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Sometimes sequels go off the rails. These 10 follow-ups completely contradicted the messages of their originals.
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00:00Most movies will finish with some kind of message, whether that's a theme explored in a character's development across the
00:05last 90 minutes,
00:07or a political statement relayed via allegory in the beats of the plot itself.
00:12But when it comes to making sequels, these follow-ups can actually end up contradicting their predecessor due to a
00:18handful of reasons,
00:20all of which we're going to interrogate today.
00:22So I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com, and these end sequels that contradicted the previous movie's message.
00:28Avengers Age of Ultron
00:30Because everything in the MCU is interconnected, Avengers Age of Ultron doesn't actually contradict the theme of the previous Avengers
00:37movie,
00:38but rather that of Iron Man 3.
00:40With Iron Man himself being a main character of the movie, it's the first time the audience has seen him
00:46since his last solo flick,
00:47which ended famously, with the character seemingly having given up on his unhinged plan to mass-produce automated Iron Man
00:55suits to police the world.
00:56Realizing he'd become obsessed with the idea that him and his technology was responsible for Earth's safety,
01:03he ends the flick by blowing up his suits to live with Pepper Potts.
01:06And as is often the case with this kind of film, the message is, it's not the suit that counts,
01:12it's the man underneath.
01:14And more aptly, that one man cannot take the entire world on his shoulders.
01:18Which is why it's kind of jarring to see Avengers Age of Ultron actually start with Tony already back in
01:25the Iron Man suit,
01:27again, trying to save the world.
01:29To make matters worse, he's once again trying to invent a peacekeeping technology to save the entire Earth,
01:35this time accidentally birthing a super-intelligent AI who plans on destroying humanity.
01:42Yeah, good going Tony.
01:43His soft retirement is barely mentioned, and as such, the ending of Iron Man 3 is rendered hilariously limp on
01:50a character development level.
01:52Predator 2.
01:53In the original Predator, the first action sequence involves Dutch and his team in one of the most entertainingly excessive
02:00shootouts of all time.
02:01It then takes the film's mentality regarding machismo and uses it against the cast,
02:06such as when they blast through the jungle only to hit the Predator a single time.
02:11The film ultimately makes a point that straightforward heroics will not save you in this situation,
02:16as Dutch is hopelessly outmatched against the Jungle Hunter on a fair duel,
02:21and only beats it with his cunning use of traps towards the end.
02:25So, to reiterate, our hero wins not because he's a tough guy, but because he's smart.
02:31Predator 2, however, kind of throws all that out the window and says,
02:34nope, you can beat the Predator in a one-on-one duel.
02:37Sure, a muscular Arnold Schwarzenegger and co. can't give the creature a run for its money,
02:42but a middle-aged cop can go toe-to-toe with the Hunter.
02:46To the sequel's credit, this character, played by Daniel Glover called Mike Harrigan,
02:50does beat the alien by feigning defeat,
02:53yet the original movie made such a point that fighting the Predator head-on was always a bad idea.
02:59And this problem would be extended in the next two films, Predators and the Predator,
03:03when their respective protagonists do manage to face off again in a fair match against the titular creature.
03:09Ralph breaks the internet.
03:11Wreck-It Ralph told the story of Ralph, who was sick and tired of being the villain in his own
03:16video game.
03:17Because of this, he tries to leave his arcade machine in what people call Going Turbo,
03:22in reference to another character who did indeed leave his own game.
03:26Ralph's big arc, though, is all about accepting the importance of his duty,
03:30and realizing that he did not need to be defined by it.
03:34In the sequel, though, Ralph breaks the internet,
03:36Vanellope becomes tired of her place in Sugar Rush and wishes for something more.
03:41But this time, by the end of the film, she does find a new home with the game's slaughter race,
03:46while keeping in contact with Ralph.
03:49Now, numerous fans of the original took issue with this,
03:52and considered the character's actions as going turbo.
03:55Sure, her characters were not as malicious as the villain from the first picture,
03:59but the very thing that she was doing was something that Ralph was previously chastised for.
04:04As Wreck-It Ralph told audiences to be content with our place in the world as long as they're having
04:09a positive impact,
04:10yet the sequel says it's okay to leave your duty for the sake of your own happiness.
04:14And yeah, while that message is kind of good, it does clash with the previous film's hypothesis.
04:20Creed 2
04:202015's Creed deals with Adonis Johnson following in his father's footsteps by training under Rocky Balboa.
04:27One of the most significant things the film does is shed light on the importance of unconventional family dynamics,
04:33as seen through Donnie and Rocky's relationship.
