10 Movie Character Designs Changed In Subtle Ways

Remember when The Avengers ditched Thor's dyed eyebrows and hoped nobody noticed?

Thor The Dark World
Marvel Studios

A character can be incredibly well written and stunningly acted, but if their design is fundamentally unappealing, audiences simply won't fully connect with them.

And though a lot of work goes into workshopping the looks of major characters during pre-production, sometimes the filmmakers only realise it isn't quite working once the film is in the can, and so decide to do better for the next movie.

As such, these 10 movie characters - whether heroes or villains - all got sly, subtle makeovers for the sequel, with a relatively minor aspect of their look getting altered in ways that the majority of audience members wouldn't ever notice.

To be clear, we're not talking about blatantly noticeable changes like Thanos (Josh Brolin) basically looking like a different person from The Avengers to Avengers: Infinity War, but designs that were refined and iterated upon in more low-key yet important ways.

From minor clothing changes to revised hairstyles, and costume alterations that only the most hardcore of fans would ever notice, these new designs were missed by the vast majority of people watching. So if you did notice them, well done...

10. Freddy Krueger's Sleeves Got Stripes - A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Thor The Dark World
New Line Cinema

The iconic design of A Nightmare on Elm Street's dream-faring antagonist Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) seems so firmly, classically set in stone that it's difficult to imagine any variations that might've passed all but the most hardcore of fans by.

But did you know that Freddy actually rocked an ever-so-slightly different version of his iconic striped red-green sweater in the original 1984 movie?

The sweater in Wes Craven's original didn't have stripes on the sleeves - the stripes were only on the torso portion, while the sleeves were instead pure red.

And so, it was only in next year's A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge that the fully striped sweater made its debut, cementing the character's base look forever more.

And yet, no matter how many times you've seen the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, did this ever compute in your mind? Memory is a funny thing.

Contributor
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.