Gyro Gearloose, 1987: Eccentric, kindly, well-meaning, but inept Bungling Inventor.
Gyro Gearloose, 2017: Arrogant, hot-headed, sassy, sarcastic Insufferable Genius.
Gyro Gearloose, 2017: Arrogant, hot-headed, sassy, sarcastic Insufferable Genius.
"The Phantom of Love Never Dies has all of the negative qualities of his original incarnation and none of the sympathetic ones. Since his situation has changed for the better, he's wealthy, successful, and has several people supporting him, he comes off as less of a tragic monster lashing out at a world that screwed him over, and more like a selfish bully hiding behind weak excuses."
Regardless of the medium, characters are introduced and established as having certain traits and, as such, the fans of those works expect those characters to adhere to them. If they're The Hero's trusted friend in the novel, the film adaptation should convey that as well, but wait — why is the hero's trusted friend from the novel, suddenly giving him the cold shoulder in the motion picture? Why is the faithful Love Interest from the manga two-timing him in the anime? And the Lovable Rogue, who gives to the poor in the television series, only cares about lining his own pockets in the Made-for-TV Movie. They weren't like that before, so what happened?
The answer is: the character has suffered from Adaptational Jerkassery, the narrative equivalent of Taking a Level in Jerkass.
Whatever the reasons, the writer(s) has seen fit to change the character's original positive portrayal, to make them more of a jerk. Perhaps the character was a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in the original work, but the adaptation failed to convey the "heart of gold" aspect. Thus, turning them into a total jerk. Or it could be due the adaptation being Darker and Edgier (or Ruder and Cruder, especially) than the original, and the character's portrayal was changed accordingly.
However, while there may be some overlap with Adaptational Villainy, the key difference here is, the character isn't necessarily villainous. In many cases, they're still on the good side, but can be a comedic sociopath, an Anti-Hero or just The Friend Nobody Likes. It's also possible to take an otherwise charming and charismatic villain and turn them into an obnoxious Hate Sink. It can also overlap with Adaptational Angst Upgrade, if a character's more broodier personality makes them more of a piece of work to deal with or could be used to explain their jerkassery, which could sometimes make them far more sympathetic in addition to or in spite of their unpleasantness.
Because of the nature of the trope, it's obviously related to Took a Level in Jerkass and by extension contrasts with Took a Level in Kindness.
A subtrope of Adaptation Personality Change.
Its inverse is Adaptational Nice Guy.
Example subpages:
Other examples:
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Multiple Media
- James Bond, believe it or not is subject to this across the various adaptations. In the original books by Ian Fleming while 007 is by no means a saint and a product of his time (Fleming stating he never intended Bond to be likeable), he’s still ultimately a Rounded Character being quite capable of more tender emotions and beneath his stoicism and sexism is genuinely a Heartbroken Badass. His tragic romances with Vesper and Tracy greatly humanise him along with his wholesome friendships with Quarrel and Felix. Moreover literary Bond actually dislikes killing and very much tries to avoid it when possible. In the vast majority of the Eon movie series, video games and numerous comics, especially the Dynamite ones, 007’s Nominal Hero or Sociopathic Hero traits are played up to the hilt with him outright taking pleasure in killing and generally treats women like an assembly line of gratification. There’s also Alan Moore’s version of James Bond in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen who’s an outright rapist and despicable traitor to the UK, due to Moore’s contempt for Bond compared to older British heroes like Alan Quartermaine. There’s only a handful of films such as On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall and No Time to Die where Bond is humanised like he is in the books.
- Batman:
- The first Robin Dick Grayson aka Nightwing is the biggest Nice Guy of the Bat-Family, and although he’s had bad and moody moments, Dick is still otherwise one of the most consistently outgoing and friendly characters in the entire DCU. Many adaptations however have not been kind to him, and a lot of portrayals make him much more jerky and edgy for the sake of removing his camp qualities, usually due to conflating him with his adoptive brother Jason Todd.
- In Batman Forever and Batman & Robin Dick is an angsty and petulant jackass, especially in the latter film and needs little excuse to fly off the handle at Bruce. In the comics while this behaviour is commonplace for Jason and later Damian, Dick in the comics butts heads with Bruce far less often since they do genuinely get along and Dick’s reasons for Calling the Old Man Out are always given justification rather than petty whinging.
- In Batman: The Animated Series the falling out he has with his adoptive father and mentor Bruce — which leads him to becoming Nightwing — is depicted as violent and bitter, with Dick actually knocking Batman flat for not respecting him as an equal
. This is a complete 180 from both versions of the comics’ depiction of the Dynamic Duo splitting up. In the Pre-Crisis version, Dick had already started leading the Teen Titans and when Bruce tried to take charge in the 1985 crossover, Dick fairly reprimanded his mentor for not respecting him as The Leader of the group and by the end of the issue Batman actually apologise to his son and acknowledge he’s not really his sidekick anymore. The Post-Crisis version is even more amicable, the Joker had shot Dick in the arm, and Bruce in Papa Wolf fear requested his wounded protégé step down as Robin out of fear for his safety. Dick complied with his mentor’s wishes, but made it clear he wasn’t going to stop fighting crime since Bruce had taught him too much.
- Downplayed in Teen Titans (2003) as Robin is by no means a complete jerk here, but compared to the comic version he’s much more of a hardass who gets impatient with the other titans for their antics due to his obsessiveness and loner tendencies. In the comics Dick is as goofy and cheerful as Beast Boy or Wally and is the one telling Cyborg and Raven to lighten up. In Teen Titans Go! Robin is a lustful and selfish brat, though it’s justified since all the Titans except Starfire are comical jerks in this iteration.
- In Titans (2018) in the first season Dick is an incredibly edgy jerkass who disdains his adoptive father to the point of infamously saying “Fuck Batman”’ and he’s portrayed as deeply flawed in his demeanour and extremely grim. To the show’s credit though, after some backlash season two Dick Took a Level in Kindness into his more cheerful comic version. Also helped by the fact Jason Todd was introduced and there’s probably a limit to how many edgy former sidekicks the audience can tolerate.
- Catwoman has gotten a lot of this in the various portrayals compared to her comic version. Comic Selina only started off as a sinister villain during the Golden Age and was quickly shifted to her more well known Classy Cat-Burglar identity from then onwards. Her comic self while morally neutral still cares for innocent lives, loves Bruce, hates injustices towards women and occupies a cool stepmother/big sister role towards the Robins and Batgirls —even though most of them don’t like her with the exceptions of Barbara and Huntress. In most film, cartoon and video game adaptations however Selina’s better qualities are downplayed.
- The Batman Returns version of Catwoman played by Michelle Pfeiffer is insane and callous, victim blaming a woman for almost getting sexually assaulted.
- The New Batman Adventures has Selina be far more emotionally manipulative and antagonistic, willing to shamelessly flirt with Nightwing, Bruce’s own adoptive son.
- Injustice 2 has Selina ultimately abandon Bruce after marrying him in her ending, stating such a life is boring, not even caring how Bruce feels about it (while a Runaway Bride scenario did happen in the comics as well, it was due to outside manipulation).
- Worth noting this is actually Older Than They Think as Batman (1966) also portrayed Catwoman as crueller and more villainous than she was in the comics, though given the Camp of the show it was Played for Laughs.
- Crime boss villain Carmine Falcone is depicted in the comics as genuinely loving his family, having Nerves of Steel, and having a code of honor. However...
- Batman Begins sees Falcone depicted as a Smug Snake and rather arrogant when things are going his way — only to become a coward if they're not.
- Ironically, despite the original The Long Halloween being where much of Falcone's character was fleshed out, the animated version sees him be abusive to Alberto Falcone, outright telling him he's The Un-Favorite and demeaning Alberto and his college education. In the comics, Alberto was pretty much Carmine's favorite child and Carmine was even shown to be a case of "Evil Parents Want Good Kids" in his reasons for not wanting Alberto to be involved with the family's criminal activities.
- The Batman (2022) sees Falcone lack any of the values he had in the comics, as he strangled Catwoman's mother to death, got to where he was by ratting out Sal Maroni, gutted a fund Thomas Wayne set up to help poor people, and might've even had Thomas murdered despite the man saving his life. The spin-off series The Penguin (2024) reveals that Falcone framed his daughter for a series of murders he committed and being dismissive of Alberto.
- Damian Wayne is already a fan-dividing Bratty Half-Pint and Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy in the comics, however he has gone on through extensive Character Development into someone more likeable, being best friends with Superman’s son Jonathan Kent and a big brother figure to Wonder Woman’s daughter Elisabeth. While Damian can still be a dick, thanks to the comics reverting his development due to DC rebooting their universe over and over, he’s still far better than he was he first debuted. In adaptations like the DC Animated Movie Universe and Harley Quinn (2019) however Damian is often an insufferable little bastard and his character growth is far smaller. In Injustice, its comic adaptation and its sequel Damian outright betrays his father and Deadshot notes how most characters hate his guts.
- The first Robin Dick Grayson aka Nightwing is the biggest Nice Guy of the Bat-Family, and although he’s had bad and moody moments, Dick is still otherwise one of the most consistently outgoing and friendly characters in the entire DCU. Many adaptations however have not been kind to him, and a lot of portrayals make him much more jerky and edgy for the sake of removing his camp qualities, usually due to conflating him with his adoptive brother Jason Todd.
- Land of Oz:
- Glinda the Good Witch gets a sizeable amount of this in numerous adaptations of The Wizard of Oz. In the original book series and iconic MGM movie (where she’s composited with the Good Witch of the North) Glinda is the Light Is Good Big Good being compassionate and wise. However the revelation in the 1939 film that she could have helped Dorothy get home at any moment without putting her life in danger from the Wicked Witch has led to an ascended Alternative Character Interpretation that she’s really a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. In both the Wicked book and musical Glinda is a snob and Fair-Weather Friend to Elphaba. In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, being Miss Piggy, she’s jealous of Dorothy and actively tries getting rid of her, while in Emerald City Glinda plans to overthrow Oz himself and set up the land with witches in charge, since he outlawed magic in the land. Of course Glinda’s Evil Counterpart the Wicked Witch of the West gets the exact opposite of this in numerous adaptations.
- The Wizard of Oz himself gets this far worse than Glinda in many adaptations. In the books and MGM movie he’s already quite the “Humbug” being a Con Man and Fake Ultimate Hero, however he was still a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and ultimately harmless. In a lot of adaptations however he is at best a Opportunistic Bastard Anti-Hero who personally kickstarts the Wicked Witch of the West’s Start of Darkness after breaking her heart such as in Oz the Great and Powerful and at worst an outright sadistic tyrant as seen in Wicked, Emerald City and Dorothy Must Die.
- A Christmas Carol:
- A lot of adaptations will make Scrooge, or the story's expy, far more of a jackass before the ghost of Jacob Marley/a Marley expy and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come set him straight. Jim Carrey's Scrooge stole the coins off Jacob's eyes at his wake; Scrooge McDuck initially only gives Mickey Mouse half a day off for Christmas and docks his pay for it; and his greed pushes Daisy Duck away as opposed to Belle realizing Ebenezer's greed outweighed his love for others long before he did; and Frank Cross is an outright Corrupt Corporate Executive who yells at people who disagree with him, fires Eliot Loudermilk for pointing how how horrible an ad he came up with for the in-universe Christmas Carol adaptation he's producing was, and is overjoyed when he finds out said ad might've killed an old woman. Unfortunately, adaptations also have Scrooge's change of heart happen solely during the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, making it look like the change is out of self-preservation, whereas in the book, being shown his nephew Fred's joy during the holiday and Tiny Tim's plight by the Ghost of Christmas Present had already started Scrooge's Heel–Face Turn.
- The Ghosts can also undergo this treatment. Frank Cross, for example, sees the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present react with their own upped jackassery, Past being a taxi cab driver who drives like crazy, and Present being a crazy sadomasochistic who enjoys Frank's threats of violence, kicks him in the balls, and ends her visit with a headbutt to Frank (itself in response to Frank attempting to choke her) and smacking him in the face with a toaster. The 2009 film saw the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come hound Scrooge by knocking him over, shrinking him for a bit, and chasing Scrooge while he was tiny, and McDuck's Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come was Pete, who (unlike the silent character of other stories) delights in showing Scrooge the Bad Future, complete with enjoying Scrooge's reaction to his own grave and having an Evil Laugh at seeing Scrooge Dragged Off to Hell before the old duck awakens.
- Cloud Strife post Final Fantasy VII (1997) gets an unprecedented amount of this, mainly thanks to Flanderisation. In the 1997 game, Cloud begins the game as a Only in It for the Money cocky show off, but it becomes clear this is not reflective of his actual personality, that being a well-meaning and troubled dork, who managed to become the hero he wanted to be without even realising it. He does have his rude aloof qualities, but Cloud does genuinely care deeply for Tifa, Aerith, Barret and the rest of the party, especially after getting his mind fixed. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children however, decided to ignore Cloud being more upbeat by the original’s ending due to him contracting Geostigma and grieving over Aerith with Cloud shunning his True Companions in angst, though he gets better again by the end. Then came Dissidia Final Fantasy where Cloud’s coldly aloof qualities are played up to the hilt and he shuns even Tifa when she tries to reach out to him (in the original game Tifa is the one he’s most open with). Further not helping things are spin-offs like Kingdom Hearts where Cloud is a Composite Character with Vincent Valentine, downplaying his fun non-brooding traits even more. Averted in Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth where Cloud is a Rounded Character once again, having plenty of fun qualities and able to be more affectionate and playful with his allies.
- Morrigan Aensland of Darkstalkers outside her home fighting game series repeatedly gets this treatment. In her own games Morrigan is a free spirit who would Never Hurt an Innocent, and at worst she's a Spoiled Brat and hedonist who generally only cares about her own pleasure, definitely not good but certainly not evil either. Adaptations however such as the Udon comics and Teppen—!!! base Morrigan more heavily on sinister succubuses of folklore, and as such she's a one-note Dark Action Girl and Literal Maneater. In the comics, Morrigan soul absorbs or kills numerous innocent people and only aids the World Warriors because Jedah forces her into a Enemy Mine with them. In Teppen all Morrigan wants to do is consume the souls of handsome men, and she tries to snack on both Ryu and Dante. It's outright stated she has "sucked the spirit from countless mortals", whilst in the games we only ever see her kill Pyron (an evil alien god) in her questionably canon ending. There's also the infamous USA Darkstalkers cartoon where Morrigan is the cruel Dark Mistress of Pyron, unlike other media where she's opposed to him.
- In total fairness, even the Capcom games themselves in spite of using Morrigan repeatedly, often fail to highlight her better nature. For example in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 most of Morrigan's quotes are her wanting to take her opponents' souls, mocking their "prosaic morals" and in her endings she's shown happily dining with the likes of Mephisto and Blackheart. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite makes it clear Morrigan is not really evil, with Ghost Rider sparing her and she goes on to aid the heroes against Ultron Sigma.
- Kaa from The Jungle Book is one of the most famous cases of this. In Rudyard Kipling’s book series Kaa is dangerous and The Dreaded among the animals. However since Mowgli is immune to Kaa’s hypnotism, he’s ultimately an ally, being wise and powerful. He’s the one who helps Bagheera and Baloo save Mowgli from the monkeys, eating all of the apes himself, making him a Token Evil Teammate at worst. Since Snakes Are Sinister however, Kaa’s Creepy Good Noble Demon traits are ignored in most adaptations, especially the Disney ones and he (or she) is generally an antagonist or a jerk. Though granted at least a few non-Disney adaptations such as the Adventures of Mowgli, Mowgli Legend Of The Jungle and The Jungle Book (1989) depict Kaa as Truer to the Text.
- Wonder Woman:
- Wondy herself has gotten a shocking amount of this due to some Follow the Leader and Flanderisation. In her debut in the 1940s and all the way through the Pre-Crisis era Diana was an Ideal Hero, she never intentionally killed any foes and while she hated the misogyny of mankind she still loved Steve Trevor and didn’t hold misandrist views towards all men. The Lynda Carter show while cheesy, is very accurate to how lighthearted Diana was in the comics at the time. Post-Crisis however Wonder Woman started to get Darker and Edgier portrayals, most famously her incarnation in Kingdom Come is more brutal and violent, pressuring Superman to stop being merciful towards their foes*. This became the blueprint going forward as JLA (1997) has Diana deliver a Neck Snap to Maxwell Lord and The New 52 has Diana be a Blood Knight running around cutting up opponents left and right like Kratos. All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder by Frank Miller is infamous for making Diana a Straw Feminist who refers to an innocent bystander man as a “sperm bank”. In Young Justice Diana is openly critical of Bruce and his upbringing of Dick, in contrast to the comics where she approves of the Bat-Family. Injustice takes this way further with Diana being a colossal totalitarian bitch who acts as the Lady Macbeth to Superman, and she even slaughters her Amazon sisters in her ending in the second game. The DCEU Wondy isn’t too much better in Wonder Woman 1984, being perfectly okay with Steve resurrecting in an innocent man’s body and continuing their relationship — something comic Diana would find horrifying.
