Superhero comics aren’t the only form of media that can end up drawing heavily from their adaptations! As this list will show, animated shows, books, live action movies and even newspaper comics can end up drawing heavily from their spinoffs, sometimes in very surprising ways. Let’s dig in!
Scrooge McDuck for Disney
Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck’s money diving uncle, is an iconic part of the Disney universe and it’s hard to imagine Donald Duck’s family without him. But he didn’t debut in a cartoon, but rather a comic book adaptation of Donald’s adventures. He was introduced in 1947 as part of Carl Barks’ critically acclaimed Donald Duck comics and ended up being so popular that he eventually got his own comic book title. It was actually twenty years before he was featured in any animated shorts. But after starring in the cartoon Duck Tales, he became almost as famous as Donald himself.
Some other Duck Tales characters, namely Donald’s nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, also came from a comic. Actually, outside of Donald, these triplets are the most published non-superhero comic book characters in the world. They were created much earlier than Scrooge, making their first appearance in a 1937 Silly Symphonies strip. Their first story was made into an animated short that was released six months later.
Sean Connery's Portrayal for James Bond
Ian Fleming, author of the original James Bond novels, was originally very critical of Sean Connery being cast as the superspy in the movie adaptations. He stated that Connery was not like his vision of Bond, calling him a “overgrown stuntman” and “unrefined”. Connery himself puts Fleming’s skepticism down to snobbery, stating that he didn’t like a man with a working class, Scottish heritage playing the characters.
But Fleming was forced to eat his words when he saw Connery on the big screen. Not only was Connery a runaway success, Fleming himself was so personally delighted with the performance that he decided to reveal that James Bond was half-Scottish himself in later novels to match up with Connery’s depiction. What a turnaround!
Milhouse for The Simpsons
The Simpsons, 20th Television
Believe it or not, Bart’s best friend and Lisa’s longtime admirer from The Simpsons was simply created for a 1988 Butterfinger commercial. He was just Bart’s nameless friend in the commercial, but Matt Groening liked designing him so much, he decided to feature him in the series. He debuted in the first season’s Christmas special.
Luna Lovegood For Harry Potter
Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood, Warner Brothers
J.K. Rowling has stated a few times that Evanna Lynch’s portrayal of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies influenced how Rowling wrote Luna in future books. She stated that whenever she was writing Luna, she would “see” Evanna. “She got in my head. I even heard her voice when I was writing Luna”.
A reader can see a little of the influence if they squint hard. In her debut book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Luna was shown as having a temper on occasion, such as her anger when Hermione insultes her father’s magazine. However, in later books, we don’t see as much of that, likely due to her mellower movie portrayal.
Star Trek: The Animated Series for Star Trek
Star Trek: The Animated Series, Filmation
Gene Rodenberry, the original Star Trek creator, worked on Star Trek: The Animated Series, but his office also later declared it “non-canon”, meaning not a part of the official Star Trek universe. So it essentially exists in its own universe and is therefore an adaptation.
But regardless of its “non-canon” status, this series has influenced several parts of the official Star Trek universe, most notably in traducing the Holodeck. Featured in the episode “The Practical Joker”, the holodeck was later introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Several other elements of the animated can also be found in later official Star Trek shows and movies. The Vulcan city, ShiKahr, created for the series, later shows up in Star Trek: Enterprise. Scenes from Spock’s childhood in JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek movie were clearly inspired by the episode “Yesteryear”.
“Zilla” for Godzilla
"Zilla" from Godzilla: Final Wars, Toho
The Japanese Godzilla films feature a really interesting example of an adaptation’s version of a character showing up in the source material, because in this case it shows up solely so the adaptation can be mericilessly mocked. The 1998 Godzilla film was an American version of the original Japanese pictures, departing drastically from the canon. The creators seemed to hate this American version of Godzilla SO MUCH that they just had to tear it down themselves (to be fair, many fans of the franchise and regular critics across the world were with them).
So the “American” version of Godzilla showed up in the movie Godzilla: Final Wars, rendered in intentionally bad CGI and named Zilla. This movie made it absolutely clear the American rendition had nothing to do with the real Godzilla and was a lesser version. Earlier movies also made sure to emphasize that this version of Godzilla was a faker, having a character note that Godzilla had supposedly showed up in America only to be met with the reply “That’s what the Americans think.”
Jon and Liz for Garfield
Garfield by Jim Davis
For nearly a solid three decades, the Garfield comics presented the cat’s owner, Jon, as hopeless in love and his crush on his sarcastic veterinarian, Liz Wilson, as entirely unrequited, but in 2006, Liz and Jon started dating. This is almost certainly because Liz and Jon became a couple in the live action Garfield movie two years previously. In the sequel, Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, Liz and Jon actually get married, but that has yet to happen in the newspaper comic.
This is a case of adaptation rejuvenating the source material just a little. Critical reaction to Jon and Liz dating has been generally positive, since it shakes up the strips status quo and breaks up decades of stagnation for the comic, which had settled into repeating the same old gags. Liz is now even a member of the main cast, which is the largest change the comic has had in a long time.