Team Member in the Adaptation

8 Following

• Fairy Tail: In the manga, Erigor and his dark guild Eisenwald were technically always under the control of the stronger dark guild Oración Seis in the Balam Alliance, but Erigor never joined any other guild besides his own. In the anime exclusive Filler Arc "Key of the Starry Heavens", Erigor joins the Oración Seis when they rebrand themselves as the Neo Oración Seis.
• MegaMan NT Warrior: In the original game, Tory was just a random child NPC and had a generic sprite. In the anime, he was given a much-expanded role, unique design, and a new status as part of Lan's group.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin:
  • Judock is a Colonel in the Earth Federation Forces and a mole for Zeon. In the original cartoon, Judock was never part of the Federation but rather was a Zeon soldier who disguised himself as one.
  • Tokwan is part of the Zeon Aquatic Corps. under Boone in Origin. In the original cartoon, he was a member of the Zeon Space Forces.
• The Narutaki twins in Negima! Magister Negi Magi were never important characters, but in Negima!? (second season), they join Negi's team early, even ahead of characters like Yue who are far more prominent in the source material.
• Pokémon:
  • In Pokémon Adventures, gym leaders Lt. Surge, Koga, and Sabrina start off as admins of the criminal organization Team Rocket, which they had no connection to in the games or any other adaptations. Likewise, Blaine is revealed to be a former scientist who worked for Team Rocket. Finally, when the group is revived, two of its members are Will and Karen, who were merely Elite Four members in the game, and lead by Pryce, who was only just a gym leader.
    • Later on, it’s revealed that Rosa’s counterpart Whitney and her mother were once members of Team Plasma, but left after N’s defeat.
  • Pokémon the Series itself gave several Pokémon trainers, gym leaders, or Elite Four members several team members they never had in the base game. Case in point, Brock and Misty gain several Pokémon during their travels with Ash that they never otherwise had; Brock had an Onix (later a Steelix in the anime) and a Geodude in the game, but got a Crobat, a Vulpix (given back to its trainer later on), a Forretress, a Ludicolo, a Marshtomp, a Sudowoodo, a Croagunk, a Blissey, and a Comfey. Misty, meanwhile, got a Goldeen, a Horsea, a Psyduck, a Togetic (later released), a Politoed, a Corsola, a Gyarados, a Luvdisc, an Azurill, and a Clauncher, in addition to her Staryu and Starmie.^note Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, games based on the anime, would give her Psyduck in her initial gym battle and Gyarados in her rematch to match her anime portrayal.
  • Pokémon Heroes: Annie and Oakley in the Japanese version were independent villains, while the English dub turned them into agents for Team Rocket.
• Powerpuff Girls Z:
  • The talking dog character in the original cartoon is a Recurring Extra not directly involved in the Utoniums and the titular girls' crime fighting. His anime counterpart Poochi is the Utonium family's Robot Dog that also serves as the Powerpuff Hotline.
  • A variation with the White Kitty (a Monster of the Week) and Princess Morbucks (who is part of the Rogues Gallery). In the original cartoon they're villains independent from each other. In the anime, while they don't necessarily do crimes together, the White Kitty's counterpart Sapphire serves as Princess' Transformation Trinket.
• Suicide Squad ISEKAI features Clayface as a member of the Suicide Squad. While an alternate version from Earth 23 briefly worked for the team during War for Earth-3, this is the first time a mainline version is part of the squad.
• Nadeshiko Yamato from YⱯIBA only appeared in one chapter of the manga after the Kaguya arc. In the 2025 Samurai Legend remake, she appears at the end of the first arc and has a much more prominent role as a member of Yaiba's group.

• Absolute Universe:
  • Absolute Batman depicts Martha Wayne as a former member of the Court of Owls, while mainline Martha has never been involved with the Court (with some stories even claiming that the Court played a role in her and her husband's murder).
  • Absolute Wonder Woman:
    • This universe's versions of Zatanna and Eeras (renamed to Ara in this universe) are members of the Suicide Squad, while their mainline counterparts^note An alternate variant of Zatanna from Earth-13 appeared on Suicide Squad Dark, a lineup briefly assembled for DC's Round Robin have never a part of that team, on account of them being a clear cut heroes.
    • Doctor Poison, Giganta, and the Priscilla Rich incarnation of Cheetah are members of the Suicide Squad in this universe despite never having been in the main universe. That said, they're a bit of an odd case, as this universe's Suicide Squad is also clearly based on Villainy, Inc., which the three all have been members of, and Giganta was shown as a member of an offshoot version called Task Force XL at one point.
  • Absolute Superman:
    • Jimmy Olsen is a member of the Omega Men here, while his mainline self has never been a part of that team.
    • It's eventually revealed that this universe's Primus is none other than Talia al Ghul, while mainline Talia has no connection to the Omega Men.
  • Absolute Flash has Wally join the Rogues after the team pulls a Heel–Face Turn, while mainline Wally has never been a part of the Rogues, on account of them usually being villains.
  • Absolute Green Lantern:
    • While Mogo of the main universe is a member of the Green Lantern Corps, this universe's Mogo is a member of the Blackstars, a group based on numerous groups that mainline Mogo has never been a part of (ie. the Weaponers of Qward, the Darkstars, the Black Lantern Corps, etc.).
    • Kilowog is normally a prominent member of the Green Lantern Corps, while this universe's version of the character is a member of the Blackstars.
    • A downplayed case in regards to Galius Zed, normally a member of the Green Lantern Corps, but in this universe is a member of the Blackstars. That said, mainline Zed had once been a member of the Darkstars, one of the groups the Blackstars is based on.
    • In the mainline comics, Shade, the Changing Man is commonly associated with the Suicide Squad and Justice League Dark. His counterpart in this universe, meanwhile, is a member of the Blackstars.
    • Alanna is a brainwashed member of the Blackstars, while her main universe counterpart has never been associated with any of the groups the Blackstars are based on.
  • As seen in Absolute Evil, thanks to this universe's Justice League being a Government Conspiracy made up of villainous CEOs and government officials, rather than a team of heroes, most of the team's members are characters who have never been a part of the mainline Justice League. Specifically, there's the Joker, Veronica Cale, Ra's al Ghul, Elenore Thawne (a Composite Character of Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash and Malcolm Thawne/Cobalt Blue), and Hector Hammond, none of whom having been Justice League members before. The only exceptions are Hawkman (who has been a regular member of the League since the 60s) and Lex Luthor (who has been a member of the team during his more heroic periods). On a similar note, seeing as how this universe's Justice League is a composite with the usual villain teams of the mainline universe, this is also another first for both Cale and Hammond, as neither of the two have ever been members of any of those teams.
• Batman:
  • Batman: Earth One Volume 3 ends with Batman forming The Outsiders, consisting of Batgirl, Robin, Killer Croc, the Cat (this continuity's Catwoman) and Ragman. Killer Croc and Ragman are the only two who weren't affiliated with any prior incarnation of the Outsiders.
  • Batgirl (2024): In the retelling of Lady Shiva's origin, she, Richard Dragon, Bronze Tiger and her sister Carolyn were a four-person kung-fu adventure team. In Carolyn's original appearance in Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter, she was just the niece of Dragon and Tiger's sensei, and it was her death, two issues after she was introduced, that prompted Lady Shiva to seek them out.
• Hasbro Comic Universe:
  • The Hasbro Comic Universe had its interpretation of the Autobots' human ally Spike Witwicky become affiliated with G.I. Joe by the events of Revolution (2016).
  • The Transformers: Robots in Disguise: Barrel Roll is depicted as a member of the Aerialbots, a first for the character. A number of flashback arcs even add him in when the team was first flying at the war's start. After his death, Powerglide was added to the team. In spite of Powerglide being one of the Autobots's first fliers in the franchise, he wasn't part of the Aerialbots until this adaptation. He's even integrated into their combined form, Superion, where he becomes a weapon for the gestalt.
  • The Transformers: Combiner Wars: To synergize with the toyline, Blackjack was reimagined as a Stunticon in this continuity where before he was a micromaster unaffiliated with the group. This version of Blackjack replaces the roller car (an accessory for Motormaster with no major fiction to its name) as Menasor's chest armor.
• Heroes Reborn (1996): The Swordsman of Heroes Reborn: The Avengers is a retroactive case as he was later revealed to be Counter-Earth's Deadpool in 2000.
• Injustice: In Injustice: Year Zero, Amazing-Man is a member of the Justice Society of America. While he was part of the All-Star Squadron in the mainline canon, he never actually joined the JSA.
• Justice League of America:
  • The Legion of Doom from Justice has expanded from its original 13 to include members who weren't part of the original group. More specifically, Parasite, Clayface, Poison Ivy, Black Adam and Metallo. It also swaps out Jack Nimball for Winslow Schott as the Toyman.
  • Cyborg, who had previously been primarily associated with the Teen Titans, replaces Martian Manhunter as a founding member of the Justice League in the New 52. He had actually joined a roster of the Justice League in one of the last pre-Flashpoint runs, but it took the reboot to cement him as a founding member. Many modern Justice League adaptations (such as Justice League: War and Justice League) have followed suit in making Cyborg one of the League's most prominent members. Others—like Injustice: Gods Among Us—will split the difference by having him be a former Titan (or in the case of the Young Justice animated series, a former Outsider) who "graduated" to the Justice League as an adult.
• Power Pachyderms: In the gag comic, three of the heroes are pastiches of X-Men characters, but the Token Girl is a pastiche of Elektra for some reason, someone who's never been an X-Man.
• Robins: The Junior Supercriminals are based on the Junior Super Foes from the comic adaptation of Super Friends. While her membership in this team hasn't changed, Kitten's backstory has her affiliated with Catwoman rather than Cheetah, in order to place the whole team in the Gotham Rogues Gallery. (Toyman's sidekick Toyboy and the Human Flying Fish's sidekick Sardine are Adapted Out.)
• Shazam!: In Shazam! (2018), the post-DC Rebirth incarnation of The Monster Society of Evil has brought in new members, such as Scapegoat (who takes the place of Goat-Man), the Wicked Witch of the West, the Red Queen and Mr. Merry-Go-Round.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic the Comic: Nack the Weasel is portrayed as a member of Team Chaotix, a team he is not associated with in the video games. He ends up betraying them though.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): Ray the Flying Squirrel, a character who, at the time, only appeared in SegaSonic the Hedgehog alongside Mighty the Armadillo, is portrayed as a member of Team Chaotix with Mighty as his big brother figure.
• Suicide Squad: Harley Quinn was not a member of the Suicide Squad prior to the New 52. The movie subsequently cemented her as one of the Squad's most iconic members.
• Superman: House of Brainiac would reveal that the Council of Light, a team introduced in the Young Justice animated series (albeit known simply as "The Light"), consists of seven incarnations of Brainiac across the multiverse, rather than Vandal Savage, Ra's al Ghul, Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, Ocean Master, Brain, and Klarion the Witch Boy as in the show. The only appearance of Brainiac in that show's continuity was the tie-in comic set shortly before the second season as an independent villain who was entirely unaffiliated with the Light.
• Teen Titans (2011): The New 52 version of Danny the Street is a Teen Titan, when in the pre-Flashpoint continuity he was affiliated with the Doom Patrol.
• Transformers:
  • Transformers (2019): The comic, like several other adaptations, presents Strika as a Decepticon rather than a Vehicon or unaligned character. In this continuity, she is in Megatron's inner circle and a founding member of the faction.
  • Transformers (2023): Played with concerning Jetfire. While Jetfire is consistently an Autobot (sometimes being a former Decepticon), here he was in stasis for most of the war and never joined either side. He helps the Autobots but is ultimately shot by Starscream and dies an unaffiliated Cybertronian in issue 1. Later, he is resurrected and joins the Autobots, but while he is helpful to his teammates, it isn’t by his own choice, as he is stuck in jet form and cannot do anything else other than act as transportation.
• Ultimate Marvel:
  • Ultimate X-Men (2001):
    • The X-Men themselves have included Toad, Pyro (a double case as he started off a Morlock, something his classic counterpart also never was, though he ended up as a member of the Brotherhood like the original Pyro was in The Ultimates 3), and Firestar (also doubly so as she was combined with Liz Allan) among their ranks.
    • The Brotherhood includes Lorelei; a Gender Flipped version of Hard-Drive; and thanks to Adaptational Villainy, Multiple Man, Longshot, and Forge.
    • The Academy of Tomorrow, the equivalent of the New Mutants, includes Havok and Emma Frost as the mentor. Dazzler also started off as a member before joining the X-Men.
    • Ultimate Alpha Flight's ranks include Jubilee, Sunfire and Rahne Sinclaire (who here uses the heroic identity of Sasquatch rather than Wolfsbane).
    • The Six Pack switched G.W. Bridge out for Bishop.
  • The ranks of The Ultimates, the universe's equivalent of the Avengers, includes Valkyrie, Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil, Jamie Braddock, and Johnny Storm, though Valkyrie and Johnny would join later versions of the Avengers.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man (2000):
    • Deadpool as the leader of the Reavers.
    • Ultimate Six features the Green Goblin as a co-leader of the Sinister Six, as it came before Mark Millar's run on the Marvel Knights title.
• Ultimate Universe (2023):
  • Ultimate Spider-Man (2024):
    • While previous works, such as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, have had Kingpin serve as a benefactor for the Sinister Six, this comic has him serve as a full member of the team.
    • The Walter Hardy incarnation of Black Cat is a member of the Sinister Six in this universe, while his mainstream counterpart has never been involved in the group.
    • Due to his Rogues' Gallery Transplant from a Fantastic Four villain to a Spider-Man villain, Mole Man is made into a member of the Sinister Six in this universe.
  • The Ultimates (2024):
    • While the Reed Richards of Earth-616 has been a temporary member of the Avengers, and the Reed of Earth-1610 was a member of the Dark Ultimates, this is the first incarnation of the character to be a prominent member of the team. Additionally, since the Reed of this universe is a Composite Character with Doctor Doom, this also applies for that character, as the Victor from Earth-616 and 1610 were never members of the Avengers or Ultimates, respectively.
    • This is the first incarnation of Sif to be a member of the Ultimates, as her other incarnations have never joined the original Ultimates or the Avengers.
    • Since the original Ultimate Universe didn't have a Jim Hammond, and that universe's Johnny Storm never joined the Ultimates, this is the first version of the team to feature the Human Torch as part of it.
• What If? (Marvel Comics): Issue #64 of Vol. 2 features an X-team with Sienna Blaze and Cyclops. In the main reality of the Marvel Universe, Sienna Blaze was introduced as one of the villainous Upstarts, who tried to kill Cyclops, Storm, and Professor Xavier, although she later had a stint as part of the somewhat heroic All-New Exiles of The Ultraverse (post-Marvel reboot).
• Wolverine: Revenge: Mastermind and Sabretooth are the only members of the Brotherhood of Mutants who have appeared regularly with the group in previous media. Omega Red, Deadpool, and Colossus are all new to the team. 
• Wonder Woman: The original Villainy Inc. as seen in the pages of Wonder Woman (1942) consisted of Queen Clea, Cheetah (Priscilla Rich), Dr. Poison (Maru), Giganta (transformed gorilla), Blue Snowman, Hypnota and Zara and was lead by Eviless. The Post-Crisis version of Villainy Inc. as seen in Wonder Woman (1987) contained only one of the original members, but did have legacy villains using the same name as three and consisted of Cheetah (Barbara Minerva), Dr. Poison II, Giganta (Dr. Doris Zuel), Cyborgirl, Jinx, and Trinity and was lead by Queen Clea.
• X-Men: X-Men '92's version of Generation X features Blink, who underwent a Comic Book Death in the events that caused the team to form in the original comics, as well as much of X-Statix (U-Go Girl, Doop, Vivisector, Orphan, and Dead Girl).

