Adaptational Romance Downgrade

For Starfire, it went from flying sparks to No Sparks. ^note Top: Robin/Nightwing and Starfire, Titans (2008); Bottom: Robin having a crush on the oblivious Starfire, Teen Titans Go!

Your favorite book Adventures in Troperland is made into a movie. You turn the movie on, eager to see the epic romance of the Official Couple Alice and Bob depicted onscreen... and, wait, Alice and Bob are Platonic Life-Partners? Or Alice is Bob's sister (without Incest Subtext)? Or Alice is in love with Bob, but he never reciprocates?

In short, the romantic couple got hit with Adaptational Romance Downgrade.

The trope can occur for various reasons. For example, in a Compressed Adaptation, there might not be enough time to develop a plausible romantic arc, so the adaptation's creators decide to save themselves the trouble and cut it altogether. Or a Culturally Sensitive Adaptation leaves out the bits that can offend or unsettle the target audience (for example, when a work that includes Kissing Cousins is adapted in a culture where the trope is less tolerated). Or one or both of the characters get Adaptational Sexuality and the romance from the original can't develop due to Incompatible Orientation. Or the creators of the adaptation simply think that the romance doesn't fit in with their concept of the plot. In most scenarios, this can be used to prevent Strangled by the Red String.

Many a fanfic uses this trope to clear the way for Shipping, claiming that there is little or no real love in whatever canon pairings the author doesn't like.

In films or TV shows, an additional factor for this is that there is little to no romantic chemistry between the actors; extreme cases would involve at best a Friendship on the Set, and at worst a Hostility on the Set for the on-screen couple.

Not to be confused with Relationship Compression, where the romantic arc is present in both the original and the adaptation and the only difference is in how quickly it develops.

Contrast the inverted trope, Promoted to Love Interest. Might lead to No Hugging, No Kissing or Dry Docking. Subtrope to Adaptation Relationship Overhaul.

See Historical Relationship Overhaul for when this happens to real people.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• In the original Akazukin Chacha comics, Chacha confesses her love for Riiya at the end of the first chapter, and later refers to him as her boyfriend. In the TV series, this never happens, so Shiine's rivalry with him is a little more plausible. An omake in the comic implies that fan letters wanted Shiine to be closer to Chacha.
• Black Summoner: In the original light novels, Kelvin's Ninja Maid slave Efil propositions him and he has sex with her, making her the first girl in his budding Battle Harem. At the same point in the anime adaptation, Kelvin pushes her off of him and resolves to put her in her own room when he buys a house of his own later. Crosses over with Adaptational Consent, because part of the reason he does this is because he's concerned about the power dynamics in their relationship since he's her owner.
• El-Hazard: In the original OVA series, Ifurita was Makoto's main love interest. In The Wanderers Ifurita does not become a love interest to Makoto like she was in the OVA while Princess Rune Venus is the one who's Promoted to Love Interest in her stead.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: In the manga and its faithful anime adaptation, Edward and Winry are Childhood Friends with a romantic interest in each other, and they end up married. In the 2003 anime adaptation that diverged from the manga, however, they're more Like Brother and Sister.
• Horimiya had an early subplot where Yuki has a crush on Miyamura's out of school persona (who she simply knows as "Konoha"). The anime completely skips over this save for her seeing him jumping over a fence and rambling about eggs.
• The Kindergarten AU of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Official Doujin changes Kaguya and Shirogane's mutual feelings to Kaguya having a one-sided Precocious Crush due to the age gap. Shirogane's primary love interest is instead changed to Hayasaka.
• The Macross Delta TV series featured two Love Triangles, one between Freyja and Mirage over Hayate, and another one between Arad and Messer over Kaname. When the story was adapted into movie form, both of these were largely done away with: Mirage's feelings for Hayate are reduced to her giving him a meaningful look or two in the first movie, and a single mention in the second. Meanwhile, Arad and Kaname are never shown to be attracted to one another, with Kaname and Messer's relationship becoming more emphasized.
• My-HiME: In the anime, Natsuki ends the series in a relationship with Shizuru. In the manga adaptation, Shizuru is still attracted to Natsuki, but Natsuki is now a romantic rival with Mai over Yuuichi Tate, and the series ends with Mai and Natsuki bickering over him.
• The anime adaptation of My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected left out the interaction between Hachiman Hikigaya and Saki Kawasaki as she starts to see Hachiman as her crush but she Can't Spit It Out. This relationship was non-existent in the first season and later was included in the next ones, but it's not even compared with the relationship of those two in the light novel.
• In The Astonishing Adventures of the Barsac Mission, Harry Killer proposes marriage to Jane Buxton; in Secret of Cerulean Sand, Killer (who's really her half-brother William) feels more like a big brother treating her as his Morality Chain.
• Shakugan no Shana: In the anime it's painfully clear that while Yuji values Kasumi Yoshida and finds her at the very least physically attractive, his feelings for Shana are so much stronger poor Kasumi doesn't stand a chance. The compilation movie meanwhile basically omits Kasumi Yoshida's role as Shana's love rival for Yuji's affection.
• Sound! Euphonium: Kumiko ends up having a Childhood Friend Romance with Shuichi in the novels. In the anime, most of their romantic moments are Adapted Out, and Kumiko's relationship with Reina is more emphasized instead.
• In Tenchi Muyo!, Tenchi is romantically linked to all the girls in his harem and ends in a Marry Them All route. In Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo, only Ryoko and Ayeka are treated as serious partners with Tenchi while the others' romantic feelings for him are either small or nonexistent.
• Twelve Months: In the original play, April and the girl are the Official Couple and get engaged, but the anime makes them nothing more than friends. There is no indication he is more special to her than the rest of the Months, and she calls him "brother"; he is more protective of her than his brothers are but, apart from literally a couple of moments of barely-there Ship Tease, doesn't even imply he feels anything beyond Big Brother Instinct towards her.

