History AdaptationalBadass / FanWorksAThroughM

** Non-combat example: On top of being a fashion designer for [[SuperHero superheroes]], [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Edna Mode]] also designs [[spoiler:Keyblade Armor]].

[[AC: ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'']]

* ''Fanfic/AllBecauseOfUncleGary'': In the books, Uncle Gary is an unemployed slacker and moocher of little particular accomplishment. Here, he's a practicing black magician and a career criminal that repeatedly pulls off difficult crimes, evades police pursuit and breaks out of prison.

** A couple of gentle nudges to Chichi cause her to decide to go with Goku and Gohan for their search for the Dragon Balls. This starts a progressive building of her confidence that leads to her joining the Z Fighters and getting back into fighting shape. And that's before [[spoiler:they learn that her mother was a Saiyan]].

** Bulma uses her mechanical knowhow to support the others, and that's still her preferred role. But after talking with Kayos, she decides to take active measures by building power armor with electrical weaponry.

** Cell as well. In his first form, he was a weakling that spent most of his time running away and didn't actually start fighting until he absorbed hundreds of thousands of humans' worth of power. Here, he starts kicking ass from the moment he shows up.

* Canonically, Saito was just a regular guy until he was chosen as Louise's familiar. However, in ''Fanfic/ZeroNoTsukaimaSaitoTheOnmyoji'', he was already a fully-accredited mage, and being summoned to Halkegenia only made his powers greater.

* ''Website/FamilyGuyFanon'': Peter when it comes to Francis. While he still loves him like in the OG show, he no longer bothers to seek approval from Francis, as he knows already that it's not worth the work. He also stands up against Francis more often, even revealing in ''"Live in Vegas"'' that he not only revealed to have blackmailed Francis to get him to come but also get to him with mind games.

** Ribesal went from a rather pathetic looking demon made up of scrap to being a gigantic, towering lobster demon who is able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Hades and Anubis.

* ''Fanfic/TheDevilsInTheDetails'': Having more experience under his belt than his counterpart (and being raised by a lawyer and vigilante), Peter is less of a doormat here. He is more confident as a solo hero and feels less obligated to put up with the Avengers and SHEILD whenever either of them gives him trouble, outright threatening Nick Fury when he tries strong-arming him into being involved with the Elemental attacks in Europe.

* The ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/49689625/ Jackpot]]" presents Peter and Mary Jane finding a genie in an alternate post-''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' and using their third wish to bring Gwen Stacy back to life. After the three of them form a triad relationship, Gwen spends the next few weeks working on a formula that will allow her and Mary Jane to gain Peter's powers without ''any'' risk of side-effects, transforming her and Mary Jane into new Spider-Women in the prime Marvel Universe.

* ''Fanfic/EmeraldFurnacePathOfStorms'': Izuku's Quirk allows him to become a mixture of a volcano, snake and campfire and allows him to control fire in both attack and healing, as well as speak the tongue of snakes. However, society thought of it as a villainous Quirk, forcing Izuku to run and eventually join Nine.

* While Inko Midoriya is an ordinary housewife in canon, ''[[Fanfic/KaleidoscopeMHA Kaleidoscope]]'' has her as a retired Underground Pro Hero who's extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat and capable at using her seemingly weak quirk in creative ways to incapacitate her enemies. She's also one who does not take crap towards her family lying down. When her husband Hisashi came home to try and [[FantasticRacism murder Izuku for being Quirkless]], Inko ''erased him from existence'' him by pulling apart his atoms with her Quirk.

* In ''Fanfic/TimeToPlan'', Tech Leader discovers, to her her increasing dismay and fear, that several canon characters have become much more powerful after ten billion years passed in her absence.

** Chichi in canon never fights after marrying Goku aside from training Goten. Here, she continues her training, learns to use KiManipulation from Gine, and even participates in some of the fights.

** In the movie, Zangya only used generic ki attacks and the Psycho Threads. Here, she has [[MakingASplash truly terrifying hydrokinesis]] as well as PrehensileHair.
** In canon, the Androids effortlessly killed Piccolo in Future Trunks' timeline. Here, Piccolo still falls to them, but only after singlehandedly destroying Androids 13, 14, 15, and 19. Android 18 even suggests that he would've put up a better fight had he not exhausted himself against the other Androids.

* In ''Fanfic/SilentPartnerUnfinishedBusiness'', Naomi Misora gets to show off why L was considering her as his successor, and why she got the nickname "[[CrusadingWidow Massacre Misora]]". Misa Amane works her way up from TheLoad to BadassAdorable.

