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7!! Works with their own pages
8[[index]]
9* ''AdaptationalWimp/DCExtendedUniverse''
10* ''AdaptationalWimp/MarvelCinematicUniverse''
11* ''AdaptationalWimp/XMenFilmSeries''
12[[/index]]
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14* ''Film/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians1996'': In the original animated film, Cruella was close to being an InvincibleVillain. She was never played for laughs and the dalmatians and other animals never actually got the best of her like with Horace and Jasper. The only reason she failed in the end was because of Horace's stupidity causing him to rip the steering wheel out of the vehicle he and Jasper were driving and causing it to crash into Cruella's car just as she was about to get the dalmatians. In the live action remake, she suffers a HumiliationConga from a bunch of barnyard animals and ends up covered in mud and molasses when the police find her. She suffers a similarly humiliating defeat in ''Film/OneHundredAndTwoDalmatians''.
15* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfSpirouAndFantasio'': In nearly all albums of [[ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio the original comics]], Spirou and Fantasio get caught at least once in a hand-to-hand combat with villains (and usually win). The first is even a [[GoodOldFisticuffs boxing expert]]. Here, Fantasio is dragged outside the hotel by security guards and don't resist. As for Spirou, he prefers to run away in front of Gantagwa's policemen. When confronted to [[DarkActionGirl Marie]], he simply throw suitcases at her (albeit it can be because of a WouldntHitAGirl case). She clearly have the upper hand anyway, and it's the squirrel [[KillerRabbit Spip]], of all people, who win the brawl. Later on, when facing [[BigBad Zorglub]], the later have no difficulties to simply [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower throw away Spirou like a rag doll]].
16* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] in the case of Juliet Butler, who was a teenage badass in the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' books who learned a variety of deadly arts from her older brother. In [[Film/ArtemisFowl the film adaptation]], while she is younger (and Butler's niece rather than his sister), she's still introduced fencing with Butler and established as a capable fighter. [[spoiler:But, of the cast of heroes, she is the one who has the least to contribute during the film's climactic battle against the troll in Fowl Manor.]]
17* The critically panned ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' managed to drastically alter ''three'' epic Batman characters, one of them being the Dark Knight himself.
18** Batman is normally the level-headed anti-hero who never falls for Poison Ivy's feminine wiles and defeats her with ease. In the film, Poison Ivy seduces Batman easily and nearly succeeds in killing him as if it were nothing.
19** ComicBook/PoisonIvy is another TragicVillain who only wants to save the plant life of the world. Reluctantly finding herself in conflict with Batman and slowly losing her humanity due to her plant mutation. In the film, she's an [[PsychopathicManchild immature]] SmugSnake with a crush on Mr. Freeze, hoping to impress him by killing Batman and Robin.
20** In most stories, ComicBook/{{Bane}} is a master strategist with a peak physical condition who broke Batman's back. In the movie, he's just Ivy's DumbMuscle and loses a fight with an inexperienced Batgirl.
21* ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'':
22** In ''Film/BatmanBegins'':
23*** Detective Arnold Flass is a bullying DirtyCop who plays the face of the Gotham police as they stand, but rather than the muscular former Green Beret in ''Year One'' who takes forethought to lay low, Detective Arnold Flass is a snippy FatBastard who can only throw his weight around wielding a gun on unarmed civilians.
24*** Downplayed with The League of Shadows. They’re still a massive global threat in the film, but in the comics they almost destroyed the whole [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Justice League]] and Batman has never truly gotten the better of them (they capture and brainwash him to forget every time he’s found their headquarters) and their resources in the comics are explicitly supernatural e.g the [[FountainOfYouth Lazarus Pit]]. In ''Batman Begins'' however (thanks to Nolan DoingInTheWizard) the fantastical aspects of The League of Shadows are AdaptedOut and as a result the League along their leader Ra’s Al Ghul are more easily defeated by Batman, with even Alfred knocking one of their assassins out with a golf club. Still downplayed, since they’re the ones who made Batman Batman in this continuity.
25** Downplayed with Bane in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', who [[spoiler:is not the main villain, but rather TheDragon to the film's actual BigBad, Talia Al Ghul]]. He’s also lacking SuperSerum Venom that gives him SuperStrength on like the comics. For all that, though, he's still a rather terrifying villain.
26*** [[spoiler:Talia herself doesn’t display any of the crazy marital arts skill she has in the comics and relies on sneak attacks. She’s fairly easily killed too.]]
27** Commissioner Jim Gordon’s children get a massive deal of this in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' thanks to getting a AgeLift, DemotedToExtra and then PutOnABus. In the comics his son James becomes a formidable genius supervillain whilst his daughter Barbara more famously becomes ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} herself. In ''The Dark Knight'' they’re both just defenceless kids victimised by Two-Face. Even when there’s a eight year TimeSkip in ''Rises'' which could’ve allowed for a teenage Batgirl to enter the story, Gordon’s family have already moved out of Gotham.
28* ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal'': Rin Asano is aged down from fifteen to about ten in the film, and is almost completely useless since the CompressedAdaptation cuts out almost the entire back half of the manga where she finds her niche as a planner.
29* Some of the main female characters of ''Literature/BloodAndChocolate1997'' get a case of this in [[Film/BloodAndChocolate2007 the movie]]:
30** Vivian to a [[DownplayedTrope slight degree]]. In the book, she comes out on top in every fight she's involved in, while here she [[BadassInDistress gets captured]] by Gabriel and has to be rescued by Aiden before she can fight back, although in her defence she was recovering from silver poisoning at the time. She also has comparatively less agency in her relationship with Aiden; in the book she seeks Aiden out herself to ask him on a date while in the film he's the one pursuing her [[StalkerWithACrush (literally)]] until he wears her down.
31** Astrid. In the book she's a ruthless DarkActionGirl who insists on competing in the Alpha fight with the men, gets into some vicious fights with other loups-garoux [[spoiler:and carries out several murders to frame Vivian]]. Here, she spends most of her time crying and moping over Gabriel, and at most holds [[spoiler:Aiden]] at gunpoint until Vivian persuades her to spare him.
