Composite Character / Live-Action Films

aka: Film

Composite Character in Films.

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Films/franchises with their own pages:

• DC Extended Universe
• Marvel Cinematic Universe
• X-Men Film Series

Individual examples:

#-L

• 8 Mile compresses the real Eminem's daughter Hailie and half-brother Nate into Rabbit's little sister Lily.
• Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland:
  • The Red Queen is mostly the Queen of Hearts, with visual cues from the Duchess and a few elements of the Red Queen from the second book.
  • The March Hare is a cook whose madness is indicated by throwing crockery at people. This one of the primary characteristics of the Duchess's Cook in the book (the other being an obsession with pepper).
  • Wonderland and Looking Glass World are combined into a single location.
• Subverted with Deep Throat in All the President's Men. A number of critics and amateur sleuths were convinced Deep Throat was an invention of Bob Woodward to make it harder to identify one informant in Richard Nixon’s inner circle. Also because Deep Throat seemed too freaky to be real. Until 2005, when former FBI official W. Mark Felt revealed he was Deep Throat.
• Almost Famous, the pseudo-biography of director Cameron Crowe, features the fictitious band Stillwater as a composite of several groups Crowe toured with as a Rolling Stone columnist, including the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, and the Who.
• Patty Ryan in An American Crime is a composite of three real-life girls involved in the historical events - Darlene MacGuire, Anna Siscoe and Judy Duke.
• The film version of Animal Crackers merged two love interests, Mary and Arabella, into a single character named Arabella.
• In Apollo 13, a whole team of astronauts and engineers working to figure out how to power up the command module again was rolled into Ken Mattingly and a couple of other guys.
• Are You Being Served?: Much like how he had replaced him in the show, Mr. Harman fills Mr. Mash's role from the play the film was based on.
• Attack on Titan:
  • Kubal stands in for Nile Dok (head of the Military Police), Kitz Woerman (advocates for Eren to be executed), and Bertolt Hoover (true form of the Colossal Titan).
  • Shikishima replaces Levi (The Ace), Reiner Braun (true form of the Armored Titan), Annie Leonhart (inherits her Titan form's fighting style, including consciously protecting their nape) and Zeke Yeager (Eren's Titan-shifting half-brother).
  • Hans/Hange Zoe replaces the also absent Erwin Smith as leader of the Survey Corps.
• Barbarella:
  • Big Bad Durand Durand is a combination of three comic book characters: Gronf II was the concierge who conspired to take the Black Queen's throne, Captain Sun was the one who brought Barbarella to meet the Black Queen in the throne room, and finally the movie character took his name from Durand, a prisoner in the labyrinth, who became Professor Ping in the movie. Also note that Captain Sun still exists in the movie, but as a very minor unnamed character (he can be seen in the throne room).
  • Dildano, the Sogoite rebel who supports Barbarella, combines two characters: the Dildano from the comics who had a very different personality and wasn't part of the Sogo storyline, and Captain Sun again, because in the comics it was him who rebelled against the Black Queen and helped Barbarella.
• Bicentennial Man: Male President of the World Congress is the first judge that Andrew meets while seeking his freedom in the film. However, his speech is taken from Andrew's part of the story where Andrew talks with Chairman Chee Li-hsing and he has the role of denouncing Andrew as a robot the same way Magdescu (who doesn't appear at all) does during his "Sesquicentennial Robot" toast.
• Big Trouble:
  • Monica is combined with Detective Baker (the cop who accompanies the FBI agents in the book).
  • Elliot's obnoxious client Bruce, the restaurant customer Henry injures for smoking, and the owner of the car Greer and Seitz commandeer are combined into one Butt-Monkey.
• Thanks to budgetary restrictions, Birds of Prey (2020) combined Bud and Lou, Harley Quinn's pet hyenas from the comics, into a single hyena named Bruce (named for Bruce Wayne as a joke).^note The only options for depicting them were two CGI hyenas played by men, or one played by a dog, the latter was chosen, which gave a more justified case of the All Animals Are Dogs behaviors that the hyenas showed originally.
• Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett, Orlando Bloom, and William Fichtner's characters in Black Hawk Down are all composites of various different US Army Rangers and Delta Force operators from the novel of the same name. Necessary, since hundreds of soldiers took part in the Battle of Mogadishu and so making composite characters allowed the producers to cut the cast of dozens from the novel down to less than ten... and because one of the real-life counterparts would later be convicted of rape and child molestation.
• Canon Foreigner Abraham Whistler in the Blade Trilogy fills Jamal Afari's role as mentor to Blade, but he's more in line with "Bible" John Carik in looks (including long white hair, a scruffy beard, and being white, whereas Jamal was black) and personality.
• In Bonnie and Clyde, C.W. Moss is a composite of two members of the Barrow Gang, W.D. Jones and Henry Methvin.
• In Catch-22, Hungry Joe takes Samson's role as the guy who gets (accidentally) hit by a plane and killed.
• Carl Hanratty from Catch Me If You Can is an amalgam of several FBI agents from Frank Abagnale Jr.'s memoir.
• Christine merged the LeBay brothers into one character. This also served to completely invert one brother's personality and morals.
• The City Of Ember: Sul is a composite of pipe works boss Lister Munk, Arlin Froll (who shows Doon around on his first day at work), and the unnamed old man who maintains the generator but doesn’t completely understand it.
• In Clash of the Titans (1981), Perseus' life is threatened as a child by his grandfather Acrisius (who is then killed by Zeus) and as an adult by Calibos, the deformed former suitor of Andromeda. In the 2010 remake, these are combined into a single character: Acrisius, the husband of Perseus' mother, survives Zeus' attack in a deformed state and takes the name Calibos.
• In the film version of Cloud Atlas, the characters Chang and Hae-Joo Im were combined to create the much more sympathetic character of Hae-Joo Chang, with whom Sonmi-451 falls in love with.
• Color Out of Space (2020):
  • In the original story, the unnamed surveyor (and narrator) interviewed Ammi Pierce, a man who had witnessed and survived the strange events at the Gardner farm many years ago. The movie combines both characters into Ward Phillips, a young surveyor who witnesses the strange events at the Gardner farm and later relates what happened after emerging as the Sole Survivor.
  • The six men who accompanied Pierce to the Gardner farm in the story are condensed into a single sheriff, strangely named Pierce (despite otherwise having little in common with the character in the source material).
• In the film adaptation of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, Georgia's friends Ellen, Jools, and Mabs were initially replaced by a composite Token Minority character called Namita. Fans complained, and so Namita's scenes were redubbed and she became Ellen.
• In The Count of Monte Cristo, there were three men who betrayed Edmond Dantes: Danglars, Edmonds ship-mate who coveted Edmonds rescent promotion to captain; Fernand Mondego de Morcef, cousin to Edmonds fiancée Mercedes who coveted Mercedes and betrayed Edmond in order to get him out of the way and Gerald de Villeford, the prosecutor who sent him to the Castle d'If. In order to stream-line things, make things more personal to Edmond and to get rid of some Values Dissonance Kissing Cousins, most adaptations combines Danglars and Mondego into Edmonds ship-mate and best friend who coveted his girlfriend.
• When Captain Mainwaring first inspects his platoon in the Dad's Army Pilot, "The Man and the Hour", one of them is Private Bracewell, a man in a tuxedo carrying a golf club and talking about dinner reservations. In Dad's Army (1971)'s adaptation of this scene, he has been replaced with Private Godfrey, whose original role (having the only gun in the platoon and refusing to give it up) was given to General Wilkinson, as Private Godfrey's characterisation had marched on by this point in the franchise to an Actual Pacifist who wouldn't want to keep a gun of his own.
• In Dark Shadows, the characters of Victoria Winters and Maggie Evans are now one and the same. Also, Angelique, who is a combination of herself and rival fishery owner Burke Devlin.
