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Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome / Live-Action Films

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  • Scream 3: Cotton Weary, a recurring character who helped Sidney in the second movie (despite the fact that she mistakenly sent him to jail about a year before the first) and killed the Big Bad, died in the first 10 minutes of the third movie to enforce one of the "rules" of a threequel: In the third movie all bets are off and Anyone Can Die.
  • As this is very common in horror movies, Scary Movie series makes fun of this by having Charlie Sheen's character from the third movie die in the first scene of the fourth via giant erection. Brenda from the first two films also dies in the first and early in the third, but since she seems to die a lot and come back, it doesn't really count.
  • X-Men Film Series
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • The Other is Thanos's right hand man, who serves as both a communication between Loki and Thanos, and as a way of hiding Thanos's identity from the audience until The Stinger of The Avengers. In Guardians of the Galaxy, he shows up just long enough to be killed by Ronan the Accuser.
    • Brock Rumlow acts as a recurring villain in Captain America: The Winter Soldier working for HYDRA and survives the movie's events, albeit greatly injured. He returns in Captain America: Civil War, now operating under his more familiar identity from the comics known as Crossbones, for the opening battle and dies trying to use a bomb to take Cap with him by the end of the scene.
    • Thor: Ragnarok has Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral killed off by Hela in the first act. Odin also dies shortly before them.
    • The first scene of Avengers: Infinity War has Thanos kill Heimdall, Loki, and half of the Asgardian people.
    • Avengers: Endgame: Thanos, the victorious Big Bad of the previous film they'd been building up to since The Avengers seven years ago, is executed by Thor early into the film after a brief confrontation. Partially averted, as the film's Big Bad is an alternate timeline version of Thanos, leading to the ultimate climactic battle.
    • T'Challa dies offscreen of a mysterious illness in the first scene of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, due to Chadwick Boseman's real-life passing.
  • Final Destination:
    • Final Destination's final shot before the credits made it quite clear that the three survivors were going to be down to two. We never saw the freak accident that took out the hero of the first movie. We only got to hear Clear describe it in the sequel who herself almost, but not quite, survived to the credits.
    • The protagonists of Final Destination 2 and Final Destination 3 are also implied to be dead by newspaper clippings. With the three survivors of the fourth movie being killed in the end, it's clear that whoever survives in the movie will die eventually.
    • Final Destination 5 may take the crown: even the survivors there are guaranteed death after the credits roll, since the movie turns out to be a prequel for Final Destination, where they become some of the nameless innocents in the opening plane crash.
  • Alien:
    • At the beginning of Alien³, the Sulaco launches an escape pod that lands on a planet. Newt and Hicks are both killed in gruesome ways (the gory aftermath is shown), and Bishop has one scene in which he asks to be turned off. The Comic Canon (quite a lot of which was written before 3) sees Hicks and Newt survive, and quite a few fans consider it superior for that reason.
    • Elizabeth Shaw, the heroine of Prometheus, is long dead by the events of Alien: Covenant, having been experimented on and killed by David after the prologue.
  • Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines reveals that Sarah Connor died of leukemia a few years after its predecessor. Three movies later, in an Alternate Continuity, Terminator: Dark Fate one-ups that in a case which fans compared to the above mentioned Alien 3 as the very first scene has John Connor being shot dead by a Terminator, only a few years after the second movie as well - in front of his mother Sarah, no less.
  • Friday the 13th: Alice, the Final Girl of Friday the 13th (1980) who killed Pamela Voorhees, becomes the very first victim of Pamela's son Jason at the beginning of Part 2. Jason's next victim, Crazy Ralph, also survived the first movie.
  • Halloween:
  • The A Nightmare on Elm Street movies famously had heroines return in sequels only to have them killed off after passing the torch to a new heroine.
    • Part 1's Nancy was killed in Part 3. Her father dies as well.
