12 Shocking Movie Deaths You Won't Believe Almost Happened

3. Rambo Dies Via Assisted Suicide - First Blood

Playing Rocky Balboa may have propelled Sylvester Stallone to stardom, but it was his turn as John Rambo in First Blood that established him as a badass cinematic action hero. Had First Blood gone the way of the original novel however, Rambo wouldn't have been put away in cuffs at the film's conclusion and Stallone's turn as an action star may have taken a considerably different route. In the original cinematic ending, Rambo survives the brutal police assault before coming face to face with Colonel Trautman. But rather than persuade Rambo to surrender, Trautman intends on killing the Vietnam vet instead. When Trautman ultimately couldn't pull the trigger, Rambo leaps forward, grabs Trautman's hand, and kills himself instead. Stallone and the director were apprehensive about that original ending because killing Rambo after putting the character through hell would almost certainly enrage audiences (and because Stallone thought there was an action franchise to be launched). When the test screening responses came back overwhelmingly negative (as expected), the studio quickly ordered a new ending to be shot before the angry audiences could lynch the filmmakers. The decision to not kill off Rambo proved to be a massive one for the movie's success and for Stallone's career. But as it later turned out, Rambo wasn't the only iconic Stallone movie character who was originally going to meet an untimely end...