10 Disturbing Backstories Behind Your Favourite Movie Characters

5. The Tin Man Was A Human Forced To Dismember Himself (The Wizard Of Oz)

The Wizard of Oz Tin Man
MGM

Though you probably crack a smile when you think of The Tin Man (Jack Haley) from The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming's classic movie heavily sanitised the character's backstory from L. Frank Baum's novels.

Originally, the Tin Man was a regular human, a woodsman named Nick Chopper, and in order to stop him marrying his sweetheart, the Wicked Witch of the East cursed his axe, causing it to progressively chop off all of his limbs.

The severed appendages were then consequently replaced with tin by the local tinsmith, all except for his heart, of course. Dang.

It sounds more like the origins of RoboCop than a delightful character from one of the most iconic and crowd-pleasing fantasy movies of all time, no?

The book goes into extensively queasy detail about poor Chopper's dismemberment, so it's little surprise the family-friendly cinematic equivalent opted to leave it out.

But on the other hand, wouldn't an R-rated body horror origin story for The Tin Man be kinda amazing?

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.