We all love superhero movies. But most of us are aware that no matter how much you love superheroes, sometimes they don’t turn out as you would like them to on the big screen. And for fans of the comic books, it hurts a lot to see your idols’ toil and tears go down the drain. Superhero movies are like a double-edged sword. They can make a studio a billion dollars or break their pockets and force them into bankruptcy. But there are ways when even the worst of the genre could have turned out to be of some semblance of hope for the genre if these plot twists been implemented into the movies. Presenting – 10 awesome plot twists that could have saved some really shitty superhero movies!
1. Justice League – Enter Darkseid
Let us face it. The movie was a let-down. And not a small but a huge, gigantic let-down! As a fan of DC Comics, I myself was shocked to see the way they treated my favourite superheroes on screen. Joss Whedon bastardized the movie and turned it into something sinister and childish. But there were plans that could have saved the movie if the Studio knew what it was doing. Zack Snyder initially wanted to show us a glimpse of Darkseid, the master of Steppenwolf either in the post-credits scene or at the very end of the movie, before the credits rolled. Sadly, with Zack Snyder’s sad departure, it never happened and we had an abomination of a movie. If they could have shown Darkseid, maybe the fans would have been at least a bit more forgiving. Steppenwolf was just not up to the mark when it comes to fighting the entirety of the Justice League.
2. The Incredible Hulk – Bruce shoots himself in the head
Many of the scenes from The Incredible Hulk movie were deleted which drastically reduced its runtime. It was the reason Edward Norton, who played Bruce Banner in the movie, ran afoul of the studios and he was given the pink slip by the latter. Almost 70 minutes of the scenes that were shot were not shown in the theatres. One of those scenes showed Bruce Banner travelling to the Arctic and shooting himself dead with a pistol. But the Hulk would soon turn up and save Banner’s ass by healing the wound. It was a truly fitting ending – the monster won’t let the human die and the struggle, much to Banner’s chagrin will continue forever.
3. Deadpool 2 – Deadpool kills Hitler
Deadpool 2 was a true mix of violence and comedy in their rawest of forms. The movie was a hit but the best part of the movie was in the movie’s post-credits scene. Deadpool can be seen using the time travelling device that Cable used to travel from the future to 2018 to travel back in time himself to ‘correct’ his wrongs. He saves Vanessa from being killed as well as other faults. He kills himself before he could sign the contract to play the Green Lantern for DC. He also kills his X-Men: Origins version of the Deadpool which he hated himself. In the end, he would travel back to Nazi Germany and kill Hitler before he came to power. The last part was probably the one that mattered the most.
4. Superman 2 – Superman accidentally destroys the Phantom Zone
In the movie, Superman battles the machinations of Lex Luthor. The Nuclear Bomb at the Eiffel Tower was probably a bit too much. The original director of the movie, Richard Donner, had other plans for Superman 2 before he was replaced. His script involved Superman pushing a nuclear missile launched by Lex Luthor into space. The resulting explosion would have caused a tear in the space-time continuum and led to the collapse of the Phantom Zone, which would have freed the three Kryptonians that would then wreak havoc on Earth in Superman: Quest for Peace. The plot device lot more logical than the French being annihilated by a nuclear device laced inside the Eiffel Tower.
5. Iron Man 2 – Whiplash kidnaps Pepper Potts
Whiplash is one of the shittiest villains Marvel ever had to offer, right after the one they showed us in Ant-Man, whose name we keep forgetting (I wonder why). The movie itself lacked the emotional depth that the first movie offered. The movie also suffered from a villain problem. Whiplash was defeated fairly easily by Iron Man and War machine. Although, a different story would have given the villain at least some emotional width and character! The earlier script showed Whiplash kidnapping Pepper Potts and raising the stakes way higher than it was supposed to be.
6. X-Men: The Last Stand – More focus on The Dark Phoenix Saga
The last movie of the original X-Men Trilogy was a complete let-down. The movie had bits and pieces of the major X-Men story arcs but none of their greatest highlights. The movie was a disaster from the very beginning, as Famke Jensen who played Jean Grey in the movie, told us. An earlier script although, had a different story arc that just might have clicked the bar. The script showed a storyline that focussed completely on the Dark Phoenix saga. X-Men fans are aware of what we are talking about. If only we could have had a Dark Phoenix saga movie instead of that abomination they gave us, the X-men franchise just might have survived.
7. Justice League – Black Superman suit
Many do not know but when Clark Kent was going to come out of the Genesis chamber at the end of his resurrection process in the movie; he was supposed to wear a black suit. The black suit signified the Injustice era Superman, a Superman who had lost hope in the world and had become a tyrant. In the comic books, he went on to rule the world with an iron fist. Justice League was rumoured to be heading towards a direction where it would show Superman descending into the same league of madness. But the fans were already complaining by then that the DCEU was becoming too dark. So the Studio dropped the plan and opted for the classic red and blue suit.
8. Kick-Ass 2 – Red Mist stays dead
There is something about the Kickass movies that draw us like a moth to flames. Maybe it is the realism and the gore, bloody nature of the movies done in a real-world setting. We will never know. But the sequel did take it up a notch and destroyed the very foundation that Kickass banked on. Christopher Mintz-Plasse aka Red Mist was supposed to stay dead in the sequel after half of his body was devoured by sharks. But a last minute change to the script really led to a bizarre plot twist that sunk the franchise like the Titanic.
9. Days of Future Past – Wolverine is captured by Stryker
William Stryker is a well-known villain in the Superhero circle. He is a recurring bad guy in the X-Men comic books. In Days of Future Past, he appears as a United States Army Personnel who sees the events of the movie unfold first hand before his eyes. In the end, the movie showed wolverine, who was travelling back in time at that time, being captured by William Stryker who would later experiment on him. That was the original ending anyway. That ending was thought to be too depressing and it was changed to show that Stryker was just Mystique in disguise.
10. X-Men The Last Stand – Rogue decides to keep her powers
The ending surely could have been better. As soon as the movie showed that the government had developed a cure for the mutants, the mutants flocked to the government centres to be vaccinated. Mystique and Magneto were also injected with the cure one way or another. But the real kicker came at the very end when it was shown that Rogue too was cured and is now a normal human being. The first X-Men movie showed Rogue being the central plot device and the second movie also showed Rogue as a crucial character. The third movie could have shown Rogue finally accepting her abilities as a part of her. Sadly, this alternative ending was only shown in the director’s cut of the DVD release for the movie.