• A sixth officer mentioned in the novel, and omitted from the film Das Boot, is the 2nd Engineer who joins the boat on a training cruise in order to take over for the Chief Engineer at the end of the patrol. The 2nd Engineer does not socialize or dine with the other officers and is immediately disliked by the Captain who pledges he will find a way to prevent the man from become the new Chief Engineer. In the film, much of the antagonistic elements of the 2nd Engineer are written into the character of the First Officer.
• Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid culls together Stock Footage of classic movies for humorous effect. So when multiple movies are used with the same stars, their characters are looped together into one. For instance, Humphrey Bogart's characters become Philip Marlowe and Ava Gardner's characters become Kitty Collins.
• In the second Death Note movie, Takada replaces Higuchi completely and has a few elements of Mikami mixed in. She performs the role of the third Kira almost identically to Higuchi's portrayal, down to the character's being disposed of by Light.
  • In the first movie there's Shiori, Light's new Satellite Love Interest — she's the smart girl on campus like Takada (though as mentioned above Takada does appear later in Higuchi's role) and also fulfills the same role as Yuri, aka the Girl from the Bus. Also she has a strong sense of justice, is studying to be a prosecutor, and is very protective of Light—like another of Light's allies who never got any screentime in the live action movies—a Gender Flipped prenote!Teru Mikami?
  • L replaces Near as the one who captures Kira and gives him the "you're just a murderer" speech.
• Death Note (2017):
  • Mia Sutton is mostly based off Misa Amane, but is an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl like Kiyomi Takada. Her role as a fellow student and girlfriend of Light who is later manipulated to die at his design is taken from Shiori Akino, a Canon Foreigner created for the first Japanese movie. And finally, her sociopathic traits are taken from Light himself.
  • Taken up to eleven with L, who manages to combine himself with almost every anti-Kira detective in previous materials. He shares his name with the first Hero Antagonist of Death Note, but his black clothing and hot-blooded personality are more in line with Mello. His use of a mask to protect himself from Death Note Users is taken from Ryuzaki from Death Note: Light Up the New World. His desire to hunt Light avenge a loved one comes from Naomi Misora, and his decision to keep the Death Note for himself at the end mimics that of Near.
• The Deep (1977): Cloche has a slightly expanded presence, and his role envelops those of minor book villains like the man who tries to buy the first vial of morphine and the diver who is killed by a moray eel.
• The Departed (based on Infernal Affairs): Dr. Madden is a combination of therapist Dr. Lee, the undercover cop's love interest, and Mary, the infiltrator's girlfriend, creating a Love Triangle where there had been none before.
• Dick Tracy:
  • The film makes The Blank, also known as Faceless Redrum, into the alias of another Dick Tracy regular: Breathless Mahooney. Said character, an aloof nightclub performer and moll also resembles the strip's Sleet.
  • Big Boy Caprice is the only villain who doesn't match his comic strip counterpart's design. Rather than a large, heavyset man, the film's Big Boy (designed by Al Pacino himself) had slick black hair and a small moustache. The redesign greatly resembles another villain from the strip, Sketch Paree.
• Die Hard: As the first two films were fused from the separate novels, Nothing Lasts Forever and 58 Minutes, John McClane stands in for the two novels' heroes, Joe Leland and Frank Malone. His wife, Holly Genarro, stands in for Stephanie Genarro and Kate Malone, both the daughters of the novels' heroes.
• Divergent: The part where Dauntless targets are forced into Psychic-Assisted Suicide is altered in the film. In the book, the victims are their friend Marlene and two children named Hector and Kee. Tris and Christina manage to save the latter two, but fail to save Marlene. In the film, Kee is Adapted Out and Christina herself becomes one of the victims, with her role being taken by Tori Wu, who is already established in the films.
• Subverted (or possibly even double subverted, if the Playing With is to be believed) in Donnie Brasco. Lefty in the movie is a composite of the real Lefty, the real Sonny Black, and several other wiseguys Joe Pistone met during his undercover work. Sonny Black appears in the movie, although In Name Only. Michael Madsen wasn't too happy about that one.
• In the parody Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Mel Brooks dispenses with all of Lucy's suitors except Seward, who becomes her much-older guardian instead. Harker takes over the role of all the four younger men. It's mentioned that he liked Lucy, while being Mina's suitor. Liked, not LIKE-Liked.
  Van Helsing: It must be done by one who LOVED her in life!
  Harker: I only LIKED her!
  Van Helsing: Close enough, here! (hands him the stake and mallet.)
• In Dracula Untold, Mehmet II is combined with Vlad's brother Radu the Handsome. The whole "Vlad's brother who supports the Ottomans and sides against him" motif in the film belonged to Radu in real life.
• Dragonball Evolution:
  • The film fused the two Piccolos (Daimaou and Ma Junior) into one. Although, technically, Ma Junior was Daimaou in the original, or at least his reincarnation. His role of revealing Goku’s non-human heritage is also similar to Raditz or Vegeta. He also replaces Pilaf as Mai's employer.
  • Goku's character acts suspiciously like the teenaged version of his son, Gohan, from one of the later arcs of Dragon Ball Z where Gohan goes to High School.
  • Similarly Chi-Chi has her character fused with Videl (her daughter-in-law) being the martial arts loving high-school crush turned Action Girlfriend of the hero. Rather than someone met during childhood while adventuring.
• Dreamgirls:
  • Effie White is mostly based off of the late Supremes member Florence Ballard, but also had elements of Aretha Franklin to her.
  • Also, James "Thunder" Early was initially believed to be a James Brown, especially in the 60s, but once the 70s rolled around, both his image and his professional and personal lives morphed into that of Marvin Gaye's.
• An early draft of Ed Wood showed Ed meeting his first wife Norma McCarty (and their subsequent short-lived marriage). After this part was cut some of their dialogue was moved to the scene where Ed first meets Kathy O'Hara, his second wife up to Wood's death.
• Phillip Steele in An Englishman in New York is based on Quentin Crisp's friends Phillip Ward and Tom Steele.
• In the novel Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the ticket-scalper character is separate from Mike Damone. The two were combined in the movie.
• Michael Merriman (John Cusack's character in Fat Man and Little Boy) is a composite of two real Manhattan Project physicists, Louis Slotin and Henry K. Daghlian, Jr. Both died as the result of separate criticality accidents involving the same "demon" bomb core after the Hiroshima and Nakasaki bombings.
• Fist of the North Star:
  • Shin's right-hand man Jackal takes his name from a gang leader villain in the manga, but his origin story as a villain who was disfigured by Kenshiro in the past resembles that of Kenshiro's evil adoptive brother Jagi. Neither, Jagi nor Jackal had anything to do with Shin, other than the fact that Jagi was the one who persuaded Shin to turn evil and Jackal was an underling of Shin in the TV series (but not in the manga).
  • In the same movie, Shin takes the place of Kenshiro's adopted brother Raoh as the killer of his Sensei, Ryuken.
• In From Here to Eternity, Maggio is combined with Blues Berry, the soldier who dies after being repeatedly beaten and tortured by Judson. Maggio actually survives in the original novel.
• The role of Kuze in Ghost in the Shell (2017) is largely based on the Laughing Man. Like him, Kuze is an anti-corporate terrorist who wears a long overcoat to conceal his body and can hack into the cyberbrains of cyborgs. It's been said that the original drafts of the film featured both Kuze and the Laughing Man before they were combined into one character.
• In GI Joe, Rex Lewis/The Doctor/Cobra Commander is a merging of Doctor Mindbender and Cobra Commander. Only in role, however, as Mindbender actually shows as a brief character in a flashback. He also replaces Eugene as the Baroness' brother.
  • In G.I. Joe: Retaliation Roadblock's background has several elements taken from Stalker in the comics, such as being involved with a gang when growing up in the city, being best buddies with Snake Eyes, and having kids.
• Both film versions of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo turn Anita Vanger into a Posthumous Character; the woman thought to be Anita turns out to be Harriet Vanger herself.