Asian Animation

• Flower Angel: In the original Little Flower Fairy game, Fannie is Kukuru's girlfriend. In the series, while Kukuru did promise to protect Fannie, he eventually decides to be with An'an instead, setting off the events of Season 3 when Fannie gets upset about it.

Comic Books

• In Fables, Prince Charming is the ex-husband of three fairy tale princesses: Snow White, Briar Rose, and Cinderella. While in the original tales they each exist separately and live happily ever after with their respective princes, the comic merges the individual princes into one Composite Character, since the series is a Fairy Tale Free-for-All.
• In George Pérez's Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor was no longer Diana's love interest. Due to him being old enough to be her father (as his mother was a WWII pilot), and Diana had recently arrived on Man's World, Post-Crisis. Instead he and Etta Candy became a couple and eventually married. Though this was retconned in the New 52, with Steve being made young enough to be Diana's love interest again; while later in DC Rebirth, Etta Candy has a thing for Barbara Minerva.

Fan Works

• As Fate Would Have It: In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Curtis was Rosa's Implied Love Interest should the player pick the latter as their character. In this fic, however, Curtis and Rosa aren't romantically involved in any way whatsoever, with Curtis being Yancy's Disposable Fiancé slash Romantic False Lead (with Nate being the one that she ends up with), and Rosa instead dating Hugh.
• In The Cliff, Brünnhilde is woken up much earlier than in canon, so she meets Siegfried and the Gibichungs when they are children. As a result, her relationship with Siegfried (her husband in canon) is nothing more than that of aunt and nephew, and to Gunther (who tried to marry her in canon as well), she is likewise an Honorary Aunt.
• In Ghostbusters (1984), Janine has a one-sided crush on Egon. In a fanfic titled Fan Fiction, she's said to be over him.
• The notorious fancomic How I Became Yours altered many romantic relationships from Avatar: The Last Airbender in order to put the author's preferred couples together. Avatar ended with Aang and Katara getting a Relationship Upgrade and Zuko and Mai getting back together; The Legend of Korra reveals Katara and Aang got married and had kids, while it's unclear if Zuko and Mai stayed together (a tie-in comic saw them breaking up). Here, Aang and Katara only like each other as friends and Aang has romantic feelings for Toph, while Zuko agrees to marry Mai only out of duty and because Mai secretly sabotages his relationship with his true love, Katara.
• Pokémon Crossing: In the Wild World movie, Apollo and Whitney are implied to be exes who reconcile in the end. In the fanfic, Apollo and Whitney aren't romantically interested in each other, due to Apollo being gay in the story.
• In The Last War, one of the best-known Ron the Death Eater fanfics, the canon Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione pairings never involve any real love. Harry and Hermione have only really loved each other, with Harry only marrying Ginny for her looks and Hermione marrying Ron as a way to stay close to Harry. Meanwhile, Ginny went after Harry because she is a Gold Digger, and Ron feels nothing but some lust for Hermione.
• Once Upon a Time/Mr. Right fanfic Love at First Sight: In the original show, Emma had two main love interests, Neal and Hook, but here she doesn't know either of them and they are trying to kill her.
• In The Marvelous World Of DC, Mary-Jane Watson is basically like a sister to Peter Parker, instead of being his girlfriend.
• In Master of the Universe, the Alternate Universe Fic of The Twilight Saga that later became Fifty Shades of Grey, Bella/Ana only ever has eyes for Edward/Christian and thinks of Jacob/Jose as a brother; he has romantic feelings for her, but she never reciprocates them and the closest they come to intimacy is Jacob/Jose drunkenly kissing Bella/Ana against her will. In The Twilight Saga, while Bella ultimately prefers Edward as a love interest, she does admit to having romantic feelings for Jacob; she briefly considers him as a boyfriend in New Moon and asks him to kiss her in Eclipse.
• MCU Rewrites: Sharon Carter gets romantically involved with Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper, while in this fanfiction series, they remain strictly platonic. The author has expressed distaste for how the MCU reduced an awesome character like Sharon into just being a Satellite Love Interest, so that's probably why they're platonic in the fics.
• Aliens/Once Upon a Time fanfic Monsters:
  • In the original show, Killian is Emma's main love interest and Robin is Regina's soulmate. However, in this story there is no romance between them and either woman and Emma and Regina become an Official Couple by the end of the story.
  • In the original show, Robin was previously married to Marian, but here there is no hint that they even knew each other, as Marian was part of Regina's crew that died before the story takes place.
  • In canon, Mary Margaret and David were married and Emma's parents, but here there is no hint at romance of between them.
• In The Addams Family, Gomez and Morticia are a Happily Married couple. In the fanfic Morticia, Please, he still loves her, but she no longer loves him and hooks up with an Original Character named Jack instead.
• Naru-Hina Chronicles: In canon, Ino and Sai ended up getting married to each other in the epilogue. Here, they went on a date once, but it didn't go well and they never became a couple. Instead, Ino gets a romance with Choji, while Sai gets a romance with Kei.
• Son of the Sannin does this with both Karin and Ino's crushes on Sasuke. Karin's obsession is reduced to a simple schoolgirl crush that has completely faded by the time the two are in their teens, while Ino flat out hates his guts because her father was killed by his mother during the Uchiha Insurrection and she holds him responsible as one of the few remaining Uchiha.
• The Third Faction adapts out the romantic relationship between Sieg and Jeanne d'Arc from Fate/Apocrypha, because the author shares the common fan opinion that it was a poorly developed romance that added nothing to either character.