- Steve Trevor has gotten a fair amount of this, usually as a way to avoid his status as the Vanilla Protagonist. In the classic comics he was deemed by the Amazons as the very reason why males deserved a chance due to his good nature and he was always chivalrous and respectful towards Diana. In Wonder Woman (2009) however Steve is a sleazy scumbag who can’t go a minute without treating Diana like a piece of meat and tries to get her drunk so he can sleep with her. The New 52 version of Steve feels somewhat entitled and possessive of Diana, hating Superman for being the man she loves.
- DC’s Queen Hippolyta, Diana’s mother gets this in multiple portrayals (ironic considering she is a case of Adaptational Heroism from Classical Mythology). In the comics Hippolyta is largely a good parent and her worst actions are simply cases of misguided overprotection or being a Love Obstructing Parent and Diana always calls her out on it with Hippolyta apologising for her actions. In Justice League Unlimited however Hippolyta temporarily banishes Diana for bringing men to Themyscira even, though it was to save them from Felix Faust, while Wonder Woman: Bloodlines similarly has Hippolyta disown her daughter for breaking the rules. The New 52 version of Hippolyta is by far the worst, commanding the Amazons to seduce and murder male sailors for the sake of getting more daughters for Themyscira. This portrayal of the Amazons was hated so much, DC Rebirth was forced to undo it.
- Frankenstein's Monster in the multitude of adaptations of Frankenstein gets hit with this. The Wretch in the book is already unpleasant, vengeful and has a Hair-Trigger Temper, but it was also an archetypal Tragic Monster that just wanted to be loved and accepted, particularly by his own creator Victor Frankenstein. The majority of adaptations (with a few exceptions like The Monster Squad) focus solely on the “monster” part and depict the Wretch purely as a violent abomination without any of the sympathetic or nuanced elements from Mary Shelley’s original book. Even adaptations that are Truer to the Text often make the Wretch more despicable such as Robert De Niro’s take in the 1994 film or the Danny Boyle 2011 play which has the monster raping Elizabeth in front of Victor before killing her. The irony is that the exact opposite treatment is in play for the Wretch’s fellow gothic icons, as both Dracula and the Phantom of the Opera, get numerous sympathetic and nicer portrayals in media. Even though unlike Frankenstein’s monster both antagonists were genuinely diabolical in their respective source material.
- Dragon Ball:
- Son Goku himself is a strange case of this, thanks to both Flip-Flop of God and Flanderisation. In the original manga, he often has a bad case of Skewed Priorities and it often takes people he directly knows and likes being hurt for him to take action, but otherwise Goku explicitly has a pure heart and is very much a hero. The Z anime and movies expound Goku’s nicer qualities making him The Cape and Ideal Hero. Toriyama claimed he wasn’t entirely satisfied with this, since he felt “his Goku” never really grew up and was selfish in his desire to fight. In response to this, both Toei and Toyotarou in the Super anime and manga respectively shoot Goku’s Blood Knight Manchild qualities through the roof, to the point where he comes across like a lousy husband, father and grandfather (even briefly forgetting Pan’s existence). Not to mention he’s willing to hire Hit to kill him and helps kickstart a tournament that will get entire universes erased from existence, while it turned out to be a Secret Test of Character, everyone who called Goku out for it was completely right. There’s a few times where Goku’s better nature from Z is apparent, but they are few and far between.
- Chi-Chi zigzags this across Dragon Ball media. In the manga she started off very sweet and nice and Moe, but became a Wet Blanket Wife and Education Mama in the Z era, though in the Buu saga she’s nicer and is the one who trained Goten. The anime gives her more likeable scenes with Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moments with Goku, the movies play up her harsher qualities towards Goku and Gohan for comic relief, but she obviously cares greatly for them. The Dragon Ball Super anime much like with Goku, removes her Character Development from the Buu Saga plays up her worse traits repeatedly. Although the Granolah the Survivor Saga swings it back the other way, with Chi-Chi being more supportive of Goku. The video games such as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 likewise keep Chi-Chi being largely abrasive to everyone who isn’t her husband and sons but also make her hilarious as she roasts the entire roster in the character bios. In Dragon Ball Sparking Zero while Chi-Chi is still comically annoyed at Super Saiyan forms, she’s again more supportive to her family and friends.
- Vegeta is most definitely a Jerkass in the original manga, and it takes until the Buu Saga for him to finally redeem himself. However the anime, movies, video games and crossovers tend to significantly amp up his dickery. In the post Namek manga Vegeta didn’t beat the shit out of Gohan and gloat over Goku’s apparent death, like he did in the anime. The Android and Cell Saga era anime and movies likewise frequently depict Vegeta hurting Future Trunks, even when Trunks is trying to hell him. In the manga the only times Vegeta attacked his son was when Trunks was preventing Semi-Perfect Cell absorbing 18, and later in the Buu Saga during training with present Trunks as well as knocking him and Goten out before performing his Heroic Sacrifice.
- Android 17 even in the present timeline, is portrayed as a petulant and violent asshole in the anime and multiple video games. In the manga while his Bad Future self was pure evil, present day 17 was a Smug Super at worst, never killed anyone and gave his energy to Goku’s Spirit Bomb. Dragon Ball GT only took this further making 17 an outright villain. Dragon Ball Super however brings 17 back to his more nicer manga portrayal.
- Lucy Westerna from Dracula gets a ludicrous amount of this in the many adaptations of the novel. In the book Lucy is pretty much Purity Personified with her only flawed traits being somewhat spoiled and being open to the idea of marrying three men (scandalous for the time). Most Hotter and Sexier adaptations* make Lucy The Vamp who happily cheats on Arthur with Jack Seward and enjoys getting bitten and turned into a vampire by the count. This is a result of an unfortunately common Madonna-Whore Complex between Mina and Lucy in the adaptations, which wasn’t at all apparent in the book (especially given it’s implied Mina consummated her marriage with Jonathan before Lucy got her blood drained by the count).
- Doctor Doom constantly suffers this in adaptations along with Adaptational Wimp. In the comics while Doom is certainly not a good guy being a “It's All About Me” Tin Tyrant who’s often ludicrously petty towards Mr. Fantastic his rival he’s still commonly written to be a Noble Demon who cares for his country, is frequently courteous towards women (as seen with Invisible Woman and Storm) and has many Hidden Depths. Most adaptations however such as the Fox films and even Truer to the Text cartoons like Fantastic Four: The Animated Series and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes all greatly downplay Doom’s better qualities to make him more heinous. In EMH for example Doom gives a captured Janet a brutally mocking Shut Up, Kirk!, whereas in the comics he was genuinely respectful to Ororo in the same situation
- You’ve got to pity Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch for their treatment across Marvel media. From their debut in Uncanny X-Men it’s stated they were Forced into Evil by Magneto (later revealed to be their dad), Quicksilver even in his first issue saves the X-Men from a bomb that would’ve destroyed them along with an entire nation. When given the chance to join The Avengers, Pietro and Wanda happily took it and spent the majority of their comic history as heroes, who while generally weren’t the nicest (and still highly capable of slipping up, see House of M), but otherwise still well-meaning. The majority of adaptations however such as X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men and Ultimate Marvel make Pietro and Wanda largely unapologetic jerks and henchmen who happily screw other people over*. Ironically the opposite is in play for their abusive father Magneto, who gets his inexcusable worst traits either toned down or removed entirely in most adaptations, so that he’s more of an Anti-Villain.
- Zigzagged in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Avengers: Age of Ultron, gives Pietro and Wanda an arguably bigger Freudian Excuse with their Darker and Edgier backstory, rather than just being unfortunate Romani Gypsies who ran a foul of a Witch Hunt, they were instead third world Sokovian children whose Start of Darkness (as WandaVision shows) was having their parents killed by a Stark industries mortar in the middle of Sitcom watching. This better justifies why Pietro and Wanda would be introduced as bitter villains, yet on the other hand there’s the wrinkle of them being willing Hydra volunteers in this continuity, not to mention joining Ultron under their own volition. In the comics by comparison, the twins bluntly stated they were “Held captive” by Magneto and jumped ship at the first opportunity to escape his abuse and dominance. Funnily enough, Quicksilver despite being the bigger jerk compared to his sister in the comics, ends up being nicer pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to save Hawkeye, whereas Wanda spirals further down thanks to a Trauma Conga Line (losing Vision and her sons) and is an outright mass murderer by the time of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. She’s arguably worse than even her comic version, given MCU Wanda committed atrocities on her own volition, without any external manipulation, beyond the Darkhold affecting her already volatile mind.
- Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver getting this is also an unavoidable result of the Screwed by the Lawyers rights dispute between Fox and Marvel. In the Fox produced X-Men cartoons since the Avengers are off limits, Pietro and Wanda can’t have their important Heel–Face Turn away from Magneto and are stuck as his Daddy's Little Villain Co-Dragons who spend their screentime as cruel enemies to the X-Men. Yet as the MCU shows, when you place them in a universe where Magneto is Adapted Out, Pietro and Wanda become less sympathetic and are more unpleasant, since they don’t have Magneto being a controlling Abusive Parent to them to explain their misdeeds and personalities. Really they’ve gotten the worst of both worlds.
- Psylocke is a particularly notable case of this. In the comics, while she often falls to the Anti-Hero scale of heroism, Betsy has still largely been a noble and heroic Action Girl who aided Xavier’s side for decades. Most adaptations however such as X-Men: The Last Stand, Wolverine and the X-Men, X-Men: Apocalypse and Deadpool & Wolverine all portray her as a callous Dark Action Girl who doesn’t care for any of the X-Men besides Angel in X-Men Apocalypse, likely due to her being a Composite Character with Kwannon, who was a villain for most of her comic history. Not to mention much of Psylocke’s backstory as a hero greatly ties into Captain Britain, who was off-limits for Fox. Averted at least for the Marvel vs. Capcom games and her brief cameo in X-Men '97 where she’s unmistakably a good person.
- Captain America much like Superman below gets a fair amount of this, especially in alternate universe stories or Darker and Edgier retellings. While in The Golden Age of Comic Books, Steve was frankly speaking an asshole and bully by modern standards, routinely pranking his sergeant as a Running Gag and displayed multiple racist remarks — by Cap’s reintroduction in The Avengers he was the Ideal Hero and The Paragon most fans are familiar with. Yet in The Ultimates Cap is a prick like his Golden Age self (though he gets better), in Marvel vs. Capcom most of his win quotes have Steve demeaning his opponents and in Marvel's Avengers he’s impatient and gruff with Tony, even when the latter is saving his life. Zigzagged in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as in a lot of ways MCU Cap is nicer than his comic counterpart, never condoning torture or hounding mutants, yet a lot of Steve’s actions e.g keeping Starks’ murder secret, abandoning Sharon and by Avengers: Endgame everyone else including Bucky to be with Peggy again are arguably far worse than anything his 616 self has done, even if he’s still considered to have a pure heart.
- Spider-Man:
- Flash Thompson nigh-constantly gets this in the many adaptations of Spider-Man. In the comics Flash starts off as the Jerk Jock and The Bully to Peter, but they eventually become best friends and Flash even became the superhero Agent Venom. There’s also an important and ironic plot point of Flash being a massive fan of Spidey, and initially not knowing Spider-Man was actually “Puny Parker” himself. Most adaptations though such as the Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Spider-Man Trilogy, Ultimate Spider-Man (2000), Spider-Man: The New Animated Series and Marvel Cinematic Universe have Flash never becoming Peter’s friend, even in Vitriolic Best Buds fashion and remaining an asshole to Peter. Although the aforementioned cartoons and MCU do at least keep him being a Spidey fanboy. The only two adaptations that do get Flash right are The Amazing Spider-Man Series and The Spectacular Spider-Man, the former in particular having a genuine moment of Flash being compassionate to Peter after Uncle Ben’s death.
- Harry Osborn similar to Flash has little to no luck in adaptations. While he’s not a saint in the comics, Harry still regardless spent decades as Peter’s best friend and was close as a brother to him, despite the combined factors of Peter not being the best or attentive roommate due to his superhero commitments, resentment over the fact Norman respected Peter more and Harry’s drug addiction. Even when Harry did follow his father’s Villainous Legacy, it was relatively short lived and Harry pulled a Heroic Sacrifice to save Peter. While Harry would have another stint as a villain later on in Nick Spencer's Spider-Man, it was due to being a soulless clone, who eventually pulled another Heel–Face Turn to ultimately help Peter. In both Spider-Man Trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Harry even before becoming a villain is quite the entitled Fair-Weather Friend who cares much more about himself than he does Peter, the Raimi version even slapping Peter at a party while drunk and depressed over his father’s death. The ASM Harry is even worse, as while Raimi’s Harry despite his extensive flaws at least had a Heel–Face Turn Heroic Sacrifice like the comics, ASM Harry however is already unhinged due to a terminal disease and due to being the Green Goblin instead of his father Norman in this continuity, he’s the one who kills Gwen this time round, which manages to outstrip anything comic Harry did in sheer impact (including making Peter think his parents were alive or making Peter and MJ think Gwen had children with Norman). Other versions of Harry run from snarky and harmless in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series to Secretly Selfish in The Spectacular Spider-Man to With Great Power Comes Great Insanity in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, though this is largely due to Harry being a Composite Character with Eddie Brock.
- The Venom Symbiote has gotten this across the board. In the comics, while it is a dangerous alien organism (later retconned to be part of a Living Weapon race created by a God of Evil), the Venom Symbiote itself is actually a White Sheep among its species and it did genuinely love Peter as much as Mary Jane or Black Cat, it was only Peter rejecting it, after he found out it was alive from Reed Richards, did the Symbiote go nuts and bonded with Eddie in revenge. However in most adaptations starting with Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the Symbiote’s Superpowered Evil Side qualities were pronounced and its sympathetic qualities greatly toned down being a largely one-note Always Chaotic Evil Blob Monster in Spider-Man 3, Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. This also extends to Peter when he is bonded with it, as the Symbiote makes him an aggressive douche, in the comics, Peter’s personality wasn’t effected by the Symbiote whatsoever, at worst he was more tired due to the Symbiote taking his body out for joy rides while he was sleeping.
- Thranduil aka Elvenking from The Hobbit has rotten luck in adaptations. In the book Thranduil does subvert the “elves are pure and benevolent” perception later established in The Lord of the Rings being territorial, greedy for gemstones (in-character for elves) and rather racist towards Dwarves. However, while he's relatively isolationist, he doesn't restrict his people's movements, and he keeps ties to the nearby men. Thranduil does have nice moments in the book, aiding the people of Laketown after Smaug ravaged them, naming Bilbo an elf friend and honouring Thorin by placing his adopted elven sword Orcrist on his tomb. In both The Hobbit 1977 and The Hobbit Film Trilogy he’s deeply unpleasant and cruel, with his benevolent qualities and moments getting downplayed or removed entirely. In the live-action movie, he's first seen abandoning Erebor at Smaug's initial attack, and in Desolation of Smaug he orders his people not to leave the keep once the forest gets dangerous. In the book he is reluctant to fight the dwarves ( "Long may I tarry, ere I begin a war for gold,"), while in the movie, he is eager to fight.
- Anna Williams of Tekken has terrible luck in adaptations and spin-offs of the games. While she is a vain and trigger happy assassin in canon, Anna in the games believe it or not is actually the nice one compared to the cold and sociopathic Nina, and actually wanted to retire from being an assassin but had her fiancée killed by Nina at the altar*. Since Nina is more popular however, adaptations that feature Anna completely ditch her sympathetic qualities whilst keeping her Dark Action Girl status intact. Tekken: The Motion Picture, Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Death by Degrees and the Tekken comics all have Anna be a one-note craven Smug Snake villainess compared to Nina.
- Superman:
- The Man of Steel, Superman himself gets a fair amount of this, often to counteract the Good Is Boring accusations. Whilst in The Golden Age of Comic Books Superman was actually an Anti-Hero by our modern standards, being a violent socialist Smug Super who dealt with social and economic problems with brute force and was happy to let bad guys die — by later comics Supes had evolved into The Paragon Ideal Hero whom would never willingly take a life and pretty much always makes the right decision in the end. A good deal of adaptations however such as The New 52, the DC Extended Universe, and Young Justice (concerning Superboy) have Clark be more flawed and agressive. While it’s a case of Revisiting the Roots in some respects at other times, it’s simply a bid to make him more “compelling”. Not to mention the many Alternate Universe versions e.g Injustice: Gods Among Us which take Golden Age Superman’s less than ideal traits even further into Beware the Superman territory.
- Lois Lane often gets the worst of Loves My Alter Ego qualities played up in the majority of adaptations where she’s outright rude to Clark or at least frequently talks down to him. This only gets worse in adaptations where Wonder Woman is present like the DC Animated Movie Universe, where initially Lois is little more than Clark’s clingy human love interest. Exceptions are the DC Extended Universe and My Adventures with Superman where Lois discovers Clark’s Secret Identity far quicker and starts a loving relationship with him almost immediately.
