Adaptational Upbringing Change

10 Following

• Di Gi Charat: In the Original Series, Usada/Rabi~en~Rose has Abusive Parents who abandoned her to go to America when she was young and left her with only a pair of dice to help her become a great idol. In Di Gi Charat Nyo!, Usada lives with her parents at their salon and she has a very close relationship with both of them. Her dice, and by extension transformation into Rabi~en~Rose, are also explained as something that is passed down through the family.

• Absolute Universe: In an alternate universe influenced by Darkseid's life-force, many of the iconic superheroes, particularly the main trinity, have had their lives dramatically altered, especially their childhoods.
  • Absolute Batman: Bruce Wayne was born and raised into a middle-working class family instead of a wealthy elite one, where his parents are a social worker and school teacher, and he has been close friends since childhood with people who would normally be in his rogues gallery. And only his father dies, not from a random or stage mugging in an alleyway, but from a mass shooter in the zoo.
  • Absolute Superman: Kal-El grew up on Krypton long enough to know his true parents and his own planet. He's a young boy by the time Krypton is destroyed and crashes on Earth. He only briefly meets Jonathan and Martha Kent before fleeing from Lazarus Corp, with his only friend being an AI in his suit.
  • Absolute Wonder Woman: Diana was not raised on Themyscira, she was taken from the Amazons by Apollo, who then handed her off to the witch Circe, to be raised by her in Hell.
• The Flash: Downplayed. Originally, Barry had a happy childhood with both of his parents before becoming The Flash. Post-The Flash: Rebirth^note No relation to The Flash (2016) released during DC Rebirth, however, Eobard Thawne went back in time and killed Barry's mother, which Barry's father took the fall for. While Barry retains most of his personality, he is a sadder, more driven character due to this, and his trauma over this backstory leads him to almost break the universe in the infamous Flashpoint storyline.
• Futurama: In issue #74, "What the What If?", the professor's What If? machine explodes, splitting New New York into a variety of different self-contained universes. In one of them, Leela was never given up by her parents to live on the surface, so she was raised in the sewers to be meek and naive. She's also dating Leg Mutant.
• Superman: It's popular for writers to tweak Superman's backstory in Elseworlds stories.
  • In Flashpoint, Superman's rocket lands in the middle of Metropolis along with a meteor shower instead of Kansas. As a result, he's seized by the military and kept inside a bunker his entire life.
  • On Earth-10, his rocket ends up in Czechoslovakia in 1938 and is subsequently taken in by Nazi Germany. He would later become Overman, a brutal enforcer of the Nazi regime.
  • On Earth-23, Kal-El resembles an African-American boy and is raised by black parents in the city, resulting in him taking special action against racial discrimination and successfully running for the Oval Office in his civilian identity, Calvin Ellis.
  • Superman: Red Son sees an infant Superman land in the Soviet Union instead of the United States on Earth-30. In contrast to the main canon's Superman's standard MO of upholding "truth, justice, and the American way", this Soviet Superman is a Totalitarian Utilitarian.
  • Another Elseworlds story, Superman: Speeding Bullets, has Superman found and raised by the Waynes as their son Bruce. After watching his parents brutally gunned down by Joe Chill, Bruce incinerates Chill with Heat Vision before becoming a social recluse haunted by the constant crime in Gotham City. Eventually, he snaps, taking to the night as Batman.
  • In Superman: True Brit, he's raised in Britain instead of America.
• Teen Titans: Teen Titans: Earth One overhauls the origins of the Teen Titans, giving them far different family backgrounds from their mainstream counterparts. In this version, all of them are adopted; Cyborg is raised by domineering single mother Elinore Stone, Terra is the adopted daughter of Rita Farr, Raven was raised by a grandfather on a reservation, Joseph is the adopted (rather than biological) son of Slade Wilson, and while Garfield Logan was adopted by Steve Dayton, as in the normal timeline, in this version, Dayton has a husband. The result is that Raven is much more well-adjusted than her normal counterpart, while Joey is more spoiled and cynical, Vic has a massive chip on his shoulder, and Tara is even more troubled than usual. Gar is more or less the same... until he loses his dad to The Conspiracy.
• The titular character of Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) is hit with a case of this. In most continuities, Peter Parker is orphaned as a baby or at least a very young age, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. In this universe, his parents raised him until they died when he was 15, only afterwards being taken in by Ben and May. So while his parents still died, they at least raised him for much longer than normal.
• Young Avengers: Originally in the Marvel Comics universe, America Chavez was raised in a Utopian dimension, which her mothers sacrificed themselves to save, and she left Utopia of her own accord when inspired by them to be a hero. In Marvel Rising, America's mothers tricked her into being teleported to Earth before they made their sacrifice. Consequently, Marvel Rising's America is a lot more cynical than her comics counterpart, due to her bitter feelings about her parents instead of wanting to follow their example.