Films — Animation

• Disney Animated Canon:
  • Big Hero 6: In the comics, Honey Lemon is one of Hiro's love interests. In the movie, she's a platonic big sister figure to him.
  • In Hercules, Zeus never has the affair with Alcmene that resulted in Herakles's birth in the original myths; Hercules is his child by Hera instead.
• In the original The Lord of the Winds fairytale, Kotura summons a terrible, non-stopping snowstorm to blackmail people into offering him a bride, and the people do end up sending him the girl he likes. In the 1984 Soviet stop-motion adaptation, the entire matter of marriage is cut: the girls are sent simply to appease Kotura with rich gifts, only to learn that the snowstorm doesn't stop because Kotura is too sick and needs someone to help him recover (alternately, it's a Secret Test of Character to find out which one of the people will be kind enough to offer him help). Kotura is a kindly mentor figure and behaves in a purely avuncular manner towards the girls.

Films — Live-Action

• Anne of Green Gables: In the original book series, Charlie Sloane has an enormous crush on Anne which persists until she rejects his proposal in Anne of the Island. In the 1985 film adaptation, he isn't shown to have any feelings for her and is Demoted to Extra in general.
• In The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe, a 1983 Soviet adaptation of Ivanhoe, by virtue of getting literally Demoted to Extra, Rebecca doesn't fall in love with Ivanhoe. Likewise, Ivanhoe has no fond feelings (that would linger even after his marriage) for her, and Bois-Guilbert desires Rowena rather than her.
• Barbie (2023):
  • Barbie and Ken were created to be a couple, but it becomes clear early in the film that she has no romantic interest in him. In most traditional Barbie canon, they're unambiguously together.
  • Alan and Midge are not stated to be in a romantic relationship here, despite them originally being marketed as a couple when they were first released. This actually follows more recent Barbie canon, wherein Midge has no connection to Alan as of the early 2010s.
• One of many things Blood & Chocolate (2007) changes from the book is the romantic relationships.
  • In the book, Gabriel is sincerely in love with Vivian and it's heavily implied that beneath her hostility towards him, she's attracted to him too. Vivian eventually returns Gabriel's feelings and becomes his mate, after her romance with Aiden ends disastrously. In the film, Gabriel merely lusts after Vivian and she despises him, culminating in her killing him to protect Aiden (a far cry from the book, where she takes a silver bullet to protect Gabriel from Aiden).
  • Rafe and Astrid become lovers in the book, though the relationship is based more on lust than love. They're not lovers in the film, which is just as well given that Rafe is depicted as Astrid's son here.
• Clash of the Titans (2010): In the original myth and the 1981 film, Perseus and Andromeda fall in love and marry. In the 2010 remake, Andromeda has feelings for Perseus but he doesn't return them, with his love interest being Io instead. However, in the sequel Wrath of the Titans, Io has died between movies and Andromeda gets promoted back to Perseus' love interest.
• The Dog in the Manger slightly untangles the Love Dodecahedron mess from the original:
  • In the play, Anarda is in love with Fabio and therefore jealous and vindictive towards Marcela, for whom Fabio pines. In the film, she has no romantic feelings for Fabio and is probably the nearest to All-Loving Heroine among the cast.
  • In the play, Tristan and Dorotea are randomly paired up in the end. Nothing of the sort happens in the film, and there's no indication they have a romantic relationship.
• Fantastic Four (2015): In the comics, Sue Storm and Reed Richards are the Official Couple and are usually married. Seeing as this movie is an Superhero Origin story, they understandably don't start out as a couple, though they never develop a romantic relationship at all, with there merely being hints that Reed has feelings for Sue. It's likely this would've been expanded upon in a sequel, but for various reasons, this never happened.
• The Great Gatsby (2013) has Nick pursuing Jordan for a relationship, only for Jordan to reject him. They however showcase a relationship in the deleted scenes. Nick instead has a one night stand with Myrtle's sister Catherine, when they were just couch talking in the book.
• Hannibal Lecter:
  • A minor character in The Silence of the Lambs is Noble Pilcher, an entomologist who Clarice Starling consults on her case. They flirt with each other throughout the book, and it concludes with Clarice accepting an invitation to his summer home. In the film, Pilcher's flirtations are presented as mere awkward comic relief.
