Torch's romance plot with Crystal.
  • Black Panther's father, King T'Chaka, was killed by Klaw in the original comics, but in Iron Man: Armored Adventures T'Chaka is instead killed by Moses Magnum.
  • Iron Man: The Animated Series:
    • The show used the short-lived Force Works team from the comics, but replaced U.S. Agent with Hawkeye for some unknown reason.
    • Season 2 had a fairly faithful adaptation of the "Armor Wars" storyline, but with some character changes:
      • Ghost replaces Spymaster as the one who steals Tony's armor designs.
      • The original storyline has an issue where Tony has to stop the Raiders from hijacking a plane. In the cartoon, it's Blizzard and Blacklash who attempt the hijacking.
      • Edwin Cord is replaced by Justin Hammer as the backer behind Firepower. Firepower is also changed from a suit of armor to a robot, meaning Jack Taggert, its human pilot, doesn't appear.
      • Titanium Man II and Force are made into a Composite Character with Crimson Dynamo. Crimson Dynamo dies during a battle with Iron Man (like Titanium Man), and it's his armor that kick starts the "Armor Wars" storyline when it's revealed to contain Tony's stolen tech (like Force's).
      • In the comic, Captain America is the Avenger who fights Iron Man after Tony breaks into the Vault. In the show, it's Hawkeye.
      • Scott Lang and Abe Zimmer have their roles cut entirely, with no analogues for them appearing.
  • Justice League Action:
    • The only representations of the Green Lantern Corps besides Hal Jordan are Guy Gardner (who is only mentioned), Boodika (who only gets a cameo) and G'Nort (who also only gets a cameo). In addition, Sinestro and Despotellis are the only shown members of the Sinestro Corps and there is no sign of the Blue Lantern Corps, the Orange Lantern Corps or the Indigo Tribe.
    • Billy Batson is the only shown wielder of the magic of Shazam, with his sister Mary Bromfield and his foster siblings Freddy Freeman, Eugene Choi, Pedro Pena and Daral Dudley not even being acknowledged.
    • No one in the Bat-family besides Ace the Bat-Hound and Batman himself ever appears.
    • The Halloween Episode "Trick or Threat" features an appearance by Cain, Horror Host of House of Mystery, but makes no mention whatsoever of Cain's brother Abel, host of the horror anthology comic's companion title House of Secrets.
  • Language Arts Through Imagination stars Figment from Journey into Imagination, but his creator Dreamfinder does not appear at all.
  • The Legend of Zelda (1989):
    • The cartoon was based chiefly on the original game in the series, with bits of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Despite being a prominent part of the backstory for both games (indeed, she was the reason Link took up his famous quest in the first place), Zelda's nursemaid Impa is not included in the cast. She did, however, feature prominently in the comic book series which launched at approximately the same time.
    • Also, the Triforce of Courage is never mentioned in the animated series either (the Triforces of Power and Wisdom can count as characters; they even have voices!). As with Impa, Courage is mentioned in the comics and other books (though never seen; it is said to be "in Link's heart") that were otherwise similar to the cartoon.
  • The Lion Guard: Bizarrely, all of the adult lionesses in the pride have vanished except for Nala. They even added two female cubs that have no visible mother or father nearby.
  • Lucky Luke:
  • Phoebus does not appear in The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo, the series based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
  • In The Marvel Super Heroes, one episode was an adaptation of a Fantastic Four storyline where Doctor Doom and Namor attack the Baxter Building intending to launch it into space. However, adapted here for Namor's segment of the show, the Fantastic Four are replaced by the X-Men... er, the "Allies for Peace" launching the "Peace Building" into space.
  • The Spider-Island arc of Marvel's Spider-Man completely leaves out The Queen. In the original comics, she was the mastermind and true Big Bad behind Spider-Island, with the Jackal working for her as one of her main enforcers. Here though, Jackal is the one solely responsible for Spider-Island.
  • The most notable characters omitted in the Ruby-Spears Mega Man animated series are the Fortress Bosses and several of the Robot Masters, to the point that Mega Man and Mega Man 3 are the only games released at the time the cartoon aired to have every Robot Master make at least one appearance.