Crossovers

• AR1996 Ultraverse has several examples, including:
  • Frances Kane/Magenta, canonically an ally of the Teen Titans and former Love Interest of Wally West, becomes a member of the team.
  • Mariko Yashida goes from being Wolverine's on-again off-again love interest to one of the few notable non-mutant members of the X-Men.
  • Ahsoka Tano serves as the Sixth Ranger of the Ghost crew.
  • Elyon Brown is a fully-fledged Sixth Ranger of the Guardians of Kandrakar.
• BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant: Pyrrha is on the same team as Yang and Weiss. Blake is on the same team as Nora and Ren, and Ruby ends up on the same team as Jaune long before the events of V4.
• Cinders and Ashes: the Chronicles of Kamen Rider Dante fully solidifies Alicetaria as joining Meteora's group rather than staying with the Military Uniform Princess long enough to backstab her for killing Mamika.
• Concerning Straw Hats sees Bilbo Baggins join the Straw Hats after Orange Town as their official Burglar.
• Fruit of Madness: Yamato joins the Straw Hats after the events of the Wano arc instead of staying behind.
• JoJo New Universe:
  • Stardust Crusaders: Jonathan Joestar, having avoided his canon date and living to the 1980s, would join the Joestar group in their trek to Egypt so he can help them fight DIO and his forces, while Fluttershy, here a human Stand-user, would also join from the beginning due to being Jotaro Kujo's girlfriend. Likewise, Hol Horse also joins the group after a Heel–Face Turn against Enya, which he never did in canon^note It should be mentioned that Araki originally planned to have Hol Horse joined the heroes in Stardust Crusaders, though he ultimately dropped the idea since he and Polnareff were too similar in personality.
  • Giorno's birth mother, named Tomomi Shiobana, is one of DIO's Ten Glory Gods, which only composed of nine members in the manga.
  • Thanks to being scouted by Hope's Peak Academy's new leader Noriaki Kakyoin, Hajime Hinata goes from a Reserve Course Student to a member of Class 77-B as the Ultimate Counselor.
• In the original Sword Art Online Death Gun only consisted of Red-Eyed XaXa, Johnny Black, and Kyouji, in Persona: HEAVEN (Afreaknamedpete) the three have created a cognitive meme that allows one to forcibly summon a corrupted Death Gun Persona, but in order to do so you have to declare yourself Death Gun in order to do it. This means that Sinon, XeXeeD, Pitohui, 『　　』, Zeliska, and Ascended Extra Daisy are all technically part of the group due to invoking the ritual at different points. On top of that, PoH is helping the core group as a consultant when he wasn't involved at all in canon.
• Titania Falls:
  • During the alternate events of the Oracion Seis arc after Erza was sent to Earth, Jellal was brought into Fairy Tail by his Alternate Self Mystogan, before taking up his identity in secret. There's also an inverted example of this trope since he doesn't joined Crime Sorcière.
  • Thanks to the Tenrou Island group reuniting with Fairy Tail years earlier after Stanford and Hibiki finally stabilize a bridge between Earthland and Gravity Falls Earth, Sting, Rogue, and Yukino join Fairy Tail instead of Sabertooth, growing up alongside Dipper, Mabel, Wendy Marvel, and other children empowered by the Magicing.
• Total Loud Island:
  • Due to Lincoln and Dawn being placed on the Killer Bass, Tyler is moved over to the Screaming Gophers in order to balance out the teams.
  • With the extra additions of Ronnie Anne, Jasmine and Mike in Action, Trent is put on the Screaming Gaffers whilst Heather and Duncan are on the Killer Grips.

Animorphs

• All Assorted Animorphs AUs: Towards the end of "What if they saved Jake's family?", Tom and Jordan join the Animorphs, since the former's Yeerk died in this AU before the point at which he got away with the morphing cube in canon.
• Dæmorphing really starts to diverge from canon when the Animorphs realise that Loren could be a potential ally, and she ends up joining them. Inverted with the "Auxiliary Animorphs"; while they get involved with the war in their own way and meet the Animorphs a few times, they never get the morphing power and are physically far away from the main plot. They call themselves the Campsite Rule instead.
• The premise of Elfangor's Folly is that Elfangor didn't die in the first book, and becomes a commander for the Animorphs instead.

Danganronpa

• New Island Life:
  • Hajime is a member of Class 77-B as the Ultimate Reserve Student instead of the Reserve Course.
  • Ryota Mitarai was a member of Class 77-A instead of Class 77-B before the Tragedy.
• Valhalla's Angel: Instead of being in the Reserve Course, Hajime is instead a member of Class 77-B as the Ultimate Bartender.

Dinosaur King

• In Dinosaur King Retold, the dinosaurs Terry the Tyrannosaurus, Spiny the Spinosaurus, and Tank the Sachania are members of the D-Team instead of Alpha Squad, partnered with Max, Zoey, and Rex respectively. Meanwhile, the dinosaurs Gigas the Tyrannosaurus, Maximus the Triceratops, Armatus the Stegosaurus, and Brontikens the Apatosaurus, who were the main dinosaurs of the Spectral Space Pirates, are now members of Alpha Squad.

Dragon Age

• There are plenty of characters who join the Wardens in Ten Versus Blight but don't do so in the original game. As of chapter 73, these are Tamlen, Merrill, Fenarel, Gorim, Soris, Jowan, Cullen and Ser Gilmore.

Dragon Ball

• Dragon Ball: Intended Journey:
  • As a result of Chichi joining Goku on his journey after their first meeting, she becomes a direct student of Master Roshi's Kame House. Likewise in a Downplayed example, Launch/Lunch becomes a student of the martial art rather than the good alter becoming Kame House's housekeeper.
  • As a side-effect of Goku wishing both Chichi and Bulma would have tails like him (inadvertently turning them to Saiyans), Bulma joins the Crane School for better training to channel her new aggressive attitude
• Dragonball Z: Legacies makes Videl and Zangya full-time members of the Z-Fighters.

Fairy Tail

• Carla is the only canonical member of 'Team Natsu' among the main characters in Alternate Tail Series. The rest of the team consist of Gajeel, Levy, Lyon, Mira, Pantherlily, and Kagura.
  • Guild membership has also changed. Lyon, Merudy, Jellal, Rogue, and Frosch are members of Fairy Tail; Gray is part of Lamia Scale; Natsu and Merudy were originally from Phantom Lord, and Juvia was a member of Grimoire Heart.
  • Erza Knightwalker is a member of Edolas Fairy Tail, while the Edolas version of Mira is a captain of Edolas's army.

