Adaptational Jerkass

This is the sort-of "younger sibling" or "milder version" to Adaptational Villainy. This is what happens when a character has a good or at least Jerk with a Heart of Gold-like portrayal in a determined piece of media, but in an adaptation of said media goes from either a nice person or a golden-hearted jerk to a straight-up Jerkass.

Why? It depends. At times it's because the adaptation itself is Darker and Edgier, or because the people in chage of the adaptation failed to make the character look like the good person they're supposed to be, or they straight-up hated the character and derailed them for the worst.

The main difference from Adaptational Villainy is that the character is a jerk, but not that kind of jerk. They either have a surly personality but still are good on the inside, or simply has enough standards to not go to the bad side. Mind you, it's entirely possible to apply this trope to someone who was a villain in the original material, usually by upping their cruelty.

Contrast Adaptational Heroism and Adaptational Niceness.

Examples of Adaptational Jerkass include:

Anime

• In Mazinger Z, Koji Kabuto was a Hot-Blooded Jerk with a Heart of Gold. In the anime, he was given a sexist streak that made him more prone to squabble and fight with his Tsundere Love Interest Sayaka Yumi than in the original manga.
• The Sailor Moon first anime has Rei, a borderline Aloof Dark-Haired Girl in the manga, as far more Hot-Blooded and more prone to fights with Usagi (though still very close to her when Usagi needed it). Then, the first English dub took it Up to Eleven and made "Raye" even bitchier to "Serena"; she kept trying to kick Serena out of the Scouts and at some point she took the Moon Wand from her, where in the original it was made clear that even with how much they bickered Rei was the closest to Usagi of all the Inners, and Usagi was Genre Savvy enough to give Rei the Wand and ask her to take care of it.
  • Haruka and Michiru were also more of Aloof Allies bordering on bullies who treated Usagi and the Inners like dumb, naive children for believing the world can be saved without some horrible angsty sacrifice; at one point Haruka forcefully stole Usagi's transformation brooch to make sure she wouldn't "get in the way" and after the penultimate battle, they're so angry at the choice she made regarding Sailor Saturn that they challenge her to a fight and make her prove her worth as their future Queen. This never happens in the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal, where Haruka and Michiru are still aloof but their motives are more clearly explained. They're also less nasty towards the Inners, even though they disagree with Usagi.
    • The battle in episode 126 is taken Up To Eleven in the dub. In the original, it's made clear that they want her to defend her choice even if they're being too harsh about it; afterwards it's revealed that the battle was a test of her abilities and power. In the dub, they're fighting her over her "right" to be the Princess!
  • Zoisite and Jadeite of the Dark Kingdom, too. Both were villains and eagerly tried to steal people's energy, but conducted themselves in a more businesslike and serious manner. In the first anime, Jadeite became an outright Jerkass and a bit of a misogynist, while Zoisite viciously bullied his colleague Nephrite and outright killed him.
    • Strangely inverted with Nephrite. He was a jerk in the first anime, but he showed signs of humanity and kindness near the end of his arc as he got closer to Naru. In the manga he was cocky, but was killed too quickly to make much of an impact. In Crystal, he gave Jupiter a Breaking Speech about her love life and nearly made her go into a Heroic BSOD during battle.
  • Chibi-Usa was much brattier and mouthier in the first anime than the manga and Crystal. And ChibiUsa in the first anime was still nicer than Rini in the DiC dub.
  • Mamoru in the first season was more of a jerk to Usagi than he was in the manga and in Crystal. He warmed up to her much faster in the latter two, and even in the beginning he was more cold to her than anything.
• Rapunzel's mother acted almost like a Spoiled Brat in Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, throwing tantrums when her Henpecked Husband alias Rapunzel's dad wouldn't give into her Wacky Cravings.