  • Since The Moomins has tons of characters, this was inevitable in Moominvalley. Of particular note, the Mymble's Daughter is never mentioned, with the Mymble's family comprising Little My and half a dozen smaller versions of Little My (and possibly Snufkin, although it doesn't come up). Despite having two and a bit episodes based on Moominsummer Madness, Whomper and Misabel don't appear in any of them (although Misabel later appears in "Moominmama's Maid", based on her role in the comic strip).
  • Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm omitted quite a few characters, including Johnny Cage, Kung Lao (again), Goro, Kintaro, Sindel, Mileena, Reptile, Baraka and Jade. Reptile and Goro were likely left out due to having been killed in the first movie, which the show was ostensibly a sequel to, and an Expy of Reptile called Komodai did appear. The movie connection made Johnny Cage's absence especially odd, as he had been one of the main characters in the first film.
  • Mr. Benn: Only one Mr. Benn book published at the time didn't get made into an episode, 123456789 Benn, due to the more dubious situation of Benn becoming a convict.
  • Scrooge's younger sister Fan also gets left out in some adaptations. The Mr. Magoo version of A Christmas Carol leaves out not only Scrooge's younger sister Fan, but his nephew Fred too.
  • The Mutant League cartoon. Mutant League Football and Mutant League Hockey, they appear about once, as training dummies at that. GIL-9000 in particular was a "star player" (with a portrait and unique quotes) from Mutant League Hockey but does not appear on the show.
  • In My Little Pony G1 all the princesses have pet baby dragons (also referred to as their assistants): Spike, Prickles, Spiny, Fiery, Smokey, Flash, and Sparks. Of the dragons only the original, Spike, appeared in either My Little Pony TV Specials or My Little Pony 'n Friends. The other dragons have also dropped from the franchise, with only Spike reappearing in G3 and G4.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • The current fourth iteration of the toyline has Lily Blossom, a pegasus with a unique design (something normally reserved for major characters) who was part of the early wave of releases along with the six leads from the TV series, yet has never appeared in the show.
    • Princess Skyla is a plush toy of a baby alicorn from G4. Many thought that she would be introduced as Shining Armor's and Cadence's daughter, however when they did eventually have a child their daughter Flurry Heart turned out not to be Skyla. The fact Skyla is a both an alicorn (a foal at that) and a princess makes her exclusion all the more noticeable. It's even mentioned in-series that Flurry Heart was the first alicorn ever born, thus meaning Skyla doesn't exist in the cartoon canon.
    • The G4 toys have two adult alicorn, Princess Sterling and Princess Gold Lily. They've never been referenced in cartoon canon and aren't alive currently, if they ever were.
  • Noddy's Toyland Adventures:
    • Beginning in 1963, future animated adaptations of Enid Blyton's Noddy series would omit numerous supporting and minor characters from the original books. The earliest characters is Angela Golden-Hair, the three unnamed policemen, and The Golliwogs (the latter due to questionable behavior) who managed to show up in the first televised adaptation The Adventures Of Noddy which ran from 1955-1963. Angela Golden-Hair never reappeared in future adaptations of the books, while The Golliwogs (such as The Golly Family, Mr. Golly, and Gilbert Golly) managed to stick around as late as 1974 before getting redrawn to be more PC note . Mr. Plod used to be accompanied by multiple (typically six) unnamed policemen but never made the jump to televised incarnations with Mr. Plod being the only policemen.
    • Another book exclusive character is Big Ears's pet cat named "Whiskers". While he didn't show up in television adaptations, Whiskers managed to appear in a 1978 commercial for Vymura featuring Noddy and Big Ears.
    • Miss Fluffy Cat◊ is another character from the original books that never made the jump to television. She's the polar opposite of Miss Pink Cat since she's notably friendlier and cheerfully around Noddy and the other citizens of ToyTown. Miss Fluffy Cat has a brief speaking appearance in the 1972 audio adaptation of Noddy Goes To School that was narrated by Kathleen Davydd. While she never appeared in Toyland Adventures, she was briefly mentioned by Mr. Plod in the episode "Noddy Gets Into Trouble".
