History Main / AdaptationalWimp

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', ''Mario himself'' is given this treatment. Unlike in the games, he ''hates mushrooms'', an upon arriving at the Mushroom Kingdom for the very first time after he and Luigi are accidentally separated in the pipes leading to Luigi emerging from the wrong end and being kidnapped by [[BigBad Bowser]], he has a hard time adjusting to the Toads' culture and even fails miserably during Peach's obstacle course during the TrainingMontage. Mario is also nearly beaten up in a fight against Donkey Kong, or at least until he obtains the Cat Suit powerup, and [[spoiler: during the final battle against Bowser in Brooklyn, Bowser easily overwhelms Mario and his friends, or at least until Luigi, now rescued from Bowser's clutches, intervenes, and helps Mario defeat Bowser using the Super Star Bowser obtained since the beginning of the movie.]] On the other hand, Luigi, despite his cowardly nature and spending most of the movie as a DistressedDude who gets kidnapped and imprisoned by Bowser, along with countless Penguins, [[spoiler: Kongs,]] and Lumalee [[spoiler: so that Bowser can kill them all in front of everyone during his wedding to Peach]], as soon as Mario finally frees him and saves him from being burned alive in Bowser's lava pool, is proven to be ''far more'' competent than Mario when faced against the same enemy, and thus is the only way Mario can successfully defeat Bowser once and for all.

* Many villains in ''WebAnimation/SomethingAbout'' are a lot less threatening there than they are in their source material. No matter how much of a fight they're able to put up in their source material, they all tend to be [[CurbStompBattle defeated within a minute, if not seconds]], by the protagonists. There are a few exceptions to this, being the [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Bonus Game car]], [[VideoGame/Kirby64 02]], and [[spoiler:the Speed Demon.]]

* FinalBoss [[TheDragon Adam Smasher]] in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' was an [[TheJuggernaut absolutely lethal force of nature]] in the [[TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} TTRPG]] and [[Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners anime]], being a LightningBruiser ImplacableMan who in the former is an SNKBoss. There was one fundamental rule with him in the tabletop game: [[HopelessBossFight you didn't fight Adam Smasher unless you wanted to die.]] In the game however, he's a lumbering AntiClimaxBoss who, [[spoiler:[[WorfHadTheFlu after having Arasaka protocols getting fried]]]], manages to be dispatched by a [[YourDaysAreNumbered dying]] [[PlayerCharacter V]] on their last legs.

[[folder:Mythology]]
* In Literature/TheBible, Cherubim are multi-headed four-winged badass warriors. In [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance Renaissance]] art, they're tiny winged babies. Although this is largely due to [[SadlyMythtaken mis-association with the puttos]] of Greco-Roman myth.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLanternEarthOne'': Subverted. It initially seems like the Green Lantern rings are ''much'' weaker in this continuity (one Lantern can barely take down a single Manhunter), until it’s discovered that [[spoiler:the Manhunters have actually sealed off the main power battery on Oa, meaning the rings are only barely charged by ambient green energy traces. When Hal manages to pierce the shielding around it, the Green Lanterns are powered up again and wipe the floor with the Manhunters]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':

** Downplayed in ''ComicBook/SupermanSmashesTheKlan''. As the book is set in the Golden Age, Superman's power set is around that of him at that time (powerful leaps, a measure of invulnerability, super strength, no extra powers). [[spoiler: In the final book, when young Roberta convinces Superman to stop holding back, he starts displaying all of his modern day powers.]]

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'': In this non-canon story, many of Characters/{{the Punisher|FrankCastle}}'s victims are killed in ways that their mainstream canon versions should be able to survive.
** The Punisher's first victim, [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]], is stunned with electricity, then shot dead, with his SpiderSense only warning him when it's already too late. Granted, Peter was distracted since he was fighting Venom at the same time, but he's been shown to easily dodge bullets or even lightning bolts, so evading these tasers should have been no problem for him.
** The Punisher kills the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] by waiting for him to turn back into Bruce Banner and then shooting him. In canon, Bruce has been known to reflexively transform into the Hulk whenever his life is in danger... [[ICannotSelfTerminate even from himself]].
** Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} is killed by [[HighVoltageDeath being reduced to a skeleton after getting electrocuted]]. In canon, his HealingFactor has restored his body after taking that much damage (and in some cases even almost to FromASingleCell levels).

** [[FantasyMetals Adamantium]] gets this in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. The 616 version Adamantium truly lives up to its reputation being completely indestructible (even [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]] has trouble denting it). The Ultimate version of Adamantium on the other hand is only slightly more durable than titanium and the likes of Hulk and Colossus can snap it (along with Wolverine) pretty easily.

