11 Powerful Movie Deaths Devalued By The Sequels

Pressed up against the glass of Area 51's operating theatre, the eccentric Dr. Brackish Okun is used as a puppet by the captive alien in the first Independence Day (1996), its telepathic orders being expressed through his vocal cords. After an officer shoots the alien, Okun is not seen or heard from again, making it pretty safe to assume the good doctor is a goner.

That is, until 2016's Independence Day: Resurgence, where the film pulls the old "Oh no he isn't!" pantomime trick yet again. Turns out that Dr. Okun was just left comatose by his encounter with the alien, only to wake exactly 20 years later, just in time for the next big world-threatening invasion.

Okay, yes, it's not quite as convenient as it sounds, as there's actually a reason he and other returning characters are at the heart of this once again. However, something about it still seems tacked on, as if the writers were most concerned about getting actor Brent Spiner back first and figuring out the details later.

As such, what was once quite a chilling moment in the original movie now feels rather lukewarm.