Crossovers

• The Boy Who is a One-Shot Fic collection, with various Crossover possibilities of alternative guardians for Harry Potter getting Played for Laughs. For example, Harry raised by Christian and Ana Grey becomes a terrifying perverted sadist to the point that Voldemort gives himself up to Dumbledore rather than deal with Harry, and Harry raised by Mary Poppins is a smart and well-behaved student who just has an unfortunate tendency of occasionally flying away with the east wind.
• In A Cursed Destiny, Konrad is immediately found by Taylor after crawling out of his gestation pod and raised under her cynical, pragmatic yet loving hand instead of struggling to survive as a Feral Child in the hopelessly miserable and hellish Wretched Hive of Nostramo. As a consequence, he does understand it's sometimes necessary to compromise and drive people with the lure of a reward rather than murdering everyone in gruesome ways.
• In Fate/Reach Out, Shirou was originally Yu Narukami. Instead of being The Ace and a Cloudcuckoolander, he's somewhat familiar with supernatural events already and aims at being a Hero of Justice. He also suffers from intense hidden Survivor Guilt and lives with his guardian and surrogate sister Taiga Fujimura until she introduces him to his birth family.
• Harry Tano: In this fic, Harry Potter was found/adopted by Ahsoka Tano when he was four years old. She raised him as her son and Padawan, teaching him the Jedi Way. This makes him notably more calm and mature than he is in canon, as well as more willing to forgive others.
• Intercession is a Harry Potter/Worm Crossover fanfic where Taylor, transported to the Harry Potter world, takes baby Harry in and raises him as her son instead of his uncaring aunt and uncle. Harry grows up with a loving mother, becomes more self-assured and questions authority like Taylor, makes different friends, and is less interested in his birth parents compared to canon.
• If Wishes Were Ponies...: Rather than spend his entire childhood with the Dursleys, Harry Potter (due to accidentally discovering a portal to Equestria) spends the latter half of his childhood (from age nine to adulthood) as the ward of Twilight Sparkle.
• In the Muted/ Kamen Rider crossover "Century Princess Saga/Heroic Complex" ( itself an alternate timeline to the previous crossovers in the same series), instead of growing up with each other as only company under Athalie's tyranical rule, cousins Avaline and Camille Severin get to enjoy their childhood with their respective twins, extended family( Athalie herself being a much more stable and gentle person compared to canon) and all the friends they make. They also actually share a father.
• JoJo New Universe:
  • Downplayed with Joseph Joestar. He still grows up without his parents thanks to his father being killed by one of DIO's zombies and his mother forced to go under the radar. It's just that along with his grandmother Erina he's also raised by his grandfather Jonathan, making him much more polite than the Jerk with a Heart of Gold he is in canon.
  • In canon Jolyne Kujo had to deal with her father Jotaro being absent from her life to protect her from enemy Stand Users, causing Jolyne to grow up to resent him and be Locked Out of the Loop of Stands until she is arrested. In New Universe, Jotaro is fully present in her childhood along with his wife and Jolyne's mother Fluttershy. Having both parents not gives Jolyne a much happier childhood and a closer relationship with her father, but she's more aware of her Joestar heritage and has her Stand by the events of Diamond is Unbreakable thanks to both of her parents being Stand users.
  • While in canon all of DIO's son had horrible childhoods (shown especially with Giorno and Donatello), here Ungalo, Rikiel, and Donatello had pampered and sheltered lives with their mothers being Midler, Mariah, and Enya respectively
  • In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji Ikari's father Gendo left him with a guardian after his mother's death, leaving the boy with a deep set of internal issues and shyness when he arrives at SEES. In the Crossover, he is instead brought to his maternal cousin Josuke Higashikata, who along with his wife Pinkie Pie helps raise him while Gendo chooses to process his grief in a healthier manner and keep contact with his son. By the events of Cruel Angel's Thesis, Shinji is far more Courageous and confidant, and is more willing to join the fight against the angels.
• In Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!, Kal-El lands by Mount Fuji instead of Smallville and is subsequently adopted by Inko and Hisashi Midoriya. So instead of becoming a Farm Boy turned Intrepid Reporter Clark Kent, he's raised as the nerdy Hero-Worshipper Izuku Midoriya. On the same note, growing up with Kryptonian superpowers from the age of four has left him terrified of his own strength, as he nearly killed Katsuki Bakugou after losing control of it when they were kids, not helped by the immense Fantastic Racism this world has. He swears off becoming a hero until his teenage years when All Might encourages him to become a hero despite his past mistakes.
• The Saviour and the Slayer: Rather than growing up in the foster system, Emma is adopted as a baby by the Summers. This means that rather than growing up skeptical, Emma gets involved with the supernatural early when she is a teenager and she finds out that her older sister is a vampire slayer.
• Spider-Ninja: In this Spider-Man/TMNT crossover, Petra Parker lost her aunt and uncle when she was four. Thus, unlike most Peter Parkers who were raised by their respective Aunt Mays, Petra is found and adopted by Master Splinter. As such, Petra, while sharing many traits in common with her male counterpart, has more respect for authority, is a trained martial artist, and has never been a solo act (having always fought alongside at least one of her brothers).
• In the Doctor Strange (2016)/Harry Potter crossover Strange Potter, Harry is raised by Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, with Doctor Strange acting as his mentor.
• In These Sorts of Cases, Emma got a permanent family in the Summers when she was 10 as opposed to remaining an orphan until she is an adult. This also means she participates in Buffy's fights against vampires and she grows up knowing that she has magic rather becoming Agent Scully.

