WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Alita: Battle Angel, in theaters now.

Producer James Cameron took quite some time to get his adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm (known as Battle Angel Alita in the United States) off the ground, but with director Robert Rodriguez at the helm and Rosa Salazar in the titular role, fans are now basking in the technical spectacle that is Alita: Battle Angel.

But as is the case with any property being adapted, Alita undergoes quite a few changes in its transition to live-action, not just to condense over 60 volumes into a single story, but also to fit the mode of a Hollywood blockbuster.

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Dyson Ido's Fatherhood Angle

In the manga, Dyson was Daisuke Ido, a genius inventor who brought Alita back to life in Scrap City. He's a recluse living with his helper, Gonzu, fixing cyborgs by day and going out as a Hunter-Warrior (a bounty hunter) at night to earn money. Inspired by Alita, he tries to convince his fellow bounty hunters to rebel against Vector (the city's mayor), but to no avail. The manga finds him eventually waging his personal war against the criminals that Vector has out, and tracking everyone who threatens Alita's future.

In the film, Christoph Waltz's character has a different background; while he was exiled from Zalem (known as Tiphares in the manga) alone, here he's exiled with his family, more specifically a terminally ill daughter. She ends up dying a botched robbery, inspiring him to take up crimefighting. He ends up trying to fill the gap in his life with Alita, whom he names after his dead daughter.

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This gives Dyson more agency as her father-figure, culminating in him trying to stop her Alita starting a rebellion against Zalem. He's way more family-oriented and doesn't want Alita to turn into a weapon, as opposed to the manga where he was fascinated with her potential to become a destroyer.

Chiren's Big Presence

Jennifer Connelly's Chiren didn't exist in the manga at all. However, Daisuke did have a love interest, Carol, who turned out to be a clone that escaped from shady experiments in Zalem and teased him with a life he could have had. Chiren did exist, though, in the 1993 Battle Angel two-part animated feature, which influences her role in Rodriguez's movie heavily.

On the big screen, though, she's exiled with Dyson and yearns to return to Zalem to erase the memories of losing her daughter. Just like the animated flick, she sides with Mahershala Ali's Vector against her ex-husband and Alita, as she's trying to gain Vector's favor to earn a trip to Zalem. Her path is the same, as Vector ends up double-crossing her when he realizes she's sympathizing with the bond Alita formed with Dyson, and humanity as a whole.

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Hugo's Tragic Beginnings

In the manga, Hugo met Alita after she got her Berserker body and became a weapon of mass destruction. They fell in love, and she eventually tried to help him earn credits so they could move to the Sky City, but Motorball wasn't a part of their life. He stuck to scrapping and selling robot parts to Vector while she remained a bounty hunter. We'd eventually find out Hugo's brother was sold out by his own wife years before, as he was trying to build a balloon to take them to Tiphares, and after their deaths, Hugo decided to follow his brother's dream.

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The film follows most of this beat, although Hugo (Keean Johnson) meets Alita before she's upgraded to Berserker mode, right after Dyson brings her back to life. The biggest change is how Motorball becomes a big part of their livelihoods. Also, there's no tragic family background for Hugo; he simply wants to become one of Zalem's elite. In the film, Hugo gets gutted by Ed Skrein's Zapan, whereas in the manga it was the hunter called Clive Lee, who had a lifelong vendetta against the boy's family. Daisuke gave him his robotic body in the manga, but in the movie, Chiren also helps save his life. Sadly, in both instances, Hugo would perish trying to use his new form to climb to the Sky City.

Character from Alita: Battle Angel (2019) holding a weapon.

Alita's Overall Destiny

Most of the changes are with Alita herself. In the manga, she's named after Daisuke's dead cat, not his daughter. As for the Berserker armor, Daisuke builds it for her, repurposing a suit that was made to turn a human into a weapon, as opposed to the film which retcons it as a suit Alita finds that's meant for her line of robots, a line used by the United Republic of Mars to wage war on Zalem 300 years ago.

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In terms of her villains, in the manga, Makaku is the person who slices her up which allows her Berserker upgrade, but on screen it's Jackie Earle Haley's Grewishka. As mentioned, the manga doesn't have her trying to turn all the Hunter-Warriors into a rebellion against Vector like the movie does. What's also noteworthy is in the manga, her main enemy, Nova, isn't a technopath hidden in the Sky City. He's right down there, exiled with everyone else, whereas Edward Norton's character is painted as a demigod in the film version, high above in Zalem.

As for Motorball, in the manga Alita uses it to get over Hugo's death but on screen, it's her ticket to Zalem and to killing Nova, Vector's boss.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Alita: Battle Angel stars Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Lana Condor and Eiza González. It's in theaters now.