• The film adaptation of The Golden Compass combines the characters of Billy Costa and Tony Makarios, making Billy the "severed child" looking for his lost daemon instead of having him survive and escape from Bolvangar with Lyra and Roger.
• Grease: Barry Pearl, who plays Doody, notes in this interview that the greaser boys' personalities were switched when adapting from play to film. Specifically, film Doody acts like play Sonny, film Sonny acts like play Roger/Putzie, and film Roger/Putzie acts like play Doody.
• Each character in The Great Escape is a composite of several people involved in the real event.
• Guyana: Crime of the Century: Despite the thin fictionalizations of the main characters (the movie is based on the 1978 Jonestown masaccre), a few secondary characters count, most obviously Anna Kazan, who was based on two of Jones' mistresses/right-hand women (Carolyn Layton and Maria Katsaris).
• In the film adaptation of Gypsy, Uncle Jocko and Herbie become the same person.
• In a pretty different sort of case, you've got Dr. Terence Wynn played by Mitchell Ryan in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. The character being a retroactive composite of two minor characters that had appeared in the series prior. The Dr. Wynn from the original Halloween (1978) played by Robert Phalen who served as a colleague of Loomis' who we see debate with him about Michael Myers as well as the Man in Black from Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers portrayed by Don Shanks that was a mysterious entity that came to Haddonfield and who watched over things throughout the film and rescued Myers from prison at the end. Both created independently of each other. The latter was a character created for the fifth film by its director Dominique Othenin-Girard to add some dimension of mystery, but nobody had a clue who he'd turn out to be. When writing a sixth installment Daniel Farrands said that his initial intent for Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was to "bridge the later films (4-5) in the series to the earlier films (1-2) while at the same time taking the story into new territory so that the series could expand for future installments." Linking together these smaller disconnected characters and revealing him to essentially be the main antagonist of the film, if not the series up to that point, appears to be a product of that.
• Harry Potter:
  • A boy named Nigel seems to be a composite of the two Creevey brothers (Colin and Dennis). Oddly enough, Colin did appear (with that name) in the second film. Word of God is that Nigel was created after Hugh Mitchell (who played Colin in the second film) went through a massive growth spurt and the filmmakers didn't think he'd be able to portray a character who was supposed to appear small and mousy anymore.
  • In many of the movies, Hermione was given lines and important actions that belonged to the Weasleys in the books, including the Devil's Snare test in the first movie, defending Harry from Sirius in animagus form in the third movie (both actions of Ron in the books), and the general role of Harry's closest friend, while losing some of her own subplots, such as helping the house elves.
  • Chamber of Secrets:
    • In the book, it's stated that Vernon paid someone to fit the bars on Harry's window. In the movie version, Vernon just does it himself.
    • In the movie, Hermione asks Professor McGonagall about the Chamber of Secrets rather than minor character Professor Binns. McGonagall also gets lines originally written for Madam Hooch, as Zoe Wanamaker declined to return for the second film after asking for too much money.
  • Goblet of Fire:
    • In the book, Moody actually Crouch in disguise gives Neville a herbology book hoping that Harry would ask him about gillyweed. When Harry does not ask Neville, he then has a loud discussion about gillyweed when Dobby is listening so that Dobby would sneak some for Harry. In the movie Harry does talk to Neville meaning Dobby's role is not necessary.
    • The character of Ludo Bagman was removed and some of his characteristics combined into the character of Barty Crouch Sr., resulting in Crouch being more comical than his completely serious nature in the book. His commentary is taken up by Cornelius Fudge during the Quidditch World cup. His exclusion is likely due to much of the scenes involving him being cut so what little remained was given to others.
  • Order of the Phoenix: Cho is the one who betrays Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge, albeit under the influence of Veritaserum, taking Marietta's place from the book while also making the betrayal against her will in contrast to her best friend in the books as Marietta was Adapted Out.
  • Half-Blood Prince:
    • Bellatrix Lestrange is prominently involved in the battle, but she was not even in the corresponding scene from the book. All her actions in the film version of the scene (coaxing Draco to kill Dumbledore, firing the Dark Mark into the sky, setting Hagrid's hut on fire) were performed by various Mooks in the book.
    • Luna Lovegood takes over Tonks' role of finding Harry on the Hogwarts Express.
  • Deathly Hallows: Due to actor Jamie Waylett's legal troubles, Crabbe was written out, and his ultimate fate was given to Goyle instead. Blaise Zabini was then brought in as the third man of Draco's Power Trio.
• In the 2019 adaptation of Hellboy, Lobster Johnson takes on elements of the Torch of Liberty (a Captain America Expy tied up in some rights issues) in being involved in the attack on Project Ragna Rok.
• The Hobbit has a Composite Object. Thranduil is shown in a flashback being denied a gemmed necklace he allegedly refused to pay for, and later expresses his desire for its gems, eventually receiving them. In the book, he does receive a gemmed necklace, but it was a gift from Bard the Bowman, a descendant of its original owner Girion, who claimed it as his 1/14 of Erebor's treasure. The plot of an Elven king having a conflict with Dwarven jewellers over a necklace he didn't pay for is taken from Elu Thingol's story in The Silmarillion (Thranduil's liege of old).
• In the 1992 film Hoffa Bobby Ciaro is a composite character of several different Hoffa associates
• The Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit: Helen's riding instructor and Fred's girlfriend/Aspercel's second jockey Suzie are different characters in the book (where Suzie is Fred's secretary), but are combined in the film.
• A rare non-adaptation example: the first few drafts of Hot Fuzz had a love interest for Nick Angel. When her part was cut, the majority of her lines (as well as the peace lily subplot) were given to Danny Butterman's character, which resulted in quite a bit of intentional Ho Yay.
• House of Wax (1953) combined three characters from the original Mystery of the Wax Museum into two: The original film has the heroine, a victim she didn't know who becomes Joan of Arc, and her best friend who almost becomes Marie Antoinette. The remake has Sue (the heroine and the Marie Antoinette victim) and Cathy (the best friend and the Joan of Arc victim).
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay:
  • In Part 1, Effie's character is given the role(s) played by Fulvia and Katniss's prep team in the story and some of their dialogue from the book, while all four of those characters are Adapted Out. This is reportedly because Suzanne Collins liked Elizabeth Banks's portrayal of Effie in the first two movies so much that she didn't want to see her Demoted to Extra like she was in the final book.
  • In Part 2, Prim is regarded as Peeta's "closest person" and thus is the one allowed entry to his room in hopes of curing his hijacking. The "closest person" in the book is Delly Cartwright, Peeta's best friend who doesn't appear in the film.
• Ben Willis in I Know What You Did Last Summer melds together two characters from the original book, David Gregg and Bud Wilson. In the novel, Julie and her friends accidentally run over David and are stalked by a vengeful Bud. In the film, Julie and her friends accidentally run over Ben, who survives to stalk them.
• The Baker and the Narrator in Into the Woods, more or less. Any Narrator lines that have been left intact are now said by the Baker via voiceover, and new dialogue is included for the sake of exposition. This concept holds significance, as the film ends with the Baker telling his son the story of his adventure, which happens to be the exact same story that he tells the audience throughout the film.
• James Bond:
  • Casino Royale (1954)^note The first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, released in 1954 as a television movie/episode of the anthology series Climax! combines Vesper Lynd and René Mathis into a single character called Valerie Mathis. She gets the first letter of her first name and being Bond's love interest from the former, and her last name as well as being a member of the Deuxième Bureau from the latter.
  • Franz Sanchez from Licence to Kill has elements of Le Chiffre from Casino Royale, Mr. Big from Live and Let Die, and Francisco Scaramanga from The Man with the Golden Gun, right down to the latter's name,^note "Frank S-Word-Surname" similar appearance,◊^note Long lean face, hairstyle fashion sense^note ample light-colored apparel and suits and ethnicity.^note Latino Also, his use of a stingray-tail whip as a punishment for his partner comes from Milton Krest in the Bond story "The Hildebrand Rarity" (from the For Your Eyes Only anthology). He even has a pet with a diamond collar like Blofeld....except it's a goofy green iguana rather than an adorable, fluffy, white kitty cat.
