Tropescilloscope: Adaptational Heroism

A character is more of a hero in an adaptation than they were in the original material. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes timeperiod Intrepid Reporter Babies Ever After Rule of Cool Pay Evil unto Evil The Chick I'm a Humanitarian Action Prologue Country Matters Heroes Want Redheads Immune to Bullets Death by Adaptation Sole Survivor "Shaggy Dog" Story Leave the Camera Running The Power of Love Mighty Whitey Age Lift Epic Fail How We Got Here Nice Guy Alliterative Name Ship Tease Adapted Out Word of God Science Fiction Films Black Dude Dies First One Steve Limit Mystery and Detective Films Totally Radical Henpecked Husband Badass Bookworm Jerkass Naïve Newcomer Instant Death Bullet You Killed My Father Historical In-Joke Malevolent Masked Men Kick the Son of a Bitch Eagleland Blood from the Mouth Those Two Guys Documentary Knife Nut Only in It for the Money Wretched Hive Shut Up, Hannibal! Knight Templar Race Against the Clock Abusive Parents Demonic Possession Sci-Fi Horror Only Sane Man Translation Convention Faux Affably Evil It Will Never Catch On He Who Fights Monsters Together in Death Breaking the Fourth Wall The Atoner Berserk Button Gory Discretion Shot Visual Pun Armor-Piercing Question Stock Footage As Himself Canon Foreigner Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Horror Comedy Truth in Television Big Brother Instinct Manic Pixie Dream Girl Anti-Hero Informed Ability Pragmatic Villainy La Résistance Easily Forgiven Genre Shift Bolivian Army Ending The Alcoholic Obviously Evil Rape as Drama Deus ex Machina Those Two Bad Guys The Oner In the Back The Casanova Skewed Priorities The Cavalry Earn Your Happy Ending The Remake Arranged Marriage A Minor Kidroduction Twist Ending Heterosexual Life-Partners Love Triangle A God Am I The Mole Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Never Found the Body The Quiet One Index of Film Westerns Car Fu Cool Shades O.O.C. Is Serious Business An Axe to Grind Defiant to the End Ax-Crazy Kill It with Fire Artistic License – Geography Storming the Castle Improbable Weapon User Made of Explodium The '70s Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Handicapped Badass Bland-Name Product Bunny-Ears Lawyer Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Gender Flip Genre Throwback Wham Shot Riddle for the Ages Self-Deprecation Greater-Scope Villain Improbable Aiming Skills Sequel Hook Daddy's Girl Scary Black Man For Want of a Nail The Faceless Australian Movies Air-Vent Passageway Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Bloodier and Gorier Costume Porn Enemy Mine Light Is Not Good Hypocrite Celebrity Paradox Line-of-Sight Name Composite Character Cassandra Truth Mad Scientist Adaptation Expansion Tempting Fate The Load Redemption Equals Death Retcon Dogged Nice Guy Action Genre I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Plucky Comic Relief Hope Spot Exactly What It Says on the Tin Flipping the Bird Face–Heel Turn Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer The Brute All There in the Manual Hair-Trigger Temper Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies I Did What I Had to Do I Need a Freaking Drink Domestic Abuse Fat Bastard The Great Depression No Celebrities Were Harmed Catapult Nightmare Alas, Poor Villain Boom, Headshot! Slashed Throat Adult Fear Evil Counterpart Red Herring Becoming the Mask Corrupt Corporate Executive Expository Hairstyle Change Ambiguously Gay Not So Different Parental Substitute NO INDOOR VOICE Final Girl Roger Ebert: Great Movies List From Bad to Worse Soft Glass Chase Scene French Films Villain with Good Publicity All Girls Want Bad Boys Mundane Made Awesome Parental Incest World of Ham Author Appeal Killed Mid-Sentence Kubrick Stare The Film of the Book He Knows Too Much Freudian Excuse Dumb Blonde The '90s Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Determinator Bring My Brown Pants After the End Love at First Sight The '50s Affably Evil Pet the Dog More Dakka Dying Moment of Awesome Our Zombies Are Different Cowboy Cop Unspoken Plan Guarantee A.I. Is a Crapshoot Refuge in Audacity Bottomless Magazines Screw This, I'm Outta Here! B-Movie Needs Wiki Magic Love Anachronic Order Chekhov's Gun All There in the Script Overprotective Dad Early-Bird Cameo Deal with the Devil Flashback Awesome, but Impractical The Dragon Maybe Ever After Chekhov's Gunman Bavarian Fire Drill Japanese Films There Is No Kill Like Overkill Creepy Child Captain Ersatz Large Ham Morality Pet The Reveal Psycho for Hire Gratuitous