Does The Bad Guy Always Have To Die?
With more and more films belonging to franchises, are their stories ever really done? Is the bad guy allowed to die if there’s a chance he or she might be needed in the sequel?

TO THE DEATH No. To the pain. I... dont think Im familiar with that phrase.Are any cinema-goers really familiar with that phrase either? While Westleys bluff and stamina defeats and humiliates Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride, the far more memorable (and much more quoted) conflict has to be Inigo Montoyas promise of You killed my father. Prepare to die. Its a fun family film, but Inigo makes Count Rugen beg for his life. Then kills him anyway. In stories of revenge, right and wrong and life and death, does someone always actually have to die in order for us to feel that the story is done? But, with more and more films belonging to franchises, are their stories ever really done? Is the bad guy allowed to die if theres a chance he or she might be needed in the sequel? Maybe certain event movies arent feeling as satisfying as they used to because the audience are being denied the catharsis of seeing the bad guy truly beaten. Someone certainly needs to send a memo to Optimus Prime asking him to double check that Megatron is really gone before he declares the battle over (thats twice youve fallen for it now, Optimus!).

You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever?Sadly we know that that threat will stay empty because of real-life tragedy. But while the Jokers attempt to tarnish Harvey Dent and Batmans subsequent taking of the blame definitely worked thematically, in its execution (Pun gleefully intended. Sorry!) did it honestly provide that final kick that a big movie needs? Or are audience expectations changing and appetites growing for more long-form storytelling. Those of us who would never condone the offing of the bad guy in real life still get a thrill when Alan Rickman goes off the roof in Die Hard. But we know that these movies are make-believe. Archetypes of good versus evil, too evenly matched for one side to ever truly win.