    • The original books had a recurring toy monkey named "Mickey Monkey/Micky Monkey/Mr. Monkey" who enjoyed causing trouble for his own amusement. His only animated appearance was in a series of 60s era stop-motion commercials for Kellogg's Sugar Ricicles, while his voice is heard in 1971 and 1972 audio adaptations of Noddy Wins a Prize/Noddy and the Aeroplane and Noddy Goes To School/Noddy Gets Into Trouble.
    • Since 1992, Sly and Gobbo are the only goblins to appear in various incarnations omitting the other unnamed goblins that appeared in some stories◊. The other goblins managed to appear in The Adventures Of Noddy, The Further Adventures Of Noddy, and the second stop-motion series Noddy from the early 70s.
  • Pet Alien: Several of the aliens from the original toyline - such as Zuffy, who appeared in the original Internet shorts - don't appear in the series at all. The only aliens to make the cut were Dinko, Flip, Scruffy, Gumpers, Swanky, and, in one episode, Shank and Dank.
  • The Punky Brewster cartoon leaves out Cherie's grandmother Betty, although Glomer mentions her in "Mother of the Year" and her hand is fleetingly seen.
  • The animated miniseries Red Planet, which was adapted from the book of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein, omitted Jim Marlowe's friend Frank Sutton, with his role instead filled by Jim's sister Phyllis "PJ" Marlowe.
  • Omni Consumer Products, the company that turned police officer Alex Murphy into the eponymous cyborg in the RoboCop film series, is nowhere to be seen in RoboCop: Alpha Commando.
  • The 2021 reboot of the popular animated series Rugrats gets rid of quite a few characters.
    • As this is a reboot of the franchise, relaunch characters such as Dil were initially removed. Initially Kimi was omitted but she returns in the second half of the first season. Dil later returned in Season 2's "Gramping".
    • While Susie is now part of the group, her elder siblings were originally written out as the creators felt they were Flat Characters. While Alisa still has yet to appear in the series, Buster and Edwin have appeared in Season 2's "Baby Talk" as Susie's cousins rather than her brothers.
    • In this continuity, Phil and Lil's mom, Betty, is now a gay single mother. As such, their father Howard is not in the series (aside from a cameo on a framed picture in "Tooth or Share"), though nothing says he can't show up later.
  • Scary Godmother: The second special is an adaptation of the second book The Revenge of Jimmy, but omits several characters who were present in the original book, most notably the spider Madame Zazie and Hannah Marie's little sister Ellie.
  • The three-part premiere of Silver Surfer: The Animated Series adapts the Galactus Trilogy, but completely dispenses with the Fantastic Four and Alicia Masters. Instead, the human woman the Surfer forms a bond with during Galactus’ attack on Earth is a pre-Nova Frankie Raye.
  • For some reason Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) never used Knuckles, Amy or Metal Sonic, despite its second season airing after their debut games came out. It didn't help that Sonic the Hedgehog CD's American localization insists that Amy is actually Princess Sally, despite the fact that the two characters look nothing alike.
  • Sonic Underground had relatively few main characters from the games at all, with only Sonic, Robotnik, and a few appearances by Knuckles.
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man:
  • Gwen Stacy didn't appear in the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon, even though it was produced when she was actually alive in the comics, instead making her father George Stacy the uncle of Mary Jane, in what was likely a case of Composite Character.
  • Other Spider-Man: The Animated Series examples:
    • The show's adaptation of Secret Wars (1984) removed the X-Men and The Avengers, with Storm and Iron Man instead serving as the sole representatives from their respective teamsnote  (the X-Men's omission was likely to cut costs, as hiring the Canadian cast of the then concurrently airing X-Men cartoon to reprise their roles for the X-Men's previous appearance on the show, the two-part episode "The Mutant Agenda"/"Mutants' Revenge", proved to be very expensive). The Hulk was planned to appear in the three-part episode, but had to be left out because his rights were tied up by his own show airing on UPN, resulting in his role of the human mind taking control of the stronger persona having to be given to Lizard instead. The adaptation also left out most of the villains from the crossover, such as Ultron, Kang the Conqueror and Galactus.
    • The flashbacks detailing Captain America's role in World War II omitted Bucky Barnes and most of The Invaders (most notably Namor and the original Human Torch), instead having Cap be the leader of a group of superheroes called the Six American Warriors.