English Defrosting Ice Queen The Bad Guy Wins The '60s Playing Gertrude Jump Scare Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Crazy-Prepared Auto Erotica Agony of the Feet Race Lift Interrupted Suicide Artistic License – Biology Scare Chord Extreme Doormat Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Creator Cameo Wounded Gazelle Gambit All Men Are Perverts Curse Cut Short You Have Failed Me Curb-Stomp Battle Famous Last Words What Happened to the Mouse? Failed a Spot Check Slasher Smile Badass Longcoat Be Careful What You Wish For Unusually Uninteresting Sight Wicked Cultured Red Shirt Ominous Latin Chanting Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Darker and Edgier No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Black Comedy Rape Vitriolic Best Buds Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Antagonist Title And Starring Evil Sounds Deep Closed Circle The Ditz Kids Are Cruel Spared by the Adaptation Vampire Fiction Developing Doomed Characters Insult Backfire Kick the Dog Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Never Trust a Trailer Motor Mouth Off-into-the-Distance Ending Let's Get Dangerous! Sir Swears-a-Lot Implacable Man Taking You with Me Animated Credits Opening Gone Horribly Right Rule of Symbolism A Father to His Men Major Injury Underreaction Pretty in Mink Shower Scene Suspiciously Similar Substitute Funny Foreigner Depraved Bisexual Drives Like Crazy Not So Stoic Hong Kong Films Deadpan Snarker Pretty Little Headshots Paper-Thin Disguise Fun with Acronyms In Name Only Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Driven to Suicide Mugging the Monster Calling the Old Man Out Asshole Victim Parental Neglect Reality Is Unrealistic The Hero Casting Gag It's All About Me Based on a True Story Very Loosely Based on a True Story Cain and Abel Shown Their Work An Aesop Blood Knight Insane Troll Logic Random Events Plot Scenery Gorn Honor Before Reason Worthy Opponent Unusual Euphemism Crazy Jealous Guy Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Oh, Crap! Apocalypse How Brainless Beauty As Long as It Sounds Foreign Homage Heroic BSoD Tranquil Fury Only Known by Their Nickname Ambiguous Disorder Gorn Groin Attack Drill Sergeant Nasty Leitmotif Evil Is Hammy Decoy Protagonist Horror Films Blackmail Ass Shove Men Are the Expendable Gender Bound and Gagged Film Noir 20 Minutes into the Future Not Quite Dead Dutch Angle Dirty Cop Police Brutality Offscreen Moment of Awesome Would Hit a Girl The End... Or Is It? Ironic Echo Posthumous Character Mind Screw Politically Incorrect Villain Suddenly SHOUTING! Spiritual Successor Dissonant Serenity Smug Snake Big "NO!" Not Using the "Z" Word Really Gets Around The Ghost Dies Wide Open What the Hell, Hero? Christmas Movies Index Beta Couple The Un-Reveal Rousing Speech Cat Scare Artistic License – History Lighter and Softer Darkest Hour Psychopathic Manchild Drugs Are Bad Off with His Head! Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Biopic Re-Cut Award-Bait Song Bilingual Bonus Drowning My Sorrows No Antagonist Contrived Coincidence Disappeared Dad From Nobody to Nightmare Retired Badass Early Installment Weirdness Despair Event Horizon Woman Scorned Vomit Indiscretion Shot Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Eureka Moment Rule of Funny Last-Name Basis Bad Boss Real Life Writes the Plot Face Death with Dignity Not So Above It All Exact Words Stealth Hi/Bye Bond One-Liner Sanity Slippage Book-Ends Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Break the Haughty '80s Hair Hero of Another Story Bar Brawl Brick Joke Mythology Gag The Chessmaster Whole Plot Reference Non-Indicative Name Music Stories Creative Closing Credits Anguished Declaration of Love A Date with Rosie Palms Make It Look Like an Accident Revenge Military and Warfare Films Crucified Hero Shot Offscreen Teleportation Betty and Veronica Evil Plan Foreshadowing Break the Cutie Fourth Date Marriage Girl-on-Girl Is Hot War Is Hell Mood Whiplash Heel Realization The X of Y Stealth Pun One-Man Army Shoot the Shaggy Dog Author Avatar The Lancer "Awesome McCool" Name Irony Laser-Guided Karma Evil Is Petty Big-Bad Ensemble Dirty Coward Made of Iron Victoria's Secret Compartment Artistic License – Military Peek-a-Boo Corpse "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue The Dreaded Man on Fire Laughing Mad Real Life Silent Movie Product Placement Happily Married Fiery Redhead Married to the Job Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Nothing Is Scarier And I Must Scream Death Seeker Properly