32* ''Film/BloodRayne'' does this to [[PredecessorVillain Belial]]. In the [[VideoGame/BloodRayne original video game]], he was an exceptionally powerful demon whose body parts were scattered and were capable of granting supernatural powers to anyone who possess it (such as breathing fire, super-speed and immortality to name a few). In the Creator/UweBoll directed movie, he is downgraded to a vampire who managed to overcome all his species' weaknesses and his body parts merely grants other vampires this immunity instead of actual superpowers. While the original served as a FinalBoss in the game and was an extremely challenging foe, movie!Belial doesn't even appear and is a PosthumousCharacter instead.
33* ''Film/TheBravados:''
34** Parral is a pathetic DirtyCoward in the movie, but in the book, he has a great deal of resourcefulness and VillainousValor, and isn't afraid of death in the slightest.
35** Josefa is a tough {{Tomboy}} in the book and bravely accompanies the {{posse}} for most of the story. In the film, she's more of a sheltered socialite (albeit one who personally runs her family ranch) and only encounters the posse by chance.
36* Cinderella herself in ''Film/Cinderella2015''. While she wasn't an ActionGirl by any typical means in many versions of the original fairy tale or the Disney version, she was still an enduring character who often stood stern and strong in the face of abuse. She also stood up for herself, even if her stepfamily would never take serious her moments of rebellion, and she showed a little bit of sarcasm and intelligence here and there (in the morning when she called the clock "That old killjoy, even he orders me around!", when she stood up for her right to go to the ball even after her stepsisters mocked her wishes to go, "Maybe I should interrupt the "music" lesson", and in the climax once she's locked up she's trying everything she can to get out: screaming, pulling at the door, thinks up to get the dog so he can scare away Lucifer...). Any semblance of a spine is gone in the remake, and instead now we get a Cinderella that's so passive and meek she lets her stepfamily walk all over her, even if in this version she has the means to leave the house, she doesn't even attempt to escape once she's locked up in this version!
37* Mina Murray frequently gets this in the many film adaptations of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''. In the book, she plays an active role in the defeat of Dracula and is the TeamMom. Many movies, however, reduce her to the role of the DamselInDistress.
38** Most drastically in ''Film/{{Dracula 1931}}'', which she spends most of weeping hysterically. The one time in the novel in which she gets hysterical is for a very good reason.
39** In ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', the title villain is portrayed more sympathetically and Mina has a quasi-romance with him, making her less enthusiastic about his destruction.
40* ''Film/DDay'', a ForeignRemake of ''Film/Commando1985'', does this to the hero Ivan by adapting out certain scenes. His original counterpart John (as played by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger) can rip out car seats with his bare hands and at one point lifts a phone booth (with people still inside!) off the ground; Ivan doesn't have any scenes like such to make the film more "grounded" in reality (in all fairness, '''nobody''' can out-badass The Ahnuld in his prime back in the 1980s, so there's that). The remake's BigBad is also a DirtyCoward who throws his mooks at Ivan and hides himself the entire climax (only to be blown up by a hidden IED), in comparison the original main villain as played by Dan Hedaya DoNotGoGentle and tries his best to gun down John only to be outgunned.
41* ''Film/DadsArmy2016'': In [[Series/DadsArmy the original series]], Hodges was a big, loudmouthed bully of a man who was always on the verge of a blustery rage. In this film, Martin Savage gives a much more downplayed performance than the late Creator/BillPertwee; his Hodges comes across as more of a sneering snarker.
42* Mumbles in ''Film/DickTracy''. In [[ComicStrip/DickTracy the comic strip]], he's not the best crook, but he's dangerous and fully capable of murder; he even seems to have JokerImmunity (something very unusual for Chester Gould's characters, for whom death was usually final). In the movie, however, he was one of three lieutenants of Al "Big Boy" Caprice, but really didn't do anything criminal onscreen (certainly not as much as Flatop and Itchy). His two most important functions involve Tracy PerpSweating him.
43* ''Film/{{Doom}}'':
44** Thanks to DoingInTheWizard a lot of the monsters from the ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'' such as the Zombies, Imps, Pinky and Hell Knight gets this. In the games they're actually demons from hell with special powers and abilities. In the 2005 film, they're instead just humans injected with the experimental 24th chromosome turning them into monsters, some of them are even killed by regular [[BadassNormal Badass Normals]].
45** Along with being a DecompositeCharacter the "Doomguy(s)" of the film get this. As cool as Sarge and Reaper are (thanks partly being played by Creator/DwayneJohnson and Creator/KarlUrban) compared to the Doomguy of the games, they might as well as be wusses in comparison. Notably they lack any of the fancy tools or armor of Game!Doomguy and even with the PsychoSerum aren't as strong, being unable to punch enemies into LudicrousGibs like him. By extension Doomguy's iconic {{BFG}}9000 gets this, in the games it shoots a big green blast that kills everything its aimed at in one shot. When Sarge uses the BFG in the film, ''[[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy he doesn't hit a single monster]]'' and only succeeds in melting a ceiling and a wall, which is very underwhelming compared to the games.
46* ''Film/DragonBallEvolution'':
47** Most fans of the show would argue ''[[InNameOnly everyone]]'' gets this, but the character who actually suffers the most is ironically Yamcha. In both the [[Manga/DragonBall original manga and anime]], Yamcha was a desert bandit and powerful martial artist who was [[CantCatchUp eventually overshadowed]] but still a [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower power]][[FlyingBrick house]] compared to most [[{{Muggles}} normal Earthlings]] thanks to KiManipulation. In the movie Yamcha is literally just a bandit with no combat skill whatsoever, is easily pushed around by the heroes and is little more than [[PluckyComicRelief comic relief]].
48** Oozaru aka Goku’s Great Ape transformation gets this as well. In the original series Ozaru is gigantic being pretty much {{Kaiju}}-level of huge and has a BreathWeapon. In the movie Oozaru is ''way smaller'' being only the size of a large man and only has brute strength thus is far less scary and impressive as result. It also doesn’t help that in this version Oozaru/Goku is TheBrute for Piccolo instead of a transformation for Goku as a Saiyan.
49* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' beholders are {{Eldritch Abomination}}s big enough to bite a human in half and with enough magical power that they shouldn't ever need to. Their single main eye renders all magic in its line of sight inert, and their numerous eye-stalks are capable of firing magic energy beams that can [[MindManipulation mind control]], [[TakenForGranite petrify]], {{disintegrat|orRay}}e, or even just outright [[DeathRay kill]] enemies just by looking at them. They're easily among the most dangerous creatures in existence, [[AbsoluteXenophobe xenophobic to the extreme]], and highly egomaniacal. In [[Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000 the movie]], beholders are downgraded to minor watchdogs for the villains.
50* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' cinema adaptation ''Film/DaleksInvasionEarth2150AD'', Louise is much less badass than the TV series's Barbara, to the point that several of Barbara's more heroic moments in the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth original TV story]] are included in the film but given to a different character.
51* The two ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' film universes both do this to ComicBook/DoctorDoom. He was given electricity and metal skin in [[Film/FantasticFour2005 the first one]] and PsychicPowers in [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the second]], but [[StockSuperpowersIndex his powers]] just don't come anywhere near his comics incarnation, who is a wielder of [[{{Magitek}} both magic and superscience]] while wearing PoweredArmor on par with ComicBook/IronMan and possessing the resources of a small nation -- all of which [[FromNobodyToNightmare he gained through pure work and intellect]]. This mostly arises from attempts at AdaptationOriginConnection, which jibe poorly with Doom because his origin is both far more complex than and mostly disconnected from that of the Four -- meaning any attempt to "simplify" it inevitably ends up cutting out everything about it.
52* In most adaptations of ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', this trope happens to FrankensteinsMonster. In the original novel the monster is an [[LightningBruiser agile]], extremely strong, and highly intelligent GeniusBruiser who is literate and able to speak eloquently, while in most adaptations he is grunting DumbMuscle. This is the result of LostInImitation, with most adaptations thinking incorrectly that they're playing true to the source material, when they're actually imitating another adaptation. In the original film, this also seemed to owe to the fact that the monster never receives the time and training to become anything more than DumbMuscle; the creature in the book started out as inarticulate but had the good fortune to hide out next to a family teaching a foreign guest English.
53* In ''Film/GhostRider2007'' and its [[Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance sequel]], [[SatanicArchetype the Devil]] aka Mephisto in the comics goes from a BigRedDevil who's fought [[PlanetEater Galactus]], to a regular old dude who gets outwitted, defied and even defeated by the titular hero. Mephisto's [[RealityWarper reality-bending]] powers, in general, are downplayed and he needs a human form to manifest himself, whereas in comics he can appear in his devilish form on Earth anytime he wants. Blackheart may be the worst offender since he goes from [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DkguBbjU4AEqRzl.jpg this]] to ''[[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/a/a7/Blackheart_2007.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180517195103 this]]''. Unlike his comic counterpart, Blackheart has no devastating supernatural power and in the FinalBattle he gets defeated by Ghost Rider's Penance Stare; in the comics, the Penance Stare only makes Blackheart ''[[FeedItWithFire stronger]]''.
54* ''Film/Godzilla1998'' is heavily criticized for [[InNameOnly being very little like its source material]], one aspect of which was altering the title monster from a {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le prehistoric beast that has shown himself to be more or less invincible from all conventional military weapons (up to and including atom bombs) with the ability to shoot a powerful BreathWeapon from his mouth (his trademarked "Atomic Breath") to a mutated iguana that flees in terror from military attack, has no special abilities, and [[spoiler: is killed by regular jets in the end]]. Partly why [[WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries the animated series]] that followed the movie was more well-received was because it made the title monster tougher and gave back his atomic breath. The 1998 version even makes a cameo in ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' rechristened "Zilla" [[TakeThat (cause there's nothing "godly" about him)]] where he faces the [=OG=] Godzilla in battle and is {{curbstomp|Battle}}ed in about 30 seconds.
55* Speaking of ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', Hedorah went from one of Godzilla's most terrifying adversaries to cannon fodder, although to be fair the ''Final Wars'' version of Godzilla is possibly the most overpowered one in the franchise.
56* Film/TheGreenHornet goes from a dead serious GeniusBruiser whose skills are on par with ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' into an overweight {{manchild}} who requires saving from his partner [[HypercompetentSidekick Kato]] at every instant, fails to come up with intelligent ideas to help in their superhero crusade, and is a lot more emotionally fragile than his original counterpart. Best summed up in this one line:
57-->'''Green Hornet:''' Kato, save me!
58* The ''Film/HarryPotter'' films have been accused of doing this to Ron. For example, in the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone first book]], Ron and Harry are trapped by a monstrous plant, and Hermione has to save them; she panics so much that she [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forgets about her powers]], and Ron is the one to angrily remind her what she can do. In [[Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone the film]], Ron almost dies because ''he'' panics, and Hermione basically figures out how to save him herself, all while acting relatively calm.
59* "Hearts and Armor" is ''very'' loosely based on Literature/OrlandoFurioso. Remember the legendary Marfiza, who was on par with any knight, losing only against Bradamantes magic lance? Here she is the fiancee of Ruggiero...or his sister like in the original after all?...[[BrotherSisterIncest or both?]] The makers of the film don't know themselves, apparently.... In any case, wizard Atalante had a vision Ruggiero will be slain by Orlando. PropheciesAreAlwaysRight -- [[spoiler: vision! Since in this film, all knights are instantly recognizable by their wacky helmets, she slips into Ruggieros armor and gets an OneHitKill by Orlando. Her HeroicSacrifice instantly ends the war by MyGodWhatHaveIDone (and makes the way free for Bradamante). Ruggiero must have had a similar epiphany. Cue Orlando and Ruggiero RidingIntoTheSunset with their old/new brides]].