    • Part 3's Kristen was killed in Part 4 (along with the rest of her Dream Warriors team who survived the last movie).
    • Subverted with "Dream Master" Alice, who survived not one but two films (Parts 4 and 5). Her Love Interest Dan plays things straight however, as he survives the climax of 4 only to die early on in 5.
  • In Damien: Omen II, the old archaeologist from the first movie (played by Leo McKern) who was the only character to know the truth about Damien to survive from the first movie is killed in the opening minutes.
  • The main character from Iron Eagle, Doug Masters, is literally killed off in the first 5 minutes in Iron Eagle II.
    • The character of Doug Masters returns, having not really been dead after all, in Iron Eagle IV. Different actor, though.
  • The Godfather
    • In The Godfather Part II, we learn that Peter Clemenza has allegedly died of a heart attack (with Willi Cicci implying he was actually murdered by the Rosato Brothers). Then again, that never caught anyone as a surprise. This happened because the actor insisted on writing his own dialogue. The character of Frank Pentageli takes his place.
    • In the second video game, the player character, Aldo, dies at the start.
    • In The Godfather Part III, we are told that Tom Hagen died shortly before the beginning of the film. This was done because Robert Duvall refused to reprise the role unless he was paid the same as, or marginally close to, what Al Pacino was getting paid.
  • Johnny Cage's death in the opening of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
  • The surviving protagonist of The Hidden, whose life was actually saved by the other protagonist transferring his essence into him, looks like he has alien cancer at the beginning of the sequel.
  • The hero of The Arrival dies off-screen sometime between it and the sequel.
  • Resident Evil: Afterlife killed off all of the Alice clones found at the end of the third film in the first ten minutes.
  • Star Wars
  • The Grudge
    • Sarah Michelle Gellar survived and was soon killed off in the sequel, to be replaced by her sister Amber Tamblyn.
    • The only survivor of the second, Jake, quickly dies in the third.
  • A What Could Have Been almost-example from the James Bond movies: Tracy Bond originally was intended to survive On Her Majesty's Secret Service and not get killed (a common fate for Bond's love interests) until the opening of the next movie, Diamonds Are Forever. Lazenby's departure forced things to be shortened. Keep in mind that this is also her fate in the books.
  • In Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, as a parody of the above James Bond example, Austin's love interest in the first movie, Vanessa, is revealed to be a fembot and is quickly destroyed. To make the revelation even more absurd, Basil admits that they'd known all along. Austin mourns her death for all of three seconds before realizing he's single again. Interestingly enough, Vanessa was meant to continue to be alongside Austin in the plan for the second film, but Elizabeth Hurley having scheduling issues meant that this happened.
  • The Bourne Series pulled it twice, first in The Bourne Supremacy with Marie (who in the original novels lives through the end), who dies early on and motivates Bourne to come out of hiding, and then in Jason Bourne with Nicky.
  • Hostel Part II: Paxton, the Final Guy from the first film, is decapitated early on.
  • The character Jake from Rings, a short film that bridges The Ring and The Ring Two, spends the majority of the (surprisingly well-written) story hallucinating and freaking out over the influence of the Cursed Tape. At the end of the horrible seven day-long mind screw, he calls up a girlfriend to pass the curse on to her... He dies in the opening scene of The Ring Two, as the girl refuses to watch the tape and he's pulled into a cheesy special effect.
    • There's an even better example in the original Japanese works. The protagonist of the first book dies in the sequel, Rasen (Spiral), and in both the movie sequels (an adaptation of Rasen and an original, alternative sequel, Ring 2). In all cases, a contributing reason for his/her death is simply not being the protagonist anymore.
  • Mr. Wing, the Chinese man who originally owned Gizmo, returned to reclaim him at the end of the original Gremlins, and dies about ten minutes into the sequel. This, of course, ensures that he is out of the way so Gizmo could end up being reunited with Billy. It's possible that actor Keye Luke was in too poor of health to have an extended role in the film, as he died a year after the film's release.