  • In the original The Six Swans, the Young King tries thrice to save his wife from being burned at the stake as a supposed witch and baby-killer, until he cannot do it anymore and she's set to be executed. In the anime these scenes are written out, save for one where he goes into denial and desperately tries to get Elise to tell him the truth. As such many viewers mistakenly think that he ALSO wants her to die and even wonder What Does She See in Him? as they reconcile, when in reality he's caught between his love for his wife and his royal position.
• The Amy Rose from Sonic X was far more tempery and clingy to Sonic than in the games. While some anime touches kinda bled into the games themselves, these were still less noticeable.
• Ryo Asuka from Devilman was never the kindest person even before being revealed as the Big Bad, but his ruthless streak was made far more evident in Devilman Crybaby.
• Joe Asakura in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman was snarky and butted heads with Ken Washio, but was overall a team player who simply hated the enemy Galactor more due to them playing a major part in his tragic past. Battle of the Planets removed said past, so instead Jason was simply a whiny Leader Wannabe who picked fights with Mark, who was inexplicably turned into a wholesome Boy Scout rather than the kind but Hot-Blooded leader Ken was in the original.
• Since the first Fruits Basket anime was Cut Short, a good part of Kyo Sohma's Character Development wasn't featured and thus he's somewhat more prone to yelling and to be rude at others than he actually is.
• General Cross Marian of D.Gray-man suffered this big time in the first anime. He asks Allen to bring him lions, sells him into slave labor, and at one point, pinned him to a wall to take his money. The scene is reminiscent of a pimp and prostitute, including Allen asking Cross how long he's going to be forced to make money for him. Also, the latter scene happened while Cross was living in a palace with a Maharajah's widow, thus he wasn't in dire need of money at that point. Manga-wise, Allen said he gambled if they really needed money; none of the aforementioned scenes happened, or were hinted.
  • There's also the scene where guards drag Allen away from Cross in HQ, and Cross waves him off, while smirking and humming. In the manga all Cross does is watch, thinking it was quick.
  • In Episode 27, Cross is said to have taken money from a woman when her boyfriend came after him. He is shown being a lover to a rich widow, and Allen states Cross has a thing for rich women. In the character fanbook, Cross is stated as liking "good" women. So the anime makes Cross look like a Gold Digger who specifically wanted to take / use women's money, which he isn't in the original.
• Naru Narusegawa and the other Hinata Inn girls (barring Shinobu and Mutsumi) infamously got this trope in spades in the anime adaptation of Love Hina. Although not particularly pleasant towards Keitaro Urashima in the manga, they nevertheless were a bit more tolerant and forgiving of his accidents. In the anime, Naru is bitchier and at times almost deliberately cruel to Keitaro than she originally was.
• Primus in the Transformers Generations Selects Special Comic. Primus' original Marvel self was more the In Mysterious Ways/Above Good and Evil sort but he was ultimately established as being Good All Along and merely under a deadline. This Primus by contrast cares little for opinions that are not his own and is a Manipulative Bastard who treats everyone, even his closest allies, like pawns with quite a Moral Myopia when it comes to others attacking him. The only thing preventing outright Adaptational Villainy is that, like his original self, he ultimately is Good All Along, merely suffering from a nervous breakdown that his attempts to stop greater evils were All for Nothing, and was trying to find a way to ensure all the inhabitants of his native universe survived into the next one. When the manga ends, he accepts that he was wrong to play god and is content to let fate take its natural course.
• We never meet Marth's father King Cornelius in the Fire Emblem Akaneia games, but it can be assumed he was a good guy. The OAV based on Mystery of the Emblem turns him into an abusive asshole who beats and berates his son for refusing to kill a deer, calling him a "disgrace".