- In the original BIONICLE franchise, Pohatu is an all-round Nice Guy. Being the Toa of Stone, his main personality trait is to be reliable, down-to-earth and always supportive of others. The Pohatu of BIONICLE (2015) is the opposite, abrasive, antisocial and hard-headed as a rock. This, though, gave the rebooted Pohatu a character arc that the original lacked, going from a rough loner to a more affectionate team player, and the comics revealed his secret fondness of canines. Ironically, he is more akin to the original series' Kopaka, the cold Toa of Ice who first found Pohatu annoying but slowly accepted him as his friend.
- Resident Evil:
- Jill Valentine in the games is more or less an Ideal Hero, even more so than Chris, being always portrayed as righteous and compassionate when not Brainwashed and Crazy thanks to Wesker. Adaptations and remakes of the franchise on the other hand, tend to make Jill a Darker and Edgier Action Girl to circumvent Good Is Boring perceptions. In Resident Evil: Apocalypse rather than caring for her fellow survivors, Jill is rude and patronising towards them. In Resident Evil 3 (Remake) Jill is similarly far more impatient and sweary, outright telling Carlos to “Fuck off” after he makes a poorly timed tall glass of water joke (although in fairness the game emphasises the fact Jill is suffering PTSD from RE1, and does remove the bit where she slaps Carlos). In Resident Evil: Death Island, Jill in contrast to her behaviour in the end of RE5 brushes away Chris’ attempts to console her after she was Wesker’s puppet for years, though they do make up by the end of the movie.
- Leon Kennedy is a charismatic Nice Guy in the games who at worst has a crippling blind spot for Femme Fatale Ada (something his allies have chided him for and something Leon himself acknowledges is a weakness) and as RE6 reveals a severe depression beneath his cheerful personality. The canon CG media made Leon more of an Anti-Hero, with him being an alcoholic who butts heads with Chris and is willing to keep the US government’s misdeeds secret, something Claire gives him a What the Hell, Hero? over *. In the live action films Leon is much worse, such as in Resident Evil: Retribution where he’s a sleazy mercenary hired by Wesker who puts his hand on Ada’s thigh like a creep and in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City where he’s an inept and bumbling rookie who annoys the more competent Claire.
- Ada Wong, while unheroic compared to the other female protagonists in the franchise being a Femme Fatale Spy, is still supposed to be a morally neutral character rather than an outright cruel Dark Action Girl. Her creator Shinji Mikami (whom loves Ada dearly), based her on the sympathetic Nikita and clearly intended her to be likeable and appealing. RE6 even depicts Ada rescuing Sherry and protecting survivors from B.O.Ws, to put her in a better light compared to Carla her Evil Knockoff. Adaptations and remakes however took a colder view on Ada and portrayed her in an unambiguously negative light. In both Resident Evil 2 (Remake) and Resident Evil 4 (Remake) Ada’s romantic moments with Leon are treated as more sinister and emotionally manipulative, with Leon having little tolerance for her behaviour in the latter remake, not to mention additions such as Ada telling Leon to abandon Ashely. Teppen—!!! goes even further with Ada being unapologetically malevolent, having manipulated events from behind the scenes as the woman in black, and shows none of her better qualities from her home series. The Stinger of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City has Ada be the Greater-Scope Villain who hired Wesker, rather than the other way round.
Advertising
- Clippy goes from the Blank Slate he was in previous versions of Microsoft Office to a obnoxious, snarky character in the Microsoft Office XP ads. Also doubles as Adaptation Expansion as there wasn't really much to work with.
Comic Strips
- In most Winnie-the-Pooh media, the title character is a relaxed, friendly, if slightly dim-witted little fellow, the kind of person you'd expecting a living teddy bear to be. In the comic strip based on the Disney series, Pooh is a much more sarcastic and abrasive character, frequently snarking at or acting rude to his friends for the sake of a joke (often with the typical cheerful smile on his face).
Films — Animation
- A very downplayed version in The Amazing Maurice, where Keith is mostly the somewhat diffident Nice Guy he is in the book, but there is one moment when book Keith is slightly shocked at Malicia's plan to deal with the ratcatchers (not just giving them laxative and telling them it's poision, but giving them more laxative and telling them it's the antidote), saying "You are not a nice person" (although he still goes along with it). In the film, he completely approves and calls her a genius.
- Alice's Birthday:
- In the original Alice, Girl from the Future series, Rrrr is timid, quiet and extremely polite. In the animated adaptation of Alice’s Birthday, he is sarcastic and easily irritated, often rudely snapping at Alice. Partly justified, since their friendship, unlike in the books, has a rocky start, with her mistaking him for an actual kitten and later accidentally spraying him with a foul-smelling vaccine.
- Alice herself gets it to a lesser extent. When a six-year-old boy from Koleida offers to help her, she rudely refuses, telling him rather sharply that he is too small. Granted, her nerves at that moment are on edge and she does not want him to join her dangerous mission, but book!Alice, while she can be sarcastic, is never outright rude, and she is always nice to kids younger than her, even when they are annoying.
- In the Batman comics, Councilman Arthur Reeves had mob connections and hated Batman, but he was an ultimately harmless buffoon set up to fail by said mob connections.note In Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Reeves sold Carl Beaumont out to Sal Valestra after Carl refused to give him more money for his campaign, resulting in Carl's death. The first annual for Batman & Robin Adventures also sees this version of Revees becomes a super villain in his own right.
- Coraline:
- In the original Coraline book, Coraline is polite, well-mannered, and stoic, while her film counterpart is sarcastic, belligerent, and snarky (although she does soften out by the end). The game counterpart is a mixture of both. Nowhere near as jerkish as the movie version, but not as stoic as the book version.
- A straighter example is Coraline‘s mother. In the original book she’s warm and loving, being at worst too focused on her work and housekeeping to pay Coraline much attention. In the movie Mrs Jones is extremely high-strung, has virtually no patience and constantly tells her daughter off and it isn’t till the very end does she become a Defrosting Ice Queen. The reason for this change was likely to make Other Mother look better by initial contrast, justifying why Coraline would want to stay in the Other World to her peril.
- Disney Animated Canon:
- Beauty and the Beast (1991): In the original tale, the Beast was never a bad guy to begin with. He was transformed by an evil fairy through no fault of his own and is seen to be kind-hearted for the most part, and gentleman-like, with only an occasional tendency to be hot-tempered. In the Disney version, he starts out as an outright Jerkass who was transformed as punishment for his cruelty, is always angry (although not without remorse, as shown when he sees Belle crying in the tower and takes her to a nicer room), and only becomes good after Character Development.
- Big Hero 6 is more "Adaptational Jerk with a Heart of Gold." In the comics, Hiro Takachiho is an Ordinary High-School Student. At the start of the animated movie, Hiro Hamada partakes in illegal bot-fights before his brother shows him around his school. There's also the issue of trying to kill Callaghan, though to be fair, that was an extreme circumstance.
- In The Great Mouse Detective, Professor Ratigan is a Bad Boss who feeds one of his henchmen to his pet cat for annoying him and tosses Fidget, one of his most loyal minions, off an airship to save weight. Professor Moriarty, his inspiration from the Sherlock Holmes stories, was an Affably Evil Benevolent Boss who treated his men well, aside from betrayal, and had their complete loyalty in return.
- Quite possibly the most infamous example here is Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His original counterpart, who is actually an archdeacon, is much more sympathetic, willing to take care an orphaned Quasimodo out of sincere pity; it wasn't until his lust for Esmeralda where he begins to spiral down into villainy, which also makes him something of a Tragic Villain. On the other hand, Disney's Frollo is completely devoid of having any sort of human quality that his original self has, being depicted as nothing more than a religiously devout snob who firmly insists that everything he believes in is not wrong and that anything he does is the right thing to do, no matter the severity. In fact, Disney's Frollo is said to be influenced by the portrayal of Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.
- Lilo & Stitch (2002): In one of the "Inter-Stitch-ial" trailers, Princess Jasmine from Aladdin is depicted as a Gold Digger who ditches Aladdin for Stitch when she sees he has a spaceship, which she finds more impressive than Aladdin's magic carpet.
- The Sword in the Stone: Both Wart's foster-father, Ector, and his foster-brother, Kay, have a lot of their positive qualities scrubbed away (at least until the end). Ector goes from a Reasonable Authority Figure who wants Wart to be educated to a bossy disciplinarian who's against it, while Kay is reduced to a one-dimensional bully who hates Wart for no good reason, rather than having a legitimate inferiority complex (he also gets an Age Lift, which exacerbates the problem — it's one thing to see a twelve-year-old being picked on by his fourteen-year-old brother, and another thing to see that same bullying from a guy who's at least eighteen, if not older).
- Treasure Planet does this with the innkeeper Mr. Hawkins, Jim’s father. In the book Treasure Island Jim’s father was a sincerely loving father and husband, he was just misfortune enough to get ill and have an early death, likely exacerbated by having the former pirate Billy Bones being constantly drunk and loud in his inn. In Treasure Planet, Jim’s father coldly runs out on his wife and son, directly causing Jim’s self-esteem issues and delinquency. In both the original book and Disney film Long John Silver fills the paternal void left in Jim’s life, however it is considerably more heartwarming in the latter, given Jim’s sadder childhood.
- Downplayed in Ralph Breaks the Internet where the Disney Princesses are more standoff-ish than normal. They're still quite friendly otherwise.
- Tangled: In the original tale, "the prince" (who Flynn is based on) was the stereotypical heroic character. Here, he is a selfish anti-heroic thief, but becomes less selfish after spending time with Rapunzel and steps up to true blue heroism. Flynn started development as a Gentle Giant thief named "Bastion" who only robbed because he had no other choice growing up an orphan, making his more true to the original prince, however the team decided to revamp his character into something "sexier".
- DC Animated Movie Universe:
- In the comics, Nightwing is open to Damian becoming Robin (he actually replaced Tim Drake in order to bring Damian into the Batfamily) and gladly supports and guides him even before he got the mantle. In Son of Batman, he's a rather standoffish jerk who would prefer to avoid Damian if at all possible and is vehemently opposed to Damian becoming Robin. In this case, it's because he's a sort of Composite Character with Tim Drake, whose relationship with Damian was a lot tenser.
- In Batman: Bad Blood, Batwoman is more willing to resort to lethal force and unlike the comic, when Batman rescues a pre-Batwoman Kate, she's shown to be resentful of it.
- In the original Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds, Pip was entirely loyal to Dogtanian. In the movie, he spends most of the film just interested in money, stealing from Dogtanian, only taking the role of squire because Dogtanian is paying him, and later betraying him to the Cardinal because Richlieu is paying more. He does feel bad about it though, and eventually repents.
- A minor case in Green Lantern: First Flight, where Tomar Re and Ch'p are initially distrustful and dismissive towards Hal Jordan because of doubts that he is a worthy successor to Abin Sur. In contrast, their comic counterparts got along rather well with Hal Jordan from the start.
- In the comics, Batman has tendencies of being a jerkass for sure. However, the version of him introduced in The LEGO Movie is more extreme, being an Attention Whore who's full of himself and rude to everyone around him. The LEGO Batman Movie highlights his jerkassery even more with Batman being a constant Troll who mocks and humiliates his allies and adversaries alike. He gots better in the end, though.
- While Kano is no saint in Mortal Kombat canon, he never did the crimes against humanity he committed in Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind, which included terrorizing small towns and deliberating unleashing a hodre of revenants so he could Take Over the World.
- Queer Duck: The Movie does this to the unnamed Mocky Mouse mascot that appeared in the original web series' episode "The Gayest Place on Earth". While the character in the original web series was already not very nice due to lashing out on Queer Duck for flirting with his lover Gobble the Salty Seaman and berating Gobble at the end of the episode for not finishing a blowjob, the movie reinterprets the character as being straight and a homophobe, denying Queer Duck and the other gay men he's brought together entry to the theme park Happyland by bringing down the gates and yelling "Beat it, you homos!"
- In a case of this happening to the hero to a degree, Superman vs. the Elite actually sees Superman go through with lobotomizing Manchester Black and depowering the Elite. In the original comics, the Elite retained their powers and Supes merely gave Black a concussion. A small detail implies that it might still be a concussion, but those who haven't read the comics wouldn't be able to notice it.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie:
- When he first appears in the match, Donkey Kong, who is usually portrayed as an unintelligent but well-meaning Gentle Gorilla, is given Adaptational Intelligence (in the games normally using Hulk Speak at best Depending on the Writer) and made a snarky into Jerk Jock, though he's still a good-natured person underneath.
- Surprisingly enough, Bowser himself gets this treatment. Unlike the games, where he showed that he at least cared for his minions, this version of King Koopa has no qualms mistreating his subordinates, often for the most miniscule of reasons (such as roasting one of his Koopa Troopas enough to reduce them to dry bones for speaking improperly, or crushing the fingers of Kamek with his piano cover after the latter asks why he would go after Mario). And while both versions have a Villainous Crush on Peach, here it's less out of genuine affection and more out of obsession and entitlment, to the point that he attempts to murder Peach after she rejects him.
- Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz: The Hungry Tiger has no issue at all with eating sapient beings, when her counterpart in the original books never ate anyone because his conscious wouldn't allow it. It's fortunate for Droopy and Butch that they survive the Hungry Tiger eating them.
- Rorschach in Watchmen (2024), surprisingly. In Chapter 1, he breaks the entire hand of the man at the bar despite him not knowing anything, whereas in the original Watchmen comic he merely broke his pinkie and index fingers and stopped once he found out nobody at Happy Harry's knew anything about Blake's death. This goes a step further in Chapter 2, where Rorschach has the gall to blame Hollis Mason's death on Dan's "lazing". On the flips side, Rorschach’s interactions with Laurie are much less hostile here, in Chapter 2 she even agrees with him over her how tacky her Silk Spectre outfit is.
- The Wild Robot (2024):
- In the book, the animals started to accept Roz after learning that she was raising Brightbill. Here, this fact does little to change their opinion of her.
- Likewise, the geese flock were quick to accept Brightbill in the book (though there was one instance of him getting mocked for having a "monster" for a mother, it was implied to be an isolated incident). Here, the flock push away Brightbill for being raised by Roz, and for being a runt.
Films — Live-Action
- Aliens Ate My Homework: Madame Pong is more prone to blatant Condescending Compassion (such as struggling not to call Earth primitive) than in the books.
- Asterix: A general tendency in most live action adaptations of the franchise (except in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra). Asterix gets confrontational with Obélix, when not openly dismissive of him, and his attraction to his diverse Love Interests. Obélix himself is way more of a Deadpan Snarker, and Vitalstatistix or Getafix more reluctant to help others.
- The Adventures of Spirou and Fantasio: It concern nearly every character, compared to the source material.
- Spirou himself is hit quite hard with this. Originally, he's an Ideal Hero, imagined as exemplary by his original devoted christian editor. His first fan club even had a strict code of honor note . Through the years, Spirou was shown as not bearing injustice or dishonesty, being an helpful person (whether he actually work as a bellboy or not), a devoted friend, selfless, with a Thou Shalt Not Kill policy and courageous enough to rescue kids (or even rabbits) from fire or drowning. In the movie he's inexplicably a pick pocket with Sticky Fingers note , posing as a bellboy while being dismissive of the actual job, defined by him as "being a hireling". Spirou's Only in It for the Money attitude is his initial motivation to run after the kidnapped Champignac, who possess a mushroom worth millions, then stay only because Fantasio suggest to pay him for note . He tend to have a With Friends Like These... attitude with Fantasio, is a big Deadpan Snarker, have a It's All About Me and I Work Alone behavior, going as far of making Zorglub fall in his Lava Pit with no qualms, despite the latter survives the experience. His disinterested gestures are quite scarce in general note . Spirou theoretically redeems in the end, but seeing him abandon his job without warning don't make him look quite responsible. As the original Spirou was more prone to pursue pickpockets than being one himself, it can explain for a good part the movie under performance.
- In the comics, Zorglub debuted as a classic Big Bad, but already redeemed in the end of his introduction album after Champignac (that he calls a friend no matter what) reasoned him. He had a few relapses later, but mostly ended as an Anti-Villain and a Friendly Enemy. He often appear as misguided, genuinely thinking that his zorglwaves can end wars and misunderstandings. He was regularly tricked into doing wrong things by more evil characters (like Zantafio). Or he was an Eco-Terrorist in the second Animated Adaptation. In the latter, and in his own spin-off as well, having a teenage daughter humanize Zorglub a lot. In the movie, he goes under Adaptational Villainy, having a Take Over the World goal, and blood on his hands as Zorglub is now used to make his minions fall into his Lava Pit, sometimes for petty reasons. He attempt to kill his "friend" Champignac this way, and do not redeem in the end. It's possible, though, that the movie version of Zorglub is a Composite Character between the original and his Identical Grandson, Zorglub jr, who is a more by the book villain, who use his inventions to put the entire world under his tyranny in a Bad Future.
- Count of Champignac, in the comics, is a kind, Cool Old Guy professor who only use science for greater good and will never use his inventions on a unsuspecting person note . In the movie the count is still mostly this. But, as Seccotine lampshade it, he now have a chilling habit to use the first person in sight as a guinea pig for his latest product, and without asking first, no matter the consequences. As a result, Seccotine could never get rid of colored stains on her chest due to a failed experience. And a Slower Than a Snail inducing product is tested right on Spirou when they first met. The utility of the formula can be discussed, and it leads to the Count 's capture as Spirou cannot react when Claude and Marie enter his room, and kidnap Champignac. And the Count is now quite a Deadpan Snarker to Zorglub.
