10 Film Franchises That Became Something Else Entirely

For as much stick as Sylvester Stallone gets these days for always playing a parody of himself, it's important to remember that he used to make some really hard-hitting films.

First Blood from 1982 was the first big screen appearance of Sly as Vietnam War vet John Rambo. After a run-in with the local police triggers his PTSD, Rambo violently escapes from jail before hiding out in the nearby forest as the cops relentlessly pursue him.

He's a complex antihero in this movie; he causes untold damage but is also a man without a home, left to rot by the country he so bravely served. He doesn't even kill anyone unless it's by accident.

Don't get too attached to this version of Rambo though - he's completely gone by the series' next instalment.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (which makes no sense grammatically) came out three years later and transformed the title character into a full-on action man. His tendency to blow up, maim, and kill as many people as possible doesn't slow down over the course of the next three films.

A once-promising character transformed into yet another meathead. That's the real trauma right there.