* A fair amount of the cast in ''Fanfic/Digimon02TheStoryWeNeverTold'' falls under this umbrella. The older Digidestined take a much more active role in the post-Digimon Emperor arcs. Sora avoided her {{chickification}}. [[spoiler:Ken built his own anti-Digimon weapons after the death of Wormmon. Kari mastered her powers over light. Dagomon is a threat equal to the Dark Masters. Sora and Matt's fathers (plus Izzy's parents) are revealed to have been the original Digidestined]] But the crown jewel goes to [[spoiler:Yukio Oikawa]]. [[spoiler:In canon, he was nothing more than a pawn of Myotismon. Here he's the BigBad, a former Digidestined, and comes very close to destroying, or rather merging, both worlds. He not only invented most of Ken's technology, but also proved capable of reprogramming the code of the Digital World, he created the D3s, D-Terminals, AND Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon. And to cap things off, he manipulated everyone from the Digidestined all the way up to the Digimon Sovereigns and Dagomon himself]]. FromNobodyToNightmare barely scratches the surface of the difference.

[[AC:''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'']]

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5189405/1/Dragonball-Divergence Dragonball Divergence]]'', Chi-Chi decides to keep training [[ForWantOfANail after having a conversation with Kami during her and Goku's wedding reception]]. As a result, she's a much more capable fighter than in canon, joining the Z Warriors and playing important roles in the defeats of several villains.

* The ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/49689625/ Jackpot]]" presents Peter and Mary Jane finding a genie in an alternate post-''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' and using their third wish to bring Gwen Stacy back to life. After the three of them form a triad relationship, Gwen spends the next few weeks working on a formula that will allow her and Mary Jane to gain Peter's powers without ''any'' risk of side-effects, transforming her and Mary Jane into new Spider-Women in the prime Marvel Universe.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/29869476/chapters/115149154 Force of Souls]]'':

** Fiamma. After humiliating defeat from the hands of Adam, he started pulling his own weight even more than normally. As a result, his flaming sword and light beam attacks from Holy Right, that in canon only slowed Touma down, here are slowly burning through Kamijou's right hand.

** On that note, Uiharu is much more confident and level headed than she is canon. To the point where she and Maika have created an extremely powerful computer that uses Uiharu's temperature control ability to operate at extraordinarily high speeds without needing a specialized cooling system.

** While Touma is a skilled street fighter in canon, it was mainly TaughtByExperience and it would often be a CurbStompBattle for him when facing against those who were formally taught in martial arts and have greater fighting experience than him. Furthermore, Touma was also very [[ReluctantWarrior reluctant to fight]] unless the situation calls for it. This version of Touma was once a member in ''Skill-Out'', specifically for the Big Spider gang, and used to be infamous for being a dreaded vigilante known as "The Devil of Academy City." Also, unlike his canon counterpart, Touma is able to use the [[spoiler:Invisible Thing]] ''without'' having Imagine Breaker severed off in the past.

** The Gaang arrives at the Northern Water Tribe far ahead of schedule, and with Alec's forewarning, they have several weeks to prepare for the Siege of the North before it actually happens. Sokka takes the lead for strategizing on the front lines, creating a devastating loss ratio of 12:1 in favor of the Water Tribe.

** Yammy also zig-zags between this and AdaptationalWimp. He actually remains the Tenth Espada, even after unleashing his Resurrección, but actually puts up a better fight than he did in canon, to the point of actually challenging two Captain-level Shinigami. It really says something that Kenpachi actually enjoys fighting Yammy, whereas in canon, he called the fight against him "boring" and spend more time arguing with Byakuya than fighting Yammy.

* ''Fanfic/AProtectorsPride'': Ichigo starts the Arrancar arc with access to his Hollow powers. All the the good guys in general are a lot smarter and pragmatic than in canon, especially Chad and Orihime, who are ''not'' useless.

** ''Fanfic/AColdCalculus'' has her start out as Britannia's exchequer, rooting out corruption and [[spoiler:sneaking away resources for her, Cornelia and Schneizel to use in a planned coup against Emperor Charles]]. Later, she becomes a political powerhouse in Japan and successfully de-fangs the resistance movements with effective policy changes and hearts-and-minds campaigns, and would have won the country without a fight if it weren't for the EU. And in the second half, [[spoiler:after becoming Empress of Britannia]], she prosecutes a war of vengeance on the EU that is sure to end in her victory and all negotiations essentially boil down to her asking them "Just how badly do you want to lose?"

