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Adaptational Heroism

A story is re-written and/or adapted. The main writer, either to suit the story better or because some would like to see the characters of the story act a little bit more heroic, decides to grant an otherwise generic, apathetic, or downright nasty character a bit of a lighter shade, or even lift them up to full hero status.

It could happen to either a formerly ambiguous character who decides to "take up the sword" and fight for the good guys, or one of the villains. Perhaps an enemy commander who in the original version was merely a one-dimensional obstacle for the heroes; yet in this adaptation, he would rather give up instead of fighting the heroes, lets them through, with small snippets of backstory showing that he secretly defied The Emperor's orders numerous times in order to save lives in the past. Or it could be bigger fish such as the enemy general; before, he was a ruthless person who would stop at nothing. In the adaptation he could turn out to be a Noble Demon whose main concern is leading his men to battle, avoiding the death of innocents if possible, and even though he does still fight the heroes he agrees to a fair fight and backs down once defeated, unlike in the original where he feigns defeat and stabs one of the heroes in the back.

Sometimes the changes made contribute positively to the story, showing formerly unseen heroic sides to characters. Other times it could come across as too deliberate to try and make a character more likeable, which of course can backfire. Maybe people liked the fact that the evil commander was reveling in his cruel deeds, his uninspired character being something amusing about him. On the other hand, The General could've been an Ensemble Darkhorse in the fanbase and a lot of fans were happy to see his character taken to new heights, rather than merely being portrayed as a stereotypical bad guy. Simply put, it can swing both ways.

In short, it's when a character is made more heroic or friendly in an adaptation.

This trope is the opposite of Adaptational Villainy. See also Historical Hero Upgrade, which is the same thing applied to a historical figure.

Examples of Adaptational Heroism include:

Multiple Media

  • Conan is this. In the original works of Robert E. Howard, he can't truly be called a hero, being very self-absorbed and selfish with questionable morals; the times he did do heroic deeds gave him a Byronic Hero's role at best. The more modern version - who would occasionally take up heroic actions on his own - didn't come along until after Howard's death, with augmented popularity due to the striking artwork by Frank Frazetta.
  • Sweeny Todd gets this in many adaptations. In the original novel, he was a Serial Killer who murdered rich folks so he could rob them, and had little motivation other than that. Modern adaptations often make him an Anti-Villain whose evil deeds are at least slightly justified, such as in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, where he is out for revenge against a judge who unjustly convicted him in order to adopt and ultimately marry Todd's daughter. Yeah, Todd is very often the lesser evil in such versions.
  • Pretty much any adaptation of The Judas Contract, one of the Teen Titans' most famous story arcs, ends up giving this treatment to the "Judas" of the team, Terra. Instead of a sadistic, sociopathic, willing traitor to the team, she's always, without fail, portrayed as a mentally broken Anti-Villain or an unwilling traitor forced to do evil, while her master, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke ends up receiving the lion's share of the viewers' hatred. This seems to be in response to the infamous Unfortunate Implications surrounding the original story, where Deathstroke's sexual and psychological manipulation of a teenage girl was glossed over while the Titans were far angrier at her for her betrayal than they were at Deathstroke for orchestrating the whole thing.

Anime and Manga

  • Fred Abberline in the first anime adaptation of Black Butler is possibly the most good-hearted and purely heroic character among the cast, while in the manga he seems to be developing into something more like an Anti-Hero willing to let his hands get dirty in the name of good. This is a case of Overtook the Manga. When the first anime was made, the manga had not yet given Abberline, a minor character, much in the way of a personality.
    • The same sort of process was responsible for how Undertaker's true character is dramatically different between the manga and the anime. In the anime he is good and kindly, but in the manga after a Reveal he becomes a major villain. In both cases he turns out to be a powerful old Shinigami though.
  • Shampoo from Ranma ½ went from a manipulative bitch with no problems killing Akane in the manga (not unlike many of Ranma's female suitors) to a Friendly Rival to Akane with few qualms about her methods but considerably less killer instinct.
  • In the original manga of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yugi's Super-Powered Alter Ego is at best a Sociopathic Hero and often seems more like a Super-Powered Evil Side. However, in the anime adaptation, he's pretty much all-hero.
  • In the Sailor Moon manga, Nephrite is no better than the other three Generals serving Beryl. In the 1992 anime adaptation, he starts out as something of an Anti-Villain, falls for Usagi's friend Naru, and is redeemed by love; he dies from wounds suffered saving Naru from the other generals.
  • Surprisingly, this applies to Shou Tucker of all characters in the 2003 anime adaption of Fullmetal Alchemist. He's a lot more sympathetic than he is in the manga and Brotherhood due to being driven insane with guilt over transforming his daughter into a chimeric abomination and desperately working to find a way to bring her back, which is a far cry from his manga self who is completely unapologetic and delusional about the horrific crimes he committed.
  • Broly from Dragon Ball Z's non-canon movies is a sadistic, bloodthirsty, batshit insane psychopath who'd destroy planets for fun, commit patricide with a smile on his face, and wanted to murder Goku over a petty grudge stemming from their infancy. But when he made the jump to canon in the movie Dragon Ball Super: Broly (which was written by Akira Toriyama himself, no less!), he's a much more sympathetic and tragic character, being a genuine Nice Guy whose mutations, poor control over his powers, and abusive upbringing cause him to go feral when he's well and truly agitated.
  • Since Elden Ring: Road to the Erdtree is not only Lighter and Softer, but also Denser and Wackier than the very serious game it's based off of, a few of its villainous characters are subjected to this.
    • Remember Godrick the Grafted, that butchering psycho who grafts people's body parts onto himself and his pet abominations? Well, he's now an Affably Evil eccentric with Valley Girl mannerisms(?!) and a love of arts and crafts. Granted, those arts and crafts are still grafting people's body parts and there are heavy implications that he can be a real Bad Boss when he wants to be, but he's far nicer than he is in canon and willingly gives his Great Rune to Aseo when defeated in an art contest.
    • Margit the Fell Omen, Elden Ring's resident noob stomper and Grumpy Old Man extraordinaire, still fulfills the same role he did in the game: acting as Stormveil Castle's unofficial gatekeeper and smothering the ambitions of any upstart Tarnished that comes his way. However, he's not only nicer, but weirdly honorable, encouraging Aseo to leave, get stronger, and then return so they can have a proper duel after noticing how weak and down on himself he is. Compare that to Canon!Margit, who doesn't bother to hide his contempt for you, and gives you a single compliment that doubles as a backhanded insult once you show that you can potentially defeat him.

