Adaptational Protagonist

An adaptation always means having to tweak the original work to better fit the new medium's constraints. This occasionally results in shifting the characters' roles. For instance, they might become The Protagonist. You know, that person whom the narrative revolves around and whose viewpoint is used to tell the story.

As for who can become the main character, well, just about anyone. If it's a secondary character with a moderate-to-minor role, then it doubles as Ascended Extra as well. However, the character may have belonged to a group of Rotating Protagonists in the original work. Or they were the Deuteragonist, sharing the spotlight with someone else, but now the story is mostly about them. Or it's just that the Decoy Protagonist or Supporting Protagonist gained more prominence.

Alternatively, the creators are making a Continuity Reboot and decide to re-start anew with a fresh protagonist instead of rehashing the usual lead's storylines. This trick is particularly useful if the latest iteration ended not so long ago. It's also great if a creator wants to offer variety but is not fond of Tone Shifts.

It can overlap with Pragmatic Adaptation, such as when one particular character is chosen to be the protagonist in a film from an otherwise equally-weighted Ensemble Cast—usually with a Switching P.O.V. conceit—to make the story easier to structure into a screenplay. In which case it's probably an Enforced Trope.

This trope is restricted to adaptations and Continuity Reboots only because Prequel/Sequel Series and Spin-Offs have changing the cast and protagonist baked into their definitions. For Twice-Told Tales, we already have Perspective Flip, which focuses on the opposite P.O.V. (that of the antagonist/villain), and P.O.V. Sequel, when a sequel retells the original installment from someone else's perspective.

Very common in Fan Works, although for entirely different reasons. One of the perks of writing fanfiction is that you can speculate how the story would look if it was about other characters—who have strengths, weaknesses, skillsets, wants, and needs different from that of the original lead.

Note that this doesn't apply if the new main protagonist is an Original Character or Canon Foreigner that didn't exist in the original material. It's meaningful when an adaptation shifts both the lead role and Point of View to a secondary character, as it expands on what was previously established. A character produced out of nothingness just tweaks the story to cater to them. Likewise for a Continuity Reboot.

Sister Trope of Ascended Extra, which is when a minor character gains more prominence (not necessarily the lead role). Another difference with that trope is that the promoted protagonist might not start as an extra but as a major or even main character. Opposite Trope of Demoted to Extra, for when a character with a major-to-moderate role gets degraded to a minor character. Compare Breakout Character, which might be the reason to promote a character to the main role. Contrast A Day in the Limelight, for when the work as a whole doesn't switch protagonists but devotes an episode to a non-protagonist character. It might overlap with Role Swap AU if a character is swapped to the protagonist's role and the viewpoint changes to the former. See also Hero of Another Story, because non-major character(s) who have their own adventures, you usually just don't get to see them.

Note: When adding examples, please remember to state both the new protagonist's original role and in which ways the adaptation/retelling focuses on them.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Cardcaptor Sakura: When Nelvana brought the anime adaptation over to the West, several episodes were cut out or rewritten. Li Syaoran goes from Love Interest to Sakura's Deuteragonist. Nelvana even renamed the series Card Captors to reflect their now equal standing. In the original version, Li starts out as The Rival for the Clow Cards and remains an important but secondary character.
• Gankutsuou: The anime adapts the story of The Count of Monte Cristo largely from the perspective of Albert de Morcerf rather than the titular count. In the source material, Albert is a very minor character that the Count encounters during his quest for revenge. Here, the Count is the villain and the story centers around Albert betraying the Count and then dealing with his own family matters.
• Kotoura-san: The manga has Yoshihisa as the sole protagonist. The Animated Adaptation upgrades his girlfriend Haruka's role from an important secondary character to the protagonist, mainly because of an emphasis on her healing.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Pokémon: The Original Series: In the original Pokémon games and their remakes (Red and Blue, FireRed and LeafGreen) and the second generation (Gold and Silver), Brock and Misty are, respectively, the Rock-type and Water-type Gym Leaders who can be defeated by the player at the beginning of their journey and are forgotten about as soon as the player continues on the Victory Road. However, in this first anime series, Misty is introduced right in the first episode and becomes Ash's companion from then on. Come episode 5, Brock is introduced as the Pewter City gym leader, and, in the final minutes, decides to accompany Ash on his journey. The trio make up the protagonists and remain as such for the first 5 seasons for Misty and the first 13 seasons for Brock.
  • The same is then also true of Iris and Cilan in the Black and White seasons, Clement and Bonnie in the XY seasons. Aside from Lillie, who is vital to the story of the Gen 7 games, the Alola season adds Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, & Sophocles as major characters as well. Keep in mind, that these four were trial captains in the game, who don't appear much after their trials have been completed.
  • Similarly Red was only the protagonist in the Gen I games and their Gen III remakes, while Ash, his anime counterpart remained the protagonist in the seasons that adapt the later games until he was replaced in Pokémon Horizons: The Series.
• Sakura Wars: While Sakura is a major character in the games, the TV series turns her into the main protagonist.
• Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: What seems to be a straight adaptation of the comic books quickly goes Off the Rails when Scott is seemingly killed in the first episode. The main role then shifts to Ramona for the bulk of the series.
• Yatterman Night: Previous animes feature the Doronbo as the Goldfish Poop Gang that the Yatterman duo constantly fights. In this series, however, they (or rather their descendants) serve as the main protagonists while Yattermans are the villains. At least until it is revealed that Lord Dokurobei is behind their suffering all along.