Godzilla

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Unlike the MonsterVerse canon version in Godzilla vs. Kong whose only interaction with Monarch was manipulating Nathan Lind into an Unwitting Pawn; Ren Serizawa in this story joins the Russells and the Monarch brass from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) tracking the Titans onboard the USS Argo. Even after joining Apex Cybernetics, he's secretly Monarch's mole keeping tabs on them.

Helluva Boss

• The Thespian and the Pop Star makes Moxxie a member of Verosika's crew rather than working with I.M.P.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

• The premise of Yukako But Crime is that Yukako Yamagishi moved to Italy between Parts 4 and 5 and has joined Bruno Buccarati's team in Passione by the time that Part 5 begins.

Kid Icarus

• Kid Icarus Uprising 2: Hades Revenge has an example with Pyrrhon. In canon, he's out for himself, and while he helps out during one of the plot arcs, he isn't part of any faction. In this fanfic, he is now a high-ranking member of the Forces of Nature, seemingly one of the top Lieutenants. The story never reveals why he changed alignment, or even comments on the change.

Kingdom Hearts

• Act 3 of Kingdom Hearts: The Antipode sees Hans recruited into Organization XIII under the name "Nahxs".

Marvel Universe

• Sixes and Sevens:
  • Anthea in Sixes and Sevens is based on Victoria Starr, a member of the Agents of Atlas. She joins the comics version of The Invaders instead.
  • Mister Sinister's two teams in the comics, the Marauders and the Nasty Boys, existed independantly of each other. In Phantom Pain, the strike force sent after Peggy and Michael's team is composed of Marauders Arclight, Harpoon, and Vertigo, Nasty Boy Ruckus, and Swarm (who never worked for Sinister in the comics as he's not a mutant).

My Hero Academia

• Many Alternate Universe fics will have Izuku be a member of a class other than 1-A like in canon, such as either Class 1-B (Ex:Sheep Go to Heaven), the support course (Cheat Code: Support Strategist), or the general course (Juxtapose). This can also apply to other characters, such as Hitoshi Shinsou becoming a member of class 1-A.

Naruto

• A common Fandom-Specific Plot is switching up the composition of the Rookie 9's teams, which can range from two characters swapping places to full-fledged reassignments.
• Chiaroscuro (Naruto) has Shikamaru and Ino get assigned to Team 7 alongside Naruto due to the more motivated Shikamaru ending up as Rookie of the Year. Sasuke ends up on Team 10 alongside Hinata and Chouji, while Sakura is on Team 8 with Kiba and Shino.
• In A Case Study in the Sturdiness of the Rookie 9, Team 7 consists of Shino, Sakura, and Chouji; Team 8 consists of Shikamaru, Hinata, and Sasuke; and Team 10 consist of Naruto, Kiba, and Ino.
• The Echo Remains, But The Song Is Not The Same splits up Ino-Shika-Cho, divvying them up among the teams as follows:
  • Kakashi gets Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru in Team Seven.
  • Asuma ends up in charge of Team Eight, consisting of Hinata, Sakura, and Chouji.
  • Kurenai takes Team Ten with Kiba, Shino, and Ino.
• In The Element of Time, Ripples, and White Eyes, Hinata and Sakura end up getting their team designations switched so that Hinata is on Team 7 with Naruto and Sasuke, while Sakura ends up on Team 8 with Kiba and Shino. The Element of Time goes one step further by having Itachi as Team 7's sensei instead of Kakashi.
• Foundational Legacy has Shiranui Genma joining Team 7 as an instructor along with Tenzo from the start.
• The Moon Cries in Reverse switches up the teams and their sensei; for instance, Anko is in charge of Team Ten, consisting of Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru. This proves to be a major issue since Anko puts the trio through Training from Hell and sends them to T&I, where they're forced to learn how to torture people.
• More Than Enemies: Minato joined ROOT when he was a jonin shortly after meeting kid Kakashi. As the narration puts it, he seemed to flourish there. It's hinted he had motives different from the usual ROOT agenda (kidnapping children to turn them into even younger child soldiers, completing the more morally black missions, and disregarding the Sandaime as the village leader). However, by chapter 33, said motivations are still unknown.
• Son of the Sannin changes all the teams minus Teams 10 and Gai (the latter two being known as the Tactical Squad and the Close Combat Squad respectively), with the new teams being the Assault Squad (Naruto, Hinata, and Haku), the Medical Squad (Sasuke, Sakura, and Karin), and lastly the Animal Squad (Kiba, Shino, and Tamaki). As for their senseis, they are Kurenai, Shizune, and Kakashi respectively.
• Space to Breathe:
  • After Sakura starts an apprenticeship under Ibiki, Hiruzen decides to remove her from Team Seven, replacing her with Kabuto.
  • Sakura later teams up with Masato and Nanako in order to enter the Chunin Exams and test her newfound skills. Following the Konoha Crush attempt, Shino is assigned to her team as well.
  • After the Retrieval Mission, Kiba and Hinata join her squad, ironically meaning that Team 8 is effectively reunited under her command.
• sunflower has Gai join Kakashi's ANBU team, Team Ro, as a Deep Cover Agent known only as Nezumi.
• The Tale of Nagato Uzumaki features Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata on Team 7, Sakura, Choji, and Shino on Team 8, and Sasuke, Ino, and Kiba on Team 10.
• Team 8 has Kurenai request that Naruto be placed on her team, switching his position with Kiba.
• Three's A Crowd: Due to Naruto's Plot-Triggering Death when he's ten, Kimura Uo ends up as the new 'dead-last' in their class... and as the third member of Team Seven, alongside Sakura and Sasuke.
• True Potential:
  • Naruto's teammates are Hinata and Shikamaru as part of Team 3, with Anko as their sensei. Kiba takes Naruto's place on Team 7, while Shino takes Shikamaru's place on Team 10.
  • An evil version of this is Kabuto becoming a member of Akatsuki due to Orochimaru dying much earlier than in the manga.
• your move, instigator (draw your weapon and hold your tongue):
  • Due to the Third Shinobi War dragging on for years, all non-clan heirs are drafted as Child Soldiers. As a result, Sakura, Kiba, and Tenten wind up together as Team 14.
  • Before being assigned to Team 14, Sakura was working with Neji. Sadly, he's killed before the story proper begins.

NieR

• Shadowlord pulls a Heel–Face Turn in Tower of Babel (NieR) and joins Nier and his team.

One Piece

• It's popular in fanworks for other characters to join the Straw Hat Pirates. Some popular examples include Coby, Vivi, and Sabo.
• Coby's Choice: Coby, Gin, Miss Valentine, Miss Goldenweek, and Billy all join the Strawhats over the course of the story.
• Dragon Princess:
  • Following Kaido's defeat and death by Oden's hand, the Beast Pirates are disbanded and the members scatter. Oden takes in Yamato, Ulti, and Page One as part of his household, and it's implied that Black Maria has joined the Kozuki clan as well. Jack has joined Jimbe's Sun Pirates, while Queen was recruited by Dragon into the Revolutionary Army.
  • Following an incident where she ate the Wood-Wood Fruit in Syrup Village, Kaya joined the Straw Hat Pirates after using her new powers to protect herself from Kuro and his crew.
• This Bites!:
  • Among the new additions of the Strawhat Pirates are Vivi, Carue, Lassoo, Conis, Su, Funkfreed, and Billy.
  • The new members of the Barto Club include Gin, Mr. 5, Miss Valentine, Miss Goldenweek, Apis and Lindy (Ryu's reincarnation), Mohmoo, Ever, and Desire. Inverted with Gambia, who stays behind in Logue Town
  • The Kidd Pirates participated in the Dead End Adventure, and have recruited Shuraiya, Adelle, and Bierre.
  • The Blackbeard Pirates now have Shiki the Golden Lion, Caribou, and Coribou in their ranks. Byrnndi World was a member during Marineford, but when he tried to overthrow Blackbeard, he is killed and had his Devil Fruit power stolen by Teach.

RWBY

• Professor Arc: Jaune Arc, instead of joining Beacon as a student leading Ren, Nora and Pyrrha's team, joins as one of the faculty alongside Ozpin, Glynda, Port, Oobleck and Tsune after he lied about his age.
• RWBY: Scars: Unlike her canon counterpart, Winter Schnee is a member of Ozpin's inner-circle alongside Ironwood, Glynda and Qrow before her first appearance.

Sonic the Hedgehog

• Petals Fallen: Amy Rose in canon had her own team named "Team Rose", and being a member of "Team Sonic" as well. However, through a combination of Stockholm Syndrome and Adaptational Villainy, she's part of the Eggman Empire here.

Stranger Things

• The Life You Deserve Universe: Jennifer Hayes ends up becoming a member of The Party after she turns against the cruel popular kids and begins dating Will.

TOME

• Legacy of the Cursed Lands: Alpha, Flamey, Nye, and GC join the Debug Organisation, even though they opposed it in canon.

Torchwood

• Just this once (everybody lives): Lois and Grey become team members of Torchwood. In canon, Grey is too insane and angry towards Jack for the offer to ever be suggested, instead being sent into cryo-storage and presumably blown up alongside the rest of the Hub. As for Lois, whilst Gwen offers to let her join Torchwood in canon, the organisation collapses before Lois is able to take up the offer.
• Season of Mists: John Hart joins Torchwood whilst Jack and Ianto recover in Scotland (Ianto from being experimented on by the Project for two years, and Jack from the trauma of having lost Ianto and thinking that he was dead for two years, as well as killing his own grandson), something which he never did in canon.
• To the Sticking Place: Andy, Martha, Mickey and Lois join the Torchwood team after Tosh and Owen's deaths. Whilst Andy would eventually join in canon, he wouldn't do so until material released long after the fanfic was released. As for Martha and Mickey, they instead become freelance alien hunters in canon. As for Lois, Gwen did reach out to her regarding the opportunity of joining Torchwood, but the organisation would collapse before Lois could take her on that matter.