Ace Attorney

• The Great Ace Detective: In The Great Ace Attorney, Iris Wilson was raised by Herlock Sholmes after the death of her parents Klint van Ziek and his wife Lady Baskerville. In the What If? fic, Iris's birth father is alive and she raised by him along with his brother Barok, though she is still a talented young girl and an anonymous mystery writer. Additionally, Iris's name is changed to Henrietta since it was her father that named her rather than Sholmes.
• The Great Dual Substitute Turnabout: In the Prosecutorverse, the DL-6 incident didn't happen, so Gregory Edgeworth lived longer and Misty Fey didn't go into hiding. Instead, they get married, so Mia, Miles, and Maya grew up as step-siblings. Meanwhile, Iris stayed in Kurain Village instead of being sent away as a child, and Pearl was raised by Misty because Morgan died when Pearl was young.

Adventure Time

• Something More (Adventure Time): Has this as the premise's Point of Divergence, Martin's getaway from his enemies in which he took Finn ends up with both washed back to Founders Island instead of sent far away; causing Finn to be raised by Minerva on his homeland instead of being raised by Joshua and Margaret on Ooo, this causes him to grow up far wiser than he did in canon and thus he ends up much more thoughtful upon becoming the hero of Ooo.

Amphibia

• In Medicated, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy were transported to Amphibia as babies and temporarily transformed into a frog, toad, and newt respectively. As a result, they're familiar with Amphibian customs, don't even know what humans are called, make a lot of wrong assumptions about their true forms, and meet each other later in life.

Animorphs

• All Assorted Animorphs AUs: In "What if Elfangor and Loren raised Tobias?", Elfangor and Loren raise Tobias, rather than him being functionally an orphan raised by an uncaring aunt or uncle.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

• The Blood of the Covenant:
  • Unlike in canon, here Zuko was abducted by the assassin Ozai had hired to kill him (as she refused to kill a baby). She eventually finds the baby a home with the Southern Water tribe. Despite the baby's obvious Fire Nation heritage, Bato and his wife happily take him in as their son, renaming him Kallik. Unlike his canon childhood, where Zuko grew up with an abusive father and sadistic little sister, Kallik was raised in a healthy environment with his cousins Sokka and Katara (both of whom stood by him even after it was revealed he could firebend).
  • This happens to Azula, too, but in a downplayed example. She's still raised by her father to be a soldier/leader/master firebender, but she doesn't have her canon mommy issues due to Ursa showering her with affection due to losing her first child. As such, Azula has more morals, empathy, and is more prone to Pragmatic Villainy than in canon (which actually makes her MORE dangerous).