  • Hannibal: The end of the novel features Hannibal and Clarice becoming lovers and running away together. The movie strongly implies that Hannibal has feelings for Clarice, but she doesn't appear to reciprocate; Hannibal escapes by himself while Clarice attempts to stop him.
• How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor: In Alexander Pushkin's The Moor of Peter the Great, on which the movie is based, the French countess falls genuinely in love with Ibrahim and is heartbroken after he is forced to leave; she does find solace with another man, but only a while after she and Ibrahim are parted. In the movie, Countess de Covignac only views Ibrahim as Foreign Fanservice and coldly states as much in her last letter to him.
• In Maleficent, Phillip and Aurora's relationship is far more subtle and subdued compared to their relationship in Sleeping Beauty. In the original, they fall in love almost at first sight, to the point Phillip is willing to break his betrothal with the princess to marry Aurora, Aurora is devastated to learn she has to marry a prince (neither initially realises that the other is their betrothed) and Phillip wakes Aurora from her cursed sleep using True Love's Kiss. In Maleficent, Phillip and Aurora do share a mutual attraction when they first meet, but their relationship doesn't progress further and when Phillip kisses her, it fails to wake her because they simply don't know each other well enough for them to be truly in love (it's Maleficent's maternal love for Aurora that breaks the curse this time). The ending implies that they will fall in love eventually and the sequel confirms they get engaged; their romance simply takes much longer to develop compared to Sleeping Beauty.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Black Widow and Hawkeye were lovers when they were first introduced in the comics. In the movies they're Platonic Life-Partners.
  • This goes the same with Black Widow and Winter Soldier. In the comics, they have an on-and-off relationship way back during the Cold War. In the movies, there's nothing going on between them asides from being on Captain America's side in Captain America: Civil War.
  • Sharon Carter is well-known to be Captain America's love interest in the comics. But in the movies, her aunt Peggy is Steve's one true love. Sharon and Steve do first meet in Captain America: The Winter Soldier but there's no romance going on between them. In Civil War, Steve did give Sharon a kiss but nothing follows up after that most especially at the end of Avengers: Endgame when Steve reunites with Peggy in the past.
  • Thor: In the comics, it is Lady Sif that actually is Thor's most common love interest, while Jane Foster had that role only in the 1960s. In the movies, Sif and Thor are just friends.
• The 1983 adaptation of Sparkling Cyanide:
  • In the book, Anthony briefly does fall in love with Rosemary before developing deeper feelings for her sister. In the film, he only flirts with Rosemary to get close to the Kidderminster family whom he's investigating.
  • In the book, Ruth is madly in love with Victor since they first meet. In the film, she has feelings for George even after meeting Victor and kills George's wife Rosemary in the hopes of taking her place, only going for Victor when it's clear George isn't interested.
• Spider-Man Trilogy:
  • Betty Brant, one of Peter Parker's first Love Interests in the comics way back in the '60s, is demoted to being J. Jonah Jameson's Sassy Secretary. There is something of a flirtation going on between Peter and Betty during the movies, but it is never followed upon.
  • In the third movie, Spider-Man's iconic girlfriend Gwen Stacy makes an appearance, but even though she has a crush on Peter, he doesn't reciprocate her feelings, as Peter in the Raimi version has eyes only for Mary Jane Watson.
• The Wolfhound: In the book, Elen falls in love with Wolfhound, who doesn't reciprocate, but eventually gets over it and ends up in a Perfectly Arranged Marriage with Vinitar. In the film, she is Promoted to Love Interest for Wolfhound and they end up together, and, as a result, she never falls in love with Vinitar.
• X-Men Film Series:
  • In the comics, shapeshifter Mystique and demon-looking Azazel have a romantic fling and conceive Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler). In the movies, Mystique appears since the first movie (2000), but Azazel appears in X-Men: First Class (2011), which takes place in 1962. A young Nightcrawler debuts in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), which takes place in 1983, but there is no on-screen interaction between any of these characters that acknowledges their familial relationship.
  • Sabretooth is sometimes depicted as Mystique's lover in the comics (they even had a son together, mutant-hating politician Graydon Creed!), but in the first movie, they are shown as more like coworkers than close acquaintances.