Paranoid Back from the Dead Bullying a Dragon Cluster F-Bomb Heroic Sacrifice Yandere Fate Worse than Death As You Know My God, What Have I Done? Chiaroscuro Not Even Bothering with the Accent Up to Eleven The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Adaptation Name Change Dwindling Party Death of a Child Does Not Like Shoes Villain Ball Grievous Bottley Harm Male Frontal Nudity Kill 'em All Artistic License – Gun Safety Intergenerational Friendship All for Nothing Does This Remind You of Anything? Italian Films Broken Aesop Bi the Way Protagonist Title BFG Mooks Brother–Sister Incest Hooker with a Heart of Gold Dirty Old Man Broken Pedestal Black Comedy Smoking Is Cool Bare Your Midriff Cool Old Lady Empathic Environment Black Best Friend Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Belligerent Sexual Tension Fanservice Big Eater "Well Done, Son!" Guy folderlabel Gilligan Cut Diabolus ex Machina Bowdlerise Due to the Dead Ambiguous Ending Anachronism Stew Adaptation Dye-Job Badass in a Nice Suit Running Gag Amusing Injuries Logo Joke Punny Name Meaningful Background Event My Beloved Smother Would Hurt a Child Took a Level in Badass Department of Redundancy Department Get Out! Framing Device Adorkable Animal Motifs Fantasy Films Accidental Murder May–December Romance Reality Has No Subtitles Deliberate Values Dissonance Once More, with Clarity! The Voiceless Token Minority Take That! Only One Name Guns Akimbo Brutal Honesty Cool Old Guy The Dog Bites Back Cool Guns Throwing Your Sword Always Works Jitter Cam It's Personal Getting Crap Past the Radar Ascended Extra Hollywood Darkness No OSHA Compliance Sacrificial Lion Eye Scream Adults Are Useless Four-Temperament Ensemble Hate Sink Parental Abandonment Chewing the Scenery Death by Sex You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Television Movie Index Lock and Load Montage For the Evulz Overly Long Gag Have a Gay Old Time Historical-Domain Character Didn't Think This Through Children Are Innocent Arc Words Novelization Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? The Ace Villain Protagonist Even Evil Has Loved Ones Zombie Stories The Mafia Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Dark Is Not Evil One-Word Title And the Adventure Continues Sinister Minister Dark Action Girl Improvised Weapon Big Bad Duumvirate Double Entendre Cold-Blooded Torture It Can Think Roaring Rampage of Revenge Missing Mom Lampshade Hanging Camp Gay Catch-Phrase Ripped from the Headlines Shell-Shocked Veteran Badass Grandpa Better to Die than Be Killed Taking the Bullet Slasher Movie Authority Equals Asskicking Freeze-Frame Bonus Villain Opening Scene Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Same Language Dub Disproportionate Retribution Meaningful Name Unreliable Narrator Coming-of-Age Story Adaptational Heroism Foregone Conclusion Vacation Films Super Strength Deliberately Monochrome Small Name, Big Ego Actually Pretty Funny Accidental Misnaming Sadistic Choice Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Batman Gambit The Alleged Car Historical Villain Upgrade Suspiciously Specific Denial Tap on the Head Central Theme Advertised Extra Epic Movie Green-Eyed Monster Spell My Name with an "S" Precision F-Strike Manipulative Bastard Outrun the Fireball Butt-Monkey Pre-Mortem One-Liner Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Romantic Comedy Shirtless Scene Works Set in World War II Papa Wolf Humiliation Conga Trailers Always Spoil Did Not Get the Girl Daylight Horror Dramatic Gun Cock Naked People Are Funny Attempted Rape Idiot Ball Spiteful Spit Genre Savvy Arch-Enemy Jerkass Has a Point Corpsing Toplessness from the Back Shipper on Deck Silence Is Golden Male Gaze Well-Intentioned Extremist Beware the Nice Ones Evil vs. Evil Wrong Genre Savvy Vomit Discretion Shot Villainous Breakdown Beauty Is Never Tarnished Shout-Out Film Noir Index Fainting Damsel in Distress Artistic License – Physics Retirony Plot Hole Fake Shemp Important Haircut As the Good Book Says... Good Is Not Nice Bloody Hilarious The Lost Lenore Never My Fault Serious Business MacGuffin Romantic False Lead Big Fancy House No Ending Only a Flesh Wound My Greatest Failure Hypocritical Humor Hell Is That Noise Bittersweet Ending Danny Peary Cult Movies List Action Girl Bald of Evil Training Montage Mr. Exposition Black and Gray Morality Big Applesauce Karmic Death Sassy Black Woman "The Reason You Suck" Speech No-Sell Wham Line The Cameo Reckless Gun Usage Reality Ensues Establishing Character Moment Punch-Clock Villain She's Got Legs Unresolved