Batman

• The Batman of The Bat (Siltrics) had one major change to explain why he's a psychopath in this universe, being Alfred dying within weeks of the Waynes due to a stroke.

The Dragon Prince

• Primal Source: In canon, Callum was raised by his mother and stepfather, and then exclusively by his stepfather, until he was fourteen. Here, after Queen Sarai's death, he is taken in by Sol Regem.

Fullmetal Alchemist

• Where there is strife, there is Pride: Played with for the Homunculus Pride, who is Father's first and oldest homunculus but frequently masquerades as the adopted son of high-ranked Amestris officials. In Fullmetal Alchemist, he takes the role of Selim Bradley, the son of his "younger brother" Wrath and his wife Mrs. Bradley, which reinforces Pride's duty to Father while he tried to suppress his human love for his adopted mother until his final moments. In the fanfic, he takes the role of Maes and Gracia Hughes's adopted son to spy on Maes and his companion Roy Mustang. The genuine love of the Hughes family causes Pride to become more of the good son Selim Hughes, which leads him to stop Envy from killing Maes and pulling a Heel–Face Turn to save his family from Father's plan.

Harry Potter

• The Accidental Animagus: Having escaped the Dursleys after becoming the titular Animagus, Harry ends up finding the Grangers, who adopt him, meaning that he and Hermione grow up as siblings. Additionally, because Dumbledore tracks down the missing Harry, both children learn about the wizarding world at a far younger age, resulting in them being raised with more knowledge of magic, and the dangers they will face in Hogwarts, resulting in the Grangers signing their children up for Karate lessons, as well as them teaching themselves wandless magic.
• A Better Man: Vernon Dursley, originally Harry's abusive uncle, gets a second chance at life after his death and becomes a better person. He and his wife Petunia raise Harry and their son Dudley as Good Parents. Instead of becoming a bully, Dudley turns into a protective big brother type to Harry, and Harry has a much happier, less lonely home life.
• The Dogfather: Instead of being raised by his abusive aunt and uncle, Harry was adopted by a loving family. He turns out more well-adjusted, less lonely (he has ordinary Muggle friends) and less prone to reckless heroics (as he doesn't need to prove himself as much).
• Harry Potter & Seven Years of Chaos: Harry is kicked out by his abusive aunt and uncle at age eight, becoming homeless. Harry becomes much more violent and cynical in turn, and gets sorted into Slytherin.
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: Instead of Harry being raised by his abusive aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon as in canon, Petunia instead married a scientist and became much nicer. Harry, in turn, grows up a confident person with a rational outlook and is much more intelligent and cunning (and more of a jerk) than his original counterpart.
• Harry Potter and the Mother Who Lived: Harry's mother Lily does not die as in canon, and he is raised in a loving single-parent household along with Sirius and Lupin as Parental Substitutes for his father. Harry grows up more well-adjusted, trusting of adults, and immersed in the magic world from the start.

Hellaverse

• Owl's Hell That Ends Well: The central premise of the fic is that Octavia and Loona were adopted by each others' parents when they were seven and eleven respectively. This means that Octavia for the last seven years of her life has lived with the loving-but-impoverished Blitzø, who provides for her the best he can while they're constantly moving away from the people who kidnapped her. Loona, meanwhile, is a Lonely Rich Kid who's grown up with the doting and loving noble father Stolas, his abusive wife Stella, and not really any friends outside of that.

