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For Sale Mar 31, 2026 at 5:58 PM

What is a movie that would have been even better if the hero turned into a villain?

Posted by LoverOfE-Olsen

I *definitely* am putting Harry Potters name in the ring here. Do I think he'd be like Voldemort? Definitely not. But I do think it would have been really interesting to see how things would have turned out if he allowed his grief and anger on the world to overcome him, and see him turn into an even more powerful dark force than Voldemort. To see him use those illegal curses on the people who, in his eyes, "deserved it". To see him make questionable and eventually evil decisions. I know that around the middle of the movie series, he was getting angry, especially at that moment where Sirius died. I think it really would have been so intriguing to see that develop into Harry Potter becoming a new powerful dark wizard. Would have been a great complex story to see the boy that everyone adored and praised, turned into a man the entire wizarding world fears
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StillStanding_96 Mar 31, 2026 +50
Star Wars sequel trilogy. Rey starts the first movie perfect and just gets more perfecter through the series. It could have been so much more interesting to see her actually struggle with and maybe even fall to the dark side.
50
halfdeadmoon Mar 31, 2026 +19
The Last Jedi toyed with this but they undid it. * [Luke Skywalker](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000434/?ref_=ttch_qu): You went straight to the dark. * [Rey](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5397459/?ref_=ttch_qu): That place was trying to show me something. * [Luke Skywalker](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000434/?ref_=ttch_qu): It offered something you needed. And you didn't even try to stop yourself. * [Rey](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5397459/?ref_=ttch_qu): But I didn't see you. Nothing from you. You've closed yourself off from the Force. Of course you have. * [Luke Skywalker](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000434/?ref_=ttch_qu): I've seen this raw strength only once before in Ben Solo. It didn't scare me enough then. It does now.
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StillStanding_96 Mar 31, 2026 +17
Is there another franchise where successive entries actively contradict each other?
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halfdeadmoon Mar 31, 2026 +16
The Matrix changes its mind about what it is, but that is on brand for the Wachowskis
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bongo1138 Apr 1, 2026 +2
Lmao
2
comacove Mar 31, 2026 +1
Oy
1
ArgonWolf Apr 1, 2026 +4
The movie hill that I will die on is that the sequel trilogy had a chance to be *great*, if Disney hadnt had a knee jerk reaction to the initial hate of Last Jedi and had doubled down on what Rian Johnson was trying. The arc is so obvious Episode 7: This is what Star Wars *was*. And it was awesome Episode 8: This is what Star Wars *could be*, in the modern era, and it could be awesome Theoretical Episode 9 that isn’t Rise: This is was Star Wars is *now*, and it’s awesome But instead they got scared of Episode 8, and retreated back to what Star Wars was, and *somehow* Palpatine returned And if you look at the Star Wars projects that are succeeding these days, I would argue that they all bear much more resemblance to Last Jedi than anything else in the “Main 9” movies. They’re gritty, they’re dark, the protagonists arnt perfect little white knights. The universe is more than just Sith and Jedi and the eternal struggle between impossibly good vs mustache twirlingly evil. Real people live somewhere in the grey.
4
sharrrper Apr 1, 2026 +1
I walked out of Last Jedi thinking it was absolutely fantastic (not perfect but still very good) and was shocked at how much hate it was getting on the internet the next day. It's been less than 10 years and I can already see the general opinion starting to swing around to my stance. Which is pretty quick on these sort of things. Too many people that wanted their favorite fan fiction put on screen instead of someone making an actual movie.
1
Darkfigure145 Apr 1, 2026 +9
Actually that would have been awesome. Rey slowly turns and at the same time Kylo is slowly coming back
9
i7omahawki Apr 1, 2026 +1
Like the ending of Grease.
1
external_link Mar 31, 2026 +1
Not maybe the trilogy as a whole, but I think that The Rise of Skywalker would have been much better film if at the end battle Rey would have been turned to dark side and let all his friends and allies die. Not only a shocking twist ending, but would have also set a good potential for the new films.
1
gamecat89 Mar 31, 2026 +7
I'd appreciate Bryce Dallas Howard being the big bad in the Jurassic World Trilogy all along. Sadly, it was just greed.