    • Jean DeWolff, a police detective and sometimes ally of Spider-Man's, is replaced with an Expy named Terri Lee.
    • Betty Brant, who was Peter's first love interest in the comics before Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane were later introduced, is completely removed from the cartoon.
    • Recurring villain the Sandman was also absent from this series, due to both him and Electro being sanctioned for use in an ultimately-unfilmed movie adaptation from none other than James Cameron. Even when Electro ended up appearing in the series, he was written to be the son of the Red Skull instead of the comics' Max Dillon.
  • Spider-Man: The New Animated Series suffered some Executive Meddling that forbade old people from appearing. While J. Jonah Jameson only got Demoted to Extra, outside of a picture, Uncle Ben and Aunt May never appeared, despite the former being the reason why Peter is Spider-Man and the latter being an important person in Peter's life. Robbie Robertson didn't even get that, being written out altogether.
  • Star Wars:
    • Clone Trooper Waxer was originally one of the troopers involved in the Battle of Kiros in the Slaves of the Republic story from the comics, but by the time that arc got adapted into Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Waxer had already been killed off. Boil takes his place on Kiros in the show.
    • ARC Trooper Alpha-17 was a prominent character in the Star Wars: Republic comics, and was originally planned to appear in The Clone Wars. However, George Lucas felt they already had too many main characters whose names started with "A", leading to the creation of Captain Rex to take his place.
    • Commander Grey, Captain Styles and a handful of other named Clone Troopers with customized armor were part of Depa Billaba’s unit when Order 66 was issued in Star Wars: Kanan, but when this event was shown at the opening of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Grey is the only clone present with customized armor. He’s likewise referred to as “Captain Grey,” likely making this a case of Composite Character between him and Styles.
    • The Bounty Hunter Durge from Star Wars: Republic and Star Wars: Clone Wars was planned to appear in Star Wars: The Clone Wars but Dave Filoni struggled to find a way to properly incorporate him into the series and wanted more original characters, instead creating Cad Bane. Post Continuity Reboot, Durge's only appearance is in Star Wars: Doctor Aphra.
  • Guile's wife Julia and daughter Amy do not appear in the Saturday morning Street Fighter cartoon, and instead, he's in a Love Triangle with Cammy and a Canon Foreigner named Cindy. Ken's fiancée Eliza doesn't show up either.
  • Super Friends:
    • Martian Manhunter was the only founding member of the Justice League of America not to appear in any iteration of the show.
    • Despite Darkseid being the Big Bad for the last two seasons, the only other New Gods characters to appear were Kalibak and Desaad.
    • Hal Jordan was the only existing Green Lantern at the time to appear, with Alan Scott, Guy Gardner and John Stewart never getting so much as an acknowledgment. In addition, the only extraterrestrial members of the Green Lantern Corps to appear are Hal Jordan's predecessor Abin Sur (who appears in the flashback of Hal Jordan's origin in the Challenge of the Superfriends episode "Secret Origins of the Super Friends") and Legion of Doom member Sinestro (whose backstory of being a former Green Lantern who became evil after being kicked out of the Corps is never brought up).
  • Wonder Woman was left out of the Justice League segments from Filmation's Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. Strangely, her Kid Sidekick Wonder Girl did show up in the Teen Titans shorts.
  • Though his minions and many elements of Super Mario Bros. 2 appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Wart never appeared. King Koopa usually acted as a Composite Character of both the classic Bowser and Wart.
  • Tak and the Power of Juju (2007) omits a lot of characters from the original video games, the most notable absent characters including Tlaloc's minions Pins and Needles, Jibolba's brother JB, Moon Juju, Flora, Fauna and the Two-Headed Juju.
  • It's not exactly an adaptation, but Bagheera, Kaa, Hathi, the wolves and vultures from The Jungle Book don't get roles in Talespin.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003):
    • Oroku Nagi, older brother of the Shredder, never appeared in the show. His role in the Hamato Yoshi/Tang Shen love triangle was replaced by original character Yukio Mashimi.
    • The episode "Time Travails" in the original comics guest starred Cerebus the Aardvark. He wasn't included in the cartoon story obviously, although a normal aardvark wearing a mask makes a brief appearance as a reference to him.
