Adaptational Backstory Changes in Western Animation.
Examples:
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog show that Sonic met a lost Tails when the latter was a toddler. Sonic reluctantly adopts Tails as his brother. In the games, Tails and Sonic met when Sonic landed on West Side Island. Tails was bullied by others for his two tails but became interested in the cool hedgehog. Sonic originally thought of Tails as just a pesky kid, but after Tails helped him on his adventure Sonic began to respect Tails.
- Arcane: There are major and minor changes from the Champion backstories established in League of Legends.
- Vi's backstory in the game says that she's an amnesiac orphan who spent her childhood in a Zaunite orphanage called House Hope, whereas here, Vi and Jinx were raised by Vander after their parents were killed in the civil war he started. She also teamed up with a gang called the Factorywood Fiends that caused a mining accident, and Vi used gauntlets to save the trapped miners, none of which happens in the show.
- In the game, it's mentioned that Jayce's patron was Clan Giopara. In the show, it's actually Clan Kiramman. The game also mentions that he first met Viktor at a Progress Day party, while in the show, it's shortly after his apartment blows up. The game also mentions nothing of him inventing hextech, even implying that it was already around by the time he makes a name for himself. Him and Viktor revolutionizing it is a plot point in the show. There's also Jayce's mentor Stanwick Piddidly. In the show, he's something of a historical figure and isn't mentioned to be apart of Jayce's life in any meaningful way.
- Jinx's lore in the games mentions that she was always mischievous and would frequently travel to Piltover to play pranks on them just for the sake of creating chaos that slowly grew more serious as time went on. It also keeps the details of her early life intentionally ambiguous. In the show, not only do we see Jinx's life while under Vander's care, it's also heavily implied that she had not been to Piltover prior to breaking into Jayce's apartment.
- Batman: The Animated Series: The Matt Hagen Clayface in the comics was a treasure hunter who accidentally fell into a pool of protoplasm that he discovered gave him temporary transformations into a clay monster with shape-shifting abilities, periodically exposing himself to more protoplasm to recharge his powers when the transformation wore off. In this continuity, Hagen is an actor who was permanently mutated into Clayface when Roland Daggett attempted to kill him by having his goons overexpose him to Renuyu, a drug Daggett had been blackmailing Hagen with due to the substance's ability to temporarily cure him of his disfigurement.
- DuckTales (2017):
- The show's versions of Darkwing Duck and Negaduck both have different origin stories. The former is a young actor and fan of the Show Within a Show version of Darkwing Duck who was inspired by Launchpad to become a real-life version of their hero; the latter is neither a version of Darkwing from a Mirror Universe nor Darkwing's evil side made manifest, but instead the former actor in the Darkwing role, driven insane after he was replaced in the role for a reboot and got caught in an explosion.
- In the original 1987 series, Webby Vanderquack was Mrs. Beakley's biological granddaughter. Here, she's the older woman's foster granddaughter, with the Grand Finale revealing that Scrooge McDuck is her biological father.
- Earthworm Jim:
- The manual for the original Earthworm Jim video game states that the reason why Professor-Monkey-For-A-Head can't make another super suit identical to Jim's is because his monkey half ate the plans. In the cartoon series, the reason why he can't make another super suit is because he doesn't have a spare Battery of the Gods, and the Gods are not willing to give one to him.
- Another notable example is Princess What's-Her-Name, from being the typical (and apathetic) Damsel in Distress in the games to an Action Girl with a major role in the cartoon series.
- Fangbone!: In the original Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian books, Fangbone and Bill's friendship started shortly after the former arrived on Earth when he decided to take refuge at a nearby school and ran into Bill as a result. In the cartoon, the Origins Episode "The Forging of Friendship" changes the events to having Fangbone encountered Bill after being separated from the Toe of Evil upon arrival, with Fangbone assuming Bill to have stolen the Macguffin and things being complicated by a Skullbanian kraken that Venomous Drool has sent after the hero.