  • Welcome To The Doll House, which was very depressing as it was, had a small shred of hope for the tragic main character at the end of the film...until Palindromes was released as a loose sequel. It was revealed that the same main character has committed suicide from dead straight up in the beginning of the sequel.
  • Whistler dies in the beginning of Blade: Trinity to make room for Blade's super cool new sidekicks, despite the fact that Blade II went to the trouble of resurrecting him after he died in the first film. At least he got a last stand this time.
  • Saw:
    • Saw II revealed that Adam Stanheight, one of the main characters from the first movie, had died, showing us his corpse. Saw III not only showed his death scene (in a flashback), but in its early part also killed off Allison Kerry, who had been investigating the Jigsaw case since the beginning.
    • David Tapp, whose fate was unclear at the end of the first movie, is confirmed to be dead in Saw V. A similar fate for Tapp is shown in the canonical ending of the first video game.
    • Daniel Rigg was shot at the end of Saw IV, but was otherwise alive. He is declared dead at the beginning of Saw V.
    • Peter Strahm was first introduced in Saw IV, and died at the end of Saw V.
  • xXx: State of the Union Vin Diesel's character from the first xXx is mentioned in passing as having been killed by a guerrilla ambush in the beginning of xXx: State of the Union, to make way for Ice Cube as the new xXx. We see the death in the Director's Cut, where Xander is played by Vin Diesel's stunt double, never showing his face, and with dubbed lines from the first film. Vin Diesel returns as Xander Cage in XXX Return Of Xander Cage, with his earlier apparent death being retconned as a case of Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated.
  • Brenda Wyatt, Connor MacLeod's romantic interest in the original Highlander film, has been killed off in every single different sequel which followed on from the original film:
  • Several major characters have died in the Rocky sequels. Rocky's coach Mickey died of a heart attack in Rocky III, his former rival turned best friend Apollo Creed is beaten to death by Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, his wife Adrian dies of breast cancer prior to Rocky Balboa, and his brother-in-law Paulie passes away prior to the events of Creed. Duke, who was trainer to Apollo and later Rocky, is implied to have passed away by the time of Creed II, due to the death of his actor Tony Burton, with a deleted scene revealing that Spider Rico, who fought Rocky in the opening scene of the first movie, also passed away, and in Creed III, Apollo's widow Mary-Anne would later die of a stroke.
  • Once Upon a Time in Mexico killed off Carolina, the Love Interest from Desperado, in a backstory event that didn't get revealed until the end of the second act of the film. She and Mariachi had a kid before it all went down, which made things extra tragic, since the little girl wasn't spared either. Marquez, the killer and The Dragon for the movie's Big Bad, is Mariachi's main target for revenge during the movie.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End quickly kills off Governor Swann and Commodore Norrington.
  • Dimon the Burnt in the sequel to the Russian film Bumer, which is kind of strange considering that his survival is part of what gave the ending to the first film impact.
  • Bruce Campbell's protagonist in Maniac Cop gets one scene to catch his bearings in Maniac Cop 2 before being killed by the still-living monster cop while reading about himself in the newspaper.
  • Nancy Allen, who played Officer Ann Lewis in the RoboCop trilogy, is dispatched less than halfway through RoboCop 3. Allen asked the producers to write her character out of the franchise.
  • Although Tank seemed to be quite fine by the end of The Matrix, the actor's refusal to reprise the role (or leaking details of the plot, according to some) made the Only a Flesh Wound fatal after all.
  • In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
  • Daughter of the Dragon: Warner Oland starred in the first two Fu Manchu films as the title character, the Yellow Peril villain. But in this movie he's killed off less than a third of the way through, leaving his daughter Ling Moy to be Daddy's Little Villain.
