Street Fighter The Movie's Adaptational Heroism For Villainous Balrog

Adaptations will alter certain story elements, right? I would say that I'm pretty not much of a fan of LICENSED adaptations of Japanese media. It's no secret that I really dislike Power Rangers or any American localizations (which in itself is an adaptation in a business dictionary). Another thing I dislike is the American localization of Street Fighter. Guile may be a badass colonel but I felt Ken could've made the better American adaptation protagonist. One movie called Street Fighter also came up. There were two characters who had a side change namely Zangief AND Balrog. Yes, Balrog one of the top Shadaloo enforcers was made a good guy in Street Fighter the American movie.

I think the reason had to be this. Balrog's Japanese name is MIKE Bison. The name change was presumably done to prevent lawsuits with Capcom due to the character could be a caricature. Instead, Balrog, in the movie, was made into Chun Li's cameraman. This was the only time we should see Balrog as a protagonist. In fact, the next American adaptations really kept him as a villain.

The American Street Fighter cartoon still kept Zangief as a villain (probably due to the Cold War). Balrog appeared in one episode only as a computer programmer. The Street Fighter II V anime series (which was also in 1995) made, Balrog and Zangief, lackeys of Shadaloo for a reason. Balrog was made a villain in The Legend of Chun Li which he was a gangster later killed by Gen. If I could list some stuff I considered LICENSED old shames - it's not just Power Rangers. I still felt every American adaptation of Street Fighter would be another old shame. 

It's not too common (really) when some villains become heroes in other adaptations and vice versa. Disney also did it with a few characters. Kaa in The Jungle Book is a heroic character but made a villain in the Disney movie. Hades the lord of the underworld is not a devil character but the judge of ALL WHO DIED. Captain Phoebus was a villain in Notre Dame De Paris and was made into a hero in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. In fact, Phoebus was only toying around with Esmeralda in the novel but truly loved her in the film. Balrog's case is no different in the Street Fighter American film which I'll consider an old shame like most American adaptations of Japanese media.