** Kallen gets a cybernetic implant that allows her the directly interface with a Knightmare frame. Rather than using the controls, she pilots the Knightmare with her thoughts.

** Nunnally function as MissionControl rather than sitting on the sidelines for most of the series. She also later is the one to kill V.V. and take his code.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6200608/1/More-than-just-a-Man More than just a Man]]'' both Lelouch and C.C. are more physically capable than canon. Lelouch is only slightly better, though with far superior hand eye coordination (being able to disable a Knightmare by shooting it's factosphere with a pistol), due to being a newly turned vampire. Meanwhile C.C. is ''far'' more physically capable given that she's an over two thousand year old vampire who has every Geass ability displayed in canon (here, they're vampiric abilities).

* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' [=MaloMyotismon=] is built up into a major threat only to be swiftly deafeated with in the [[AntiClimax most anti-climactic]] way possible by TalkingTheMonsterToDeath. ''Fanfic/Zero2ARevision'' on the other hand, builds him up into a major threat thanks to all of his schemes and planning. His power is so great that even the TimeMaster Xeedmilleniummon and the [[PhysicalGod Guardian Beasts]] will fall before him. To defeat him, the Digidestined and their Digimons fused together and after a long and tough battle, in the end managed to defeat him.

** Chichi in canon never fights after marrying Goku aside from training Goten. Here, she continues her training, learns to use KiManipulation from Gine and even participates in some of the fights.

** King Cold, ''big time''. In canon, King Cold was easily dispatched by Super Saiyan Future Trunks. In this story, he can contend with both Goku and Vegeta ''simultaneously'' in their Super Saiyan forms with considerable effort in his base form alone, even [[spoiler:incapacitating them at a certain point after they transform into their Golden Oozaru forms]]. His OneWingedAngel form is strong enough to fight three Super Saiyans and a Great Ape evenly. His abilities have also been overhauled so that he can use his ki to manipulate gravity, lightning, air, fire and ice. He is also a proficient swordsman.
** Cell as well. In his first form, he was a weakling that spent most of his time running away, and didn't actually start fighting until he absorbed hundreds of thousands of humans' worth of power. Here, he starts kicking ass from the moment he shows up.

** Being among the earliest movie villains of ''Z'', Lord Slug wasn't that strong compared to later threats, and was defeated by Goku before he could even become Super Saiyan. Here, he can go toe to toe with Super Saiyan Bardock, and it's implied to be almost as powerful as Perfect Cell..

* ''Website/FamilyGuyFanon'': Peter when it comes to Francis. While he still loves him like in the OG show, he no longer bothers to seek approval from Francis, as he knows already that it's not worth the work. He also stands up for against Francis more often, even revealing in ''"Live in Vegas"'' that he not only revealed to have blackmailed Francis to get him to come, but also get to him with mind games.

* Kunsel is a normal [[SuperSoldier Second Class]] with being a well informed and vaguely gossipy MrExposition as his distinguishing trait and doesn't stand out in a company with the likes of Sephiroth and Zack Fair. In the ''Fanfic/TheFifthAct'', he is shown to match [[TheAce Zack]] in skill when given the motivation and to be far more perceptive and knowledgeable than people realize. Kunsel is upgraded to being a powerful KnowledgeBroker having a vast information network, being everyone's go to guy for information and in the Omakes, being better informed than the Turks.

** Comparative to Franchise/MonsterVerse canon; San's old head [[FromASingleCell can and will indeed regenerate the rest of Ghidorah with time]], instead of decomposing to an UndeadAbomination skull that retains Ghidorah's SoulFragment like it did in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' once the film was released; and Ghidorah's PsychicPowers are significantly more intense in this continuity compared to in the [=MonsterVerse=], to the point that San's old head basically causes a BrownNote outbreak of sanitySlippage among Alan Jonah's paramilitary.

** Garu Garu was only the small (as in, fairy sized) robotical minion of Belvera in the ''Film/RebirthOfMothra'' trilogy. In ''Neo'', it mutates into a giant dragon Kaiju.
** Megaguirus was able to hold her own with Godzilla in her [[Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus debut movie]] but here,she fought both Godzilla III and [[TheRival Rodan]].