60* ''Film/TheHungerGames'' gives us Cato. In both the film and the book, Cato falls from the Cornucopia after being shot, into the Mutts waiting to kill him. In the film, they tear into him almost instantly, and Katniss has to mercy-kill him within seconds. In the book, however, Cato has a sword and body-armour, and holds out for over an hour fighting the Mutts, trying to make his way back around to the Cornucopia to climb it and kill Katniss and Peta.
61* ''Film/IShotJesseJames'': In an interesting development, this film (possibly) does it for [[HistoricalDomainCharacter an actual person]]. The character of Soapy is portrayed as an old man that tends to drink too much and comes under the attack of various con men. However, the man he's likely based off of, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapy_Smith Soapy Smith,]] was a [[AgeLift much younger]] gangster that ran plenty of rackets in Creede and would often ''be'' the one conning people.
62* Dr. Claw in ''Film/InspectorGadget1999'' goes from an [[EvilGenius ingenious]], [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]], intimidating DiabolicalMastermind hiding from within the shadows while his legion of psychos for hire followed his every command to kill Gadget and take over the world into a [[SissyVillain effeminate]], [[PsychopathicManchild childish]] GigglingVillain with less than ''three'' [[PunchClockVillain incompetent thugs]] working under him. It doesn't help that a part of his driving motivation to one-up Gadget also involves gaining the affection of a scientist who his archenemy is also after.
63* In ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' the Hydra much like ''Film/TheLovesOfHercules'' below goes down pretty easily, [[HydraProblem despite the whole regenerating head thing]].
64* ''Film/JemAndTheHolograms2015'': In the [[WesternAnimation/{{Jem}} original cartoon]], Synergy was originally a massive supercomputer that could synthesize multiple musical beats, project holograms for Jem even when away at long distances, and acted as a ParentalSubstitute for the heroine. In the movie, Synergy is a tiny [[Film/TheForceAwakens BB-8 style minibot]] that projects obviously fake holograms, acts more or less as Jem's iPod, doesn't form any emotional bond with the heroine, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking shows no skills at music or dancing whatsoever]].
65* In the original short story "Johnny Mnemonic," the title character's ActionGirlfriend Molly is the fighter of the two, and smoothly [[HoistByHisOwnPetard kills the villain with his own weapon]] at the end. In the film adaptation ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'', she is [[{{Expy}} remodeled as Jane]], a FauxActionGirl who does little of consequence beyond coming to Johnny's rescue early in the film. By the end of the movie, an AdaptationalBadass Johnny [[HoistByHisOwnPetard kills the same villain character with his own weapon]] himself.
66* ''Film/Joker2019'': While most media portrays ComicBook/TheJoker as a DiabolicalMastermind, the film stresses that Arthur Fleck is simply ''not'' mentally capable of rising to that level.
67* ''Film/JudgeDredd'': Fergee from the comics is a musclebound mutant brawler so tough that he made himself king of the Big Smelly and went toe to toe with Judge Dredd himself in one-on-one combat. The 1995 movie makes him a ButtMonkey citizen and comic relief character played by Rob Schneider.
68* In ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' novel, Grey Brother the wolf was a loyal and steadfast ally of Mowgli (as well as being his foster brother) who fought alongside him in the battle with the dholes. In ''Film/TheJungleBook2016'', he stays as a cute little wolf pup who doesn't do much.
69* Donald Gennaro in ''Film/JurassicPark''. In [[Literature/JurassicPark the novel]], he goes along with Muldoon to catch the ''Tyrannosaurus'' and later to fight ''Velociraptors'', manages to fend off a raptor attack, intimidates a ship captain with {{Technobabble}}, and survives to the end. In the film, he becomes a DirtyCoward who dies a particularly embarrassing death. (Remember the guy who got eaten by the ''T. rex'' while he was on the toilet? That was Don.) Movie Gennaro is basically an {{Expy}} of Ed Regis, a cowardly, weaselly PR character who only appears in the novel. Similarly, Sarah Harding from the [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark sequel]] goes from an insanely badass ActionGirl to a TooDumbToLive DamselInDistress.
70* ''Film/{{Lady and the Tramp|2019}}'': Though Trusty does aid Lady in locating Tramp and Elliot in the climax he ultimately can't catch up to the carriage and doesn't suffer a DisneyDeath. It's Lady who stops the carriage and saves Tramp.
71* ''Film/TheLastAirbender'':
72** Elemental bending is a lot less impressive than it was in [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the original cartoon]].
73*** In the show earthbenders could do things like create and manipulate relatively simple objects like stone carts, they could open holes in the earth to swallow foes, block attacks with walls of stone, or bring up pillars of stone under an enemy's feet to launch them into the air by themselves. In the movie, they just chuck rocks, and they're not even very ''big'' rocks.
74*** In the show, even beginner firebenders could easily create fire from their own body heat. In the movie, only the greatest firebenders are capable of this -- for most of them they can only use their bending abilities if there's an existing source of flame, like a campfire or a torch.
75*** In addition to earth and fire getting nerfed, bending as a whole takes a lot longer to do, requiring a very long series of movements to do just about anything. The director imagined bending as being a lot like dancing with the bender doing multiple moves to build up his power before finally releasing it all at once. Not only is this completely backwards from the cartoon, where any attack could be performed with simple punching and kicking movements, but it also makes elemental bending seem very inefficient -- normal people might not be able to shoot fire from their hands, but they can chop a bender's head off while he's performing his intricate multi-part interpretive dance about burning people.
76** Katara especially comes off as less powerful than the original cartoon. The most notable example is her fight against Zuko in the Northern Water Tribe city. In the cartoon, she came close to winning the fight, only finally losing when the sun came up, thereby strengthening Zuko's powers and weakening hers. In the film, she gets reamed in what is easily the most one-sided CurbStompBattle in the entire movie. It also doesn't help that most of her character developing moments were either given to Aang or cut entirely.