Fan Works

Film

  • Bard in Peter Jackson's version of The Hobbit goes from a captain of the guard who is not important enough to be mentioned in the story before his big heroic deed of killing the dragon Smaug to a heroic freedom fighter whose big moment from the book was made considerably more impressively heroic and who then proceeds to even more action hero stuff not found in the book.
  • In the Shrek movies, The Big Bad Wolf is close friends with the Three Little Pigs; he can still huff and puff as well as he used to, able to blow down a house — or a squad of the villain's mooks — with ease.
  • Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken; not just Ruby, all krakens are given a bad rap by humans who think they're vicious sea monsters, which popular culture depicts them as. They are, in fact, noble warriors who protect humans from actual terrors of the deep, which includes mermaids.
  • James Bond is this in film. Even the chauvinist version of him portrayed by Sean Connery had far more scruples than 007 in the original novels, who was a Nominal Hero at best and Villain Protagonist at worst. While many of the film's versions of his relations with women bordered on Questionable Consent, the original Bond had no compunctions about blatant rape. Indeed, Flemming's intent on writing The Spy Who Loved Me (the film adaptation of which having a plot that was only vaguely similar) was to discourage readers from viewing Bond as someone who should be admired.
  • In Street Fighter, Balrog is a hero and a friend of Chun Li and E. Honda. This trope's opposite, however, applies with Dee-Jay and Zangief, who are portrayed as lackeys of M. Bison (although the latter does a Heel Face Turn at the end).
  • Nicholai Ginovaef in Resident Evil Apocalypse; the human antagonist in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, he becomes a good guy in this movie.

Literature

  • In the X-Wing Rogue Squadron series, one of the main characters is put on trial for being a spy and traitor. In the original, abridged, audio books the plot point that one of the judges, an intelligence officer, knew he was innocent, at least of this particular crime, but let the trial continue to lure out the real traitor is cut, and the finale where this deception is publicly revealed to save the defendant's public reputation is kept in a way that makes it seem like said officer made it up on the spot for the sake of PR (even though he didn't have to), rather than confirming he's willing to put an innocent man through hell and public scorn in a case of pragmatism over morality.
  • In all versions of Wicked, the Witch (referred to by her true name, Elphaba) is upgraded from irredeemable Card-Carrying Villain to tragic and sympathetic Anti-Villain, starting out as Not Evil, Just Misunderstood and driven to madness by the cruelty of her peers. It's not exactly a pleasant variation of the old story...

Live-Action TV

  • The Teachers in the original Don't Hug Me I'm Scared shorts on Youtube were cruel, malicious Reality Warpers whose "lessons" were merely excuses to torture and Mind Rape the protagonists just to punish a single one of them (Yellow Guy), for reasons his father doesn't exactly make clear. But the ones that have returned in the TV adaptation are way nicer, to the point of being friends with the protagonists. Instead of trying to drown Yellow Guy in oil, for example, the Lamp simply flusters him with his Cloudcuckoolander world view. Then there's Colin the computer, who's still smarmy and a bit of a Troll, but far from the sadistic Narcissist that he used to be.
  • While Hunter Zolomon was one of The Flash's major enemies in the comics, he's a perfectly ordinary guy in the 2014 TV show instead of an insane supervillain. In a twist, however, this ends up only applying to the main universe's Zolomon. The one from Earth 2 is an insane supervillain, and is so horrifically evil that he ends up qualifying for this trope's polar opposite.

Western Animation

  • Hercules:
    • Both Zeus and Hera are far more benevolent in the series than they were in mythology, showing a great deal of concern for the welfare of mortals. Given the target audience, Zeus' notorious reputation as a philander and rapist is omitted. And since Hercules is Zeus' legitimate child and not one of many children he bore with human women, this means that he isn't targeted by the infamously petty, vindictive Hera out of anger towards his father's refusal to keep it in his pants.
    • Aphrodite is portrayed as a benign entity who encourages the concept that True Beauty Is on the Inside, a stark contrast to the lustful temptress she is in mythology.
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