DCU
Adaptational Heroism in this series. open/close all folders
Comic Books
Comic Books
- Batman rogue Mr. Freeze was originally a very generic, pun-spouting villain in a green welder's suit. Then Paul Dini got ahold of the character and gave him a total overhaul for his appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, bestowing upon him his now-iconic name, look, and Tragic Villain backstory. Taking note of this, the comics revamped Freeze completely to echo Dini's interpretation of him.
- In the Batman '66 comics continuity, Harley Quinn is an idealistic psychiatrist who voluntarily sacrifices her sanity to sabotage a mind-bending ray that the Joker is using to drive Gotham City insane.
- In Batman: The Adventure Continues, a comic continuation of Batman: The Animated Series, Azrael (the Jean-Paul Valley version) is still the dogmatic weapon of the Order of St. Dumas, he leans a little more on the idealistic side of the Anti-Hero scope, is old friends with Bruce Wayne, shows compassion at Mr. Freeze, who tried to revive Nora using a special artifact from the Order, and is humbled by Batman saving him.
- In Batman: Earth One, Killer Croc is a man who hid in the sewers after escaping the circus and ends up joining Batman's inner circle after helping stop the Riddler, a far cry from the Dumb Muscle of the mainstream comics. In a similar vein, Killer Croc was also portrayed as being much kinder than he usually is in Gotham Academy as a result of his contact with Sybil Silverlock, the protagonist's mother during his stay at Arkham. He even saves Olive from a burning building with her friends declaring him a hero. Unfortunately for him, he's committed several murders prior to this change of heart, leading Batman to hunt him relentlessly.
- Batman: Thrillkiller:
- Selina Kyle never becomes the jewel thief Catwoman, with her only criminal past being something in sex work.
- Like in most adaptations, Harvey Bullock's dirty past isn't acknowledged here.
- Edward Nygma is a kindly psychiatrist as opposed to criminal mastermind The Riddler. While he's implied to be a quack, he's not evil.
- Harvey Dent gets this by way of Decomposite Character, being a straightforward heroic DA instead of the secret identity of Two-Face.
- Dastardly & Muttley: Dastardly and Muttley are American heroes this time instead of villains with no specified nationality.
- DC Rebirth:
- Batman villain Basil Karlo, aka the first (and briefly 'Ultimate' Clayface) has for decades been by far the most reprehensible and villainous of the Clayfaces. Later Clayfaces Preston Payne (aka Clayface III) and especially Matt Hagen (Clayface II, but much better known for his sympathetic portrayal as the first Clayface of Batman: The Animated Series, which ironically owed something to Karlo in terms of backstory if not personality) were portrayed more sympathetically and laid the groundwork for the concept of Clayface as a Tragic Villain, which the comics took shameless advantage of to reboot Karlo's character. Instead of being an unrepentant narcissist and egomaniac, Karlo is now a Minion with an F in Evil who decides that Being Evil Sucks so much that he agrees to join the Batfamily and toe Batman's line 100% if it means maybe getting a cure for his Power Incontinence. While this new Karlo is a much more likable character, he doesn't jive at all with the Karlo readers have known for decades.
- Kyodai Ken was created for Batman: The Animated Series as a villain with ties to Bruce, having trained with him until Ken was caught stealing and kicked out of the dojo and blaming Bruce for the consequences of his own actions. Detective Comics (Rebirth) sees him as a loyal bodyguard of one of Bruce's teacher.
- Wonder Woman antagonist and occasional uneasy ally Hercules Unbound did occasionally attempt to be a hero in the more modern sense of the word but previously had always been a Nominal Hero at best due to his antiquated sense of morality. In this new reality he was better able to adapt with the times and was a true good guy.
- Wonder Woman (Rebirth):
- Veronica Cale is still a villain who's done some awful things, but whereas the original was motivated purely by envy, this one is motivated by her desire to have her daughter back, and is basically a Cosmic Plaything.
- Queen Atomia started out as one of Wondy's few truly irredeemably evil villains; an arrogant Emperor Scientist who kidnapped humans and horrifically transformed them into her mindless mooks, this version of her is reimagined as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who only attacked the alternate dimension version of Themyscira because they invaded her world first.