Literature

• Alice, Girl from the Future: In the Fairy Tale Free-for-All legend era, Shahrazad doesn't end up with Shahryar. She explains she's already in love with Sinbad and they plan to marry, and after grumbling about the fact at first, Shahryar is perfectly on board with the idea, since, with a sailor for a husband, Shahrazad will always have new stories from all over the world to tell him.
• In The Sisters Grimm, many a Happily Ever After from fairytales is shown to have actually ended in a breakup:
  • William Charming is the Prince Charming from multiple fairytales, so it is revealed that he broke up with all of his love interests. At least two of his exes (Cinderella and Briar Rose) have moved on and found love with other men. The only woman with whom he still has an on-again, off-again relationship in the series and whom he ultimately does marry is Snow White.
  • Beauty and the Beast split up after finding themselves on opposite sides in the war (the Beast supports the Scarlet Hand and Beauty is against it).
• The Sorcerer's Daughter: In Swan Lake, on which the novel is based, Odette and Siegfried are genuinely in love. Here, their romantic feelings for each other amount to a brief crush stemming mostly from the idea of a fairytale-like Rescue Romance. The crush fades very quickly, and from then on they have nothing but familial affection for each other (they are cousins).

Live-Action TV

• The 100: In the original books, Bellamy and Clarke were an Official Couple. However, in the show, they are Just Friends and Platonic Life-Partners with the occasional Ship Tease that goes nowhere. Instead, both are paired with multiple different characters throughout the show, and by the end, Clarke kills Bellamy.
• Arrowverse:
  • Arrow: In the first season, they introduce Jean Loring, a lawyer that is the official love interest of the Atom in the comics. However, she is a much older woman in the series, and by that time it didn't look like they were ever going to introduce actual superheroes, as the show was relatively grounded. That started to change by the second and third seasons, when they actually introduced lots of superhero elements, including the Atom. He never meets Jean on-screen, but later reveals that he had a fiancee named Anna Loring (Jean's daughter? Niece?).
  • The Flash (2014): In the comics, Wally West, also known as Kid Flash, ended up becoming the Flash after his mentor Barry Allen died in the 1980s. Wally has an epic romance with reporter Linda Park in the comics, the kind of love that transcends time and space. In the TV show, she briefly dates his mentor Barry Allen instead, and she never even meets Wally. The same thing happens with Tina McGee, another love interest of Wally in the comics; in the TV show, she is a much older woman that shows a brief interest in Barry Allen's father. In both cases, it so happens that many plots that belonged to Wally West in the comics are given to Barry, because Wally never replaces Barry as the Flash, and stays a sidekick. Likewise, while Magenta Kane appears in the show, her relationship with Wally West is not depicted.
  • Supergirl: Brainiac 5 becomes a major character and show regular after season 3, and remains so until the series finale. And yet, he doesn't have one iota of sexual or romantic tension with Supergirl, despite being one of her most known love interests in the comics. This is likely due to Supergirl dating and breaking up with Brainiac's teammate Mon-El in the TV show's seasons 2 and 3, and the writers not wanting to go that route again.
  • In Batwoman, Kate Kane never actually meets either of her two major comic book love interests, Renee Montoya or Maggie Sawyer, as both had previously appeared in other shows (Sawyer was in Supergirl, while Montoya appeared in Gotham), with her love life mostly centering around Sophie Moore, who was a love interest in the comics, but only in the past.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)
  • The show heavily tones down the romantic interactions between Aang and Katara compared to the original cartoon. There's no Love at First Sight blushing when Aang wakes up (he doesn't even wake up in Katara's arms, but in a tent hours later), the season one episode that focused on their relationship the most, "The Fortuneteller", is cut, and the plot of "The Cave of Two Lovers" is reworked to focus on Katara and Sokka's bond as siblings, rather than Katara and Aang's budding romance.
  • The show has Yue and Hahn break off their engagement sometime back, while in the original series, they remain engaged until the former's ascension as the Moon Spirit. Interestingly, the original Yue clearly has no affection for Hahn since he is a Jerk Jock, but the adaptation turns him into a Lovable Jock whom Yue cares about, albeit as a friend.
• In The Count of Monte Cristo (1998), Haydee isn't in love with Edmond and doesn't end up with him like it happens in the original novel. She is Promoted to Love Interest for Franz instead.
• Doom Patrol changed the nature of Cliff and Jane's relationship from lovers (as they were in the comics) to close friends with an occasional father-daughter vibe, likely due to the considerable age difference between Brendan Fraser and Diane Guerrero. The show also downgrades Rita Farr and Steve Dayton's relationship from marriage to a brief fling that happened decades ago.
• One of many things Dracula (2013) changes from the novel is Mina and Jonathan's relationship. In the novel, they are a loving couple who get married part way through the story, are completely devoted to each other and have a child in the epilogue. In the TV show, they're still engaged to start with, but their relationship is far more troubled, with Jonathan being dismissive of Mina's dream of becoming a doctor and Mina being increasingly drawn to Dracula. Mina eventually breaks off the engagement after learning Jonathan slept with her best friend and condemns him as a murderer after he sabotages Dracula's energy machine, killing dozens of people.
• Dracula (2020): In the novel, Quincey is in love with Lucy and proposes marriage; although she has great affection for him, she turns him down to marry Arthur Holmwood, though Quincey takes it well and does everything he can to help Lucy after she's attacked by Dracula, then seeks to avenge her death. In the 2020 show, Lucy does agree to marry Quincey, but neither of them actually loves the other; Lucy is marrying Quincey for his money, Quincey is marrying Lucy for her looks. Even when Lucy dies, Quincey doesn't care much; he spends her funeral on his phone and leaves the country immediately after.
• Game of Thrones, compared to A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • Daenerys and Irri. In the books, they have sex several times. In the series, they have no romantic or sexual relationship (not to mention that Irri gets an early Death by Adaptation). Downplayed, since in the books, there are few actual romantic or sexual feelings involved on either side (Irri is doing her duty and Daenerys is lonely).
