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Adaptational Badass / Live-Action TV

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Adaptational Badass in Live-Action TV.

Shows with their own pages

  • Alex Rider (2020): Alex, in a way. Instead of being bullied into going undercover, he's just about decided to do it to find out who killed his uncle when the bullying starts. He also argues his way into joining the rescue mission back into Point Blanc, rather than being tricked into going back.
  • In Arrow, this is done to the titular Arrow himself, Oliver Queen, at least in terms of his capabilities in hand-to-hand combat. While Ollie in the comics was never a bad fighter per se, he couldn't hold a candle to the much deadlier hand-to-hand combatants of the DCU (such as Batman or Lady Shiva) and instead relied more on his Trick Arrows and expert marksmanship. In the show, Oliver regularly goes up against expert fighters and, due to a limited number of arrows and lack of tricks, he tends to spend more time during fights smacking people with his fists and bow rather than shooting them. This comes to a head in Season 3, as Ras al Ghul considers him a Worthy Opponent after coming back to life from their first duel and tries to make him his heir before Ollie manages to kill him at the end of the season.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Sokka still loses to Zuko in their initial fight, but puts up a much better performance compared to the original, where he is beaten in one blow that is Played for Laughs.
    • During their Agni Kai, Zuko actually dared to fight Ozai. Even if he got curbstomped fast, it's a far contrast to the original, where he collapsed in tears upon learning that he had to face his father.
    • Yue, a nonbender in the original, has been turned into a Waterbender in the adaptation. She can also enter the Spirit World as a fox, whereas there is no indication that she has such a skill in the cartoon.
    • In the original, while Katara is a powerful Waterbender, she still needs to study under Pakku for several weeks before she is deemed a master. In the adaptation, she becomes a self-taught prodigy who is recognized as a master a day after meeting Pakku.
  • The Boys (2019):
  • Brave New World: Lenina was a much more shallow character in the books, only deviating mildly from social norms; here, she's fleshed out much more and grows actively defiant. Linda is also a lot stronger here and shows useful skills, whereas in the book she's a weak, useless person. John, unlike his book counterpart, also successfully makes many New Londoners question their society and helps inspire a revolution. He's quick to use violence (or incite others) in contrast with his book counterpart, too..
  • Dexter: In the novels, while still a serial killer, Dexter Morgan is a far less capable fighter who usually avoids physical altercations and often gets smacked around by the Big Bad or even mooks. Compare this with TV Dexter, who's a black belt capable of holding his own against former special ops agent Doakes (who in the first novel he admitted to being intimidated by) and who has physically bested cops, serial killers, gangsters etc.
  • Doom Patrol (2019):
    • Negative Man zig-zags this a little bit; Larry doesn't have the sixty-second time limit he does in the comics, with the Negative Spirit being able to release for any period of time. But after the Bureau of Normalcy experiment on him, he then gets the limitations he had from the comics. The finale plays it straight where he channels the Negative Spirit through his body without it leaving his body.
    • Speaking of the Negative Spirit, it can do way more in the show than it can in the comics, with the implication that even Mr. Nobody can't stop it.
    • Robotman is a downplayed example; his strength was rarely useful in the stranger iterations of the source material, but the addition of more grounded goons in the program gives Cliff more things he can effectively punch.
    • Darren Jones is a much bigger threat in the show, thanks in part to being the head of the Bureau of Normalcy as opposed to a random civilian who attacked people with stolen goods.
    • Beard Hunter downplays this; he is, for the most part, a complete joke, but his obsession with beards definitely didn't give him actual powers in the comics, and he was able to outmaneuver and emotionally devastate Cyborg in his first meeting with the Doom Patrol.
  • Elementary: While the Watson of this series is less physically capable than the Watson of the books, being a surgeon rather than an army doctor, her intellectual capabilities are enhanced. In the books, Holmes is the one who brings down Moriarty. In "Heroine", Watson is the one who figures out that Moriarty is in love with Sherlock and launches the plan to capture her. As a result, Moriarty upgrades her to a Worthy Opponent, just like Sherlock.
    • Watson eventually becomes quite good with a collapsible baton, a reference to Holmes' singlestick skills.
