Adaptational Badass in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Iron Man: The main hero himself, or at least his early armors, which are far more powerful than the earlier armors Tony employed in the comics. His most traditional armor tends to only include repulsors and the Uni-beam as weapons, but the film also adds in a lot of hidden missiles and weapons, and draws more from the later armor models than the original versions. Really Tony overall is much more powerful in most of his "normal" armors than he's usually depicted as in comics: with his early Mark VI Armour in The Avengers (2012), he's able knock Thor around (who was probably holding back but it's impressive regardless) and even outright beat Loki. In the New York battle with Mark VII, Tony kills a Chitauri Leviathan (the humongous flying centipede-snake things) from the inside out and then flies at top speed into a portal and destroys the Chitauri Mothership with a nabbed nuclear missile as a Heroic Sacrifice. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Mark XLIV aka Hulkbuster armor gets this treatment as it actually lives up to its name and busts the Hulk. Oh, and less we forget with the Mark L, Tony fights Thanos
when he first meets him in Avengers: Infinity War, while in the comics Tony was beaten easily◊ by the Mad Titan when they first met. In Avengers: Endgame, Tony (unarmored) walks off getting smashed by The Hulk and by the climax is the one who kills Thanos and his army, neither of which comic Tony has done. - As the franchise went on, Captain America. He went from just a man in "peak" human condition thanks to his Super Serum to explicitly superhuman (much like his Ultimate Marvel counterpart). In Captain America: Civil War, he manages to temporarily stop a helicopter from taking off with one arm. Also, MCU Cap held his own against Ultron and made him struggle, this contrasts to the comics where Cap tends to get swatted aside anytime he and The Avengers try to fight Ultron in close quarters. Better yet in Endgame, Cap effectively uses Mjölnir (in conjunction with his shield) to beat the crap out of Thanos, while in the comics Cap has never done anything remotely that awesome even when he did wield Mjölnir.
- Combined with Adaptation Distillation and Composite Character; in the comic, Whiplash was just a guy with a bulletproof but ridiculous looking costume and two whips who could take on Iron Man's early armors, but was easily outmatched when Tony got some upgrades. Iron Man 2 mixed him with another villain called Crimson Dynamo and revised him as a Genius Bruiser and Magnificent Bastard who could actually hurt Iron Man's more advanced armor.
- Pepper Potts, while she has her moments, is mostly a regular non-action lady in the comics. In the movies, however, Pepper has several big kick-ass moments. First, there’s Iron Man 3 where she gets injected with the Extremis virus and kills the villain, then there’s Endgame where Pepper dons her own Powered Armour and wrecks Thanos’s army alongside Tony. Oh, and unlike the comics where Pepper’s armor has no direct offensive weaponry, in the movie she has freaking laser beams and missiles.
- Peggy Carter and Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger not only went into Ascended Extra territory, but they were also upgraded into a badass army officer and a No Celebrities Were Harmed Howard Hughes that help Cap in his missions.
- What If…? (2021) Episode 1 dials this up with Peggy, as in this universe she's the one who takes the Super Serum and becomes a Captain Patriotic. Super-Soldier Peggy is even shown to be stronger than Cap himself, able to flip entire trucks over and overpower a Eldritch Abomination and force it back through portal.
- In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Peggy, equipped with a Jet Pack, pulls off something not even Steve could do at his best and lasts several minutes against full on Reality Warper Scarlet Witch (who had just killed Black Bolt and Mr Fantastic effortlessly).
- Iron Man 3 does this to Aldrich Killian. In the comic book storyline Extremis, Killian commits suicide at the beginning out of guilt over selling Extremis to a Right-Wing Militia Fanatic. In the movie, Killian becomes the main villain of the movie, as he is revealed to be the real Mandarin (or so he says), orchestrating terrorist attacks using the Extremis formula and posing a very large threat throughout the movie. He also takes Extremis himself, becoming physically powerful enough to demolish Tony's armours with his bare hands.