Comic Books

• Spider-Gwen: In the main Spider-Man continuity, Gwen Stacy was the hero's Love Interest infamously killed off in The Night Gwen Stacy Died back in 1973. Spider-Gwen, who first appeared in the Spider-Verse in 2014, got her own Role Swap AU comic line in 2015 centering around Gwen being the one who got bit by the radioactive spider instead of Peter, becoming Spider-Woman/Ghost Spider.

Fan Works

• The 40: Many of the characters that were either the Deuteragonist or an important supporting character in their own series' get their own viewpoints in the story.
• Arenas: The original Quake III: Arena has no clear protagonist—the Decoy Protagonist Sarge turns out to be the very first boss of the game and the protagonists of Quake and Quake II—respectively Ranger and Bitterman—are just made into regular fighters. Meanwhile, the the Doom Marine is just another combatant. This web animation, by contrast, Arenas is entirely focused on Doom's trials and tribulations during the whole thing.
• As Fate Would Have It: Whilst Nate remains as one of the protagonists, his now-explicitly love interest Yancy, who was a Secret Character in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, now has a much larger role and serves as a protagonist herself, with several of the story's chapters being from her own point-of-view.
• Begrudging Assistance Requests: While Henry is still a major player in the story, Ellie ultimately gets more focus as the story revolves around her decisions and dealing with them.
• Cat-Ra: This is a Role Swap AU exploring What If? it was Catra who touched the Sword of Protection. It would be she who got accosted by Light Shadow's whispers and visions, who would befriend Glimmer and Bow and join the Rebellion, and most importantly, who would become the new incarnation of She-Ra. As such, Catra is now the Chosen One and the protagonist, while Adora becomes the Deuteragonist (with less screen time).
• Chiaroscuro: As a Point of Divergence a hard-working Shikamaru is rookie of the year and, thus, assigned to Team 7 with Naruto and Ino. Unlike canon, he's not Naruto's Deuteragonist and Rival but the sole protagonist whose genius and ninja career we explore.
• Danganronpa Re:Programmed: It's a fanfic based on Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, with the protagonist now being Chihiro Fujisaki. Chihiro was an important character in the original game, although most of his contributions happened posthumously. Here, he takes up the main role of Hope Bringer to the others and leads the discussions to find the true killer, and his canonical death is averted.
• Dodged a Beetle: Because Marinette gives Lila the Ladybug earrings, it's Lila who becomes Paris' beloved hero, Bella Stella, working alongside Chat Noir and being mentored by Tikki. While the narrative occasionally flashes to Marinette's Point of View, she is a Decoy Protagonist and most of the story is about Lila's superheroing exploits and attempts to make Adrien fall in love with her.
• The Ellie Rose Collection: As suggested in the title, Ellie is the "playable" character instead of Henry.
• An Encore From My Crying Heart: It's a fanfic based on Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony that averts the First-Episode Twist of Decoy Protagonist Kaede Akamatsu being killed as the first culprit. This is due to Shuichi Saihara, the canonical true protagonist, taking advantage of the First Blood rule which allows the first culprit to leave without consequences. He claims to have killed Rantaro, wanting to save Kaede from being executed. This action causes Shuichi to leave the Deadly Game alive while allowing Kaede to remain the protagonist for the entire story.
• from porcelain to ivory to steel: Sherry Polnareff in Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders was a Posthumous Character whose death and rape by J. Geil was the motivation of her brother Jean-Pierre, the Deuteragonist to the Part's protagonist Jotaro Kujo. from porcelain to ivory to steel has Sherry surviving the encounter at the cost of her brother's death, and primarily follows her effort to hunt down and kill J. Geil along with defeating DIO with the other Crusaders.
• Flowing Star: Stella was a mere side character from The Loud House who mostly appeared in Lincoln-focused episodes. Here, she is the star of this AU, with her moving the plot and sharing the point-of-view with Lincoln, who is a co-protagonist.
• Hermione Granger: The Witching Hour: Hermione is part of the canonical protagonist Power Trio, albeit not the protagonist by virtue of not being the Chosen One and enjoying less "screen time" than Harry. Here, the Point of View shifts entirely to her and her Peggy Sue shenanigans in an RPG Mechanics 'Verse.
• How Friendship Accidentally Saved Magical Britain: Fred and George Weasley, and Tom Riddle are the primary protagonists and the only narrators of the fic. While Harry Potter himself, although still important, only shows up a handful of times as a secondary character at best. Focusing on characters outside of Harry's year gives a slightly more normal look at life at Hogwarts without the "Boy Who Lived" stuff being as prominent. It also gives insight into the sheer amount of work, research, and ingenuity that goes into the twins' famous pranks, as well as a closer look into the founding and development of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and the owl-order service that preceded it.
• I'd Trade My Life For Yours: In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, the game this fan work is based on, has First-Episode Twist regarding Kaede Akamatsu, the playable character of the prologue and the majority of chapter 1. She is actually a Decoy Protagonist who was blackened in the first trial and killed off as per the rules of the Deadly Game. This fanfic averts said twist, as Shuichi Saihara, the actual protagonist of the game, chooses to take the fall for her, leading to her remaining as the protagonist for the entire story.
