10 Movie “Mistakes” That Were Put There Intentionally

6. Jack's Brand (The Curse Of The Black Pearl)

Pirates of the caribbean the curse of the black pearl jack sparrow arm brand
Disney

After the perpetually-drunk Captain Jack Sparrow saves a drowning Elizabeth Swann near the start of the first Pirates movie, he's cornered by James Norrington and a handful of Port Royal soldiers.

As Norrington reaches out to shake Jack's hand as a "thank you" for saving his desired bride, he pulls back the pirate's sleeve to reveal a brand on his arm, in the shape of a "P".

Given to Jack by the East India Trading Company to forever label him as a pirate, the practice of branding sea-based outlaws with this letter was something that the real-life East India Company did - only they didn't brand pirates on the arm.

Instead, they left these marks on their foreheads. However, the team behind Pirates couldn't have their main star running around for two hours with a giant letter on his head, so they chose to relocate the brand to Jack's arm, where it was less intrusive.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!