- Subverted in Captain America: The Winter Soldier with Georges Batroc, known in the Marvel Comics as Batroc the Leaper; traditionally a Badass Normal Noble Demon who regularly goes toe to toe with Cap and always puts up a pretty impressive fight, but is often assumed to be a joke because he's French and has a hideous costume design. In the film, he's just as badass as he is in the comics, but with his more silly characteristics removed, and played by Mixed Martial Arts champion Georges St-Pierre.
- The Vision is not nearly as important or powerful in the comics as he is in Avengers: Age of Ultron. In the comics, he has a pretty standard powerset—flight, higher than average toughness and strength, density manipulation powers, and a beam weapon in his solar-powered gem. His origin was also basically an android given life by copying the brain of another existing superhero. He is also the Avenger most often destroyed because he can be easily rebuilt. After being destroyed again, he was literally left in the Avenger's warehouse for years and was not present during major story arcs like Civil War (2006). He has only been written back into the comics in the last 3 years. However in the movie, his origin and power level are far more impressive, where it takes Thor's lightning to give him life, has vibranium incorporated right into his cells which makes him nigh-indestructible, and being powered by one of the Infinity Gems raises his power potential far above his original nameless solar gem. And he is able to wield Mjölnir and thus judged 'worthy', a privilege that not many Marvelites in either here or the comics can claim. On the other hand, comic Vis has managed to effectively fight the likes of Silver Surfer, whilst in the movies he’s clearly a few leagues below cosmic characters like Thanos who killed him pretty easily in Avengers: Infinity War.
- The Vulture in the comics basically boiled down to an old man in a winged suit, whose goofy appearance and low threat level more or less made him a Joke Character in the eyes of many fans. In Spider-Man: Homecoming however, while being middle-aged, he becomes a vicious gang leader with a dark, intimidating mechanical suit built from scavenged Chitauri tech, who steals and sells dangerous weapons to criminals in order to make a living.
- Wong from Doctor Strange (2016) gets some major badass points. In the comics, Wong is the Bumbling Sidekick to Strange and at best only knows some kung-fu and minor magic. In the movie, however, Wong is not only (as confirmed by Word of God) more skilled in magic than Strange, but actually acts as the doctor’s Mentor Archetype. In Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Wong defends Earth from Thanos’s forces alongside the Avengers, even slicing off Cull Obsidian’s arm with a Portal Cut, and gathers all of Earth’s forces and sends them through portals to pull off the biggest Big Damn Heroes moment against Thanos. If that wasn't enough, in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Wong has a cage match with the Abomination (who could match the Hulk) and wins thanks to Thinking Up Portals. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness takes this even further with Wong being one of the very few individuals besides Strange who can remotely give Wanda any trouble and by the climax actively helps take her down (despite being thrown off a mountain at one point). In the comics, Wong has never done anything close to that level.
- Spider-Man gets this compared to the comic version. While never a wimp by any measure, Peter is still considered a lightweight in comparison to other Marvel heroes and rarely fights (much less) beats opponents above the regular street-level villains. From his debut in Captain America: Civil War, Spidey is able overpower most of Cap's side (including the Winter Soldier) and puts up quite a fight against the Living Legend himself before losing, all while he was just a rookie, and in Infinity War, he fights the likes of Ebony Maw, Obsidian Cull, and even Thanos. True, he fought Thanos in the comic as well but Spidey had the likes of Thor and Hulk backing him up there, while in the film Spidey is able to fight Thanos in close quarters and stagger him with his attacks with only Dr Strange helping him Teleport Spam from a distance. In Avengers: Endgame, Spidey not only slays thousands of Outriders with his Instant Kill mode, but kills Obsidian Cull himself by pulling him into the path of Giant-Man with a web. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter is able to outwit and defeat Doctor Strange himself in the Mirror Dimension, leaving the sorcerer stranded there, and can even counter Strange's Astral Projection-palm attack with the Spider-Sense (as he could dodge Strange's attempts to grab the spell cube off him even when out of his own body) — something that's never happened in the comics.
