12 Movie Franchises That Ruined Their Iconic Character
Mistakes were made.
The inevitable worry comes with any long-running cinematic franchise that, sooner or later, the mythology will get muddled and a once-loved movie icon will be reduced to a mere shadow of their former self.
With blockbuster filmmaking being such a complex beast and so many voices going into the creation of any franchise movie, it's little surprise that so many iconic screen heroes and villains end up ruined by misguided, inferior follow-ups. There are two common ways that movie icons have been ruined: either by "Flanderizing" the character and making them into a parody of themselves (coined from Ned Flanders becoming a walking caricature in The Simpsons), or by altering or unnecessarily expanding on their origins and mythology.
And no, before you ask, Luke Skywalker didn't make this list.
12. Star Wars (Darth Vader)
The original Star Wars trilogy made Darth Vader an immediately iconic villain, with his awesome costume, deep foreboding voice and immense lightsaber skills cementing him as an all-timer cinematic antagonist.
And then the prequels happened.
Things just went from bad to worse, as George Lucas first envisioned Anakin Skywalker's origins through an irritating child (Jake Lloyd), and then the horndog mope played by with cardboard conviction by Hayden Christensen.
As bada** as Vader was in the original trilogy - and Rogue One's climactic scene sure tried hard to redeem him - little Annie squealing "Yippee!" and the infamous sand one-liner effectively rendered the galaxy's most ferocious tyrant a verifiable laughing stock.
Though Anakin's transformation into Vader was absolutely a story worth telling, Lucas ultimately told it in the most bloated, unintentionally comical and unsatisfying way possible. Embarrassing.