• Intercom: Inside Out is the tale of Joy and Sadness, a dysfunctional duo of emotions that live in a girl's brain (Riley), with the girl serving more as a setting and a way to showcase the consequence of Joy and Sadness' actions. Intercom, on the other hand, puts all of the emotions as the supporting cast and brings Riley to the forefront. Once she learns she has five little voices in her head, it's no longer her emotions piloting her but Riley herself exploring her own mindscape, befriending her emotions, and struggling to get more agency in her life.
• Little Nightmares: The Butterfly Effect: The other adults all ascend to this role the second they hear word of Raine and the Pretender surviving the fall from Nest's cliff. The Wax Bellman, a cut character from the first game, gets a major role as not only the Maw's bellman but also the Lady's caretaker. Similarly, the hooded children Six meets by the fire in the Maw also gets this treatment, becoming heroes of their own story moreso in the Wilderness Arc. Similarly, Lez who was one of the main antagonists in The Seven Year Nightmare gets reverted to a protagonist role thanks to the cycle and Mono.
• More Than Enemies: While the third-person narrator switches the P.O.V. between several characters fairly frequently, Sakura is the undeniable protagonist. Not only do we spend the most time following her but she's the reason why the fic's events diverge from canon and the plot is structured around her growth as both a person and a kunoichi. She interacts with most of the other major players (Kakashi, Itachi, and Orochimaru) or, at least, people who know them. In canon, she was the least important element of the protagonist Power Trio, often overshadowed by the myriad of minor characters.
• More Than Human: The Rowdyruff Boys were mere Villains Of The Week in the source material, even if they were promoted to the rogue gallery in Season 5 and 6. Here, the spotlight is evenly split between them and The Girls.
• My Deepest, Darkest Secret: In the original webtoon, Solon was at best a supporting character, albeit one with a minor character arc following the reveal of his true heritage. Here, he's the main protagonist and the whole story centers on said character arc: him becoming less distrustful and aggressive and more calmer and kinder, identity crisis over his hybrid heritage and relationship with Enzy.
• Pokémon Crossing: Benedict, Tank, and Kidd are only three out of hundreds of villagers in Animal Crossing. Here, they're the main protagonists and the story follows their journey through the Hoenn region. Tom Nook, Isabelle, and K.K. Slider only sporadically appear, while the player character/human villager is removed entirely from the story.
• Reality Collides: The Ezekiel Chronicles: Justified with the current Ezekiel given his reincarnation status. In the original cartoon, he's a minor Flat Character who gets kicked off early in the In-Universe show due to his shelter-homeschooled life on the farm and sexist beliefs. Things don't get better for him in the later seasons after being reduced to a Feral Villain till he gets an Earn Your Happy Ending by living inside the Fun Zone with the mutated animals, who accept him and treat him like their king. In the fic, he's The Protagonist who is a growing popular writer and a major team player on the Killer Bass who greatly helps them become formidable against the Screaming Gophers.
• Resonance Days: Kyoko's not the main character in canon, being a supporting one and a minor one in the series and rebellion respectively. While Resonance Days is an ensemble story, Kyoko has by far the most focus and development of the group.
• Rick and The Loud House: In "Loudest Mission: Rickshank Rickdemption", The Casagrandes are sidelined in this adaptation of "Loudest Mission", with the honor of protagonist going towards Rick, Lori, and Leni as they try to defeat the Galactic Federation. At best, the family only plays supporting roles.
• SAVETHEM: Juju is made the protagonist of the story instead of Treat, Mochi or Moxie.
• Star Spark: Stella Zhau is made the main protagonist of the Alternate Universe the fanfic is set into instead of Lincoln, with the story focusing on her adventures and life in this version of Royal Woods.
• Time to Disinfect: While Mari in OMORI canon is extremely important to the game's background and closely related to the protagonist, she's ultimately a secondary character, not even part of the main playable party. Here she's the central protagonist, with the narrative exclusively following her viewpoint (no matter how unreliable).
• The Warrior's Daughter: Bra, instead of Trunks, is Vegeta and Bulma's firstborn, and so she's the one who experiences humanity's genocide at the hands of the androids, gets trained by Gohan, and travels to the past to fix it all. In canon, she never even trains as a fighter and is, at best, a minor character. Additionally, the canonical Androids and Cell Arcs focus on Gohan's Character Development while Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks act as supporting cast. Here, the story is told primarily from Bra's perspective and she takes a more active role in both bonding with her father and defeating the androids. Trunks' death in the canon is used to punish Vegeta. Bra's death is a Heroic Sacrifice key to defeating Cell.
• What if Pokémon were SCPs?: In the Pokémon franchise, Professor Samuel Oak in the games just shows up to give the Player Character their starter Pokemon, their Pokedex, and some Poke Balls to start their journey, and in the anime series, he's a supporting character who helps Ash out with whatever he's doing at the moment. In Christian's Pokemon as SCPs series, however, (in addition to other SCP videos) Professor Dresden Oakland is basically the main character, seeing as he's the narrator expositing the lore behind each entity kept in containment by the Foundation, along with detailing their struggles to prevent individuals like Ash from breaking The Masquerade they work so hard to maintain, and a later episode details how Oakland ends up becoming one of the main villains of Christian's original Tales of the Multiverse series.