Total Drama

• A BFG's World Tour has this as part of the fic's premise. With Izzy being medically evacuated from the competition and the rest of Team Victory already having been eliminated, Chris has DJ moved over to Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot instead.
• A Codette World Tour shifts Cody over from Team Amazon to Team Victory to get the Cody-Bridgette friendship (and eventual romance) going. Additionally, canonical Team Victory members Lindsay and Ezekiel are instead on Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot and Team Amazon respectively, while Izzy is placed on Team Amazon instead of Team CIRRRRH in the story (resulting in her and Ezekiel becoming a Beta Couple).
• TDWT Reducks Redux switches Duncan from Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot to Team Victory, while doing the opposite with Ezekiel and adding Katie (who was not in the canon season) to Team Amazon. This results in much more drama on Team Victory (due to Duncan's conflicts with Harold, Leshawna, and Bridgette), Ezekiel getting more development (by befriending Izzy, Tyler, and Owen), and Team Amazon having much less tension (due to Katie playing The Heart in the Gwen-Courtney-Heather conflict).
• TD Wonderer:
  • The whole premise of What if Chris assigned the teams correctly? as Chris picking correctly results in Sam and Dakota being placed on the Mutant Maggots, while Zoey and Anne Maria are now part of the Toxic Rats, with Mike also getting moved to the Toxic Rats after the Maggots lose the Finders Creepers challenge. Later in the All-Stars continuation Dakota and Brick return and are placed on the Heroic Hamsters, while Zoey becomes a member of the Villainous Vultures.
  • In What if Alejandro and Sierra were in Island?, Alejandro is placed on the Screaming Gophers while Sierra becomes a member of the Killer Bass, in order to make both teams a Gender-Equal Ensemble.
  • In What if Amy never returned? Sammy is forced to swap places with Sky and is placed on Team Maskwak as a way to keep her away from Topher.
  • What if DJ never got the animal curse? has DJ placed on Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot instead of being forced to be a team of one, mostly because the show ran out of money and it's easier for Chris to just make challenges for two teams.
  • In What if Sammy never switched places with Amy? Amy is the one forced to switch teams with Sky and becomes a member of Team Maskwak.
• Total Drama All-Stars Rewrite adds Owen, Brick, and Dawn to the Heroic Hamsters (while removing canon member Sam), as well as Noah and Anne Maria to the Villainous Vultures (although Noah is later moved to the Hamsters alongside Duncan).
• Total Drama Island: A New Beginning: Harold, Duncan, Bridgette, Courtney, and Eva are on the Screaming Gophers instead of the Killer Bass, while the reverse is applied to Lindsay, Beth, Justin, Izzy, and Leshawna. The results are some very different interactions and character dynamics, including Heather being a much less successful villain (and Justin being far more successful); Bridgette, Leshawna, and Izzy not developing romances with Geoff, Harold, and Owen respectively; and numerous new rivalries and friendships that did not exist in the original season.
• Twinning With a Twist: Sugar and Sammy have switched their canonical team placements, with Sugar being placed on the Floating Salmon and Sammy on the Confused Bears. Amy later ends up on the Confused Bears once Chris decided to swap her and Sammy over from their respective teams.

• Catwoman: Hunted sees Leviathan composed of the Cheetah, Moxie Mannheim, Black Mask, Dr. Tzin, Oyabun Noguri (given the codename "Mr. Yakuza" in the film), and La Dama — none of them were members in the comics. In fact, the only member from the comics who does appear is Talia al Ghul, its true leader, who's using Cheetah as a proxy.
• DC Animated Movie Universe:
  • Justice League: War is an Animated Adaptation of the first New 52 Justice League story. One of its biggest changes is replacing Aquaman with Captain Marvel/Shazam (Aquaman would later join the League in the film's sequel, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis). While Shazam has been a member of certain Justice League rosters in the comics, he is far from being considered a core member of the team like he is in the movie.
  • According to producer James Tucker, Barry was the Kid Flash in the flashback in Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, taking the place of his nephew Wally West and thus making this Barry a former Titan.
  • Wonder Woman: Bloodlines: While the version of Villainy Inc. to appear does contain three members who were in both comic versions (Cheetah, Dr. Poison and Giganta) there are two newbies in Dr. Cyber and Veronica Cale.
  • Green Lantern: Beware My Power: Kanjar-Ro and Despero have always been more independent villains, but in this movie, they are part of the Sinestro Corps.
• Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons depicts Bronze Tiger, Lady Shiva, Rose and Jericho as members of HIVE, an organization they have nothing to do with in the comics.
• Justice League: Doom: The whole Legion of Doom. Vandal Savage, Metallo, Bane, Star Sapphire, Malefic and Mirror Master were not members of the original Superfriends version (in fact, Bane and Malefic postdates Superfriends). The closest is Cheetah — and even she falls under this due to being Barbara Minerva (who herself postdates Superfriends), not Priscilla Rich.
• Transformers One: In most Transformers continuities, the last member of the Thirteen Primes is an unnamed individual simply referred to as the Thirteenth Prime, although he usually turns out to be Optimus himself. In the film, the thirteenth member is Zeta Prime, a character who was first introduced in the IDW G1 comics as the successor (and Decomposite Character from the Aligned version) of Sentinel Prime. Rather ironically, Sentinel and Zeta are a case of Decomposite Character in the film, as the former takes the latter's role as the Hero's Evil Predecessor that Optimus and Megatron team up against.

• In quite possibly the weirdest example of this trope, in Clouds of Sils Maria, protagonist Maria Enders lists among her film credits a stint in the X-Men (Film Series), playing a character named "Nemesis". As Enders is a fictional character, obviously she wasn't in the X-Men movies. Additionally, while there are characters with the name "Nemesis" in Marvel comics, none of the female Nemeses have ever been closely connected to the X-Men.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Killer Croc and Katana were first added to the Suicide Squad comics in Vol. 5, originally released 2 months after the 2016 film, which they were main characters in.
  • Birds of Prey has Harley Quinn as the movie's central character, and a part of the group that becomes the Birds of Prey (though she is not a member of the actual team when it is formed at the end, she's basically just a temporary ally to them in the Final Battle). Harley's association with the Birds of Prey in the comics was as a villain, not a member, until she was added to the team specifically so the comics would line up with the movie, which even then took place in out of continuity works for DC Black Label.
    • In an Inversion, Oracle, often considered the single most important member of the Birds of Prey, is completely Adapted Out.
  • For The Suicide Squad, the roster is a mixture of canon and new members. The newcomers who weren't part of the Squad in the comics have been confirmed to be Bloodsport, Polka-Dot Man, Peacemaker, Ratcatcher and Mongal. Due to the lead time of comics being quicker compared to films, Bloodsport and Peacemaker were eventually added in the comics as well as a result of the film, with those comics being released before the film itself was. Director James Gunn has explained that the unorthodox team showcased in the film was chosen on the idea that they were characters who could've eventually been featured in the original 80s Suicide Squad run from John Ostrander and Kim Yale had it not been cancelled.
• Elektra: Typhoid and Stone are depicted as members of the Hand; in the comics, Typhoid Mary is usually an independent villain, and Stone is a member of the Chaste, the heroic enemies of the Hand.
• Nerdy Eugene gets made a member of the T-Birds at the end of the 2016 remake of Grease after using his knowledge of rockets to help them win the drag race.
• Harry Potter: Padma Patil in the movies is in Gryffindor with her twin sister rather than Ravenclaw like in the books.
  • Eloise Midgen and Leanne’s houses are never specified in the books. In the films, they are a Gryffindor and Hufflepuff respectively.
  • Cormac McLaggen, Romilda Vane and Leanne are all shown to have joined Dumbledore’s Army in the final movie. In the books, Cormac and Leanne likely graduated last year and none of them are mentioned in the final book.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Captain America: The First Avenger: In the comics, the Howling Commandos are Nick Fury's squad; of the ones in the movie, only "Dum Dum" Dugan and Gabe Jones are members of the comic Howlers. Jim Morita (a Nisei Ranger attached to the Howlers' parent company) and Jacques "Frenchie" Dernier (French Resistance) worked with the Howlers a few times each but neither was ever a member. There was one crossover that paired Captain America and Bucky with the Howlers, but they later got their own World War II team, The Invaders, which also included Montgomery Falsworth. An episode of Agent Carter would add comic Howlers "Pinky" Pinkerton and "Junior" Juniper, plus "Happy Sam" Sawyer, who in the comics was Fury's commanding officer.
  • The franchise has cemented the Hulk as one of the core members of The Avengers in most of the public's eyes. In the comics, while he was a founding member of the team, he left in the second issue and didn't fully rejoin until the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline (which, for the record, began after the first MCU Avengers movie was released).
  • In Iron Man 3, Aldrich Killian is the head and founder of the A.I.M. organization, while Maya Hansen is one of his chief scientists. Neither Killian nor Hansen were part of A.I.M. in the comics (with the group generally being run by characters like M.O.D.O.K. or the Scientist Supreme), and instead worked for a company called FuturePharm. Although in the Video Game Adaptation, Aldrich Killian becomes M.O.D.O.K..
  • In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the film's twist that HYDRA has moles in S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of its Adaptation Amalgamation of Captain America: Winter Soldier, Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., and Secret Warriors, applies this to several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents subjected to Adaptational Villainy, mainly Jasper Sitwell, Jack Rollins, and Alexander Pierce (who is combined with Winter Soldier's handler, Roxxon head Aleksander Lukin, as the Big Bad), with the titular Winter Soldier as a Brainwashed and Crazy operative doing HYDRA's bidding rather than Roxxon's. On the flipside, Arnim Zola and Brock Rumlow are HYDRA agents in the comics who are among the infiltrators of S.H.I.E.L.D. here, with Zola exploiting Operation Paperclip (the real-life recruitment of Nazis into US operations as part of the Cold War) to begin the infiltration of the fledgling S.H.I.E.L.D., while Rumlow, the supervillain Crossbones, is depicted as a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s S.T.R.I.K.E. team in the present prior to his transformation into Crossbones.
  • Ant-Man (2015) ties into The Winter Soldier by revealing Mitchell Carson to be another HYDRA mole in S.H.I.E.L.D. Unlike the other moles, Carson already was evil in the source material, but he was a psychotic S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was the Big Bad of The Irredeemable Ant-Man rather than an operative of HYDRA.
  • Captain America: Civil War sees two fraction of superheroes, each lead by Iron Man and Captain America respectively, as it was the case in the comic book event of the same name. However, the roster of the teams differ from the comics: On Iron Man's side now are Black Widow and War Machine (who weren't included in the comic events), Black Panther and The Vision (who were on Cap's side in the comics)^note Though the Vision involved in the original story was the younger Vision from the Young Avengers, as the original Vision was smashed in Avengers Disassembled, as well as Spider-Man (whose switch to Team Cap is Adapted Out). Cap's team involves Bucky Barnes, Wanda Maximoff, Hawkeye and Scott Lang, who weren't part of the comic book - the latter two were even dead in the comics during the time of the event. Falcon is the only one who is a member in the team in both continuities.
  • Thor: Ragnarok sees Thor founding a team called "Revengers" with Banner and Valkyrie. While different teams named "Revengers" exist in the comics, they all feature villains or anti-heroes—Thor, Hulk and Valkyrie are in neither of them, making the MCU-team an In Name Only-adaptation.
  • Captain Marvel sees the titular heroine Carol Danvers being part of the Starforce, an elite group of Kree warriors in the beginning of the movie before opposing them. However, neither Carol nor another individual who took up the mantle of Captain Marvel was part of the team in the comic books.
  • In Avengers: Endgame, Nebula and Rocket Raccoon become members of the team during the five year Time Skip. Neither character was ever an Avenger in the comics, save for a brief storyline in The '80s where Nebula infiltrated the team (which was subsequently Retconned away as Ravonna using her name). As the acting queen of Wakanda, Okoye is also considered an Avenger during the time skip, when her original comics self is primarily known as a member of the Dora Milaje.
  • The end of Avengers: Endgame sees Thor join the Guardians of the Galaxy and is seen among the team in Thor: Love and Thunder. Thor was never a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics, nor did he join the similarly named Asgardians of the Galaxy that he namedrops (which was a team of Asgardian heroes). However, his time with the team is very short, as due to the threat of Gorr the God Butcher, and his reputation among the team, they convince him to quit to deal with Gorr.
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness features the debut of the Illuminati in an alternate universe. Half of the crew are straight out of the comic incarnation — Professor X and Mr. Fantastic making their MCU debut, and Black Bolt, whose MCU counterpart is incredibly obscure — while the other half is filled by alternate versions of existing MCU characters Peggy Carter and Maria Rambeau instead of the comics' Tony Stark and Namor, and while comic member Doctor Strange was formerly a member, he's been replaced by Baron Mordo.
  • Thunderbolt Ross' attempt to rebuild the Avengers in Captain America: Brave New World leads to Joaquin Torres, the second Falcon, being appointed an Avenger. In the comics, Joaquin was instead a member of the Champions.
  • The core characters of the Thunderbolts movie were all part of at least some iteration of the team in the comic books, with the notable exceptions of Red Guardian, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and technically Yelena Belova^note Her only noteworthy depiction as a Thunderbolts member was when Natasha Romanoff impersonated her. Notably, a Thunderbolts lineup inspired by the film would be established in the comics before the film came out, with that version featuring the members who had yet to join any official version (though the Valentina that joined in the comics at the time was an LMD and predates the actual Valentina joining a version of the team from One World Under Doom, meaning Valentina being new in the film still applies).
    • In the end of that movie and its credits it is revealed that this team is meant to be the MCU version of the New Avengers. Aside from Bucky Barnes, who joined the team around Secret Invasion (2008) when he was Steve Rogers' successor as Captain America, and Sentry, though it is questionable he can be considered a part of that team in the MCU, none of them were part of that specific team. U.S. Agent was instead a member of the West Coast Avengers and Hank Pym's Mighty Avengers, while Yelena, Red Guardian, and Ghost were never part of any Avengers team. Valentina also has no association with any version of the Avengers in the comics.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • In the original 1995 movie, Sub-Zero and Scorpion work for Shang Tsung. In the first game, Sub-Zero actually entered the tournament to kill Shang Tsung, while Scorpion entered to get his revenge on Sub-Zero. The film does at least provide a throwaway line explaining that they are being mind-controlled by Shang Tsung in this continuity.
  Shang Tsung: Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Deadliest of enemies. But slaves under my power.
  • The 2021 reboot depicts Kabal and Nitara as part of Shang Tsung's Outworld forces. In the games, Kabal was actually a good guy who fought for Earthrealm, while Nitara was an unaffiliated vampire who actually sought to liberate her people from Outworld's rule.
  • On the good side, frickin' Kano is sided with the heroes. However, he (unsurprisingly) defects to Outworld's team after being promised more money by Kabal.
• Spectre reveals that Le Chiffre from Casino Royale was an associate of the titular criminal organization.
• X-Men (Film Series):
  • While Sabretooth may be a core member of the Brotherhood of Mutants now, he was not a member in the comics until a few months after the first film included him in the Brotherhood.
  • Since X-Men: Days of Future Past, Quicksilver has been a main character in the movies. While he is definitely a part of the X-Men mythos due to being a mutant (sometimes) and the son of Magneto (sometimes), he is more commonly associated with The Avengers. The closest he ever came to joining the X-Men was the spinoff team X-Factor.
  • The only members of the Hellfire Club in the comics who are members of the version in X-Men: First Class are Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost. Additionally, once Magneto takes over and makes it the first Brotherhood, everyone but him, Mystique, and Angel Salvadore falls under this.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse adds Magneto and Storm to the Horsemen, which had also been done in X-Men: Evolution.
  • The Brotherhood's members included Quill, Spike, Arclight, Callisto, and — thanks to Adaptational Villainy — Psylocke and Multiple Man.
  • The Blob, who's a member of the Brotherhood in the comics, was instead a member of Team X until their disbandment in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In the new timeline, he's apparently not part of any group since Team X was never formed.

• Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner: Lupa and Jinana, major allies in the game, actually join the team in this novelization. It allows them to survive story arcs of their respective tribes, but they still die in the destruction of Junkyard.

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ties into the HYDRA in S.H.I.E.L.D. twist from Captain America: The Winter Soldier by revealing that John Garrett, a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the comics, is another villainous mole planted by HYDRA, and the true identity of the Clairvoyant, the Big Bad of the first season.
• Arrowverse:
  • Arrow's version of Task Force X incorporates Cupid, who was not a member in the comics. In the team's later appearance as the "Ghost Initiative", they also include China White, Joe Wilson, and Richard Dragon.
  • Team Arrow consists of characters unassociated with Green Arrow lore throughout its run, including John Diggle (the Arrowverse version of John Stewart), Huntress, Felicity Smoak (traditionally a Firestorm character), The Atom, Mister Terrific, Wild Dog, Ragman, and the Dinah Drake Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance, who indeed was a member of The Team in this incarnation, technically twice, is the one associated with Green Arrow in the comics).
  • Harbinger is Amanda Waller's Number Two in A.R.G.U.S., eventually taking over the organization after the latter's Death by Adaptation.
  • The Church of Blood also boasts members such as Deathstroke (who is The Man Behind the Man to Brother Blood, the organization's actual leader in the comics) and Cyrus Gold (the man who would go onto become Solomon Grundy).
  • The Flash: Team Flash is quite different from the Flash Family, having Vibe, Killer Frost, Joe West, Firestorm, and Pariah, as well as several of the Rogues Gallery members either being the Big Bad Friend or undergoing a Heel–Face Turn such as Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Dr. Alchemy, and Pied Piper.
  • Legends of Tomorrow: The Arrowverse version of the Legion of Doom includes Reverse-Flash (who was only a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains), while Damien Darkh is an Ascended Extra who was never part of any such team outside HIVE.
  • While the Legends are themselves an original creation of the Arrowverse, they are loosely based off the Forgotten Heroes, a team assembled to fight against Vandal Savage. All members sans Rip Hunter himself were never members of this team.
  • Speaking of Vandal Savage, his villainous group includes Negative Woman, Pohzar, Per Degaton, and a Brainwashed and Crazy Hawkman (who later pulls a Heel–Face Turn) as members.
  • The Justice Society of America mostly includes members from various iterations of the team, with the exception of Vixen, who has never been a member before (though this is not the same Vixen from the comics, but her grandmother who was created for the show). The Justice Society that appears is from World War II, but encounters another instance of the trope with Obsidian (the son of the Golden Age Green Lantern) and Stargirl (a modern successor to Starman) being present in the roster, when both members were much younger and only appeared in later Justice Society rosters.
  • The Legends have referred to Green Arrow, Flash, and Supergirl as "The Trinity". Outside the Arrowverse, the DC trinity is Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman (though it's never been an In-Universe nickname).
  • Supergirl: Martian Manhunter (who also disguises himself as Hank Henshaw, traditionally the villain Cyborg Superman) and Supergirl's adoptive sister Alex Danvers are the highest ranking members of the D.E.O. In the comics, Martian Manhunter is more associated with the Justice League of America while Supergirl's adoptive brother is an infant. Winslow Schott, Jr. (the son of Superman villain Toyman), Valor, and Brainiac 5 became members at some point as well, with the latter even becoming its director in the second half of season 5. And post Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lex Luthor becomes the founder.
  • Speaking of Winslow Schott, Jr., he ultimately joins the show's version of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
  • While all are members of the comicbook Justice League, the Arrowverse team has Supergirl, Batwoman and Black Lightning as founding members. Canon Foreigner Sara Lance a.k.a. White Canary is also added to the team as a founding member.
• Renata Klein in Big Little Lies gets this treatment, especially in Season 2. In the book, she is a secondary antagonist (although she eventually sees the error of her ways) with a totally separate group of friends. Season 1 follows that arc, too, except that Renata is actually present when Perry attacks Celeste and Bonnie kills him, which means that Renata is part of the conspiracy between the other women (Celeste, Bonnie, Madeleine, and Jane), to cover up Perry's death and becomes a member of the core group.
• The Boys:
  • Teenage Kix member Gunpowder appears as a member of Payback.
  • Stormfront becomes a new member of the Seven, when her comics counterpart was only affiliated with Payback.
  • Season 3 reveals that Black Noir used to be affiliated with Payback before joining the Seven, when the comic book only showed him to be a member of the Seven.
• In The Defenders, the team consists of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Luke Cage is the only one of these four who is a Defenders mainstay in the comics (where the most iconic lineup is Doctor Strange, The Hulk, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and the Silver Surfer). A later comics run of the Defenders would eventually assemble the above four.
• Doom Patrol:
  • The show features Cyborg as one of the main characters, seemingly to fill in for fellow Teen Titans member Beast Boy, who is already in a different DC Universe series.
  • Madame Rouge and Elasti-Woman are members of the Sisterhood of Dada, this continuity's Brotherhood of Dada, when in the comics both characters had been killed off long before the first roster of the Brotherhood of Dada was formed. There is also an inversion in that Mr. Nobody has nothing to do with the Sisterhood when he was the Brotherhood of Dada's founder and leader in the comics.
• Game of Thrones inverts this by removing the mercenary group The Brave Companions.
  • Leader Vargo Hoat is replaced by Lord Locke. Unlike the unaffiliated Hoat, Locke is a loyal bannerman to Lord Roose Bolton.
  • Criminals Rorge and Biter escape on route to the Wall. In the books they join the Brave Companions, but in the show they join the Lannister army.
  • Mad Scientist and Doctor Qyburn acted as the field medic to the Brave Companions, after being kicked out of the Maesters. In the show he acted as a Back-Alley Doctor.
• Hawkeye: Echo is the current leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, while she had no affliation with them in the comics. The Tracksuit Mafia works under the Kingpin, who they didn't have any affilation with in the comics, but Echo personally did.
• The failed Justice League of America Pilot Movie:
  • It contains a notable Inverted example. Due to licensing issues, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, the three characters who are members of practically every version of the League, are absent.
  • A straighter example comes with the pilot using Guy Gardner, instead of a Green Lantern more commonly associated with the Justice League, like Hal Jordan or John Stewart.
• Loki:
  • Ravonna Renslayer is a high-ranking member of the Time Variance Authority, a group she was never a part of in the comics.
  • Immortus is revealed to be the mysterious Founder of the Time Variance Authority. In the comics, he was never part of the organization, and certainly was not their leader.
• On the original MacGyver, Jack Dalton was a recurring character who made appearances maybe once or twice a season. In the reboot, he's part of a team with the title character for the first three seasons.
• Maria Clara at Ibarra sees Elias, Juli and Fidel become members of the revolutionaries in the show's version of the El Filibusterismo arc. The first two characters are Spared by the Adaptation, with the former supposedly dying in the climax of the previous novel. The last mentioned is an Ascended Extra and Breakout Character from the first novel.
• In the mid-2010's, there was a plan for a New Warriors series that would have included Squirrel Girl and Mr. Immortal from the Great Lakes Avengers, despite neither of them ever being New Warriors in any comics.
• Power Rangers
  • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers primarily adapted Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger and started off with (an Americanized version of) its exact lineup of Rangers. However, they eventually ran out of footage of Burai the Dragon Ranger to use for Tommy the Green Ranger in season 2. As a result, Tommy was turned into the White Ranger, using footage of Kou the Kiba Ranger, who is from an entirely different Super Sentai team.
  • Other seasons of the franchise have added Rangers with no Sentai counterparts; the first, and most famous, would be the Titanium Ranger from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.
• Smallville: Lois Lane becomes a member of the Justice League in the show, despite never being a member at that point in the comics (she did eventually become one in Justice League Unlimited (2024) as Superwoman).
• While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had various allies over the years, in most works, the actual team remains just Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. The sole exception is Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, which adds in a Canon Foreigner Affirmative Action Girl named Venus de Milo. It is highly unlikely that something like this will happen again for the Turtles, since Venus was quite unpopular among most of the fans as well as TMNT's co-creator, Peter Laird.
  • Though the IDW comic book series added in 2019 a female Turtle, Jennika.
• Titans (2018)
  • Downplayed with Hank and Dawn, who were part of the Teen Titans briefly at different points but in this show are made into founding members.
  • Blackfire joins the Titans which never happened in the comics.
  • As mentioned above, Cyborg is part of the Doom Patrol like in the 2019 series.
• Vagrant Queen adds Amae, Dengar, Krob, Hath, and Winnibot to Elida and Isaac's expedition to Wix, whereas in the original comic, Elida and Isaac travel to Wix alone. With the exception of Hath, all of the extra party members are Canon Foreigners.
• VR Troopers is an interesting case. The source footage was taken from three different shows, so only two of the Troopers, JB and Kaitlin, ever fought together or met each other in the originals, with Ryan always on his own. Any footage showing Ryan fighting together with JB and Kaitlin was American-original.
• The Walking Dead: The show's version of Dante is reimagined as a villain and a member of the Whisperers. In the comics, he's with Hilltop and Maggie Greene's Hopeless Suitor.
• WandaVision reveals that Monica Rambeau is a member of S.W.O.R.D. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, when she had no such affiliation in the comics. Her mother Maria also wasn't a member, much less one of its co-founders and its former director.

