10 More Sequels That Totally Ruined The Previous Movie's Ending

8. Spock Returns - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Pacific Rim Uprising Sequel
Paramount Pictures

By any conventional metric, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is actually a pretty good Star Trek sequel, but it has the unfortunate task of following the consensus-best Trek movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and walking back its most iconic moment.

The Wrath of Khan ended with Spock (Leonard Nimoy) sacrificing himself to save the crew of the Enterprise, and it's truly one of the most affecting and brilliantly executed death scenes in cinema history.

But Trek III is centrally preoccupied with the revelation that Spock secretly transferred his katra - aka spirit - into Bones (DeForest Kelley) - before he died, teeing up his resurrection at the end of the movie.

While Spock was probably too great a character to stay dead forever, it's also tough to deny that The Search for Spock rather undermines and dilutes the emotional impact of The Wrath of Khan's ending. 

Stakes are important after all, because if characters can be magicked back to life wily-nily, why should we ever care when they die?

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.