7
BenMitchell007 Apr 1, 2026 +2
I remember half hoping that Vincent D'Onofrio's sleazy military guy would turn out to be good (or at least a "grey" character like Roland Tembo), and Bryce Dallas Howard would turn out to be evil. Just some twist or subversion, something.
2
Mildly_Irritated_Max Mar 31, 2026 +19
Passengers. This comes up all the time with regards to it.
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IanRastall Mar 31, 2026 +11
Lord of the Rings could, technically, have been just the introduction to a massive story cycle, if Smeagol hadn't done his bit.
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mithridateseupator Mar 31, 2026 +7
Not unless someone was going to be able to cut the ring off of Sauron's hand again. Frodo putting the ring on in mt doom was a giant beacon to Sauron "hey come get your ring back, the one that makes people invisible but not to you" Gollum saved the world in that moment.
7
IanRastall Mar 31, 2026 +4
Okay, yeah. That's true. No one could have used the ring to destroy Sauron, as it was kinda like his horcrux (sorry to mix things like that).
4
mithridateseupator Mar 31, 2026 +5
Phylactery is a better term that has been around for longer and isnt bound to the Harry Potter universe.
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i7omahawki Apr 1, 2026 +5
Harry Potter is a pretty simple hero’s journey at heart, so I don’t think it would benefit from having him turn into a villain at all. The story is already muddled by moral ambiguity, where the status quo the ‘hero’ Harry Potter restores is itself morally dubious, so to make the narrative clear they make the bad guys cartoonishly evil. Best I can think of is Fight Club. After ‘killing’ Tyler Durden, Jack could be revealed to be the alternate personality, a meeker, weaker version that was the guilt Tyler felt for what he was doing. With his mission almost successful, he could discard the weaker version and embrace the villainy of Tyler Durden. Would that be better? Maybe not, but it would be different yet still narratively cohesive. The easiest answer is I Am Legend, which should’ve kept the story’s original ending. There Neville doesn’t become the villain, but is just revealed to have been the villain all along.
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ZealousGoat Mar 31, 2026 +7
I was so disappointed that Harry best Voldemort using... Expelliarmus. Really wished he'd use avadakedavra just the once
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TarotFox Mar 31, 2026 +9
Would've completed the set of the three curses, at any rate.
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Kile147 Mar 31, 2026 +8
My understanding is that Harry could've beat Voldemort by just standing there, the Elder Wand was never going to kill him. He used Expelliarmus to save himself the trouble of looting the body.
8
TrickNatural Mar 31, 2026 +6
Mercy. Had an interesting concept, but the story was uninteresting and went the predictable/boring route every time. Wouldve worked better imo if they rework the story so that Chris Pratt's character was actually morally broken and the actual murderer. That way the film doesnt feel like a poor man's Minority Report.
6
lindendweller Mar 31, 2026 +3
And he escapes thanks to knowledge of the AI's biases, showing that the use of ai in the justice system is just the corporations undermining the fundamentally right to a fair trial.
3
cerberaspeedtwelve Mar 31, 2026 +5
Toy Story (1995) is a masterclass in writing, and I feel bad suggesting any sort of change. However, I feel that it could have worked if Buzz became the ultimate villain of the story. I can see the power of becoming Andy's new favorite toy going to his already overinflated head, and him becoming a despot who offs other toys when he perceives them as being a threat to 'his new mission' to protect Andy. It could dovetail quite well with Woody already being the boy who cried wolf; i.e. earlier in the story he is warning the other toys about Buzz being out of control, and now they won't listen to him.
5
Pale_Possibility5083 Mar 31, 2026 +8
The script writers actually had to workshop Woody quite a bit Becuase they had him out here acting REALLY bad and had to make him more likeable.
8
Sirena_BlackXOXO Mar 31, 2026 +9
What’s interesting is that in early story concepts, Woody was actually the villain, then Buzz liberated the other toys from under Woody’s rule. I think Woody was also a ventriloquist dummy. I’m talking early, *early* story development though.
9
themagicone222 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Why do i get the feeling some of this gonna show up in ts 5?
1
johnnydanja Mar 31, 2026 +2
Not quite the hero but I think it would’ve made jar jar a more tolerable character had they gone the route of the theory that he was a dark lord of the sith hiding in plain sight. When you look at the evidence they present and think of how the story would have played out, it really would’ve been a great twist on the prequels, not that disliked what we got but it would’ve made it more interesting for sure.