  • Pierce Brosnan's interpretation of the iconic spy is an amalgamation of his predecessors; he has Sean Connery's charisma, George Lazenby's vulnerability, Roger Moore's humour and Timothy Dalton's grittiness. Brosnan's portrayal is therefore the most versatile among the actors who have played 007.
  • In what can be called a case of "Composite Factions", in the Connery era SPECTRE (which appeared as effectively an Arc Villain for three novels) took the place of SMERSH in the movies, with most villains who had been SMERSH operatives being changed to work for SPECTRE instead.
• In many adaptations of Jane Eyre, Helen Burns is combined with Julia Severn, the girl who has her hair cut off as punishment for curling it (making the character even more tragic - she has all her hair cut off and then dies of tuberculosis a few scenes later). In some versions the haircutting happens to Jane herself. Also a few adaptations combine the kindly Miss Temple with Miss Scatcherd.
• JFK does this here and there, most notably with Willie O'Keefe. Willie is a composite of several of Jim Garrison's witnesses, among them Perry Russo, the central witness of the case; he exists in the film largely so that Oliver Stone doesn't have to answer why Garrison chose not to use most of them in the trial (and to hide Russo's laughable unreliablity).
• J-Men Forever:
  • The multiple villains edited from the original Republic Film Serials became the singular Lightning Bug. To explain his radically changing appearance, The Lightning Bug was made into a Master of Disguise.
  • Commando Cody and Larry Martin (of Zombies of the Stratosphere) are compressed into Rocket Jock; as both characters had virtually the same costume, this required no handwaving.
• In the live-action JoJo's Bizarre Adventure film, Yoshikage Kira takes Akira Otoishi's place as the one who murders Keicho.
• John Carter, the film adaptation of John Carter of Mars appears to have collapsed several minor characters into more major related ones. Notably, Tars Tarkas is chieftain of his own band of Tharks in the film, whereas in the book he was second-in-command to Lorquas Ptormel; Tardos Mors is Dejah Thoris's father in the film, while he was her grandfather in the book, thereby combining him with his son Mors Kajak; and film Sab Than is Jeddak (king) of Zodanga rather than prince, combining him with his father Than Kosis.
• The Jungle Book (2016)
  • Kaa has the villainy of her 1967 counterpart and the wisdom and size of her original book counterpart.
  • Bagheera gets his stern and Brutal Honesty from the original Disney movie and the badass skills from the original book.
• Jurassic Park:
  • Jurassic Park (1993) merges the PR guy (Ed Regis) and the lawyer (Donald Gennaro) from the novel.
  • The Lost World: Jurassic Park:
    • The nerdy black kid and the adventurous (and older) blond girl who are Levine's assistants/protegees in the novel are merged into Malcolm's black gymnast daughter.
    • "Doc" Thorne, Badass Bookworm and former scientist who now makes field systems for a living, is merged with Eddie Carr, his no-nonsense, smart employee. The movie version of Eddie has his own field systems company, but is much geekier. Even though he tries to rescue Sarah, Malcolm, and Nick from the falling trailer exactly as Doc Thorne does, he's torn apart by the T.rexes. The original Eddie is killed by raptors instead, while Thorne lives to lead the survivors off the island.
    • The movie's Sarah Harding has elements of Richard Levine's character (for example, the incompetence — the novel's Sarah is nowhere nearly as idiotic) and plays his role in parts.
  • Owen Grady from Jurassic World, though an original character for the film, has traits of both Ian Malcolm (a flirting clown and Deadpan Snarker who has common sense about the ethics of genetics) and Alan Grant (a Velociraptor expert and children protector).
• Kull the Conqueror:
  • The plot is actually an loose adaptation of the Conan novel The Hour of the Dragon combined with Kull's backstory how he became king, making the main protagonist a composite character of Kull and Conan.
  • The main villain Akivasha is a combination of two villains from the novel: a female vampire with the same name that wants to seduce the main character, and Xatoltun of Acheron, an evil sorcerer brought back to life by a couple of scheming nobles and served as the story's Big Bad.
• In the sequel to Kick-Ass, Jim Carrey plays a character called Colonel Stars and Stripes, a composite of Colonel Stars and Lieutenant Stripes from the comic.
• The Mage in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword teeters between this and Decomposite Character. She's a combination of Merlin, Nimue, Morgana le Fay, and, if What Could Have Been and Word of God is to be believed, Guinevere. However, Merlin and the Lady in the Lake (who is often revealed to be Nimue) are separate characters with more or less the same roles as the original Arthurian legends.
• Kingsman: The Secret Service: Mark Hamill is combined with James Arnold to become... James Arnold as played by Mark Hamill. Most of the original James Arnold is transferred to a new character, Richmond Valentine.
• The Last Airbender:
  • The film merges Avatar Roku, his dragon Fang, and Koh the Face-Stealer into a single character called the Dragon Spirit. He also has aspects of Guru Pathik, Aang's spiritual teacher from Book Two of the original.
  • In the series, Aang defeats the Fire Nation army by fusing with the Ocean Spirit. In the film, he does this himself, albeit in Avatar State form. Movie Zhao is instead killed by a bunch of random Waterbenders instead of being taken by the Ocean Spirit into the Spirit World.
• In Left Behind II: Trbiulation Force, Verna Zee is the composite of her original character with Lucinda Washington, the African-American editor-in-chief of the Global Weekly office in Chicago who was raptured. For the most part, movie Verna is book Verna's personality in Lucinda's body (or a version of Lucinda that never became a believer).
• Too many to count in The Lord of the Rings, which had to deal with the books' numerous characters. In the books, the elf-lord Glorfindel saved Frodo at the Ford of Bruinen. In the movies, Arwen does it. In the animated film, it was Legolas.
  • Not so much a character, but the films clearly imply that the Eye of Barad-dur is Sauron. In the books, while the references are quite subtle, the Eye is implied to be just a tool of Sauron, separate from him. The Eye existed before Isildur destroyed Sauron's physical body, and Gollum briefly mentions having seen Sauron's reconstructed physical form while he was tortured in Mordor.
• The protagonist of Lord of War is a composite of several real-life arms dealers (five, according to IMDB).

M-Z

• The 1971 film of Macbeth and the 2021 The Tragedy of Macbeth give the part of the third murderer to Ascended Extra Ross, instead of some nameless guy. The latter film also gives Ross the lines of several extras.
• In Kenneth Branagh's 2006 The Magic Flute adaptation, instead of encountering a nameless speaker of the temple after approaching Sarastro's domain, Tamino meets Sarastro himself who simply does not reveal his identity until later.
• Chico in The Magnificent Seven is a composite of two characters from the original Seven Samurai: Katsushiro, the young samurai who begins a relationship with a village girl, and Kikuchiyo, the boisterous samurai wannabe who tags along with the others uninvited and turns out to be a peasant by birth.
• Bert in Mary Poppins is a merging of several minor characters from the original short stories.
• M*A*S*H: Major Frank Burns as presented in the film and the subsequent television series was a composite charcter of two characters from the original novel. Burns was a composite of Major Hobson and Captain Frank Burns.
• In Men of Honor, Robert De Niro's role as the hardline, racist Master Chief who makes Brashear's life hell, is an amalgamation of a couple different commanding officers the real Brashear had during his career.
• Les Misérables (1935) combines Marius with the leader of his revolutionary group Enjolras from the novel, making Marius the leader of some students protesting the poor treatment of galleys prisoners. A few subsequent adaptations, including the 1952 and 1998 films, likewise diminish or remove Enjolras altogether, and make Marius the leader of the Friends of the ABC.
