History Main / AdaptationalBackstoryChange

** Sometimes ''all'' the Amazons are women who were killed by men and granted new immortal bodies fashioned of clay by the Greek goddesses, sometimes Diana and Nubia are the only two who were brought to life as fatherless daughters, sometimes Donna is added to this trio of clay Amazons, and in the New 52 Diana was given Cassie's backstory as a demigod daughter of Zeus.

* AdaptationExpansion causes this to many ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' characters whose backstories are largely or completely unspecified in the games:

** X, Y, Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno are all {{childhood friend}}s. In the games only Serena and Calem live in the same town, the protagonist only recently moved as a teenager, and the gang only meets once the plot begins.

** Red's backstory is never mentioned but it's implied he has no parents, unlike in the games where Red's mom is one of the only mothers to appear in two separate titles. In the games, Red and Blue are childhood friends but in the manga they only recently met.
** Professor Oak was a powerful trainer and is a Champion in his youth.

** X, Y, Shauna, Trevor, and Tieno are all {{childhood friend}}s. In the games only Serena and Calem live in the same town, the protagonist only recently moved as a teenager, and the gang only meets once the plot begins.

* This happened in general with Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which changed not just the time of the origins of superheroes and villants setted in our time, also there're various heavy modifications compared to [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse the original source]]. A good example is ''ComicBook/{{Hydra}}'' organization, which was founded by ComicBook/RedSkull as the scientist arm of the Nazi in the 40s instead being just an evil organization founded by Baron Zemo that allied the Nazi as in the comic books.

** Red's backstory is never mentioned but it's implied he has no parents, unlike in the games where Red's mom is one of the only mothers to appear in two separate titles. In the games Red and Blue are childhood friends but in the manga they only recently met.

* This happened in general with Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which changed not just the time of the origins of superheroes and villants setted in our time, also there're various heavy modifications compared to [[ComicBook/MarvelUniverse the original source]]. A good example is ''ComicBook/{{Hydra}}'' organization, which was founded by ComicBook/RedSkull as the scientist arm of the Nazi in the 40s instead being just an evil organization founded by Baron Zemo that allied the Nazi as in the comic books.

[[[[AC: VideoGames]]

** Robert Kendo, who was a NiceGuy who had handed guns to civilians to protect themselves, reacted with hostility and held Leon at gunpoint and tried to kick him out of the gun shop. Only because his daughter has been infected and he was afraid Leon or Ada would kill her.

** Implied with Shego due to an AdaptationalSuperpowerChange. She no longer has green skin and her powers from bracelets. In the cartoon, her green coloring and powers were due to her being a meta-human. Shego's family all gained powers after being hit by a rainbow comet.

* ComicBook/WonderWoman and the Amazons get hit with this a lot when the universe gets rebooted. Sometimes ''all'' the Amazons are women who were killed by men and granted new immortal bodies fashioned of clay by the Greek goddesses, sometimes Diana and Nubia are the only two who were brought to life as fatherless daughters, sometimes Donna is added to this trio of clay Amazons, and in the New 52 Diana was given Cassie's backstory as a demigod daughter of Zeus. Also in the New 52 the Amazons went from being the pinnacle of peaceful human society meant as a standard and inspiration to us all to a group of misandrist mass murderers and habitual rapists who routinely go out and rape and murder men and then kill any male offspring, this continuity also wiped out their {{magitek}}nological advancements and had their tech level trapped in the iron age.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SatAM}}'': Sonic's origin doesn't match the western origin given in ''Script/SonicTheHedgehogBible'' and ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogPromoComic''. In the original origin, Sonic was a prickly brown hedgehog who befriended a human named Dr. Kintobor. Eventually, both Sonic and Kintobor got into an accident that turned Sonic blue and turned the benevolent scientist into the evil Dr. Robotnik. In ''SatAM'', Sonic was always blue, he's more sociable and has been friends with Sally since childhood, and his backstory has nothing to do with Robotnik.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureOfSonicTheHedgehog'' show that Sonic met a lost Tails when the latter was a toddler. Sonic reluctantly adopts Tails as his brother. In the games, Tails and Sonic met when Sonic landed on West Side Island. Tails was bullied by others for his two tails but became interested in the cool hedgehog. Sonic originally thought of Tails as just a pesky kid, but after Tails helped him on his adventure Sonic began to respect Tails.

** Another notable example is Princess What's-Her-Name, from being the typical (and apathetic) DamselInDistress in the games to an ActionGirl with a major role in the cartoon series.

* The team came together as a result of Dick Grayson wishing to escape the shadow of Batman and actively hunting down sidekicks... er, teammates. Definitely teammates. (Everyone will know they're really sidekicks, though.)

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' is a DenserAndWackier adaptation of the 2003 ''Teen Titans'' cartoon that changes some characters backstories further while reinstating others:
** In one episode, shows that Cyborg as ''always'' a robot, even as an infant, as part of a visual gag. A later episode then had him reveal that he actually was a high school football star who was in an accident, which is more in-line with his comic book backstory.
** Starfire's backstory replaces the aforementioned slavery aspect with her simply being exiled from her home planet by her older sister, Blackfire.
** Beast Boy's backstory is elaborated on and revealed to be the same as the comics, with him being a sickly infant whose parents' gave a serum that not only cured him, but also gave him his shapeshifting abilities.

** ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}'s origin was shown in the ''ComicBook/TeenTitansGo'' tie-in comic. He used to love racing cars but one day got into an accident. He was saved but [[WeCanRebuildHim only by replacing his damaged body with cybernetic parts]]. In the comics Cyborg was injured in a scientific accident that also [[MissingMom killed his mother]].
** Beast Boy's true origin is never referenced however his time with the ComicBook/DoomPatrol is. In the ''Teen Titan'' verse they were SparedByTheAdaptation, simply missing instead of KilledOffForReal. Beast Boy also never had his pre-80s element, such as trying (and failing) to join the Teen Titans due to not having parental permission.
** ComicBook/{{Starfire}} was still enslaved however she ended up escaping early on. This mean that her backstory lacks the RapeAsBackstory and years of abuse that her comic version suffered.
** ComicBook/{{Robin}}'s backstory is never discussed, however he seems to have the same origin that Dick Grayson always has. He however doesn't have his pre-''New Teen Titans'' friendships with characters like Donna Troy, Roy Harper, and Garth.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' is a DenserAndWackier adaptation of the 2003 ''Teen Titans'' cartoon that changes the characters backstories further:
** In one episode it's shown that Cyborg was ''always'' a robot, even as an infant. A later episode had him reveal that he was a high school football star who was in an accident. This changes his backstory from the 2003 cartoon to be more in-line with his comic backstory.
** Starfire's backstory is that she was the heir to her planet, however her jealous sister betrayed her and exiled her to Earth. This removes the slavery aspect of her backstory.

** Beast Boy's origin is completely changed. In the comics his parents were scientists living in a jungle. As a toddler Garfield received an injury and the only way to save him was to use an experimental drug, which ended up changing his body to green and giving him superpowers. His parents later died and Garfield was adopted into the Doom Patrol as "Changeling". They to died and he eventually became a Teen Titan, All this was removed in ''Young Justice''. Garfield met the unnamed team as a kid while living with his single ex-actress mother. His green skin and superpowers are due to Miss Martian using her powers to save him. Garfield's mom died during the timeskip and he was taken in by Miss Martian.

* The 2003 anime of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' changed the order in which Winry's parents died. In the [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist manga]] they died after Trisha, while in the 2003 anime they died beforehand.

Sub-trope to AdaptationDeviation. Can overlap with AdaptationExpansion if the change involves additions that don't conflict with the canon backstory, and ExternalRetcon if the changes actively conflict with the canon backstory. Can be related to or cause an AdaptationOriginConnection or an AdaptationalNationality change.

Sub-trope to AdaptationDeviation and AdaptationExpansion. Can be related to or cause an AdaptationOriginConnection or an AdaptationalNationality change.

A staple of {{Setting Update}}s and LighterAndSofter adaptations, the Adaptation Backstory Change occurs when a character's origin or background is edited or [[AdaptationExpansion expanded upon]] in adaptations. This can be anything from minor details to a completely different origin. This is most prominent with superhero characters but happens to others as well.

** Lillie. She doesn't meet Nebby until after she's already Professor Kukui. In the games Nebby was the reason she ran away from home in the first place. Lillie isn't even a runaway in the anime as it's shown she still lives at home. In the anime, Lillie is afraid of touching Pokemon, not just seeing them get hurt in battle like in ''Sun and Moon'', as well.

** Implied with Lillie. It hasn't been clarified yet however she doesn't have Nebby, instead she owns an Eevee, and she also isn't a runaway living with Kukui. Lillie is afraid of touching Pokemon, not just seeing them get hurt in battle, as well. This implies heavy changes to her backstory, though her parentage is still the same ([[LateArrivalSpoiler and is spoiled only a few episodes in]] despite being a late-game spoiler). [[spoiler:Her brother]] Gladion isn't associated with Team Skull, giving credit to the notion that their backstories have changed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' Shana and Aja were one of many foster girls the Bentons took care of. They were the original two so they became close friends with Jerrica and Benton. In ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'', they were the only foster/adopted children of the Bentons. This means that the comic [[RelatedInTheAdaptation puts much more emphasis]] on them being the HappilyAdopted sisters of Jerrica and Kimber, rather than treating them as simply TrueCompanions.

Sub-trope to AdaptationDeviation and AdaptationExpansion. Can be related to or cause an AdaptationOriginConnection.

[[AC: Film -- Animated]]
* In ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'', there's a scene where Howl reminisces about growing up in Ingary near where he met Calcifer. In the original novel ''Literature/HowlsMovingCastle'', there's a major subplot (which was left out of the movie) that depends on the fact that Howl emigrated to Ingary shortly before he met Calcifer.

[[AC: VideoGames]]
* [[AllThereInTheManual The manual]] for the original ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'' video game states that the reason why Professor-Monkey-For-A-Head [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup can't make another super suit identical to Jim's]] is because his monkey half ate the plans. In [[WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim the cartoon series]], the reason why he can't make another super suit is because he doesn't have a spare Battery of the Gods, and the Gods are not willing to give one to him.