Comics

• The Batman from All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder is more into inflicting pain than the original one.
  • It's also the case with The Dark Knight Returns, if his commentaries when beating up criminals is of any indication, though it's to a far lesser extent.
• Listing the examples from Ultimate Marvel would be near impossible, since there are WAY too many. Of special note is Wolverine, who was far more ruthless regarding his Love Triangle with Jean and Scott - including straight-up trying to kill him over her (and boy, does he pay for it).
• The Bimbettes get a bit of this in the Marvel Comics serial for Disney's Beauty and the Beast, where they make cattish remarks against Belle, are explicitly jealous of the attention Gaston gives to her instead of themselves, and also engaged in a lot more nasty behavior (such as trying to use a love potion on Gaston, using a tiger trap on him, sabotaging Gaston's attempt at hunting a hibernating bear, using themselves as a honey pot trap for LeFou, and in Belle's flashback their deliberately sending Belle the wrong way to the fair specifically to ensure they land Gaston to themselves). In the original film, the Bimbettes were more Ambiguously Evil than anything else, there being a few moments that suggested that they were at least on civil terms with Belle, despite their infatuation with, and support of, Gaston.
• Transformers:
  • Rodimus in Transformers More Than Meets the Eye. Compared to his portrayal in the original cartoon and comic, this Rodimus is much more self-aggrandizing and openly more of a Man Child. Though considering that IDW Rodimus Took a Level In Jerkass compared to his appearances during Simon Furman's era, Rung believes that much of this is actually a Jerkass Facade so Rodimus can cope with the responsibility of being the captain of the Lost Light and directly responsible for 200+ lives.
  • In Transformers: The Movie, despite Hot Rod's "Nice Job Breaking It, Hero" that led to Optimus Prime's death, none of the Autobots treated him harshly. In Transformers: Deviations, despite Hot Rod never getting a chance to interfere and Optimus surviving, every Autobot who isn't Optimus Prime or Kup is nothing but a massive jerk to Hot Rod for no reason.
  • Steeljaw in Transformers: Last Bot Standing. Like his animated self, he's the Big Bad. But while his animated self, had some Noble Demon attitudes, notably having no interest in wiping out humanity, this Steeljaw has no issue in rendering sentient species extinct. And it's made clear that if he got access to enough energon, he'd go right to rebuilding the Decepticon Empire and enact their old foreign policy on whatever alien species are left in the galaxy.
• Downplayed but present for the title character of Superman Red Son. While Superman is still very much an All-Loving Hero, having been raised with a "The Needs of the Many" mindset leads to him lacking his mainstream counterpart's emotional intelligence. For example, while many versions of Superman have sat and listened to people going through emotional troubles, the Red Son doesn't pick up on Pyotr Roslov's obvious emotional anguish, being mainly concerned with fixing up the scarecrow he keeps drunkenly firing it. As a result, he doesn't relate to humanity on an individual level and is more concerned with improving society and humanity as a whole, not the people, leaving a world that runs smoother but at the cost of individual happiness and liberty. Brainiac even lampshades this by noting that Superman agreed with most of his methods.
• Every major character not named Steve Rogers in Spider-Man: Life Story. Tony Stark had an Ignored Epiphany and remained a Corrupt Corporate Executive, Reed Richards sees it as his moral duty to invoke Reed Richards Is Useless, Hank Pym is a Blood Knight, any sympathetic traits are purged from Norman Osborn, J. Jonah Jameson thinks he made mistakes but still believes he's right about Spider-Man and even Peter Parker's own Wangst is taken Up to Eleven as he becomes the type of man he hated Reed and Tony for being.
• Downplayed but present for most of the cast of IDW's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. With the comics being geared more towards the Periphery Demographic, the ponies are more Vitriolic Best Buds and quite snarkier than their televised counterparts.
  • The Equestria Girls tie-ins really up this treatment, painting the human CMC as willing to smear someone online and Princess Celestia as more of a Good Is Not Nice Knight Templar.