- Seccotine and Fantasio were used to argue in the original, but mostly for professional reasons. Here, Seccotine deliberately plays The Tease, gleefully letting Fantasio believes that she have a date with his hated cousin. However, as they are in a Belligerent Sexual Tension relationship there, it's possible that Seccotine tries to get a Green-Eyed Epiphany reaction from Fantasio, explaining her Blatant Lies.
- Batman Film Series:
- Batman Returns:
- While the comics Penguin was a crime boss, he was also an Affably Evil Wicked Cultured gentleman of crime and was genuinely deemed sane. Here, he's a deformed, psychotic, Ax-Crazy, sadistic, sexually-repressed child killer and would-be mass murderer, setting the stage for many future interpretations of the character to follow, including The Batman (2004), the Batman: Arkham Series, and Gotham.
- In most versions, Selina is an amoral jewel thief who is mostly sane. Here, she's a revenge-obsessed and mentally unstable vigilante with an even more sadistic streak.
- Batman Forever: In the comics, Two-Face was more of a tragic Anti-Villain with sympathetic qualities. This incarnation of Two-Face, while sillier and more comical, is also arguably the nastiest version of the character. For starters, he lacks any of the sympathetic or tragic qualities he has in the comics, and he has plenty of Kick the Dog moments, such as being responsible for the deaths of Robin's parents and brother.
- Batman Returns:
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: In the books Mrs. Herdman is frequently working multiple jobs both to support the family and stay away from her kids. In the 2024 film she's an actual deadbeat parent, to the point that Imogen is often left alone to take care of her younger siblings.
- The Cat in the Hat (2003): In stark contrast to the mischievous but friendly and well-meaning Cat in the Hat of the original novel and the animated special, Mike Myers' version of the Cat is a wisecracking, foul-mouthed, perverted Jerkass.
- Cardinal Bellini in Conclave is much more openly political, cynical and ambitious than he was in the novel, where he genuinely did not want to become Pope, and only ran to prevent Tedesco and the traditionalists from seizing power and destroying the late Pope's legacy. His more agressive personality in the film seems to have been taken from Cardinal Sabbadin, who was his unofficial campain manager in the novel.
- Doctor Zhivago has Commissar Strelnikov. In both the novel and film he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist who burns down innocent villages just to make a point. However, the novel version is quite personable when Yuri meets him, and gets humanizing moments like making sure that a wounded POW gets medical care and privately wishing he could sneak off from the war even for a little while to see his family. In David Lean's film, Strelnikov is cold and hostile in person, claims "the private life is dead in Russia" with regards to his family, and the hints at his humanity are so subtle that it's easy to perceive him as being genuinely dead inside.
- In the book A Dog's Purpose, Ethan's dad is a distant father who is implied to have a bad relationship with his wife which ends in divorce. Other than Bailey mentioning that Mom and Dad sometimes yell at each other, there aren't too many red flags about him. The film adaptation exaggerates him into a more noticeably abusive character.
- Disney Live-Action Remakes:
- Beauty and the Beast (2017):
- While in the animated film the villagers seemed amused by Belle's quirks, here they are much more hostile towards her and see her as a genuine threat to the status-quo, becoming outraged when Belle commits the crime of teaching a girl how to read, and bullying her for it by destroying the primitive washing machine she invented and spilling her laundry on the ground.
- In the animated movie the Bimbettes were just silly airheads without any real malice towards anyone, but in this version they act more snobbish, disdainful, and actively dislike Belle. When Gaston has Belle locked up alongside her father, they actually laugh at her expense.
- In the animated movie, the Beast was troubled, angry, violent and hostile, but he wasn't completely without remorse, as mentioned in the animated movies example above. In the live action film, he's much more uncaring and has no second thoughts about imprisoning Belle in a tower.
- The Jungle Book (2016): Baloo. While he keeps the animated version's laid-back personality in this film, he also gets a selfish, cunning side, such as tricking Mowgli into getting honey for him, unlike his animated counterpart who never takes advantage of Mowgli.
- The Lion King (2019):
- Scar zigzags this trope, between this version of him and the Scar from the original movie. His sarcasm focus more on malicious remarks this time, he gets a new scene trying to make Sarabi his queen, and punishing all the lionesses when she refuses. Though he still blames the hyenas for Mufasa's death and gets killed by them, he treated them better beforehand this time: he doesn't claim to be Surrounded by Idiots and personally leads them in hunts. The hyenas don't complain about his rule this time, implying he was a better king to them in this version.
- Mufasa comes off as a more aloof and self-centered character than his portrayal as The Good King in the 1994 film. In the original movie, he only interrupts Zazu's morning report for a "pouncing lesson", which is done with Zazu's (reluctant) permission, once he realizes that's what Simba is more interested in; in the remake, it's rewritten so that Mufasa gets the idea himself and never talks to Zazu about it, so it comes off as more of a prank he's playing on him out of boredom. Some added dialogue during his talk with Simba after the elephant graveyard also gives the impression that he cares more about ensuring the survival of his bloodline than the fact that his son just put himself and his friend in mortal danger for a cheap thrill. He gets better when he speaks to his son as a spirit years after his death, though, giving him less of a guilt-trip for losing his way in life than the 1994 Mufasa, and assuring him of his unconditional love and pride in him.
- A brief moment, but Timon and Pumbaa say things that bother Simba while laughing about the "great kings of the past", which brings bad memories to Simba. This is opposed to them just laughing in the original. They also blame each other for laughing at Simba, while the original has them looking a little guilty, with Timon adding, "Was it something I said?"
- Mulan (2020): While Shan-Yu from Disney's first take on the story was a brutal warmonger, he was also notable for his lack of sexism. Though he was understandably surprised that the Chinese soldier who set off the avalanche was a woman in disguise as a man, he clearly doesn't care that she's female, showing no wounded pride at a woman getting the better of him and taking her seriously as an opponent. His counterpart Bori Khan, however, is a Straw Misogynist who mistreats his right-hand woman Xian Lang despite her playing a crucial role in his success and refuses to accept Mulan as a genuine threat.
- Beauty and the Beast (2017):
- Diary of a Mad Black Woman: Played straight but with an unusual mix of being more moral than the original canon counter. Charles is much meaner and crueler to his wife, Helen, than in the original play. In the original play, Charles, after arguing with his wife, Helen, reveals that he was having an affair with her friend and wanted a divorce. However, he had the decency to give Helen the house and $2000 a month to support herself. In the play, Charles almost regrets the divorce and has no interest in being cruel to Helen. In this movie, however, Charles kicks her out of the house without remorse so his mistress and his children with his mistress can move in. He had the decency to kick her out with her things, but because she signed a prenup, he had no interest in giving her any financial support. He only agreed to pay for Helen’s mother to live at a nursing home so the case wouldn’t drag out in court, but even then, it was only so he could keep all the money to himself. Generally, Charles is petty and cruel and willing to be more physically violent towards Helen than he was in to play. Ironically, in the play, it was revealed that Charles was physically abusing Helen during their marriage, but even more ironically, he wasn’t physically abusive to her after that divorce and seemed more regretful of the way he treated Helen in the play, which did not happen until much later in the movie.
- Dune (2021): Gurney in the books was a hardass, but also had a well-developed sense of humor and a keen interest in art. The film's Gurney is far harsher and more brutal and only retains a small sliver of the book's Warrior Poet, with his interest in music gone and his tendency to joke and spout quotations at the drop of a hat severely curtailed. In Dune: Part Two, he receives character development, and becomes more amiable over the course of the movie, bringing him more in line with his book version.
- In Emma, Emma's sister Isabella Knightley is a very sweet, affectionate woman who is very concerned about her children and their well-being, especially their health. She's easily distressed and a bit nervous but she's an indulgent mother whose children are happy. She's also absolutely devoted to her husband. In Emma. (2020), she's turned into a shrew who constantly fusses at the slightest hint about her children's discomfort, makes a huge deal out of minor things and repeatedly makes her baby cry. She never once talks kindly to her husband and always snaps at him.
- Fantastic Four (2015):
- Johnny comes across as a cocky, spiteful, and combative individual — and unlike his comic counterpart, he doesn't get to show his devotion to his friends and family. Even his quip toward Ben (calling him "the Thing nobody wanted") comes across as mean-spirited instead of playful teasing (which is made worse by the fact that Ben in this movie was scarred by bullying growing up). The only justification he has is that he suffers a bit from perceiving himself as a "Well Done, Son" Guy, but even then, he doesn't make an effort to learn anything that his father tries to teach him.
- While arrogant, the Doctor Doom of the comics is at the best of times a Well-Intentioned Extremist. In the film, he's an Omnicidal Maniac, intent on wiping out all life on Earth.
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): The MonsterVerse portrayal of Rodan which debuts in this film is one of the viler iterations. In the original Showa movies, Rodan consistently despised the evil King Ghidorah, and at his best he was portrayed as one of Godzilla's closest brothers-in-arms alongside Anguirus. By contrast, this version of Rodan is a Wild Card who sides with Ghidorah against Godzilla and Mothra, partially contributing to Mothra's death. And after Ghidorah's death at the climax frees Rodan from Ghidorah's control, he tries to aggravate Godzilla himself, before he wisely rethinks that and bows down to his slain evil master's killer.
- Harry Potter:
- Ron's kindness and loyalty towards his friends has been toned down in the films, in an attempt to make him more of a comic relief character. In the books, Ron is portrayed as a very loyal friend, who is willing to even risk his life to help the people he cares about. In the films, he is portrayed as somewhat insensitive to the feelings of others, which is played for comedy. This is very noticable during this exchange from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
- Book version:
Snape: “That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger, Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all.”Ron: “You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don’t want to be told?”
- Film Version:
Professor Snape: That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Tell me, are you incapable of restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?Ron: He's got a point, you know.
- Book version:
- Dumbledore is a frequent offender of this trope.
- In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore raps on Ron's plastered leg several times, totally oblivious to Ron's winces of pain.
- A particularly infamous example happens during Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Just after Harry is chosen to compete in a dangerous tournament he is too young to participate in, Dumbledore asks him whether or not he entered said contest voluntarily. The book explicitly mentions Dumbledore asking this calmly. In the movie, he physically shakes Harry while angrily yelling said question.
- In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, his overall demeanor seems to be more gruff and uncaring compared to his book counterpart. When divination professor Trelawney is sacked by Umbridge in front of a large number of students, Book Dumbledore takes charge of the situation, stays calm and gleefully acts like a Rules Lawyer, telling Umbridge she has no right to banish sacked teachers from the Hogwarts premises. In the movie, he states the rules with a raised voice and then vents his frustration on the onlooking students, angrily asking them if they don't have any studying to do, instead of looking at Trelawney being sacked. He also acts like a jerk towards Harry, just after Harry saw Ron's father Arthur being attacked by Voldemort's snake. In the book, he sends Harry, along with the Weasley children, to his godfather Sirius, in order to get them away from Umbridge. In the movie, immediately after receiving the vision, Dumbledore sends the emotionally shaken and confused Harry to Sadist Teacher Snape to teach him how to block his mind from Voldemort.
- A minor case of this happens in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry's illegal studygroup Dumbledore's Army is discovered by Umbridge. In the book, Dumbledore's Army is willingly revealed by the best friend of Harry's love interest Cho, followed by Harry and Cho having a fight about this in which both sides actually have a point. When Umbridge discovers Dumbledore's Army in the movie, the group is unwillingly revealed by Cho, who has been obviously forced to show its location, as she was dragged along by Malfoy, yet Harry seems to treat it as if Cho willingly did so and alienates her like the rest of the school does, making him look like a bit of a jerk to her. He only realizes his mistake when Snape later outright confirms what he should have figured out from the start.
- In the book of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Hufflepuffs shun Harry when they believe he put his name in the Goblet, thus stealing glory from the other Hogwarts Champion Cedric Diggory; in the film, they outright taunt him.
- The film of Order of the Phoenix somehow manages to do this with Umbridge. Her film version introduces and enforces much more petty rules the students have to follow during her reign at Hogwarts.
- Ron's kindness and loyalty towards his friends has been toned down in the films, in an attempt to make him more of a comic relief character. In the books, Ron is portrayed as a very loyal friend, who is willing to even risk his life to help the people he cares about. In the films, he is portrayed as somewhat insensitive to the feelings of others, which is played for comedy. This is very noticable during this exchange from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
- Joker (2019) sees Thomas Wayne as more elitist and callous than most other depictions, and while he wants to help, he displays Condescending Compassion. Related to this, Alfred Pennyworth is rather mean and taunts Arthur about his mother, though this behavior was likely caused by fear for Bruce.
- The King of Fighters (2010): The actual franchise already displays Iori Yagami as a rather ruthless Anti-Hero, with him being an incredibly arrogant fighter with an Irrational Hatred of Kyo Kusanagi, openly intending to kill him even when they're on the same team. The film, by making Kyo half-white, throws in racism into the mix, with Iori perfectly willing to insult Kyo as a "half-breed".
- The Last Airbender: Sokka from the parent cartoon series was a bit of a sexist jerk to his sister, Katara, pre-Character Development but it was always portrayed as nothing outside a normal sibling relationship: he never did anything worse than smart off at her and she gave as good as he did. In the movie adaptation, it’s implied that he’s hit her in the past due to the way she cowers when he raises his arm. He also treats her a lot worse in general than he did in the show.
- Last of the Mohicans: In the film version, Duncan Heyward, although he has a Heroic Sacrifice, is significantly more of a jerk than the character in the book, who not only survives the book, but his descendants remain loyal to Hawkeye.
- Mars Attacks!: Minor case. In the cards, the reason the Martians were attacking Earth was that Mars was going to explode from air pressure and they needed a new planet, whereas here they are doing it For the Evulz. Also, not all Martians were evil in the cards. The warlike Martians were called Gnards and the peaceful, intellectual ones were called Paecs.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): In the comics, Star-Lord was a seasoned cosmic superhero long before joining the Guardians. In the movies, he starts off as a self-serving outlaw and a bit of an asshole, although he eventually chooses to step up for true blue unselfish heroism - with a side of whatever (and whoever) he can get his hands on.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Although he's a villain in the comics as well, the film's version of Ego plans to wipe out all life in the universe and replace it with himself, and commits very personal atrocities such as killing his own lover and Peter's mother Meredith with an artificial brain tumor.
- In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Flash Thompson is a good deal less sympathetic than his comic counterpart, who, at the very least, had a Freudian Excuse for his bullying, and also greatly admired Spider-Man, qualities that Homecoming's Flash lacks. Additionally, in one scene where he and his classmates are trapped in an elevator, he prioritizes saving himself and a trophy he didn't even earn. That said, the sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home restores him to his regular levels of jerkassery; a Freudian Excuse is now implied and he gets to show that he does respect Spider-Man, with Flash himself commenting that he's trying to improve.
- Then again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Flash is shown again to be more jerkassed than his comic book counterpart as he is shown to just want to profit off of knowing Peter Parker and therefore Spider-Man, going as far as pretending to be Spider-Man's best friend and blackmailing Peter when the latter needs his help.
- Also from Spider-Man: No Way Home, J. Jonah Jameson. While he is an outright jerkass in the comics he is generally portrayed as a Jerkass with a Heart of Gold who also is a good journalist despite his hatred for Spider-Man who genuinly cares for Peter and his employees. Also, his hatred for Spider-Man is often justified for various reasons. MCU-Jameson however doesn't show any of these redeeming qualities and seems like a Pompous Political Pundit who wants to capitalize on the whole Spider-Man-killed-Mysterio story.
- Thanos zigzags this, as while his comic counterpart put Gamora through Training from Hell, he does have some fondness for her and some Pet the Dog moments, like saving her as her species was wiped out and seeking revenge against her attackers after she was raped. Film Thanos abducted her just because he could, though he does say he considers her his "favorite daughter," and is angry with Ronan when he finds out that Gamora has defected and joined the good guys. However, the relationship with Nebula is better, given in the film, she's one of his "daughters" and in the comics, he turned her into a corpse-like vegetable just for claiming to be his granddaughter. Then the sequel plays it straight when Nebula reveals that Thanos made her and Gamora fight, and would forcibly replace part of the loser's body with cybernetics supposedly to make her stronger. Nebula always lost, hence her unquenchable hatred for Thanos in the films (and to a lesser extent her hatred for Gamora).
- Mean Girls (2024):
- Downplayed; Cady's behavior after Becoming the Mask is a bit colder than in the original film, with her directly revealing Regina's infidelity to Aaron in the hopes of getting together with him and explicitly denying Regina permission to sit with the Plastics after her weight gain.
- While she also gets some of the opposite treatment, Regina's treatment of Janis in their backstory is made even worse here than it was in the original; after seemingly supporting her newly-out friend, Regina kissed Janis at a party to get a boy's attention, then roundly mocked her sexuality to the rest of the school, discarding a friend for her own gain.
