History Main / AdaptationalIntelligence

* The fourth season of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' has the Orion women turn out to be the brains behind the Orion Syndicate.

* GirlsNeedRoleModels. Perhaps the original material only has one female character and she is firmly in TheChick category and might even come across as TheLoad or a BrainlessBeauty to modern audiences. As alternative to {{Xenafication}} she might be turned into the brains of the group instead (or she might go through both this trope and that one.)

When adapting an existing character for a new work the character is often altered in transition from the source material. They might become [[AdaptationalHeroism nicer]], [[AdaptationalVillainy nastier]], [[AdaptationalBadass more badass]] or [[AdaptationalWimp a lot less badbass]].

* The Dinobots from the ''Transformers Generation 1'' comics typically are portrayed as smarter and more cunning than their animated counterparts.

* In the 2000 ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' mini-series, Irulan is far more clever than she is in the books (in which she's still fairly intelligent - she becomes a respected historian, after all - but otherwise just a typical princess.) In the mini-series, she quickly figures out that her father aided House Harkonnen in its violent overthrow of House Atreides, and actively works to spy on the Harkonnens by sending one of her servants to seduce Feyd.

** Even before that, ''StarTrekEnterprise'' showed them as the real power behind the Orion Syndicate, using the LivingAphrodisiac effect they have on male Orions to keep them in a ''permanent'' state of DistractedByTheSexy and doing what the woman want while nominally in charge. And even before ''that,'' the ''two'' Orion females we met in the ''original series'' were, in order, an ''illusion'' used to tempt Christopher Pike, and a criminally insane mental patient. Basing our idea of what Orion females are like purely on ''those'' two is probably not the best way to get a feel for Orion society.

* In ''Film/FantasticFour'' and its sequel Ben Grimm (also known as The Thing) is a lot smarter than his comic book counterpart (though even in the comic book [[DependingOnTheWriter some writers]] have explained that Ben employs ObfuscatingStupidity..) For example in ''Rise of the Silver Surfer'' he instantly deduces that a picture taken of ComicBook/SilverSurfer arriving in Earth's atmosphere isn't a comet because "the trail is wrong". This is quite apt considering that Ben, like the rest of the Four, is a trained astronaut.

* Inverted big time with Bane in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. Whereas the comics Bane was smart enough to come up with a plan to beat Batman, the movie Bane was barely speak, only engaging in HulkSpeak and saying one or two words at most when he does.

* Joan Watson in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. Watson in the Doyle stories was competent enough, but as a normal person working with Literature/SherlockHolmes, he frequently found himself OvershadowedByAwesome. In ''Elementary'' Joan shows above-average observational skills from the start, and she becomes a competent detective in her own right over the course of the series.

** This also occurred in the fourth season of the prequel series StarTrekEnterprise, in which the Orion women turned out to be the brains behind the Orion Syndicate.

* The [[Series/TheWalkingDead TV adaptation]] of ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' made The Governor a DangerouslyGenreSavvy ManipulativeBastard who knows how to [[AffablyEvil charm his way through people]]. It helps that he also underwent AdaptationalAttractiveness.

* Joan Watson in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. Watson in the Doyle stories was competent enough, but as a normal person working with Literature/SherlockHolmes, he frequently found himself OvershadowedByAwesome. In ''Elementary'' Joan shows above-average observational skills from the start, and she becomes a competent detective in her own right over the course of the series. Which doesn't make any sense, in a way, since they're supposed to be partners.

* Joan Watson in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. Watson in the Doyle stories was competent enough, but as a normal person working with Literature/SherlockHolmes, he frequently found himself OvershadowedByAwesome. In ''Elementary'' Joan shows above-average observational skills from the start, and she becomes a competent detective in her own right over the course of the series.

* Joan Watson in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. Watson in the Doyle stories was competent enough, but as a normal person working with SherlockHolmes, he frequently found himself OvershadowedByAwesome. In ''Elementary'' Joan shows above-average observational skills from the start, and she becomes a competent detective in her own right over the course of the series.

* ValuesDissonance. The character was originally an EthnicScrappy ComicRelief and their stupidity wouldn't fly for modern audiences.

* in ''Film/CaptainAmerica'', ComicBook/RedSkull is upgraded to the head of the Nazi science division; the comics version is no fool, but he's certainly not a brilliant scientist on his own.

[[AC: ComicBooks]]
* Wolverine: sometimes he's a crafty combatant, sometimes he's a dumb berserker badass.