    • Irene Adler gets an upgrade since she is actually a cover identity for Moriarty.
  • Emerald City:
    • Toto is a K9 police dog. It'd be strange if he weren't tougher.
    • Lucas is now a young and strong warrior, unlike his counterpart the Scarecrow.
    • The Munchkins rather than being gentle, non-violent farmers are a culture of fierce, hardy fighters called the Munja'kin.
  • Gypsy in the comics had the ability to turn intangible and wasn't much of a frontline combatant. Her debut in The Flash (2014) turns her into a breacher like Cisco as well as a universe hopping bounty hunter and certifiable badass.
  • Fallout (2024): Ghouls have received a serious power-up in the series when compared to their video game counterparts. In the games, ghouls were simply over-irradiated Long-Lived humans who were healed by radiation rather than being harmed by it, but they had to contend with slowly rotting away and losing their mental faculties. In the series, while they are still Living on Borrowed Time, ghouls now possess an absurdly powerful Healing Factor, seemingly Feel No Pain, and seem to only be killable by Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain.
  • Good Eats often painted Louis Pasteur, father of bacteriology, as a heroic historical figure (as his discoveries led to improvements in food safety). One episode, "Milk Made", definitely fits the trope, as it features him taking down a Food Police helicopter with a flamethrower.note 
  • Gotham:
    • In the comics and most adaptations (such as the Batman: Arkham Series), Victor Zsasz is just a serial killer who relies mainly on ambush tactics and fear, but who's not very tough in a straight fight. In here, he's the most feared mob hitman who can throw down with the best of them.
    • While the Penguin has always been one of the most formidable villains, he is usually depicted in a comedic manner. This Oswald Cobblepot is substantially more serious and dangerous than most past incarnations, is more willing to kill, and is a Magnificent Bastard to boot.
    • Every other version of the Batman story has Bruce's parents being simply there to get killed in front of him and instill his hatred of crime. This time, Thomas is revealed to have been well on his way to becoming a crime fighter himself when he was killed, and it's clear that Bruce's transformation into Batman will be built on what he started. This seems to be inspired by the comic's story "Flashpoint", which presented an alternate universe in which Thomas became Batman.
    • The version of Jim Gordon that appears in the series has fought against and defeated many of the most dangerous and deranged criminals that make up Batman's rogues gallery, all without the help of Batman. In some cases even rivaling the prowess of Batman himself.
  • In one episode of the 1970s Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries, Nancy is depicted as being skilled in judo. She flips Frank to the floor when he attempts to remove her luggage from a hotel room they're fighting over. (Much to Nancy's surprise, however, this fails to intimidate Frank into backing off, because the hotel room was Frank and Joe's only lead to finding their missing father.) Whatever skills Nancy possessed in the books, a proficiency in any martial art was not one of them. There were far too many stories in which Nancy was overpowered, kidnapped, and tied up by the villains for that to be the case.
  • This was done to Deianeira in the made-for-tv Hercules movie. In classical myths, she was a human princess that was married to Hercules long after he finished his labors and more famous for having to be saved from some horny centaur. In this movie, Deianeira is a ass-kicking wood nymph who doesn't require saving at all — on the contrary, she is the one who saves him a couple of times.
  • Joe Pickett : Wacey, The Heavy, has elements of a Paper Tiger in the first book (ambushing Ote Keely and his friends while they are sleeping). In season 1, he faces and defeats four men in a relatively fair gunfight and, after running out of bullets, shoots a fleeing Ote in the back with a bow while they are both riding galloping horses.
  • The Last Kingdom:
    • While Brida was formidable in the books, she wasn't the axe-throwing Action Girl she is here.
    • In the novels, Father Beocca is badly physically handicapped and rather naïve. The show makes him more physically able and perceptive, culminating in making him a warrior at the Battle of Ethandun (where he briefly becomes a Composite Character with the ex-warrior Father Pyrlig).