Films — Animation

• Aladdin: In the original tale of Aladdin, Aladdin is the protagonist, and the tale focuses on his rise from a lowly commoner to a rich prince by the use of a magic lamp. The princess of the original tale, Badroulbadour (meaning "Full Moon of Moons") is the Standard Hero Reward for Aladdin—or, in Princess Jasmine's words, "a prize to be won". Fast forward to 1992 and Disney's version tries to rectify the princess's presence in their adaptation by developing her character so she can be somewhat of equal standing with Aladdin.
• Donkey Xote: A cartoon of 2007 that recounts the story of Don Quixote from the Unreliable Narrator perspective of Dapple and Rosinante—respectively, Sancho Panza's donkey and Don Quixote's horse. The film can be considered Dapple and Rosinante's autobiography.
• Frozen (2013): The film is loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. Unlike the tale, it has two female protagonists, the sisters Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. Anna is this movie's version of Gerda, The Heroine of the original story, while Elsa is a Composite Character of Gerda's male friend, Kai, and the Snow Queen—who is not so much of a true villain, just the one who takes Kai with her during a snowy night, prompting Gerda's quest for him.
• Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Believe it or not, Quasimodo was never supposed to be the main character of the novel Notre-Dame de Paris. The actual protagonists of Victor Hugo's work are Pierre Gringoire (who functions as an Author Avatar), La Esmeralda, Claude Frollo (a much more complex character than later portrayals), Phoebus Chateaupers and the cathedral itself (which is elaborately described in a chapter halfway through the book). They all interact with Quasimodo, but he barely gains plot relevance until the climax (possibly the only part most people know of, Disney movie or not). This is also the reason why Victor Hugo despised the title of the first English translation: it puts emphasis on the wrong character and undermines the importance of the rest of the above-mentioned cast.
• KonoSuba: The "Legend of Crimson" movie condenses parts of the relevant volumes as well as the spinoffs that star Megumin (which depict her misadventures before winding up in the town of Axel and joining Kazuma's party). As a result, she becomes the Deuteragonist alongside Kazuma.