  • Oroku Nagi, older brother of the Shredder, never appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012). His role in the Hamato Yoshi/Tang Shen love triangle was replaced by the Shredder himself.
  • Teen Titans (2003):
    • The show's version of the Doom Patrol leaves out Chief, and gives Mento (who wasn't even a full member of the team in the comic) his spot as the leader. In addition, essentially every member of the team aside from Robotman, Negative Man, Mento and Elasti-Girl who existed at the time the cartoon airednote  isn't given so much as an acknowledgement.
    • The original members of the Fearsome Five (renamed "The H.I.V.E. Five") all appear in some capacity, with the notable exception of Shimmer, Mammoth's sister.
    • As Beast Boy is the only core member of the Titans whose origins aren't even hinted at and has his former affiliation with the Doom Patrol as the only revealed aspect of his past, the cartoon omits his biological parents Mark and Marie Logan, his unscrupulous legal guardian Nicholas Gaultry and his first love interest Jillian.
    • This continuity's version of the Brotherhood of Evil excludes Mr. Morden/Mr. Nobody, Garguax, Houngan and Trinity as members.
  • Teen Titans Go!: In an inversion of the 2003 cartoon's take on the Doom Patrol, this show's incarnation doesn't include Mento as a member and has the Chief reinstated as the leader in addition to taking Mento's role as Beast Boy's adoptive father. This continuity's interpretation of the team also follows their 2003 cartoon incarnation's example by being based primarily on the original Arnold Drake roster and not even acknowledging any team members who were introduced in Paul Kupperberg's run and beyond.
  • Thomas & Friends:
    • Early episodes omitted many one shot or background characters used in The Railway Series novels they were adapted from, with Thomas or some other recurring engine taking their place. Jinty and Pug are absent in episodes adapted from "The Eight Famous Engines" for example, while, due to lacking budget for a model of The Flying Scotsman, "Tender Engines" was loosely adapted from "Tenders For Henry", with only the engines' tenders being shown in a cameo.
    • The show broke away from the source material in season 5 (for the most part), meaning characters such as the Mountain Engines never appeared.
  • The Thing: The other members of the Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch) are completely omitted in this adaptation, with the Thing being portrayed as a solo hero.
  • Since the world of Thunder Cats 2011 consists only of Beast Folk, none of the 1985 ThunderCats' human allies are present (from Homo sapiens like the Warrior Maidens to Human Aliens like Mandora). Poor Bengali accidentally became this — he was supposed to appear in the later seasons that were never made due to the network suddenly pulling the plug on the series, making him the only member of the original series' core cast not to get so much as a cameo or mention in the reboot.
  • In Nelvana's Animated Adaptation of Rosemary Wells' Timothy Goes to School book and Yoko & Friends. Hazel from Hazel's Amazing Mother and Nora's sister were both absent from the series even though Hazel was in the original 1998 Yoko book.
  • While Chapel does appear in Todd McFarlane's Spawn, the rest of his Youngblood (Image Comics) compatriots do not. In fact, there's no indication that Youngblood even exists in this universe, as Chapel is the one who goes after Spawnnote  at Jason Wynn's behest. This is in contrast to the comics, where a vengeful Spawn actually tracked down Chapel and attacked him in front of his teammates at Youngblood HQ.
  • Since the G1 The Transformers cartoon was only allowed to used characters based on Takara toylines like the Diaclone-based toys due to the show being animated via a collaboration between Sunbow and Toei animation, characters based on non-Takara toys like Roadbuster and Whirl do not appear in the cartoon. Ironically, Topspin and Twin Twist, whose toys originated in Diaclone, never appeared in the cartoon, and some characters based on non-Takara toys such as Shockwave, Skyfire, Sky Lynx, and Omega Supreme did.
  • Transformers: Rescue Bots leaves out some characters from the original toyline and its associated storybooks that were released shortly before the show's development.
    • Blades, Chase and Boulder originally had the respective human partners Sawyer Storm, Jack Tracker (aka Billy Blastoff and Hunter) and Walker Cleveland. In the animated series, Sawyer is replaced with Dani Burns, Jack is replaced with Chief Charlie Burns and Walker is replaced with Graham Burns.