    • Although Svein of the White Horse, the character Skorpa replaces, was a perfectly respectable badass viking in the books, he didn't have anything like the Ax-Crazy manner that Skorpa does in the series. He also didn't get the better of Uhtred after the raid or personally kill Iseult.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: While Galadriel was certainly no dainty Damsel in Distress in the source material (Tolkien even explicitly described her as being of amazon disposition in her youth in one of his letters and detailed her fighting on behalf of her Telerin kin at the Kinslaying at Alqualondë in The Silmarillion), she was never quite described as being the fierce, Action Girl legendary Warrior Princess that she is here, nor a hardened battle commander. On the other hand in the source material she’s accordingly one of the most magically powerful Elves ever being from Valinor, while here she doesn’t display or use any overt magic power beyond telepathy.
  • The Mandalorian:
    • Season 2 Chapter 9 does this to the Greater Kyrat Dragon of Tatoonie. While the creature never appears in the flesh, it's apparently a fearsome predator which the Tusken Raiders greatly fear. The old EU artwork of the creature though just showed a fairly large dragon-like creature◊, no scarier than any of the other beasts in the universe. In The Mandalorian however though the Kyrat Dragon is revamped into a massive mountain-sized sand◊ Kaiju which can shoot acid from its mouth and is nigh-invulnerable from the outside, forcing Mando to Kill It Through Its Stomach. Making the monster's reputation well earned.
    • The Super Battle Droids, despite their name and appearance, always boil down to unthreatening and ridiculous Mecha-Mooks cannon fodder for the heroes to effortlessly destroy like their fellow Clankers. In The Mandalorian during a Flash Back to Mando's Dark and Troubled Past as a child, we see a few Battle Droids decimate his entire village and kill his parents without a hint of goofiness. This succeeds in making the Battle Droids genuinely menacing, unlike in previous Star Wars media, although granted they weren't fighting Jedi or a Clone Army in this instance.
  • Once Upon a Time: Snow White is an Action Girl, Red Riding Hood is a werewolf and an Action Girl, while her grandmother is a former werewolf and a crossbow-wielding badass.
    • Also, Rumpelstiltskin is a future-seeing, dark magic wielding Magnificent Bastard and the miller's daughter is a dark sorceress and a ruthless queen.
    • Also, Prince Charming is a tried and true sword fighter who is also impeccably brave. He was trained to sword fight by none other than Princess Anna.
    • Peter Pan goes from being Badass to also getting brains, having his Shadow be an extension of his power and running Neverland like a prison warden.
    • Also, Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk is now a giant slayer rather than a giant evader.
  • Spinoff Once Upon a Time in Wonderland applies this to Alice, who grew up and became a skilled fighter in Wonderland, as well as to the Red Queen, who's an intelligent and powerful witch instead of a blustering chess queen who doesn't do much besides telling Alice illogical things.
  • One Piece (2023):
    • Nami earlier on the manga couldn't defeat more than two or three Mooks with her Martial Arts Staff, and usually would wind up a Damsel in Distress in need of saving/protection from her stronger crewmates if there were numerous enemies around her. In this series however, Nami makes Donatello proud being able to fight and take down a dozen marines alongside Luffy and Zoro with her bo-staff in the first episode. She also joins the boys in the raid on Arlong Park, rather than crying in the village during all the asskicking and only reappearing after most of the Arlong Pirates are defeated, like in the manga.
    • Morgan in the manga couldn't so much as land a hit on Luffy with his namesake axe-hand and got cut down by Zoro before he could accomplish his back attack on Luffy (who was focused on saving Koby from Helmeppo). In this series, by contrast, Morgan effectively fights both Luffy and Zoro simultaneously and manages to knock them both around, putting up a helluva fight before Luffy takes him out with a Gum Gum Whip.
    • Buggy in the manga is a legendary Boisterous Weakling who uses cheap tactics and sneak attacks as well as exploiting his Devil Fruit, the Chop Chop fruit, to get the upper hand. In this series he's much more formidable giving Luffy, Zoro and Nami the fight of their lives and almost killing them before they figure out they can trap his detached limbs. Additionally two weaknesses of his fruit from the manga have been removed: he no longer needs to keep his feet planted on the ground, and he can mitigate damage from punches by selectively popping certain parts off his body.
    • In the manga, Kuro's Super-Speed was so intense for him that he couldn't see where he was going while moving, causing him to attack everything and everyone indiscriminately with his Out of the Bag Attack. He shows no such blindness in the series as he Flash Steps all over the manor with perfect control.