77* French comic book series ''Les Profs'' (The Teachers) is about a cast of quirky, but overall competent high school teachers (except the lazy one who keeps finding new ways to avoid giving lectures). In the movie of the comic, they become the worst teachers of the whole French Educational system and are specifically selected as such (for instance the Napoleon-obsessed History teacher becomes a teacher wannabe who keeps failing at entrance exams because Napoleon is ''all'' he knows about history).
78* ''Film/TheLoneRanger2013'': John Reid is somewhat less of a badass compared to his [[Radio/TheLoneRanger radio and TV versions]]. Justified as most versions of him are a Texas Ranger before donning the mask, while this one is a CityMouse lawyer. However he does get better as the film goes along; by the end although still not on his predecessors levels, he is close.
79* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'':
80** The adaptation of ''Film/TheFellowshipOfTheRing'' significantly cuts down on the initial journey to Rivendell, which has this effect on Frodo to a noticeable degree. For instance, "Fog on the Barrow-Downs" being cut means that Frodo no longer hacks the hand off a wight, the scene of him managing to briefly drive back the Ringwraiths and slash at the legs of the Witch-King before taking his wound is removed in favor of Aragorn doing the work, and a bit in Moria where he wounds a cave-troll enough to scare it off is removed. This causes Frodo's increasing passivity over the course of the films to be significantly less noticeable, where in the books, he started out as clearly the most competent and heroic of the four hobbits.
81** The [[ReCut extended version]] of ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'' does this to Gandalf the White -- in the book, him and the Witch-King had a brief standoff, but before the fight could get going, the Witch-King decided to leave to deal with the Rohirrim, which led to his death. It's treated as rather ambiguous who would win in a proper fight, though things heavily lean towards Gandalf. The film, though, gives a fairly straightforward answer by showing the opening rounds of the fight: the Witch-King wins, with him managing to overpower Gandalf and break his staff without too much apparent effort. While this was intended to show the Witch-King as a legitimate threat, the fact that he dies in a similar fashion to the book meant that it also made Gandalf look a lot weaker.
82** The Gondorian army as a whole. In ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'', they generally come off as a lot more feeble, with Gondor's military being [[AdaptationDistillation reduced down to just the soldiers of Minas Tirith and the Ithilien rangers]], as opposed to the diverse mix of fiefdoms that supported the city in the books, as well as Beregond and Imrahil being cut. Notably, while in the books, Gondor was able to rally and force the enemy from the gates after Rohan arrived, the film shows them being pushed back far into the city, and while the rescue force led by Aragorn was largely composed of soldiers from the fiefdoms, in the film, it is cut down to just the Oathbreakers. The vast majority of Gondorian kills in the film are performed by arrows and siege engines, with them being repeatedly overwhelmed by orcish numbers whenever it comes down to melee.
83** Denethor in the books was, though increasingly suffering from SanitySlippage, a competent military leader who commanded the army during Faramir's rescue and held a realistic and informed (if deeply cynical) perspective. In the film, he throws away the lives of his soldiers on clearly suicidal missions, refuses to call for aid from Rohan out of sheer stubborn control-freakishness, and is so disrespected by his men that Gandalf can get away with beating him unconscious in front of his own guards.
84* The hydra from Myth/ClassicalMythology is most famous for how hard it was to kill: [[HydraProblem cut off one of its heads, and two more grow in its place]]. Yet in the SwordAndSandal film ''Film/TheLovesOfHercules'', Herc cuts off just one of the hydra's heads, and it ''dies'', just like that.
85* ''Film/MadameWeb2024'':
86** ComicBook/SpiderWomen Julia Carpenter, Mattie Franklin and Anya Corazon go from badass arachnid action girls to three powerless damsels Webb needs to protect and babysit from Ezekiel. It is stated and briefly shown in flash forwards (where they take out the Ezekiel) that they will be strong Spider-Women in the future but in the movie itself, we still see none of their competency that will apparently make them such great superheroes.
87** Mary Parker, Spidey’s mother when she was alive in the comics was a badass ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} secret agent Nick Fury himself held in high regard. In this film she’s just a clueless civilian who don’t have any real bearing on the plot beyond being pregnant with Peter.
88* The heroic Fairies from ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' go from highly confident, [[MamaBear protective guardians]] in the ''Disney'' film to LethallyStupid and incompetent fools. The three fairies were able to prevent Maleficent from ever locating Aurora by keeping a close eye on the girl and casting spells that made it hard for the mistress of evil to even find them. In the reboot, the fairies completely fail to watch the child and never noticed that Maleficent has found and interacted with Aurora multiple times. It's worth noting that they also have an AdaptationNameChange, leading some fans to insist that they're NOT the beloved Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from the original film. It's more justified than many examples since the entire premise of the film is that the original version was not just inaccurate, but a deliberate falsehood used as propaganda.
89* The wife in ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'' changed from a clever [[TheGunslinger Gunslinger]] to a clever retired singer in the ForeignRemake.
90* Literature/BabaYaga in ''Film/{{Morozko}}'' (released in America as ''Jack Frost'') is nowhere near the levels of power typically associated with the character, being easily defeated multiple times by the protagonist, Ivan. In most legends, Baba Yaga is a nearly godlike being with many magical servants, the ability to cast hexes on anyone she dislikes, and enough physical strength to easily defeat giants capable of moving mountains with their bare hands. In this movie... she's not even close. She's basically defenseless without her servants, and even they're nothing compared to what they are in legends. In the American release she's dissociated even further from the character, having her name changed to The Hunchbacked Fairy.
91* In the video game franchise, ''Franchise/MortalKombat'', Stryker was one of the best characters in the game. In ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'', he gets killed offscreen, with the only mention of him even existing being an offhand remark by one of [[BigBad Shao Kahn]]'s henchmen about how easy he was to kill. Not even beloved characters are safe. Despite being an undead burning warrior akin to ComicBook/GhostRider, Scorpion is defeated by Johnny Cage in the Netherrealm ''with just a spear and shield'' in ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie''.
92* ''Film/MortalKombat2021'':
93** Nitara is a powerful winged vampire in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'', fully capable of fighting the likes of Cyrax and Smoke, two cyborg ninjas. In the 2021 film however, Nitara isn't very impressive, only having total of two scenes, the second of which she's only there to showcase Kung Lao's Hat Trick [[HalfTheManheUsedToBe fatality]].
