Naturally, film and TV adaptations are going to change things from the comic books. Often these changes are tied in to casting (like the Kingpin being African American in Daredevil) and therefore do not affect the comics. Sometimes even particularly notable changes are not adapted to the comic (for instance, Superman did not suddenly have a kid with Lois Lane in the comic books). Occasionally, though, the comic books decide to implement the ideas originated on the film and television adaptations and you get a sort of “reverse adaptation.” Here are eight examples of that.
1 Spider-Man’s organic web-shooters. In his very first comic book appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, Spider-Man has created mechanical devices that can shoot sticky webs from them. In the film Spider-Man, though, these web-shooters come from his own body when Peter transforms into Spider-Man. After the film came out, the comics eventually had Spider-Man mutate a bit so that he, too, would have organic web-shooters, but in recent years, he has returned to the mechanical ones.
2 Clark and Lex, best pals. This is a somewhat tricky one, because it was during the 1960s that the idea of Clark and Lex being friends when they were younger was introduced. This idea was dropped when they rebooted Superman in the mid-’80s. On Smallville, though, Clark and Lex are good friends as teens. So slowly over the years, Clark and Lex’s background together in the comic books has begun to reference Lex growing up in Smallville and being old friends with Clark Kent.
3 John Stewart’s personality. When the Justice League cartoon started, rather than choosing Hal Jordan, the character most associated with the Green Lantern, the producers chose John Stewart, another notable Green Lantern from Earth. In the show, John’s personality is much different from the comics. He is depicted as a former U.S. marine with a very stoic personality. In the comics, he is an architect and much more sensitive. Over time, they have merged the two depictions within the comics, adding his marine background and spotlighting the seeming contradictions in his life and personality.
4 Bat-Cave. The Bat-Cave made its debut in the Batman film serial in 1943. Before this, Batman did his indoors crime-fighting in various hidden rooms within his mansion and a hangar that is accessible via an underground tunnel. However, film serials were meant to be done cheap, and they did not have hangar sets or mansion sets (single rooms, yes, a full mansion, no). What they did have access to was a cave set (caves were very popular in serials). So, enter…the Bat’s Cave, which debuted in the second chapter of the serial, where Batman and Robin take a bad guy to their cave to question him. Within a matter of months, the cave idea was adapted into the comics and has been featured ever since.
5 Wonder Woman’s method of transformation. The producers of the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman series knew that they were going to use some sort of special effect when Diana Prince turned into Wonder Woman, but they weren’t sure what exactly. They were thinking maybe she would just stand up and light would emanate from her and voilà—Wonder Woman! It was Lynda Carter, actually, who came up with the idea that she spin around and the burst of light come at the apex of the spin. The idea was soon adapted to the comic book and has been her method of transformation ever since.
6 Thin Alfred. Initially, in the Batman comic books, Alfred was a short, rotund fellow, but in the film serial from 1943, he was depicted by the tall, thin William Austin. The writers actually address this in the comic by having Alfred take a vacation and when he returns, he is thin! He has appeared as thin in the comic books ever since.
7 Resurrected Alfred. At the time that the 1960s Batman TV series was going to start filming, Alfred was dead in the Batman comic books. When the TV series was green-lit, producer William Dozier wanted Alfred to be in it. Once it was announced that he was going to be on the TV show, DC quickly brought Alfred back to life in the comics (and also finished the long-running mystery of who the villain Outsider would be—he turned out to be Alfred, driven temporarily insane).
8 Green Arrow’s new series. Oliver Queen became a popular supporting character on the TV series Smallville in the later seasons, eventually also showing up as the costumed hero Green Arrow. He even ended up marrying the popular supporting character Chloe Sullivan. In September 2011, DC debuted #1 issues for all of its superhero titles and decided in the process to revamp Green Arrow (who has always been much older in the DC Universe) to appear closer to how actor Justin Hartley portrayed the character on Smallville.