- Zeus himself gets this, whilst most DC comics tone down his jerkass god behaviour from the original Greek Myth he’s still portrayed as a ruthless deity. Like in the New 52 series where Zeus does things like killing his first child and implanting False Memories into his daughter Diana’s head to turn her into the God of War. In DC Rebirth Zeus is more benevolent and caring seen when he disguises himself as Wondy’s lawyer to watch over her and in DC Rebirth Wonder Woman #36 when Diana and her brother Jason are being attacked by Darkseid, Zeus steps in to save them displaying far more heroism than usual. This carries over to Young Justice (2019) where Zeus uncharacteristically reaches out to his granddaughter Cassie Sandsmark, who’s surprised and suspicious of his generosity.
- DC Comics Bombshells:
- Poison Ivy and Two-Face are completely heroic, and Harley Quinn and Killer Croc have disreputable backgrounds but are more sympathetic than their main-continuity versions.
- Yuki and Yuri, the Katsura sisters, are a pair of Batgirl (2011) villains in the main continuity. Here, however, they're part of Donna Troy's group of rebels who fight against the unjust internment of Japanese-Americans.
- Talia al Ghul fights alongside the heroes, and protects the Lazarus Pit from evildoers like Black Adam.
- Amanda Waller is far less morally dubious in this continuity.
- Cheetah still starts off as a villain, but eventually seeks redemption after realizing the horrors she's committed.
- Trigon is depicted as a nature spirit who genuinely loved Raven's mother, instead of a demon who, Depending on the Writer, either callously seduced or brutally raped her. Subverted as he ends up on the side of evil in the end.
- In Gotham City Garage, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Silver Banshee are more heroic than their villainous canon counterparts, risking themselves to overthrow a tyrant.
- Legion of Super-Heroes:
- In the classic continuity, Mano of the Fatal Five had a bit of a Freudian Excuse in that he was subjected to prejudice on his home planet, before he destroyed it. In the 90's reboot, he destroys his planet after everyone on it was killed by weapons sold by MacCauley Industries, and then seeks revenge on Leyland MacCauley. When he realises the rest of the Five are a bunch of psychos who like destroying planets, he turns against them. He later rejoins the group, but still tries to avoid harming innocents.
- In the original continuity, Mekt "Lightning Lord" Ranzz was one founding member of the Legion of Super-Villains and a nasty piece of work with a creepy obsession towards his little sister. The Dominator War, a storyline belonging to the 2004 reboot, introduces him as an anti-hero who wants to save the galaxy from the Dominators but believes the United Planets organization are too soft and incompetent to be relied on.
- New 52:
- Batman Annual: Ironically enough, averted with Mr. Freeze, who experiences this trope's inverse instead for his New 52 interpretation.
- Justice League of America: Arthur Light, better known as Dr. Light, was a third-string baddie and punching bag of the Teen Titans (who had a rape retconned into his backstory in an attempt to make him more evil) pre-New 52. Now he's a supporting member of the titular Justice League and he died a hero. He was also shown to have a family that he genuinely loved, and while he does eventually turn to villainy after becoming a ghost, it’s only because he wants to find a way to bring himself back to life so he can reunite with them.
- Following the general DC trend of making the character Lighter and Softer (and thus more accessible to her target audience), New 52's Harley Quinn is an Anti-Hero who means well rather than an Ax-Crazy Loony Fan.
- The Ravagers: Terra, who had been previously a Sixth Ranger Traitor (and long since Killed Off for Real besides) was revamped into a heroine and founding member of the titular Ravagers.
- Starfire's sister Komand'r (aka Blackfire) was cruel, sadistic and treacherous in the former continuities. Now, despite having had some questionable attitudes toward Kory, she's still a better person than her previous version, and eventually makes peace with her sister, as seen in Red Hood and the Outlaws, where Kom and Kory share a hug. To be fair, the New 52 wasn't solely responsible for this shift - Kom's redemption first started in the 2009 L.E.G.I.O.N. (DC Comics) sequel series R.E.B.E.L.S, where the previously one-note villainess was depicted as a more complex figure with positive as well as negative traits. The New 52 simply picked up where R.E.B.E.L.S. left off.