How to Train Your Dragon

• A Thing of Vikings: In real life, William of Normandy grew up in a Deadly Decadent Court full of backstabbing, with several powerful nobles fighting over who got to be his regent and rule Normandy by proxy. His guardians kept getting killed, and this led to him becoming a brutal military leader. In ATOV, he makes friends with Hiccup as a child and is later adopted by Stoick, even living on Berk for a while for his own safety and bonding with a dragon. This leads to him becoming a much nicer person, and actually allows him to have a semi-normal childhood rather than having adult responsibilities thrust upon him too soon. He also learns to read, while IRL he was illiterate until adulthood.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

• The Twilight Man:
  • The Point of Divergence is that Kars and Esidisi failed to wipe out the rest of their race when they tried to stop Kars from threatening the world with his Stone Mask. As a result, Waamu is never raised by Kars and Esidisi but instead by the surviving Night Men, and he grows up to hunt down Kars and Esidi both to avenge his deceased parents and stop Kars from using his stone mask to turn innocent daymen (normal humans) into vampires.
  • As it is implied that Lisa Lisa is now Jonathan and Erina's daughter by birth, her childhood has changed from being raised by the Hamon-master Straizo to being raised by Erina and Speedwagon.
  • In the manga, Caesar Zeppeli and his siblings were left destitute after their father vanished and their relatives, which lead him to become a violent delinquent and loathing his father Mario until he learned about his father's mission against the Pillar Men just as Mario pushed Caesar away from being devoured by the sleeping Pillar Men. Let the Good Times Roll shows that the Zeppeli siblings were taken in by their maternal uncle and aunt for a time before their grandfather Will A. Zeppeli returned and took him under his care.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

• In The (only/best/most wonderful) Family I (could ever) Have, Sharon's parents were killed alongside Howard and Maria Stark by the Winter Soldier, leading Tony to adopt her; Sharon uses his surname and refers to Tony as her father several times throughout the story.

My Hero Academia

• The Aizawa Yamada Family has Aizawa and Present Mic foster and then adopt 8 year old Hitoshi Shinso. Initially he’s terrified and anxious and the couple learns this is because he’s been muzzled and abused in previous foster homes. The love and reassurance they give him inspires Hitoshi to use his quirk against an intruder despite his fear they’ll be afraid of him. They adopt him though even years later he still struggles with effects of his past,

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

• Alicorn: Rainbow Dash in the original show has two loving, if slightly estranged, parents. In this fic, she had loving parents who did everything they could for her despite sickness and poverty, but they died when she was eleven, and she's been surviving on her own since then thanks to an Unexpected Inheritance. She is also adopted, her real mother being Princess Celestia, but she doesn't learn that until she's seventeen.
• Little Glimpses has Rainbow lose her parents when she's eight, and is soon after adopted by Princess Celestia. She spends her life up until the events of the show as literal royalty, living in Canterlot where she befriends Twilight.

Naruto

• Obito-Sensei:
  • Sasuke's mother Mikoto, along with other Uchihas, survived the massacre by Itachi. Though Sasuke still wants to avenge his clan, he's a lot more mentally adjusted and more willing to socialize.
  • While in canon Naruto was an orphan, here his parents survived and he was raised in a happy household, giving Naruto greater social and shinobi skills and never became a prankster desiring attention from the village that shunned him or wanting to become Hokage and earn the people respect. However, his lack of status as either an orphan or a Jinchuriki means he isn't able to connect to enemies like Gaara.
• Son of the Sannin:
  • The premise of this fanfic is that Naruto was adopted by Jiraiya and Tsunade shortly after the Kyubi's attack on Konoha rather than growing up without any parental figures. His personality is similar to canon, but he has an easier time making friends and becomes much stronger than he was in canon.
  • While Sasuke still loses most of his clan, he's raised by Itachi and Shisui. Like Naruto, his personality isn't much different either, but Itachi and Shisui are able to successfully rein in most of Sasuke's worst traits.

The Owl House

• Luz Clawthorne has Luz being adopted by Eda and brought into The Owl House as a baby after the former's parents were killed in a car crash.

Persona

• Blackened Masks:
  • This is a Persona 5 Anthology Series that puts the different members of the Phantom Thieves in the position of the Black Mask killer. Because Goro Akechi, who was the original Black Mask in the main game, is no longer a Dragon-in-Chief, he ends up having a much healthier upbringing as a result of him being Happily Adopted by much more well-meaning people like Yoshida, resulting him in undergoing Adaptational Nice Guy or straight up Adaptational Heroism.
  • In her focus chapter, Makoto Niijima Invoke this on herself when she inflicts her sister Sae with a Psychotic Breakdown, ensuring that Sae would lose custody over her and Makoto becomes a non-fatal Self-Made Orphan. This makes it easier to continue to deliver "justice" in the hunt for her father's killer.