    • Sham and Buchi in the manga generally relied on sneakiness and good ol' pirate pragmatism, only giving Zoro any trouble due to stealing away two of his swords and Buchi in particular getting hypnotized into being stronger by Jango. Here on the other hand, they both give Zoro a real fight without getting empowered (since Jango is Adapted Out of Syrup Village) and they can match him for a while even when he is using two swords against them. Sham in particular knocked out Zoro cold in an earlier scene with a sneak attack, and manages to steal Wado Ichimonji out from under Zoro's nose.
    • Downplayed, but the Arlong Pirates (namely Arlong and Kuroobi) get a considerable amount of this compared to the manga version, despite being much less physically huge. To explain, while they were undeniably extremely powerful in the source material as well, being alongside Hachi and Chu, the strongest antagonists of East Blue (barring Smoker), Arlong and Kuroobi nevertheless only gave Luffy and Sanji a real challenge respectively up until the latter two's Let's Get Dangerous! berserk buttons being pushed — which resulted in Arlong and Kuroobi getting stomped. This was also on top of other factors, such as Luffy accidentally getting his feet stuck in stone which Arlong took full advantage of by throwing him in the ocean and Kuroobi getting a strength boost from fighting Sanji underwater and taking advantage of Sanji being distracted by Zoro's wound reopening. Here in this series however, Arlong and Kuroobi are able to decisively defeat both Luffy and Sanji in their first bout at the Baratie, and the only reason Luffy doesn't get killed by Arlong is because Nami convinces the latter to dump him in the ocean rather than bite his throat open.
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
    • Sally Jackson was a loving mother, but in the novels, she was fairly passive and put up with Gabe's abuse. In the first episode, she displays Mama Bear traits, standing up to Gabe and trying to side-swipe the Minotaur.
    • In the original novel, Percy only wins the fight against Clarisse and the other members of the red team during capture the flag after he's forced into the river and gets a boost of strength. Here, he's able to take them on three-to-one with little difficulty outside of his native element, and only gets shoved in the river by Annabeth after the fight is over so that his wounds can heal.
    • Compared to his Cowardly Lion book counterpart, Grover is shown to be much more braver as he was willing to ignore Chiron and Mr. D's strict orders of not telling Percy that Sally is still alive, even doing so right in front of them and knowing Mr. D would be ticked off.
  • Power Rangers:
    • Tommy Oliver is this in regards to every single one of his Super Sentai counterparts thanks to his eventual status as a Living Legend. While Burai in Zyuranger was a dangerous and powerful fighter, he was still defeated and beaten down decisively by Geki in the end. Mighty Morphin' edited out the final scenes of the Red Ranger cutting down the Green Ranger, thus making Tommy look invincible and nigh unbeatable. Tommy's also not as plagued with his counterpart's inability to join the fray, especially after he regains the Green Ranger powers. His Dairanger Kibaranger counterpart was nowhere near the most powerful member of the team and was, in fact, taken down by Ryu Ranger with a single punch, whereas Tommy as the White Ranger was able to defeat Goldar and multiple other monsters all at once. His next four Sentai counterparts (Tsuruhime, Goro, Kyosuke, and Asuka) are also badasses, but they're not Living Legends like him.
    • In a series that typically keeps most characters similar to the originals, Kat from Power Rangers S.P.D. is shown to be a better and more competent fighter than her counterpart in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger. Unlike her counterpart, Kat does battle a group of mooks unmorphed and generally is presented a lot more serious and determined. (This even continues into the episode where Swan/Kat gets a one-shot Ranger morph. Perhaps the only differences between the two versions of that episode: Kat fights the Mecha-Mooks unmorphed for quite some time; Swan morphs the moment they appear. Kat gets to do Judgment Time; Swan doesn't.) Also, Ben-G, who had had a beef with sentai Doggie for capturing him earlier, is now a general of the invaders who nearly wiped out Doggie's planet in the backstory, and gets a two-parter as Doggie tries to overcome his Heroic BSoD and avenge his world.