Films — Live-Action

• Aladdin (2019): The film follows Disney's idea of giving the original Aladdin's Princess Badroulbadour (now named Jasmine) more prominence. This time, it goes even further as not only is Jasmine Aladdin's Deuteragonist but she is also responsible for half the plot's events. She becomes a (good-intentioned) politically ambitious princess who becomes Sultana at the end of the movie.
• Bram Stoker's Dracula: In the original Dracula, following the first act—told from Jonathan's POV—the novel rotates between the protagonists (as well as some minor characters), as the story is told primarily via letters, diary entries and so forth. Despite him being the primary antagonist, we never get Dracula's personal perspective. In the 1992 film, Dracula is positioned as the Villain Protagonist of the story, with his relationship with Mina getting particular prominence. Also, the movie goes for a Reincarnation Romance angle between Mina and Dracula. As such, Mina is also given more focus compared to the other protagonists.
• The Call of the Wild: In the book, the story is told from Buck's point of view. In every live-action adaptation since then, John Thornton becomes the protagonist, even though he doesn't even appear until halfway through the original version.
• Cats: In the original musical, Victoria has a minor role with no speaking lines, and her actress emotes entirely through ballet dancing. The 2019 film promotes her to the main character and expands on her backstory, explaining that she was abandoned by her human owners before being adopted by the Jellicle tribe.
• First Knight: The titular "first knight" is Lancelot (played by Richard Gere). The film does away with the magical elements of the Arthurian mythos (e.g., Morgan Le Fay, Merlin, Lady of the Lake), and establishes Camelot as a medieval kingdom ruled by a fair King Arthur. The story, however, focuses on the infamous Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle, by placing Lancelot in the spotlight. The film is his journey, and, at the ending, a dying Arthur passes on the crown and the kingdom to him, and allows Guinevere to be with him. In the original Arthuriana, Lancelot is a character inserted into the Arthurian mythos by the French wing of medieval authors.
• Horror of Dracula: This feature adapts Bram Stoker's novel Dracula with some changes. While the book has an Ensemble Cast (with Mina and Jonathan being the two most central protagonists), the film elevates Dr. Van Helsing from Eccentric Mentor to the star of the whole motion picture. Everyone else is demoted to minor roles and it even kills off Jonathan in the first act.
• Invasion of the Saucer Men: The main character of "The Cosmic Frame" is actually Johnny's dad, Sam, but the filmmakers, knowing who their audience would be, decided to change the focus to the teen couple themselves. This meant expanding Joan's role in particular, since she only has a single line of dialogue in the original story, while Sam barely appears in the film.
• Maleficent takes Disney's Sleeping Beauty and reworks its story so that the main character is none other than the original's Big Bad, Maleficent—relegating Princess Aurora and the Three Fairies (who had the biggest share of the spotlight in the 1959 animation) to supporting characters.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • In The Infinity Gauntlet, the Avengers are basically there to help up the death toll and make for an exciting battle with the all-but-godlike Thanos. In particular, Iron Man has his head unceremoniously pulled off and Captain America is the last man standing before Thanos shatters his shield and snaps his neck. Instead, Adam Warlock is the one who plans and finally carries out a plan to bring Thanos down. When the story was adapted into the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers take center stage, with Iron Man being the one to put Thanos down once and for all; at this point in the MCU, Adam Warlock had yet to exist aside from a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and would not surface until the aftermath in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  • The Civil War event was a Crisis Crossover involving the whole Marvel Universe and focusing on different viewpoints from the two fractions of Captain America and Iron Man. While both of them and some other superheroes are involved in the narrative of Captain America: Civil War, the movie is clearly a Captain America movie and a follow-up to Steve Rogers' and Bucky Barnes' story in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
