11 Terrible Early Drafts That Almost Ruined Iconic Villains

1. The Alien -€“ Alien

If this article is anything to go by, more sins were almost made in the name of Alien than any other franchise (Star Wars mostly just went ahead and made them without consideration.)

The worst thing that almost happened to the iconic, terrifying alien creature - which still ranks as one of the finest and most provocatively affecting monsters in cinematic history - was the gift of speech.

According to strong rumours based on Ridley Scott's alleged original plans for the end of the movie, which would see the fates of the two survivors (Ripley and alien) swapping and the feisty female biting the dust. Or more appropriately, the alien biting her head off, and then, somewhat unthinkably, mimicking her voice to record a final entry in the ship's log, for some reason.

The only foreseeable result of this alternate scene would have been unwanted and unwarranted comedy. It would be like pulling the rug out from under a fantastically effective genre film, and cashing in some silly bucks that had no place being there, and it's extremely hard not to immediately imagine the xenomorph donning a pair of glasses and speaking in Tony Randall's voice from Gremlins 2.

Did we miss any early drafts of villains that would have completely ruined their impact? Share your own picks below in the comments thread.