    • The storybooks gave the Rescue Bots and their human partners a Team Pet consisting of a Dalmatian named Sparkplug, who was left out of the cartoon in favor of a robotic dog named Servo.
  • Jim's father, distant due to his brother Jack having been taken by Trolls as a kid, was around in the Trollhunters book but is a Disappeared Dad in the animated series adaptation for entirely unrelated reasons, presumably removing Uncle Jack from the show as well.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man:
    • The series omits the three White Tigers who came before Ava Ayala, instead establishing that she inherited the mantle directly from her father (though he is made a Composite Character with her brother Hector by having his name). It also skips over the Sons of the Tiger, a trio of martial artists who had the tiger amulet before the original White Tiger.
    • Likewise, while the Sam Alexander version of Nova is a major character, there's no mention of Richard Rider, his predecessor.
    • A majority of the Daily Bugle staff members from the comics, such as Betty Brant and Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, practically don't exist in this universe.
    • Eddie Brock. While Venom does appear as a recurring villain (and then a recurring hero starting in Season 3, once Flash Thompson becomes Agent Venom), Eddie Brock, his most famous and longest-lasting host, does not. Not even as Anti-Venom, as Harry Osborn replaced Eddie as the first Venom and Anti-Venom. Also, the black suit isn't Spider-Man, as Harry takes the form of it.
    • Similarly, Cletus Kasady isn't Carnage, or even shows up for that matter.
    • Other characters, such as Black Cat, also don't appear in the series.
  • The Scooby-Doo spinoff Velma omits Scooby himself. This is because Warner Bros. Animation forbade the writers from including Scooby, and the writers couldn't find a way to write Scooby into the series without ruining the adult tone anyway.
  • The 2017 reboot of the original Wacky Races omits most of the original racers and the Interactive Narrator, the only characters returning from the original cartoon being Peter Perfect, Penelope Pitstop, Dick Dastardly, Muttley, and the Gruesome Twosome (Althought the Slag Brothers made a cameo in the episode "Under the Rainbow").
  • Winx Club:
    • In the four specials produced by Nickelodeon, Mitzi and Icy's duck Pepe were absent.
    • Because the first special did not adapt Episode 6 of Season 1, the Winx do not lose their powers as punishment for sneaking into Cloud Tower; instead their probation to clean the school as mortals is rewritten as a special assignment for new students.
    • The Trix's dolls to astral-project themselves into Bloom's midterm in Episode 10 were removed from the special; they instead transport into the simulator themselves.
    • In the second special, Knut did not appear at the end of Episode 18's adaptation after the Trix take the Dragon Flame. The final scene where Stella arrives to help Bloom was moved to the beginning of the third special instead.
    • The Trix's expulsion from Cloud Tower at the end of Episode 16 was not adapted for either special.
    • The Trix's "Megatrix" form did not appear in the last special "The Shadow Phoenix", as Darkar sent them back to Lightrock Monistary instead of Oblivion in the original.
  • X-Men: The Animated Series:
    • The adaptation of Days of Future Past completely omitted Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers. Their roles in the plot were instead given to Bishop and Forge, respectively, with Bishop's presence being justified by his popularity in the comics at the time. In fact, Kitty was the only X-Man at the time to never make any sort of appearance in the 90s cartoon, as even Rachel (whose absence could otherwise have been excused thanks to her complicated backstory) had a non-speaking cameo in the "Beyond Good and Evil" storyline. As for Kitty, in the episodes based on stories where she appeared in the comics, her role would usually be given to Jubilee.
    • Despite the tons of characters featured, several of the New Mutants didn't show up either, most notably Sunspot and Dani Moonstar. While a few of their teammates like Magik, Warlock, Cannonball and Wolfsbane did appear in separate episodes (with a few others like Boom-Boom, Rictor and Karma also having non-speaking cameos), they never interacted with one another. Given this, as well as the lack of references to the New Mutants as a group, it seems that the team itself was never formed in this continuity.
  • X-Men: Evolution:
    • During the course of the series, all of the All-New, All-Different X-Men appear except for Thunderbird, Banshee and Sunfire.
    • Despite covering a large swath of the X-Men's history, some prominent characters like Psylocke, Moira MacTaggert and Lilandra never appear. Some prominent villains were also left out, perhaps most notably Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club.
