History Main / AdaptationalJerkass

** A lot of adaptations will make Scrooge, or the story's expy, far more of a jackass before the ghost of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come set him straight. [[WesternAnimation/AChristmasCarol2009 Jim Carrey's Scrooge]] stole the coins off Jacob's eyes at his wake; [[WesternAnimation/MickeysChristmasCarol 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 outweight his love for others long before he did; and [[Film/{{Scrooged}} Frank Cross]] is an outright CorruptCorporateExecutive 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 during the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, whereas in the book, making it ook like the change is out of self-preservation, whereas in the book, being shown his nephew Fred having fun and Tiny Tim's plight by the Ghost of Christmas Present had already started Scrooge's HeelFaceTurn.

** A lot of adaptations will make Scrooge, or the story's expy, far more of a jackass before the ghost of Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future set him straight. [[WesternAnimation/AChristmasCarol2009 Jim Carrey's Scrooge]] stole the coins off Jacob's eyes at his wake; [[WesternAnimation/MickeysChristmasCarol 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 outweight his love for others long before he did; and [[Film/{{Scrooged}} Frank Cross]] is an outright CorruptCorporateExecutive 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 during the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, whereas in the book, making it ook like the change is out of self-preservation, whereas in the book, being shown his nephew Fred having fun and Tiny Tim's plight by the Ghost of Christmas Present had already started Scrooge's HeelFaceTurn.

* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': While Dracula himself is [[AdaptationalNiceGuy generally the opposite]] in most adaptations, protagonist Jonathan Harker gets hit with this trope ''hard''. In the original, he's a NiceGuy who went through a lot, but still cares deeply for his wife, and was even willing to become a vampire so she wouldn't suffer undeath alone. Most adaptations turn him into a {{Jerkass}} who barely cares about Mina at all, sometimes an abusive husband and/or EntitledToHaveYou. Most of these adaptations do this to justify a romance between Mina and Dracula, making it a case of AdaptationalConsent as well.

** The Ghosts can also undergo this treatment. Frank Cross, for example, sees the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present reacted with their own upped jackassery, Past being a taxi cab driver who {{drives like crazy}}, and Present being [[TooKinkyToTorture a crazy sadomasochistic who enjoys Frank's threats of violence]], [[GroinAttack 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 WesternAnimation/{{Pete}}, who ''delights'' in showing Scrooge the BadFuture, complete with Scrooge's grave and seeing him DraggedOffToHell before he awakens,

* In the comics, Batman has tendencies of being a jerkass for sure. However, the version of him introduced in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' is more extreme, being an AttentionWhore who's [[ItsAllAboutMe full of himself]] and rude to everyone around him. ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'' highlights his jerkassery even ''more'' with Batman being a constant {{Troll}} who mocks and humanililizes his allies and adversaries alike. [[JerkRealization He gots better in the end, though]].

* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': The [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju 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 WildCard who sides ''with'' Ghidorah against Godzilla and Mothra, [[spoiler: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]].

* ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesVsStreetFighter'': At least at this point in the IDW comics, Shredder had mellowed out and become a good guy as well as mentor to the heroes. Here he's still evil and kind of a dick, even if ALighterShadeOfBlack to M. Bison.

* ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesVsStreetFighter' ': At least at this point in the IDW comics, Shredder had mellowed out and become a good guy as well as mentor to the heroes. Here he's still evil and kind of a dick, even if ALighterShadeOfBlack to M. Bison.

* ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesVsStreetFighter' ': At least at this point in the IDW comics, Shredder had mellowed out and become a good guy as well as mentor to the heroes. Here he's still evil and kind of a dick, even if ALighterShadeOfBlack to M. Bison.

** While Perry White has always been a grouch, his depiction here takes it further than usual. Perry in the comics is a respectful character who recognizes the talent and achievements of his staff. In this show, meanwhile, he's extremely dismissive of Clark, Lois, and Jimmy due their status as [[AdaptationalJobChange interns rather than full-fledged reporters]], and denies them credit to their story by giving it to the senior staff.
** While Vicki Vale in the comics has regularly been portrayed as a competitive and jealous woman, particularly during the Silver Age, the version seen in this show is far and away the most vindictive and careerist of any of her portrayals.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', Franchise/DonkeyKong is given AdaptationalIntelligence (in the games normally using HulkSpeak at best DependingOnTheWriter) and made a snarky JerkJock. Also from the same movie is, surprisingly enough, [[BigBad Bowser]]. Unlike the games, where he [[BenevolentBoss showed that he at least cared for his minions]], this version of King Koopa [[BadBoss has no qualms mistreating his subordinates]], often for the most miniscule of reasons (such as roasting one of his Koopa Troopas enough to [[StrippedToTheBone reduce them to dry bones]] for speaking improperly, or [[PianoCoverSlam 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 VillainousCrush towards Peach, here it's less out of genuine affection and more out of [[{{Yandere}} obsession]] and {{entitl|edToHaveYou}}ment, to the point that he ''attempts to murder Peach'' after she [[NotGoodWithRejection rejects him]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', Franchise/DonkeyKong is given AdaptationalIntelligence (in the games normally using HulkSpeak at best DependingOnTheWriter) and made a snarky JerkJock.

