1. Iron Man 3
In one of the most brilliant/controversial moments of 2013, Iron Man 3 pulled the rug from under the feet anyone whod seen any form of publicity before release. With box office gross well into the billions, its unlikely this will come as a spoiler, but just in case:
SPOILER. Still here? Good, now moving on. In a big twist Ben Kingsleys Mandarin, the culturally ambiguous terrorist who lords over the first half of Iron Man 3 turns out to be a British actor named Trevor. The Mandarin is without a doubt Iron Mans biggest villain and reducing him to a joke (or reattributing him to a minor character depending on how literally you take Killians final words) is a risky move. Whether it was Marvel wanting to add distance between their cinematic and comic universes, or Shane Black leaving his mark on the series, the backlash was polarising. Those new to the series were tickled while long standing fans left aghast. Before Marvel struck gold with the first film, Iron Man was a rather minor character in their library, unknown to the general public. With this in mind, his heroes are far from as iconic as his web slinging, cowl wearing counterparts, so this is a bit less sacrilegious than the fan screaming would have you believe; I personally found it hilarious.
Well there's our nine cases of movie productions giving a middle finger to the fans. Have you got any more examples? Let us know in the comments below.