- In the Supergirl (2011) stories, the villainess Silver Banshee was turned into a troubled but clearly heroic young woman, whose first appearance has her jumping in front of Kara to stop soldiers shooting her. Later issues have hinted that she's having trouble keeping her superpowers (inherited from her evil father) under control but even here the implication is she is heading towards being a Tragic Villain rather than the totally unsympathetic character she used to be.
- Wonder Woman's oft nemesis Ares had traditionally been a straight villain, and even when he wasn't he was never a nice guy, he's powered by war and bloodshed after all. The New 52 version is probably the closest to being a hero out of the entire Greek pantheon and is painted as Diana's mentor and grandfather figure—amusing since he is her grandfather even if the writers ignore this in favor of his new status as her brother since this version of Wondy has a father, and that father is Zeus. note
- In Teen Titans: Earth One, Tara Markov is depicted as a normal (if slightly angsty) teenager before her powers awaken, compare that with the pre-Flashpoint Tara Markov of the main universe who was a Manipulative Sociopath and a contract killer.
- In Wonder Woman (2006) Achilles is trying his hardest to be a hero in the modern sense of the word, and has little in common with the narcissistic Straw Nihilist of the original myths. It might have something to do with his new heart, which came from a selfless and compassionate god (whom Zeus murdered).
- The original version of The Authority were Nineties Anti Heroes par excellence, Well Intentioned Extremists at best, and could slip into full-on Villain Protagonist territory at times. In The Wild Storm, they are the most straightforwardly heroic characters in the setting.
- Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass:
- The graphic novel depicts Harley Quinn as a straight up heroic figure fighting against an oppressive establishment. In a very notable departure, she ends up opposing The Joker and tries to stop him after he endangers innocent people, and the book ends with her preparing to hunt him down.
- The book's version of Poison Ivy (renamed "Ivy Du-Barry") is still an environmentalist, but not a violently militant one. She also seems to care about a broad range of social justice topics instead of just the environment, as opposed to he classic comic counterpart, who would just as soon Kill All Humans if it meant protecting the Earth's plants.
- In the Dan Garret Blue Beetle's original Charlton origin, Kha-Ef-Re was an evil pharaoh who was defeated by Great Pharaoh, the first wielder of the scarab, and later returned to threaten Garret as the Giant Mummy. In the DC post-Crisis version, Kha-Ef-Re was the Great Pharaoh, and the Giant Mummy was just a Secret Test. Kha-Ef-Ra's Earth Prime incarnation is introduced in the Dawn of DC Blue Beetle book and is a villain again.
- Static: Season One
- In the show, Ebon was a power-hungry gang leader with very little redeeming qualities. Even his love for his brother manifested in trying to ruin the latter's new life post Heel–Face Turn so he could keep him in his gang. Here, he's not yet involved in any kind of gang, and is instead attacking and interrogating government agents all in an effort to find and rescue Adam. That being said, his methods aren't exactly heroic.
- Adam himself also falls into this. In the show, he started as a vengeful villain who eventually had a Heel–Face Turn. Here he's a victim of the government's experiments due to his unique reaction to the Big Bang, and there's no evidence he was ever involved in any kind of crime prior.
- While in the comics and show D-Struct was absolutely an Anti-Villain who was only forced into helping the Meta Breed due to his inability to turn off his powers, he never joined with Virgil properly and instead set out to find a cure for his condition. Here, after Virgil convinces him to stop helping the bad guys, D-Struct begins actively assisting and protecting the Bang Baby community and effectively joins Virgil as a superhero.
Films
Films
- In The Batman (2022) Catwoman gets this compared to the comics and previous film adaptations. Here Selina’s
Chaotic Neutral Femme Fatale traits are excised and not once does she betray Bruce in this version. Her reasons for stealing and later vigilantism are mainly due to helping her friend Annika who is a victim of Gotham’s corruption. Her care for Bruce is also unconditional and non-self motivated, compared her frequent emotional manipulation (and sometimes emotional abuse) of him in the comics. Selina genuinely only wants Bruce to leave Gotham with her for the sake of his own wellbeing. - The Dark Knight Trilogy:
- In Batman: Year One, Commissioner Loeb was a Corrupt Cop and part of the Big Bad Duumvirate. The Dark Knight Trilogy paints him as an honest cop, perhaps incompetent but not openly villainous.
