Everyone has a weak spot. A vulnerability, either physical or mental, that limits their effectiveness or allows an enemy to exploit them.
But when that character is adapted into another work, they are sometimes given a new weakness or drawback. This is usually done for Rule of Drama, or to prevent them from possessing a Story-Breaker Power.
A Sub-Trope of Achilles' Heel. See also Kryptonite Factor, Logical Weakness, Weaksauce Weakness. Compare Disabled in the Adaptation. Compare with Adaptational Wimp, where a character's overall power and/or effectiveness is reduced for whatever reason (though this new drawback may end up turning the character into this). Contrast Adaptational Superpower Change.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) anime, the homunculi are weakened by body parts belonging to the deceased person they were created to resemble. This wasn't the case in the source material because the homunculi have a completely different origin.
- Sonic X turned Shadow's wrist rings into inhibitor rings; if he takes them off, he will gain a boost in power, but also get tired more quickly. Sources say that the games following Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) would adapt this, although the flaw hasn't been seen.
Comic Books
- Green Lantern: The original Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, had wood as a weakness. His Silver Age counterpart, Hal Jordan, had the color yellow as a weakness instead.
- Monica's Gang: Much like in the Superman comics, Mister Mxyzptlk is depicted as a near-invincible Reality Warper, capable of withstanding the combined assault of all the Justice League members. However, due to Rule of Funny, he is incapable of repelling Monica's stuffed bunny, which she throws at him to save the day.
- In Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man, Venom explicitly lacks the character's classic weakness to loud sounds and is made to be vulnerable to electricity instead.
Fan Works
- Kwami Magi Homura Magica: The Incubators are practically unkillable in the original Madokaverse, since they're a Hive Mind that can easily regenerate their bodies so that even if one of them dies, no loss actually happens. In the story, one of the timelines shows that the Cat Miraculous' Cataclysm spreads to all of the Incubators against only one of them, allowing them to be completely eradicated by complete accident.
- Not the intended use (Zantetsuken Reverse): In his original game, Soma Cruz received neutral damage from all elements, but in the fanfic, he has a weakness to Holy and Light magic that frequently gets him in trouble.
Films — Live-Action
- Avengers: Infinity War: In the The Infinity Gauntlet storyline on which most of the movie is based, the eponymous Gauntlet grants Thanos immense power, and can be activated with a mere thought. The movie's version of the Gauntlet instead requires Thanos to close his fist or snap his fingers in order to invoke its power. This allows the heroes to slow him down by forcing his hand open. Also, the film version of Thanos suffers severe body damage after using all six stones together, as do Hulk and Iron Man later. The comics version had no such drawback.
- In Back to the Future Part II and III, Marty's Berserk Button is being called a "chicken", and it's extremely easy to goad him into a confrontation by doing so. This trait was absent from the original Back to the Future, where his most notable flaw was a fear of rejection his father shared. A popular fan theory is that changes to history (specifically his father defeating his mother's would-be attacker in a fistfight) resulted in his new personality.
- DC Extended Universe:
- In Man of Steel, Superman's Kryptonite Factor is not Kryptonite (which will be added to the franchise in the film that follows) but rather Krypton's atmosphere (explained as his body having adapted to Earth's environment over the thirty-plus years he's lived there), thus causing a few complications for him as he tries to prevent General Zod's plan of Hostile Terraforming.
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Doomsday is reimagined as a resurrected, grotesquely deformed General Zod. Due to his Kryptonian biology, he is vulnerable and can be permanently killed by being exposed to Kryptonite, something that did not apply to his comic book counterpart in his earlier appearances. (He later gained this weakness after some of Superman's Kryptonian DNA was added to his genetic makeup.)
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: In this film, the best way to defeat the Silver Surfer is to separate him from his surfboard, as it's the source of his powers so he's powerless without it. In the comics, his powers are his own and he's just as powerful with or without his surfboard.
- While it's a sequel rather than an adaptation, in Freddy vs. Jason Jason is afraid of water, to the point that he's reduced to a crying child when Freddy uses it against him. In the original movie series, Jason has no problem with water; he even uses it himself to drown his victims on several occasions.