- The Raimi and Webbverse versions of Spider-Man get Adaptational Badass by default, being portrayed as just as powerful as MCU Spidey (Raimi's being even more stronger and skilled than both others), especially when working in tandem and notably lack the emotional wangst and immaturity they had in their own movies. Though justified in that they've gone through Character Development since their films ended.
- Zig-zagged with Hela from Thor: Ragnarok. In general, she is far more powerful in the movie than she is in the comics where she rarely engaged in physical combat, and when she does fight on the page, she can only just hold her own against Thor occasionally. In the film, however, she wipes the floor with the God of Thunder and crushes his hammer Mjölnir into pieces, whereas in the comics she doesn’t possess the level of strength to do that. Hela also had the distinct weakness of being half-dead in the comics, whereas in the movie she’s an Invincible Villain and is only stopped when Surtur nukes Asgard to space dust. On the other hand, she lacks the literal Touch of Death and some of the more mystical abilities the comics version had.
- Avengers: Infinity War:
- Ebony Maw in the comics had no superpowers aside from telepathy or "persuasion" which he uses to torture Doctor Strange, but in Avengers Infinity War, Maw is an outright Evil Sorcerer with telekinetic powers which he uses to restrain Thor, fight off Iron Man and Spider-Man, and even capture Doctor Strange, making him one of the most powerful Children of Thanos besides the Hulk-like Cull Obsidian.
- Weapon-example with Stormbreaker. In the comics, it’s pretty much a discount Mjölnir, being given to Beta Ray Bill after he proved himself to Odin. It’s not nearly as OP as Thor’s iconic hammer however, as seen in a more recent comic where Thor breaks it by swinging it against Mjölnir. In Infinity War, however, Stormbreaker makes Mjölnir look like a paperweight. Not only can it summon the Bifröst, it’s also nigh-indestructible. Thor confirmed this as at the peak of his power, he used Stormbreaker to overpower a Combined Energy Attack from all six Infinity Stones and embed the axe in Thanos’s chest, mortally wounding him. Although unlike the comics, anybody who is strong enough can use Stormbreaker in the movies since there’s no worthiness enchantment.
- In many ways, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel is this at the end of her solo movie as she curb-stomps the Kree army, including characters such as Minerva who could match her in the comics. In Avengers: Endgame, Carol not only destroys Thanos’s massive spaceship solo, but gives Thanos himself a run for his money despite him having the Infinity Gauntlet. In comparison, Fat Thor and the Hulk couldn't beat him while he didn't have it. In the comics, Carol needs an entire team with her to fight Thanos, and it still wouldn't be enough even if he didn't have the Infinity Gauntlet.
- Spider-Man: Far From Home: Mysterio is shown to have Functional Magic akin to Doctor Strange, while his comic counterpart is regarded as a Joke Character who goes down like a chump when his illusions are compromised. In the grand tradition of Mysterio, it's all smoke and mirrors — Quentin Beck has no real superpowers, merely a lot of drones and holograms. Even then, he's far more menacing than his comic counterpart is usually presented as, and his final attack on London greatly exceeds anything his comic counterpart did in terms of sheer scope (it helps that Peter foolishly gave him access to a Kill Sat). Even after apparently dying, he manages to expose Spider-Man's secret identity, leaving a far more permanent impact on Spidey than he ever did in the comics.
- Black Widow (2021):
- Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian plays with this. On the surface, he seems to be the inverse, as he’s an overweight Broken Ace while his comic counterpart is a Heroic Build-possessing stud. Except in the comics, Alexei is just a Badass Normal with Charles Atlas Super Power who is overshadowed by even the modestly enhanced Captain America. In the film on the other hand, Alexei, thanks to a Russian version of Cap's Super Serum, has actual superpowers: being able to flip heavy machinery over like a table and punch steel doors open, catch up to a speeding plane while it’s taking off, and survive falling off a high gulag wall onto his back and needs a dozen tranquilizer darts to be taken down. Alexei is also able to hold his own against Taskmaster for a prolonged length of time, making him easily as impressive a Super-Soldier as Steve Rogers himself.
