Adaptational Weakling

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In an original work like a book or graphic novel, you have a powerful character. Maybe they are The Ace. Or they are a god, that demonstrates omnipotence. You respect their power.

But where's the fun in that when you adapt said work to a movie, television show, or anime? Where are the stakes when your character can beat down their opponents with ease?

The Adaptational Weakling, the opposite of the Adaptational Badass, can still be strong, just not as strong as their original counterpart. If a character is still supposed to be badass but is shown easily defeated in an adaptation, they might be victim of the The Worf Effect. Chickification is often a subtrope, when a girl who was previously a capable combatant becomes kidnapping bait. Sometimes the creator's intention is to raise the stakes. Other times, it's to further character development or aim for a change in tone.

Note: on TV tropes, this is referred to as Adaptational Wimp, but going with Weakling since it's a close-enough synonym and we don't have to debate on the name.

Examples of Adaptational Weakling include:

Anime and Manga

• Sailor Moon
  • It's revealed that the Silver Crystal users, in general, are this in the 1990s anime. The users can do anything with the Silver Crystal in the manga and suffer little to no consequence; in fact, Sailor Moon was even able to revive the world during the Infinity Arc after Sailor Saturn had to destroy it to stop Pharaoh 90 and Mistress 9. In the anime, the crystal can grant the users' greatest wish if used at full power, but at the price of their life. Queen Serenity, Sailor Moon, and Chibi-Usa have each canonically died at least once while using this ultimate power. Sailor Moon and Chibi-Usa revived due to extraordinary circumstances, but sadly Queen Serenity did not.
  • Tuxedo Kamen gets more to do in the manga, owing to receiving a special attack that allows him to even the odds. For most of the 90's anime, he's stuck with the roses, though they still are pretty dangerous to the target. Just ask Queen Beryl, who received a killing blow with a rose to the heart.

Comic Books

• Hector Hall in the Golden Age of comics was a formidable Justice Society of America member as the Sandman, along with Fury, his wife Hippolyta Hall. In The Sandman comics from 1989, Brute and Glob revived him in Jed Walker's mind to be a "yahoo" that would help them rebuild the Dreaming. When the real Sandman, aka Morpheus the King of Dreams, saw this costumed man attempting to find off what he thinks is an invader to Jed's mindscape, Dream bursts out laughing. He has to stop and take off his helm, looking like he wants to wipe tears of laughter from his eyes. Dream also reveals to Hector that he died a long time ago, and doesn't belong in the Dreaming, sending him to Death's realm by flicking his fingers.
• Depending on the iteration, Stanley and His Monster have the title characters frequently switch these roles. The variant that pays homage to Calvin & Hobbes revealed that Monster, aka Spot, was a demon that Lucifer kicked out of Hell for being a softie; when Remiel mistakenly collects Spot thinking that he is a runaway denizen, Stanley literally goes to Hell with the Phantom Stranger's help to get his best friend back, using the power of childish belief to curbstomp the demons. A later reboot had Stanley's grandfather kidnap him, using him as bait to lure Spot on learning the two had a special bond. Spot not only kicks the guy's ass but also wipes Stanley's memories so that Stanley will never learn that his friend can be a monster and chooses not to be for Stanley's sake.

