Adaptation Relationship Overhauls in Comic Books.
The following have their own pages:
- Afterlife with Archie:
- Betty's and Veronica's relationship is far more bitter than in the main Archie continuity. No Vitriolic Best Buds here, they dislike each other for the most part.
- Traditionally Betty and Archie are childhood friends when Veronica comes to town, usually in high school. Here Veronica and Betty were "friends" until Archie moved into Riverdale during middle school.
- Jughead outright hates Veronica in this continuity. In contrast, the main continuity versions bicker a lot but don't really hate each other.
- Jem and the Holograms (IDW):
- Roxy and Jetta hate each other in the cartoon. In the comics they disliked each other originally but bonded over a mutual interest in boxing, are now best friends, and are even roommates.
- The Misfits don't mind Clash, their groupie who wants to be in their band, hanging around them as much as they did in the cartoon.
- The Holograms overall seem to act more like sisters in the comic. Kimber and Jerrica are the only biologically related ones however Shana and Aja were their foster sisters since childhood. In the cartoons they're all close but the comic portrays them as more familial. Noticeably Kimber and Jerrica actually call Shana and Aja their sisters in the comics.
- Rio in the cartoon is in love with Jem, despite already having a girlfriend, though thankfully at least Jem is his girlfriend. Rio in the comics doesn't like Jem at all and thinks she should leave the band. She comes off as a diva to him and she is constantly ditching the other bandmates (since Jerrica can't be in the same room as Jem).
- Rio and Jerrica are childhood friends in the cartoon and Rio only meets The Misfits once the series starts. In the comics Rio bumps into Jerrica at the start of the series and has worked with The Misfits.
- Synergy has a much bigger role besides just being a supercomputer. She genuinely seems like the girls friend and there's foreshadowing that Synergy is based on Kimber's and Jerrica's deceased mother early on, though in comic canon she isn't based on Jacque.
- It's subtle however the cartoon depicts Roxy as having the best relationship with Stormer, even if she's frequently howling on Stormer. In the comics however Roxy is best friends with Jetta and just seems to have a decent relationship with Stormer.
- Jughead the Hunger:
- In the mainline comics, Jughead and Reggie rarely did worse than pull simple pranks and bicker with one another, and there were often times where they enjoyed each other's company. Here, they both outright hate each other, which only intensifies after Reggie kidnaps Jellybean when Jughead nearly kills him by accident.
- In the main continuity, Betty and Archie are both romantically interested in each other. Here, Betty reveals that it was all a facade to keep up the illusion of a regular high school girl while she was keeping an eye on Jughead. Archie's romantic interest in her quickly fades away as well, though the two remain friends.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- In Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), Eggman describes Maria as his half-sister instead of his cousin. This was changed in order to make the ordeal even more sympathizing. However one interpretation, which is implied, was that he lied in order to garner more sympathy.
- Sonic the Comic:
- Sonic acts like a Big Brother Bully towards Tails in the comic, instead of being a nice older brother figure like in the games.
- Amy and Sonic are on better terms compared to the games as, aside from early issues, Amy isn't a lovestruck fangirl towards Sonic.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
- In the original comics Karai is unrelated to The Shredder Oroku Saki. In the 2003 continuity she's his adopted daughter. In the 2012 series it's originally implied that she's Saki's biological daughter, but later revealed that he took her as a baby and her real father is Hamato Yoshi, making her the turtles' adoptive sister. In the IDW comics she’s his granddaughter.
- The turtles’ feelings towards April change in each continuity. In the original films Raph was teased for being attracted to her. In the 2003 show Don had a Precocious Crush and Mikey finds her hot. In the 2012 series Don has a full blown crush and is Casey's romantic rival. In the 2014 film series Mikey has a stalkerish crush on her. In the 2023 animated film this time Leo is the one with a crush on her which his brothers tease him about.
- In most versions April acts as a Cool Big Sis and Team Mom to the turtles, but in the 2012 series and 2023 film that aspect is mostly removed, likely as a result of her Age Lift into a teenager within the turtles‘ age group.
- While April and Casey are usually an Official Couple, there are exceptions. In the 1987 series, Casey is Demoted to Extra and there is nothing outright romantic between him and April. In the 2012 series, Casey often flirts with April and she sometimes shows signs of reciprocating, but they never officially get together. In the sequel to the 2014 film there’s a moment where Mikey (incorrectly) suspects they are an item, but that’s it.note
- Splinter's dynamic with Hamato Yoshi also changes. Originally he's Yoshi's pet rat mutated into a humanlike form. In some versions (such as the 80s cartoon) he simply is Hamato Yoshi transformed into a rat. In the 2003 series despite being his pet, Splinter views Yoshi as a father figure, even more so when they start communicating through a mystic orb. The turtles likewise respect him as if he were their grandpa. In the IDW comics he’s Yoshi’s reincarnation. In the 2014 films Yoshi doesn't even exist, and they instead view April as their guardian spirit, since she treated them like pets as a child when they were part of her father's science experiment.
- Splinter and the turtles’ relationship has evolved over time. In the original comics, Splinter raised and trained them as tools for revenge against the Shredder, but is later depicted as a caring father figure, while in the 1987 cartoon, Splinter trains the turtles for self-defense rather than revenge-killing, but refers to them as his pupils rather than sons. All following incarnations make it clear Splinter and the Turtles see each other as father and sons respectively and that he trained them for self-defense, making the original comics and cartoon’s portrayal of their dynamic come off as Early-Installment Weirdness nowadays. This gets Lampshaded in Turtles Forever when the 1987 turtles are surprised to hear the 2003 turtles call Splinter "father".
- In IDW's first universe of Transformers comics, the few hetero relationships between Cybertronians that existed in prior media are usually Adapted Out, in part due to the initial attempt to paint Cybertronians as an asexual race — i.e. only males existed except for Arcee, who became a much different character than the original — that was retconned as all the female Cybertronians existing on far off, forgotten colony worlds.
- Optimus Prime and Elita-1's Starcrossed Lovers dynamic is gone entirely, and the two don't know each other, and she plays more of an antagonistic role to Cybertron as a whole.
- Arcee and Springer aren't romantically involved at all, with her most important relationship instead being with Sideswipe.
- Ironhide and Chromia aren't in a relationship, with the only allusion to it being the usually serious Chromia's flustered insistence that Windblade not tell Ironhide that she talked about him. Later on, he'd be the one to arrest her for her crimes, an extreme cry from their wholesome relationship in the G1 cartoon.