  • Sandor and Sansa. In the books, they have a clear mutual attraction (although on his side, it veers towards the darker and creepier aspects). Even months after they last saw each other, Sansa has erotic dreams about him and believes their last meeting included a kiss when it didn't. In the show, he is protective of her, but it rarely includes any overt sexual undertones, and when he says he wishes he could have raped her, it's left ambiguous whether he means it or is trying to provoke Arya into a Mercy Kill. Meanwhile, Sansa's feelings for him are never shown to be anything but platonic, and their reunion in Winterfell is nothing but friendly.
• The Gifted (2017) is based off of Marvel Comics. In the comics, twins Andreas and Andrea von Strucker have a canonically incestuous relationship. In The Gifted they merely have Incest Subtext. Here the von Struckers appear as Posthumous Characters, parallels to their Generation Xerox descendants, sibling protagonists Lauren and Andy. Lauren and Andy also have a substantial amount of Incest Subtext — although theirs is probably unintentional and it doesn't seem the writers meant to go that way. Having Lauren and Andy's OG counterparts be canonically a couple would have highlighted that subtext, so it seems the relationship downgrade was done in order to help the show not draw attention to something it would rather not dwell on.
• The Haunting of Bly Manor: It's strongly implied in The Turn of the Screw that the governess has romantic feelings for her employer, though there's no evidence of him reciprocating or even being aware of her feelings. In this series, Dani (the name given to the governess) has no romantic feelings for her employer Henry Wingrave; a significant part of her character arc is that she's a lesbian who falls in love with the gardener, Jamie.
• Inspector Morse: Last Bus to Woodstock, the first Inspector Morse novel, has intense romantic tension between Inspector Morse and Sue Widdowson, with the latter confessing her love for him even after he exposes her as the murderess. The whole arc got Adapted Out in the corresponding episode.
• Marple:
  • In the original 4:50 from Paddington novel, every male in Rutherford Hall is interested in Lucy Eyelesbarrow. In the corresponding episode, only Bryan Eastley and a Canon Foreigner inspector are in love with her.
  • As a result of Josie and Adelaide's Adaptational Sexuality in the episode based on The Body in the Library, Josie never secretly marries Mark.
  • In the episode based on A Murder Is Announced, unlike in the novel, Edmund and Phillipa never have any romantic relationship at all.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Daredevil: Not exactly a romance, but Daredevil in the comics has a strong Foe Romance Subtext with Typhoid Mary, a supervillainess with a split personality. It verged on Dating Catwoman at times, as Daredevil fell for sweet, innocent Mary, Typhoid Mary's alter ego. In the TV show, Typhoid Mary exists in the same universe, but she never ever meets Daredevil, instead appearing in the related TV show, Iron Fist.
  • Iron Fist: it happens to Iron Fist's romance with Misty Knight, probably the first interracial superhero romance in mainstream superhero comics. In the TV series, he hooks up with Colleen Wing instead, and Misty is just his ally.
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Goldar and Scorpina's counterparts (Griffozer and Lamie) were husband and wifein Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, but in this series they do not go beyond being allies.
• Miss Marple (1984) (The BBC series starring Joan Hickson):
  • In the original 4:50 from Paddington novel, every man in Rutherford Hall expressed interest in Lucy. Like in the later ITV adaptation, here the corresponding episode has only two men vying for her affections (Bryan Eastley and Cedric Crackenthorpe).
  • Downplayed in the episode based on The Body in the Library. Like in the novel, Adelaide Jefferson is pursued by her old friend Hugo and the hotel's tennis and dancing pro Raymond; unlike in the novel, where she and Hugo get engaged in the end, she makes no choice here and the triangle is Left Hanging.
• Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area: In the original series, Tokyo and Rio develops a relationship before the heist but the Korean remake opts for Rio having a crush on her and a occasional Ship Tease.
• Once Upon a Time:
  • In contrast to the original book featuring them, there is no love lost between Peter Pan and Wendy or Peter and Tinker Bell, since Peter gets heavy Adaptational Villainy.
  • Rapunzel doesn't have a Rescue Romance with the prince who saves her from the tower, especially since said prince is already Happily Married to Snow White.
• Poirot:
  • As a result of Philip Blake's Adaptational Sexuality in the episode based on Five Little Pigs, he is in love with Amyas rather than with Caroline, and isn't happy when the latter tries to seduce him (which didn't happen in the novel either).
  • In the original Death in the Clouds book, Jean Dupont is in love with Jane Grey, and in the end, Poirot is certain they will soon marry. In the episode based on it, he never shows any romantic interest in her.
  • In the original Death on the Nile novel, Tim Allerton and Rosalie Otterbourne fall in love. In the episode based on it, though she is in love with him, he is implied to be gay and rejects her when she kisses him (which leads to a minor Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole, since Tim and Rosalie's mutual feelings are the sole reason Poirot lets Tim off for the theft of the pearls in the novel, and it's not explained why he does the same in the adaptation).
  • In the original The Mystery of the Blue Train book, Derek Kettering is in a love triangle between Lenox and Katherine. In the corresponding episode, he has no romance with either (apart from Lenox's single comment on how handsome he is). Mirelle is also his mistress in the novel, though he ultimately rejects her; here, she only propositions him once, gets refused, and it doesn't go any further.
  • The original Taken at the Flood novel has an extremely controversial ending where Lynn ends up with Rowley after he almost strangles her in a jealous rage. In the corresponding episode, they never get back together and she leaves for Africa again in the end.
• Stargirl (2020): Cameron Makent and Artemis Crock are boyfriend and girlfriend in the comics, even having a child together at one point. They have no such relationship in this series where Cameron is paired with Courtney Whitmore.
• The Untamed: In Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are explicitly a romantic couple, including getting married in the end. Due to Chinese censorship laws around depicting homosexual relationships onscreen, the live-action series, The Untamed couldn't outright depict them as being in a romantic relationship and presents them more as Heterosexual Life-Partners. That said, there's a lot of romantic subtext around their relationship and they refer to each other with terms like "close companions" or "soulmates", so they can easily come off as a same-sex couple with plausible deniability to get past the censorship. The novel, on the other hand, is completely unambiguous about their romance.