- James Gordon Jr., who displays no signs of being the Ax-Crazy bastard that he was in the comics. Rather, he seems like a normal kid.
- In The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent falsely claims to be Batman, knowing full well what he's risking, in order to appease a mob while leaving the real Batman free to do what's needed. Unlike the film, the comic doesn't directly show what Dent was like before he became Two-Face, but there's no indication of any such heroism in his background.
- DC Extended Universe:
- Dr. Emil Hamilton has a history of going through the Heel–Face Revolving Door in the comics, but Man of Steel sees him die a hero and never become a supervillain.
- In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, one of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's influences, Superman goes after Batman on the orders of the President of the United States, who only wants Batman brought in because Batman's effectiveness makes the government look bad. In the movie, Superman is genuinely opposed to Batman's vigilantism and only goes to Gotham because Lex Luthor is holding his mother hostage.
- Deadshot, Harley Quinn and several other characters in Suicide Squad (2016) are portrayed as more moral than their comic counterparts and despite their insistence that they're "the bad guys" but really come off as quite heroic. But the most blatant example is The Joker! Of all people, as in comics he's a Chaotic Evil Monster Clown who frequently abuses Harley, in the movie he's a caring boyfriend who risks his life several times to rescue her and succeeds in doing so in the end. Birds of Prey (2020) corrects this, with Joker being portrayed as abusive enough that Harley leaves him. Though even then in the modern comics, he’s chased Harley down and held her captive for “betraying him” whereas in the film he just leaves her alone meaning he’s still far less evil than the comic version. In The Stinger of Zack Snyder's Justice League he's a Retired Monster who forms an alliance with Batman.
- In the comic book story arcs Aquaman is based on, Vulko is the Big Bad; manipulating Orm, Black Manta and the Trench and provoking an Atlantean attack on the surface that kills hundreds of innocent people, all in order to force Arthur to take the throne. In the movie, he's The Mentor and an unambiguous good guy, with most of his villainous actions given to Orm.
- Birds of Prey (2020) does this to Helena Bertinelli aka Huntress. In the Post-Crisis comics she’s a vicious Anti-Hero who has absolutely no qualms about killings criminals, and though she does mellow out somewhat in later comics she‘s brutal enough that she makes an easy transition to villainess in Arrow. In the film, Huntress’s amoral traits are toned down and she actively saves and helps people, never once showing her comic book counterpart’s willingness to torture suspects or kill a teenager and crack jokes about it.
- The Suicide Squad besides the aforementioned Harley has four pronounced examples in Bloodsport, Polka-Dot Man, Ratcatcher and Nanaue aka King Shark.
- Bloodsport when he first appeared in Superman comics was a Psycho for Hire Big Scary Black Man and Phony Veteran who had no qualms using a innocent woman as a Human Shield against Supes and is no less Ax-Crazy in later comics. In the film he's at worst a Punch-Clock Villain and Jerk with a Heart of Gold, who has a daughter whom Waller threatens to get him onboard the mission and he also shows great care for his teammates especially Ratcatcher II. By the end of the movie, Bloodsport is willingly to give genuine heroism a go by disobeying his orders to save Corto Maltese from Starro. This is most likely a result of his character being a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to Deadshot from the previous Suicide Squad film.
- Polka-Dot Man although silly is still a unpleasant Idiosyncrazy petty criminal, with a psychotic streak seen in later Darker and Edgier comics like Batman: GCPD. In the film Polka-Dot Man is very much The Woobie, thanks to his Dark and Troubled Past with his Mad Scientist mother and his arc from a man wishing for death to someone overjoyed at being a superhero is beautiful and tragic in its conclusion.
- Ratcatcher in Batman comics is a skulking lunatic and Misanthrope Supreme who places rodent above human life and has no qualms trying to kill everyone in Gotham with a Swarm of Rats as The Beastmaster. The film version of Ratcatcher is The Anti-Nihilist, who states to his beloved daughter/successor Cleo that if the lowliest and most despised of all creatures such as rats can have a purpose, than everyone can.
- King Shark is little more than The Brute in Aquaman comics being a serial killer who works for villainous teams like Secret Six or Secret Society of Super-Villains for no reason beyond money, bloodlust or just For the Evulz. In the film, Nanaue similar to his Harley Quinn show incarnation is more innocent as lacking the awareness and intellect of his comic version he doesn't attempt to eat Ratcatcher II out of malice but simple hunger and after being stopped and befriends Cleo, becoming a Gentle Giant who helps save the day by the end.