  • In Yogi's Gang, several of the characters who appeared in Yogi's Ark Lark do not appear in this show, like Noah Smitty and Top Cat.
  • While Yogi's Treasure Hunt features Dick Dastardly and Muttley in their flying apparel from Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines, it does not include their fellow Vulture Squadron grunts Klunk and Zilly.
  • YooHoo & Friends: The Tree of Life is omitted from David Feiss's dub. The same can be said about Oops, Coops and Big Boss.
  • Young Justice (2010):
    • Mighty Endowed, the team's Starter Villain in the comics, had no chance of appearing in the show's original Cartoon Network run due to the series being aimed at younger audiences and the main point of her character being that she's a supervillain with gigantic breasts who is consequently unable to stand upright without assistance. While the Max revival went for having a more adult tone, Mighty Endowed was still nowhere to be seen, likely due to concerns that her use would be seen as problematic.
    • Roy Harper had his arm severed by Prometheus. In the show, the arm was instead amputated by generic Cadmus scientists.
    • Maxwell Lord was the one who killed Ted "Blue Beetle" Kord in Infinite Crisis, but in the show, Kord was murdered by Deathstroke and Sportsmaster.
    • Paul Westfield is entirely removed from Superboy's origin, with Lex Luthor taking his place as Conner's creator from the very beginning, and Blockbuster fills Westfield's role as the lead scientist in the facility where Conner is hidden. Regarding other characters associated with the Kon-El Superboy, while Dubbilex appears, there is no indication of Tana Moon, Rex Leech or Rex's daughter Roxy Leech existing.
    • The episode "Misplaced" is loosely adapted from JLA: World Without Grownups, but leaves out the storyline's antagonists Matthew Stuart and Bedlam, replacing them with Klarion the Witch Boy, the Wizard, Blackbriar Thorn, Felix Faust and Wotan.
    • Bart Allen seemingly has half of his heritage adapted out. In the comics, he's a descendant of both Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne. The show makes no mention of his Thawne heritage, and there's not even a hint that there has ever been anyone who uses the Reverse-Flash moniker. This also means the only time traveler part of Flash's rogues gallery to appear is Abra Kadabra.
    • Beast Boy in the original comics had two parents, Mark and Marie Logan, but in the show, only Marie appears, with no mention being made of Mark. Nicholas Galtry, who was Beast Boy's legal guardian after he was orphaned and before he became Elasti-Girl's adopted son, is also omitted.
    • Season 4 does a similar trick with Orphan. Of her two parents in the comics, only her mother Lady Shiva appears, with her father David Cain being entirely absent (and subsequently, Shiva assumes his role of being the one who ensured Orphan could never speak). By extension, Sportsmaster being reimagined as a blonde-haired assassin who was abusive to Artemis may have been the result of him becoming a Composite Character with David Cain.
    • This continuity's version of the Doom Patrol, much like most animated incarnations since their depiction in Teen Titans (2003), is based chiefly on the roster of the original Arnold Drake series (albeit with Larry Trainor/Negative Man substituted with an interpretation of Valentina Vostok/Negative Woman) and eschews nearly every member who was introduced in Paul Kupperberg's run and beyond (an interpretation of Casey Brinke from Gerard Way's run appears, but is depicted as a normal human and an emergency medical technician rather than a comic book character brought to life, plus she has no apparent ties to this continuity's Doom Patrol).
    • Word of God confirms that the Speed Force, the power source of speedsters from the 1990s onward, doesn't exist in the show's continuity. There has been some flipflopping over this, as the Speed Force being a multiversal concept later led to showrunner Greg Weisman, who found the concept to be ridiculousnote , declaring that "if it exists, no one knows it exists". Regardless, it has led to some speedsters being shown with slightly weaker powers, like Bart Allen using a time machine rather than naturally being capable of time travel, the Cosmic Treadmill being used as a glorified hyperdrive in season 4 despite usually being the device speedsters used for traveling through time, and a recreation of Barry Allen's death scene in Crisis on Infinite Earths being applied to Wally West with him Killed Off for Real with no hint of resurrection like with other speedster deaths.

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