- In the Johan and Peewit comic books, their first meeting with the Smurfs took place in the story "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute", in which they sought the help of the Smurfs to retrieve a magic flute that Peewit found that was stolen by Matthew McCreep and used for robbery. In the Animated Adaptation that was part of The Smurfs (1981) cartoon show, their first meeting happened in "The Cursed Country", where Hefty and Smurfette sought their help in rescuing their fellow Smurfs from being abducted by an evil dragon tamer.
- Justice League:
- Hawkgirl in the comics was primarily Hawkman's girlfriend, and both their backstories were caught in an infamous Continuity Snarl: DC couldn't decide if they were reincarnations of ancient Egyptian heroes, or Human Alien law enforcement officers from planet Thanagar. For her appearance in Justice League, Hawkgirl was reimagined as a hero completely independent of Hawkman. She was still a Thanagarian police officer, though teleported to Earth by accident and searching for a way home—until the season 2 finale revealed that whole backstory was a lie, and she was actually a spy for Thanagar's invasion force. Then later seasons teased the possibility that she was the reincarnation of a marooned Thanagarian who ruled over ancient Egypt as a queen, but the series never confirmed if that was true or not.
- In JLA (1997), General Wade Eiling acquired his hulking supervillain form by having his mind transferred into the old Justice League villain Shaggy Man (which he then had shaved so he wouldn't look like a hippie). In the cartoon, he gained it from taking Captain Nazi's Super Serum.
- In Marvel Rising: Initiation, Spider-Gwen's backstory sees some minor changes to better fit into the "mainline" universe of the animated series, as the character resides within an alternate universe within the pages of Marvel Comics (Earth-65 rather than Earth-616). In the comics, Gwen Stacy initially used her powers for fun and profit before hearing her father criticize her persona for wasting her talents. Afterwards, she begins crime-fighting, but her commitment to do so is only cemented after she fights the Lizard, who turns out to be her best friend Peter Parker. Peter dies from his injuries after reverting back to normal, and Gwen spends over thirty issues as a fugitive, with the goal of becoming a better hero so her best friend wouldn't have died in vain. In the cartoon, it's implied that this Gwen was a hero from day one. Instead of Peter Parker, her best friend was an Inhuman named Kevin, and rather than him accidentally dying by Gwen's hands, he's murdered by a Kree villain, with Gwen being framed for the crime. Oh, and Gwen Stacy's hero name is changed from "Spider-Woman" to "Ghost-Spider", though that change that would later extended to the comics to reduce any possible confusion with Jessica Drew.
- Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023): Devil. In the comics Devil Dinosaur was originally the companion of the caveman Moon Boy, who died at the hands of rival cavemen shortly before the dinosaur was sent into the present. In the show Moon Boy is never seen or alluded to. He was instead brought to the present by Lunella herself using a portal generator.
- My Adventures with Superman:
- In the comics, the OMACs are creations of Brother Eye, being former humans transformed into cyborgs using a nanotechnology based virus. In this show, Brother Eye has no role into their origins and they are instead the robotic foot soldiers of Task Force X, created from technology left behind during Zero Day.
- In the comics, the Brain lost his body after getting caught in an explosion caused by Niles Caulder. In this show, he instead lost his body during Task Force X's raid on the Cadmus compound, getting destroyed when the compound's miniature black hole was destabilized.
- The exact details of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' origins vary depending on the adaptation, but one thing that's usually consistent is that the turtles became humanoid mutants by complete chance. The one incarnation this notably does not apply to is Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wherein it is revealed that the turtles were deliberately created as Super Soldiers by Baron Draxum, who created the mutagen and kidnapped Lou Jitsu (action film star and Battle Nexus champion) to serve as the source of their human DNA. Lou escaped the lab with the turtles (mutating into a rat in the process) and moved into New York's sewers. Draxum presumed all of them dead for thirteen years; them crossing paths again kicks off the plot.
