00:06Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for character deaths that either
00:12directly killed the franchise or helped cause it to all crumble down.
00:16We'll be getting into spoilers for multiple movies so consider this your warning.
00:20That future never happened because I stopped it.
00:39In Independence Day, humanity takes the fight to alien invaders to win the day.
00:43But in Resurgence, they're back for a round two.
00:46This time though, Will Smith's Captain Stephen Hiller is nowhere to be found.
00:50Due to real life scheduling conflicts, Smith couldn't come back to film the sequel, meaning
00:55Hiller wouldn't be returning.
00:56To explain the captain's absence in the story, Stephen was shockingly killed off screen.
01:01Then they brought in Hiller's stepson Dylan to act as the captain's replacement.
01:05Captain Hiller, welcome to the White House.
01:09It's great to be back.
01:10Fans wanting to see Will Smith return universally rejected this creative choice and the movie
01:14flopped at the box office because of it.
01:16Instead of propelling the franchise forward with a new sense of direction, Resurgence
01:20was instead killed unceremoniously along with Hiller.
01:23There she is.
01:25Everybody, we got one shot at this.
01:27Let's make it count.
01:29Number 9.
01:29Mako Mori, Pacific Rim Uprising.
01:32Mayday, mayday, mayday.
01:34This is Mako and Charlie 052.
01:36We are going down, baby.
01:38We are going down.
01:42If you love Mako and Pacific Rim, the movie about giant monster fighting robots piloted
01:48by humans, you were probably disappointed by Uprising.
01:51Mako Mori was a fan favorite who many expected to be the lead for the sequel since Riley Beckett
01:56wouldn't be returning.
01:57Instead, she was barely in the movie and when she did show up, she was axed in a helicopter
02:03mishap.
02:03Let's just say fans were furious.
02:24Uprising already had things going against it like Guillermo del Toro and Charlie Hunnam
02:28not returning, but Mako's mistreatment was the final nail in the coffin.
02:32Director Steven DeKnight later expressed regret over Mako's story, but it was too little
02:37too late.
02:37In the end, fans formed an uprising of their own against the disastrous sequel.
02:52Number 8.
02:53Gwen Stacy, The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
03:15The Death of Gwen Stacy is a unique situation.
03:18Peter Parker's lowest point is actually this divisive movie's best moment, arguably.
03:22It's a gut-wrenching cinematic catastrophe unlike any other.
03:26Gwen wasn't killed off in an unsatisfying way though.
03:29Instead, she was given a heartbreakingly emotional send off.
03:32Her death actually elevated the story, but it also signaled that this was the end, even
03:37if that wasn't actually the intention.
03:59This was the final film in Andrew Garfield's spider saga and Gwen's exit more or less showed
04:04that time was up for this franchise.
04:05Upsetting box office numbers and corporate politics are largely considered the reasons we
04:11never got The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
04:13However, Gwen's death undeniably marked a closing chapter to this specific version of
04:17The Wallcrawler's world.
04:39Number 7.
04:41Luke Skywalker, Star Wars The Last Jedi.
04:53Look, it's a stretch to act like Star Wars is ever going away.
04:58That being said, it's not the cinematic juggernaut it once was.
05:01The sequel trilogy killed off and arguably wasted several characters like Han Solo, General Hux,
05:07and Kylo Ren, but the biggest offense is Luke Skywalker.
05:10He's a main character in the universe, but he's disillusioned and killed off in The Last
05:14Jedi.
05:20It's been almost a decade and fans are still voicing their anger about this.
05:25Luke's death is one of the biggest reasons why the sequels got so much backlash.
05:29After that trilogy wrapped up, Star Wars basically became a TV-only franchise, and they've only
05:35now started returning to the big screen.
05:37Honestly, Star Wars just hasn't been the same.
05:57Number 6.
05:58Morpheus, The Matrix Resurrections.
06:00At last, all these years later, here's me strolling out of a toilet stall.
06:07Tragedy or forest?
06:08I know you.
06:10Not every day you meet your maker.
06:12Considering that he was such an important part of The Matrix movies, you'd think Morpheus
06:16would get a better ending.
06:17That being said, his death failed to do him justice.
06:20For starters, it happened in a tie-in game called The Matrix Online.
06:35If you were expecting this franchise to bring closure to his bizarre death, you're out
06:39of luck.
06:40In Resurrections, Morpheus is essentially remodeled into a new version played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen
06:45II.
06:45Look, Yahya's great, but he's not Laurence Fishburne.
06:49In fact, Fishburne was just as confused as all of us by this weird creative change.
06:53Resurrections ultimately failed to bring Matrix back to life because of how poorly they handled
06:57Morpheus and the rest of the lore altogether.
06:59I know you because I know the only thing that still matters to you.