• Whilst Mr Barron from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is the film counterpart of the unnamed Wight who killed Abraham and stalked and manipulated his Grandson Jacob in the form of psychiatrist Dr. Golan in the book, his position as leader of the Wights and Faux Affably Evil nature are taken from Miss Peregrine's evil brother; Caul Bentham.
• MonsterVerse:
  • Godzilla is a benevolent, though also Destructive Savior who fights other monsters like the Showa Godzilla with a willingness to team up with other monsters; he's a force of nature but not a villain like the Heisei Godzilla as well as having an (albeit non-lethal in this Godzilla's case) Super Mode like Heisei's Burning Godzilla and the Nuclear Pulse ability the Heisei and 2000 Godzillas did; his fins are bladed and can act as weapons like the majority of the Millennium Godzillas; and like the Godzilla of Godzilla: Final Wars, he's basically the most powerful of Earth's monsters.
  • Dr. Ishiro Serizawa from Godzilla (2014) has the surname and world-weariness of Daisuke Serizawa, is a palaeontologist that wants to study the monsters versus killing them like Dr. Kyohei Yamane, and his insistence that Godzilla will save the day.
  • King Kong has the bipedal stance and shape of the 1976 version, scars akin to the 2005 version, the coloring of the original Kong, and the size of the Toho Kong. In Godzilla vs. Kong, he fills a similar role to King Ceasar as an ally to Godzilla against Mechagodzilla.
  • Mothra's coloring is based on the Showa Mothra, her bioluminescence means she can take on looks very similar to the Rebirth trilogy's Mothra's Rainbow and Armor forms, has light powers similar to the Heisei Mothras, a stinger like the Mothra of Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!, and at one sports a color scheme akin to Battra.
  • Rodan has the size and powers of Fire Rodan, lived in a volcano like the Showa Rodans, his face and clawed hand homage Final Wars Rodan, and serves as The Dragon to Ghidorah like Gigan.
  • King Ghidorah's roar mixed the roars of his Showa, Heisei, and Final Wars versions; he has the sadism and alien origin of the Showa Ghidorah; the three personalities homage the Dorats; he has the lightning wing powers, regeneration and Ancient Evil nature of "Grand" King Ghidorah; was found in ice and can hold his wings when not in use like GMK Ghidorah; has Desghidorah's energy absorption and Keiser Ghidorah's Life Drain abilities; and can summon storms and direct lightning like Anime Ghidorah. And much like the Heisei Ghidorah, he becomes a cyborg in Godzilla vs. Kong — which adds more of this trope to him as said cyborg is Mechagodzilla, combining the Heisei Ghidorah's Mecha-King Ghidorah form with Kiryu's origin of a kaiju/Titan being used in its construction, the Heisei Mechagodzilla's origin involving Ghidorah, the Showa Mechagodzilla's role as a weapon for foul intent, the extended arms of Mechani-Kong, the autonomous nature of the version of Mechagodzilla in Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, the lithe body and red eyes of the Mechagodzilla from Ready Player One, and the combined role of three Mechagodzillas (Heisei, Kiryu, and anime) as an anti-kaiju weapon.
• Moneyball merges several of Billy Beane's associates, particularly Paul DePodesta, into Peter Brand. DePodesta refused to have his name used in the film, which led to this.
• An interesting example can be found in The Mothman Prophecies. In the film, the Mothman itself and "Indrid Cold", a mysterious man who gives the actual prophecies, are stongly implied to be one in the same being, having the ability to change form. In the book, writer John Keel made it clear his belief that the two were separate entities.
• In Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Doctor Constantine and Colonel Arbuthnot are merged into Doctor Arbuthnot.
• Murder, She Said is based on the Miss Marple novel 4.50 from Paddington, in which Miss Marple's friend Elspeth McGillicuddy has a "Rear Window" Witness experience which Miss Marple investigates with the assistance of another friend, Lucy Eyelesbarrow. In the film version, the other two characters' roles are absorbed by Miss Marple, who witnesses the murder herself and does all the investigating.
• In the film version of My Left Foot, the character Dr. Eileen Cole never existed. She was supposed to represent an amalgam of several people who helped the main character.
• In the Russian movie Night Watch, Bear's real name is Ilya. In the books, Bear and Ilya are two different people. The Inquisition in the sequel Day Watch might also count: in the books they are a big group, a third Watch, while in the movie they are just two old Creepy Twins.
  • The incident at the beginning of the first film, with Anton going to a witch to get his girlfriend back happened to a woman in the Day Watch book and was part of a larger story. Additionally, Anton is not Yegor's father in the books and was recruited as a teen, not an adult.
  • The killer of Dark Others in the second film is revealed to be Kostya's father. In the books, they are different characters.
• The made-for-TV movie Noah's Ark made Noah into a composite of himself and... Abraham, and made other changes, such as Noah living in one of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (In The Bible, Abraham explicitly didn't live in either, certainly not that close to their destruction; and those cities were post-flood), and Lot just being some guy Noah knows.
• Dr Langford Fife in the parody film The Norman Rockwell Code is a composite character of Dr Robert Langdon from The Da Vinci Code, and Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show.
• North had the FedEx guy and Johnny Fingers from the book merged into one guy who appears to North randomly during his journey to find his parents.
• Based on a true story, October Sky merged Sherman Siers and Jimmy O'Dell into one character called Sherman O'Dell. (The original book, Rocket Boys, did not do this.)
• Pain & Gain: Dwayne Johnson's character Doyle is fictional, a combination of two or three additional members of the Sun Gym Gang.
• Benjamin "The Ghost" Martin in Mel Gibson's The Patriot (2000) was based primarily on Francis "The Swamp Fox" Marion, with elements of about four other Revolutionary War leaders mixed in.
• In the live-action adaptation to the manga Parasyte, the parasite known as "A" (who was a Starter Villain in the manga) survives his first fight with Shinichi and Migi so he can take the role of the nameless parasite who killed Shinichi's mother and took over her body.
• In The People vs. Larry Flynt, Edward Norton plays a character named Alan Isaacman, after the lawyer who defended Flynt before the Supreme Court. This character essentially stands in for all the legal assistants Flynt had employed. For instance, he is wounded in the 1978 shooting attack on Flynt; that event happened to Gene Reeves, Jr.
• In the film version of The Lightning Thief:
  • Annabeth Chase has the book version of Clarisse La Rue's first major scene, personality, and hair color. She's really more Clarisse than she is Annabeth.
  • Film!Luke takes over Ares' role as the person who duped Percy into taking the Bolt to Hades.
• The Personal History of David Copperfield:
  • Mr. Mell's role, as a kindhearted teacher who is bullied and driven out of his job by Steerforth, ends up going to Mr. Micawber in one of his many failed attempts at finding a successful career.
  • Mrs. Steerforth takes on a few elements of Rosa Dartle, most notably the facial scar from Steerforth having thrown a hammer at her in a childhood rage.
• In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Red White is merged with the character of April May. He murders Mia after learning she's uncovered certain evidence, but also is the one who wiretapped her phone to begin with and acts as the witness who accuses Maya of the murder. There's a more minor example later. While both Gumshoe and Larry are in the movie, Gumeshoe's role in loaning Phoenix the metal detector so he can look for "Gordy" is given to Larry, who owns the detector and is the only one to use it until the end of the last trial.
• In The Adventures of Pinocchio, the villain Lorenzini is a merger of the characters Mangiafuoco (the Puppeteer) and The Little Man (Land of Toys coachman). Later, he is transformed into a giant sea monster, thus also merging The Terrible Dogfish into his character.
• Pinocchio (2002): The Talking Cricket was a fusion of some animals Pinocchio found in the book.
• Originally Popeye was going to have Eugene the Jeep as a magical creature that could predict the future, but since they couldn't afford the required special effects, Swee'Pea was given Eugene's power of premonition.
• The Postman has "Ford Lincoln Mercury", an amalgam of several characters. Abby is a mix of a minor one-chapter character named Abby, and the Love Interest who appeared later (in the chapters about the fake sentient AI and the Super-Soldier army that never made it into the film).