* Likewise, many of the more powerful Marvel characters tend to suffer from this in the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series. For the sake of gameplay balance, absolute powerhouses like [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]], ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}, [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] (with the Infinity Gauntlet!) and [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] can be defeated in physical combat by human characters like [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Jill Valentine]], ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}, [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu, Chun-Li]] or [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]]. Yet the biggest sufferer of this is undeniably Shuma-Gorath. Shuma-Gorath in the ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' comics that introduced him basically treated him as up there with the PowersThatBe. He's older than the universe, a RealityWarper, rules countless dimensions, him simply ''existing'' in our world is treated as a massive threat, and Doctor Strange, himself one of the most powerful Marvel heroes, struggles to even keep him contained. The only character in the entire roster who would stand even a chance against him is Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet, and even that's arguable -- Shuma-Gorath fighting someone would basically consist of him blinking them out of existence. But the developers of the franchise didn't know any of this -- rather, they picked Shuma-Gorath because [[RuleOfFun they liked his design and thought it would make a fun and unique character for a fighting game]]. As a result, he shows almost no signs of having ''any'' of the powers of his comic counterpart: his moves almost universally focus on simply having him jump around hitting people with his tentacles, with the occasional round of shapeshifting or EyeBeams to break things up. He did have one move reworked to imply a bit of his true power (Chaos Dimension), but other than that, he comes across as downright cuddly rather than terrifying. Even his endings in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' play him for comedy, with him becoming a gameshow host.

* In Myth/ClassicalMythology, Athena is usually portrayed as a BadassBookworm LadyOfWar who can usually kick fellow WarGod Ares' ass whenever she feels like it; in ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast'', she's reduced to just a DamselInDistress who needs a resurrected, non-godly man to save her.

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'': In this non-canon story, many of the Punisher's victims are killed in ways that their mainstream canon versions should be able to survive.
** The Punisher's first victim, Spider-Man, is stunned with electricity, then shot dead, with his SpiderSense only warning him when it's already too late. Granted, Peter was distracted since he was fighting Venom at the same time, but he's been shown to easily dodge bullets or even lightning bolts, so evading these tasers should have been no problem for him.
** The Punisher kills the Hulk by waiting for him to turn back into Bruce Banner and then shooting him. In canon, Bruce has been known to reflexively transform into the Hulk whenever his life is in danger... [[ICannotSelfTerminate even from himself]].
** Wolverine is killed by [[HighVoltageDeath being reduced to a skeleton after getting electrocuted]]. In canon, his HealingFactor has restored his body after taking that much damage (and in some cases even almost to FromASingleCell levels).
** Among the X-Men characters the Punisher killed by luring them to the moon and nuking them are Apocalypse and the Juggernaut, both of whom should be able to survive even a direct nuclear blast. The former is immortal, while the latter is incapable of being physically damaged.

* ''ComicBook/SpideySuperStories'' featured Thanos at one point, who traveled around in a helicopter and was arrested by the police after dropping the Cosmic Cube.

** [[Characters/EmmaFrostWhiteQueen Emma Frost]] does not have telepathy, only the power to turn into diamond.

** ''Fate/Grand Order: Arcade'' introduces [[spoiler:Larvae/Tiamat, who is essentially Tiamat in SleepModeSize (or at least, a [[GiantWoman Giant Woman's equivalent)]]. As a fragment of her true self, she's naturally less powerful than she was as a Beast, but she suffers most in areas in which she formerly excelled incredibly. She specialized in her absolutely tremendous rankings of her physical attributes, possessing unparalleled strength and durability, befitting of being the primordial dragon of Mesopotamian myth, with a Monstrous Strength skill to make her even more of a juggernaut. In her Larval incarnation, they rank at a subpar C, with the aforementioned skill removed and her agility score ''still'' being worse.]]
** The [[spoiler:twenty-two demons as described in the Lesser Key of Solomon all had [[OurDemonsAreDifferent different designs, designations and powers from each other.]] In contrast, all of the Demon Pillars here look very similar and are part of a greater MindHive where most of them aren't as distinct from one another.]]

** The [=OAV=] of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' does this to both Marth ''and'' Caeda. In the game, Marth was somewhat naïve with a soft touch but eager to get the job done. Caeda was a devoted ActionGirl who was fighting beside him right from chapter 1. Here, Marth is a mopey EmoKid who cries at the thought of killing a deer while poor Caeda catches the DistressBall and instead of rushing in to fight the pirates, ''tosses Marth the sword'' and sits in the backlines folding bandages -- and she's portrayed as a {{Tsundere}} to boot.