94** Reiko although he's a wannabe Shao Kahn InUniverse, is still a formidable warrior in the games. The new timeline in particular would depict Reiko as a devious GeniusBruiser who outsmarts most of Outworld, overpowers Jax and engages in a three on one fight with Kotal Kahn, Mileena and Ermac. In the 2021 film on the other hand, Reiko is downgraded to DumbMuscle as TheBrute of Shang Tsung and is easily killed once Jax gets his EleventhHourSuperpower.
95** Goro would be the hardest hit however. In both the games and his previous film portrayal he's a formidable HeroKiller and the trump card of BigBad Shang Tsung against Earthrealm since in the game's lore not even the Great Kung Lao could beat him. Liu Kang, Earthrelam's WorldsBestWarrior was the first fighter in centuries to hand him a loss. In the 2021 movie Goro is treated as a big deal, but only physically appears in one scene to beat up CanonForeigner Cole Young and then after a HeroicSecondWind is easily killed by Cole [[TheWorfEffect in order to show off]] his special arcana ability.
96* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', Annabeth creates most of the plans that she, Percy, and Grover carry out. In [[Film/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the movie]], she plays a smaller role, with most of the plans created by Percy. And in the second movie, her only part seems to be [[FantasticRacism racist towards Tyson]], [[spoiler: and then she almost dies and Percy has to save her]].
97* One complaint about ''Film/PeterPanAndWendy'' is that this happens to Franchise/PeterPan himself, seemingly in order to [[{{Xenafication}} make Wendy and Tiger Lily more badass]]. He saves each of them in the book and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan original Disney film]]; here, we only ever see the girls saving him, and in Wendy's case, multiple times.
98* ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004'':
99** It overlaps with the [[Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera Broadway Musical]] but Christine is a far more [[PluckyGirl assertive]] and [[SpiritedYoungLady spirited heroine]] in Gaston Leroux‘s [[Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera novel]] than she is on the [[{{Chickification}} screen or the stage]]. In the original book, Leroux explicitly describes Christine as “strong”, and while not a ActionGirl by modern standards she still physically overpowers her {{Love Interest|s}} Raoul several times to protect him from the jealous Phantom, and she even makes great effort to escape from the Phantom when he abducts her in the finale. Movie Christine much like the Mina and Cinderella examples above has had the spine completely removed from her character, TheIngenue traits are dialed up and she puts no resistance to the Phantom whatsoever compared to the book. Although to be fair most adaptions do this, e.g ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1925'' where Christine is just a hysterical DamselInDistress.
100** To a lesser degree the Phantom himself gets this in the 2004 movie despite being played by [[Creator/GerardButler Leonidas]]. In the book and musical the Phantom aka Erik is story-wise pretty much a InvincibleVillain being an EvilGenius and MasterOfIllusion who could’ve easily killed Raoul, the Persian and even blown up half of Paris if not for Christine [[SympathyForTheDevil showing him mercy and compassion]]. In the movie when the Phantom engages Raoul in a SwordFight in the graveyard [[CurbStompBattle he gets his caped ass handed to him]] and would’ve been killed right there, if Christine hadn’t urged Raoul to take mercy upon him and Raoul complying. In the book it’s detailed that Erik killed many warriors back in Persia with the [[KnowsTheRopes Punjab lasso]] which is why the Persian was afraid of a physical confrontation with Erik.
101* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', Redd White was the head of his own company, Bluecorp, and had blackmail material on pretty much every important person in the city. He was also able to easily get Phoenix himself arrested on trumped-up charges, to try to avoid being arrested for [[spoiler:killing Mia]], and used his power to [[spoiler:completely ruin the reputation of the Fey clan]]. In [[Film/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney the movie]] though, he's put in as a reporter who [[spoiler:ruined Misty's reputation]] through a column in the paper. [[spoiler:He still kills Mia and frames Maya for it]], but then [[spoiler:he's killed off in prison, to avoid the plot hole of Phoenix having him spell the name of his boss, von Karma]].
102* Pretty much every character that isn't [[InvincibleHero Alice]] (and even then, she's a CanonForeigner and CreatorsPet) was turned into one of these to at least some degree in the ''Film/ResidentEvilFilmSeries'', but the hardest hit out of any characters was ''The Nemesis'' ([[HeroKiller yes]], ''[[ImplacableMan that]]'' [[SuperPersistentPredator Nemesis]]). He barely does any damage and goes down pretty easy, and this is ''after'' they hooked him up with a ''[[GatlingGood gatling gun]]'' to boot. [[BigBad Wesker]] doesn't fare better, having somehow [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forgot all of his powers]] during ''Film/ResidentEvilTheFinalChapter'' all the while being DemotedToDragon.
103* ''Film/ResidentEvilWelcomeToRaccoonCity'':
104** Leon Kennedy is easily the hardest hit in the film. In ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 RE2]]'' he’s a super rookie that could plow through countless zombies, B.O.Ws and take down ImplacableMan Tyrant Mr.X all on his first day. In this film Leon gets a hefty amount of AdaptationalDumbass and is more like Hudson from ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. He was [[ReassignedToAntarctica transferred]] to Raccoon City for accidentally shooting his partner during training, he spends most of the first act asleep (even a tanker truck crashing and exploding directly outside the RPD isn't enough to wake him up, with Irons having to save him from a flaming zombie that walked right into the station), and his rookie status is heavily played up. He’s much more comic relief than his badass game counterpart. [[spoiler: He does at least get one moment of awesomeness right at very end when he takes down Birkin with the RPG.]]
105** Jill Valentine in the games is the most badass ActionGirl in the franchise who could take down Nemesis all by herself. Here Jill barely does anything of note beyond shooting a few zombies, needs to be protected by Wesker of all people and in the film’s climax she’s outright NeutralFemale who contributes nothing the fight with Birkin. Particularly odd, considering Claire who by contrast at this point isn’t nearly as experienced being a civilian, is portrayed as more competent.
