10 Movie Villains Who Unexpectedly Survived Franchises

The original Don't Breathe is a bold and polarising film which initially introduces blind war veteran Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) as a wholly sympathetic character, who is simply trying to defend himself from three thieves robbing his house.

But it becomes impossible to root for Norman once we learn that he's kidnapped the woman who killed his daughter in a car accident, and forcibly impregnated her in a vile attempt to "replace" his dead daughter.

Norman survives the events of the film, and in the sequel the puzzling decision was made to try and reinvent him as an anti-hero, by having him defend his new adopted daughter, Phoenix (Madelyn Grace), from her meth kingpin father, Raylan (Brendan Sexton III).

Though the film clearly believes that Norman can be redeemed, this didn't quite vibe with the audience consensus, ensuring that any heroism he demonstrated while saving Phoenix was cancelled out by him being a rapist.

Norman seemingly dies at the end of the movie from wounds sustained while battling Raylan, and that's all she wrote.

Except a mid-credits scene heavily implies that Norman is still alive, and a third film was indeed confirmed to be in development in 2022. 

No matter how the filmmakers might try to depict Norman in Don't Breathe 3, to many people watching he's basically the overarching villain, and one who seemingly just won't die.