Super-Franchise MeLists that rank the best and worst film series, sequels, prequels, threequels, and other ways movie studios chew up and regurgitate good ideas to squeeze out every last dignity-free penny.
Vote up the characters that deserved better from their reboots.
Think about the world for a second, and what's the only constant, the only certainty? The correct answer is reboots. Executives, writers, directors, and actors come and go, but franchises live on forever and will return somewhere down the line. However, there is no guarantee that a reboot will treat every single character the way it should. Sometimes, certain characters could even be missing or ignored entirely.
In fact, there are times when a TV show or film has wiped its feet (or another body part) on popular characters - much to the dismay of the fandom. From Jimmy Olsen becoming cannon fodder in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to Mystery Inc. being a shadow of their former quirky selves on Velma, let's take a gander at great characters done dirty by reboots.
Jinkies! To call Velma a divisive reboot is putting it mildly. The Mindy Kaling-created animated show lit up the internet's rage the moment it was announced, and the fire has only continued to spread as Scooby-Doo fans have review-bombed the series. Yet, here's the thing: The fans have every right to feel hard done by here.
This might be a Scooby-Doo series by name, but that's where the similarities end. The Mystery Inc. gang is unrecognizable here. Velma is about as likable as the morning after eating a gas station hot dog. Daphne feels as if she should be part of the Plastics in Mean Girls. Fred is something that rhymes with shoosh-wag. And Shaggy… well, he only wants to stream because reasons. Thank goodness Scoobs isn't around to see this. We can practically hear him saying, "Ruh-roh, Raggy!"
While most people tune into the Terminator films to see how ChatGPT, Midjourney, and other AI projects will eventually try to destroy and enslave humanity, the story is about how one John Connor holds the power to save the human race. He is the heart and soul of the franchise, as he remains Earth's last hope to fight back against the machines.
Terminator Genisys flips the script on its head - not only because the execs didn't know how to spell "genesis." In this film, John becomes a Terminator and joins the dark side of Skynet. Considering how he has been presented as a hero for so long, this feels completely out of character and as if the filmmakers ran out of ideas for the franchise.
Superman fans know the importance of Jimmy Olsen in the Man of Steel's mythology. His "aw, shucks" demeanor and constant loyalty to Clark Kent and the Daily Planet have made him one of the most beloved characters in the whole DC Universe.
While he is M.I.A. in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, many fans expected him to show up in the sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which he does. Yet, this isn't the Jimmy Olsen many expected to see. In what could be termed a cameo at best, Jimmy shows up and gets popped. In this version, he is revealed to be an undercover CIA operative posing as a photographer. That's all good and fine, but why did Jimmy need to be offed so quickly? It could have been any other character, really.
Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop explores a world where humanity is lost. Alex Murphy is a victim of a system where he is used as an unwitting vessel for other people's selfish desires. It's only toward the end of the film where this robot becomes human again and begins to regain his memories and autonomy over himself.
The 2014 RoboCop film all but misses the purpose of the original. In this version, Officer Murphy has his memory and autonomy for most of the movie. He is really never a robot here, as the man is still present and kicks back against what's happening to him. Due to this change in characterization, Murphy fails to elicit the same sympathy from the audience in the same way as the 1987 version did.
In the original Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers animated series, Monterey Jack's biggest weakness is cheese. A mere whiff of it and he's entranced in the same way a feline is to catnip. It is both cute and hilarious as he loses all self-control and abandons missions to chase after cheese.
However, the film takes matters to the extreme. In this storyline, Monty is a straight-up addict. He's gotten in too deep with dairy dealers, as he owes them a lot of money for his cheese addiction. Unfortunately, this narrative choice devolves the character into nothing more than a junkie. The heroic Monty from the past is no more, leaving behind a shell of a mouse. Did the filmmakers really have to do him this dirty?
Remember Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies? Well, he is a parody of the mastermind known as Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the James Bond franchise. Blofeld is the ultimate puppet master and head of the criminal organization SPECTRE, as he strokes cats and plots Bond's demise - it's a formula that's pure cinema.
In Spectre, Blofeld's key elements are retained, but his motivations for disliking Bond are laughable and feel like they are pulled from a Sweet Valley High novel. In this continuity, Bond and Blofeld are essentially foster brothers. Blofeld didn't like the fact his real father, Hannes, liked Bond more than him, so he embraces a secret identity, creates a villainous organization, and destroys Bond's life because of a - checks notes - sibling rivalry. Imagine if this dude had been a middle child; he might have turned into Thanos.