Film

• In the How to Train Your Dragon novels, Snotface Snotlout is The Ace and top of the Hooligans' class, as well as Gobber's favorite student. He's a big jerk and a bully to his cousin Hiccup as a result, who eventually betrays Hiccup and the tribe multiple times. During How to Train Your Dragon's three movies, in contrast, Snotlout is probably the worst student of the Dragon Trainers excluding Hiccup before the latter starts excelling; he's full of braggadocio but can't aim, as a laughing Stormfly noted when he missed hitting her with a mace, and spends more time flirting with the ladies than focused on fighting. Even the twins are relatively better, as it's shown they figured out Stormfly's blind spot and hid it in while arguing. The first TV series showed that he does make up for it with hand-to-hand combat, which he uses to save Hiccup.
• Lampshaded in The Lego Batman Movie many times.
  • Commissioner Gordon is shown to have earned his stripes in the comics, using Batman as an ally while fighting corruption with everything he has. He even stayed in Gotham during the No Man's Land arc to protect the civilians who could not evacuate. Here, his default solution is either pressing the button for the Bat-Signal or having Chief O'Hara dial the Bat-phone. With that said, when Batman is unavailable, he refuses to negotiate with Joker when the latter demands for the mayor to surrender and sets up a perimeter around the water plants where Joker has set up bombs to destroy Gotham city. He protests when the mayor prepares to surrender herself to the Joker. Fortunately, turns out the mayor was Batman in disguise and the real mayor is safely in hiding.
  • Happens a lot with Batman's usual Rogues Gallery. The heavy-hitters like Bane, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have a comic history of incapacitating Batman if not landing heavy blows on him. In the opening where Batman confronts them, he curbstomps them in seconds while singing a song about how awesome he is, with the Batmobile and 'Puter's help. Joker is befuddled and asks, "How is he beating all of you again?!" In fact, this realization motivates Joker to find bigger Rogues in the Phantom Zone like Sauron and Lord Voldemort, who are able to beat Batman and Gotham to a standstill.. Quite ironically, the Rogues prove to be more useful when they beat the new Rogues long enough for the Bat-family to send them back to the Phantom Zone.
• The Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand; Kitty made him her bitch! Okay, she had to outsmart him, but it was still... Pretty embarrassing for someone who, in the comics, has gone toe-to-toe with the Hulk.

Literature

• A possible interpretation of the story "Cruel Sisters", a take on the Child Ballad "The Cruel Sister". In the original ballad, Helen killed her younger sister with barely any effort and refused to pull her out before the currents took the princess. Patricia C. Wrede's version has Margaret, the narrator and middle sister, note that while the eldest sister Anne was certainly strong enough to push youngest sister Eleanor in the river, she doubts that it happened. For one, the harp that makes the accusation was made from Eleanor's body, and Eleanor was a liar in life. And for another, Eleanor assumed that they were fighting over a "true bonny" William, where William played with both girls' feelings. Anne also has a habit of not admitting her guilt or innocence to any crime, bearing her punishments with stoicism.

Live-Action TV

• The Sandman
  • In the comic book The Sandman, Lord Morpheus is pretty powerful even after spending seventy years in captivity. He remakes his Dream palace with a simple gesture, and only needs a few days of bed-rest. In the show, Dream doesn't even get that owing to a hundred years in captivity; he can barely move a few pieces of rubble, and refuses to rest or get food. He has to sacrifice Cain and Abel's gargoyle Gregory to receive enough power to summon the Fates and receive answers about his tools' location.
  • Hector and Lyta Hall were superheroes in the Golden Age as The Sandman and Fury respectively. When Dream invades Jed's mind, where a dead Hector and living Lyta are imprisoned, Hector attacks what he thinks is the King of Nightmares and at least tries to fend off what he thinks is a supervillain. It does nothing to Dream, who bursts out laughing on hearing that Hector calls himself the Sandman, but it's implied he was formidable in life, and confirmed in the Justice Society of America series when Hector and Lyta continue their superhero work. In fact, it's implied that Lyta's hero moniker and previously rebooted backstory as Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor's daughter was what allowed her to summon the Kindly Ones to avenge her son Daniel, whom she thought Dream had kidnapped. The series, to avoid having to explain thirty years' worth of comic continuity, makes them both ordinary architects and Hector died in a random accident. What's more, Hector is more accepting if saddened when Dream breaks it to him gently that he can't stay in the Dreaming as a ghost, and Lyta can't stay with him, before sending him to Death's realm.
  • Comic-book Gilbert realized that he couldn't take on the Corinthian after recognizing him, but realized that the latter had kidnapped Rose's brother Jed and rescued the boy while the latter was doing "cereal" con activities. Here, Gilbert doesn't have that opportunity; Corinthian recognizes him at the Empire State Hotel when the latter is helping Rose search for Jed, and is willing to kill another runaway dream to hold onto Rose. Realizing he has no choice, Gilbert leaves a message for Rose at the hotel desk and turns himself into Dream and Lucienne, begging them to punish him if they must but please save his human friend Rose Walker and her brother.