- Injustice (2021) sees several characters from the undergo this: Green Lantern was called away, both Shazam and Aquaman opt out, Catwoman never joins the Regime, the Flash is killed before Lois, and Wonder Woman defects after she learns Superman murdered a bunch of kids who idolized the Joker.
- Justice League: Gods and Monsters:
- While this version of Lex Luthor still didn't like Superman, he doesn't appear to have the usual Green-Eyed Monster side of his mainstream self, and he proves a hero by the end of the movie.
- Dr. Sivana, a Card-Carrying Villain in the mainstream universe, is working for the government here. However, this version is a Knight Templar Jerkass, so he's still pretty unlikable and hence an Asshole Victim.
- Darkseid is willing to make peace instead of continue a centuries-old feud. Pronounced in Highfather going against the deal first. It's also suggested that he is a much better father than his mainstream counterpart to his son Orion, judging by how he reacts to Highfather killing Darkseid.
- Victor Fries never becomes Mr. Freeze.
- Amanda Waller is the President of the United States. Additionally, she's less extreme than in the comics and while she has countermeasures in place to deal with the League, given the League in this as a whole are a bunch of violent anti-heroes, with Superman being a Smug Super, Batman as a vampiric Sociopathic Hero, and Wonder Woman as a Lady of War, it's hard to blame her for creating them.
- The tie-in miniseries, Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, does this to Brainiac. He's typically depicted in the mainstream universe as a shining representation of Aliens Are Bastards. This one, on the other hand, is a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds who can't control his power.
- DC Animated Movie Universe:
- Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox:
- Some characters are more heroic because their stories from the comics are cut down. We don't see Citizen Cold murder anyone, and Ocean Master wasn't responsible for the war. Also, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke and Lex Luthor (who died at age 10 in the comics), along the entire crew of the Ravager, are trying to stop Aquaman's weapon instead of looking for Slade's daughter.
- Flashpoint Captain Atom. In the comics, General Nathaniel Adam never went through with the Dilustel experiment and is the devious and harsh director of "Project Six".
- Son of Batman, based on the first arc of Batman (Grant Morrison), "Batman and Son", sees Deathstroke take Talia's role as the Big Bad of the story, resulting is Talia being closer to her original characterization in the movie—until Batman: Bad Blood saw her Take a Level in Jerkass and become closer to Morrison's depiction.
- Justice League vs. Teen Titans, much like the Teen Titans (2003) cartoon, sees Raven much more resistant to Trigon's influence-induced Heel–Face Revolving Door and does what what she can to stop him, only giving in when the Titans are in trouble and fighting back once they're safe.
- Justice League Dark revises the origin of Jason Blood's union with Etrigan to paint Jason in a better light. In the comics, Blood, a knight of Camelot, had fallen in love with the evil sorceress Morgaine le Fay, and was cursed to be bound to the demon Etrigan by Merlin as punishment for treason in her name. Here, however, Blood was depicted as a much more noble knight, suffering a mortal wound in battle. After Merlin portended that the two had a shared destiny, he bound Etrigan to Blood to save his life, rather than as a curse.
- Batman: Hush sees Tommy Elliot indeed be innocent of being Hush, who instead turned out to be The Riddler.
- Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox:
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies sees Amanda Waller's role as an Ascended Extra also involve her being the Only Sane Man working for Lex Luthor and turning on him when she realizes just how insane he is.
- Lex Luthor is this in Superman: Red Son, based on the comic of the same name. He starts out similar enough, what with his vendetta against Superman clouding his better judgement. Unlike his comic counterpart, when he thinks Superman died, he's genuinely regretful for what he did, resigns as US president, and hands it over to someone else without a problem. Lex also doesn’t kill his lab assistants in frustration here, like he did in the comic.
- Batman: Soul of the Dragon:
- Lady Shiva is shown being an old friend of Bruce Wayne, Richard Dragon, and Ben Turner, having gone to the same martial arts school as them. While she's become the queen of organized crime in the present day, she's also shown to have standards and wants to carry out what O-Sensei asked of her and protect the sword he gave her. When it gets stolen by Jeffrey Burr's mooks in order to open up the portal to the underworld, she does not hesitate to help them get it back.