- Likewise, in the 2004 original, she tells off Jason for flirting with Cady, but here, she tells off Kevin and his offer to Cady to join the North Shore Mathletes.
Regina George: Ew, no. Why doesn't he buy her a table?
Kevin Ganatra: I can hear you by the way.
Regina George: Can you hear me now? [Whispers and waves] Bye.
- Likewise, in the 2004 original, she tells off Jason for flirting with Cady, but here, she tells off Kevin and his offer to Cady to join the North Shore Mathletes.
- Janis retains her meaner elements from 2004 and in at least one aspect is actually nastier; when Cady is reluctant to manipulate Gretchen, noting she is emotionally fragile, Janis is delighted to hear about this vulnerability in Regina's inner circle.
- The original Mrs. George was vacuous and pathetically trying to be friends with her daughter and her friends, but mostly pleasant and harmless. This time around, she's the one who introduces the Burn Book, calling it the funniest thing the Plastics used to do.
- Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front:
- Jill treats Molly like she's an immature little kid, which she sometimes did in the books, but her Cool Big Sis moments like helping Molly put her Halloween costume together and curl her hair to be Miss Victory are removed, making her come across as colder.
- In the books, Alison Hargate is Spoiled Sweet and occasionally a little bossy. In the movie, she's more snobbish and condescending towards others.
- Claudius in Ophelia. Claudius is no saint in the original Hamlet, but many adaptations portray him as Affably Evil. Not so much in this one; he's Faux Affably Evil at best and comes off as a churlish bully who preys on vulnerable people. All in all, this is one of the least sympathetic portrayals of Claudius in a major Hamlet adaptation.
- In The Phantom of the Opera, the opera house managers, Firmin and Andre, care more about turning a profit than the art of the opera, but they're not in any way malicious, with the worst thing they do being trying to pressure Christine into performing in Don Juan Triumphant despite her obvious discomfort, which is understandable given that the Phantom hanged Joseph Buquet the last time they didn't give Christine top billing. In the 2004 film adaptation, the managers also sexually harass their female performers, likely to make the audience less sympathetic to them when the opera house goes under.
- Power Rangers (2017):
- Almost all of the good characters are hit with this trope compared to their original versions in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. The original Rangers were all idealized portrayals of teenagers, who could do no wrong, get top grades at school and do at least five volunteer jobs each. In this film, the Rangers are a far cry from their goody two shoes counterparts, as they meet each other in detention, which they received for legitimately screwing things up. Their allies Zordon and Alpha were the surrogate father figure and childlike Robot Buddy respectively. In the film, Alpha is a Deadpan Snarker, while Zordon openly admits he has no confidence in the Rangers and it is even revealed he only bothered with them as a means to revive himself.
- Rita Repulsa is far more serious, as this version is depicted as a murderer and even engaging in torture.
- Ripley's Game: In the books, Reeves is a nice enough guy for a gangster, but the film characterizes him as a brutal, vulgar thug. Similarly, though Tom Ripley is a Villain Protagonist in the books, he's generally affable. In the film, he's less polite and seemingly more violent.
- Ripley Under Ground: In the books, Jeff Constant is Affably Evil, a generally polite and unassuming man who is otherwise willing to take advantage of his dead friend. In the film, he's not even affable.
- The cartoon versions of Scooby-Doo and his friends are generally friendly and nice people. The 2002 live action film adaptation, meanwhile, gives them a lot more Jerkass traits for laughs. Fred, Daphne and Velma spend much of the film arguing, Scooby punches Fred in the face, Shaggy suggests after Fred and Velma are captured by monsters that he, Scooby and Daphne let them get eaten (the cartoon version of Shaggy is a coward, but he's not the kind of person that would abandon his friends), and a flashback shows them abandoning Scrappy - Scooby's nephew - in the middle of the desert. In addition, Scrappy gets some heavy Adaptational Villainy, becoming the film's Big Bad.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2020): In the games, Dr. Eggman may be the primary villain, but he's Affably Evil. This movie's take on him is an Insufferable Genius who's pretty much incapable of interacting with anybody else without being rude and condescending to them whose only real redeeming trait is his fondness for Agent Stone. He crosses the line into Adaptational Villainy as well, as this iteration of Eggman was far more sadistic and cruel, wanting to enslave the world rather than simply rule it.
- Spider-Man 3: In the comics, Eddie Brock's grudge against Spider-Man was caused when he published an article incriminating a man he thought was a Serial Killer, only for Spider-Man to catch the real culprit. This publicly shamed Eddie, causing his company to fire him, his father to disown him, and his wife to leave him. Here, Eddie pretty much digs his own grave by forging fake photographs, making his grudge against Peter Parker seem pettier as a result. This even extends to his actual supervillain origin — in the comics, Eddie went to the Our Lady Of Saints Church to pray to God for forgiveness, as he was planning to commit suicide after his life fell apart, but here, Eddie prays for God to kill Peter Parker.
- Superman (2025):
- Downplayed with Superman himself. While he's still overall a Nice Guy, this iteration of him is a lot more impulsive and hot-headed in a manner reminiscent of his original Golden Age characterization.
- Played for Laughs with Krypto the Superdog. While the original was reliable and borderline sapient, this one has the intelligence of a regular dog and is a Spoiled Brat on account of Supergirl neglecting to train him.
- Supergirl herself acts as a cynical Annoying Younger Sibling (cousin in this case) to Clark partially on account of her Dark and Troubled Past, with Word of God stating the intent was to make her "rougher" than in the comics.
- Clark’s birth father Jor-El sent him to Earth with the expectation he'd Take Over the World, while originally he recognized humanity's potential.
- Tex: In the novel, Cole Collins is still domineering toward his kids and judgmental to their friends but does come to form a mutual respect with Mason, calls an ambulance for an injured Tex, and makes peace with the beatnik eldest son he nearly disowned during a Time Skip. In the film, his eldest son is Adapted Out and he remains completely hostile to Mason and Tex from his first scene to his last.
- Transformers Film Series: Thanks to Michael Bay and the screenwriters many of the Autobots are as juvenile and crude as Bender, however the hardest hit by far is Optimus Prime. In the source material Optimus is often likened to a “robot Jesus”, being an Ideal Hero and The Cape who is always compassionate and honourable. In the Bay films by contrast, Optimus is callous, easily angered, executes prisoners, never once even attempts to settle things peacefully and is willing to brutalise Bumblebee over a disagreement and kill humans. Peter Cullen himself admitted there was many lines he sincerely wished he didn’t have to utter while voicing Optimus in the films. Thankfully Bumblebee and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts are Truer to the Text and portray Optimus as the mechanical righteous saint he usually is in Transformers media.
- The Ugly Stepsister
- Agnes, the Cinderella equivalent, is not the All-Loving Hero like the most popular interpretations of the character. Even before her stepfamily started abusing her, she gave them the cold shoulder and generally acted rather haughty towards them. After they do start abusing her, she takes her frustrations out on Elvira the most despite her suffering just as much as she is.
- The Prince is the opposite of the Prince Charming he's typically portrayed as, being a shallow and idiotic boor.
- Watchmen: Zig-Zagged with the cast. Rorschach is more hostile and angry than his comic counterpart with Jackie Earle Haley intentionally portraying him like rabid dog. However, Rorschach's craziness and misogyny seemed downplayed. Likewise, while Ozymandias is colder, he seems to feel more remorse for his more heinous actions.
- Wild Wild West sees this with Dr. Loveless. While The Wild Wild West's Loveless was still a villain, Miguelito Loveless was initially trying to reclaim a part of California his family originally had claim over with the intent to turn it into a paradise for those disadvantaged like himself (Miguelito suffering from dwarfism). Arliss Loveless is a bigot (who was a normal-sized man turned into a cyborg).
- X-Men Film Series:
- In the comics, Quicksilver may be a world-class asshole and suffer from Heel–Face Revolving Door, but he is well-meaning at the core and can be counted on to do the right thing. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, he's just a bored teenager with a kleptomaniac streak who doesn't really care about being a productive member of society and who has to have the breakout sold to him as an opportunity to raise hell, as it's clear that he probably wouldn't have done it of his own volition otherwise. However, he does grow out of it in later films.
- X-Men: Apocalypse does this to both Angel, who becomes an angry and cocky rebel who jumps at the opportunity of becoming a Horseman of Apocalypse, and Cyclops, who is a bad boy instead of a "boy scout" (though through the movie, he starts to transition to the straight-edge guy who becomes the X-Men's field leader).
Literature
- In the novelization of The Boss Baby, the executives of Baby Corp get this. When Francis Francis talks about them firing him, there is no mention of him being lactose intolerant like in the film. Apparently they just fired him without any stated reason.
- While the Eldritch Abominations in the Cthulhu Mythos are highly destructive with no regard for humanity, they were so far removed from familiar human concepts like morality that they weren't so much evil as they were indifferent, much like how we step on ants without noticing them. In I, Cthulhu, the Great Old Ones have thoughts and wants similar to that of humans, which makes them seem outright malicious.
- Maiden Crown: In the Danish ballad "Valdemar and Tove", Tove is characterized as little more than King Valdemar's One True Love and a saintly Too Good for This Sinful Earth murder victim of his wife, Queen Sophia. The novel portrays her as a catty and passive-aggressive Gold Digger (albeit a sympathetic one) who seduced Valdemar for the pragmatic reason of wanting to escape her miserable home life and spreads malicious gossip about the queen.
- Oliver Twisted: The original tale of Oliver Twist allowed a Pet the Dog moment for Mr. Bumble when escorting Oliver to Mr. Sowerberry's premises, although he didn't act much on his slip of compassion. No such luxury is provided to the same beadleman in this novel, and it goes on amplifying his vanity and cruelty, to the extent where he hits Oliver with his cane to "keep him lively".
- Princess Odette in Swan Lake is usually portrayed as sweet, gentle and kind (she is the white swan, after all). Princess Odette in The Sorcerer's Daughter, a retelling of the story, is an Ice Queen who has a Hidden Heart of Gold very deep down. The very reason she gets turned into a swan is that she a) ordered all the real swans of the lake to be shot because she wanted Fluffy Fashion Feathers dresses for herself and the court b) taunted Rothbart about it.
- Ellie in Tales of the Magic Land is less innocent than Dorothy from Land of Oz. For example, Ellie knows about Bastinda's fear of water and left the kitchen floor wet to annoy her.
- Transformers: Exodus: Megatron has roughly the same level of tyranny in the novel as he does in the video game. However the narration reveals that he holds a hatred for Minicons and only tolerates them because their master, Soundwave, is so useful. Game!Megatron doesn't hold such prejudices and in the sequel he even has the option to pet Laserbeak; when Laserbeak snaps at him, Megatron just laughs it off.
Live-Action TV
- The Arrowverse has a tendency to depict many characters as far more ruthless than their comics counterparts, even if they were already villains:
- Arrow: Oliver Queen was more forgiving and showed more of a sense of humor in the original comics, whereas this version goes for the opposite by portraying him as being a solemn and grouchy Byronic Hero who is not above brutalizing his enemies. He does eventually grow out of it though.
- The Flash (2014):
- In contrast to the comics, Wally West is initially depicted as an angsty teen who is reluctant to accept Joe, Barry, and Iris and acts mean toward them at first. He outgrows this, thankfully, in time to become Kid Flash.
- Tina McGee is still heroic but initially depicted as antagonistic; it's downplayed, though, since she only acts this way because Eobard Thawne stole the identity of her friend Harrison Wells and estranged their friendship. Later, she warms up to Barry and his friends.
- Dante Ramon was close to his brother Cisco in the comics, while here they don't get along at all.
- In the comics, Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, is a slightly goofy Nice Guy and thoroughly devoted husband. The show version was made a misogynist pervert and a cowardly asshole due to being a Composite Character with Plastic Man. This also sets him up for eventual Character Development as Barry trains him to be a hero, and come Season Five, he acts a lot nicer.
- The Future Flash from the New 52 comics was still a villain, but in the original source material, underwent Sanity Slippage and had somewhat nobler intentions, wishing to correct his own mistakes which led to the death of Wally West. The Arrowverse version is a much pettier villain, doing many things For the Evulz, as well as attempting to kill Iris only to secure his own existence by making sure Barry will eventually become him.
- Clifford DeVoe is still a megalomaniac criminal known as the Thinker, but he puts his comics counterpart to shame by faking his own murder and framing Barry for it, drugging his wife Marlize on a regular basis, and trying to destroy the entire world after his defeat just because it would go on without him otherwise.
- Downplayed with Dougal MacAngus in the Black Adder pilot and the episode based on it, "Born to be King". In both he is arrogant, obnoxious, indiscreet about his father's former relationship with the Queen, and happy to disrupt the royal family based on this. But in the former, his plot with Prince Edmund seems genuine, and he appears as bewildered as Edmund when it turns out the dates don't add up. In the broadcast version, it's very clear that he set the Black Adder up on purpose.
- The Boys (2019):
- In the original comic, Mallory was a reliable Reasonable Authority Figure to the team who started the crusade against Supes after their incompetence got his platoon wiped out in World War II. Greg's show counterpart, Grace Mallory, was partially responsible for the team originally falling apart due to her becoming an Accuser of the Brethren towards Frenchie, which was somewhat understandable since it was a result of Poor Communication Kills. However, in Season 3 it's shown that rather than being a WWII vet she was a participant in the Iran-Contra affair and knowingly helped instigate the crack epidemic in black neighborhoods before keeping the rest of the team Locked Out of the Loop about a potential method of killing Homelander to save her own skin. When Butcher and Mother's Milk call her out for this she refuses to take responsibility and instead shifts the blame to Butcher, with his Broken Pedestal causing him to become even more of an Anti-Hero and make the team fall apart again.
- Soldier Boy in the original comic was an inept Fake Ultimate Hero but never showed bad interpersonal behavior. In the show, he had a bad habit of hazing his sidekick to the point of abuse as well as making misogynistic remarks. He also crosses the line into Adaptational Villainy as despite his claims that he's "not a bad guy", he's a Destructive Saviour who shows little-to-no regard for the people he hurts in the process.
- L from Death Note is subject to this in the TV drama. Though not exactly a hero (with Word of God admitting that he's a bit evil), he usually comes across as A Lighter Shade of Grey when compared to Light, and a few spin-offs (namely the film L: change the WorLd and the light novel Another Note) portray him more sympathetically. The drama, by contrast, draws more attention to the amorality of his actions and he is generally far more smug and arrogant than most portrayals.
- Dept. Q: Protagonist Carl Mørck is sometimes a jerk in the original book, but in the show Morck is a bitter Deadpan Snarker and it's much more prominent. At the beginning of the book Mørck, Hardy and Anker are dispatched to a crime scene and follow procedure before being ambushed and shot. In the show, Morck and Hardy hear a report on the radio and gatecrash someone else's investigation, with Morck bullying Constable Anderson and breaking protocol to enter the building. This recklessness gets Anderson killed and Hardy paralysed.
- In Fate: The Winx Saga, Stella is less of the Lovable Alpha Bitch, and a lot more arrogant and condescending towards others than she was in Winx Club.
- The Flash (1990):
- In addition to being reimagined from a doctor to a retired beat cop, Henry Allen was also a jackass towards Barry for being a forensic scientist as opposed to following in his footsteps and becoming a beat cop like his other son Jay (a reimagined Jay Garrick) did.
- In the comics, both Captain Cold and the Trickster are pretty sane bank robbers with gimmicks. Here, Cold is a hitman and the Trickster was pretty much a testing ground for Mark Hamill's version of The Joker.
- Several characters in Game of Thrones are subjected to this in contrast from the books:
- Ellaria Sand is a Nice Girl and an Only Sane Woman in the books who knows that getting revenge against the Lannisters will not bring back her dead lover and his relatives. In the show, she's antagonistic towards her lover's older brother who refuses to participate her revenge against the Lannisters and she even kills him personally.
- In the books, Brienne is unfailingly kind and stubbornly idealistic, recoiling at the thought of killing and treating everyone around her with an unfailing fairness. In the series, possibly thanks to the writers age lifting her by close to a decade, she's considerably more bitter and cynical, harboring no delusions as to the state of Westeros, and projects a much colder exterior as a result — particularly when it comes to Davos and Melisandre, who she openly regards as opportunistic traitors. That being said, she's still bullheadedly honorable and rarely crosses over into being openly unkind — even when it comes to Podrick, whom she initially treats a mite harshly but ultimately takes under her wing after bonding with him and apologizing for her behavior. However she still takes obvious pleasure in killing enemies, even if it's a wounded man who can't fight back, and gloating about it, while in the books Brienne has only ever killed in self-defense, and even though they were utterly vile people she never takes pleasure in it. From the Books
- Robett Glover is a loyal Stark bannerman who helped Wyman Manderly in his plot to overthrow the Boltons and bring House Stark back to Winterfell, and - so far as we know - isn't bigoted against the Wildlings. In the show, he refuses to help Jon Snow and Sansa Stark in retaking Winterfell not only because Jon's army had Wildings in them but because he lost his trust on his brother Robb after the Red Wedding and he rudely told Sansa that House Stark is dead. Fortunately, after Jon and Sansa successfully retook Winterfell, he realizes his mistake and apologizes to them.