- In the original 1991 version of Rugrats, Chas first met Kira at the EuroReptarLand theme park in Paris, France in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. In the 2021 reboot, Kira and her daughter Kimi moved to Tommy's neighborhood from Paris and Chas and Kira first meet at Angelica's preschool's carnival in "Lucky Smudge".
- The Smurfs:
- The comic books had their first encounter with Gargamel taking place within the present time period in "The Smurfnapper", where Gargamel abducts one Smurf to use for his gold-making formula and the other Smurfs spend the night in Gargamel's hovel seeking an opportunity to rescue the Smurf. In the 1980s Animated Adaptation, however, their first meeting with Gargamel happened about ten years prior to the present time period, as revealed in "Gargamel's Time Trip", when Gargamel sought to capture a Smurf to finish his sorcerer's school project so that he could graduate.
- The Smurfs (2021):
- In "The Smurfs: The Pluffs!". Unlike the comic version, the Pluffs are evil counterparts of the Smurfs from an alternate universe, while in the comic, they were evil darker toned duplicates of the Smurfs magically created by Papa Smurf.
- One episode reversed this trope. In "Unsmurfable Smile", according to what Papa Smurf says, the Bzz Fly affected Grouchy by making him transform into a grouchy Smurf, as in what happened in the comic book story "The Black Smurfs".
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): Sonic's origin doesn't match the western origin given in Sonic the Hedgehog Bible and Sonic the Hedgehog Promo Comic. In the original origin, Sonic was a prickly brown hedgehog who befriended a human named Dr. Kintobor. Eventually, both Sonic and Kintobor got into an accident that turned Sonic blue and turned the benevolent scientist into the evil Dr. Robotnik. In SatAM, Sonic was always blue, he's more sociable and has been friends with Sally since childhood, and his backstory has nothing to do with Robotnik.
- Superfriends: Challenge of the Superfriends gave Wonder Woman's enemy Giganta a different origin from what the comics established, revealing in the episode "History of Doom" that she used to be an ordinary human woman until she eavesdropped on Apache Chief gaining his size-changing abilities and swiped the magic powder that gave Apache Chief his powers to use on herself. Her comic origin at the time was that she was an ape who was transformed by experimentation into a human woman who was tall and incredibly strong.
- Teen Titans:
- Cyborg's origin was shown in the Teen Titans Go! tie-in comic. He used to love racing cars but one day got into an accident. He was saved but only by replacing his damaged body with cybernetic parts. In the comics, Cyborg was a football player injured in a science accident that also killed his mother.
- Beast Boy's true origin is never referenced; however, his time with the Doom Patrol is. In the Teen Titan verse they were Spared by the Adaptation, simply missing instead of Killed Off for Real. Beast Boy also never had his pre-80s element, such as trying (and failing) to join the Teen Titans due to not having parental permission.
- Starfire was still enslaved, however she ended up escaping early on, removing the Rape as Backstory and years of abuse that her comic version suffered.
- Robin's backstory is never discussed, however he seems to have the same origin that Dick Grayson always has. He, however, doesn't have his pre-New Teen Titans friendships with characters like Donna Troy, Roy Harper, and Garth.
- Finally, this team itself came together as result of fighting the alien slavers that Starfire had recently escaped from, rather than a call from Raven asking for help to take down her father Trigon, as in The New Teen Titans.
- Teen Titans Go! is a Denser and Wackier adaptation of the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon that actually ended up reinstating most character backstories.
- While one episode shows Cyborg as always being half-robot, even as an infant, as part of a gag, later episodes confirm that he actually was a high school football star who was in an accident, which is more in-line with his comic book backstory.
- Starfire's backstory initially replaces the aforementioned slavery aspect with her simply being exiled from her home planet by her older sister, Blackfire. The episode "Real Origins" reveals that this was still very much the case, though she escapes just as early as she did in the 2003 series thanks to Robin.
