15 Sci-fi Movie Characters Who Deserve Their Own Spin-Off

Mike Hodges’ '80s space opera Flash Gordon is a perfect example of the kind of sci-fi New Hollywood movies like Star Wars and Alien were supposed to have killed off, and yet its comic book action, cheesy script, and larger-than-life characters managed to make it a pop culture mainstay.

The film sends all-American football quarterback Flash Gordon (Sam Jones) into outer space, where he is forced to unite the warring factions of planet Mongo (just go with it) to prevent tyrant Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow) from wielding ever-greater power and destroying Earth. While Flash and Ming alone were enough to spawn a cult following and all the merch that comes with it, the character anyone and everyone quotes to this day is Brian Blessed’s Prince Vultan.

Vultan is the ruler of the Winged Bird-Men from Sky City, and while he begins as a stooge for Ming, he ends the picture as a Gordon ally. And there’s not a moment of the far-too-limited time he’s onscreen that isn’t solid gold. Vultan’s a big character, with a whole history behind him, and few of the madcap sorts from this weird and wacky film are more deserving of deeper exploration than he.

Vultan’s alive!