Basic Trope: A character is much more villainous in an adaptation than they originally were.
- Straight: Bob, originally a heroic character, becomes an outright villain in The Film of the Book.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob was practically a saint in the original, but the adaptation makes him an evil psycho.
- Bob is the Big Good in the original, but the Big Bad in the adaptation.
- Bob was an incorruptible All-Loving Hero or an Anti-Villain in the original, but a Complete Monster in the adaptation.
- Downplayed:
- Adaptational Jerkass
- Bob is the same Jerkass in The Film of the Book that he was in the original story, but he does do a couple of mean things that he didn't do in the book.
- Bob is more of a jerk or more antagonistic than he was in the source material, but he's still one of the good guys.
- The film version of Bob becomes evil much quicker, but the book version eventually becomes just as bad.
- Bob is a villain in the original but had sympathetic traits. In the adaptation, he's a Hate Sink.
- Bob is an Ideal Hero who is an Actual Pacifist and would never do morally ambiguous things in the original, whereas in the adaptation, he's more of a Martial Pacifist Anti-Hero who is willing to commit evil acts if it benefits the greater good.
- Bob is a heroic protagonist in the original, but in the adaptation, he is a Hero Antagonist in a Good Versus Good story.
- Bob is a Noble Demon in the adaption and/or an Anti-Hero in the original source.
- Bob went from the Token Good Teammate to the Token Evil Teammate.
- Bob was a Knight Templar villain who was incredibly self-righteous and believed his actions were for the greater good in the book. In the movie, he’s a Card-Carrying Villain.
- Bob is the same as the original; the only difference is the narration doesn't downplay his villainous actions. For example some of his actions that were Played for Laughs are now Played for Drama or Played for Horror.
- Bob was a simple fast food worker in the book, while in the movie, he's a Punch-Clock Villain at worst.
- Bob was already a Complete Monster even in the source, but his horrible actions had some Black Comedy to them. They did away with the comedy entirely in the adaptation, to ensure he wasn't even funny while doing his horrible acts.
- The original story was Bob's devolving from a hero into a Villain Protagonist. In the adaptation, Bob quickly becomes a villain, and soon stops becoming the protagonist.
- Justified:
- The adapters have to simplify, expand on, or change the story to make it into a movie, and Bob's motives and sympathetic qualities are too complex to be filmed.
- Bob is combined with the much nastier Carl. The resulting Composite Character has Bob's name, appearance, and mannerisms, but the nastier aspects of Carl's personality.
- Bob is split into multiple characters, with the new character Carl taking up his more sympathetic aspects.
- The book had a good idea but was poorly written, making Bob look ineffectual, boring and unrealistic. The movie polishes up the book's rough edges, including Bob's role as the villain.
- Bob performed a Face–Heel Turn in the original, so he was rewritten into a more credible and evil villain.
- Bob was a villain, redeemed himself. The original work took place after his redemption. The adaptation takes place before and has him as a bad guy.
- Bob was Unintentionally Sympathetic in the original to the point of coming off as a Designated Villain, when he was supposed to evil and unsympathetic from the start, so the story was rewritten to give him more Kick the Dog moments and a personal Moral Event Horizon that cements him as Beyond Redemption from the characters.
- The trigger for Bob's Redemption Arc never happened in the movie. note
- Inverted:
- Adaptational Heroism
- In the book, Emperor Bob is a serial killer, rapist, and war criminal. In The Film of the Book, he's only a two-bit bank robber.
- Subverted:
- While it looks like Bob is the villain, it later turns out that he isn't, and he takes on his original role in the story.
- Bob is working with the Big Bad in the adaptation, but only to find an opportunity to take him down from the inside.
- Bob seems more heroic than his original counterpart, but slowly begins Slowly Slipping Into Evil.
- Truer to the Text
- While it may look like Movie Bob is eviler than Original Bob, what most call Original Bob is actually Post Volume 5 Bob, whereas Movie Bob is true to Volume 1 Bob.
- Double Subverted:
- ... until it turns out that Bob really is the villain.
- ... so he can take over the evil organization and become the new Big Bad himself.
- Bob realizes what he is becoming and is able to become a better person. The original Bob is presented as someone that the adaptational version could have became.
- Parodied: Bob is a failed Plucky Comic Relief character who decides to get revenge on his fellow cast members because he didn't get any respect as a hero.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob's actions are much more heinous than his original counterpart's, but he also has a more sympathetic backstory to explain his behavior where he didn't before.
- Averted: Bob's personality and role in the story are the same in the movie as they are in the original.
- Enforced: The original source had no clear villain, or the villains are more comical than truly evil. The adaptation is trying to be Darker and Edgier, making it more clear who the villain is by making the antagonistic character really evil instead of misguided, sympathetic, or likable.
- Lampshaded: "Why are you evil, Bob? I thought you were supposed to be nicer than this!"
- Invoked: "Bob looks like a nasty piece of work. Let's make him the villain - he's scarier-looking than the one in the original."
- Exploited: The Big Bad chooses Bob as a henchman because no one will suspect him of being a villain.
- Defied: Bob refuses to do anything truly evil in the adaptation, keeping his Jerk with a Heart of Gold personality intact.
- Discussed: "I bet the villain in the movie will be that creepy-looking guy, even though he isn't bad in the book."
- Conversed: "Why did they make Bob a bad guy? Wasn't he an OK guy in the original?"
- Deconstructed:
- Bob, while he sticks to his original, more benevolent personality at first, becomes steadily more villainous due to differences in the plot that exploit his darker side. However, he never does anything to make him an outright villain.
- A God of Evil manipulates circumstances to force Bob into becoming his worst self. When Bob finds out, he is pissed.
- Reconstructed: Bob is a clear villain from the start, instead of simply being neutral or ambiguous, even though the plot is otherwise the same.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Bob in the adaptation is actually based on how he was originally introduced, making him even closer to the source material than what most people know him for.
Back to Adaptational Villainy