Fanfiction

• A general complaint about fanfiction as a whole is how many authors love to apply the trope and Adaptational Villainy to the characters they write about, especially if they dislike them, think they get between their ships, or even think that being more a jerk makes the character cooler.
• In the original Ben 10 canon, both Gwen and Ben's parents, while Out of Focus, were Good Parents. In Changing of the Guard, Ben's mother is an amoral politician, supported by her husband, while Gwen's parents are only interested in her diplomas, not even bothering to remember their daughter's age and acting confused when it looks like Ben, their nephew, thinks they'd want to talk to him.
• Sam Manson's less flattering qualities are played up in The Many Dates of Danny Fenton and its spin-offs. Though in fairness, she was dragged off against her will for a month and returned to find the status quo totally changed, particularly that the boy she was crushing on is now in a committed relationship
  • Dash, Paulina and the other A-listers. Sure they were hardly great people in canon but in these fics, it's unclear if they even have a life outside of plotting petty schemes against Danny.
• Most of the Harry Potter cast in Harry Potter and the Invincible Technomage have their more petty qualities amped up, as part of the Potter Verse being a Straw Loser next to the Marvel Universe, but the stand out is doubtlessly Albus Dumbledore. He still has enough of his good qualities to avoid full-on Adaptational Villainy, namely that he is trying to protect Wizarding Britain from Voldemort, but he's now gone all out in trying to shamelessly manipulate and indoctrinate Harry into becoming, in the author's own words, "the compliant little protoweapon of canon".
• Dipper Pines in Universe Falls, mixed in with Adaptational Angst Upgrade. While somewhat justified by the fact that Dipper has to deal with the threat of Homeworld Gems in addition to Bill Cipher and his ilk, he's still much more short tempered and prone to lashing out than his canon self ever was.
• Most of the cast of Starks and Irons are much more short tempered, aggressive and prone to swearing than their depicitions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The standout however has to be Thanos. Even though Avengers: Endgame made clear that he's only wearing the mask of a Noble Demon, he still had some noble virtues such as being shocked by Loki's bluff of letting Thor die and later being repulsed by Loki's assumption that he only wanted the Infinity Stones to enhance his personal power. In Balance, Thanos is much more of a generic Evil Overlord, torturing Wanda Maximoff, trading his canonical Affably Evil for Faux Affably Evil, planning to rule the half-dead universe rather than just retiring to the Garden, and, most critically, seeks the Infinity Stones solely to satisfy his god complex. If anything, he's more Darkseid than Thanos.
• Timber Spruce in the Ben 10/Equestria Girls crossover, The Omnitrix Hero. He's not quite dying for the Flash/Twilight ship, at least not yet, but his more negative traits, such as his "It's All About Me" and "Dirty Coward" moments, are much more pronounced than in canon.