** Sun Wukong is nowhere as invincible as his novel counterpart, though he's still stronger than his brothers. His [[InASingleBOund abilities to leap 3,000 miles with a single jump]] is also reduced to a slightly longer leap.

* ''WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged'' has Luke Valentine. In the [[Manga/{{Hellsing}} source material]], Luke was ''always'' a BigBadWannabe, but his BadassBoast about how he surpassed Alucard in every way managed to impress him for a bit, though the moment was short-lived the instant Alucard went [[LetsGetDangerous Release Restraint Level 1]] on his ass and discovered that Luke was all bark and little bite. Even then, Luke at least attempted to fire back with a BreakingSpeech before he was rendered "dog food" by Alucard's familiar. Here, all Luke's hyping does is ''annoy'' Alucard (though the annoyance was more so caused by him breaking his recently-acquired television), and he's hardly taken the least bit seriously before Alucard reduces him to an [[InelegantBlubbering inelegant mess]].

* In ''WebOriginal/ShadowrunStorytime'', the GM took except to [=WildCat=] being something of a CreatorsPet in the canon ''Shadowrun'' universe. Instead of being the Sioux Nation special forces, he downgraded them to a fourth-rate police PMC just one step above the laughably incompetent [=HardCorps=].

* Madeline of all people loses her good luck from prior works in the film ''My Fair Madeline'', whose resultant [[TooBleakStoppedCaring upsetting plot]] slaughters [[WesternAnimation/{{Madeline}} her home series]]. Downplayed in that she was unlucky there, but still, the franchise would continue running had the movie's creators not made her TheWoobie.

* In ''VideoGame/LegoMarvelSuperHeroes'', despite the fact that he's the leader of one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth, ComicBook/BlackPanther can't use the computer panels that other geniuses and tech-based characters like ComicBook/IronMan, [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]], [[Characters/{{AIM}} M.O.D.O.K.]], ComicBook/BlackWidow, and ComicBook/AntMan can. Thankfully, they rectified this in [[VideoGame/LegoMarvelSuperHeroes2 the sequel]].

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adaptational.png]]]]

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adaptational_wimp_upgrade.png]]]]

* {{Downplayed|Trope}} by the Spot in ''SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse''. His powers are as effective as ever, but in this film, they're finite. He has a limited number of spots to open portals with and has to absorb dark matter to replenish them.

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', Aaron Burr is depicted as a quiet pushover who simply goes along with the winning side no matter what he personally believes (until he TookALevelInBadass following "The Room Where it Happens"), and politically he refuses to take any hard stances in order to avoid burning bridges. In real life, Aaron Burr was incredibly ambitious and was absolutely not afraid to get into a fight; he was the first of the show's characters to join the Revolution, and politically he was a bonafide genius, inventing the form of electioneering that we still use today and pulling an incredibly cunning maneuver to con the Federalists out of their banking monopoly. In fact, his {{Catchphrase}} of "talk less, smile more" more accurately describes Jefferson than it does Burr.

** Shinryu is a recurring {{Superboss}} in the series, completely optional and the player has to either have maxed out his party or to even stand a chance against it. Nova Dragon, as Shinryu is called in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', is a storyline boss so it is mandatory for the heroes to beat it.

Bottom: [[WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}} The reason why everyone still thinks Aquaman is weak]]. ([[ComicallyMissingThePoint Wait a minute]], [[ArtisticLicensePhysics how are those flying fish supporting his weight?]])]]

** At the same time, Nemesis was severely nerfed from his status of HeroKiller in the original to much more of an ineffective killer, as best summed up by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfwvNUxF2uw Pastra's review]] which goes into great analysis how the game's heavy use of scripted chases, big spectacle boss battles, and serious changes to the game's mechanics severely {{Nerf}}ed Nemesis into someone "who anyone could take down":

* Jill Valentine in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' gets a case of this. The original game had her being able to go toe to toe with the Nemesis and she's caught off guard only once when it uses its tentacle to infect her. The remake has her getting her ass kicked and tossed around like a ragdoll by the Nemesis and she's nearly always limping away when she finally loses him each time.

** Stalfos were difficult minibosses in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]''. Here they're just mid-level squad leaders. Granted, they were low-level {{Mooks}} in [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda the first game]], and in the series overall, the state of any monster can fluctuate between this and AdaptationalBadass from game to game.