  • Captain Marvel (2019) is loosly based on Avengers: The Kree/Skrull War. The movie lets out all the other Avengers and while the storyline in the comics involves Captain Marvel, it is the Mar-Vell incarnation of the character while the movie is about Carol Danvers.
  • An odd case with Thor: Ragnarok: The Sakaar-arc of that movies is based on Planet Hulk which is a story about the Hulk. While Hulk appears in the movie as the deuteragonist, the protagonist of the movie is of course Thor - who isn't part of the original storyline at all.
• Our Ladies (2019): While The Sopranos (Warner), the novel the film is based on, features an Ensemble Cast with a relatively even distribution of time spent with the leads by the omniscient third person narrator, the film makes Orla a Character Narrator and the Point of View character.
• Race to Witch Mountain: In the original Escape to Witch Mountain, the two kids are the protagonists. They are helped out by an initially cynical man, Jason O'Day, but he's clearly a supporting character in their story. In the reboot/remake Race to Witch Mountain, Jason's counterpart is Jack Bruno, and since he's played by Dwayne Johnson, it goes without saying that he's the protagonist now. Notably, the emotional core of Escape is based on the kids' Quest for Identity, with Jason's arc being a side plot. In Race, the kids know who they are from the start, thus putting all the emphasis on Jack's development.
• Renfield: This 2023 movie is a Horror Comedy movie based on Dracula (1897), that surprisingly brings to the spotlight a lesser character of the book: Renfield, Dracula's sycophantic familiar. Renfield focuses on the master-servant/slave relationship between the vampire lord and The Renfield, but from the point of view of the latter, and how such a relationship can be psychologically detrimental to the familiar, who is exploited by his master.
• Street Fighter: In all Street Fighter media, especially the video games, it's Ryu the character who's at the very top of the billing. But in this 1994 film adaptation, it's the American Guile the main protagonist. Guile was introduced in Street Fighter II as just another combatant.
• To Kill a Mockingbird: It's a subtle example. In both the book and the film, it can be generally said that Scout Finch is a First-Person Peripheral Narrator while Atticus Finch is the real protagonist. However, the novel is tilted more in the direction of Scout being an actual protagonist, and the film is tilted more in the direction of Atticus being the unambiguous protagonist. While the movie does retain Scout's narration, the coming-of-age subplots that focused on her are almost entirely Adapted Out, removing whatever protagonist status she had in the book.
• Trainspotting: Although Renton does feature heavily in the original novel, the book's overall structure is diffuse, dealing with several different characters' points of view. Rather than adapting the novel into an Anthology Film, the movie makes Renton the lead character.
• Transformers Film Series: The first three films (Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon) have Sam Witwicky as the protagonist. He stumbles upon and befriends the Autobots and then gets help from the human government when they are to face the Decepticons. Sam is a version of Spike Witwicky, who in The Transformers was the primary human ally of the Autobots and a significant supporting character (even getting a few A Day in the Limelight episodes), while his The Transformers (Marvel) self would become the Headmaster partner of Fortress Maximus. An offhand comment in Transformers: The Last Knight suggest that Sam died or was killed in the intervening years.
• X-Men Film Series:
  • In the main timeline of the Marvel Comics, Mystique is introduced as a villain to Ms. Marvel in the late-1970s, later migrating to the X-Men comics under Chris Claremont during Days of Future Past (1981), and becoming a fixture. During certain periods of the comics, Mystique is affiliated with an X-team, but her stints are always part of some secret plan. In the First Class series, however, she becomes a major protagonist because she's reintroduced as Xavier's adoptive sister in X-Men: First Class (2011), and founds the X-Men with him in the same movie. She later returns as a member at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and during Dark Phoenix (2019).
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past: The protagonist of the original Days of Future Past is Kitty Pryde, however, it's changed to Wolverine for the movie. This is because Kitty was largely Out of Focus for the X-Men film series, so the plotline wouldn't make as much sense to wider audiences if it was starring her. She is still the catalyst for Time Travel in the movie.