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

• Early myths of Loki in Norse mythology show that he can escape any scrape that he accidentally causes for himself or the Norse gods, with the power of trickery or shapeshifting. A later saga shows that after he got Baldr killed as a joke, the gods quickly hunted him down and killed his sons as punishment.

Theatre

• The original film of Beetlejuice had the dead couple Adam and Barbara quickly learn about possession and try it for themselves before soliciting Beetlejuice's help. In the stage play, they are worse at it, so Beetlejuice tries to convince Lydia to summon him instead to ruin her father's party. He also possesses Adam and Barbara to demonstrate his powers, something that didn't happen in the film. Lydia has to interfere by pushing him off the roof-- "What? He's already dead."-- and convince the more trustworthy dead couple to do some possession instead.
• Hamilton has downplayed examples, as personality changes do not mean the characters are weaklings, just softer compared to their real-life counterparts.
  • Vice-President and governor-elect Aaron Burr was a feminist in his time, a revolutionary who wasn't afraid to talk back to George Washington, a military general known for having a bad temper, and the man who invented modern electioneering. In the play, Aaron Burr is more soft-spoken; he has a sharp tongue as shown with Lafayette and John Laurens, but advocates to "Talk less, smile more" until you know who is on your side and who isn't. He accepts Washington rejecting him for a job position without much fuss, as well as Angelica rejecting his attempts to flirt with her. It's mentioned that he is a viable politician, he just looks less cool next to the upstart Alexander and switches sides when it benefits his position. Eliza in the workshop recognizes that it's Nothing Personal; Alexander doesn't, acting like it's a big betrayal when Aaron Burr beats her father in an election. That makes it all the more shocking when Burr finally loses his temper at Hamilton for torpedoing his presidential campaign and refusing to apologize, near the climax of the play, challenging him to a duel.
  • Eliza Hamilton nee Schuyler was said to be the wild Schuyler sister in her time. She was a tomboy with a fierce temper. In the musical, Eliza and Peggy are the sweetest sisters of the Schuylers, with Eliza diving headlong into her courtship with young private Alexander Hamilton and talking with optimism about their future about the war. Sure Eliza will go downtown to get news on the war against her father's curfew and she maintains correspondence with General Washington, but her older sister Angelica is the one known for her courage and bravery. With that said, Eliza shows that "sweet" is not the same as "weak" when she reads the Reynolds Pamphlet; she calls out Alexander in "Burn" for breaking her heart and writing about his affair publicly, which also involved shaming Maria Reynolds who was much younger than either of them and more a victim than a seductress. It takes their oldest son Philip's death for Eliza and Alexander to reconcile, where he gives his first sincere apology for fucking up their marriage.
• Holy Musical Batman
  • Even though the musical shows that Batman is willing to use lethal force on civilians and villains alike, he doesn't fare well against Superman. In the comics, Batman has many failsafes prepared against Superman, including a Kryptonite ring and even has Carrie in The Dark Knight Returns hit Kal-El with a tank. When the president orders Superman to stop Batman from taking down Sweet Tooth, since Sweet Tooth has threatened to poison all of Gotham while holding Robin hostage if Batman interferes, Superman admits it will be a great pleasure to beat up the "butthead". He proceeds to curb-stomp Batman, who only wins by bringing out his trump card: Kryptonite.
  • Superman himself is fairly powerful, but not respected. He resents Gotham for thinking he's upstaging Batman, and Batman for constantly ghosting him. While he does bring out his time-traveling power to stop Sweet Tooth from poisoning the water, he tells the audience that was a one-time thing.