- Yara Greyjoy (the show's counterpart to Asha Greyjoy) is rather rude to her brother Theon as she comes off as a Karmic Trickster in terms of her baiting him.
- Robb Stark breaking his oath to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters happens in both the books and the show, but the reasoning behind it is changed in a manner that makes him appear somewhat more selfish. In the book, Robb is wounded in battle, receives news of his two younger brothers' apparent deaths at the hands of his former friend Theon Greyjoy, drinks himself into a stupor, and, in a moment of weakness, beds the woman nursing him. When he sobers up the next day, he realizes he has done her a great disservice by taking her virginity out of marriage, and takes her as his wife to restore her honor at the cost of breaking his own word to the Freys. In the show, Robb simply falls in love with a woman and decides to take her as his wife, even though doing so will alienate the Freys. While he breaks his word in both versions (and his ultimate fate was Disproportionate Retribution either way), in the books he did it to protect someone else, whereas in the show he's just putting his own happiness above keeping his word to an important ally.
- Lord Tywin Lannister managed to be an even worse person in the show than he is in the books, which is quite the accomplishment since Tywin in the books is a cruel and ruthless Lord while being an abusive hypocrite who says he valued his family when it became clear that everything he was doing was for himself. Book Tywin was a cruel lord who was ruthless and cruel even to his family. Still, at the same time, he was more guarded in his emotions unless he had an emotional outburst where he lost his temper. While Tywin lacked the emotional intelligence to realize that his parenting is the reason his children are messed up and failing to live up to his legacy and that his cruel actions will someday catch up to him and his family, every cruel act he took was in his mind necessary with a practical reason and to his credit, he was never petty or unnecessarily cruel, like his daughter and grandson. In contrast, Tywin Lannister was a little more open to a select few people in the show. Ironically, that made Tywin worse because every time he showed a little humanity and kindness, it would be suburb with it being revealed how cruel and petty he truly is. By the end of the show, it’s made clear that Tywin is a cruel and petty bully who hides his cruelty behind his practicality and justifies his actions for the sake of his family when it is genuinely for himself so he could be powerful and build a legacy at the expense of everyone else, including his children.
- When Cersei resists marrying Loras Tyrell, he loses his temper and dresses her down, calling both her and Tyrion a disgrace to the family name. In the same scene from the books, he's more patient in dealing with Cersei's protests, though this is partially because Kevan and the Reach lords are with them, meaning he can't openly show discord within his family.
- In the books, in the trial of Tyrian, it was left ambiguous about how involved Tywin was as it was mostly Cersei who was involved in prosecuting Tyrion, and Tyrion confronted Tywin. He stated that he would never have Tyrian executed, and there was enough ambiguity in his words that you can believe he was telling the truth. In the show, it’s made clear that Tywin was the driving force behind the trial and was determined to have Tyrian executed and humiliated. And when Tyrian confronted Tywin, and he said that he would never have him executed, it was clear that this was nothing but a lie.
- Gotham:
- Renee Montoya is much more antagonistic towards Gordon than in other incarnations, her thinking clouded by the fact that he is with her ex-girlfriend, Barbara Kean, and going after Gordon for imagined crimes like the Penguin's disappearance. While she does apologize once the Penguin reveals himself to be alive, again, she still sleeps with Barbara behind Jim's back.
- In the comics, Alfred is usually proper and polite in dealing with others and Servile Snarker to counterbalance Bruce's darker moments as Batman. While not a complete jerk, in the series, he's more coarser, more prone to expressing Anger Born of Worry in dealing with Bruce and more flippant to Gordon, and promo materials even state this Alfred came from the East End, a rough neighborhood.
- Tommy Elliot and his parents were friends with the Waynes until Tommy's half-successful attempt at being a Self-Made Orphan. Here, neither he and Bruce like each other. He later returns when Bruce is in his jerkass playboy phase, and they get along quite well.
- Hank Zipzer: Miss Adolf and Principal Love, already not nice people in the books, are even worse in the tv series. They seem to actively despise Hank, and are constantly jerks to him.
- Kamen Rider Dragon Knight is an odd case in regards to Kamen Rider Femme, renamed Siren in the American adaptation. In the original series, she was a con artist who toyed with wealthy men to swindle them out of their money, but had a sympathetic goal in wanting to avenge sister's death and even falls for the main protagonist. In Dragon Knight, she's introduced as one of the good guys but one of the first things she does is taunt and humiliate the main character, refusing to acknowledge him as a Kamen Rider. She thankfully gets better.
- The Last Kingdom: The Welsh in Season 4 are very condescending towards the Saxons and even plan to use their spoils from the Battle of Tettenhall to build a "barrier" between them and the Saxons. The Welsh warriors in the books are actually rather amicable with the Saxons.
- Les Misérables (2018): Valjean. In the book when he robbed Petit Gervais of the coin it is ambiguous whether he is really aware of what he is doing, only realising after Gervais has run away. In the series he clearly knows what he is doing and even pockets the coin, though repents of it quickly as well. He also fires Fantine in person for lying about her child rather than leaving it to the foreman and being ignorant of the situation. His charitable actions are also downplayed, while his relationship with Cosette is far more controlling.
- Marry My Husband: Japan: Wataru's grandfather only accepted his son's marriage to Wataru's mother Haruko because Shihei threatened to leave the family if he didn't; even then, it was with the stipulation that Wataru would not be their successor since he was the child of Haruko's first marriage. His few on-screen interactions with his grandson have him harshly shutting down Wataru’s suggestions about the running of Suzutoya and insulting his efforts, and in the last episode, he's conspicuously not present at Wataru's hospital bedside following his near-fatal stabbing, while Wataru's father and Miku are there. In the Korean drama, Ji-hyeok's grandfather cares about his grandchildren and tries to provide guidance to Ji-hyeok as his successor, and though he doesn't initially approve of Ji-hyeok's relationship with Ji-won, he comes to accept it and her.
- The Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation incarnation of Michelangelo is noticeably a bit more uncouth than most incarnations of the most fun-loving Ninja Turtle, most notably in how he sometimes makes lecherous comments toward Venus de Milo.
- North and South (U.S.): In the book, Henry Lennox recognizes Margaret's feelings for Mr. Thornton and arranges circumstances for them to be left alone with each other. In the miniseries, he's introduced wildly misinterpreting Margaret's fairly innocuous comments about her own hypothetical wedding as an expression of romantic interest in him, then shows up unannounced to her home to propose, arrogantly assumes he can "dabble" in the cotton trade after seeing one lecture by Thornton about it in London, and Margaret and Thorton's Big Damn Kiss is intercut with his glowering.
- In The Odyssey (1997), Circe in the myths was willing to free Odysseus and his men after a single year, but in the show, she tricks them into staying for five years while making it seem like five days on her island.
- Once Upon a Time (2011):
- Belle's father is more of a jerk here than he is in almost any other version of Beauty and the Beast, including the Disney version that Belle herself gets most of her traits from. Instead of being a kindly but bumbling inventor, he's a stern, warlike and greedy lord. When the Storybrooke version, Moe, finds out Belle is actually alive, he rejects her attempt to have a relationship with Rumplestiltskin and is even willing to take her over the town line, getting rid of all her memories so she'll forget Rumple.
- In Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, the Sultan from Aladdin is depicted as a tyrant who ruled through fear and treated his illegitimate son Jaffar like crap, and even tried to kill him when he was a child. Especially jarring as the series takes a lot of inspiration from the Disney movie with the inclusion of Jaffar and naming his kingdom Agrabah, where the Sultan was dim witted but kind. By the present day, he has become much nicer, but only after years of imprisonment have humbled him.
- One Piece (2023):
- Nami gets hit with a downplayed case of this trope while also zig-zagging between it and Adaptational Nice Guy. In the manga, Nami swears to only steal from pirates. In this show, meanwhile, she steals from Kaya, which she justifies with an Eat the Rich philosophy. That said, once she gets to know Kaya, she comes to regret stealing from her, and is never shown stealing from any other civilians at any point. This version of her is also far less short-tempered than her manga counterpart, and never hits any of the other Straw Hats for their annoying antics.
- While Buggy of the manga has never been the nicest guy, his more devious qualities are usually undercut by his comedic traits. In this show, while he's still a comedic character, he's played up to be far more violent and threatening, causing him to come off as a lot more of a jerk.
- While Sham and Buchi are not good people by any means in either version, the manga portrays the Nyanban Brothers as cowardly characters whose actions are largely done just because Kuro orders them to. In this show, their cowardly attitudes are removed, and they actively involve themselves in Kuro's plan to poison Kaya to death, something that they take great glee in.
- While Arlong isn't a good guy in either version of the series, this show depiction of him puts many of his traits in an even more negative light than in the manga. In the manga, it's left unclear if Arlong ever truly intended to fulfill his end of his deal with Nami, while this show makes it clear that he was lying. This Arlong's plan for Nami is also far more devious than his manga counterpart, seeing her as a tool to be used and disposed of once she's no longer useful, rather than simply just wanting to keep her as part of the Arlong Pirates forever.
- Powerpuff: The kind and humble Professor Utonium is portrayed in a more negative light here. He's now a controlling stage dad who raises the girls as if they were child stars, even forcing them to abide by a "character bible".
- Power Rangers has several characters whose Japanese counterparts in Super Sentai seem to be much nicer:
- Bandora from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger has a rather motherly demeanor and compliments her minions when they succeeded in a battle against the Rangers. Rita Repulsa, her counterpart in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is constantly angry, has NO INDOOR VOICE and verbally and physically abuses her minions whenever one of her plans fail.
- Guirail from Denji Sentai Megaranger already fits the definition of Jerkass, as he frequently employs underhanded tactics to get his preferred results, including turning on his allies. He treats this as a necessary evil to achieve the ultimate victory. Darkonda from Power Rangers in Space has the same underhanded personality, but goes a step further by actually gloating about his underhandedness.
- Dark Merchant Biznella from Seijuu Sentai Gingaman is nothing more than a polite arms merchant who is completely loyal to the other villains, particularly Battobas who he's been longtime friends with. Deviot, his counterpart in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy is a nasty piece of work with a severe case of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
- Star Trek: Discovery: While Star Trek: The Original Series showed that he had his moments of snakiness and the occasional jab of Vulcan wit at Dr. McCoy, Spock was never outright mean unless he was under some sort of negative influence. Here, while he's still very much the same Vulcan we all known and love, he's an absolute jerk to his adoptive sister Michael Burnham, having refused to reconcile with her for years due to an incident long ago. While said incident comes from a young Burnham insulting his human heritage, Spock refuses to forgive her because he feels her blaming herself for multiple tragedies in her lifetime was purely selfish, and isn't afraid to angrily express this to her. However, they are eventually able to reconcile.
- The Twilight Zone (1985): In "Night of the Meek", Mr. Dundee is considerably more unpleasant than his officious counterpart from the original episode. In The Remake, he berates an employee because a junior salesman accidentally sold the custom made fur coat that he intended to give his wife for Christmas and demands that both of them be in his office at 9 o'clock on Christmas Day. This version of Dundee clearly hates Christmas and sees it merely as an opportunity to make money. When another employee wishes him Merry Christmas, he pointedly says "Good night." As he leaves his store on Christmas Eve, he even kicks a tree. Most significantly, this Dundee is a racist. He comments that it would not surprise him in the least if Henderson, an African-American security guard, helped Henry Corwin to sneak the allegedly stolen merchandise out of his store. His expression and Henderson's reaction make it clear that it was intended as a racist remark.
- War and Peace (2007): The Kuragins weren't exactly good people in the book, just selfish and uncaring rich people, but this series plays up their assholery. Anatole seduces Natasha as payback on the Bolkonskys for getting rejected by Marya. Hélène helps in the seduction out of jealousy of Natasha and because the girl suggested she was a horrible wife to Pierre. When Napoleon invades Moscow, Prince Vasily and Hélène decide to collaborate with the French occupiers.
- The incarnation of Wonder Woman in NBC's stillborn 2011 pilot of the same name has none of the positive qualities typically associated with the character. She tortures suspects for information instead of using her Lasso of Truth, accuses rivals of criminal acts even when she has no proof, brutally slaughters security guards who are just doing their job, and outright intimidates law enforcement into looking the other way. It's no wonder that the series never got past the pilot.
- Young Sheldon:
- In this series, Mary is quite mean in several ways, while for the majority of her time on The Big Bang Theory, she was nice to nearly everyone she met, mostly Sheldon's friends, except Beverly Hofstadter or when she was angry with Sheldon. Mary usually feels she has to control everything, is often mean to her husband and bosses him around, does nothing about her mother's disapproval of him, gives Sheldon too much preferential treatment and too much coddling and while she still loves Georgie and Missy, she will yell or punish them. The Season 3 finale shows that she deliberately hid Sheldon's college acceptance letter just so her favorite child wouldn't leave and also because she feels she gets to make all of Sheldon's decisions by herself and without George, thus showing a lack of communication in the marriage. The Season 4 finale "The Wild and Woolly World of Nonlinear Dynamics" made her a bigger bitch when she instantly snapped and punished Missy for ripping Sheldon's picture and not even bothering to hear Missy's side, notice she's crying or even bothering to ask why she's crying.
- In this series (especially seasons 1–3), Missy is much less of a nice character than in the parent series. Little Missy was a near-complete Bratty Half-Pint who started cussing before she hit double digits and loved to antagonize Sheldon and get her way, but could still be nice. It's a backpedaling away from her present-day maturity to show that she used to be a real stinker.
Theatre
- & Juliet: While it's very clear that he's still a kindhearted young man, Romeo is made into a jerk initially by Anne Hathaway's rewrite of Romeo and Juliet. Despite being emotional and impulsive in the original version he was genuinely in love with Juliet and faithful to her once they were together. Anne’s rewrite turns him into a pansexual playboy who has slept his way through the entire cast. She even outright calls him a “douche.” Shakespeare attempts to mitigate this in Act 2 by explaining Romeo’s side of the story.
- Carmen (1875): Although Don José and Carmen are already morally dubious characters in the novella, the opera makes them even more unsympathetic while stripping them of their ethnic marginalization in Spanish society as well as a substantial amount of their humanizing qualities:
- José betrays his mother and his childhood sweetheart, Micaëla, out of lust for Carmen. The opera skips over José's alienation in both Basque and Spanish society, his bond of hospitality with the narrator, his loyalty to El Remendado as a fellow member of Carmen's gang, and his final acts of atonement for Carmen's murder.
- Carmen off-handedly mentions that she's thrown out a previous lover while she seduces José with a provocative song proclaiming her desire for a new lover during "Près des remparts de Séville." Carmen later rejects José even more quickly than her literary counterpart after she brings him into her gang of smugglers. The opera skips over Carmen's rejection by Spanish society and her acts of generosity towards José such as treating him to plenty of food and drink at the tavern of Lillas Pastia after he is released from prison, sleeping with him to repay him for freeing her, urging him in his native Basque to avoid a conflict when no Spaniards bother to learn Basque, healing his wounds twice with impressive skill and devotion, and bringing him into her gang to save him from execution.
- EPIC: The Musical: Aeolus the wind god. In The Odyssey he helped Odysseus by providing a bag of winds that would see his fleet home if it remained unopened, a plan that failed when Odysseus' men opened the bag because they thought it contained treasure. However, in this musical Aeolus is the one who convinced the men the bag held treasure in the first place, changing him from a helpful ally to a Troll who set Odysseus up to fail as a lark.
- An interesting example from How to Dance in Ohio - Caroline's offstage boyfriend is described as being "kind of a jerk", something that isn't hinted at in the 2015 documentary that inspired the show. However, the Real Life Caroline confirmed her boyfriend at the time indeed turned out to be a jerk.
- Bamatabois in the Les Misérables musical is a customer who makes advances on Fantine, beats her when she refuses, and tells Javert that she attacked him first. In the book, he meets her in public, taunts her and throws a snowball at her, but there's no indication that he was interested in her sexually, and he doesn't report her to the police, but runs away from the scene.
- Offenbach's Orphee Aux Enfers portrays Orpheus as not giving a hoot about his wife Eurydice being dead and quite enjoys being single again. The personification of Public Opinion has to constantly badger him to go rescue her from Tartarus, where she isn't all that unhappy, being pursued by both Hades and Zeus.
- In Puyo Puyo's theatrical play Puyo Puyo on Stage, Amitie (who is typically a Nice Girl) does a couple of things in her excitement over the search for the White Wishing Puyo that she would probably never do in the games, such as punching Klug in the throat for calling the legend silly (and threatening to give him the kancho, too), repeatedly tickling people to get them to pay attention to her, act dismissive of anyone who even as much as suggests the Wishing Puyo might not be worth tracking down and even trying to sabotage Rulue in a Puyo match that Arle was trying to win fair and square. She never apologizes for any of this.
- The Nutshell Kids are much ruder to each other in the stage adaptation of Really Rosie.
Radio
- Mary Poppins: Crossed with Adaptational Sympathy, but Michael is considerably worse in the section of the 2004 BBC audio drama adapting Bad Tuesday than he ever was in the original source material. The radio drama has him abusing or otherwise mistreating the four animals they encounter on their journey, making his punishment at their flippers, paws, et cetera, feel much more earned.