- Cheshire isn't depicted as an assassin; in fact Jade dies before she can even become Cheshire.
- Bronze Tiger isn't a villainous personality created for Ben Turner by the League of Assassins, but rather merely a name give to Turner by Kobra.
Live-Action TV
Live-Action TV
The following have their own pages:
- Doom Patrol (2019):
- Madame Rouge reforms and joins the Doom Patrol out of genuine remorse for her misdeeds, when in the comics she joined the Doom Patrol only to betray them in the end and was a stone-hearted fiend up until her death in New Teen Titans.
- Mr. 104 turns out to be working with Immortus out of desperation for a cure to his condition and becomes an ally to the Doom Patrol after learning the truth about Immortus, when his counterpart in the comics was always a Card-Carrying Villain with no redeeming qualities to speak of.
- Gotham:
- While still a crime boss, Carmine Falcone is trying to keep Gotham from falling apart, was friends with Jim Gordon's father, and even concedes that Gotham needs an honest cop like Gordon instead of someone like him, and even helps Gordon after Nygma frames him.
- Falcone's son Mario takes after his debut in Dark Victory in trying to be a good person, as opposed to his post-Battle of the Cowl appearances, where he succeeded his father and sister Sofia as the head of the Falcone family. At least until Alice's blood kicks in... However, then with that in mind, he's still this, as Carmine in the series considers him the White Sheep of the family and part of Dark Victory's backstory involved Mario getting arrested as a teenager.
- The Sandman, "Playing House": The rogue nightmare who's built a secret dreamscape inside Jed Walker's mind is suspected by Morpheus of aspiring to control the Dreaming, but really she's grown tired of being a monster and is just trying to give Jed somewhere he can escape from his terrible waking life with his abusive foster parents. Her counterparts in the original comic book story the episode is based on were a pair of rogue nightmares who absolutely were trying to gain power for themselves, had trapped several people in their dreamscape, and were suggested to have encouraged Jed's foster parents to be abusive so he would retreat into his dreams more often.
- Watchmen saw Hooded Justice as a Nazi sympathizer. Watchmen (2019) sees Hooded Justice be revealed as a black man named Will Reeves who sought to fight against the injustices of his day, with Damon Lindelof later saying in an interview
that Will only made statements "supporting" the Nazis as part of his ruse to hide his true ethnicity. Additionally, the comic Hooded Justice was originally speculated to only be doing the hero thing to get his rocks off, whereas in the series, Will is sincere in his efforts against injustice.
Video Games
Video Games
- Batman: Arkham Series:
- In the comics, Ra's al Ghul's other daughter, Nyssa Raatko, had tortured her sister Talia al Ghul to the point of insanity and was generally apathetic to people. In Batman: Arkham Knight, she's the Only Sane Woman to her family, vowing to leave Gotham alone and keep the League of Assassins from shedding more blood. If you chose to destroy the machines keeping Ra's al Ghul alive, she keeps her word and if you chose to save Ra's, she'd rather die than be revived and become like her father.
- The Arkham Series also does this to Poison Ivy. In the comics, she's always been an Omnicidal Maniac trying to take over the world with her army of plants. However, her tragic side is heavily brought up frequently throughout the series. She's never been shown killing another living being note , shown disgust towards other villains, and along with Mr. Freeze, one of the only cooperative villains towards Batman. This is brought up to a high point in Arkham Knight, where Ivy pulls a Heel–Face Turn and joins the dark knight on his crusade against Scarecrow. Sadly, she dies pulling a Heroic Sacrifice saving Gotham City from Scarecrow's toxin bomb.
- In the comics, Jason Todd started out as a crime lord who pimped, dealt drugs, teamed up with Hush, cared nothing for the rest of the Batfamily, and only got worse from there, once trying to kill Tim Drake simply out of jealousy. He eventually got to the point where he'd even gun down cops and civilians if they happened to be in his way. He was also stated to be completely sane throughout. Here, most of his dirty work is under orders from Scarecrow and he even allowed civilians to evacuate Gotham before the plan went in motion. As for his mental state, he's clearly suffering from textbook psychosis, and whereas in the comics Jason was just pissed because Batman didn't kill the Joker himself, here he honestly believes Batman abandoned him to his fate. He also still cares for both Barbara and Alfred a great deal. That said, he is also a case of Adaptational Villainy, as while he's nicer to Barbara and Alfred, as the Arkham Knight, Jason also still party to a terrorist attack on Gotham, something he never did in the comics.