- Melina Vostokoff is regarded as The Ace Black Widow, having gone through the Red Room four times, before Natasha was even born. This contrasts to the comics where Melina is younger and, much to her fury, lives in the shadow of Natasha. Though this is mainly due to the film making Melina a Composite Character of Nat and herself. Although this Melina is admittedly lacking the metal skin and strength of her comic counterpart.
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:
- Zig-zagged with eponymous Shang-Chi himself, like the comics he's an incredible martial artist who can utilize Ki Manipulation later in the film. But in the climax, Shang-Chi is gifted the Ten Rings himself which he combines with his Chi to spectacular effect and allows him to defeat his father and even kill the Dweller-in-Darkness, essentially making him twice as powerful as his comic counterpart who mainly uses Chi to enhance his strikes and doesn't have the Ten Rings. On the other hand, his comic version has quite a few flashy Chi-powers, while his film version needs the Ten Rings do them.
- Zheng Zu aka Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi's father, is definitely no slouch in the comics (especially in later ones), having mystical powers and immortality but can still by foiled by the likes of Moon Knight and Luke Cage. His film counterpart, Xu Wenwu however, gets major badass points due to being a Composite Character with The Mandarin himself, having the various energy powers of the Ten Rings in addition to the Mandarin's legendary reputation and history, and is only beaten when his son takes five of the Rings from him and uses them against him.
- Jiang Li, Shang-Chi's mother, is the least badass of her family in the comics with her only notable ability and skill being dream-based telepathy and archery. Her film counterpart, Ying Li, is a different story, having spectacular martial arts and Ki Manipulation Aerokinesis which she uses to school The Dreaded warlord the Mandarin Xu Wenwu himself, which makes him fall for her. She's also the one who teaches Shang-Chi how use Chi in this version as he inherited her abilities. She’s also way more badass than Shang-Chi‘s original comic mother, an unnamed American woman.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home:
- Green Goblin. Not that Norman was ever a pushover, especially in his film debut, but as strong and tough as he was, once Goblin angered Peter by threatening MJ in the ending, Spidey brutally overpowered him. In No Way Home, Norman is much more deadly and terrifying, subjecting MCU Spidey (who as mentioned above punched around Thanos!) to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and laughing off the young Spider-Man's attacks before killing Aunt May in cold blood. In the climax, Goblin manages to almost kill Doctor Strange by planting a Pumpkin Bomb in the spell cube and even after MCU Peter subjects Norman to Extreme Mêlée Revenge, he's still able to shank Raimi Spider-Man (who stepped in to prevent his younger counterpart from going over the edge) and it takes the combined efforts of Webbverse and MCU Peters to defeat Norman by curing him of the Goblin Serum. Raimi Green Goblin manages to one up even his comic counterpart, by damaging the Multiverse by blowing up the spell cube and forcing Peter to make everyone forget his existence.
- Doctor Octopus. Similar to Norman, Otto was already incredibly badass in Spider-Man 2 and lacking the silly qualities of his comic version, but like the Goblin still got fairly easily defeated once Peter went all out in the climax. In No Way Home, Doc Ock right off the bat is able to match MCU Peter in the Tony Stark-made Iron Spider Suit and would've killed him, if not for the nanotech saving Spidey's life at the last second. In the Final Battle, Otto manages to defeat Electro and save his version of Spider-Man and the Webbverse Spidey in the process.
- Electro gets a good deal of this. Already a case of Adaptational Badass in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 compared to his (often mocked) comic version, being a Person of Mass Destruction who can reform himself like Doctor Manhattan, in No Way Home he displays Magnetism Manipulation and gets further powered up with an Arc Reactor. He's so powerful he would've killed both the Raimi and Webbverse Spider-Men if not for aforementioned Doc Ock's Big Damn Heroes moment.
