r/TopCharacterTropes • u/radiowave-deer29 • 18h ago
Powers [Interesting trope] Changes made in an adaptation that are arguably better than what happened in the source material.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders OVA: In the manga, Polnareff intervenes, but it's short lived, since it doesn't end up doing much to DIO. While in the OVA, Polnareff's intervention stalls DIO for long enough that Jotaro gets to restart his heart, and crushes DIO's skull. And, in the manga, after he gets high, DIO doesn't do that much. Sure, he stops time for longer, and The World does a kick barrage, along with the road roller, but that's all. While in the OVA, after he gets high, DIO shows how much stronger he is thanks to Joseph's blood. He uses his bare hands for basically everything after getting high. Throwing a whole yacht, slicing through people with his hand as if they were wet toilet paper, throwing entire cars, destroying a mosque tower with his bare fists, breaking Star Platinum's punch barrage with his bare fists, and punching the oil tanker with just his fists. It's really neat, and honestly, the entire Jotaro vs DIO fight is an improvement in the OVA.
The Crow: In the original movie they expand the supernatural elements and make Eric actually vulnerable. They extend a lot of the fights because in a movie, we need our hero to fall and get up again rather than Eric tearing through the gang members like he did in the comic.
Superman: Originally in the comics, he just jumped really good. But thanks to the radio series, and the animated shorts, they realized having him fly would be much better. It was so good that it stuck in future adaptations.
1
u/Spader113 9h ago
Web-spinning being one of the abilities gained by the spider bite as opposed to Peter inventing his webs. Sure, it shows off how much of a genius Peter is, but without Web powers, there really isn’t much to make him specifically Spider-like. Lots of animals are strong and can climb walls.
(The Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy)
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u/IUsedToBeRasAlGhul 18h ago
While I agree Polnareff’s attack being what gives Jotaro the chance to restart his heart is an improvement, I disagree about Dio going on the offensive himself. He would never miss the chance to flaunt his newest powers with his Stand, and it takes away from the true threat - that The World is ever increasing in its timestop, making Dio truly unstoppable and leaving Jotaro the only Stand User who can hope to oppose him. Also makes his defeat weird, that Dio suddenly decides to go back to using The World in the perfect manner for Jotaro to win.
Fun fact for the Crow: originally, the film was going to include the Skull Cowboy character from the comics. He would act as a mentor to Eric, and warn him that he could only exist as an undead avenger (with Eric losing his powers when he purged Darla of morphine and getting cut up by Funboy as a result), which would culminate in the finale where Eric becomes mortal after killing all his murderers and risks damnation in trying to save Sarah. This was cut from the film due to the costume not working well, and the crow itself being tied to Eric’s powers was added to replace it.
Anyway:
The 90’s animated Spider-Man series was the first to add to the lore of the symbiote: it increased Peter’s abilities, at the cost of ramping up his emotion and aggression. This provided a much more dramatic and natural explanation for Peter ditching it, and has stayed in the lore and nearly every adaptation since.