Video Games

• Victor Zsasz in the Batman Arkhamverse. He's still a serial killer as in the comics, but he's a lot easier to beat and take down, as opposed to the comics where he could take quite a beating and was a serious threat to Batman. By contrast, in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, he's generally limited to encounters where a well-timed batarang to the head can render him harmless.
• The Clue Finders generally has their founder and leader Joni as the tough one. She has a habit of being a Fearless Fool that rushes into situations without thinking, and doing most of the physical challenges. In the sixth grade game, Joni enforces this while offering herself as a hostage for the Anti-Villain plant queen in the third act. Joni admits that normally she would be the one going out to solve the problem, but as leader it's her responsibility to protect her friends, and she trusts them to carry out the task of cleaning the water supply affecting the plant people. She takes slowly being turned into a plant fairly well, ordering the team to not worry about her and keep finding the pesticide sources.

Web Animation

• This trope occurs frequently in How It Should Have Ended when the characters point out the logical flaws within established narratives:
  • Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War webs up all of Cap's team before the airport fight can begin. During the actual fight in the movie, the rogue Avengers managed to hold off Iron Man's team long enough for Cap and Bucky to escape.
  • Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse showed two reenactments of the climax where realistically, Miles would not be able to hold off Kingpin. During the film he struggled but succeeded when showing Kingpin how his desire to reunite with his family would keep pushing them away. He dies in one because Kingpin smashes his ribcage multiple times. In the other reenactment, Miles's dad realizes that Spider-Man needs help and shoots Kingpin repeatedly. He's then shocked when Miles says, "Thanks, Dad!" without thinking.
  • Princess Diana aka the title character suffers this in the Wonder Woman 1984 reenactment. When facing Barbara, while on the ropes she manages to electrocute her former friend and knock her out of the fight. Cheetah is able to pounce on Diana because she points out she's got cat powers, and Diana in her armor looks like a bird. Remember what cats eat again?

Western Animation

• In the Bunnicula book series, Howard and Chester may have had opposing views on if Bunnicula was evil or not, but they were tough enough to try and either harm Bunnicula (Chester) or save him (Howard). The Bunnicula cartoon turned Howard into a bumbling but well-meaning dog that if anything would solve magical problems by accident, while Chester's Nervous Wreck personality would sometimes cause them.
• The main character of Superman: The Animated Series (and the DCAU as a whole by extension) compared to the comics. He's still super, but not the crazy levels the character often reaches in his comics. Unlike the comics, these powers would remain consistent throughout the series -- flight, Super Strength, X-ray vision, and heat vision-- complete in the Batman Beyond when Terry has to outfly a brainwashed Kal-El.
• Done intentionally and Played for Laughs in one Classical Mythology-inspired episode of Animaniacs. Heracles, despite his great strength, is portrayed as a crybaby who throws a childish tantrum because he doesn't want to do the Twelve Labors that his "mean old dad Zeus", as he puts it, told him to do. Of course, that alone means the writers took serious liberties.
• An in-universe example that works in the hero's favor during Paranormal Park. During "Night of The Living Kids," the party guests at a Phoenix Park sleepover summon a Night Hag with Courtney's help. When said Night Hag preys on the kids, turning them into sleep-deprived zombies, paid babysitter security guards Barney and Norma and talking dog Pugsley try to keep his little brother Patrick safe. Barney remembers that Norma brought a retinue of Night Hag movies and that she's Genre Savvy; he asks her if the Night Hag in the Pauline Phoenix film had any weaknesses. Norma says no and the Night Hag won in the movies, just as they lose another kid. When it seems all hope is lost, Courtney says that you can either use another wolf bone to banish the Night Hag, or Pugsley can summon a Day Hag to counter her. Pugsley does the latter since Courtney is out of wolf bones, and the Night Hag stands down on seeing her sister Sheryl for the first time in millennia. After an awkward conversation between the Night and Day Hag, and they get affronted when learning humans call them "hags", both depart and the kids are restored to normal.