Pokémon

• Pokémon Reset Bloodlines: Iris in the main anime series was born and raised in Dragon Village and grew up as a relatively normal girl. In this story, she was abandoned by her parents as an infant, and raised by a family of Dragon-type Pokémon, leading her to become more of a Nubile Savage who lacks a lot in social interactions with humans, and doesn't wear clothes unless the weather is cold.

A Song of Ice and Fire

• Her Life and Her Death: Stannis raises Daenerys as his ward. Ned Stark is ordered to raise his bastard son Jon to eventually marry her.
• A Lion's Duty: Joffrey seems to have some Adaptational Heroism due to being fostered by Ned, though it might also have to do with him actually being Robert's son.
• Live and Thrive: Rhaella gives birth to Daenerys after Stannis has already captured Dragonstone. Stannis betroths her to Ned's son Robb.
• The Shadowchaser and the Stormborn: Jon is raised by Arthur Dayne, rather than Ned Stark.
• Winter Roses: When Robert captures King's Landing, Daenerys does not escape Dragonstone with Viserys, and is given to Ned to raise. They arrange for her to be betrothed to Jon Snow. This also leads to the Stark kids and Jon developing slightly differently, as Dany influences them.

Superman

• Superman 1842: Spirit Made Flesh:
  • The fic still has Kal-El landing in the American Great Plains, as in canon, but a century earlier, when it was still Native American territory. He is adopted by a Dakota Sioux hunter and raised among the tribe, helping them to resist American expansion.
  • Bruce Wayne is still orphaned, but in this story he's Métis (half native Canadian), and faces racism at his boarding school in England.
  • Aquaman is adopted by a rich Southern slaveowner, and brought up to share his prejudices.
  • John Stewart is an African-American slave in Louisiana.
  • Lex Luthor is a poor Child Prodigy in New York, who runs away from his father, pretends to be an orphan, and talks himself into being adopted by Professor Lang, father of Lana Lang. He also grows up alongside the professor's nephew, Wally West.

Super Mario Bros.

• The Sea Shadow: In canon, it's implied that Vivian was raised by Beldam, who was a complete Big Sister Bully to her which left her a Shrinking Violet Socially Awkward Hero. This fanfic, on the other hand, had her get adopted by Admiral Bobbery early in her childhood and, due to him both giving her more support growing up as well as her different environment, leads to her being a flirty, Hot-Blooded Deadpan Snarker as well as on the heroes' side on the get-go rather than having to pull a Heel–Face Turn.

Tangled: The Series

• Light of the Moon: In canon, Varian was raised by his beloved father, Quirin. While Varian lived the first eight years of his life with his father, he was abducted by Gothel and taken to the tower. He was raised by her for six years, and came to see Rapunzel as a sister. Unlike Rapunzel, however, he's fully aware that he was kidnapped and is being kept from his family. He doesn't tell Rapunzel this because Gothel threatened to harm his entire village if he didn't cooperate.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

• Once Upon a December Night: In canon, April had a normal upbringing until the events of the series' first episode. Here, she was kidnapped alongside her parents when she was a toddler, and lost both of her parents while escaping (her mother that same night, her father later when the Kraang killed him via experimentation). Splinter, honoring Mrs. O'Neill's dying wish, took April in and raised her alongside the Turtles. She has a much less traditional upbringing, but she's kept safe and clearly adored by her adopted family.

• Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires: Instead of being raised by the Alfred analogue like Bruce Wayne, Yohualli was raised by his father after his mother's unrelated passing until his father was killed.
• How to Train Your Dragon: As an In Name Only adaptation of the books, several characters have significant backstory changes.
  • In the books, Hiccup's mother is often absent due to being off questing, but she comes back every now and then, a far cry from the films, where she was taken by dragons when Hiccup was a baby and presumed dead. This also affects his father Stoick, who's much more protective due to not wanting to lose Hiccup too.
  • Fishlegs's parents are never seen in the movies or show, but he mentions them at least once, implying they're alive. In the books, he's an orphan with no known family.
• Justice League: Gods and Monsters: Double Subverted with this film's version of Superman. After landing in Kansas, we're led to believe that the baby Superman will avert the film's Alternate Universe setting and be raised by the Kents. Instead, the local farming couple reports the baby to the U.S. Government but, before he can be taken away, the baby is taken in by an illegal immigrant family. Named Hernan Guerra, this film's Superman is initially portrayed as more morally ambiguous compared to Clark Kent, though the film heavily implies he'll mellow out over time.
• In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the final scenes show a version of Miles Morales in a world without Spider-Man; as a result of his father being killed, the Miles on Earth-42 has taken after his villainous Uncle Aaron and turned into the Prowler of that universe.