- The Lizard, although downplayed compared to previous examples, still gets this to a degree. In his film, while very strong and deadly, he still got overpowered by a teenage Spidey and George Stacy, a middle-aged cop with a shotgun. In No Way Home, Lizard is able to wound Doctor Strange off-screen, takes on multiple versions of Spider-Man in the climax, almost kills MJ and Ned, and actually assists the other villains, throwing MCU Peter back to Norman during the apartment fight.
- Overlapping with Ascended Extra in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Maria Rambeau, who in comics is just a normal mother and housewife, is the Captain Marvel of Earth-838 instead of Carol and manages to be the last one standing against Wanda herself. Although it's fair to note the MCU version of Maria was already cooler than her comic version, who was a former seamstress rather than an Ace Pilot.
- Hawkeye does this to Clint himself, specifically compared the Matt Fraction comic which the series takes heavy influence from. In the comic, Clint spends most of the series a frequent screw-up who is just barely managing to scrape by against threats like the Tracksuit Mafia. In the show, however, Clint is a John Wick-esque Mook Horror Show who as he shows in Episode 5 could’ve annihilated Echo and her gang at any point if he had actually wanted to. This is likely a result of giving Hawkeye’s loser qualities from the comic to Kate Bishop whilst retaining Clint’s competence from the films for the sake of consistency. What makes this impressive is that Kingpin himself mentions being displeased by the fact that Ronin has returned and that an Avenger is now involved in his business, meaning he is scared of Clint as both Hawkeye and Ronin.
- Moon Knight:
- Zigzagged with The Cowl Marc Spector/Stephen Grant himself. On the surface, he plays this straight, being given Adaptational Superpower Change in the MCU from the comic where he’s mostly a Badass Normal who’s possibly enhanced through the Moon and Khonshu, to having genuine Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Super-Toughness, Flight and can be a Henshin Hero with the suit. But on other hand, even with explicit superpowers, the show’s Moon Knight isn’t nearly the stone-cold badass as the comic version is who’s gone toe to toe with the Punisher, Spider-Man, Thor, and even the Incredible Hulk. Jake Lockley, the brutal third personality, is closer to how Moon Knight generally is in modern comics.
- Played straight with Layla El-Faouly who is an expy of Marlene Alraune, Moon Knight’s wife from the comics. The comic version is a mild Action Girlfriend who has some combat skills but is greatly overshadowed by her husband. In the show, on the other hand, after becoming Taweret’s avatar, she transforms into a Flying Brick superhero herself and joins Moon Knight in kicking ass during the Final Battle.
- Arthur Harrow in the comics is a Non-Action Big Bad and Nazi wannabe who is only a minor annoyance for Moon Knight. Here, he’s the powerful leader of the cult of Ammit and the former Moon Knight before Marc who is able to manipulate and fool Egyptian Gods and kill “unworthy” people with just a touch. After awakening Ammit and being powered up by her, he is able to fight Moon Knight himself with his staff in mid-air and create big craters in the ground.
- Luke Cage (2016): Diamondback in the original comics was a very small-time villain that nonetheless had a big influence on Luke's past, his main gimmick being fighting with knives and he didn't get to live very long after his introduction, as he was accidentally killed by his own weapons. He is far deadlier in the TV show, being a dangerous mercenary/arms dealer that instills fear in everyone who knows his name, including Cottonmouth. He is capable of killing several people in rapid succession and instead of knives, he uses a powered glove that he can use to kill people with just one hit, which he later upgrades to wearing a snake-themed Powered Armor to fight against Luke hand-to-hand.
- Iron Fist (2017): Harold Meachum was a broken and crippled old man who wanted nothing more than to be put out of his misery. In the series, he is younger, able-bodied and capable of fighting as well as immortal as a result of striking up a deal with the Hand.