Film

• Disney's Beauty and the Beast has the Beast himself. In the old tales he is more sad and depressed than actually mean, save for when he gets pissed off at Beauty's dad (and even then for perfectly justified reasons since the latter was repaying the Beast's anonymous hospitality with stealing a rose from his garden); in the movie, he's a Jerkass from the very start, even having been a Spoiled Brat in his youth, contrasting his literary self having been a kind man.
  • The 2017 live-action remake is no slouch on this either, since has the townsfolk and especially the Bimbettes as far more hostile to Emma Watson's Belle than in the original. That said, it's zigzagged somewhat as at the same time, Gaston simply manipulates the villagers into thinking that Maurice had gone insane in order to cover up his attempted murder of him in the remake, while in the 1991 film, it's heavily implied the villagers (with the possible exception of the Bimbettes, who simply disappear from the story at that point) gave full support to Gaston locking him up under the false charge of being a dangerous madman so he could blackmail Belle into marrying him, despite being fully aware of Maurice being a harmless crackpot yet.
• The Lord of the Rings movies make Faramir more antagonistic towards the Hobbits in the film version of The Two Towers than he was in the book. He is also tempted by the Ring in the movie - in the book, he's Genre Savvy enough to know that anything made by Sauron is probably dangerous. Word of God says it was because they didn't have enough time to do the very complex Character Development that that scene would require to justify Faramir not trying to take the ring.
• In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the first five Rangers were near flawless teens. In the 2017 film, they're all much more bitter and cynical, Kimberly in particular, even first meeting in detention for their various screwups.
  • Zordon isn't immune either, openly admitting that he has no confidence in the Rangers.
  • While Rita Repulsa was always a Card-Carrying Villain, this one is so much crueler than her MMPR counterpart could ever hope to be, openly torturing and killing people and plotting a genocide.
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Most of the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy. The comic versions were clean cut heroes while these Guardians are a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits and Anti-Hero Space Pirates whose primary concern is money, even if they try to do the right thing.
  • Steve Rogers/Captain America in Captain America: Civil War. In Civil War, Steve Rogers never strayed from the motivation of protecting the rights of the superhuman minority and when he realized that his vigilantism was making everything so much worse, he willingly turned himself in, understanding that he lost his chance to affect change when he went rogue. In the movie, Steve starts out like his comic self but quickly undergoes Motive Decay in his quest to keep Bucky away from any governmental power. When Thaddeus Ross, in Avengers: Infinity War, highlights all the collateral damage that Steve caused in his crusade, the star-spangled man's response is "I Regret Nothing", save the emotional and physical damages he caused to Team Iron Man.
  • J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Even taking into account that he's a Truer to the Text version based on JJJ's earliest appearances from the 1960s, Comic!Jameson had some journalistic standards, refusing to outright lie or make light of someone's death. In No Way Home, Jameson is nothing more than an opportunistic bastard out to make a quick buck, saying and doing anything he needs to if it means getting more clicks and ad revenue.
• Jill McIntyre in the movie Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front. In the books, she's a bit stuck up and tries to be mature and "realistic" most of the time, but she's also a Cool Big Sis to Molly and her brothers. In the movie, she doesn't seem to have anything positive to say to either of them; she's either chastising Molly or scolding Ricky.
• The Harry Potter films
  • Albus Dumbeldore, at least when portrayed by Michael Gambon. Richard Harris' take on the character was very faithful to the books but Gambon's, while not evil, was far more Hot-Blooded and even manhandled Harry in Goblet of Fire. Allegedly, it's because Gambon wasn't too familiar with the books.
  • When Harry's name was spat out of the Goblet of Fire, the book Hufflepuffs shunned him under the belief that he wanted to upstage Cedric. Their big screen counterparts outright taunt him.
  • Downplayed and zig-zagged with Ron. Like Harry and Hermione, he receives a good deal of Adaptational Heroism and is overall a much better person compared to his literary counterpart but his book self's more notable Nice Guy moments are often, but not totally, replaced with Deadpan Snarker comments.
• Most depictions of Dr. Thomas Wayne are kindhearted philanthropists who seek only to help Gotham City. Not the one in Joker who's a smug elite that looks down on the poor.
• In the source material, the Martians invaded Earth because their world was dying and their leadership deemed the invasion as Necessarily Evil, even if some soldiers got a kick out of genocide. In Mars Attacks!, Mars is fine and the Martians are doing it For the Evulz.
• In most Sonic the Hedgehog media, Robotnik has some respect for his adversaries and can at least pretend to be civil. In the movies, he is incapable of going a minute without talking about how much better he is than everyone else in the most condescending manner possible.
• Though somewhat justified by it being an origin story, Chloe and Sully in the Uncharted film are much more abrasive than their video game counterparts, being more willing to betray Nate whenever the need arises and much more transparently motivated by their greed.
• The Bayverse:
  • Optimus Prime. Though largely the same character that he was The Eighties, he is much more short-tempered, willing to outright execute Decepticons and far more willing to call out the human race's moral failings. Though considering the Trauma Conga Line that the films put Optimus through, combined with humanity's Ungrateful Bastard attitudes towards the Autobots, Prime having a more cynical worldview isn't really a surprise.
  • The Decepticons. Compared to other depictions, the Decepticons have no Quirky Miniboss Squad tendencies, they never pull an Enemy Mine with the Autobots and a lot more emphasis is placed on their "A Nazi by Any Other Name" qualities.