Music

• Kidz Bop: The cover of "Exes and Ohs" changes it from a song about sleeping with one's exes to a song about reuniting with one's old friends.

Theatre

• The original Greek myth of Hyacinth is a same-sex Love Triangle. The Pretty Boy Hyacinth is Apollo's lover, but he's also being pursued by Zephyr, the god of the west wind. Hyacinth is accidently killed by the discus thrown by Apollo, blown off course by Zephyr's wind for If I Can't Have You… reasons. In the opera Apollo et Hyacinthus by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with a libretto by Fr. Rufinus Widl, the apex of the Love Triangle is instead Hyacinth's Canon Foreigner sister Melia, so Hyacinth and Apollo are nothing more than good friends and Zephyr likewise has no romantic or sexual interest in Hyacinth, killing him purely because he wants to frame Apollo.
• Giulio Cesare in Egitto:
  • In an earlier version by Antonio Sartorio, Cornelia accepts Dogged Nice Guy Curius's marriage proposal in the final scene. In the version by Handel which is based on a reworked libretto, she never does it.
  • At one point, Curius considers making a move at the beautiful handmaiden Lidia (actually Cleopatra in disguise) since Cornelia keeps rejecting him anyway. However, most adaptations drop these lines, especially since it's a recitative.
• Pygmalion and My Fair Lady have a veritable revolving door with this trope and its inversion. In the former, Eliza is explicitly stated to have married Freddy. Then the latter has her ultimately return to Higgins (for good, it's implied) after considering Freddy's proposal. Then the 2018 Broadway revival of the latter has her leave Higgins after all.
• In Dmitri Tcherniakov's 2017 staging of The Snow Maiden, the Snow Maiden never falls in love with Mizgir in the end and is as frightened of him as she was throughout the plot.

Video Games

• Fire Emblem Gaiden implies that Saber marries Genny, with a novelisation of the NES game also stating they get together. The remake Echoes removes this aspect, only saying they got married to unnamed people. This is probably related to the fact that the remake gives them ages within the game's code: Saber is 34 and Genny is 15.

Web Comics

• Dumbing of Age: This is the case for many characters who were couples within the Walkyverse, as David Willis didn't want to retread old ground:
  • While Joyce admits she's somewhat attracted to Walky, the two are primarily friends because they share a (girl)friend in Dorothy rather than being an Official Couple. In fact, the two often irritate each other due to the former's Christian fundamentalism pre-Book 10 and the latter's atheism.
  • Joe and Rachel got married in the "Walkyverse" but here they're not only not a couple, they're not even friends.
  • Apart from when she came onto him in a depressive stupor, Billie and Danny lack a romantic relationship.
  • Mike and Amber got married in "Shortpacked!", but here they're childhood friends who show no romantic or sexual attraction towards one another.
• In Kiwi Blitz Steffi and Ben are Childhood Friends who later got a Relationship Upgrade. Their counterparts in Sleepless Domain, though, aren't in a relationship, as a now adult Ben merely serves as Steffi's long suffering manager.

