10 Actors Who Died As Heroes (& Then Lived To Become Villains)

7. Sigourney Weaver

Died A Hero - Alien 3

A Ellen Ripley, Sigourney Weaver might be able to lay claim to being the most famous - and let's face it ICONIC - sci-fi movie hero of all time. The very idea of her - a female character in a horror movie who is way more than just a "last girl" - was transgressive and progressive and she developed into one of cinema's biggest badass heroes.

She also didn't want to play Ripley forever and insisted she be killed off in Alien 3, ultimately taking the last xenomorph (or so she thought) with her into a fiery grave. Sure, she was resurrected, but who really thinks about Alien Resurrection at all?

But Became The Villain - The Cabin In The Woods

In a pleasantly cyclical pattern, Weaver came back to horror movies in 2012 for a brief, key role in Joss Whedon's delightful The Cabin In The Woods. His "hating love letter" to the genre spun every trope out and sought to change the game, just as Ripley had, so having Weaver reappear as The Director - the head of the clandestine organisation seeking to appease the Ancient Ones with ritual sacrifices.

She's presented as a necessary evil, but there's no question that she's the villain of the piece and it's strangely fitting.