  • Kraven, the Manipulative Bastard who survived all the reversals and betrayals of Underworld, dies barely 10 minutes into Underworld: Evolution when Marcus, the new big bad, learns of his treachery and gruesomely slaughters him. He also slaughters everyone else in the mansion, albeit off-screen, including Erika.
  • In the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill (1999), the only survivors were Eddie and Sara. At the beginning of the 2007 sequel, Return to House on Haunted Hill, Sara's sister Ariel gets a phone call telling her that Sara has committed suicide. (We never learn what happened to Eddie.)
  • The two final survivors in House of the Dead film are revealed in House of the Dead II: Dead Aim to have died in the interim. This is something of an unusual example in that the ending of the first film had the guy bring the girl back to life as a semi-zombie using the Big Bad's formula, so even back then you knew things weren't going to end well for the two of them.
  • Ironhide in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. And Ratchet in Transformers: Age of Extinction. For a villainous example averting Joker Immunity, both Starscream and Megatron bite it in Dark of the Moon. Though Megs returns as Galvatron in the follow-up.
  • Played with in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol where it first appears that the Ethan Hunt's wife Julia from the third film fell victim to this trope. Later it is completely subverted when it is revealed he faked her death to protect her and she is alive and well. She even makes a brief appearance.
  • Irene Adler dies within the first few minutes of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
  • Io in Wrath of the Titans.
  • Pitch Black survivor Imam fares much worse in the sequel The Chronicles of Riddick. Jack/Kyra meanwhile doesn't make it either but at least survives all the way to the climax.
  • Commissioner Loeb is one of the Joker's first major victims in The Dark Knight, while Mayor Garcia is one of the first ones to get killed by Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
  • Duke in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Thanks to the Joes' base being destroyed, it's also possible that Ripcord, Scarlett, and the other Joes from the first movie died as well. When asked about it in interviews, Marlon Wayans seemed to suggest his character had indeed been killed off-screen.
  • Star Trek:
  • At the end of Machete, Machete and Sartana ride off as a couple. The sequel, Machete Kills, continues from that point but apparently they wanted Machete to be a loner: Sartana is killed five minutes into the movie.
  • Kick Boxer 2 begins with the protagonist from the first film, getting killed by the villain Tong Po out of anger for losing to him in the kickboxing match, which was the original film's climax. This was done to write Jean-Claude Van Damme (who refused to return) out of the sequel and replace him with Sasha Mitchell, another martial artist slash actor, as the remaining brother in the family out for revenge. Mitchell starred in the next three sequels, but then was unceremoniously killed at the beginning of Kickboxer 5 by a group of henchmen; he was replaced in the movie by Matt Reeves (Mark Dacascos).
  • Cpt. Esteridge survives The Hitcher but is killed at the very beginning of The Hitcher II: I've been waiting.
  • The murder of Lenore in Taken 3 launches a Roaring Rampage of Revenge by Bryan Mills.
  • Honey Pie falls victim to this in the Feast franchise. She barely manages to survive the first two films, but when the third rolls around and she's looking particularly fierce on the poster◊, she instead meets an early demise within the first 5 minutes or so.
  • The Subspecies franchise does this when necessary:
    • Stefan meets an early demise in Bloodstone at Radu's hand.
    • Michelle's sister, Becky, and Mel who were both protagonists in Bloodstone and Bloodlust meet this fate in the Bloodstorm. The director explained that this was an instance where both actors were too busy to return and the idea to kill the characters originated from a joke passed around on set of the previous two films that he was going to kill them in the fourth film for annoying him on set.
  • In A Better Tomorrow II, Kit is killed by the main henchman.
  • Independence Day: Resurgence sees Jasmine go as the Sacrificial Lamb fairly early in the film. Before the events of the movie, Steven Hiller was killed in a training accident, and a supplementary novel states that Constance had died in an accident. Subverted with Julius, who initially appears to die in the tidal wave caused by the mothership's landing, but later turns up alive and well.
  • Kingsman: The Golden Circle: Roxy and J.B. (Eggsy's pug) perish early in the first act.