Literature

• Song of Achilles: In this adaptation of The Iliad, Achilles' companion, Patroclus, becomes the protagonist. The beginning of the book is solely focused on his childhood, and later on, his interactions with Achilles as a child. The story here is largely about the two characters' love, and less time is spent on the Trojan War. Patroclus remains the protagonist even when he has already died: he retells the last few chapters as a ghost.
• The Squire's Tales: The main premise of the novels is retelling the Arthurian Legend from the perspective of characters other than the knights. For example, the story of Sir Gareth focuses on Lynet, with the dwarf, named Roger (or actually Gaheris) as Deuteragonist. Likewise, the story of Ywain is told from the perspective of Luneta.
• Wish (2023): The tie-in book A Recipe for Adventure shows the film's events from the perspective of Asha's best friend Dahlia, a supportive side character. The book expands on her scenes and feelings throughout the movie and focuses on her decision to break the rules, stick with Asha, and defy her king.

Live-Action TV

• The Andromeda Strain: The original book and first adaptation were ensemble pieces but gave Dr. Mark Hall greater focus because of his importance as the Odd Man who was the only one who could shut down Wildfire's nuclear self-destruct. The miniseries gives Dr. Stone the greater protagonist role by being the one who shuts down Wildfire's self-destruct, with Hall's stand-in being one of the characters who is killed running the climactic gauntlet.
• Animorphs has the same ensemble cast as the books, but sometimes changes the protagonist between individual adventures.
  • The first book, The Invasion, had Jake as the protagonist. In the show it's broken up over three or four episodes, with one of them narrated by Marco.
  • The book The Reaction focused on Rachel getting Power Incontinence after acquiring a crocodile. The corresponding episode gave this story to Cassie, possibly because not a lot of Cassie-centric books wound up being adapted.
• Batwoman: The series initially follows the adventures of Kate Kane, as in the Batwoman comics. However, after the sudden departure of star Ruby Rose, the showrunners were told to create a new protagonist, and thus the show became focused on Ryan Wilder, the daughter of Jada Jet who finds the Batsuit in the same plane crash in which Kate disappears.
• Dracula (2013): The series is a very loose retelling of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. In the original text, Dracula is the foreign antagonist to the quintessentially British protagonists, Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, and Lucy Westenra, plus her suitors. Adaptations of it turn Dracula into a Villain Protagonist and prop up a love story with Mina, and, depending on the work, may fall into the trap of excessively villainizing Abraham Van Helsing and/or Jonathan Harker, who is Mina's original Love Interest. This one-season show features Mina Murray as an increasingly independent woman who enrolls at medical school, while Dracula poses as an American entrepreneur named Alexander Grayson. As with other adaptations, Dracula-as-Grayson makes his moves on Mina romantically, while knowing she is engaged to Jonathan.
• The Durrells is based on Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals but is from the perspective of his mother, Louisa. Young Gerry's tendency to bring animals into the house is just one more thing she has to deal with.
• Horatio Hornblower: The second series is adapted from the novel Lieutenant Hornblower which features sidekick Lieutenant Bush as the Supporting Protagonist. The show reverts to focusing on Hornblower as the main and P.O.V. character much like other novels and the other live-action series do.
• House of the Dragon: Fire & Blood is written like a history book and tells the Targaryen family's conflicts in a detached third-party way. The parts of it adapted into the series are reframed into the story of Princess Rhaenyra trying to claim her throne against the setting-wide Heir Club for Men.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Silmarillion and Appendices of The Lord of the Rings are a collection of myths that chronicles the tales of different legendary figures from Arda and the history of First and Second Ages, using an impersonal third person tone. The show reframes the events of the Second Age around Galadriel and her enmity with Sauron, turning her into the protagonist of the story, and makes her part of storylines she was never part of in the books (she never went to Numenor or met any major character from there, like she does in the show).
• Merlin (2008): Merlin the wizard becomes the main protagonist instead of the future King Arthur in this prequel/adaptation of the Arthurian Legend. While Arthur plays a major role, the series is more concerned with Merlin's magical shenanigans, rivalries, and his attempts to guide Arthur.
• The Mists of Avalon: Morgaine or Morgan Le Fay is almost always depicted as King Arthur's diabolical and sorcerous elder half-sister who sires Mordred after an incestuous encounter with him, and is almost always the default antagonist whenever Merlin or King Arthur is involved. However, in the mini-series, Morgaine is catapulted to the spotlight: she becomes an apprentice to the druids and witches of Avalon, follows pagan traditions, and becomes a sorceress in her own right. She still antagonizes Arthur, Merlin, and Camelot, but out of need to preserve Britain's religious traditions against what she perceives to be a foreign invader: Christianity.
• Once Upon a Time: Being a Fairy Tale Free-for-All/Massive Multiplayer Crossover, it brings together characters from different fairy tales and fantasy works in a single, continuous storyline where they influence each other's stories.
  • Beginning with season 2, the series brings in Captain Hook as an antagonist, anticipating their version of Neverland, which happens in season 3A. In their version of Peter Pan, both Pan and Hook are antagonists to the main characters, but Hook undergoes a Heel–Face Turn and falls in love with the series' heroine, Emma Swan. Pan is dealt with at the end of season 3A, while Hook goes on to be part of the main cast for the rest of the show. This is highly unusual for adaptations of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, since many of them focus on the titular puer aeternus himself, or on Wendy Darling and her younger brothers.
  • In season 3B, the series introduces Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West, as Regina's, The Evil Queen, half-sister, as part of their adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. In further seasons, Zelena gets the focus whenever the series gets back to Oz and its related characters. This differs from the usual adaptations of the novel, which focus on a certain little girl from Kansas, her pet dog, and her three friends, a lion, a tin man, and a scarecrow, and their adventures. Although Dorothy does appear in some episodes of the series, the focus remains solely on Zelena.

Theatre

• Majora: It's a musical retelling of the plot of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, but it cuts out Link in favor of focusing on Kafei's quest to retrieve his stolen Sun Mask before the day of his wedding to Anju while getting dragged into the game's main quest.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: The play turns Sweeney Todd into its Villain Protagonist thanks to a good helping of Adaptational Sympathy—which includes the loss of his daughter, the Damsel in Distress Joanna. This is a far cry from the original Sweeney Todd story, The String of Pearls, where Joanna is the protagonist trying to save her boyfriend from the villainous Todd, with whom she has no familial connection.
• Tanz Der Vampire: The stage musical is a musical adaptation of Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers. The original Vienna production (1997) follows the movie pretty closely, with its focus on Alfred, a young student and assistant to Professor Abronsius in their journey to Central/Eastern Europe in search of vampires. Word of God by its librettist, Michael Kunze, states that the musical is Alfred's story first and foremost. However, when the musical crossed the Atlantic and appeared on Broadway as the failed Dance of the Vampires, its focus shifted away from Alfred to Sarah Chagal, Alfred's explicit Love Interest who was a mere Damsel in Distress in the movie, but gained some character depth in the Vienna production.
• Wicked: This musical adaptation of Gregory Maguire's Wicked elevates G(a)linda to co-protagonist when she was just a supporting character in the novel and the original Oz books. The story is still about Elphaba's journey but her interactions with Glinda matter just as much. Glinda even gets her own Character Arc.