106* ''Film/RoboCop2'' sees Murphy having a harder time fighting the additional directives OCP gave him than [[ComicBook/FrankMillersRoboCop the original script]], where he was saying the things OCP wanted him to say, but otherwise still doing what he himself wanted.
107* Doctor Watson in many adaptations of ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes''. In the [[Literature/SherlockHolmes books]], he was a very sensible and sharp-minded decorated ex-military CombatMedic who demonstrates through his writing that he possesses keen attention and memory, who began his adventures with Holmes while in his mid-20s, is described as strongly built and square-jawed, is portrayed as a man of action who was handy with a revolver and notably more violence-prone and confrontational than Holmes, and who more often than not insisted that Holmes take him along on dangerous missions as backup or confronted Holmes hotly regarding the latter's unhealthy habits or antisocial behavior. On film, initially and most glaringly in the Creator/BasilRathbone[=/=]Nigel Bruce series from the 1940s, he is generally a timid, obedient, ineffectual fool, who is usually fat, feeble, and many years older than Holmes and has a hero-worshippy, anxious, speak-when-spoken-to demeanor. Some later adaptations (like the Granada TV series) tried to undo this, but his image in the broad public consciousness didn't really get revamped until [[Film/SherlockHolmes2009 the 2009 movie]] inverted this trope with a ''vengeance.''
108* ''Film/TheShining'' by Creator/StanleyKubrick would do this to Wendy. In [[Literature/TheShining the book]] she’s full agency and surprising moral strength being [[MamaBear willingly to do anything for her son Danny]], even fight and kill to protect him long before there’s any actual danger. She’s not in any way submissive or docile when it comes to her troubled husband Jack and while does love him she was still going to walk out the door with Danny before he (temporarily) got his life back on track. When things start go bad she’s proactive in trying escape the Overlook and willingly to confront Jack even knowing he’s been possessed/gone crazy. The Creator/ShelleyDuvall Wendy from the film is more of an ExtremeDoormat for much of the film letting Jack (who got AdaptationalVillainy) just insult and abuse her. When he goes nuts she knocks him out by accident while she was swinging a bat around and made him fall down the stairs — as opposed to the novel’s version where she was defending herself from being choked by smashing him with a bottle. Not helping matters is that the HystericalWoman aspect of her character which was subdued in the book, is played up to the hilt in the film[[labelnote:]] Though in fairness that’s more of a fault of the director constantly bullying poor Shelley behind the camera [[EnforcedMethodActing to make her more unhinged]] [[/labelnote]] and robs Wendy of her strong willed ActionSurvivor qualities from the latter half of the book. Unsurprisingly Creator/StephenKing cites the treatment of Wendy as one of the many reasons why [[DisownedAdaptation he dislikes this adaptation of his book]].
109* ''Film/SilentHillRevelation3D''
110** The film drastically does this to Heather Mason. In ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'', Heather was a fearless ActionGirl who braved through the ghost town, slaughtering every enemy in her sight, in order to avenge the death of her father and come to grips with her inner demons. In the film, Heather is ''scared of everything'', only gets ''four kills'' in the movie (One by AccidentalMurder and the other three {{anticlima|xBoss}}ctically), defeats [[DarkMessiah Alessa]], her EvilCounterpart, ''with a hug'', cries in fear throughout most of the movie, and even needs ''[[spoiler: Pyramid Head]]'' to save the day by fighting her final battle with the BigBad for her.
111** Harry Mason isn't the PapaWolf who defeated an evil cult and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu killed a God]] like the games, just a NonActionGuy played by Creator/SeanBean.
112** Alessa, one of the toughest bosses in the third game and the GreaterScopeVillain of the whole ''Silent Hill'' series, ends up killed ''by a hug''.
113** Leonard, another brutal boss from the third game, ends up killed by [[AntiClimaxBoss getting his medallion removed from his body]]. Plus, he's [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking played by Malcom McDowell.]]
114* The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' cut of ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' has an unitentional example: they cut out most of the battle with the SpacePirates for time. As a result, it seems like the Southern Sun just shoots a couple missiles and destroys the pirates. The uncut version actually has them fight the pirates for a couple minutes before winning, and the pirates manage to do some significant damage to the Southern Sun (such as destroying some turrets.)
115* ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy''. Not only is she kidnapped WAY less often in the comic books, but when she does, she always tries to free herself without any help. In the films, her being kidnapped became practically a cliché. For all its faults, the third and final film portrays her closer to the comics, with her finally taking initiative to avoid being killed during her kidnapping and actually being bold enough to throw a cinderblock at ''Venom''. It's worth noting that the films seemed to be taking a page from ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' comics, which actually started the trend of MJ being made into a damsel in need of saving more often, likely due to [[CompositeCharacter combining her with Gwen Stacy.]]
116* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
117** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' depicts General Grievous as a coughing, cackling, ineffectual coward who accomplishes precisely nothing in the whole film, a huge step down from the [[ImplacableMan unstoppable]], [[TheDreaded monstrous]], [[HeroKiller Jedi-killing]], [[OneManArmy One Cyborg Army]] in Genndy Tartakovsky's ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''. Tartakovsky's version came out first, before the characterization of Grievous in the film was finalized, so they had the freedom to write what they wanted. Creator/GeorgeLucas basically ignored this version and settled on Grievous as a mustache-twirling SmugSnake for his film.
118** PsychoForHire Aurra Sing was a Dark Jedi BountyHunter who left the Order at a young age, but was shown in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' to still retain enough aptitude with the Force to take on Jedi. However in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' and works made after the Creator/{{Disney}} ContinuityReboot she's reduced to a BadassNormal before being KilledOffscreen in ''Film/{{Solo}}'', [[DeathByAdaptation whereas originally]] she managed to outlive TheEmpire before being [[PutOnAPrisonBus brought to justice]] by [[Literature/LegacyOfTheForce Jacen Solo]].