    • A minor version with the Fear Cats and Tyzonn in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (Minor because it's confined to one battle.) While the Fear Cats school the Overdrive Rangers as badly as the Questers did the Boukengers, there are two differences: The Overdrive Rangers have some vehicles in their arsenal the Boukengers don't, and the Questers' power source interferes with the Boukengers' suits so badly they could barely stand, let alone fight, making the Sixth Ranger with the new power source the only one who could fight at all in his debut episode, while this plot point was left out of Power Rangers. This means where the Questers beat up on highly compromised Rangers who could barely stand, the Fear Cats were pounding the daylights out of Rangers who were fighting at 100% potential and breaking out things like flying bikes with laser cannons, and the Mini-Mecha that once took out two monsters at once without breaking a sweat. (It also means we have to add Tyzonn, the Sixth Ranger, to this list, because his Ranger debut, singlehandedly taking on both of them and forcing their retreat, is a more impressive feat here.)
    • This applied to "Zeo" and "space" teams during the Zordon-era. Because the rangers constantly grow in power and experience, they are more powerful than the "Morphin" and "Turbo" teams respectively. In the original sentai, there is nothing to indicate that one generation is more powerful or weaker than another.
  • Preacher (2016):
    • In the comics, Tulip is a fairly normal woman who happens to be a crack shot. She toys with the idea of becoming an assassin but backs out when she sees a photo of her target. In the show, she's a Boisterous Bruiser career criminal and action hero who takes out a helicopter with a home-made bazooka in the first episode.
    • Starr is given many more opportunities to be badass than his comic counterpart, and his humiliating moments are usually less pronounced. For example, in both versions, he's raped by male prostitutes, but in the comics, he's horrified and develops a complex about it, while in the series he tolerates it with stoic indifference and continues working in the middle of the ordeal.
    • Eccarius in the comics is an insufferable poser who bases his whole personality on cheesy vampire fiction. Cassidy kills him for being a murderous asshole. In the show, he still enjoys the trappings of gothic vampirism but has a sense of humor about it. He is also quite a bit more powerful than his comics version as well as Cassidy himself, forcing Cassidy to enlist Les Enfants du Sanc to help bring him down.
  • Riverdale: In Archie Comics, Archie Andrews was well known as a scrawny klutz, and most of the other characters are regular people not known for getting into fights. Here, Archie is incredibly buff and strong, and he and several characters are well versed in hand to hand combat. Cheryl Blossom is highly trained in archery. Jughead gets it more than anyone else, joining a gang and eventually becoming its leader.
  • In The Sandman (2022), the Corinthian is considerably more proactive and capable than the comic, where he's a nightmare taking advantage of Dream's imprisonment to indulge himself but is easily unmade when he's freed. In the series he provides assistance to keep Dream imprisoned, helps John Dee in hopes the man will destroy him, and manipulates Rose Walker and an assembly of serial killers into creating an alternate dream world that lets him resist and injure Dream when he comes to retrieve the rogue nightmare.
  • In the Shadowhunters episode "The Mortal Cup", Dot helps Jocelyn fight off some of Valentine's minions, although she ultimately fails to stop them from kidnapping Jocelyn. Her counterpart Madame Dorothea does no fighting in either City of Bones or The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.
  • The Shannara Chronicles: Although she does get captured a lot, the show's Amberle still is introduced while beating boys in a race and she's quite skilled with weapons.
  • Sherlock:
  • Done once in a while in the Granada adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. For example, in "The Lady Frances Carfax", Watson chases down and shoots the villain at the climax (in the original the villain got away), and in "The Solitary Cyclist", we get to see Holmes and Woodley's fistfight rather than just hearing Holmes mention it.
  • Smallville:
    • Season 9 transformed B-list villain The Icicle II into a menace whose presence alone was enough to turn any room into an arctic wasteland. He's able to take out three Justice Society members before being stopped. Season 10 does the same thing with Desaad, changing his from a sniveling Dirty Coward into a Serial Killer whose Psychic Powers allow him to take on Superman.
    • Lana Lang in the original DCU continuity wasn't even half as badass as she comes off in Smallville. Even at her best, she was the outspoken Daily Planet Editor who was a vocal supporter of an aged Batman. In Smallville Lana is apparently a kickass martial artist, skilled hacker, and master tactician whose skill could apparently rival that of renowned, albeit younger, Chess Master Lex Luthor, much to his chagrin and respect.