• The Butterfly Effect does this via Time Travel, with the protagonist's childhood friends turning out very differently depending on what he does to their pedophile father.
• Cinderella (2015) does this to Cinderella as a result of having her father die later than in Cinderella (1950). The animated Cinderella's father died when she was still a child, so she spent her entire later childhood and adolescence being abused and made to serve her stepfamily. In the live-action remake, her father doesn't remarry and then die until she's already a young woman.
• Star Trek (2009): The attack on the starship Kelvin by Romulans from the future forces Acting Captain George Kirk to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to disable their ship; he thus saves his wife, newborn son James, and the surviving 800 crewmembers fleeing from the battle. As a result of the new timeline created by that attack, James T. Kirk grows up without his father and into a brash, aimless rebel before enlisting in Starfleet after Christopher Pike dares him to see if he could live up to his father's legacy. In the original Prime Timeline, James was born in Riverside, Iowa, and George Kirk lived at least long enough to see James made captain of the Enterprise.

• In Batwoman, Kate Kane has a stepmother, Catherine Hamilton, and a stepsister, Mary, which has driven a wedge between her and her father for years, as she views her dad's remarriage as a sign that he gave up on finding her missing sister Beth and expects her to accept Mary as a replacement. In the comics, Kate does not have a stepsister but has a cousin, Mary Elizabeth "Bette" Kane, who used to be her sidekick.
• In Doom Patrol, Dorothy Spinner and Crazy Jane came from different families and were recruited independently of one another (Dorothy was recruited directly by the Doom Patrol, whereas Jane was brought to the Doom Patrol by Cliff.) In Doom Patrol (2019), Dorothy is the biological daughter of the Patrol's founder, Niles Caulder, and Jane is more or less Niles' adopted daughter, who is also unaware that he groomed her to be a replacement for Dorothy while the latter was confined. This creates a complicated relationship between Dorothy and Jane in season 2, where Dorothy is delighted at the idea of having a big sister, while Jane is torn between wanting put distance between herself and Niles but also feeling obligated to stay and protect Dorothy from him.
• The Flash (2014): In the comics, post-Rebirth, Barry loses his parents and goes to live with a family friend and policeman, Daryl Frye. In the show, the policeman who takes him in is Joe West, father to Barry's childhood friend/crush Iris West. This causes the two to be raised in the same household from the age of 11 on so that, while Barry knew he loved her since before they went to live together, Iris takes longer to recognize her feelings, assuming she only loves him like a brother until nearly losing him multiple times made her realize how much she truly loved him.
• Justified: In Pronto, Riding The Rap, and "Fire in the Hole", Raylan Givens was raised by a law-abiding coal miner who he's implied to have had a good relationship with, and nothing indicates his childhood was particularly dysfunctional. In Justified, Raylan's father was an abusive con man and loan shark, and his mother died at a young age. Thus, the television Raylan is much more bitter and maladjusted than his at times naive literary counterpart.
• Marry My Husband: Japan: Wataru spent his early childhood as the son of a divorced single mother with little money to spare, and was adopted into the Suzuki family when his mother married Suzuki Shihei. His grandfather, the family patriarch, looks down on him and only grudgingly accepts him as heir apparent to the family business because Shihei never had a biological son to succeed him. As a result of his childhood experience with poverty and the more strained family dynamic, Wataru is depicted as someone used to not getting what he wants; he shows a greater emotional maturity and self-restraint compared to his South Korean counterpart Yu Ji-hyeok, whose charmed life is described as "a well-written novel" and who admits that he never wanted anything prior to meeting the heroine.
• In Runaways, Molly was orphaned at an early age and thus was adopted by Gert's family, whereas her comic-book counterpart had her own family. The result is a much closer bond between the two of them than existed in the comics.

