History Main / AdaptationalMundanity

** The Undying themselves seem to consist only of Pyat Pree and his magically generated clones. In the books, they are ancient warlock revenants who dwell in the AlienGeometries of the House of Undying and want to consume Dany's lifeforce, and Pree is one of several mortal warlocks who serve them.

* The MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ''[[https://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Wheels.pdf Wheels Within Wheels]]'' does this when it introduces characters from more fantastic works into its crime fiction setting. Literature/{{Dracula}} was a mortal with a blood-drinking fetish. [[Comicbook/DoomPatrol Niles Caulder]] runs a vaguely dodgy clinic and [[Comicbook/XMen Charles Xavier]] a home for kids with special needs -- their charges have unusual disabilities, not superpowers. [[Comicbook/IronMan Anthony Stark]] is a Howard Hughes figure, whose "Iron Man" nickname was only ever metaphorical. [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Everett Scott]] and [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Steve Martin]] are simply delusional, as perhaps was [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife George Bailey]]. There are some MaybeMagicMaybeMundane hints to several of these, but Series/{{Ironside|1967}} doesn't have time to look into that nonsense too deeply; he's got a murder to solve.

** Since Barry Allen aka Franchise/TheFlash gained [[Series/TheFlash2014 his own series]], this trope has become rarer. If anything, ''Arrow'' became the series for the fantastic - while everything in ''The Flash'' goes back to the particle accelerator explosion, ''Arrow'' has Lazarus Pits, a villain granted magic powers by a death-powered idol, and John Constantine. Once Constantine became a regular on ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', though, it became the magical series and ''Arrow'' is back to being a world with mostly {{Badass Normal}}s.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' is a lot more gritty than its source material and while it doesn't remove all fantasy, the few elements of such remaining are treated as they would in the real world.

** ''Film/Joker2019'' takes the mundanity of elements of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' UpToEleven:

*** Lazarus Pits are no longer mystical locations where people can be revived, but rather the concept is adapted as a single cylindrical underground prison where Bruce "rises" from the dead after having his back broken by Bane, and is not called by name.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} is pretty grounded as far as superhero works go but the crazier elements get removed in the Creator/ChristopherNolan [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy movies]]. Ra's Al Ghul is no longer immortal but uses body doubles to a similar effect, the Joker doesn't use LaughingGas and other such clown based gimmicks (and uses hair dye and makeup as opposed to his hair and skin being permanently discolored in the comics) and Bane's mask simply provides anesthetic to dull his pain rather than pumping him with [[PsychoSerum Venom]].

* The BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/{{Thunderbirds}}'', The Hood, in addition to his disguises and cunning had the power to control people with his mind, an ability that really stood out in an otherwise tech focused series. In the reboot series ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo'' this power is dropped, leaving the focus on his MasterOfDisguise abilities.

** [[Characters/XMenMojoverse Longshot, Spiral, and Mojo]] are no longer from some wacky dimension with GladiatorGames and bizarre TV shows. Longshot are Sprial are just mutants, and Mojo is just the human owner of a mundane TV channel that films a reality show with Longshot stranded in a jungle and hunters HuntingTheMostDangerousGame.

* ''Series/DoomPatrol2019'' has its version of the [=SeX=] Men being less outlandish than their comic counterparts, being a trio of ordinary people using hi-tech equipment to combat "sex ghosts" rather than bizarre-looking blue-skinned men with lipstick markings on their foreheads and pyramid-shaped appendages on their scalps (and one of them [[LosingYourHead surviving decapitation]]).

* ''Series/DoomPatrol2019'' has its version of the [=SeX=] Men being less outlandish than their comic counterparts, being a trio of ordinary people using hi-tech equipment to combat "sex ghosts" rather than bizarre-looking blue-skinned men with lipstick markings on their foreheads and pyramid-shaped appendages on their scalps (and one of them [[LosingYourHead surviving decapitation]].

* Likewise, Lilandra and the Shi'ar Empire are similarly changed with the Shi'ar now being a ChurchOfHappyology and Lilandra being its very human head.

** [[Characters/XMenMojoverse Longshot, Spiral, and Mojo]] are no longer from some wacky dimension with GladiatorGames and bizarre TV shows. Longshot is just a mutant, and Mojo is just the owner of a mundane TV channel that films a reality show with Longshot stranded in a jungle and hunters HuntingTheMostDangerousGame.

* Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's musical version of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' suggests that the Phantom may have supernatural abilities, though at the end of the day, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane it neither confirms nor denies this]]. [[Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004 The musical's film adaptation]], however, makes it clear that the Phantom doesn't have any special powers, leaving out the more supernatural stuff altogether and explaining other things away by showing how he does them (such as having him pull a lever to raise the gates in his lair or mess with Carlotta's throat spray to make her croak).

* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' an alien with powers far beyond those of mortal men has to fight gangsters every episode because there is no budget for any other FX.

** Cyrus Gold is no longer the immortal zombie, Solomon Grundy but gained super strength from a SuperSerum. He still proves to be one of Arrow's most difficult foes to date.

* ''Fanfic/KitsuneNoKenFistOfTheFox'' transplants the cast of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' into modern-day Japan, with the various ninjas reimagined as delinquents, gangsters, and business owners. Several elements of the manga have been changed to fit this setting.
** Gaara's Gold Dust is a drug instead of ''chakra''-infused sand.

* ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'' is a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover that is set in a normal city in California, which means that unrealistic elements from each piece of media have either been removed or changed to fit the setting. This includes characters' fantastical jobs becoming more mundane (such as [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Professor Oak]] being a vet instead of a Pokémon professor), non-human characters with speaking roles becoming human, other non-humans being turned into normal animals, disabilities being substituted for magical and/or non-human features, medical disorders being substituted for transformation (such as [[WesternAnimation/TurningRed Mei]], instead of a panda transformation, undergoing contrasexual puberty, resulting in her getting as big and hairy as a male teenager) and characters having more human-sounding names. On the other hand, there's a heavy implication that [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane ghosts exist in this universe...]]

* ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'' is a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover that is set in a normal city in California, which means that unrealistic elements from each piece of media have either been removed or changed to fit the setting. This includes characters' fantastical jobs becoming more mundane (such as [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Professor Oak]] being a vet instead of a Pokémon professor), non-human characters with speaking roles becoming human, other non-humans being turned into normal animals, disabilities being substituted for magical and/or non-human features, and characters having more human-sounding names. On the other hand, there's a heavy implication that [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane ghosts exist in this universe...]]

* The MassiveMultiplayerCrossover "[[https://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Wheels.pdf Wheels Within Wheels]]" does this when it introduces characters from more fantastic works into its crime fiction setting. Literature/{{Dracula}} was a mortal with a blood-drinking fetish. [[Comicbook/DoomPatrol Niles Caulder]] runs a vaguely dodgy clinic and [[Comicbook/XMen Charles Xavier]] a home for kids with special needs -- their charges have unusual disabilities, not superpowers. [[Comicbook/IronMan Anthony Stark]] is a Howard Hughes figure, whose "Iron Man" nickname was only ever metaphorical. [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Everett Scott]] and [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Steve Martin]] are simply delusional, as perhaps was [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife George Bailey]]. There are some MaybeMagicMaybeMundane hints to several of these, but Series/{{Ironside|1967}} doesn't have time to look into that nonsense too deeply; he's got a murder to solve.

* The MassiveMultiplayerCrossover "[[https://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Wheels.pdf Wheels Within Wheels]]" does this when it introduces characters from more fantastic works into its crime fiction setting. Franchise/{{Dracula}} was a mortal with a blood-drinking fetish. [[Comicbook/DoomPatrol Niles Caulder]] runs a vaguely dodgy clinic and [[Comicbook/XMen Charles Xavier]] a home for kids with special needs -- their charges have unusual disabilities, not superpowers. [[Comicbook/IronMan Anthony Stark]] is a Howard Hughes figure, whose "Iron Man" nickname was only ever metaphorical. [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Everett Scott]] and [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Steve Martin]] are simply delusional, as perhaps was [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife George Bailey]]. There are some MaybeMagicMaybeMundane hints to several of these, but Series/{{Ironside|1967}} doesn't have time to look into that nonsense too deeply; he's got a murder to solve.

** ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW'' downplays the more wackier aspects of the characters and series. For example, in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' cartoon, The Misfits routinely did things that should end up with them in jail or with various restraining orders, however, they [[KarmaHoudini rarely got their just desserts]]. In the comic, their JerkAss natures are on a more realistic level, where they don't crash parties and disrupt the peace on an episodic basis. The characters' hair colors are also implied to be dyed rather than natural. The comics tone down the more cartoony aspects of the cartoon and give the characters more realistic depth.

* This is a major distinction from regular Marvel in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe. There's no magic, and instead everything comes from mutations, evolution or tech. The stories are overall much more grounded in reality than the more fantastical 616 universe. In fact, all powers here are derived from ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's SuperSoldier serum and the attempts to replicate it. Yes, even mutants.
** Downplayed later on. Although Thor is publicly known as a Scandinavian super soldier knockoff, and his rants about being from Asgard are dismissed as mild mental illness. However, some of his feats strongly imply that he's telling the truth, and later on the ambiguity is done away with- he is indeed a god from Asgard.