    • In the comics Lex Luthor's fighting abilities vary, but typically he isn't much of a physical threat (intellectually is another matter) without his warsuit. On Smallville he was a deadly martial artist who once battled Green Arrow to a draw in a Gun Kata duel.
    • Lionel Luthor, Lex's Abusive Dad, is usually little more than an alcoholic brute. Smallville made him the prototypical Lex, a grandiose Corrupt Corporate Executive and master manipulator, as well as a top-tier Badass Normal. Said one Internet reviewer "even in a show with meteor freaks and aliens, Lionel always managed to feel like the most powerful person in the room."
  • In the Star Trek franchise, the genetically engineered superhuman augments of the late 20th century (as personified by Khan) have gotten increasingly badass in each progressive series (due largely to progressively better special effects budgets). In the original Star Trek Khan "had the strength of five men", but Kirk could still hold his own against him in a fistfight by being a Combat Pragmatist. The young Augments in Enterprise could dodge disruptor bolts, punch Klingons across the room, and even resist stun shots from a phaser. Finally, Khan in Star Trek into Darkness is a One-Man Army who wipes out an entire Klingon platoon pretty much single-handedly while dual-wielding a phaser rifle and what looks like a vehicle-mounted beam weapon, turns the other cheek and lets Kirk beat on him to absolutely no effect, and shrugs off phaser stun shots and even the Vulcan neck pinch.
  • Played for Laughs in The Toy Castle: In "Little Red Riding Hood", Grandma (played by an uncooperative Goblin) isn't having any nonsense from the Wolf (played by an equally uncooperative Clown), and is able to trick him into the closet instead of the Wolf stealing Grandma's bed.
  • Ultra Series:
    • Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero: Pestar, Aboras and Dorako are all more formidable foes here. Pestar in the original series got itself killed with no need for Ultraman to fight, here it gets a proper tough match against Powered. Banila was a punching bag of Aboras who was killed off quickly before Ultraman arrived, while in here it gets to fight Ultraman at equal footing with its rival. And Dorako's role in the original series was to exist solely to be killed off by Red King as proof of the monster's might and never fought Ultraman (and even if it had, it would've likely been killed in seconds). In this series, Dorako is instead the most powerful monster besides Zetton and it is the Alien Baltans' penultimate weapon against Powered, almost defeating the Ultra in a fair fight; it even kills this series' Red King for good measure.
    • Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Grande's Red King is far tougher and smarter than the average one, even those seen in this series. It can tear apart the juggernaut robot, King Joe Black, without breaking a sweat and it can plow through an army of those as well; it can also match Rei's Gomora in strength and agility as well as intelligence.
    • Ultraman R/B: Red King in this series is much more noticeably tough than any past incarnation besides Grande's Red King, it isn't a Dumb Muscle kaiju, it lacks an Achilles' Heel to exploit, uses tactics to incapacitate and exploit Rosso and Blu's weaknesses and there's little comedy derived from it.
    • Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga: The Dark Giants (Carmeara, Darrgon and Hudram) in this series are much stronger than the original ones: Camearra, Darramb, and Hudra were, as Tiga's base power was enough to destroy two of them and compete with Camearra. Here he needs an upgrade to be able to stand against them at their full strength.
  • The Umbrella Academy
    • The Boy aka Number Five: in the comics his only power was Time Travel which he never uses in a fight. In the Netflix show Five's power is explicitly Teleportation which not only helps him travel through time like the comic but he also uses it to lethal effect when attacked. Season 2 takes it even further as Five is able to rewind time by seconds to save his family and himself from getting gun down by The Handler which is far more badass than anything Five does in the comics.
    • Diego in Season 2. He started off having Adaptational Wimp getting his Super Not-Drowning Skills from the comics removed but thanks to Adaptational Super Power Change, his ability is changed to a form of telekinesis where he can redirect bullets away from himself, which is way more impressive than his comic counterpart's superpower. This also explains his Improbable Aiming Skills with knives.