** A rather shocking example is [[BigBad Bowser.]]While he is a [[BenevolentBoss great and caring leader]] [[AFatherToHisMen to his troops]] in the main games; In the movie, he's much nastier and crueler to his troops. Some of his minions are terrified of him, he doesn't know the species name of the Spinies, or worse doesn’t bother to remember their species name, and instead refers to them as "whatever those things are" (which visibly disappoints them), and a few members of his army are shown locked up in his dungeon and are even used as sacrifices for his wedding (with one Koopa Troopa already shown being dead in one of the cages, in addition to a few Goombas who didn't want to help him conquer the Mushroom Kingdom). He also roasts one of his Koopa Troopa minions and [[StrippedToTheBone reduces him to a Dry Bones]] for speaking out of line and even [[PianoCoverSlam slammed the piano cover on Kamek's fingers]] in a fit of irritation that he doesn't know anything about this human plumber that stumbled into the Mushroom Kingdom. And when Peach rejects him a second time, [[IfICantHaveYou he outright tries to KILL her and her friends and ''nuke'' the Mushroom Kingdom just so they can't be together,]] something he hasn't even done in the games.

** A rather shocking example is [[BigBad Bowser.]]While he is a [[BenevolentBoss great and caring leader]] [[AFatherToHisMen to his troops]] in the main games and RPGs, In the movie, he's much nastier and crueler to his troops. Some of his minions are terrified of him, he doesn't know the species name of the Spinies, or worse doesn’t bother to remember their species name, and instead refers to them as "whatever those things are" (which visibly disappoints them), and a few members of his army are shown locked up in his dungeon and are even used as sacrifices for his wedding (with one Koopa Troopa already shown being dead in one of the cages, in addition to a few Goombas who didn't want to help him conquer the Mushroom Kingdom). He also roasts one of his Koopa Troopa minions and [[StrippedToTheBone reduces him to a Dry Bones]] for speaking out of line and even [[PianoCoverSlam slammed the piano cover on Kamek's fingers]] in a fit of irritation that he doesn't know anything about this human plumber that stumbled into the Mushroom Kingdom. And when Peach rejects him a second time, [[IfICantHaveYou he outright tries to KILL her and her friends and ''nuke'' the Mushroom Kingdom just so they can't be together,]] something he hasn't even done in the games.

* ''WebVideo/SodorThenAndNow'': [[Literature/TheRailwaySeries Gor]][[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends don]] is far ruder to the other engines with him having it out for [[JerkAssToOne 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. [[CharacterDevelopment He does get better though.]]

** Doraemon is also far more unpleasant in the Creator/DisneyXD American dub of the 2005 series. In the original Japanese version, he could be harsh to Nobita whenever the latter does something wrong but nonetheless still cares for him. The dub is mostly the same only here he's a cranky and [[CatsAreSnarkers snarky]] JerkWithAHeartOfGold whose relationship with [[DubNameChange Noby]] borders on being VitriolicBestBuds.

* Jonathan Harker, of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', gets hit with this ''hard''. In the original, he's a NiceGuy who went through a lot, but still cares deeply for his wife, and was even willing to become a vampire so she wouldn't suffer undeath alone. Most adaptations turn him into a {{Jerkass}} who barely cares about Mina at all, sometimes an abusive husband and/or EntitledToHaveYou. Most of these adaptations do this to justify a romance between Mina and Dracula, making it a case of AdaptationalConsent as well.

* ''VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand'': In Taito's PS2 remake, [[spoiler:Jabir is far less tolerant of failure than he was in the original, as shown with the deaths of Abyss, as well as King Kefin, and Rizze]].

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] was purely evil from the start, but his cruelty in the game overshadows his theatricality in the ''Injustice''-verse, making him [[HateSink even harder to root for]] in this game and [[VideoGame/Injustice2 its sequel]]. He's indirectly responsible for everything wrong with the ''Injustice'' universe [[spoiler: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 [[EveryoneHasStandards or in general principle]], and [[EvenEvilHasStandards 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.

However, while there may be ''some'' overlap with AdaptationalVillainy, the key difference here is, the character [[GoodIsNotNice isn't necessarily villainous.]] In many cases, they're still on the good side, but can be a [[HeroicComedicSociopath comedic sociopath]], an AntiHero or just TheFriendNobodyLikes. It can also overlap with AdaptationalAngstUpgrade, 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 [[JerkassWoobie make them far more sympathetic in addition to or in spite of their unpleasantness]].