Video Games

• Corruption Expanded: In Mid-Fight Masses, Ruv is only a supporting character with only one song that is about him battling Boyfriend. In here, Ruv gets an entire week that is filled with three songs related to his mission in rescuing Sarvente in her church.
• Gihren's Greed: The playable characters don't have a protagonist role in the Gundam series they first appear as those are normally small in scale. There, they end to be Greater-Scope Paragon, Greater-Scope Villain, Big Good, or Big Bad characters. Here, they are the leaders of the various factions in a war simulation based on the Gundam lore and canonical events. In some cases, the playable character only interacts with those Plot Points as if they were receiving after-action reports—e.g. "General, the 08th MS team successfully destroyed the experimental Mobile Armor, but Lieutenant Shiro Amada is MIA.". In others, they influence the possible outcome—e.g. playing as Blex in the Zeta Gundam era and failing to take precautions results in your assassination like in canon.
• Sengoku Ace: Overlapping with Market-Based Title, the second title of the series, Sengoku Blade, received outside Japan the name of Tengai. Which is the name of the Warrior Monk of the series and one of his main characters, making him The Protagonist by default instead of Koyori (called here as "Miko").
• The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror: Several levels have the player playing as a different Simpson family member than the protagonist of the original Treehouse of Horror short.
  • In "Fly vs Fly," the original protagonist was Bart. In "Flying Tonight," it's Maggie.
  • "Plan 9 From Outer Springfield" combines the plots of "Dial 'Z' for Zombies" and "The HΩmega Man." In the first short, the protagonists were Bart and Lisa, while the latter one had Homer. In "Plan 9," however the protagonist is Marge.
  • "Bart Simpson's Dracula" had Lisa as the protagonist, with Bart acting as a Decoy Protagonist. In "Vlad All Over" however, the protagonist is Homer.
  • In "Nightmare Cafeteria," the protagonist is implied to be Bart given that the ending reveals it to be his nightmare. In the level based on the short, however, the protagonist is Lisa.

Web Animation

• Nightmare City: Giko was one of the more popular memes to come from 2channel, but if any character could really be described as "the protagonist of 2channel" it would be Mona.

Web Original

• Spaghetti Ice: Vic goes from Arc Villain to supporting cast member in Spaghetti Ice to protagonist in Fondant.

Web Video

• Discussed in Bennett the Sage's review of Night Warriors: Darkstalker's Revenge, as while he recognizes that Donovan Baine was The Hero of Darkstalkers II, he's the opinion that Donovan is a boring character and finds his constant angst annoying, thinking someone else should have been the lead character of the anime instead.

Western Animation

• Aladdin: The Series: Unlike the Aladdin tale and following the trend set by the animated film, this subsequent TV series has Jasmine share the spotlight with her beloved.
• Clone High: In the revival series, Joan becomes the central figure rather than Abe.
• Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai: Sam Wing becomes the main character of the prequel.
• Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: The show focuses on a young Peter Parker and his roommates and friends: the mutants Firestar (Angelica Jones)—created for the show—and Iceman (Bobby Drake). In the comics, Bobby Drake is a regular member of the X-Men and has sparingly starred in his own arcs and comic series, being the Plucky Comic Relief whenever he is a team player. Unlike the comics, Iceman becomes part of the protagonists and doesn't belong to the X-Men team (which pops up here and there during the series).
• Street Fighter: All of the Street Fighter video games and most of their related media have Ryu as the lead character, whose Walking the Earth lifestyle allows him to compete in tournaments with the rest of the fighters. One of them is Guile, from Street Fighter II, whom this 1995 animated series puts as protagonist much like the film.
• Thomas & Friends: While The Railway Series, the source material, has an ensemble cast with no series-wide protagonist, this animated adaptation puts the titular Breakout Character in the spotlight.
• Velma: In a lot of Scooby-Doo properties, Velma is a main character but the role of protagonist goes to Scooby (with Shaggy often serving as the Deuteragonist). Velma is the main protagonist of this show due to Scooby being Adapted Out.
• Wolverine and the X-Men: In the comics, for decades Wolverine was a pivotal character of the rotating Ensemble Cast of the main X-Men books, Uncanny X-Men and X-Men. Barring, of course, his own comic book series, sprung off the main books for his popularity. Whenever there is an Animated Adaptation of the comics, it is almost always about the X-Men as a team, with Professor Xavier, Cyclops, or Storm at the helm. However, this 2009 cartoon's premise is that the X-Men dissolve after a mysterious attack where Jean Grey and Professor Xavier disappear. Years later, it is up to Wolverine to reunite the X-Men and step up as their de facto team leader. It's even lampshaded in the title who the (new) protagonist is supposed to be.

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