Web Video

• Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story: Most adaptations of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow involve the love triangle between Ichabod, Brom, and Katrina. However, in this version Kat couldn't care less about Brom — they used to date in high school, so she's pretty over him by the time the series takes place. She also turns out to be lying about any affection towards Ichabod, and was only luring him into sacrificing a year of his life for her.
• The Lizzie Bennet Diaries:
  • In the book, Mr. Collins thinks of proposing to Jane, proposes to Lizzie only to get firmly turned down, and eventually marries Charlotte. In the series, he isn't interested romantically in any of the girls (save for a half-forgotten Childhood Marriage Promise with Lizzie which nobody takes seriously) and offers Lizzie, and later Charlotte, a job instead. There are some hints that Charlotte has a crush on him (which is, amusingly, the opposite trope, because in the novel she accepted him because she was desperate), but he is happily engaged to another Canon Foreigner girl.
  • Downplayed with Colonel Fitzwilliam/Fitz. In the book, Colonel Fitzwilliam implies that he would have courted Elizabeth, had he not needed an advantageous marriage. In the series, Fitz is gay, so he has no hint of even potential romantic feelings for Lizzie.
• Pop Cross Studios: In "What if DREAMWORKS ANIMATED CHARACTERS Were FANTASY BEASTS?!", Christian Pearson's version of the events of Shrek portrays the titular ogre as a less sapient, though still intelligent version of himself, who does rescue Princess Fiona from the dragon that was attacking her kingdom, but they never end up in an Interspecies Romance. Instead, Fiona rewards the ogre by declaring that from now on, his swamp home will be a sanctuary protected for the rest of Shrek's life, seeing as here, Shrek is the Last of His Kind after centuries of swamp ogres being hunted by humans for their skins and earwax.
• Real-Time Fandub downplays the relationship between Sonic and Elise, as Sonic is gay.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender: In-Universe, The Boy in the Iceberg play adapts Aang and Katara's Will They or Won't They? as a Like Brother and Sister dynamic, while Zuko is Promoted to Love Interest (which causes the real Aang to have a tailspin because he's afraid this is how the real Katara feels).
• Justice League:
  • Wonder Woman's relationship with her classic love interest Steve Trevor is limited to some small Ship Tease in the three-parter, "The Savage Time". Her other love interests Mike Schorr and Trevor Barnes don't appear in the show at all.
  • In the comics, John Stewart and Katma Tui dated and were even married before the latter's death. In the show, John and Katma had a brief fling, with John having a much longer relationship with Hawkgirl and later Vixen.
• Martin Mystery not only reduces the ages of Martin Mystery and Diana Lombard to 16 from being adults in the original Italian comic book Martin Mystère, but makes them step-siblings. Originally, they were engaged and later married.
• In Romeo and Juliet, the title characters are in love. In Peg + Cat, they're platonic friends.
• In She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, several romantic relationships are changed from the original version. Bow no longer has a crush on Adora, while Adora is no longer interested in Sea Hawk.
• In Sonic Prime, Amy isn't shown to have any romantic feelings for Sonic like in past iterations. There are still a few subtle Ship Tease moments for the pair, but, very oddly for the franchise, they're entirely from Sonic's side.
• In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Betty Brant gets an Age Lift and is too old for Peter, as a result, her romance with him is downgraded to an unrequited crush that fades once Peter meets Mary Jane.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987): In the original comics, Casey Jones is April's love interest. Here, he has been Demoted to Extra and when he and April do interact, there is nothing romantic between them.
• Teen Titans: Rather than Magenta Kane like in the comics, Jinx is presented as the villain who has a relationship with Kid Flash.
• In the DC franchise, Dick Grayson and Starfire both have a mutual attraction towards each other. In Teen Titans Go!, Robin is Starfire's Hopeless Suitor at best, if not an Abhorrent Admirer.
• Tiny Toons Looniversity: In the original show, Babs and Buster Bunny were portrayed as a couple but in this reboot, the two of them are twin siblings.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender: In most Voltron adaptations, The Leader Keith and Princess Allura typically have either Ship Tease or are an Official Couple, like in Voltron Force. In Legendary Defender, they are not. Instead, Lance is Promoted to Love Interest.
• X-Men: Evolution:
  • Mystique is reinterpreted as the principal of a high school both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants (teenagers, in this version) attend. Destiny is portrayed as Rogue's caretaker and Mystique's friend. This is unlike the comics, wherein Mystique and Destiny have been lovers for decades, although the comic creators at the time had to hide their relationship.
  • Because Jean Grey is a teenager and Logan is her teacher in the Xavier Institute, Logan's infatuation with Jean is removed.
• Yoo Hoo And Friends: YooHoo doesn't show any romantic interest towards Pammee, unlike in the original series where he had a crush on her.
• Young Justice:
  • Artemis Crock and Icicle Jr. are boyfriend and girlfriend in the comics and even have a daughter. In this show, Artemis is paired with Wally and has zero onscreen interaction with Icicle Jr. Although one of the show's canonical tie-in comics shows that they knew each other when younger due to their fathers working together, but still with no romance.invoked
  • Conner Kent and Cassie Sandsmark were a couple in the comics. In this show, Conner is paired with M'gann M'orzz and Cassie is paired with Tim Drake.
  • Traditionally in most media, Beast Boy and Terra are briefly a couple. In this show, Garfield dated Queen Perdita and he and Tara are just friends.

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