    • Hazel and Cha-Cha: while very effective (albeit psychotic) hitman in the comic, they had no superpowers and relied on tools and traps and were tricked into killing themselves by Klaus. In the Netflix show Hazel is strong enough to fight and overpower Luther while Cha-Cha effectively fights Allison and Diego.
    • Sir Reginald Hargreeves was a fencing master in the comics, but we never see him take part in the action and he lets his adoptive children do all the fighting. In the second season, Hargreeves actually goes toe to toe with his martial artist expert son Diego and wins by shanking him in the chest and walks away with his pet chimpanzee.
  • The Walking Dead upgraded many of the Non Action Guys, Neutral Females and emotionally-wrecked/unstable characters from the comic into Stronger Than They Look Action Survivors, if not, full-fledged action type characters.
    • Glenn went from a Non-Action Guy to an Action Survivor from the comics to a combat-proficient Action Survivor from the get-go in the series.
    • In the comic, Lori would often fumble with her gun, and Carl saved her on more than one occasion. In the show, she is making headshots at night without panicking.
    • Maggie Greene went from an emotionally fragile girl from the comic to an emotionally strong and assertive in the show. Not only that, but the series also made her the most competent Action Girl of the group until Michonne joins in Season 3. And if you take into account that Michonne is bad with guns, Maggie is still the group's ace female marksman. Not that Maggie is bad at melee, either.
    • Because Carol is given tons of Adaptational Angst Upgrade, she Took a Level in Badass in Season 3 and becomes much, much more combat proficient and emotional stability than her comic counterpart.
    • Due to being Spared by the Adaptation, Shane was able to showcase a lot of his badassness in the TV series.
    • The series also gave the already Badass Governor a strong set of manipulative skills.
  • The Witcher (2019):
    • Yennefer gets this overall. She’s a strong-willed and magically powerful Hot Witch in the books, but she still ends up as a Damsel in Distress a fair bit. As seen in the short story “The Bounds of Reason“, where she gets tied to a wagon topless by Reavers and has to be saved by Geralt. In the episode adapting the story, Yennefer fights the Reavers back to back with Geralt armed with a dagger. Yennefer’s magical prowess is taken up a notch as well as seen in the finale where she obliterates most of the Nilfgaardian army with major Playing with Fire powers, something that didn’t happen in the books or games.
    • The Striga Geralt fights in the third episode. In the book “The Last Wish”, it’s the first monster Geralt fights and he easily deals with it by using his magic and his Super Serum potion. The Striga only gravely wounds Geralt at the end, after turning back into a girl and biting his neck when he was off-guard. In the episode adaptation, the Striga gives Geralt a brutal fight, thrashing the hell out of him and forcing him to pull out every trick to overpower and trap it.
    • Queen Calanthe. In the book, she’s an Almighty Mum and powerful authority figure, but she still behaves like stereotypical royalty commanding others rather than doing anything herself. In the show however, she’s an outright Warrior Queen and Blood Knight who directly fights on the battlefield, racking up quite the body count and even matches her blade with Geralt’s.
  • In the comic books Wonder Woman has two separate lariats, the lasso of compulsion and the lasso of truth. They are both unbreakable, but otherwise have different powers and she cannot effectively use both at the same time unless one of her Wonder Girl side kicks holds the other for her. Wonder Woman (1975) gives Wonder Woman a magic lasso with all of the powers both her lariats have in the comics, as well as some powers neither had in the comics, such as a "minor" wish granting ability when an ensnared person wants to have her memory erased and the lasso complies. What's more, the show's Wonder Girl has an exact replica of the lasso, so they can both use all the powers in two different locations.
  • The Worst Witch
    • Agatha Cackle and her cronies were quite easily defeated by Mildred casting a spell to turn them into snails. In the TV series, they manage to outwit her and reach the school, even succeeding in turning Miss Cackle into a frog. They return in the Season 1 finale with another plan that comes quite close to succeeding.
    • Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom in the books were merely just the girls' teachers with little mention of their powers. In the TV series, they are very powerful witches and demonstrate great power. Miss Cackle is able to freeze Agatha and her cronies effortlessly while Miss Hardbroom is able to stop a powerful magical blizzard that would have covered the entire world.

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