- Godzilla:
- King Kong vs. Godzilla: Godzilla is vulnerable to electricity, even though in his original 1954 film he was tearing through high voltage lines with no sign of discomfort. This is explainable as the original 1954 Godzilla is explicitly a separate one from the rest of the Showa Continuity (starting with Raids Again) and therefore different to the one that was weak to electricity.
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II: Studies on Baby Godzilla show that Godzillasaurus has a second brain in its hip which is used to control lower body movement. They use this knowledge to defeat Godzilla in their subsequent battle, by having Mechagodzilla destroy the second brain using an electrical harpoon, crippling Godzilla. This weak point has never been referred to before, or since.
- In the unmade Godzilla (1994), Godzilla has a Kryptonite Factor of the red-black amniotic fluid he was found preserved in. A large quantity of it puts Godzilla to sleep, and, although he can force himself awake under duress, it still severely weakens him, preventing him from using his Breath Weapon.
- The Last Airbender: The main weakness of the Firebenders in the film is that they can only use their powers when there is an existing source of flame around. In the TV show, Firebenders are able to create fire themselves by using their body heat, and their weakness was the generally rare event of a solar eclipse.
- Maleficent: In this film, all the fairies, including Maleficent herself, can be burned by iron. In the original movie, this weakness is never mentioned.
- In the movie The Mask the titular magical mask only works at night and has no powers during daytime, while in the comics that inspired the film (and the cartoon series that follows the movie) the mask's powers work all the time.
- Nosferatu: In the original Novel Count Dracula was merely partially weakened by daylight and capable of walking around during the day with no inconvenience. Meanwhile, Count Orlok finds direct sunlight is straight-up lethal as this is how he dies at the end.
- Transformers Film Series:
- Transformers (2007): While Transformers are shown to have various weaknesses that vary depending on the universe, vulnerability to cold is one of the less common ones. Megatron being frozen in the Arctic is in line with prior stories (Skyfire had a similar fate), but more unique to this film is the depiction of cold as one of the main weaknesses of Transformers, with Sector Seven disabling Bumblebee by freezing him.
- Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen: Most versions of Devastator ignore the Square-Cube Law, but this film depicts his massive size as being such a big hindrance to his mobility that he has to walk on all fours, and while an experimental railgun does deal plenty of damage to him, it's the tumble down a pyramid causing his body parts to crush each other that finishes the job.
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Subverted. Although Deadpool has been decapitated in the comics and survived, the viewer is led to believe that he is as good as dead after the same thing happens to him in this film. However, a post-credits scene shows his disembodied head is still alive.
Live-Action TV
- The Flash (2014): In the original DC Comics, Killer Frost's ice powers are unique because heat actually makes them stronger. By contrast, this series shows that heat is one of her weaknesses.
- Legends of Tomorrow: In this continuity, Vandal Savage gained his immortality from exposure to Nth Metal. That same metal can also negate his immortality, which the Legends exploit in the first season finale to kill him.
- Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue: The Demons have a universal (save for one Monster of the Week) weakness to water, which is why the Rangers' base is located underwater, to prevent them from launching a direct attack. Their Kyūkyū Sentai GoGoV counterparts, the Psyma Clan, did not have this weakness (in fact, Princess Denus (adapted as Vypra) had water-based powers as she was the leader of the Water Demon Tribes).
- Watchmen (2019) In this series, Dr. Manhattan is vulnerable to synthetic lithium, something lacking in his comic counterpart.
Video Games
- Bondee's Barnyard: Safety Violation:
- Inverted as the suffocation mechanic has the same effect as the power mechanic in Five Nights at Freddy's where a percentage continuously lowers until it reaches 0% and the player dies, except that the percentage can be raised by opening the jaws of Kou. On the other hand the percentage running out kills the player instantly, without any grace period like Freddy singing before attacking.
- Zigzagged with Foxy equivalent Chickling, who is capable of charging at the player at random times, and is capable of entering both doors. Nonetheless the monitors automatically focuses on Chickling when she charges so it is easier to time closing the door.
- I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: In the original story, AM is a nigh-unstoppable AI who tortures the last five humans for over a century. One human is able to successfully kill the other four survivors, but is turned into a blob as punishment. The game allows for the protagonists to overcome their Fatal Flaws and destroy not just AM, but the Chinese and Russian A.I.s, especially if you forgive the Ego for all the Cold-Blooded Torture it did.