- Beast Boy's backstory is elaborated on and revealed to be the same as the comics, with him being a sickly infant whose parents' gave a serum that not only cured him, but also gave him his shapeshifting abilities. With that in mind, this version of the character was never a part of Doom Patrol, though his history with the Doom Patrol was later reinstated by the sixth season.
- The team-up story still differs from the comics, however, as these Titans came together as a result of Dick Grayson wishing to escape the shadow of Batman and actively hunting down sidekicks... er, teammates for a new team. Definitely teammates. (Everyone will know they're really sidekicks, though.)
- When the Doom Patrol is introduced to the canon, Robotman's backstory is that the Chief transplanted his brain into a robot body so he'd be able to beat a rival in a dance competition. This wasn't the case in the comics, where Cliff Steele was a race car driver who had his brain transplanted into a robot body after his human body was destroyed in an accident (which was later revealed to have been arranged by the Chief in the first place).
- Doom Patrol member Negative Man's origin in the comics was that he was a pilot named Larry Trainor who suffered an accident that made his body radioactive, requiring him to wear chemically-treated bandages for everyone else's protection, and gave him the power to have an energy being leave his body to act on his behalf. Negative Girl's origin instead has the Chief turn her into a negative energy being with a ray so she could use her powers to beat an arcade game and win enough tickets for the teddy bear she wanted.
- In the comics and previous animated shows, Venom is an alien creature, but in Ultimate Spider-Man, it's been created from Spider-Man's blood.
- X-Men: The Animated Series:
- Beast's childhood photos in "Beauty and the Beast" suggest that his blue-furred form is a natural result of his mutation, rather than the result of self-experimentation.
- Mr. Sinister's backstory remained largely unchanged in that he was still a scientist from the Victorian era named Nathaniel Essex and was peers with Darwin, but the series removes Apocalypse's involvement in Essex's transformation into Mr. Sinister, with it being caused by Essex experimenting on himself instead.
- Magneto was stripped of his status as a Holocaust survivor, as World War II and the Nazis were not allowed due to the "moral code" of the animation producers (i.e. FOX). Instead, he was given a background as a boy from a more generic Eastern European country which was invaded and conquered in a more recent armed conflict, with his parents being killed during the invasion. Though not quite as horrific as the Holocaust, it still convinced him that using reason in the face of violence was a foolish gambit, and that humanity was far too brutal and warlike to make coexistence a possibility.
- Young Justice (2010):
- Miss Martian is a half-White Martian, half-Green Martian mix. White Martians suffer from heavy discrimination by Green Martians. This is in heavy contrast to the comics where Martian Manhunter was the only Green Martian at the time and M'gann was fully White Martian. She was the White Sheep of the Always Chaotic Evil of White Martians. In the comics, she is also an only child with deceased parents. In the cartoon she has many siblings, living parents, and is Martian Manhunter's biological niece.
- Beast Boy's origin is completely changed. In the comics his parents were scientists living in a jungle. As a toddler Garfield received an injury and the only way to save him was to use an experimental drug, which ended up changing his body to green and giving him superpowers. His parents later died and Garfield was adopted into the Doom Patrol as "Changeling". They too died and he eventually became a Teen Titan, All this was removed in Young Justice. Garfield met the unnamed team as a kid while living with his single ex-actress mother. His green skin and superpowers are due to Miss Martian using her powers to save him. Garfield's mom died during the timeskip and he was taken in by Miss Martian.
- Season 3 however reveals that Gar's powers are a result of a green monkey god, a nod to his comic incarnation.
- Jade Nguyen aka Cheshire was kidnapped as a child and sold into sexual slavery before being adopted by Chinese freedom fighter, Weng Chan. note . In the show, Jade is the daughter of the villains Lawrence Crock and Paula Nguyen aka Sportsmaster and Huntress respectively and is the sister of Artemis Crock. Also, while Jade is typically a freelance mercenary, here she is a member of the League of Shadows.