• In the original timeline of the Mortal Kombat games, Mileena was a half-Tarkatan clone of Kitana created by Shang Tsung at Shao Khan's orders and was introduced as her twin early on in their lives. However, in the new timeline started in Mortal Kombat 9, her backstory was changed so she was a fully-grown woman who was created shortly before the first tournament between Outworld and Earthrealm. The discovery of this information plays a very large role in Kitana's decision to defect from Outworld while Mileena continues to faithfully serve the emperor as a personal assassin. However, in the New Era created by Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 1, Mileena's story is given an even bigger change in that she's no longer a clone but now Kitana's actual twin sister who was raised to inherit their mother's role as Queen of Outworld, making Mileena a more sympathic and heroic character with a much more loving relationship with Kitana.
• In the Sherlock Holmes (Frogwares) series, Homes' backstory was never deeply explored but The Devil's Daughter heavily implied that his mother died when he was young and his father sent him away to boarding school often. In the Continuity Reboot Chapter One it's revealed his father died when he was a young child, his mother followed when he was eleven, and Holmes was raised by his brother Mycroft.

• In the Walkyverse, Beef and Sal were Switched at Birth, with Beef being raised by the Walkertons as Walky's twin brother, and Sal by the Waters, presumably in the South, before learning the truth as an adult. In Dumbing of Age Sal was raised by the Walkertons as The Un-Favorite ... until they decided to send her Off to Boarding School. This hasn't really resulted in any notable changes in her personality — acts cool and mysterious, occasionally violent, hates using doors, finds her brother exasperating, understandably resents Linda Walkerton and, since the boarding school was in Tennessee, she even has the same accent as Sal Waters. On the other hand, what little we've seen of Dumbiverse Beef suggests that without Walky, he's a Jerk Jock.

• The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: In the original novel, there are five Bennet sisters, with Elizabeth and Jane and Lydia and Kitty having closer bonds to each other. In addition, Mrs. Bennet dotes on Lydia, since they have similar personalities. Along with the Setting Update, in the modern vlog adaptation, there are only three Bennet sisters: Jane, Lizzie, and Lydia (with Kitty becoming an actual pet cat while Mary is now a cousin). This means that while Jane and Lizzie are still close, Lydia is the odd one out. Combined with Mrs. Bennet being harder on Lydia for not doing well in school, this makes Lydia's Attention Whore personality more of a Desperately Craves Affection variety, feeling ignored by both her parents and sisters and making her more sympathetic than her book counterpart.
• Masako X - Dragon Ball What-If: A popular Point of Divergence, with several stories exploring this trope:
  • What if Gine Went With Goku?: Because she accidentally fell into her son's pod, Goku/Kakarot is raised by both his mother Gine and Grandpa Gohan, instead of just Gohan.
  • What if Goku Landed at Capsule Corp?: Goku's pod lands at Capsule Corp instead of the wilderness, and he is raised as Bulma's adopted brother Bocksa. This gives him a certain pragmaticism and intelligence the canon Goku lacks.
  • What if Raditz Went to Earth Instead of Goku?: attempting to evade Frieza's forces caused Raditz to go to Earth and be raised by Gohan instead, making him a much nicer person, while Goku is raised by Nappa and Vegeta, serving as a soldier in Frieza's forces.
  • What if Android 21 Raised Goku?: Goku lands at the Red Ribbon Army headquarters and is raised by the future Android 21, Dr. Gero's wife, as Jasper.

• In the seventh episode of Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, the vampire world is an Alternate Universe in which Marceline wasn't raised by Simon. Instead, Simon ends up dead before he meets Marceline who instead gets turned into a vampire by the Vampire King who raises her. The result is The Star, a Marceline who lacks the original's kind heart and who enjoys sucking humans' blood and killing them.
• What If…? (2021):
  • In the second episode, T'Challa, not Peter Quill is kidnapped by the Ravagers. As a result, he ends up raised by Yondu and becomes a Lovable Rogue and All-Loving Hero who is far more cheerful than his main universe self, reforming the Ravagers and getting Thanos to give up on his plan.
  • In another episode, Odin returned Loki to his people instead of adopting him, and without the suffering of Loki's tricks to teach him right from wrong, Thor became The Hedonist.