119** Protagonist Luke Skywalker undergoes a serious case of NotAsYouKnowThem in the reboot. Originally in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' he lived up to his TheChosenOne status and became the most powerful Jedi who ever lived, whereas in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' and ''Series/TheMandalorian'' he's still shown to be a skilled duelist and powerful Jedi but is lacking the [[AdaptationalPersonalityChange mental]] and spiritual fortitude to [[OrderReborn hold the New Jedi Order together]], resulting in HijackedDestiny and DeathByAdaptation.
120** Boba Fett although SparedByAdaptation like in ''Legends'', arguably got this to a overall greater extent than even Luke in the new continuity. Originally in ''Legends'' Boba absolutely lived up to his status as TheDreaded killing the Sarlacc, becoming the new ruler of Mandalore and was even the BadassTeacher to Han and Leia’s daughter Jaina. In the new canon seen in ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' while still pretty badass in his own right, Boba is ultimately much less formidable frequently needing others to help him out, such as his partner Fennec Shand who not only stone cold assassinates Boba’s foes for him but is also the one who really destroys the Sarlacc. Furthermore newcomer [[Series/TheMandalorian Din Djarin]] had [[DecompositeCharacter already carried out]] a lot of Boba’s feats from ''Legends'' right down to matching Jedi in combat, raising a Force-Sensitive to being the one with the right to rule Mandalore.
121* ''Film/StreetFighter'':
122** While most of the characters lack some of the powers of their video game counterparts, Dhalsim is an especially notable example. In the games, he's a [[RubberMan stretching]], fire-breathing yoga master. In the movie, he's a bullied lab technician with no powers. Supposedly, he was going to get his powers in the sequel, but it was never made.
123** Chun-Li at first [[SubvertedTrope appears to be a case of this trope]], being a seemingly regular news reporter who hides behind her two bodyguards. It's later revealed to have been ObfuscatingStupidity.
124** Dee Jay goes from a beefy kickboxer to being Bison's IT guy. He plays basically no role in combat, and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere nopes out about midway through the final battle]].
125--->'''Dee Jay:''' Ah, mon. I shoulda stayed at Microsoft.
126* ''Film/StreetFighterTheLegendOfChunLi'' is even worse about this:
127** The entire movie is spent building up to Chun-Li learning how to throw a fireball. It doesn't help that Creator/KristinKreuk is not a terribly convincing martial artist.
128** M. Bison is not the musclebound psychic powerhouse from the games, but rather a short Irishman with no superpowers. He's also defeated in a truly humiliating manner after Chun-Li ''accidentally gets cement powder in his eyes'' like some kind of ''Film/HomeAlone'' villain. Website/{{Cracked}} had this to say:
129---> He's meant to be the ultimate unarmed combatant and the only people he punches in the entire movie are a chained-up secretary and an unborn fetus.
130* In 1993's ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' the entire Koopa family are changed from [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot fire-breathing turtle dragon sorcerers]] into fairly average humanoids, with the only strange thing about them being that they evolved from dinosaurs rather than apes. Koopa Troopas and Goombas zigzag into AdaptationalBadass by changing into big burly guys with tiny heads, but then it gets subverted [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy when you see them in action]]. Mario and Luigi never once jump on someone's head or change into tanukis. There's even a brief moment at the end where the movie teases us by having the DevolutionDevice used on King -- correction, ''{{President|Evil}}'' Koopa, turning him into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Sadly, a T. Rex still isn't quite as badass as a fire-breathing turtle dragon, and he ends up being an AntiClimaxBoss anyway, getting devolved into primordial ooze in short order.
131* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesOutOfTheShadows'': Karai, the Shredder's daughter, the successor who would take over the role as the feared leader of the Foot Clan, and the same girl who ''murdered'' Leonardo once ([[DisneyDeath He got better]]), ends up becoming a barely present backup lieutenant who suffers a OneHitKO from ''April O'Neil'', of all characters, in her only fight scene.
132* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'':
133** ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'':
134*** Arcee and her sisters ([[AllThereInTheManual named outside of the movie as Chromia and Elita One]]). In most previous adaptations, they could hold their own with the male Autobots against the Decepticons. In the movie, they're barely able to make a dent in Sideways and two of them end up getting destroyed in the film's final battle in Egypt.
135*** And then there's The Fallen himself. In the original comics, he was [[TimeAbyss an immortal being older than the planet itself]], a powerful sorcerer capable of apocalyptic dark rituals, strong enough to casually curbstomp Grimlock (even managing a BareHandedBladeBlock against a LaserBlade), [[IncendiaryExponent and always on fire]] [[RuleOfCool for no particular reason]]. Later stories elaborated further, suggesting him to be a member of the Thirteen and therefore a former retainer to the Cybertronian overgod Primus, and the former guardian of the universal concept of entropy. Then there's the film version of the Fallen, who is some old guy robot who isn't on fire who orders around Megatron for a few scenes and then [[AntiClimaxBoss gets murdered by Prime in under two minutes.]] Even odder, WordOfGod claims that the Fallen in the films and the Fallen in the comics are the exact same individual -- did he decide to not bring his godlike power into battle that day?
136** ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' does this to Wheeljack. While both versions are a cunning GadgeteerGenius; Wheeljack in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' could still do well in battle. In the movie, Wheeljack, now referred to as Que, ends up getting captured by the Decepticons in the final battle in Chicago and begs for his life before getting unceremoniously shot to pieces.
137* ''Film/VForVendetta'' turns Gordon Dietrich into a chubby, middle-aged comedian (played by Creator/StephenFry, no less) when he was younger, more physically imposing career criminal in the book. Then again, the film also has him defying the Party's laws by hiding banned books and films in his house, and openly mocking Chancellor Sutler on his show [[spoiler:(which he is eventually executed for)]], which is ''far'' more badass than anything the character did in the book.
138* ''Film/WeWereSoldiers'': Sergeant Major Plumley, believe it or not. While everyone who saw the film who knew the man said that Creator/SamElliott did wonderful work of capturing his essence, it also ''severely'' downplayed just how much of a hardass he actually was.

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