2
sharrrper Apr 1, 2026 +1
"Darth Jar-Jar" is a mildly entertaining fan theory that absolutely everyone would have hated if they'd actually done it. I also don't believe for a second Lucas was considering going that route.
1
itsell Apr 1, 2026 +2
Lord of the Rings-Sam Gamgee just takes the ring and becomes the Dark Gardener
2
AmazingAd2502 Mar 31, 2026 +2
Spider-Man, any one of them. And not just have venom on him to not gaf, but taking out the villains permanently
2
joingizmogo Mar 31, 2026 +2
The dark Knight Rises with batman - A version where Bruce comes back broken, decides Gotham only understands fear, and slowly becomes the kind of tyrant he once fought would have been way more interesting than a standard redemption arc. Big movie, strong opinion, not the most obvious pick.
2
TwoLegitShiznit Mar 31, 2026 +1
Somerset preemptively shoots Mills and John Doe at the end because he's envious that Mills gets to be part of such a cool murder story and wrath that John Doe didn't try to include him in it.
1
maxbjaevermose Mar 31, 2026 +1
The Hunt
1
Few-Chemical-5165 Mar 31, 2026 +1
I think Yoda would be a surprise villain. And it would really have changed the whole vibe of the movies.
1
Suspicious-Word-7589 Apr 1, 2026 +2
If Order of the Phoenix had seen Harry successfully throw an Unforgivable Curse and actually defeat someone, you could have seen it. He discovers this is a path to much greater power in his fight against Voldemort. When he finds out Malfoy is trying to kill Dumbledore and hurting innocent people, he doesn't use Sectumsempra, he throws out another Cruciatus Curse in their fight in the toilet. Snape reports it to Dumbledore but before he can help Harry, the events of the book see Dumbledore killed and Snape outed as a Death Eater. Harry throws curses at Snape, even trying to use the Killing Curse on Snape but failing because Snape immobilises Harry before he can complete the incantation. Deathly Hallows would see him use it successfully on another Death Eater but in the heat of battle, no one can be sure. However, Ron and Hermione know it was him and the rest of the book is also a fight to keep Harry from losing his own humanity as he thinks its justifiable to use dark magic to kill Voldemort.
2
danceswithsteers Mar 31, 2026
The Ten Commandments.
0
Youarethebigbang Mar 31, 2026 -5
Every. Every movie.
-5
neo_sporin Mar 31, 2026 +3
But then we would be here asking ‘what movie would be better with the hero staying good?’
3
Youarethebigbang Mar 31, 2026 -1
As it should be
-1
lowmercury1 Mar 31, 2026 -1
Holloween 3 the stupid masks were dumb
-1
GhostDieM Mar 31, 2026 -1
Wasn't that a random script they just slapped the Halloween name on to make more money?
-1
jeremysbrain Mar 31, 2026 +4
No. John Carpenter wanted to turn the franchise into a horror anthology series. But the script which was supposed to be like a homage to invasion of the body snatchers got rewritten a bunch of time, script by committee. But it was specifically created for the movie.
4
lowmercury1 Mar 31, 2026 -1
Random and stupid almost ruined the franchise
-1
Time-Income-2104 Mar 31, 2026 -1
If you take the curse child as cannon, then he kinda did.
-1
halfdeadmoon Mar 31, 2026 -1
If this is what you want, they could do like Star Wars and have Tom Riddle prequels
-1
Expensive-Sentence66 Apr 1, 2026 -2
I like the idea of a dark Harry Potter. All those years of being linked to Voldemort took it's toll. Gets ripping drunk at a pub in Diagon Alley, tells Ginny to p-off, and goes on a revenge tour to settle some scores. First stop is Azkaban where he finds Dolores Umbridge cowering in the john and does sinister things with his broom stick.
-2
Accendor Apr 1, 2026 +1
Just to be clear, all in all, Harry was a very avarage wizard with a talent for battle spells. Like... He struggled with a lot of subjects, which made him pretty relatable for many people, but he also just wasnt... Exactly Dark Lord material if you catch my drift.
1
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