• Les Misérables:
  • In the original novel, Marius is not necessarily a member of Les Amis, coming to the meetings on Courfeyrac's insistence. In the musical, however, Marius seems to be a principal member of Les Amis.
  • In the novel, Thénardier isn't a member of the street gang Patron-Minette; he just collaborates with them. In the musical, he's apparently their leader.
• Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark features a version of the Sinister Six consisting of research scientists who used to work for OsCorp before they were mutated into superhuman freaks by the Green Goblin as punishment for severing their ties with his company. The roster consists of Swarm, Electro, Carnage, the Lizard, Kraven the Hunter and a Canon Foreigner named Swiss Miss. Of the five members who originated in the comics, Swarm and Carnage were never members of any version of the Sinister Six that existed prior to the musical, though the Spider-Man and the X-Men miniseries that came out afterwards did have Carnage included as part of a Sinister Sixty-Six consisting of illusions created by Mojo and Mysterio as well as Swarm forming his own Sinister Six.

• Dragon Quest II: In the original game, the Princess of Cannock was just another NPC and despite her descent from Erdrick, was not a member of the Scions of Erdrick. The HD-2D Remake makes her Promoted to Playable, and she's made the fourth member of the Scions of Erdrick.
• Inazuma Eleven:
  • In the video games, Shadow is no more than a recurring scout character, therefore not an official member of Raimon's soccer club. In the anime, he does join the club in the second season, although he's never ascended to main character since the school club is barely in focus in the second and third seasons.
  • Paul Peabody is no more than a scout character in the video games. In the manga, he becomes an official member for Raimon, replacing Sam Kincaid, who is an official member in the games and anime.
• Green Arrow's arcade ending in Injustice 2 sees President Superman work with two characters undergoing Adaptational Heroism and thus weren't part of the original Justice Incarnate: the Flashpoint timeline's Wonder Woman and the Superman: Red Son version of Batman.
• Marvel's Avengers sees Hulk villain Abomination as a member of A.I.M.
• Marvel: Avengers Alliance had an incarnation of Black Widow in the Dark Avengers, which no Dark Avengers roster in the comics had, in this case, villainous Black Widow Yelena Belova is the one here. Red Skull in his Dell Rusk persona is also the founder of the team, when in the comics that was Norman Osborn.
• Pokémon:
  • Remakes and Updated Rereleases of Pokémon games will often change which Pokémon an NPC trainer uses on their team. While we cannot list every example of this, some notable examples include:
    • Pokémon Yellow almost completely changes Blue/Green's team from Red and Blue, with the only shared Pokémon between the two versions being Raticate, Alakazam, and Exeggutor.
    • In Pokémon Gold and Silver, Red has an Espeon on his team. In the remakes, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, and all of Red's subsequent appearances, Espeon is replaced with Lapras.
    • In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Wally's Ralts evolves into a Gallade instead of a Gardevoir like in the original Ruby and Sapphire.
    • In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, there were very few Fire-Type Pokémon in the Sinnoh PokéDex. As a result, the Elite Four Fire-Type specialist, Flint, only had two Fire-Types on his team- Infernape and Rapidash- with the rest of his team consisting of Steelix, Lopunny, and Drifblim. Pokémon Platinum added more Fire-Types to the Sinnoh Dex, and replaced Flint's non-Fire-Types with Houndoom, Flareon, and Magmortar.
  • Some Updated Rereleases of Pokémon games have changed the Pokémon League roster from the original games as well.
    • Pokémon Emerald has Wallace replace Stephen as the Pokémon League Champion of the Hoenn Region.
    • Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon has Molayne as a member of the Alola Elite Four instead of Hala.
• Spider-Man (PS4) contains the first ever version of the Sinister Six with Mr. Negative as a member.
• Total War: Warhammer:
  • Aranessa Saltspite is part of the Vampire Coast despite how her one appearance - the Gaiden Game Dreadfleet - had her fighting against them (specifically Count Noctilus and his eponymous Dreadfleet). Though this is partially offset by her being able to recruit living human and ogre pirates alongside her mostly undead roster.
  • Kislev has access to both the Things in the Woods and the Incarnate Elemental of Beasts (sharing the latter unit with the Beastmen), both of which had barely any connection to them in the lore and were included to tie in with Mother Ostyanka and Shadows of Change.
  • In the original lore, both the Celestial Lions and Tigermen of Ind were only mentioned in a background lore snippet as some of the many hazards that the Everqueen and her host had to face when they ventured into Ind during their decennial pilgrimage to the Tower of the Sun. In the game, both of them are part of the Cathayan roster.
  • In lore, Silak the One Eye is bound to a Tilean mage, serving as the protector of the city of Vedenza. In the game, he is the Regiment of Renown Merwyrm for the High Elves, serving as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to Amanar who was already featured in the Vampire Coast's campaign back in II.
  • Preytons are normally associated with the Beastmen, but here they are also associated with Slaanesh in order to give the latter faction a centerpiece monster for Tides of Torment and to patch up their weakness of having barely any flying units.
  • Sayl the Faithless and the Dolgan Tribe are Kurgans rather than Norscans, but the game makes them part of the latter faction. Their inclusion even brings in Kurgan Horsemen to supplement Norsca's weak cavalry. Though it is worth noting that the Norscan faction already includes several non-Norscan Chaos-aligned tribes such as the Kul, Aghol, Mung, and Tong.

• Cherry Jam, Raisin Cane, and Peppermint Fizz were never part of the Berry Fairies in past Strawberry Shortcake series, as the former two didn’t exist within the same series, while the latter never met them. In Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, all three are members of the Berry Fairies, albeit as a regular music band rather than magical beings.

• Chaos Swap: Because of the different ending for the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation where the protagonist Blaze performs the Heroic Sacrifice in place of Shadow, the line-up for the Sonic Heroes adaptation is changed.
  • Team Rose is joined by Miles and Shadow (due to The Promise he made to Blaze to watch over Miles and Amy) to both find Chocola and Froggy along with investigating Eggman.
  • Blaze, currently suffering from amnesia after Rouge finds her, joins the bat and Omega as a pseudo Team Dark.
  • Knuckles joins the Chaotic Detective Agency as a Guest-Star Party Member, both to investigate what is happening on the surface and in good memory of their last team up.
• In "What if DC and Marvel Share the Same Cinematic Universe":
  • The Ancient One was a member of the Council of Wizards. Until the incident with Black Adam led her to separate from the other surviving wizard Shazam and found Kamar-Taj to train those worthy to wield such powerful magic.
  • Thomas Wayne was part of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Thus, he also became one of the founding members of SHIELD.
  • After leaving Themyscira to help Steve Rogers fight in the war, Wonder Woman became a member of the Howling Commandos.

• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes:
  • This is another Avengers adaptation to feature the Hulk as one of the team's main members. The show initially has him leave in the second episode in a way more in line with the original comics (as he left the Avengers in the second issue), but a two part episode involving his enemy Leader would see him forgive his teammates and rejoin their ranks, only leaving again when an episode involving Red Hulk framing him would be used as an opportunity by Skrull Captain America to get him off the roster for the Skrulls' Secret Invasion, being absent from the final battle with the Skrulls and only reappearing several episodes later when Red Hulk was defeated. Even then, he still wanted to be alone for a while, only helping the team again when Back for the Finale against Galactus.
  • This also applies to half of the main lineup of the show's version of the Masters of Evil. While Baron Zemo, The Enchantress, and Executioner were indeed members, albeit only for the original lineup from the 1960s (though Marvel: Ultimate Alliance would also include Enchantress and Executioner), Wonder Man, Abomination, and later recruit Chemistro have each only been a part of one of the comic book lineups (and Wonder Man has actually been a hero in the comics outside of the single issue he was part of the Masters, and maybe his time as the leader of the Revengers in the 2010s), in the case of Abomination he is from the Marvel Adventures version of the roster, and Chemistro is from the House of M roster. Grey Gargoyle was a member of Helmut Zemo's roster, which was another basis for the show version (given that the Siege on Avengers Mansion, an attack that group performed in the comics, was done in the show by the show's team) and was also in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance version, but he is only shown as a member for a few seconds before being Killed Offscreen for serving his purpose. Aside from a different person bearing the identity in Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Valentin Shatalov in that game, Ivan Vanko in the show), Crimson Dynamo has never been a Master of Evil in the comics, and Living Laser, a later recruit for the team, was definitely never a member in the comics.
  • The episode "New Avengers" is about the team of the same name. Among the characters featured in that episode, which included Wolverine, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Thing, War Machine is the only one who has never been a member of the New Avengers in the comics.
• The Avengers: United They Stand is an Inverted example, with the Avengers' Big Three (Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor) not being part of the team in this version. Despite being present in the opening sequence, Tony and Cap appear in one episode each, and Thor never appears at all.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold's version of the Justice League International replaces the Ted Kord incarnation of the Blue Beetle (who is dead before the series starts in this continuity) with Jaime Reyes, and adds Aquaman, who is from the main League.
• The Duck Dodgers episode "The Green Loontern", a crossover with Green Lantern where Dodgers gets involved with the Green Lantern Corps as a result of getting Hal Jordan's costume and ring after a laundry mix-up, has Green Lambkin from the Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! in-universe comic Justa Lotta Animals appear among the cameos of Green Lantern Corps members. This is contrary to how in the comics Green Lambkin wasn't an inhabitant of the same universe as the regular Green Lantern Corps, let alone affiliated with it.
• DuckTales (2017):
  • S.H.U.S.H., a S.H.I.E.L.D. expy from Darkwing Duck, is brought back in the episode "From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22!", with the organization director being Ludwig von Drake and its agents including Bentina Beakley and Scrooge McDuck.
  • F.O.W.L. (the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny) was reintroduced as the main antagonist of the third season. Alongside returning members Steelbeak and the High Command (who are the members of Scrooge's Board of Directors) and Canon Foreigner Black Heron, the organization has Gandra Dee, John D. Rockerduck,and the Phantom Blot among their ranks.
    • Don Karnage also eventually joins their ranks towards the end of the series.
• Adaptations of the Fantastic Four almost never stray from the original lineup of MisterFantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and The Thing. The sole exception is the 1978 cartoon, where the Torch couldn't be used due to his rights being wrapped up in a solo film project that was ultimately never made. In his place was a Canon Foreigner, H.E.R.B.I.E. (Reed Richards' robot lab assistant).
• Fireman Sam: In the original 1987 series, Firefighter Penny Morris was stationed in Newtown rather than Pontypandy, and as such, was mainly a Drop-In Character who only appeared when the story called for a conflict that couldn't be done with Sam, Steele, Elvis, or Trevor. In the 2005 revival and subsequent 2008 reboot, Penny is part of the main Pontypandy Fire Service, with the role of "supply firefighter from Newtown" disappearing entirely (although Series 10 alludes to it with a Newtown firefighter named Jerry Lee taking over for Penny while she's away).
• Green Lantern: The Animated Series had Ragnar become a member of the Red Lantern Corps, when his comics counterpart was sentenced to death and beheaded long before the Red Lanterns made their debut and not long after the Sinestro Corps was established.
• Harley Quinn (2019):
  • The Legion of Doom adds many new members, mostly members of Batman's Rogues Gallery. Many of those, such as the Joker, (a member who the LoD excommunicated in the comics in DC Rebirth but was also present in Robot Chicken, LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold), Two-Face (who was only present in Robot Chicken and LEGO DC Super-Villains), Bane (again, from Robot Chicken but also in Justice League: Doom), and The Penguin (also only in Robot Chicken and LEGO DC Super-Villains) weren't members in the comics, with a few other examples of villains not in any comics roster but being in other adaptation's versions before being in this show's roster were Reverse-Flash, Calendar Man, Killer Croc, Felix Faust, and Livewire. Only Man-Bat is entirely new, having been rejected as a member in LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom.
  • The series also includes Bane on the Injustice League.
• Iron Man: The Animated Series used Force Works, but replaced U.S. Agent with Hawkeye due to legal reasons (Wonder Man was also cut, likely due to his very short tenure with the comics team). Strangely enough, the Recursive Adaptation comic book that tied in with the show included both Hawkeye and US Agent. (A US Agent action figure was planned for the toyline, but due to Toy Biz cutbacks, instead got turned into Living Laser....who also didn't get released thanks to the show's cancellation, taking the IM toyline with it; it ultimately saw release as Astral Armor Professor X in the X-Men: Mutant Armor line).
• Justice League of America cartoons:
  • Superfriends:
    • Dick Grayson as Robin was presented as a member of the Justice League long before either Joe Kelly's JLA (1997) run (where he was part of an emergency team as Nightwing) and James Robinson's Justice League of America (2006) run (during his second time as Batman).
    • The All-New Super Friends Hour saw DC's version of Rima, the Jungle Princess from the novel Green Mansions, as a member of the League.
    • The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians adapted Cyborg into the Justice League way before Robinson's run and the New 52 did the same. In addition, the Joker was made part of the Royal Flush Gang by revealing Ace to be him in disguise (while the Joker did occasionally work with the Royal Flush Gang in the comics, he was never a full-fledged member).
  • Justice League:
    • Unlimited brings in several Leaguers who are more commonly associated with the Justice Society of America, like Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E., Wildcat, and Sand; the Seven Soldiers of Victory, like Vigilante, Shining Knight, the Crimson Avenger, and Speedy (though he would join the Justice League post-Infinite Crisis as Red Arrow); or just plain not in any team like Supergirl (until she joined in the comics later on), Nemesis, and The Question. Outside of the show (including the supplemental comics as well as sequel films made after the end of Unlimited), other new members include Miss Martian and Doctor Occult.
    • The final season saw the Legion of Doom (albeit, thanks to Executive Meddling, as an extended version of the Secret Society) with many additional members including Star Sapphire, the Parasite, and Atomic Skull.
  • Justice League Action also brings in several non-traditional Leaguers like John Constantine and Swamp Thing, both loners in the comics who usually have little to do with other superheroes (though both Constantine and Swamp Thing are members of Justice League Dark).
• In the American Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) series, Aloof Big Brother Proto Man isn't an ally but The Dragon to Dr. Wily throughout the series, a role he never played in the original series, unless you count Mega Man 5, but even then he's revealed to actually be an Evil Doppelgänger of Proto Man made by Wily, with the real Proto Man still on Rock's side.
• My Adventures with Superman:
  • Livewire is portrayed as a member of a group of criminal mercenaries, a role that she's never had in either the comics or the other animated series that she originated from.
  • General Lane is not involved with Task Force X in the comics, while in this show, he's the founder of the organization. That said, General Eiling, who this version of Lane is a Composite Character with, has been involved with the group. Similarly, Deathstroke in the comics is a self-employed mercenary criminal, while in this show, Slade is a black ops agent working for Task Force X. Though he did work for Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad, during the New 52, specifically its New Suicide Squad iteration, he only worked for them in a single issue before betraying them. By the time the shock collars associated with the Suicide Squad made their appearance, several other new characters not associated with the squad in the comics are members now, these being Livewire, Silver Banshee, Rough House, and Professor Anthony Ivo (though he becomes a Composite Character with Parasite, who typically is a member of the squad in the comics).
  • Silver Banshee and Mist are both members of Intergang in this show, despite having never been members of the team in the comics.
  • Lex Luthor of the comics is commonly portrayed as an independent villain who rose to where he is on his own. This show's portrayal of him, meanwhile, initially starts out as an assistant to Dr. Ivo, then later gains his resources and company by working under Task Force X. It's only at the very end of season 2 that he goes independent.
  • In an inverted case, Heat Wave is a member of the Rogues in the comics, but appears without them in this show. While this version of Rory is seen working alongside other criminals a few times throughout the show, they are very clearly not the Rogues.
• The Real Ghostbusters: In the original film, Slimer was just the first ghost that the Ghostbusters ended up catching. In this animated series, he becomes their Team Pet.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • In Sonic Boom, Amy Rose is shown to be a core member of Team Sonic unlike in the games, where she often led her own team in the form of Team Rose.
  • In Sonic Prime, Rouge the Bat is counted among Team Sonic unlike in other media where she is often a Nominal Hero and mostly works with Team Dark.
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series has the Insidious Six, the series' version of the Sinister Six (the name change was because Fox Kids censored the "Sinister" word). The team was formed by Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Shocker, Chameleon, Rhino, and Scorpion. Apart from having a different group than any of the comic book versions (Doc Ock and Mysterio being the only original members, at least until another original member, Vulture, was added in the team's final arc as a substitute for Mysterio once he was Killed Off for Real, Shocker being a member in some incarnations, Chameleon and Rhino only being part of the team in Ends of the Earth and Scorpion never being part of the team before), the Insidious Six was formed by The Kingpin instead of Doc Ock (who's still the team leader, but acted as The Dragon to Kingpin).
• The Super Hero Squad Show has the titular Squad (basically the Avengers with a different name) include Reptil, a Canon Foreigner with the power to change his body parts into those of dinosaurs (he later became a Canon Immigrant into the comics, fittingly as a student of Avengers Academy). It also includes Silver Surfer, who was a member of the Defenders in the comics instead of the Avengers. Conversely, Doctor Doom is depicted as leading the Lethal Legion, including a variety of other Marvel villains, though most of the time Abomination and MODOK are his chief henchmen (none of the three have ever been part of any of the comics' Lethal Legions, or have worked for Doctor Doom).
• In the 1987 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baxter Stockman initially winds up working for Shredder as a member of the Foot Clan. This is in stark contrast to the original Mirage comics, where he was a completely independent villain who likely never interacted with the clan. The loner villains Rat King and Leatherhead (who is actually a good guy in the comics) also occasionally team up with the Foot Clan.
• Teen Titans:
  • While the Brotherhood of Evil had classic members Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Madame Rouge, General Immortus, Phobia, Plasmus, and Warp, it expanded to include almost every other villain in the show. Among the few exceptions are Slade, Terra, Brother Blood, Trigon, Blackfire, and the villains of Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo.
  • Titans East also has this. The only member of that team who's a member of the group in the comics is Cyborg (who, while helping the group get established, doesn't stay as a part of it). This continuity's Titans East consists of Bumblebee, Speedy, Aqualad, and Canon Immigrant duo Mas y Menos.
• Transformers:
  • When adapting characters from Beast Wars to other Transformers media, the most usual route is to portray the Maximals and Predacons living in the present day as Autobots and Decepticons respectively. For example Waspinator being a Decepticon in both Transformers: Animated and in the IDW comics.
  • By virtue of reusing names on various unrelated characters to keep trademarks, there are many names that have appeared cross-faction and within multiple sub-groups, for example, Transformers: Animated made their Dirt Boss a Constructicon when neither of the previous Transformers to go by that name (who appeared respectively in Transformers: Armada as an Autobot-allied Mini-Con and Transformers: Cybertron a Decepticon-allied Velocitronian) were affiliated with that Decepticon sub-faction.
  • This generally happens to unaffiliated villainous characters like Jhiaxus, Lockdown and Unicron in marketing, as until recently, the toys were sold as either under the Autobot or Decepticon banner, with no third faction, so most toys of those three have been released as Decepticons, albeit some only in packaging, they still tend to have a printed Decepticon insignia on the toys. In the case of Lockdown, his IDW version is still a bounty hunter for hire like his original Animated self, but wears the badge, because the 'Cons give him consistent and substantial payment. Meanwhile, his Cyberverse version is just a straight up Decepticon, with no trace of being a bounty hunter.
  • Transformers: Animated: A version of Strika from Beast Machines is one of Megatron's highest generals off-camera for most of the show, but while she was loyal to the Megatron of Beast Machines, it was only because he was ruler of Cybertron by that point, the position she and her partner Obsidian are actually loyal to. Plans for the cancelled fourth season would have given this exact same treatment to the Animated version of Obsidian as well, who appeared as the leader of a Decepticon unit in the opener for season 3. Curiously said unit also includes a version of the obscure Beast Wars character Spittor, making him a Decepticon instead of a Predacon as well.
  • Transformers: Cyberverse mashes together characters from across the franchise and often places characters in factions they weren't before.
    • Lockdown was originally an unaffiliated bounty hunter with heavy signs pointing to him being a former Autobot in Animated. In Cyberverse he's a Decepticon, which is in line with many adaptations after Animated.
    • Much like in Animated, Strika (renamed Alpha Strike) is reimagined as a Decepticon rather than a Vehicon.
    • Cheetor is on the Autobot team whereas originally he was a Maximal born long after the Autobot faction was phased out.
    • Gnaw's original toy marked him as a Decepticon while Cyberverse, as with most adaptations, has him as Quintesson aligned.
• X-Men cartoons:
  • In 1983, there were plans for an X-Men cartoon that was never picked up. Among its cast were a version of Ms. Marvel (who isn't even a mutant in other continuities, much less a member of the X-Men) named "Lady Lightning", and Videoman (a Canon Foreigner from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, which this show was intended to spin-off from).
  • X-Men: The Animated Series/X-Men '97:
    • In a What Could Have Been example, had the "Beyond Good and Evil" four-parter indeed ended up the Grand Finale, it would've seen Archangel, Psylocke, Bishop (who would join for real in X-Men '97), and Shard join the X-Men. While the former three are mainstays of the team (Archangel even being an original member), Shard was part of sister (given her relation to Bishop, no pun intended) team X-Factor in the comics.
    • Inverted with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, as the only member of the original group who has anything to with the cartoon's roster was the one who was part of Mystique's Brotherhood from the get-go as well: Sixth Ranger the Blob. Outside of his debut (where he was working with Sabretooth) and the above-mentioned "Beyond Good and Evil" (where he was among those Apocalypse recruited), Magneto worked alone and was rarely an actual villain for most of the original series; Mastermind and Quicksilver were already with the Hellfire Club/Inner Circle and X-Factor respectively when viewers actually see them; the Scarlet Witch was doing her own thing, presumably being an Avenger or a member of Force Works; and Toad was hanging out with Solarr in his sole appearance in the original series.
    • The Sequel Series sees Mr. Sinister, Dr. Doom, Baron Zemo, and, in a case of Adaptational Villainy, Val Cooper working with Bastion and Operation: Zero Tolerance. In fact, when the comic storyline of the same name went down, the latter three were busy with other stuff: Doom was one of the characters stuck in the pocket universe of Heroes Reborn thanks to the events of Onslaught (which Bastion used to help get OZT off the ground) and wouldn't return until Heroes Return (which was after OZT) so he couldn't be part of it, Zemo was trying to take advantage of the Avengers and Fantastic Four's absence himself with his Thunderbolts scheme, and Val was working against Bastion by trying to keep X-Factor away from him. Additionally, Trish Tilby and Rose Gilberti are among those converted into Prime Sentinels, whereas in the comics, not only were they not Prime Sentinels, Trish was in space with Beast, Rogue, Gambit, Bishop, and Joseph when it went down and Rose was horrified at the monster Bastion became.
  • X-Men: Evolution:
    • Iceman is on the New Mutants team instead of the X-Men proper until Spyke leaves. For that matter, Jubilee, Multiple (Minus the "Man" as he's a kid), and Berzerker, the former two being a part of the X-Men and auxiliary teams and the latter being a Morlock through his tenure.
    • While Quicksilver was a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants in some of the Brotherhood's earliest appearances, it wouldn't be long before he underwent a Heel–Face Turn and joined The Avengers. In X-Men: Evolution, he is not only a member the whole way through, but the de facto team leader. The same applies to his twin sister, the Scarlet Witch (minus being team leader). Boom-Boom also joins the Brotherhood after leaving the New Mutants and this applies to Sabretooth in the first season as it was in production before the arc that'd see him join the team in the comics saw print.
    • Apocalypse forcibly conscripts Professor X, Storm, Magneto, and Mystique to be his Horsemen. Also inverted as Angel, Wolverine and Caliban are never among them despite that being a big thing for all three in the comics^note namely, how Angel became Archangel, how Wolverine had adamantium regrafted onto his skeleton following the events of Fatal Attractions, and the fact that Caliban is one of the very few, if not the only, person to have two tenures as a Horseman.
    • The only Acolytes from the comics that are members of this version are Magneto and Colossus (albeit due to blackmail instead of a crisis of faith). The Evo version's ranks including Sabretooth, Pyro, and Gambit.
  • Wolverine and the X-Men:
    • Much like Evolution, Quicksilver is not only a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants the whole way through, but the de facto team leader. Domino is also a Brotherhood member, even though she's an ally of the X-Men in every other continuity (and even this very show's Bad Future).
    • The same applies to his twin sister, the Scarlet Witch, though here she's a member of the Acolytes. In the Acolytes' case, this also applies to Pyro, Mystique, the Juggernaut, Mercury, and Blink.
• Young Justice:
  • While The Team never calls themselves Young Justice, they include some members that were never part of the original team, like Miss Martian, a Canon Immigrant Aqualad, a de-aged heroic version of the Artemis Crock incarnation of Tigress (a Justice Society villain), Zatanna, Rocket, Wolf (a mutated wolf who serves as an expy of Krypto), Roy Harper (made a Decomposite Character with the original as Arsenal and a clone as Red Arrow), Tempest (who served offscreen aside from Young Justice: Legacy and the Series Fauxnale), Aquagirl (who also served offscreen aside from that same game, which explained her death in the show), Troia (again, offscreen), Jason Todd (also offscreen and Killed Offscreen until he came back), Mary Marvel (as Sergeant Marvel, you guessed it, offscreen), Barbara Gordon, Bumblebee, Blue Beetle, Mal Duncan, Static, Spoiler (who does later join the relaunched team as a reserve), Traci Thirteen, Geo-Force, Halo, Forager, Terra, Cyborg, El Dorado, and Mist. Even Robin and Kid Flash are examples, since the comics used Tim Drake and Bart Allen (as "Impulse"), while the show used Dick Grayson and Wally West. Only Superboy, and technically the Super-Cycle (who is initially introduced under Canon Foreigner identity Sphere before revealing her hovercycle form), were from the original team at first, and it was only in later seasons that Tim, Wonder Girl, Bart, and Arrowette were also added. The show also incorporates Beast Boy, Lagoon Boy, Cassandra Cain (renamed Cassandra Wu-San), and an offscreen inclusion of Captain Marvel Jr. (renamed Lieutenant Marvel) from a short-lived New Young Justice.
  • The Justice League also includes members who were never a part of the League in the comics. Specifically, Icon, the aforementioned Rocket, Zatara (Zatanna's father, though he takes on the Doctor Fate identity, who has served the Justice League, later), Batwoman, and Hardware, plus an offhanded reference to Magog. Kaldur'ahm, the show's Aqualad (who arrived in the comics as Jackson Hyde) also becomes a member as the second Aquaman. Season 4 sees Lagoon Boy, an obscure Teen Titan and New Young Justice member, eventually become a member of the Justice League and the third Aquaman, but it also has Jay Garrick join up, who was briefly a member during the Justice League International days.
    • The Justice League's reserve membership program launched in the fourth season also includes several heroes who were never members in the comics, some of them being unaffiliated heroes like Alanna Strange, Delphis (Dolphin in the comics), and Wyynde, and others being heroes who never joined the team before, like Bumblebee and the Mal Duncan version of Guardian (both (Teen) Titans), a reformed Clayface (a member of the Bat-Family in DC Rebirth), Dubbilex (a former operative of Cadmus), and Mary Bromfield (a member of the Marvel / Shazam Family), though she leaves Earth to join the Female Furies before accepting this reserve membership. It also includes B'arzz O'oomm, a Canon Foreigner Martian who was forced to serve the Reach as Green Beetle.
  • For Young Justice: Outsiders, the only member who's actually part of The Outsiders in the comics is Geo-Force (And later, for both the show and the comics, Terra). Metamorpho and Katana are part of Batman Inc., Black Lightning is more of a satellite character to the group, and while she's a very important character for the season, Halo never actually becomes a member of the group. This version of the team has more in common with the Teen Titans, being lead by Beast Boy and featuring Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Bart as Kid Flash, Static, and Superboy, plus a de-aged El Dorado and obscure New Gods character Forager. In the timeskip between season 3 and 4, Looker, Windfall, and Tim Drake, members in the comics, also join, but other new members by that point include Stargirl and Livewire.
  • The Sentinels of Magic debut in season 4, but only Zatanna was a member in the comics. The other members who aren't part of the team in the comics are Traci Thirteen, Mary Bromfield, and Khalid Nassour.
  • For the first official appearance of the Suicide Squad/Task Force X, its members are Captain Boomerang, Black Manta and Monsieur Mallah. While Boomerang is a well known member, and Manta was a member of the New 52 incarnation, Mallah has never been part of the Squad. A canon audio play at DC FanDome adds Green Arrow villain Brick and Canon Foreigner Tuppence Terror of the Terror Twins as well.
  • The Light, the show's version of the Secret Society of Super Villains, features the Bialyan version of Queen Bee, Klarion the Witch Boy, Granny Goodness, and Bad Samaritan as members of the group, which they've never been a part of in the original comics, working with other members who have such as Vandal Savage, Ras al Ghul, Lex Luthor, Ocean Master, the Brain, Black Manta, Deathstroke, and Ultra-Humanite.
  • Queen Bee's group of enforcers, Onslaught, are named for a team of criminals who oppose the Suicide Squad, yet are based instead on Teen Titans rogues the Fearsome Five, of which Mammoth, Shimmer, and Psimon are members. Everyone else in the group counts either way, as seen with Devastation (an enemy of Wonder Woman), the second Icicle (an enemy of the Justice Society), the Canon Foreigner characters the Terror Twins, and Holocaust (a Milestone Comics antagonist who fought Static). The Targets miniseries added Superboy's Evil Twin Match and a (Hispanic and renamed to Juan Cordero) depiction of Superman antagonist Metallo as well.
  • The League of Shadows (the show's renamed version of the League of Assassins) contains a number of members who weren't part of the team in the comics, such as Cheshire, Black Spider, Sportsmaster, the Shade (who promptly leaves them later on), and a Gender Flipped version of Red Hood and the Outlaws villain Rictus. Cheshire would later be RetCanoned as having been part of the League of Assassins during the New 52.
  • The Lex Luthor-aligned incarnation of Infinity, Inc. later defects to Markovia, where classic Outsiders member Geo-Force becomes their leader. The Targets comic adds Lizard Johnny, a member of an obscure team also called the Outsiders, and Jet, a member of the Global Guardians, to their ranks.
  • Among Darkseid's Elite on Apokolips in the series is a reimagined version of Martian Manhunter villain Ma'alefa'ak (depicted as Miss Martian's brother who allies with Apokolips to get back at the other Martian races' persecution of White Martians like him). Although the comic version would later be revealed to have been an ally of Darkseid who probed the minds of Martians for the Anti-Life Equation, he would never appear as a prominent ally of his in a recurring capacity, as he does in the show.
  • The female Forager introduced in the fourth season is inducted into the Green Lantern Corps following Tomar-Re's death, when in the comics, none of the characters named Forager (or any other insectoid residents of New Genesis) had ever previously been Green Lanterns.