10 Movie Characters Who Returned Way More Badass In Sequels

5. Rocky - Every Rocky Sequel

Rocky is one of the most obvious examples of a franchise misunderstanding and over-powering its central character in the history of cinema and that all comes down to Sylvester Stallone himself.

In the original film, Rocky is a down-and-out loser, defined by his wasted potential but also his determination, which sees him go the distance with Apollo Creed but not win the climactic bout. And that's the point, it's not about winning and it's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can GET HIT and keep moving forward. In other words, it's the ultimate underdog story where defeat is embraced.

But then in the sequels, Rocky is turned into something else entirely. He goes from being a roguish loser with limited boxing skills to the greatest fighter in the world, defeating first Apollo Creed then Clubber Lang and then Ivan Drago despite ridiculous odds and the fact that he fundamentally would not have been equipped to in the first movie. But then, watching him get battered for six films probably wouldn't have been all that uplifting.