• Pride and Prejudice:
  • In at least the 1940 and 2005 versions, Mr. Bingley's two sisters Caroline and Louisa are melded into the films' version of Caroline.
  • It's common for modern-day adaptations to remove Kitty and/or Mary Bennet and transpose elements of them into Lydia, since fewer families have five children than in Austen's day, and they are the only sisters that don't end up with husbands by the end of the book.
  • The Bollywood adaptation Bride and Prejudice has Caroline Bingley and Luisa Hurst swapped for just one sister of Mr Bingley as its character Kiran Balraj. Bride and Prejudice also has Lakhi stand in for the two youngest Bennets, Lydia and Kitty.
  • The Latter-Day Setting Update has just one sister instead of both Caroline and Louisa. It also reduces Charlotte's character to one scene, with Mary being the one marrying Collins, while Georgiana Darcy and Anne de Bourgh are merged into Darcy's sister Euphemiana.
• In the 1969 film of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the "Brodie Set" is reduced from six to four. In the absence of Joyce and Rose, Mary is the one who dies in the Spanish Civil War and Jenny is the one who Miss Brodie wants to have an affair with Mr Lloyd in her place.
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: Princess Tamina, judging by her actions and behavior, is a combination of all the female characters from the games (Farah, Kaileena, and Elika).
• In Howard Stern's self-made biopic Private Parts, Kenny Rushton (played by Paul Giamatti) is meant to be a general composite of all of the stuffy uptight executives who gave Howard and his crew a hard time during his time working for NBC.
• Queen of the Damned combines a number of characters in the novel, while many others are simply removed. Aaron Lightner, the man who recruited Jesse into the Talamasca and was her mentor for a time, is merged into the role of his friend David Talbot. Magnus, Lestat's maker, and Marius are merged into just Marius. Maharet in the novel has a twin named Mekare, and it's Mekare the one who kills Akasha and takes her place as the Queen. In the film, Maharet is never mentioned to have a sister, and she is the one who finishes off Akasha. The roles of makers are also shifted. In the film, Lestat turns Jesse instead of Maharet, and Marius turns David instead of Lestat. The film itself appears to be an amalgamation of the plots of The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned.
• In Raging Bull, the character Joey La Motta, played by Joe Pesci, is a composite of the real Joe La Motta and Jake La Motta's best friend, Pete Petrella. The infamous "You fuck my wife?" scene happened between Jake and Pete, not between the two brothers as depicted in the movie.
• The Red Baron: "During WWI many Jewish pilots fought for the German Empire. ... They are represented by the fictional character of Friedrich Sternberg." Whose plane is identifiable by the Star of David in its Nose Art.
• Red, White & Royal Blue: Movie original character Miguel Ramos is a compilation of three characters from the book, two of which were Adapted Out. He takes the role of Liam, Alex's old friend with whom he experimented sexually; Rafael Luna, a Hispanic politician who is a friend of Alex and betrays him, albeit by being a Reverse Mole that returns to his side, and he also takes the role Jeffrey Richards, as the one who leaked the protagonists' personal emails.
• The film version of The Relic does this with their version of Lt. Vincent D'Agosta, mixing characteristics of both his novel counterpart and that of Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast.
• Sheryl Yoast, Coach Bill Yoast's daughter in Remember the Titans. In real life, Sheryl was one of four daughters Coach Yoast had. Though the other daughters were okay with it.^note Sheryl had died in 1996 from an undiagnosed heart condition, which wasn't mentioned in the film's "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
• Alice in Resident Evil (2002) being a original character took various elements from both Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield the heroines of the actual games as well as a good dose of Ada Wong too (red dress, being the double agent spy lover of a Umbrella scientist). However since Jill, Claire and Ada appear in the sequels anyway it's a case of Decomposite Character now.
• Return to Oz, itself a composite of The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz, combines the (very different) characters Princess Langwidere from Ozma of Oz, and the minor witch Mombi from The Marvelous Land of Oz, into the evil Princess Mombi.
• In the graphic novel Road to Perdition, the protagonists are pursued by several faceless goons. The movie combined them all into a single character, which the novel's author admitted was an improvement.
• Rosaline: Rosaline is a combination of her namesake from the play (Romeo's first Capulet love) and Prince Escalus, who tells the Feuding Families off at the end. The plot also takes some elements from The Taming of the Shrew and Rosaline fills the Katherina role, as an independent and shrewish older sister figure.
• In Rurouni Kenshin, Jin-e takes Aoshi's role as Kanryu's bodyguard, as well as Gohei's role as the impostor Battōsai.
  • Gein, while seemingly being based on the Gein from the manga with his mask and cloak and initial use of wires to suspend Kenshin in the air, is closer to being a combination of Aoshi and Hannya. From Hannya, he uses a mask to conceal disfigurement (though not to the level of Hannya) and uses a kodachi like Aoshi, though Aoshi does appear in the sequel.
• In the film adaptation of The School for Good and Evil, Lady Lesso takes cues from the absent Evelyn Sader, as Rafal's Ignored Amored Underling. She also fulfils a random Wolf Guard's role as the one who gives Sophie her Traumatic Haircut.
• In School For Scoundrels 2006, Billy Bob Thornton's Dr P combines Alastair Sim's Dr Potter (the Sensei for Scoundrels who teaches Henry/Roger how to be a Manipulative Bastard) and Terry-Thomas's Raymond Delauney (the actually manipulative Romantic False Lead in Henry/Roger's pursuit of April/Amanda).
• Although both appear in the film, Roxy Richter in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World inherits quite a few traits from the comic book's version of Envy, including her weak point. Interestingly, they were supposed to become one in the film's production, but later volumes convinced the film makers to include both characters.
  • Had they kept Roxy from the comic book as-is, they'd also have to include Knives's overprotective dad, who helps Scott beat her. Ramona gets the job in the film instead.
• Warden Norton in The Shawshank Redemption was a composite of various characters from the novella; in that, Shawshank prison was run by several different figures with varying degrees of cruelty. The same goes for his henchman, Byron Hadley.
• Shin Kamen Rider (2023):
  • Hachi-Aug is based on two characters from the original series: a Monster of the Week known as Wasp Woman (or Bee Woman, depending on the translation) and Hiromi, Ruriko's best friend.
  • K.K. Aug is a combination of two other Monsters of the Week: Shinigami Chameleon and Mantis Man, with it being explained that he was transformed into a tri-species hybrid by SHOCKER. Conceptually, he's also a nod to the hybrid kaijin created by Gel-Shocker near the end of the original show.
• Short Cuts: This Adaptation Amalgamation of several Raymond Carver stories likewise amalgamates its characters:
  • Betty, Al's wife in "Jerry and Molly and Sam", is mentioned as having a sister named Sandi who gave the family the dog Al abandons by the side of the road. Al and Betty's counterparts in the film are Gene and Sherri Shepard; Sherri's sister is Marian Wyman, one of the main characters of "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?".
  • Bill Bush combines elements of Bill Miller from "Neighbors", who housesits for another couple in their apartment building and voyeuristically looks through their belongings, and Bill Jamison from "Tell the Women We're Going", who at the urging of his friend Jerry Roberts pursues two teenage girls (in the film, pursuing the girls is Bill's idea). Honey is likewise a combination of Arlene Miller from "Neighbors" and Linda Jamison from "Tell the Women We're Going".
  • Jerry and Lois Kaiser are a combination of the unnamed narrator of "Vitamins" and his wife Patti, the former of whom is uncomfortable with the business the latter is running out of their home, and Jerry and Carol Roberts from "Tell the Women We're Going", the former of whom suddenly kills one of the girls he and Bill pursue by hitting her with a rock.
  • Doreen Ober from They're Not Your Husband becomes Doreen Piggot, who takes the place of the unnamed driver who hits Scotty Weiss/Casey Finnigan from A Small, Little Thing.