  • The Mummy's Tomb, sequel to The Mummy's Hand, part of a series of 4 movies starring the mummy Kharis note  killed off archaeologist Steve Banning, his Love Interest Marta, and his comic relief sidekick Babe Jenson, who survived the first film. Marta was said to have died offscreen between films (since her actress didn't return) while the aforementioned Kharis killed the other two.note 
  • Vanessa in Deadpool 2. Marketing made a big deal out of her, but she dies in the prologue. By the end of the film, her death is reversed by Wade's time travel antics.
  • Despite being one of the protagonists of the first movie, Mako Mori is killed off in the first half of Pacific Rim: Uprising. Her death motivates the new protagonist, Jake Pentecost, to join the PPDC and become a Jaeger pilot again.
  • The Fast and the Furious:
  • Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again: Donna died four years after the events of Mamma Mia!, one year before the start of the sequel.
  • Peggy and Socket Cleek pass away between The Woman and Darlin'.
  • The Fly II: In the opening scene Veronica Quaife suffers Death by Childbirth and the remainder of the film chronicles the resultant Spin-Offspring. Also counts as The Other Darrin since she is played by Saffron Henderson due to Geena Davis not wanting to reprise her role just for that (earlier concepts for the sequel gave Veronica significantly more to do).
  • In 3 from Hell Rondo and Captain Spaulding get a scene to catch their bearings before dying early on.
  • Coming 2 America does this to King Jaffe Joffer and Queen Aoleon of Zamunda from the first film. Jaffe Joffer is terminally ill and passes away a few minutes into this film, allowing Akeem to become the new ruler of Zamunda. Aoleon died some time before the events of the film due to Madge Sinclair's death in 1995.
  • DC Extended Universe:
  • In Top Gun: Maverick, it was mentioned that Rooster's mother, Carole, passed away several years before the events of the film. Iceman also dies during the film.
  • Clerks III: Becky Scott is revealed to have suffered a Bus Crash in-between sequels.
  • Bill & Ted Face the Music: Rufus is mentioned to have died during the 28-year interim since the last movie. This is due to his actor George Carlin's real-life passing.
  • Return of the Fly, the first of two sequels to The Fly (1958), begins with Phillipe Delambre and his uncle Francois attending the funeral of Phillipe's mother Hélène, who survived the events of the first film in spite of committing suicide in the original short story the film was adapted from.
  • Charon is killed off a few minutes early in John Wick: Chapter 4 by the Marquis de Gramont to establish the stakes against John and his allies are now faced with.
  • Krrish, the 2006 sequel to Koi... Mil Gaya, starts with both Rohit Mehra and his wife Nisha dead by the start of the film, survived by their son Kirshna and Rohit's mother Sonia. Later in the film, this gets subverted with Rohit as it is revealed he is actually still alive but held captive by Big Bad who needs him to activate a powerful supercomputer, with Krishna ultimately saving his father.
  • The Exorcist III has Father Dyer, who survived the original film, be killed by the Gemini Killer, like in the book that the film adapts, Legion. Father Kanavan, who was also in the original film, also dies early on.
  • In Cocoon: The Return, Joe gives up his life force to save Alma.
  • In Jaws: The Revenge, it's revealed that Martin Brody died some time prior to the film. His son Sean also dies early on.
  • In Men in Black 3, Zed is revealed to have died recently.
  • Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Lydia's father Charles has passed away. We get a glimpse of his funeral in the teaser (complete with a glass headstone that displays a black-and-white photo of him).note 
  • Egon Spengler, owing to the passing of Harold Ramis in 2014, is killed in the opening scene of Ghostbusters: Afterlife by either Zuul or Vinz Clortho, then goes on to be the unseen Spirit Advisor for Phoebe and Trevor throughout the film before reappearing in ghost form in the film's climax to help put down Gozer for good beside his old teammates.

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