Live-Action TV

• The first Power Rangers series gave this to the original Rita Repulsa, compared to Bandora from Zyuranger. Bandora was a bit of a Benevolent Boss to her underlings, but Rita treated him worse.
• Game of Thrones has several characters fall into this, including Brienne (while still good-hearted, she's colder than in the book) and Robb (who's seen as more irresponsible and selfish than his book self)

Literature

• Several adaptations of Bram Stocker's Dracula do this to Mina's lover Jonathan, especially if they lean more towards the Mina/Dracula ship.
• The Moment in the novelization of Doctor Who‍'‍s 50th anniversary "The Day of the Doctor". The Moment on television was a benevolent Trickster Mentor who had no desire to hurt Time Lords or Daleks. The novelization by contrast paints her as much more self-centered and quite eager to show off why she's called "the Galaxy Eater", outright saying she gets a high from burning planets. But she does retain her desire to help the Doctor and it's clear that she'll only burn Gallifrey if that's what the Doctor really wants, making sure he understands the full seriousness of the choice he's making.
• skekUng in the novelization of The Dark Crystal. In the film, while still a Skeksis, he had some standards and was the closest thing the Skeksis had to a Reasonable Authority Figure. In the novel, all of his standards are gone, he plots to kill skekTek, who showed him nothing but Undying Loyalty, and is so paranoid that he's descending into full-on Omnicidal Maniac territory, ready to end all life on Thra to hold onto his power.
• Zeus in Percy Jackson & the Olympians and its various Spin-Offs. While all of Zeus' pettier qualities from Classical Mythology are present in the books, they leave out any of his more noble qualities. While the ancient Greeks never shied away from depicting Zeus' more rape-y moments, they also regarded him as a far arbiter of judgment and order, a defender of civilization and punisher of the unworthy. None of those noble qualities are present Rick Riordan's works, painting the God of Lightning as a decadent hedonist liked by no one and only tolerated because he's too powerful to overthrow.

Video Games

• Ryu from Street Fighter is a stoic yet kind-hearted Action Hero, but is made much snarkier in SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos.
• Many characters went through this in Street Fighter X Tekken, due to Character Exaggeration.
• Jill Valentine gets this treatment in the remake to Resident Evil 3, being more prone to swearing and being a lot more hostile towards the Umbrella mercenaries in the game before eventually warming up to them somewhat. In the original game, while she is still distrusting of the mercenaries, she's a bit more compassionate to them as well. This is also one of the reasons why the remake got polarizing reception.
• Ninten (who is renamed Ken) in the novelization of Mother 1. Ninten in the game was the everykid, a nice boy who leapt into action to save his sisters and reunite a baby bird with its mother, befriended a bullied outcast, and fought through possessed animals and people to return a hat to a girl he'd never met. In the novel, he's seen bullying Lloyd, acting perverted towards Ana when they first meet, and being an overall egotistical dickhead. Though later he's more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.

Web Comics

• Most of the main characters in Scarlet Lady compared to the canon of Miraculous Ladybug. This is generally done to make the characters more realistic teenagers (such as Marinette being a Deadpan Snarker bar none) but a few darker examples stand out.
  • The first and most obvious is Chloé Bourgeois. With her worst tendencies encouraged, and without a Ladybug to aspire to, she steadily becomes ever worse a person, ultimately going right to Adaptational Villainy.
  • A mild case for Nino Lahiffe. He's still one of the good guys but his bouts of Acquired Situational Narcissism are much worse than in canon. He has a Jerkass Realization at the end of "Horrificator". Though it could be that Nino, who is noticeably dumber in this AU, is just Innocently Insensitive.
  • Even Gabriel Agreste gets this, upping his Abusive Parents treatment towards Adrien, showing several times that he doesn't care one jot about his son, and treating his Akumas with much more contempt. Though who can blame him for that last point? He reaches his lowest point when it's revealed that he willingly gave Chloé the Peacock Miraculous, damning a fifteen year old girl, the daughter of two friends of his, to the same fate he's trying to save his wife from, implicitly because he wanted to get back at her.
  • Mme. Bustier is reimagined as a total Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Control Freak, her Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher attitudes only serving to enable Chloé's bad behaviour and refusing to hear any kind of critique from the other students. She's not evil but the comic makes clear that Mme. Bustier prefers looking like a good teacher instead of being one.
  • Max in the comic's adaptation of "Gamer". While canon was ambiguous over whether Max's akumatization was motivated specifically by "I Was Beaten by a Girl", the comic makes clear that it was. Even Hawk Moth and Scarlet Lady lampshade that he also lost to Adrien but seems to be ignoring that in his crusade against Marinette. The comic stops short of outright labelling him a misogynist but it's clear everyone is thinking it. That said, unlike canon, he has a Jerkass Realization at the episode's end and graciously apologizes to Marinette.