04:36In his search to know more about his biological father Apollo,
04:39Adonis finds a parental figure through Rocky, as the two become family and deal with their respective battles.
04:46Rocky, on the other hand, finds a true son with the title character,
04:49after losing all of his own loved ones, while his own biological son left him to start his own family.
04:55However, once the sequel came out, with Stallone again as its writer,
04:59this heartwarming family dynamic is kind of reversed at the end of the film.
05:03See, during an early sequence, Donnie and his love interest Bianca discuss Rocky and how he needs to be with
05:10his real family.
05:11But this kind of goes against what the previous movie was trying to say,
05:15as the two did become a real family by the end of it, despite not being biologically related.
05:20In the end, Donnie's relationship with Apollo is emphasised more,
05:24despite him having not even met the man,
05:26while Rocky ultimately leaves at the end to reconcile and stay with his own son, Robert.
05:31How to Train Your Dragon, The Hidden World
05:33How to Train Your Dragon, The Hidden World is the final entry in DreamWorks' beloved franchise,
05:38and is considered divisive due to its ending.
05:41You see, a big message from the first two movies is about coexistence.
05:45Vikings and dragons have been enemies for years, and it takes Hiccup and his bond with Toothless
05:50to show his clan and the two species can learn to live with each other.
05:55And this is further expanded upon in the sequel, where dragons are part of their society,
05:59to the point where both parties contribute to the betterment of their own civilisation.
06:04The third instalment, however, kind of turns this message around.
06:07Here, the dragons are portrayed as being limited and caged by the humans,
06:11while the humans have become too dependent on their creatures.
06:14This is why, by the end of the film,
06:17these citizens actually depart with their dragons, never to see them again.
06:21And a big problem with The Hidden World is that this message kind of goes against
06:25what the previous two films were trying to say.
06:27Though this decision was an attempt to stay closer to the source material,
06:31it comes at the cost of contradicting the coexistence message of its predecessors.
06:36Toy Story 4
06:37Toy Story 3 is considered by many to be a perfect ending to a perfect trilogy.
06:42After spending the whole movie worrying about what will happen to them now that their owner
06:46Andy has given up and no longer needs his former toys, the flick ends with a gang still together
06:51and destined to bring joy to another kid that Andy gifts his old toys to.
06:56It was a bittersweet but hopeful end to the whole story,
06:59giving the toys a sense of belonging and understanding that it didn't matter who their owner was
07:04as long as they're together, they will enjoy giving this other kid a childhood to remember.
07:09Their life doesn't end just because Andy isn't there.
07:13Andy isn't their whole world, they'll always be another kid.
07:17Toy Story 4 however, while still a great movie,
07:20kind of has to bend over backwards to escape from this ending and deliver yet another story conclusion.
07:25This time around, the gang are chasing down Bo Peep who is abdicated from her role as a children's toy
07:31in order to live for herself without an owner and find other toys an owner they can go live with.
07:36And at the end of the movie, Woody also realises that Bo's worldview is something that resonates with him
07:43and he too decides to forego returning to Bonny's with his friends
07:46in order to live for himself with Bo and other so-called lost toys.
07:51And yeah, it's a fine enough ending, but it completely reworks Woody's character up until this point
07:56and defies the sense of togetherness and companionship that defined the toys' ending in the previous movie.
08:03The last flick was all about Woody accepting the next stage of his toy life with a new owner
08:08and this one posits that the new life that he wants is not that at all.
08:12The Dark Knight Rises.
08:13The Dark Knight sets up a big theme about the importance of lying to preserve the greater good.
08:19By the end of that film, Harvey Dent has fallen from grace both literally and figuratively
08:23and has become a two-face due to personal tragedies.
08:28Rather than expose the DA's crimes and corruption though,
08:31Batman decides to take the fall for his former friends' actions
08:34and allows Jim Gordon and the rest of the GCPD to issue a manhunt on him.
08:39This theme is further extended when Alfred burns Rachel's farewell letter to Bruce
08:43knowing that its contents would break his master's spirit if he ever read them.
08:47It's a surprisingly daring ending for a superhero movie.
08:51That being the question of whether the good guys are doing the right thing
08:54to hide the truth from the citizens they're protecting.
08:58The next film, though, The Dark Knight Rises, actually goes the exact opposite route of this
09:02and says that keeping the truth is definitively a bad thing
09:05and that our heroes were wrong for keeping the reality of the situation from the public.
09:11In fact, our main characters are constantly chastised for keeping their secrets
09:15and are punished because of it.