• Simon Birch: Reverend Russell is a composite of Reverend Dudley Wiggin and Reverend Louis Merrill from the book. Russell inherits Wiggin's sternness and from Merrill being Joe's father.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic the Hedgehog has shades of this in both design and personality:
    • Following the redesign, Sonic's design has struck a balance between his Classic, Modern, and Boom designs. He has the height, larger torso, and attire from the Classic design in addition of being a little bit younger, the green eyes, darker blue fur colour, and quill length of the Modern design, and the blue arms, scruffy/bushy quills, and visible neck and shoulders from his Boom design. He also maintains his general expressiveness from all three designs. Additionally, his trainers appear to be a hybrid of both his iconic Power Sneakers and the Soap Shoes from Sonic Adventure 2.
    • Personality-wise, he's mainly his Modern self: being cocky, cool, and not being one to take most things seriously, but simultaneously knowing when to step up once things truly get dangerous. However, he also likes to horse around and be silly; much like his Boom and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog incarnations.
    • In regards to his abilities, along with his speed he also has electrical powers which are tied to his emotions, specifically his anger. The only characters in the Sonic mythos who have elemental powers that are fueled by emotions are Blaze the Cat and Marine the Raccoon.
  • The film's version of the Rings are a composite of the Rings that players collect in the games, and the Giant Rings in the games that act as transport to the Special Zones. This has the effect of making the rings identical in appearance and function to the Warp Rings created by Doctor Finitevus in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics).
  • Longclaw being an owl who is initially the only character on Sonic's world to be aware of Sonic's existence, makes her a rough analogue of Sophocles an owl from Stay Sonic who was mentioned as the first one to discover Sonic. But her acting as Sonic's mentor and Parental Substitute and being the one to give him the Power Rings is taken from Uncle Chuck from Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM). She is also a mother figure to Sonic that has to abandoned him at a young age from a greater threat much like Queen Aleena from Sonic Underground.
  • Dr. Robotnik:
    • Played With. Robotnik being a goverment scientist is shared with his grandfather from the games, Gerald Robotnik. His disdain for organic life and instead trusting on machines, while is implied with Eggman in the games, is more in line with Lyric from Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.
    • His final design, based on a red flight suit, is in line with Eggman's design in Sonic Boom, with a certain dash of his infamous 2006 design. Both of these designs are known for not having the good ol' doctor as a comical Fat Bastard, but instead looking fit or average in shape, perfect for a live action movie.
    • His personality is very silly and over-the-top like in most games and cartoons, but when he is being threatening to Agent Stone he comes off more like Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) or Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW).
  • Dr. Robotnik's Eggpod has a lot of elements from vehicles of past Sonic games.
    • The wings bear a resemblance to the wings of the Egg Hawk from Sonic Heroes.
    • The way it fires missiles is from the Egg Hornet from Sonic Adventure.
    • It's a government-funded vehicle that goes through San Francisco and destroys everything in its path to capture or otherwise eliminate a fugitive Sonic; reminiscent of the GUN Military Truck in Sonic Adventure 2 that does the same thing, while inflicting a similar amount of destruction to a San Francisco-like city.
    • It's also very reminiscent in design and proportion to the redesigned Eggmobile from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), but with a covered canopy and a while color scheme instead of silver.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2:
  • The undersea ruins where the Master Emerald are hidden on Earth are a composite of Labyrinth (color scheme, glowing crystals, statue owl faces, traps, water slides) and Hidden Palace (the Master Emerald's shrine).
  • In the games, the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds are separate entities. In the movie, the Master Emerald is forged from the Chaos Emeralds, which don't appear until it shatters.
  • Knuckles combines elements from multiple different incarnations of the character; he's a Proud Warrior Race Guy like in the Adventure games and Sonic X, a Dumb Muscle like in Sonic Boom, and a Boisterous Bruiser like in most other games in the series. He also has a stilted, old-fashioned manner of speech and a disconnect with modern Earth society similar to Sir Gawain.
  • The Giant Eggman Robot is aesthetically inspired by the Death Egg Robot, but also shares noteworthy characteristics with Kyodai Eggman Robo (Nose cannon mechanism, flat-fingered hands, weaponry powered by the Master Emerald) and the Doomsday Zone Mech (Fires a multitude of homing rockets at airborne targets) from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Furthermore, it serves as a kaiju-sized final stronghold similar to Titanic Monarch.
• Spaceballs uses several examples in its parody of Star Wars. Lone Starr grafts Luke Skywalker's Force (er, Schwartz) powers and role as The Hero onto Han Solo. Colonel Sandurz is a mixture of the various Imperial officers that appear throughout Star Wars (although he can be most directly compared to Tarkin). Yogurt is primarily based on Yoda, but also has traits of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• In The Film of the Book of The Stand:
  • Nadine Cross and Rita Blakemoor were merged into a single character. In the book, Larry meets Rita in New York, but she kills herself a few days after they leave the city. He then meets Nadine in Maine. But in the movie, he meets Nadine in New York. And although she has Joe/Leo with her in the book, it's Lucy who has Joe in the movie.
  • Also, Dr. Dietz in the Atlanta CDC facility and Elder in the Vermont CDC facility were combined into Dr. Dietz in the series who appears in the Vermont facility. Basically, Dietz in the novel was a kind, honest, hardworking doctor who was making a sincere but doomed effort to stave off Captain Trips, before succumbing to it himself; after the Atlanta facility was compromised, Stu Redman was moved to Vermont, and when Elder caught Captain Trips he tried to kill Stu because he didn't want Stu to live while he died. These two characters were combined in the TV Series. Also, Dietz's bedside interaction with Stu was markedly different in the novel from how it was in the TV series; in the TV series, Dietz was nasty and arrogant to Stu while in the novel he was friendly. This difference is exemplified most in how in both adaptations Dietz told Stu "you son of a bitch," but in a different tone in each adaptation; in the TV series, Dietz said it in a very nasty, defensive tone, while in the novel he said it "with a sense of wonder," implying a non-insulting tone.
• In Starkweather, the character of Sheriff Merle Karnopp is an amalgam of various law enforcement official involved in the Starkweather case: in particular, the real Sherriff Merle C. Karnopp of Lancaster County who investigated the first four murders and instigated the manhunt for Starkweather and Fugate, and Sheriff Earl Heflin of Converse County who arrested Starkweather.
• Street Fighter combined Blanka (the green man-beast from Brazil) and Charlie (Guile's combat buddy who was killed by Bison) into one character named Carlos "Charlie" Blanka, a combat buddy of Guile who gets captured by Bison and turned into a green man-beast. Even though Blanka's actual origin story in the games made it impossible for him and Charlie to be the same character (for one thing, Blanka's real name is Jimmy, not Carlos), it didn't stop fans from speculating otherwise until Charlie debuted as a player character in the Street Fighter Alpha prequel series.
• In A Study in Scarlet, Amoral Attorney Thaddeus Merrydew seems to be a combination of Professor Moriarty and Charles Augustus Milverton in the canon Sherlock Holmes stories: being both the head of an elaborate criminal conspiracy and the 'blackmail king of London'.
• The Stunt Man. Director Eli Cross is a combination of Gottschalk the director and Bruno de Fe the cinematographer from the original novel.
• In Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels, Jane Porter marries Tarzan after he returns to civilization, and the two live in regular human society despite frequently returning to the jungle for more adventures. It's Tarzan's daughter-in-law Meriam who becomes a vine swinging, treetop-dwelling, animal skin-wearing Jungle Princess living in the wild with her male love interest. Most if not all Tarzan film adaptations just give Meriam's traits to Jane and have her live in the jungle with Tarzan like Meriam originally did with their son Korak.
• In the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic, Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Nagi fought over the love of a woman. Yoshi killed Nagi and the couple fled to New York. Years later Nagi's brother Saki avenged his brother's death by killing them and stayed in New York while calling himself The Shredder. The first movie simplified this by combining the two brothers: Saki is Yoshi's rival; Yoshi flees the country as a way to avoid having to fight him, but Saki follows them, and from there the story follows the comic.
