History SparedByTheAdaptation / Film

* In the ''Film/{{Aquaman}}'' movie, Arthur's father Thomas is still alive in the present day, and serves as part of the supporting cast. In Aquaman's Silver Age origin story from ''Adventure Comics'' #260, Thomas died when Arthur was still a young man. In the Comicbook/{{New 52}} ''Aquaman'' run (which the movie is mostly based on), Thomas Curry's death is a ''very'' significant part of Arthur's backstory, as the one who accidentally caused Thomas to have a heart attack was David Hyde, the man who would later become Black Manta.

* Although not quite the same character, Serizawa’s previous incarnation in the Godzilla series died ''preventing'' Godzilla from wreaking more havoc. While in ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' Serizawa is trying to convince the military the importance of Godzilla and comes out of the film with very little scrapes and bruises.

** The Boyscouts in ''WesternAnimation/TheDarkKnightReturns'', in the original comic they were poisoned to death by the cotton candy The Joker gave them, in the film Batman is able to stop them from eating it, this was because the crew thought it would've been in bad taste because of the recent Sandy Hook school shooting.

* In the ''Film/{{Aquaman}}'' movie, Arthur's father Thomas is still alive in the present day, and serves as part of the supporting cast. In Aquaman's Silver Age origin story from ''Adventure Comics'' #260, Thomas died when Arthur was still a young man. In the Comicbook/{{New 52}} ''Aquaman'' run (which the movie is mostly based on), Thoma Curry's death is a ''very'' significant part of Arthur's backstory, as the one who accidentally caused Thomas to have a heart attack was David Hyde, the man who would later become Black Manta.

* In Stephen King's ''Literature/{{Christine}}'' (the book), both of Arnie's parents die at the end (Christine kills Michael in the driveway of the Cunninghams' home, while Regina perishes along with Arnie in a freeway accident). In John Carpenter's film, Arnie dies, but his parents both survive.

* The reboot of ''Film/StarTrek'' has this ZigZagged. The first film allows Christopher Pike to avoid being rendered an invalid, as he was shown in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]. He's in a wheelchair at the end of the first film after being tortured by Nero, but has his mental faculties. He walks with a cane at the beginning of ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', set a year after the first film. But later in the film, [[DeathByAdaptation he's killed off]].

** Subverted with Hedwig. In the book, Harry takes her with him when he leaves the Dursleys and she's killed in the following chase scene. In the film, he lets her go before the chase scene, only for her to return and die taking a spell for him.

** In the Director's Cut, Audrey and Seymour die, and the plant lives.

** Rhomann Dey in the comics is known for dying in his first appearance and bestowing his powers upon [[ComicBook/{{Nova}} Richard Rider]]. His MCU counterpart has (so far) been spared this fate and is alive and well by the end of ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.

* The Village Elder in ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven''. Chico is a partial example, as he's a {{composite|Character}} of two of the main characters of ''Film/SevenSamurai'': Kikuchiyo, who dies, and Katsushiro, who does not.

* [[LoveableRogue Ostap Bender]] from Creator/MelBrooks adaptation of TheTwelveChairs survives the book instead of having his throat cut for all his trouble. An interesting case, as while the book itself explicitly stated him as dead, the character was later brought back for a sequel.

* Herr Kleiser is killed and eaten by [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]] in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', but survives the events of both ''UltimateAvengers'' films. However, ComicBook/BlackPanther [[AFateWorseThanDeath seals him inside Wakanda's Vibranium reserves for all eternity]], making death look like a much kinder alternative.

** ComicBook/BlackPanther's father T'Chaka is still alive in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', [[spoiler:until the end of Act 1]]. This is in contrast to the comics and most other adaptations, where T'Chaka was murdered long before T'Challa ever became the Black Panther.

*** Captain Hook. In the book, he is simply swallowed up by the crocodile, but in the movie, he immediately jumps out of the crocodile's mouth unharmed shortly after being swallowed up and later swimming away [[MemeticMutation screaming for Smee]] with the crocodile still behind him. There's an interesting story behind this. Originally, Disney was going to make Hook an evil, intimidating character who would die like his literary counterpart. However, they discovered that the slapstick scenes with the crocodile effectively ruined any sense that he was a serious threat. Therefore, they went all out and played him as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain. They kept him alive because they figured the audience wouldn't want to see such a humorous, non-threatening villain die.

* ''Film/XMen'':

* Judy in the 2010 remake of ''Film/TheCrazies''.

** Captain Hook from ''Disney/PeterPan''. In the book, he is simply swallowed up by the crocodile, but in the movie, he immediately jumps out of the crocodile's mouth unharmed shortly after being swallowed up and later swimming away [[MemeticMutation screaming for Smee]] with the crocodile still behind him. There's an interesting story behind this. Originally, Disney was going to make Hook an evil, intimidating character who would die like his literary counterpart. However, they discovered that the slapstick scenes with the crocodile effectively ruined any sense that he was a serious threat. Therefore, they went all out and played him as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain. They kept him alive because they figured the audience wouldn't want to see such a humorous, non-threatening villain die.

** Additionally, in the books the Isengarders set one of the Ents ablaze and it's implied he burned to death. In the film, the Ent survives long enough to douse himself in the monstrous flood, turning an off-screen moment of villainy into a FunnyBackgroundEvent.

* In ''Film/Roxanne'', a SettingUpdate of ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'', CD and Chris make it to the end, unlike Cyrano and Christian of the play.

* Mondo TV (the same people who did WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTheTitanic) also did [[WesternAnimation/SuperLittleFantaHeroes a version]] of TheHunchbackOfNotreDame, where EVERYONE is spared by the adaptation (yes, even Frollo). [[note]]not only that, [[spoiler: Phoebus and Fleur get turned into hunchbacks, Djali gets turned into a [[HumanityEnsues human girl]] for Gringoire to marry, and Quasimodo becomes handsome and Esmeralda marries him, while a redeemed Frollo performs the wedding ceremony]]. Yes, really - see for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55qW04A6aFs[[/note]]