12 Movie Franchises That Ruined Their Iconic Character

8. Terminator (T-800)

The first two Terminator movies established Arnold Schwarznegger's T-800 as a sci-fi icon, both as a terrifying hunter and a dogged protector respectively. Sadly the "character", if you can call it that, has appeared in as many bad Terminator sequels as incredible ones, and a just OK one in the middle.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines had Arnie suffer through the indignity of Elton John glasses and "Talk to duh hand", while Terminator Salvation brought him back only in garish digital form, and Terminator Genisys re-imagined him as "Pops", a grinning, grey-haired protector of Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke).

It's emblematic of the movies having no idea what they're doing at all, let alone with regard to Schwarzenegger's iconic cyborg. Though the currently-shooting sixth movie will ignore all the sequels post-T2 and has James Cameron heavily involved, it's still foolish not to be extremely sceptical of the film doing the T-800 any justice whatsoever.