• Eric Sacks from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), is actually not the Shredder, instead effectively a stand-in for long-time Turtle foe Baxter Stockman, mixed with Oroku Saki's philanthropist/businessman persona from the 2003 series.
• The T-1000 in Terminator Genisys is a Composite Character of the first cop Kyle Resee ran into in The Terminator and the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which resulted in a dual Race Lift as the disguise's now Asian instead of either being a white guy like Robert Patrick as the original T-1000 or a black guy like the original cop.
• Tetris (2023): Valentin Trifonov, the corrupt head of the KGB is not a real person. Instead he is meant to represent all the corrupt officers that led to the USSR's downfall.
• R.J. MacReady in The Thing (1982) is based on the original story's McReady (The Hero, second-in-command of the base) and Van Wall (chief pilot).
• The young Cora Cartmell in Titanic (1997) did not exist in real life but is a composite character representing all the real young children, both female and male, who died when the ship sank.
• In the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, the characters of Miss Rachel (Dill's alcoholic aunt) and Miss Stephanie (the town gossip) were merged so that Stephanie became Dill's aunt. Nathan Radley Sr. and Jr. were also combined, though given how minor both are this doesn't affect the plot in any meaningful way.
• Trainspotting has Davie Mitchell's embarrassing incident in the novel given to Spud, along with Second Prize's Alcohol-Induced Idiocy. Matty's death in the book happens to Tommy in the film. Many other characters are left out of the film, due to the book having numerous characters.
• Occurs in the Transformers Film Series. A few examples:
  • Sam is based mostly on Spike from the Generation One cartoon. However, his absorbing of the Allspark's energy and having visions due to it a taken from Buster of the Marvel comics.
  • Bumblebee combines elements of his G1 counterpart (the former Trope Namer), while his design takes cues from Autobots such as Prowl and Bluestreak. Possibly his own upgraded form Goldbug as well. He does not adapt their primary personality traits, however (namely, G1 Bluestreak being a Motor Mouth, and Prowl being a bit of a Jerkass in the comics).
  • Sentinel Prime is a combination of G1 Sentinel (former Autobot leader before Optimus), Alpha Trion (Optimus's mentor, as well as a scientific genius), and G1 Nova Prime (Becomes evil, and boasts about the superiority of Cybertronians over all life).
  • Jetfire is a combination of G1 Jetfire (originally being a Decepticon) and Kup (an old timer who tells stories of old times).
  • Brains was based somewhat on Blaster when he took on the form of a laptop, and Rewind, one of Blaster's Mini-cassettes, in that he spouts useless info.
  • Optimus Prime is more or less based on his G1 namesake, even having the same voice actor but in Revenge of the Fallen, being repaired with Jetfire's parts is a homage to Jet Convoy, the combination of Convoy and Jetfire from Micron Legend. He also incorporates the long nose truck mode of his Transformers: Armada counterpart, and elements of G1 Hot Rod/ Rodimus Prime: the flaming paint job and, in Transformers: Age of Extinction, the six exhausting pipes (three on each side) on the truck mode.
  • Sideswipe is slightly like himself combined with Hot Rod (rumored name) and Drift (wielding two swords).
  • Bonecrusher in the first movie is an amusing example. He transforms into a type of mine clearing vehicle called a Buffalo, hearkening back to the original version, who turned into a bulldozer and the Beast Wars version, who turned into a bison.
  • Scourge from Rise of the Beasts takes traits from his G1 and Robots in Disguise (2001) namesakes: For the former, he's an agent of Unicron who is his designated hunter to command troops into other planets for him to devour, having an army of mass-produced minions also named the Sweeps. For the latter, he has a Big Badass Rig alt-mode and serves as a dark counterpart to his Optimus Prime.
• A minor example in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, where the bandit Gold Hat makes a second appearance, replacing a totally different bandit in the book.
• Instead of a literal "Hollywood Ten", Trumbo rolls several of them into the character of Arlen Hird (Louis C.K.).
• In the Twilight films, the characters of Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory were merged into one character named Jessica.
  • Plus Eric Yorkie is himself plus Ben
• In Velvet Goldmine, Curt Wild is mainly supposed to be an expy of Iggy Pop. A lot of the incidents involving him are based on other real-life figures, such as Mick Ronson, Lou Reed, and Mick Jagger.
  • Also, central character Brian Slade, while most ostensibly based on Bowie, is also a composite character and bears definite traces of Brian Eno, Marc Bolan, and Jobriath.
• Any war movie ever made does this — both ones based on actual wars/conflicts and ones based on novels.
  • Averted in A Bridge Too Far where there are named historical characters who don't even have speaking roles. In fact, the majority of the characters are based on real people (yes, even the guy with an umbrella).
• War and Peace (1956): Since Marya Dmitriyevna Akhrosimova is cut from the story, Sonya takes the initiative in preventing Natasha's eloping with Anatole; she locks her in her room and sends for Pierre so he can drive Anatole away at the gate.
• Gul'dan of Warcraft (2016) is mostly based on the original game's version of him in terms of plot importance and actions but shares a few elements with alternate timeline Gul'dan from WoW: Warlords of Draenor, most notably his appearance and more direct control over the Horde.
• In 2005's The War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise, Ogilvy, the man who is trapped in a basement with Cruise's character and his daughter, is a composite of the astronomer of the same name, the artilleryman, and the curate from the original novel.
• In Water for Elephants, the roles of Uncle Al (evil ringmaster) and August (evil animal trainer and Marlena's husband), were merged together to create the film's version of August.
• In Waxworks, the historical Jack the Ripper is conflated with the folkloric Spring-Heeled Jack.
• What's Love Got to Do with It (1993): Tina Turner's friend Jackie, former back-up singer for The Ike and Tina Revue, isn't based on a real person but is a combination of various real-life backup singers and the actual friend who introduced Tina to Buddhism.
• This induces Fridge Logic in The Wizard of Oz. At the beginning of the book by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy meets the Good Witch of the North, who tells her to "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". At the end, she meets Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, who tells her that the slippers her sister the North Witch saw her put on are the keys to get her home. In the movie, the characters are merged into Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, which leads you into wondering why she didn't mention the key in the first place. Handwaved in the film this by insinuating that the shoes, wouldn't work until Dorothy learned for herself that "there's no place like home." Glinda is even asked why she didn't tell Dorothy the shoes' magic power in the beginning and she laughs "she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself."
  • Webcomic Cheshire Crossing has Dorothy venting her feelings about this.
  • This Cracked.com article says that Glinda was a villain in the movie (albeit unintentionally).
  • Glinda's a Composite Character in Oz the Great and Powerful too, though it's with a different character. In the second book in the series King Pastoria's daughter was a baby girl named Ozma who the Wizard kidnapped and handed over to a witch named Mombi so that Ozma couldn't interfere with the Wizard's takeover of Oz. Oz: The Great and Powerful removed Ozma and made Glinda the heir of the previous King instead. Presumably this was done both to simplify the plot and to avoid the disposal by the Wizard. (The later books also Retconed away this by pretending it has never happened.)
• In The Wolfman (2010), Sir John Talbot replaces the Gypsy's son, Bela, as the werewolf who gives Lawrence his curse. Ben Talbot replaces Frank Andrews as Gwen's fiancé.
• Yamato Takeru makes the Yamata no Orochi a Scaled Up form of the (adaptationally villainous) Shinto moon god Tsukuyomi.
• Iggy Thistlewhite's father and the mayor of Southtown are merged into one character in the Live-Action Adaptation of The Year Without a Santa Claus.
• Young Frankenstein: Igor's role in the story is primarily based off of Fritz from Frankenstein (1931), but his name is based on Ygor from the sequel Son of Frankenstein, as is the fact that his master is only a descendant of the original Dr. Frankenstein.

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