** Peter Pettigrew is far more intelligent than in canon, closer to a mastermind than a cowardly stool-pigeon; he willingly sold out the Potters, framed Sirius when it backfired, and has been steadily working his way into a more advantageous position ever since.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Navi acts as an ExpositionFairy that reminds Link of his objectives and gives him hints on an enemy's weakness. In ''Fanfic/TheBoyWithoutAFairy'' she is much more involved in combat than her game-counterpart; she has the ability to unleash a flash of light to blind foes, is willing to ram her entire body into foes as a distraction to take the attention off Link, and can come up with complex strategies on the fly. Her role in combat is especially prominent early in the story when Link is completely inexperienced in fighting and has to heavily rely on Navi's support just to stay alive.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Gohma is simply a BreatherBoss to introduce you to the boss mechanic in the game. In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13189099/1/The-Legend-Of-Zelda-Ocarina-Of-Time a novelisation]] of the game, she starts of as a shelled spider that gets corrupted by Ganondorf and becomes a variant similar to the one from ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' with bladed forearms, hooked legs, [[RedEyesTakeWarning one massive, red eye]] that can '''shoot lasers''' and change colour, a mouth that can spit acid and very masculine grunts. She even gives Link a run for his money in both of his fights with her, badly injuring him in the first.

** Ingo kills a Gerudo with a pitch fork during a botched raid on Lon Lon.

* ''Fanfic/FlowingStar'': Stella certainly wasn't a fighter in the priginal show, but this version has an electric bat that can deliver electrified blows.

** Pretty much all the characters over the age of about sixteen or so get a significant competence boost. They aren't any more powerful[[note]]At least at first. During the sequel, it's shown that Alicia far greater magical power and understanding than her canon counterpart did, on account of her revival being accomplished by essentially merging her with a Jewel Seed. And when Raising Heart and Bardiche get damaged fighting the Wolkenritter, Alicia upgrades them with ''[[ArtifactOfDoom Jewel Seeds]]'' instead of the cartridge system, giving Nanoha and Fate access to potentially similar boosts...though she restricts the amount of the Seeds' power that can be accessed as a safety measure.[[/note]], but they use what they have ''much'' more effectively because they employ proper tactics, especially Precia (since the entire premise of the story is that she's only ''slightly'' insane instead of full-blown bonkers). The Wolkenritter in particular have received a major upgrade in skill, showing the experience and tactical acumen that would be expected of centuries old combat constructs.

* ''Fanfic/TheDevilsInTheDetails'': Having more experience under his belt than his counterpart (and being raised by a lawyer and vigilante), Peter is less of a doormat here. He is more confident as a solo-hero and feels less obligated to put up with the Avengers and SHEILD whenever either of them give him trouble, outright threatening Nick Fury when he tries strong-arming him into being involved with the Elemental attacks in Europe.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37186546/ Tingle]]'' takes the Spot, a low-level Spidey foe who's basically a joke due to his ridiculous costume and limited use of his power (most of the time), and makes him a serious enough threat that it takes Peter, Yelena and Kate to stop him and his gang.

* This trope is a staple for the villains of ''Fanfic/UltimateSleepwalker: The New Dreams'' and ''Fanfic/UltimateSpiderWoman: Change With The Light''. Characters like 8-Ball, the Brothers Grimm, the Chain Gang and Jack O'Lantern were all C-lister villains, at best, in the original comics. In the Earth-2706 verse, though, they're exceptionally deadly threats, forming the focus of the Fics.

* Marc Anciel in ''Fanfic/MarcBeingInAGangRights'' is the youngest member of a Parisian street gang. He is perfectly capable of self-defense, it a bit of a PsychoKnifeNut, had managed to talk Nathaniel out of trouble for being in possession of a knife on school grounds (having been the one to give it too him for self-defense reasons), has aided in undoing the mugging and kidnapping of his boyfriend twice and had organized.
* ''Fanfic/RiseOfPaonneAndRenardRouge'': Because [[spoiler:Gabriel is an experienced RetiredBadass hero in this continuity]], the Collector is a much bigger threat. Ontop of having fighting experience, his legitimate corruption (as opposed to simply acting like a victim of akumatization like in-canon) means that he does not hold back, making him a super-effective fighter against all four heroes. Hawk Moth even remarks that he might be one of the best villains he has created given his effectiveness. It takes the combined efforts of Paonne, Chat Noir [[spoiler:and what was left of the original Quantic Team]] to take him down.

** Thanks to his training from Aizawa and his negative qualities being toned down, Mineta is more perceptive and competent in a fight than he was in canon. Case-and-point, he almost singlehandedly won his team the match in the Hero vs. Villain exercise using careful timing and planning. He also makes it all the way to the two-on-two matches in the Sports Festival. His increased bravery is also shown in his interactions with Bakugo, as he's more willing to call him out on his attitude and disparage him. He even starts learning Balintawak martial arts during his internship.