- Persona 2: In the first entry, Innocent Sin, Tatsuya Suou's Ultimate Persona Apollo had immunity against Fire, Nuclear, Light, Dark, Nerve, and Mind damage, and resisted Electricity too. However, in the sequel Eternal Punishment, the same Persona loses the Dark immunity (still resists it though), which leaves him vulnerable to some of the most dangerous attacks in the game, like One Hit Kills.
- The moves of the playable Pokémon in the Super Smash Bros. series don't follow the type effectivity in their mainstream game series, meaning that moves that would be No-Selled in the main line games can do damage here. For example, Pikachu, an Electric-type Pokémon who normally resists attacks of the same type, can still sustain major damage from and be KOed by electric attacks such as Robin's Thunder spells. The Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon (Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard) did have type-effectiveness in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but it was removed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Western Animation
- Iron Man: Armored Adventures: When the titular hero fights Magneto in the episode "The X-Factor", he exploits the fact that Magneto can only control a positive field or a negative field, not both at once. In the comics, Magneto can control both at once without issue.
- The Mask: In the show, the only way to kill someone who wears the Mask is to have them catch a cold. In the comics and the movie, nothing implies this weakness exists.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
- In this series, Adora's Transformation Trinket is Magitek. This leaves both it and her vulnerable to certain computer viruses.
- Downplayed, but this version of Double Trouble has an extreme reaction to being stung by Scorpia; the sting (which usually just knocks the victim out) forces them to return to their normal form, exposing their deception.
- The Spectacular Spider-Man: Most versions of Doctor Octopus animate their Combat Tentacles through sheer force of will. The version in this series requires a power source to operate his. His first battle with Spidey (which he is close to winning) is cut short when he realizes his current battery is running low on power, and later in the episodes he is defeated when the webslinger attacks while Ock is swapping out his old battery for a new one. By the next time Doc Ock is encountered, his power issue is no longer a problem for him, and Spidey must find alternate ways to take him down from that point onwards.
- In the comics, The Whizzer, Miss America, and the Destroyer (Keene Marlow) could use their powers whenever they wanted. In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, due in the Adaptation Origin Connection of them being a failed attempt to recreate the Super Serum that made Captain America resulted in their powers being unstable, they needed special rings to use their powers.note
- Static Shock: The Night Breed, the show's interpretation of the Blood Syndicate, have a vulnerability to sunlight, a weakness their comics counterparts did not have.
- Superman: The Animated Series: Downplayed, but Superman often showed a level of intolerance to electric attacks, which often put him against the ropes when he had to deal with Livewire as she was capable of stunning him (if not actually hurt him).
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): The show's presentation of the "Cousin Sid" storyline differs significantly from the original Mirage story. In the original story, when Sid and the gang of thugs raid Casey's farm, the Turtles weren't hampered in any kind of way. In the show, the episode starts hot off the heels of the third season "Exodus" finale where the Turtles and Splinter were severely injured from fighting the Utrom Shredder. And once the armed gang show up at Casey's farm, the Turtles and Splinter have to be much more careful and rely more on cunning and stealth to dispatch the gang since they're heavily injured and nowhere near one hundred percent.
- The Transformers: Megatron's toy bio ranks his Endurance as 8 and describes him as having "No known weakness." One episode of the cartoon shows he can be short-circuited by spray paint, and another shows him being warded off by anti-fire foam (which Megatron himself states could permanently destroy his circuitry if he's exposed to it too long).
- Transformers: Prime: In most series, using the powers of the Matrix of Leadership has no major repercussions on any of the Primes who open it. In the season one finale, Optimus Prime using the Matrix of Leadership reverts him to his pre-Prime state, taking his memories of the war away.
- Ultimate Spider-Man (2012): In this show, the Juggernaut loses his powers when he doesn't have his helmet. In the comics, removing his helmet only makes him vulnerable to telepathic attack, but he remains as strong as ever.
- Voltron Force: In this series, Voltron has a Kryptonite Factor in the form of "Haggarium", which greatly weakens him and disrupts his systems.