Video Games
- In The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Jet Fusion and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Attack of the Twonkies, The Bully Butch Pakovski acts as one of the bosses as he attacks Jimmy for no real reason. However, in the show Jimmy was one of the few kids he didn't pick on and he even went out of his way to help him at times.
- All Grown Up!: Express Yourself: A mild case is given with Harold Frumpkin, who in the game's adaptation of the episode "Lucky 13" is revealed to have been the one who gave Savannah the idea to throw a party on the same day as Angelica's 13th birthday and also frames Tommy for conspiring with Savannah to do so, when in the original episode he had nothing to do with Savannah's scheme and was as appalled by the rest of the cast that Angelica's birthday party was going to be ruined by her guests choosing to go to a different party instead. That being said, he did this as retribution for how poorly Angelica treated him earlier, he's remorseful of what he's done when Angelica finds out and the game ends with him making amends.
- Batman: Arkham Series:
- While not to the same degree as All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, Batman himself is struck with this. In addition to being more brutal and willing to break bones during interrogations, he's frequently cold, barely emotes, and frequently wants deals with his problems alone (to the point he never becomes a team player and his paranoia leads him to putting Tim in a cell in Knight). While we don't know his reason for doing so at the time, there's also the little matter of Bruce having Tim replace Jason even before Jason is confirmed "dead", as opposed to the comics, where a reluctant Bruce lets Tim replace Jason (putting aside the whole "Jason coming back from the dead as the new Red Hood" bit) some time after Bruce already saw and buried Jason's body.
- Speaking of the Joker and what he did to Jason, unlike the comics version, where the Joker pummeled Jason with a crowbar and blew him up, this version sees the Joker hold Jason captive for a year and torture him (even branding him with a "J" on his cheek).
- In Batman: The Animated Series, Ferris Boyle, the guy who turned Victor Fries into Mr. Freeze, was a greedy jerk who didn't care if he ended a life just to save money, and him turning Victor into Freeze was a reaction to Victor pulling a gun on him. In "Cold, Cold, Heart" DLC, he asked Victor to build cold based weapons in exchange for helping his wife, only to renege on the deal. Later, he was willing to kill Batman and Freeze so he could leave no witnesses, and was preparing to kill Nora in front of Freeze out of spite.
- Calendar Man. In the comics, he was a petty criminal whose holiday-themed crimes rarely involved murder. In the Arkham series, he's portrayed as a sadistic Serial Killer who crimes revolve solely around murder.
- The Scarecrow himself, while very much a villain, occasionally has sympathetic moments in the comics, generally relating to his backstory as a bully victim and severe abuse from his family (great-grandmother pre-Crisis, father in the New 52). In the game, he lacks any sympathetic qualities and is even more monstrous than his comics incarnation, easily one of the most vile characters in the series. Background material suggests that this version of Jonathan Crane isn't even mentally ill, just pure evil.
- Much like in Batman Returns, the Penguin was shown to be quite psychopathic, sadistic, and brutal. This version lacks the Affably Evil and Wicked Cultured traits of the comics' gentleman of crime, and has displayed racism, misogyny, homophobia, and ableism.
- While most incarnations of the Riddler are fairly narcissistic, they are, at the least, humble enough to respect Batman as a Worthy Opponent and are on good terms with the rest of Gotham's villains. Arkham's Riddler, by contrast, is a smug, egotistic, patronizing, arrogant, and thoroughly obnoxious Jerkass who is either ignored or outright belittled by Batman and most of the other villains.
- While Jack Ryder could be a jackass, it was usually as part of a feint for his actions as The Creeper. Here, he's a legitimately self-serving and egoistical asshole.
- Batman: Arkham Origins' "Initiation" DLC saw Kirigi from as a mild example, making him a True Neutral Jerkass at worst, whereas his comics counterpart was one of the most pacifistic mentors Batman ever had (Denny O'Neil's Knightfall novelization mentions he stopped training Bruce because Bruce refused to forsake violence forever).
- In BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Guest Fighter Tohru Adachi from Persona 4 had a Heel–Face Turn at the end of Golden that continued into Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. However, his appearance in BlazBlue acts in a more antagonistic manner, contrasting his previous characterization as The Atoner. In his interaction with Yu he calls him dumb for seeing him as a friend, when at the end of Golden he affirmed that their friendship did mean something to him.
- Cyberpunk 2077:
- Johnny Silverhand was always an egocentric asshole, but his tabletop incarnation had enough redeeming features that he could be seen as a straight-up Knight in Shining Armor. This game's version of Silverhand is far more abrasive, toxic and jerkish to everything and everyone.
- The tabletop version of Hanako Arasaka was an Internal Reformist who was a moderating influence on her power-hungry father and older brother Kei. In this game Hanako is a staunch supporter of her father Saburo and his vision, including his plan to use Soulkiller to take over Yorinobu's body. Granted, this game is a sequel and Saburo has had plenty of time since Kei's death to bring Hanako and Yorinobu over to his way of thinking, but the contrast is still jarring.
- Morrigan Aensland of Darkstalkers outside her home fighting game series repeatedly gets this treatment. In her own games Morrigan is a free spirit who would Never Hurt an Innocent, and at worst she's a Spoiled Brat and hedonist who generally only cares about her own pleasure, definitely not good but certainly not evil either. Adaptations however such as the Udon comics and Teppen—!!! base Morrigan more heavily on sinister succubuses of folklore, and as such she's a one-note Dark Action Girl and Literal Maneater. In the comics, Morrigan soul absorbs or kills numerous innocent people and only aids the World Warriors because Jedah forces her into a Enemy Mine with them. In Teppen all Morrigan wants to do is consume the souls of handsome men, and she tries to snack on both Ryu and Dante. It's outright stated she has "sucked the spirit from countless mortals", whilst in the games we only ever see her kill Pyron (an evil alien god) in her questionably canon ending. There's also the infamous USA Darkstalkers cartoon where Morrigan is the cruel Dark Mistress of Pyron, unlike other media where she's opposed to him.
- In Dragon Ball FighterZ, upon Goku winning when paired with Gohan, the former expresses genuine pride in his son. However, the localization version for some reason, added a "...finally" line and in a condescending tone too which gives the impression that Goku isn't really proud of his son at all and once again, gives the impression of another "Goku is a bad father" moment.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake have few characters become bigger jerks compare to the original.
- Cloud Strife: In the original game, Cloud wasn't out to screw with things unless the others dragged him into it or Sephiroth was involved, and he barely cared all that much about Avalanche overall. But here, when Johnny gets captured by Shinra security for questioning and rats out Jessie, which could jeopardize the whole group, Cloud immediately jumps to wanting to kill Johnny - which horrifies Tifa and causes her to plead for him to back down. Notably, unlike in the original where Barret rehires Cloud for the next mission, Cloud's bad attitude leads Barret to choose not to rehire him for the Sector 5 mako reactor job, forcing the Arbiters of Fate to intercede, and the people who hire him for side-quests often berate his lack of altruism.
- Red XIII: Red XIII never adopted an adversarial attitude towards Barret in the original gamenote . Here, he acts like a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis to the big guy for no apparent reason.
- Sephiroth: Despite his more pronounced affability to Cloud in this version, Sephiroth does something in the remake that he didn't originally: he personally murdered Cloud's mother and uses it to torment him, telling him about how she begged him to spare her son and how he killed her with his own blade. In the original, she was another casualty of his burning of Nibelheim, and her death wasn't brought up again. He also mocks Cloud every time he fails to reinforce Cloud's frustration at the world over having no control over the direction of his own life to motivate Cloud into accomplishing his goals.
- Mayor Domino: Downplayed. Mayor Domino in the original game was a bitter and snarky, but kooky and helpful man. In this game, he is quite proud of his position as Mayor of Midgar, which he declares the greatest city in the world, and only helps the party specifically because he wants them to stick it to President Shinra. He quite clearly has no qualms with the terrible things Shinra has done, just with how they've marginalized his authority.
- Elmyra Gainsborough: Downplayed. In both versions, she's uncomfortable with the idea of Cloud getting close to her daughter Aerith, but the way she expresses it is different. In the original, she politely asks Cloud to leave the house at night without telling Aerith, but she's somewhat firmer in the remake, and claims that Cloud "made a trade- a normal life for power."
- Captain Bask Om is much worse in Gihren's Greed: The Menace of Axis V than he was in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. More crimes are added to his name such as him being the one to blow up Jaburo if he gets the chance and overthrowing and executing Jamitov if he isn't deposed by the end of the campaign, which is followed up with a war on the Jupiter colonies and the Earth Sphere being thrown in chaos.
- Hades:
- There's no indication in the original myths that Hades particularly resented his brothers for taking the skies and the seas while Hades got the underworld, as he is generally portrayed as not caring one way or the other about the overworld except when events there interfere with his job. Here he is very quick to badmouth Zeus and Poseidon - and most of the other gods besides - to Zagreus. Although his anger isn't with the job itself but just general grumpiness on Hades' part combined with misplaced aggression about his absent wife and rebellious son.
- Theseus is considerably more pompous, arrogant and bullheaded than in the myths, and it's made clear that most people outside Elysium can't stand him because of it. Eventually, even Asterius starts to get exasperated by his constant demeaning of Zagreus, whether or not it's part of him putting on a show for their crowd. One codex entry implies he might not have been like this before he died, and that being the undisputed Champion of Elysium for so long has gotten to his head somewhat.
- Home Safety Hotline: Some of the fairies are nastier than they are in their original folklore. For example; Leprechauns in mythology generally mind their own business and can even be helpful. Leprechauns here are aggressive beasts that steal metal to eat, even from a child’s braces.
- Injustice: The Joker was purely evil from the start, but his cruelty in Injustice: Gods Among Us overshadows his theatricality in the Injustice-verse, making him even harder to root for in this game and its sequel. He's indirectly responsible for everything wrong with the Injustice universe by tricking Superman into killing his wife Lois Lane and nuking Metropolis with a wire linked to Lois's heart, resulting in years of misery for everyone. The heroes and villains in both games hate him for this reason or in general principle, and even his ex-moll Harley Quinn refuses to indulge with him. His jokes about mass murder, nihilism, and mocking his opponents' personal pain are also given attention to show how awful he is.
- Jurassic World: Evolution 2: The Chaos Theory's incarnation of the younger Simon Masrani is far more boastful and smug than his seemingly more humble, friendlier movie counterpart.
- Kirby's Avalanche: Kirby himself, in one of his very few speaking roles, comes off as far more sarcastic and rude toward his opponents than his usual portrayals as a Cheerful Child — possibly as an attempt to portray him as a Mascot with Attitude. It's entirely possible the voices spoken in the game are all Kirby, since a voice is heard going "HA HA HA!" whenever Kirby beats an opponent.
Kirby: (to Kracko) You couldn't hit a barn-sized lightning rod, Kracko!
Kirby: (to Bugzzy) Oooohhh, I'm so scared!
Kirby: (to Broom Hatter) I'd worry more about cleaning up your Avalanche/Ghost Trap skills, first.
Kirby: (to Poppy Bros Sr.) I'll breathe in your pathetic bombs and send them right back at you!
Kirby: (to Squishy) Go meddle in someone else's affairs, Squishy; I've got to get to the Dream Fountain. - Harry Potter himself is a bit of a cartoonish jerk in the LEGO Harry Potter games. For example, during the Dueling Club scene in Chamber of Secrets, he deliberately commands the snake to go after Malfoy, looking smugly when Malfoy flees from it. In the original, he merely ordered the snake to stand down. He was also highly amused when he saw Snape being humiliated by his father during the flashback he saw in his Occlumency lessons, while the real Harry was actually disturbed seeing his father act like this.
- Mega Man Battle Network: Downplayed with ProtoMan.EXE. The original Proto Man in Mega Man (Classic), while aloof, is a supportive big brother figure for Mega Man. In the BN timeline, ProtoMan.EXE is considered a rival to MegaMan.EXE because their operators are also rivals, but ProtoMan doesn't take it personally; he's also more willing to scold and even fight MegaMan if it's necessary.
- Entei, Raikou, and Suicune of Pokémon fame are free spirited Legendaries who mind their own business more often than not without much hostility towards others. Contrast that with how they act in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, in which Entei at multiple points threatens to kill the heroes, first out of suspicion of them being the culprits of others turning into stone due to being at the wrong place and wrong time, and again when they trespass into its territory. The others aren't much better as they treat the hero and partner characters like pack mules during the trip in the Void Lands. In their defense, the latter was done to prevent the two from staying beyond with them, and at the end of the game can be recruited, even feeling humbled to join them, like the rest of the legendary roster.
- Dario Rosso in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was somewhat of a jerk to Jill by yelling at her and refusing to go with her for rescue, but this was due to him just having lost his daughter to the zombies while he barely survived himself, thus it's understandable that he's under a ton of stress. In Resident Evil 3 (Remake), Dario is a complete dick towards Jill for no reason, dismissing her genuine attempts in wanting to rescue him and calling her names like "Missy". If you shoot at his container after he seals himself in it, he'll threaten Jill by saying he'll call his lawyer and sue her.
- In SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, Ryu went from a stoic warrior who trains to better himself every day to an out-and-out asshat who taunts everyone he meets and even makes fun of Mai for her choice of ninja garbs.
- While Shadow isn't exactly a nice guy in the mainline Sonic the Hedgehog games, in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, he is depicted as an abrasive, bullying asshole who calls Sonic weak for relying on his friends. His rivalry with Sonic is a lot more antagonistic as he's only there to fight him for no reason other than to antagonize him.
- Storyteller: The Genesis chapter has a puzzle where the player must recreate the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. In the Bible, God kicks Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden after they eat the fruit, but lets them live with hope of redemption. Here, He just smites them.
- Kyouji Shinkawa is subjected to this in Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization as Richter. In canon, he was at least a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing with enough acting skills to make himself seem like a Nice Guy that Shino trusted. In the games, he's a full out Stalker with a Crush who thoroughly creeps Sinon out and attempted to destroy her friendship with Kirito and co. by exposing her Dark and Troubled Past.
- Wild ARMs: Million Memories:
- Tesla Maxwell is a lot more hostile to ARM users in this game than Wild ARMs 3. Somewhat justified due to the demise of Slayheim not so long ago.
- Rudy Roughnight is a mild case. He's a lot more reckless in this version and veers on outright destructive at times. Again, the trope is justified as he's had a vision of him betraying everyone and destroying the world, and there's something blocking the memories of his grandfather, meaning he's less access to his moral compass.
- Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand: In Taito's PS2 remake, Jabir is far less tolerant of failure than he was in the SNES original, as shown with the deaths of Abyss, as well as King Kefin, and Rizze.
Web Animation
- Beauty and the Beast (Phelous): Nearly everyone is more of a jerk than they are in traditional versions of the fairytale:
- Beauty, normally a pure-hearted heroine, claims she would sell her father's soul for more books, and kills/beats up some of the Beast's servants for saying anything she doesn't want to hear. She also only wants to marry the Beast for his money.
- The Beast is more of a Dirty Coward than other versions. He tries to bribe Wabuu into not killing him. He also never learns to love like other versions of the Beast do.
- With Old Man, this is either played straight or inverted depending on your point of reference. In Beauty and the Beast (Golden 1992), his debut, he was meant to be a lovable character. In Phelous' videos, he's a massive Jerkass. Here, he's somewhere in between. He's not quite as malicious as in Phelous' other videos, but he still takes a rose from the Beast's garden immediately after being told not to.
- Wabuu was also meant to be lovable in the Dingo Pictures movies he comes from, but his evil characterization here is perfectly in line with Phelous' version of him.
- Dark Secrets of Garry's Mod: Downplayed with Sonic, in his source material it is extremely rare to see him lose his cool let alone lash out on others. But in this series he has a much shorter temper and there are times when he gets really hostile to rather harmless situations. While he can be still considered as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in both versions, in the original his "jerkish" part is downplayed while in this series is played more straight forward.
- Day of the Diesels Rewrite: Overlaps with Adaptational Villainy. In the original movie, Norman had little to no personality and only served as an extra, and his later appearances show that he's as every bit as friendly as Paxton. Here, he is shown to be more hostile and disdainful towards steam engines, especially noticeable when he starts acting disrespectful towards Thomas and Percy at Knapford Station. If that wasn't enough, he is fully complicit in Diesel 10's plans, and he even tried to get Thomas into an accident on purpose. However, he eventually sides with Thomas when the latter showed him compassion after the red diesel shunter explained his past.
- Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged:
- Compared to The Heart of the team she is in the original game, Tifa is a crass, salty, manipulative bitch who tricks Cloud into doing stupid stuff for her. She also happens to be a traumatized wreck of repressed tragedy and bad memories. Season 2 helped mellow her out once she starts to talk to someone without being abrasive. Unless your name is Reno.