* Yukino in ''Fanfic/PerfectionIsOverrated''. In the original series, her Child was only good for surveillance, and left her easily defeated by Shizuru. In this fic, she realizes that while she's not the best in a straight-up fight, she can use her powers to tip the balance of power in her favor at crucial moments, such as when she [[spoiler:incapacitates Shiho, enabling Mai to win her battle without Yuuichi dying]], and when she, in the final battle, uses her Child's abilities to immobilize one of the last remaining [=SUEs=]' Child long enough for Natsuki to finish her off.

* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/341014/duelists-of-the-autumn-crown Duelists of the Autumn Crown]]'' has Flash Sentry. While we don't know how skilled he was in the movie, there he's the best duelist in the school second only to Sunset Shimmer, and with her there are light implications that she's cheating somehow.

** While Princess Cadence turned out to be pretty badass in canon, the version of her in this series was able to [[spoiler:take on an avatar of Discord's father [[EldritchAbomination Havoc]] and not only survive, but it's implied that she ''won''.]]
** There's also the CMC, who manage to be BadassAdorable in this universe, Minuette and Twinkle Shine, who ''really'' get to show off their Gifted Unicorn credentials, Shining Armor, who [[spoiler:''saved the world'' from an Imagination Demon]], and Trixie [[spoiler:who becomes the SixthRanger and grows to be able to fight Twilight on fairly even standing (though played with in that regard: she at first ''avoids'' and ''fights'' her Element of Magic because she hates the idea of being 'back up Twilight' until she eventually realizes she represents magic in a completely different way).]] Honestly it's easier to count the characters that ''don't'' count.

** Future!Fluttershy became a draconequus named Flutterbold, and is much more confident and bolder compared to her past self. After marrying Discord, she wasn't afraid to passionately kiss Discord in public, for starters.
** Future!Rarity became the elder dragoness Rariamat, and was able to stop Tech Leader's escape with a well-timed fireball. Spike likewise became the elder dragon Spykoran, though in his case he grew over time as opposed to Rarity who transformed herself into a dragon.

** Future!Rainbow Dash became a Windigo named Rainbow Hurricane, and has established herself as queen of the Windigos.
** Future!Starlight Glimmer, Future!Twilight Sparkle, Future!Sunset Shimmer, and Future!Trixie Lulamoon were so magically powerful that [[HiveMind their minds and souls fused as one]], forming the entity Magic Incarnate, the living representation of the planet's life-force.

* ''Fanfic/FamilyGuyFanon'': Peter when it comes to Francis. While he still loves him like in the OG show, he no longer bothers to seek approval from Francis, as he knows already that it's not worth the work. He also stands up for against Francis more often, even revealing in ''"Live in Vegas"'' that he not only revealed to have blackmailed Francis to get him to come, but also get to him with mind games.

* ''Fanfic/HeroClassCivilWarfare'': Izuku/Kingpin shows the ability to consciously control Black Whip unlike his canon counterpart who, at that point in the series, had never even activated it yet. When fighting his canon self, Kingpin also shows greater skill at using One For All in a way that doesn't injure himself, unlike canon Izuku whom he derides for trying to imitate All Might even though they aren't suited for his fighting style.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Gohma is simply a BreatherBoss to introduce you to the boss mechanic in the game. In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13189099/1/The-Legend-Of-Zelda-Ocarina-Of-Time a novelisation]] of the game, she starts of as a shelled spider that gets corrupted by Ganondorf and becomes a variant similar to the one from ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' with bladed forearms, hooked legs, [[RedEyesTakeWarning one massive, red eye]] that can '''shoot lasers''' and change colour, a mouth that can spit acid and [[BadassBaritone very masculine grunts]]. She even gives Link a run for his money in both of his fights with her, badly injuring him in the first.

*** {{Exaggerated|Trope}} with [[spoiler:Orthros, an alternate version of Videl from a different timeline. Whereas canon Videl was a normal Earthling who never reached the fighting level of the Z-Fighters, this version is a DeityOfHumanOrigin mentored by Beerus and Whis, defeated Majin Buu in his strongest form, and is [[PersonOfMassDestruction capable of destroying multiple universes]] on a whim. Aside from having the same powers as [[LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex Othinus]], she's EvenMoreOmnipotent than '''Zeno''' to the point where she has killed ''hundreds'' of different versions of the Omni King.]]

[[AC:''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'']]