07:04I know it's why you're here, why you're still fighting, and why you will never give
07:08up.
07:095.
07:10Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice
07:20This might be the exact moment where all the DCEU's problems started.
07:25In Batman v Superman, the Man of Steel is shockingly killed by Doomsday.
07:29It's a moment that poorly tries to adapt to death of Superman.
07:32You see, DC wanted to catch up to Marvel, but the DCEU rushed building their universe.
07:37They crammed this movie with too many of their heroes and tried to make it the on-ramp towards
07:42Justice League.
07:42But by killing Superman in his second DCEU appearance, they effectively shot themselves
07:47in the foot.
07:57If you want to argue that the DCEU was fine after this, alright, we can have that conversation.
08:03But regardless, Henry Cavill's chances at a proper Superman franchise absolutely tanked
08:08because of this poorly done death.
08:194.
08:21Tom Hagen The Godfather Part 3
08:29Never underestimate the power of the voice of reason.
08:33The Godfather movies are mostly remembered for the acting heavyweights like Al Pacino,
08:37Robert De Niro, and Marlo Brando.
08:39But Robert Duvall can't be ignored either.
08:42The third movie actually did ignore Duvall's character Tom Hagen and suffered greatly.
08:47Because of money disputes, Duvall decided not to return, which led to Hagen dying off screen
08:52of cancer.
08:52You can feel Hagen's absence throughout the whole film.
08:55For a series all about navigating power dynamics of the criminal underworld, Tom Hagen represented
09:00order.
09:00He was a familiar face who could keep others in check, and when he left, it threw everything
09:05out of balance.
09:05Part 3 wrapped the Corleone saga up, but did it clumsily without Tom Hagen.
09:10If anything in this life is certain, if history's taught us anything, it says you can kill anyone.
09:22Number 3 Cyclops X- The Last Stand
09:34There's characters who are disrespected, and then there's characters like Cyclops who
09:38are extremely disrespected.
09:40When it comes to those original early 2000s X-Men movies, this goat is slandered hard.
09:45He's consistently getting pushed aside in order to prop up Wolverine, and once we get the
09:49last stand, things take a turn for the worse.
10:05While sharing a moment with newly resurrected Jean Grey, it's revealed she's possessed by
10:09the Phoenix Force.
10:10As a result, she shockingly kills Scott.
10:13This movie was bad.
10:14Cyclops' mistreatment as well as the bland story led this universe to stumble for a few
10:21class.
10:22In the end, Last Stand proved to be the last straw for many fans.
10:432.
10:45Newt & Higgs Alien 3
10:57The deaths of both Newt & Higgs are a real one-two punch of pain.
11:01The duel were incredibly important to Aliens, but in Alien 3, they were killed off without
11:06a care in the world.
11:07The move was done for shock value, but it had consequences.
11:10Alien 3 made money, but it had a story that simply failed to resonate with audiences.
11:23Newt & Higgs' death pissed off not only diehard fans, but also the people who were involved
11:28with making the movies.
11:29As recently as December of 2025, James Cameron has reminded us that he thinks this was one
11:34of the stupidest decisions ever.
11:36Sure, the Alien franchise has continued since Alien 3, but the deaths of Newt & Higgs did
11:41some long-lasting brand damage.
11:57If you love games, be sure to check out WatchMojo's new game Terrible Influence.
12:02Just launched for purchase at TerribleInfluence.com.
12:05Terrible Influence is a satirical board game about the dark side of fame from the writer
12:09of the most popular girls in school and us.
12:11Watch Mojo.
12:12Boom.
12:13I can make an apology video.
12:15Oh, you so would.
12:16Click on the link in the description to check out the game and be the first to play Terrible
12:19Influence.
12:211.
12:22John Connor – Dark Fate
12:24If you thought Sarah Connor dying off-screen was bad, well, it still really was.
12:34But that's not the only piece of blasphemy that this sci-fi IP has committed.
12:39They did her son dirty too.
12:412019's Dark Fate actually brought Linda Hamilton's Sarah back, which made fans happy.
12:46Unfortunately, they also had the T-800 kill young John Connor in the movie's opening sequence.
12:53Once, I saved three billion lives, but I couldn't save my son.
13:01Even if you know nothing about Terminator, you know John's a big deal.
13:06So, needless to say, getting rid of him in such a terrible way was a major burning of the bridge.
13:10We haven't had a new Terminator movie since Dark Fate, and John's death is easily the main reason why.
13:16The Terminator film franchise will not be back for a while.
13:19A machine took him from me, and I am terminated.
13:27Are there any franchise-killing deaths we forgot?
13:29Let us all know in the comments down below.
13:31And don't forget to like and subscribe for more WatchMojo videos.
Comments