- The original Sephiroth killed nearly everyone in Nibelheim out of revenge. Abridged Sephiroth not only did that, but even specifically singled out Cloud's mother just because of Cloud's annoying fanboy attitude. That sounds quite petty, even for a guy like Sephiroth. Also, upon murdering Aerith, rather than brushing off Cloud's ability to be emotional like in the original, here, he takes the opposite and more sadistic option and openly taunts Cloud on the latter feeling the pain of both her death and Cloud being unable to keep his promise to her.
- GoAnimate: Practically everybody in the "grounded videos" that have a "childrens' show" character as the target could count (especially Caillou and Dora), from the main character who goes from a likable guy and or girl to a sociopathic bully who wants to fuck everyone over to the main character's parents that go from loving to hating their kids' guts to the character's teacher that will punish their students for every minor thing.
- Lobo: Darlene Spritzer is more lippy than her comic book counterpart. She swears infrequently.
- The Mandela Magazine: In Mandela Catalogue, Mark is willing to help Cesar with his house's security system as soon as the latter explains the situation. In Magazine, Mark only agrees to help once Cesar starts pleading. He also starts arguing with him once he hears an odd "eeee" sound coming from Cesar's side of the call, accusing him of playing a prank on him and using the excuse of his mother being hospitalized to do so.
- McBusters: Downplayed. While Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese are still decent people for the most part, they are much more prone to anger and swearing than they were in the McDonaldland ads. This is especially notable with Mayor McCheese, whose canon portayal as the jovial mayor of McDonaldland is contrasted by making him an ill-tempered Manchild who shuts up Walter Peck by punching him unconscious and rudely yells at Grimace to be quiet in a vulgar way when the latter complains about not being included in the painting of the McBusters that appears after defeating The Burger King.
- RWBY Chibi: Most of the characters from RWBY are given this treatment here. A prominent example is Ruby herself, who goes from a heroic Plucky Girl to an entitled jerk that makes Weiss look tame. Speaking of which, while Weiss herself was no saint, she did eventually warm up to people. This version of Weiss, however, thought it would be funny to drop a bucket of frozen ice on Ruby as a prank. Adding to that, Blake on one occasion adopted Sun's kleptomania and Yang is shown to have a terrible temper and a twisted sense of humor, laughing at an unconscious Nora while everyone else there is worried about her.
- Skodward's Jungle Ferox: While SpongeBob from his source material sometimes unwittingly harms others through obliviousness, he almost never deliberately hurts anyone and will fiercely stand his ground to protect others, even complete strangers, because he genuinely cares about them and their well-being. Here, however, he has no qualms with bagging up and kidnapping Squidward at the order of Mr. Krabs, and when he and Patrick spend too long out in the wilderness without any resources, they're quick to revert to primal states and start chasing after Squidward, presumably to eat him.
- Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City:
- Raspberry Tart, with the addition of Adaptational Villainy. In most incarnations, she's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who's either a tomboyish jock or a girly fashionista, but in this series, she’s an Alpha Bitch and Strawberry's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, who is jealous of her business and plots to run her out of the BerryWorks. Later on she undergoes a Heel–Face Turn and becomes closer to her previous characterizations as a nice girl with a sharp tongue.
- Sherry Bobbleberry likewise undergoes this treatment. In her original 2003 incarnation she was a nice, if clumsy, girl who went out of her way to help everyone. In BitBC, she’s a narcissist who hogs the spotlight from her bandmates and ditches them after a falling-out over her lack of contributions to the band.
- Thomas & Friends fan-imations:
- Flora is a kind-hearted tram engine. In North Western Railway Tales, she is reimagined as a more bitter engine who hates road vehicles and even tries to run over Bertie while she has passengers.
- Sir Topham Hatt, usually a fatherly figure in most Thomas fiction, starts out as a Mean Boss in Shed 17. According to Keith Hartley, he banned all steam engine volunteers (despite the NWR relying heavily on steam traction), cut most rail employees, and shut down a branch line and some smaller stations. And that was before Thomas Götze was revived as a sentient tank engine. Once it becomes clear that Bio-Fusing humans with vehicles was the perfect way to make a fortune, the "Fat Bastard" takes over Sodor Research and initiates mass Bio-Fusion development. Unfortunately, none of the experiments have the same work put into Thomas and most are either too ill or faulty to work, or don't survive their Bio-Fusion operations. Things only get worse when he becomes responsible for Gordon's death and pins the blame on the staff, then assigns Henry - having found out about why Thomas never had the others' problems - to pull the Flying Kipper across a dangerous part of the railway so he would have an accident and be sent away to be scrapped.
- Sodor Then And Now: Gordon is far ruder to the other engines with him having it out for Thomas in particular. This also plays into the prank he pulls on Thomas with the coaches as while in canon Gordon did it due to the little blue engine’s cheekiness, here he does it out of spite. He does get better though.
Webcomics
- Armada - The REAL Story: Optimus Prime, in stark contrast to his presentation as a kindly father-like figure in the source material, calls Hot Shot and Jolt respectively "wierd (sic) deformed guy" and "stupid little helicopter guy".
- Bendy and Boris: The Quest For The Ink Machine: Cuphead is more rude and mean towards others, he insults Bendy and Boris and is mean towards his brother Mugman, calling him "worthless" until he almost kills Muman by accident. Even after he decides to treat Mugman better he is still cynical.
- 'Brawl in the Family: King Dedede in Brawl in the Family is far meaner to Kirby. More than once he tries to pin the blame on Kirby for no reason, he tries to blow up Kirby with a sticky bomb, prioritizing that over his own safety when he get stuck to the bomb. In the first Christmas special that ran from comics 114-117, he steals everyone's presents in the same manner as the Grinch. Similar to the Grinch he has his heart grow 3 sizes...except that doesn't do anything, and apparently he does this every year without learning anything. It takes until The Sleepover, 400 comics in, before he admits that he enjoyed being around Kirby. It's only in the epilogue story Brawl in the Family Reunion, a story released 10 years'' after the comic finished, that King Dedede begins to actually understand Kirby.
- Dad Villain AU: Emelie Agreste turns out to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who is just as big a Control Freak as her husband. She's simply "nicer" about it, raising Adrien with the intent of keeping him helplessly dependent upon her. She's also been fully aware of Nathalie crushing upon her for years, blithely acting oblivious while using her feelings to manipulate and string her along. While Gabriel uses her as an Unwitting Pawn, it's telling that his Batman Gambit hinges upon him trusting that Emelie will freely abuse the Peacock Pin's powers despite how the Miraculous is clearly broken, without sparing a single thought to how this might be hurting Duusu.
- Evil Luz:
- While her canon-counterpart was an eccentric Genki Girl, Evil Luz is a Card-Carrying Villain. While she self-identifies as "evil", she's more like an edge-lord teenager out to troll people for her own personal amusement.
- Canon-Eda was a rebel and a "bad girl", while Evil Eda outright identifies as evil. If her curse didn't make being a real villain so difficult, it would be more of a case of Adaptational Villainy.
- While canon-Gus is a humanophile, Evil Gus hates humans and vows to find the human walking the halls of Hexside and setting fire to them.
- Evil Willow is a firm believer that anyone who can't do magic should be "taken out of the gene pool".
- Hiimdaisy:
- In Persona 4, Saki was somewhat polite with Yosuke simply due to the fact that his family was her father's boss and he only found out that she hated him after her death, although the circumstances in which he heard her thoughts makes it somewhat ambiguous as to how much she disliked him. In the webcomic, she shows her being nothing but snide and insulting towards him with her sprit outright telling him to go kill himself.
- In Persona 4, Dojima was generally a good person, even if he often scolded Adachi for his mistakes, and there was a bit of tension between him and his nephew over the latter's involvement with the murder case. Here, he's a lot more abrasive and condescending; compare how in the game, he has positive reactions to how you take your coffee(the game notes he's smiling or "looks like he's having fun"), to the comic, in which his responses range from condescending to sarcastic, and he throws a cup at the protagonist's head if he asks Dojima to "surprise me."
- It's (Not) Your Fault:
- Luna herself is given some of this. She is much more aggressive and prone to anger than she was in the show. It is also strongly hinted throughout the story that she was the one responsible for the breakup of the Loud family. We do see part of this later on, as due to Rusty's fake photo, she ends up nearly beating the two up and essentially disowns Lincoln.
- Rusty in the show, while he had his jerk moments, he was an overall normal and good person. In the comic, when he gets jealous of Lincoln and Stella's relationship, he sets out for revenge by altering a photo of Lincoln and Sam.
- Learning with Manga! FGO: The Female Protagonist (Ritsuka Fujimaru), who in Fate/Grand Order is canonically depicted as an Ambiguously Bi Nice Girl who deeply cares for her servants, is turned into Gudako, a gambling, sex-crazed Heroic Comedic Sociopath who regularly (be it physically or sexually) assaults her servants, especially Mash and Olga.
- Platformers:
- Downplayed with Mario. In his home series, he was always a Nice Guy, never letting his accomplishments get the best of him. In Platformers, he is still a nice person, but he does sometimes give in to his ego every now and then.
- While L.O.G. has always been a Jerkass in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, he's more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Here, he is an even bigger asshole, often getting himself into heated debates with the other Galaxy Council members.
- What If I Know Too Many Reasons I Can Be Strong?: Tanjiro lacks the defining compassion of his manga counterpart, physically or emotionally torturing demons without remorse.
Web Videos
- Anakin Shrugged: The kind and wise Yoda becomes a nerd-bullying drug addict.
- angelarts' VA Let's Play Earthbound: In canon, Pokey is Ambiguously Evil at best, with many of his qualities being up to interpretation. Here, it's implied that he's a jerk to Ness and he even physically abuses his little brother Picky at some points.
- Disney Princesses but they're Villains:
- "Anastasia's Villain Song" features a Downplayed example with the Dowager Empress Marie; unlike in the original movie, she refuses to believe Anya is the real Anastasia, dismissing her as just another would-be Con Artist.
- "Cinderella's Villain Song": While Prince Charming extensively searched for his original dance partner, and getting married to somebody else after his failure was politically pragmatic, he doesn't show any regret or remorse when Cinderella shows up, only angry when she goes on a rampage against him and his new wife.
- "Belle's Villain Song" paints her as a Proud Beauty who openly brags about her good looks and intelligence while revealing herself to be a Soft-Spoken Sadist.
- "Isabela's Villain Song" has another Downplayed instance. In the original movie, Isabela had no idea that she could make anything other than pretty flowers with her powers, and never showed any interest in playing around until the latter half of the movie. Here, it's revealed that Alma actively forbid Isabela from making anything other than flowers, constantly pressuring her to be her perfect, model grandchild. At one point, she catches Isabela playing in the mud and drags her all the way to her room, throwing her inside and locking the door.
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
- Shockingly, Gohan of all people. As Android 16 points out, this version of Gohan thinks he's better than everyone else and the only one suffering, refusing to stand up and fight back by clinging to pacifistic morals while everyone else gets hurt. He caps off the speech by asking Gohan to stop holding back.
- His Future counterpart is an even greater example of this. In the original History of Trunks special, Future Gohan clearly loves his parents and doesn't seem to hold a grudge towards either of them despite their treatment of him but in the abridged version, he outright hates his parents and cares very little of either Goku or Chi-Chi to the point that he didn't even care that the former had died. Case in point, in canon Gohan wears Goku's clothes because it reminds him of his father and wants to be as strong as him to fight off the androids while in abridged he only wears it because it's the only thing that Goku left him with. As for Chi-Chi, in canon, she is worried about Gohan constantly fighting the androids implying that they at least are still on decent terms which contrasts the abridged where Chi-Chi has fallen into depression because Gohan abandoned her meaning that she could never be the grandmother she wanted in his whole life.
- Ralsei in Deltarune Good Version goes from a kind and peace-loving Darkner to a terse, violent and rude person who singles out Susie as a target for mockery and violence, almost outright refuses to accept Susie and Kris into his own home (even while knowing they're the prophesized heroes), and going so far as to claim that the Prophecy is fake to get them to leave him alone.
- Friendship is Witchcraft: While most aren't outright villains, just about everyone is more cynical and mean than they are in the original cartoon.
- HELLWINKLE: In the Care Bears videos, all of the Care Bears act horrible to each other, going completely against the peace and love the canon Care Bears represent.
- Kingdom Hearts in a Nutshell: This is case for Sora. In the original series, he's a happy-go-lucky Nice Guy who's friendly to almost everyone he meets. In this series, he's the Only Sane Man who constantly points out the logical inconsistencies of the other characters and complains about how stupid the plot is. His view of Kairi is also different, as whereas in the original series, he's head over heels in love with her, here, he seems annoyed by her mere existence.
- My Little Pony: The Mentally Advanced Series: Orion from Rainbow Factory is a nice young colt that saw Aurora Dawn fail her flight exam and was apalled that nopony would bother to go down and help her due to her breaking her wings, after being threatened that he would automatically be failed if he goes to help out the Failure, he does it anyway, gladly foregoing his chance to live in Equestria if it means showing a little bit of compassion in the world, even standing up to other adult ponies when they keep insulting Aurora for having broke her wings. In the Mentally Advanced Series' telling of the story "Captain Hook The Biker Gorilla", Orion is transformed into a Straw Character that while is still concerned about Aurora falling; doesn't bother to raise a hoof to go help her out. While Orion is still failed, it was due to him passing a note to Scootaloo asking if she would date him. Orion spends most of the short constantly insulting Aurora Dawn, claiming that she has Pony AIDS and during a Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory skit screams that Aurora is "The Fat Kid".
- My Little Pony: Totally Legit Recap: Due to DWK's style, everyone. Starlight Glimmer in particular is portrayed as an autistic, depressed, perverted alcoholic who turns her friends into her sex slaves on a whim.
- Mystery Incorporated (2022): The Hex Girls are quite rude to Shaggy when they first meet him. While they did mess with him and Scooby a bit in their first appearance in the animated movie series, they were ultimately a group of Perky Goths.
- Director Krennic is already a Jerkass in his original appearance, but in one of Russel Nordeman's videos, Krennic is shown to be openly egotistical and is concerned with him being beautiful.
- RWBY Abridged: Several characters undergo this, but arguably the most noteworthy example is Ruby herself, who while still heroic, is very cynical, short tempered, snarky, and abrasive, unlike her very friendly Wide-Eyed Idealist canon counterpart.
- RWBY Alternate: Yang's personality is tweaked to put emphasis on her abandonment issues. She is an Aloof Big Sister towards Ruby due to feeling that their father favors her and scorns Yang as the reason his first marriage didn't last. While Ruby sees Yang as a role model, Yang is much colder towards her. It's a major part of her character arc that she learns to love Ruby and realizes her disdain towards her family is unwarranted.
- StacheBros:
- Mario is much more abrasive than his canon counterpart, what with him constantly quarreling with his brother Luigi, occasionally getting irritated with rescuing Peach, and having a deep hatred for Diddy.
- Downplayed with Luigi, who's comparatively nicer than Mario, but still has his moments of selfishness.
- SuperMarioLogan:
- Black Yoshi is very different from the Yoshis from the games. While Yoshi normally is very kind to Mario, helpful, and has a cute personality, Black Yoshi is a blatant Anti-Role Model; he constantly tries to get Mario to give him money, committed many crimes (stealing many things on Black Friday thinking they're free, scamming many people out of $1,000,000 with a fake GoFundMe page, etc....) and is generally very petty and unfriendly, even refusing to take care of his son (even throwing him out the window at one point). Black Yoshi also occasionally threatens to shoot people with his gun, something the real Yoshis would never do.
- While Shrek could be something of a curmudgeon in the films, for all those moments, it's clear that his heart is in the right place. Here, he's a mooching slob who regularly leaves Mario to deal with his messes. This could be seen as an unintentional case of Truer to the Text, as he was no saint in the original book.
- Compared to her video game counterpart, who respects Mario and acts as a love interest to him, Princess Peach's SML counterpart treats Mario horribly, acts ungrateful to what he does for her, sends him a restraining order, and calls him a creep.
- In Sword Art Online, Kirito and Asuna were noble and kind-hearted swordsmen who treated everyone with respect and were sometimes impulsive at their worst (Kirito specifically). Sword Art Online Abridged, meanwhile, twists them into Heroic Comedic Sociopaths, with the former being a smug Jerkass who takes pleasure in tormenting people around him, while the latter is a Stalker with a Crush Yandere who is feared by anyone who crosses paths with her, all the while perfectly hiding it under her "innocent" facade. Unlike most examples, they actually do undergo some Character Development, especially in regards to Kirito after witnessing Sachi's death.
- Welcome Back, Potter:
- Harry, here named Jarry, is a jaded drug-addled con-artist who has nothing but contempt for the Wizarding World he was destined to save compared to the angsty hero from the books and films.
- While messing with his family was a big Berserk Button for Ron in canon, here Don isn't the least bit curious about what became of the rest of the Weasleys.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series:
- Seto Kaiba is even more of a jerk than in Yu-Gi-Oh!, especially in mistreating his little brother.
- In canon, Joey Wheeler participated in Duelist Kingdom to pay for Serenity's eye surgery. In this adaption, he blows all his winnings on Duel Monster cards, making his parents pay for her operation to fix her eyesight, and when it flopped he points out that on the bright side, she won't need her cards anymore.
