10 Horror Sequels That Turned The Villain Into A Hero

Now, to be fair, Daniel Robitaille, aka Candyman (Tony Todd), may be the murderous hook-handed villain of the Candyman franchise, but he's also inherently sympathetic given that he only became Candyman after being lynched by a mob for the grand crime of falling in love with a white woman.

Still, he's a killer entity all the same, though 2021's Candyman more explicitly reinvented the character as something of a crusader for justice - in particular, a vengeful entity against police brutality.

In the film's climax, Brianna (Teyonah Parris) ends up summoning the Candyman to kill the corrupt cops who murdered her boyfriend Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Though Candyman initially resembles Anthony, he ultimately transforms into Daniel, before turning to Brianna and urging her to "tell everyone" about what she has seen.

While Candyman had a more vicious streak in the original run of films, by the end of the 2021 sequel, he's trained his focus more explicitly on killing evildoers and serving as an emblem for blue-on-Black violence.