09:17Bane exposes the lie Batman and Gordon told
09:20and in doing so causes the release of every criminal that Harvey prosecuted.
09:25At the same time, when Alfred reveals the truth about Rachel to Bruce,
09:28this causes their relationship to deteriorate
09:30with the loyal butler leaving Wayne Manor for good.
09:33Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines
09:36Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines is infamously derided by the fanbase
09:40for rendering the events of the previous movie kind of pointless.
09:44You see, in Terminator 2 Judgment Day, the theme was, famously,
09:48there is no fate but what we make ourselves,
09:51a sentiment that echoes throughout the entire sequel.
09:54Whether it's Sarah Connor trying to kill Miles Dyson
09:57or our band of heroes blowing up Cyberdyne,
09:59a big aspect of the movie is the ability to change the future for the better.
10:04And by the end of T2, the group succeeds
10:06in removing traces of the Terminators,
10:09thus preventing the creation of Skynet
10:11and stopping Judgment Day for good.
10:13Or at least they think.
10:15But in order to continue the franchise,
10:17Terminator 3 contradicts its predecessor
10:19by saying that Judgment Day was inevitable all along.
10:23You can delay it temporarily, yes, but it can never be stopped.
10:26John Connor can run away from his responsibility,
10:29yet he'll always be destined to become the leader of the Resistance.
10:33And though the film is ballsy enough
10:35to go through with the actual destruction of the human race,
10:38it comes at the cost of wiping out the importance
10:40of a very beloved sequel,
10:42Rambo First Blood Part 2.
10:44The original First Blood was based on a novel
10:46that dealt with a Vietnam veteran's PTSD
10:49and how destructive that can be.
10:51It has a clear anti-war message
10:53that paints Rambo, sympathetic as he may be,
10:56as a victim of the war and how it has damaged him.
10:59In fact, the original conclusion ended
11:01without protagonist actually killing himself,
11:03putting an end to the franchise before it had even begun.
11:06That, of course, doesn't happen in the movie,
11:08and it resulted in a sequel,
11:10Rambo First Blood Part 2, being made.
11:13Only this time around,
11:14our titular character is actually tasked
11:16with going back to Vietnam to rescue soldiers.
11:20He even asks the colonel if they get to win this time.
11:23So yeah, gone is this message
11:25about how war directly impacts the soldiers
11:28who sign up to fight for it,
11:29and instead we spend most of the running time
11:31seeing Sylvester Stallone shirtless
11:33as he guns down numerous enemies
11:35with his big machine gun.
11:37All of a sudden, the movie is about
11:38how cool this all looks,
11:40and just how excellent
11:41explosive tipped arrows look on screen.
11:44It's kind of crazy considering
11:45that Rambo actually goes out of his way
11:47not to kill anyone in the first movie.
11:50While this sequel would define Rambo
11:52in the years to come
11:53and elevate him as a pop culture icon,
11:55it is a huge departure
11:56from the serious issues and themes
11:58being discussed in the original flick.
12:00And this gets even worse
12:01by the time you get to Rambo III,
12:03Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker.
12:05The Star Wars sequel trilogy
12:06is a warning on how a lack of planning
12:08can lead to three films
12:09directly contradicting one another.
12:12And this is best seen in the last two entries,
12:14The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
12:17Now say what you want about the quality of each,
12:19we're not talking about that today,
12:20just how one directly contradicts the other.
12:23In The Last Jedi, for instance,
12:24one of the mysteries that that movie resolves
12:26is regarding Rey's parentage.
12:28See, The Force Awakens did tease
12:30that she might have come from a special lineage,
12:33yet the Rian Johnson directed sequel
12:35just wipes that out.
12:36Instead, here, Rey is revealed
12:38to just be a nobody,
12:39someone whose parents sold her for drinking money.
12:42And while this twist did leave
12:43a lot of fans disappointed,
12:45it did tell the nice message
12:46that anyone can be a Jedi,
12:48a point emphasized by the end
12:50when the broom boy from Canto Bight
12:51is revealed to be Force-sensitive.
12:53But once J.J. Abrams returned to finish the trilogy,
12:56Rey was now the heir of the Emperor himself.
13:00In an infamous double twist,
13:02our heroine is revealed
13:03to be the granddaughter of Sheev Palpatine.
13:06All of a sudden, she's powerful and great
13:08because she comes from the legendary Sith Lord's lineage.
13:11And compared to the previous film,
13:13The Rise of Skywalker tells audiences that,
13:15yes, the only important people in the Star Wars universe
13:18are the ones that come from these dynasties.
13:21And and and and and and and then over
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