9 Major Retcons That Saved Iconic Movie Franchises

7. Jason Isn't Dead - Friday The 13th Part 6: Jason Lives

Horror movies of the 70s and 80s lived or died by their main villain. This golden era birthed horror icons that still persevere to this day, to the point where, even if you haven't seen the original films, you've probably considered dressing up as either, Jason, Michael or Freddy for Halloween.

For some reason though, the studios who owned these characters always tinkered with the idea that the franchises could exist without them. In the case of Friday the 13th, that mentality resulted in Jason being killed off "for good" in the fourth movie. The sequel focused on a copycat killer, firmly establishing that the original machete-wielding maniac was very much dead and buried, and ending with a tease that Tommy - Jason's killer - would now be the one behind the iconic hockey mask.

Of course, fans didn't take well to these cheap imitators. Although he wasn't even the first antagonist in the franchise, he'd become intrinsically tied to it by this point, and the sixth movie brought him back from the dead in glorious fashion. Ignoring the Tommy storyline from Part 5, this instalment was all about Jason's revival, finally acknowledging the killer's supernatural abilities.