10 Sci-Fi Movies That Almost Had Way Better Endings

2. Neville Realises He's Been The Bad Guy All Along - I Am Legend

Based on a superior novel by Richard Matherson, the original story has hero Robert Neville coming to realise that, in a world populated by only vampires, he has become the villain - he's the minority; he's their legend. A point, of course, that is never addressed in the film. I Am Legend ends, then, with Robert Neville sacrificing himself in order to allow two other survivors to escape with a cure to vampire infection. Which they do, seen in the last moments of the film as they arrive at a camp of survivalists and thus deliver the cure. It's a naff ending, all things considered, because it betrays many of the core ideas at the centre of the novel (such as their actually being any other survivors in the first place). The alternate ending, however, was far more suited and would have vastly improved the film. This version of events would have seen the unrealised sub-plot in which Neville captures a male vampire's "female mate," enraging the male. In the film, his rage is never explained, but the alternate ending would have seen Neville giving back the female zombie and apologising for taking her - a pack of vamps accept his apology and then leave. Neville then ponders the humanity in the vampires, and realises that - like in the source material - he's been fulfilling the role of bad guy all along. Neville also lives in this ending, whilst he doesn't in the book. Still, at least this version touched on the same themes.