- Batman: The Telltale Series
- The Joker of all people is this, as he seems to disapprove of his fellow inmates picking on newbies. It's implied he may have ulterior motives, but it is something. If you've been good buddies with him throughout Season 2, the Joker will actually become a vigilante like Batman, and even team up with him. He is ultimately too Ax-Crazy to hack it as a hero and Batman ends up having to take him down anyway, but it ends on an optimistic note where Bruce visits "John" in Arkham, showing that he indeed believes there's still good in the man and that he's still redeemable.
- Peter Grogan is a very minor character mostly known as the guy between Gillian Loeb and Jim Gordon who served as Gotham's police commissioner, with his initial mention in Batman: Year One saying he was more corrupt than Loeb. Here, he's an honest cop, pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to save Batman and Gordon noting he was a good man, which is especially ironic considering the mention of comic!Grogan being worse than Loeb came from Jim's comic counterpart.
- Injustice takes place in an alternate universe with a few of these:
- Lex Luthor never became a super villain, having been friends with the alternate Superman since Smallville, opted to fund Batman's insurgency and act as The Mole for Batman, and deciding to take the alternate Superman down due to him trying to take over the world.
- Though the Injustice Joker is one of the evilest incarnations, Harley Quinn ends up getting over him after his death, working with La Résistance in the first game. The second has her discovering that Good Feels Good and playing the part of a genuine (if quite eccentric) hero in the second.
- Green Arrow's arcade ending in Injustice 2 depicts a version of the Justice Incarnate from The Multiversity — but while it still has President Superman, his teammates include the Batman from Superman: Red Son, a terrorist, and the Wonder Woman from Flashpoint, a despot.
Web Comics
- Batman: Wayne Family Adventures: Red Hood is a murderous vigilante in the comic books, but in the webcomic he's a much nicer Jerk with a Heart of Gold who's still friends with the rest of the Batman Family and still follows Batman's Thou Shall Not Kill rule.
Western Animation
Western Animation
The following have their own pages:
- DC Animated Universe:
- Batman: The Animated Series:
- Mr. Freeze (known as Mr. Zero before the 60s show) was originally just one of the many Golden Age gimmick villains who robbed banks and was generically evil. When Paul Dini got his hands on him, he wrote the episode “Heart of Ice” which changed Mr Freeze into a Tragic Villain whose wife Nora is suffering from a terminal disease and had to be cryogenically frozen. This forces Freeze who due to a lab accident must keep his body temperature low, to build a criminal empire to raise research funds to cure her, as well take revenge on those who turned him into ice mutant. This deeper and more sympathetic version of the character quickly won over fans and became the default version of Mr Freeze in almost all following Batman media, and any departure from it (such as in New 52) garners immense backlash.
- Harvey Bullock used to take bribes in the comics. In this adaptation, Bullock claims he would never do that and he is a pure good guy along with a Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist who really wants to make Gotham a better place and just doesn't realize as yet that that's what Bats is doing too.
- Gotham's Mayor Hill was also not corrupt like his comic book counterpart (whom Bullock used to work for).
- Justice League (Unlimited):
- Amanda Waller and Wade Eiling are still against people like the League, but the former isn't as much as a sociopath as her comics incarnation and the latter is interested in helping protect the country rather than serving himself. Waller later has a Heel Realization, and while Eiling does turn into a monstrous villain, he also realizes he went too far and stops his rampage of his own accord after some Badass Bystanders pointed out his hypocrisy. Likewise, albeit retroactively given his Face–Heel Turn was part of Infinite Crisis, Max Lord is less sleezy and evil.
- Static Shock features Rubberband Man, a one-shot villain from the comics, eventually reform and become a superhero.