Western Animation

• Cornelia Hale from W.I.T.C.H. has her Alpha Bitch side turned up in the TV series.
• The Legend of Zelda cartoon gives this to both Link and Zelda. There's a reason why the Well, Excuse Me, Princess! trope was born here - Zelda was kind of an Alpha Bitch while Link was quite mouthy to her in return.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated has the gang acting more like normal teenagers than in other media, so they're more jerky than usual. Velma is the most noticeable example.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
  • Zig-zagged and mixed in with Adaptational Niceness for Sea Hawk. In the original She-Ra: Princess of Power, Sea Hawk was a Badass Consummate Professional Space Pirate who pulled a Heel Face Turn thanks to Adora and became a Loveable Rogue. In the reboot, Sea Hawk is much more of a Man Child and the total antonym to "professional", even after his Character Development, and is quite possibly a pyromaniac. The zig-zagging comes from the fact that 2018!Sea Hawk is much more outgoing individual who quickly joined the Rebellion on a regular basis, working with any of its members and never dabbled with the Horde while the original was generally a loner who only really worked with Adora and had originally been a privateer for the Horde. 2018!Sea Hawk may never have pulled a Heel Face Turn but that's only because, unlike his original incarnation, he was never a heel in the first place.
  • Horde Prime was always a villain but his '80s self was much more of a Card-Carrying Villain and The Comically Serious who would simply berate his underlings for failing. This Horde Prime is a Knight of Cerebus who outright Mind Rapes people and talks proudly about the planets and civilizations he's destroyed. And when he takes offence at how Etheria has "thoroughly corrupted" Hordak, he becomes an Omnicidal Maniac, ready to destroy the universe, purely out of petty spite. And it's never said if he's doing it to spite Etheria or just Hordak.
• The Wood Man in the Netflix adaptation of Hilda is a good deal ruder than his polite portrayal in the graphic novel.
• In the Rockman X games, X was described as a pacifist, though he was still willing to fight when things get rough. Not so much in Ruby-Spears' Mega Man, where X blows up a few trucks in his pursuit of Spark Mandriller and VAVA (here called "Spark Mandrill" and "Vile," respectively), which the Blue Bomber calls him out on.
• Transformers:
  • While the Autobots as a whole in Transformers Animated are more a victim of downplayed Adaptational Villainy, Ultra Magnus more neatly slides into this trope. While still a stuffy bureaucrat who seeks to bring peace to the galaxy, this Magnus defers more to the law and the needs of the many rather than following his conscience, making clear that he is willing to make hard choices without any hesitation. And while he doesn't seem to hate Earth, it's also clear that to him, it's an Insignificant Little Blue Planet barely worth the time of the solar cycle that the Autobots should not be wasting their resources on.
  • Ratchet in Transformers Prime. While still The Medic of the Autobots and one of the heroes, he's also a Noble Bigot who believes Cybertronians are a Superior Species to humanity. Though it's suggested that a lot of this is a Jerkass Facade given Cybertron being knocked off-line and that the Autobots are stuck on Earth.
  • Transformers Robots in Disguise:
    • Micronus Prime was established to be a strong moral character in The Covenant of Primus. This one is an unrepentant Jerkass. He is so much more powerful than everyone and he knows it.
    • Windblade. Her IDW incarnation was a Wide-Eyed Idealist who sought only to build a better future. This one starts out as a gung-ho enforcer who has no issue sacrificing humans as collateral damage.
  • Megatron X in Transformers: Cyberverse. Like his other selves, Megatron X is still a Galactic Conqueror but he, after winning the Great War, went so far as to wipe out the Autobots and eventually the Decepticons when he had no need of them. It's even acknowledged In-Universe how much crueller Megatron X is compared to the main timeline Megatron.
  • Transformers: War for Cybertron:
    • Bumblebee. Usually the Nice Guy among the Autobots, he starts out as a Neutral who's Only in It For the Money. Even when he does officially join the Autobots, he's a lot more of a Deadpan Snarker and reacts much more aggressively to everything than he normally would. While most Bumblebees treat Starscream as a semi-Friendly Enemy that he could probably get through to, this Bumblebee likes mocking Starscream's spinelessness and has quite the smug grin when he gets one up on him.
    • The Maximals. Though rather justified. Instead of, like in Beast Wars, coming from a peaceful and bountiful technocratic utopia, they come from a Bad Future Crapsack World that exists in spite of the Autobots and Decepticons' fighting. Little wonder they don't hold their progenitors in high regard.
• Quite a lot of the universe of Ben 10 (2016) compared to the original timeline. In the original reality, most alien beings were, ultimately, Reasonable Authority Figures. As part of the Denser and Wackier atmosphere however, most individual aliens here are much snarkier and quite quicker to leap to aggression.
  • Zig-zagged with Kevin. On the one hand, Even Evil Has Standards which he lacked in the original show but this Kevin doesn't have the excuse of legitimately going insane by absorbing energy, and is little more than a spiteful bully.
  • Azmuth. Which considering his original incarnation is quite an accomplishment. Though he does soften up a bit by the end of his first appearance.
• Fluttershy in Pony Life. While her counterpart in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic had some darker moments, this one is a full on Cute and Psycho.
• Strawberry Shortcake: Between generations, a character might go from nice to nasty:
  • Sherry Bobbleberry from the 2003 series combines this with Adaptation Species Change. Her original incarnation was a fairy who was genuinely nice but was quite clumsy. In Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, she becomes a rehearsal-skipping, egotistical Mean Boss who quits when Raisin Cane points out how badly Sherry Bobbleberry mistreated the Berry Fairies band.
  • Raisin Cane made her debut in the 1980's Strawberry Shortcake, more specifically the 1980's generation. There, she had a moral compass, but was still a minion of the Peculiar Purple Pieman, making her a conflicted character whose jerkassery was wrought on by a Boarding School of Horrors. Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures makes her quite selfish, though she has a few nice moments from time to time. It finally gets inverted in Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, where she acts as the voice of reason for the Berry Fairies and flips out on her boss for being an egotistical coward, going as far as to claim that the band doesn't need Sherry.
• In The Railway Series, Flying Scotsman was, despite his fame, humble and respectful. In Thomas the Tank Engine, he's even more of a smug, pompous narcissist than Gordon.
• Most characters from outside properties who cameo on Family Guy fall victim to this, being shown to indulge in recreational drugs, crude misogyny and swearing on the reg or just being Lazy Bums. All Played for Laughs of course.
• In Barbie: Life In The Dreamhouse, nearly all of the established characters are like this, including Barbie herself. Due to the attempt to parody reality television, they come across as a lot more shallow, materialistic, manipulative, and spiteful.
• Harley Quinn:
  • The title character is usually depicted as an ordinary woman who was corrupted by the Joker. And while the Joker definitely had an influence on her, Harleen Quinzel is shown in this series to be have been a Cute and Psycho nut even before she crossed paths with the Clown Prince of Crime.
  • The Joker, the first season ramping up his misogyny. Some Character Development from Seasons 2 onwards leads to him invoking Adaptational Niceness.
  • Most superheroes are a bit more snarky and entitled than what one would expect from the Justice League. The worst offender is without a doubt Batman, who is shown to be an unstable Man Child Control Freak but this is framed as part of the show's Deconstruction of Batman, showing how messed up Bruce Wayne is because he's never allowed himself to properly cope and grieve over his parents' deaths.
  • Lex Luthor. While he's very much Laughably Evil, he's also the worst version of a Corrupt Corporate Executive, the series ramping up his pettiness towards Superman (to the point that he'd destroy all life on Earth to defeat Superman) and giving him many misogynistic moments.