Sexual Tension Ghost Fiction Animal Title Index Card-Carrying Villain Gold Digger Femme Fatale Monumental Damage Setting Update Body Horror Martial Arts Movie Evil Cannot Comprehend Good The Big Guy Half the Man He Used to Be The '80s Sexy Discretion Shot Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Expy Fantastic Racism Even Evil Has Standards Heel–Face Turn Red Eyes, Take Warning Fatal Flaw The Sociopath Everyone Has Standards Spanner in the Works Amoral Attorney Loads and Loads of Characters Neck Snap Cat Fight Obfuscating Stupidity Fatal Family Photo Dramatic Irony Mr. Fanservice Disney Death Faking the Dead Dark Reprise Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Serial Killer Dark and Troubled Past Show Within a Show Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Aside Glance Hidden Depths Hero Antagonist Pragmatic Adaptation Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Character Development Public Domain Feature Films I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Historical Hero Upgrade Continuity Nod The Vamp Captain Obvious Broken Bird Downer Ending Fingore Bond Villain Stupidity Disguised in Drag Jerk with a Heart of Gold True Companions Mexican Standoff Karma Houdini Meaningful Echo Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Hoist by His Own Petard No Name Given The Starscream Cloudcuckoolander Neck Lift Big Damn Heroes Imagine Spot The Place Film Series Cool Car Red Right Hand Adaptational Badass Woman in White Rich Bitch Eyepatch of Power Title Drop Blatant Lies Moment Killer Video Credits Facial Horror Dull Surprise Jerk Jock Manly Tears Determinator aka: The Determinator Redshirt Army Anyone Can Die Insistent Terminology Covers Always Lie Chekhov's Skill Abhorrent Admirer Actor Allusion Older Than They Look Sports Stories Rewatch Bonus Beard of Evil Left the Background Music On Big Bad Soundtrack Dissonance Red Oni, Blue Oni The Smurfette Principle Eldritch Abomination Stylistic Suck Sequel Escalation Poor Communication Kills Superhero Scenery Porn Disney Villain Death Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Evil Brit Meet Cute Deconstruction Bloodless Carnage Guile Hero Evil Laugh Fish out of Water Humans Are Bastards Madness Mantra Adaptational Attractiveness Dropped a Bridge on Him Room Full of Crazy Death Glare Combat Pragmatist Every Car Is a Pinto Funny Background Event Rated M for Manly Recycled IN SPACE! Affectionate Parody Credits Gag Reasonable Authority Figure Those Wacky Nazis Dramedy Alpha Bitch Death by Irony Thriller Dressing as the Enemy Unwitting Instigator of Doom Market-Based Title The Hero Dies Loophole Abuse Slap-Slap-Kiss Russian Films Five-Man Band Tagline Aluminum Christmas Trees Crapsack World Manchild Bury Your Gays Nice Hat Pimped-Out Dress In Medias Res Rasputinian Death No-Holds-Barred Beatdown The Bully Not What It Looks Like Hollywood Law Star-Crossed Lovers Here We Go Again! Too Dumb to Live Adaptational Villainy Eiffel Tower Effect Police are Useless Camera Abuse Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Psychological Thriller The Musical Straight Gay Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Say My Name Mistaken for Gay Leaning on the Fourth Wall Took a Level in Jerkass The Stoic Fan Disservice Undying Loyalty Match Cut Cruel and Unusual Death Call-Back Friend to All Children Almost Kiss Names to Run Away from Really Fast Destination Defenestration Put on a Bus Mama Bear Fanservice Extra The Stinger Demoted to Extra Anti-Villain Adaptation Distillation Mercy Kill This Is Gonna Suck She Cleans Up Nicely Frame-Up Evil-Detecting Dog Your Cheating Heart Distracted by the Sexy Annoying Younger Sibling Stepford Smiler Action Survivor Stuff Blowing Up Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Our Vampires Are Different The Smart Guy Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality What You Are in the Dark Pyrrhic Victory Badass Normal Rule of Three Bad "Bad Acting" Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Your Head A-Splode Bait-and-Switch Obstructive Bureaucrat Take a Third Option Ms. Fanservice Foil You Have Outlived Your Usefulness All Just a Dream Badass Boast Time Skip Canadian Movies Extremely Short Timespan Fire-Forged Friends German Films Dual Wielding An Arm and a Leg Narrator Sealed Evil in a Can Grey and Gray Morality Stalker with a Crush Villain Song Noodle Incident Conspicuous CG The Stoner I Have Your Wife British Films Artistic License – Law Double-Meaning Title Ungrateful Bastard Call-Forward N-Word Privileges Comically Missing the Point Gainax Ending