- Batman: The Animated Series:
- Teen Titans (2003)
- In the comics, Terra was The Mole from the very beginning, and horrified even Slade with her ruthlessness and manipulative sociopathy. The Terras of the 2003 series and the DCAMU, however, were Broken Birds who were Driven to Villainy by a desperate need to live a normal life. The former was even a genuine friend to the Titans before becoming a double agent for Slade. The animated versions are also remorseful for their actions, performing a Heel–Face Turn after some convincing by Beast Boy. Finally, both have their deaths framed as Heroic Sacrifices, though 2003 Terra secretly comes back from the dead to successfully gain that normal life at some point. In contrast, comic Terra's death was the result of an unfocused blind rage that made her lose total control of her powers, with the narration hammering home that she's an unrepentant monster.
- Plasmus can't control his transformations into a mindless monster and willingly submits to being kept in stasis for most of his life. In the comics, he is in full control of himself and likes melting people.
- While still a heroine, in the comics, Raven has a bad habit of frequently going through Heel–Face Revolving Door because of Trigon's influence. In the show, she does a much better job of not giving into her father's influence and the one time she does, it's done more as a reluctant pawn giving in than gleefully being Drunk on the Dark Side.
- Beware the Batman:
- While the comic version of Professor Pyg murders and mutilates people at random (with Mr. Toad being simply his lackey), the cartoon reinvents him as a dapper, sophisticated villain with a Victorian-era flair. Instead of being a serial killer or performing medical experiments on people, he and Toad are eco-terrorists who specifically target rich businessmen whose careless activities have harmed animals or the environment. That said, what they do with said businessmen is still pretty sick (hunting them down and killing them like animals), and Pyg himself still wields surgical equipment that he's all too eager to use. He ends up experimenting with innocent people in "Doopelganger", and he completely has fun terrorizing and punishing his victims.
- Man-Bat is a full-fledged ally of Batman instead of an occasional foe. It helps that Kirk Langstrom can control himself as Man-Bat, and was only forced to attack Batman when he was drugged by Pyg. Guess who's a founding member of The Outsiders?
- Green Lantern: The Animated Series: While not the first depiction of Carol Ferris to not be an enemy of Hal Jordan, this depiction is not even an enemy as Star Sapphire. She only attacks Hal because With Great Power Comes Great Insanity and snaps out of it.
- Justice League Action:
- Atrocitus is only after Lobo because the bounty hunter stole some Red Lantern rings.
- While still a villain, Killer Frost is nicer than her other incarnations, especially compared to Justice League, Young Justice (2010), and Batman: Assault on Arkham.
- While John Constantine has his heroic moments, he was also a cynical, alcoholic, self-centered con-man who couldn't care less about superheroes. While he's still smarmy, the John Constantine here is depicted as a more family-friendly version, as he's merely a deadpan and sarcastic paranormal investigator, even being a member of the Justice League.
- DC Super Hero Girls: In the 2015 web series, several villainesses are outright heroines, some with vague allusions to a villainous past and others without even that. Catwoman, Blackfire, and Cheetah are in the former category, while Amanda Waller, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Star Sapphire, Killer Frost, and Lady Shiva are in the latter category.
- My Adventures with Superman
- While he's still an antagonist, this show depiction of Deathstroke gets a case of this trope. Rather than the criminal mercenary he's usually depicted as, this version of Slade is a government agent working for Task Force X. He also prioritizes stopping Livewire from detonating bombs under Metropolis out of what seems to be legitimate concern for collateral damage, something his comic counterpart usually wouldn't care about.
- Despite being mad scientists to their core, Mallah and Brain are by far the kindest versions of themselves thus far, leaning on their love for each other and tragic backstory as opposed to any small mutant armies they might have made while they were bored in hiding. Although they kidnap Jimmy and briefly consider cutting him open, they quickly spare and release him once it's clear he's not a threat. Likewise, it turns out that they weren't the ones sending robots after Clark and Lois for most of the episode, and once it's clear Mallah and Brain have no nefarious goals Clark and Lois even work with them to create their wormhole.
- Project Cadmus is typically closely associated with Amanda Waller and Task Force X as an organization dedicated to developing the means to subdue or kill powerful entities like Superman. In this story, Cadmus rebelled against its original purpose and tried to create peaceful, productive technology instead of weaponry. It was almost completely wiped out when Task Force X came to investigate, leaving only Mallah and Brain behind.
