Line #28 EarlyInstallmentWeirdness/LiveActionFilms


1	* ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has quite a lot of distinct qualities from the rest of the entries in the franchise it spawned, almost to the point of feeling like it's from an entirely different series:
2	** While all the films in the series have elements of horror in them, this one is just a straight-up horror flick with absolutely none of the action that would come to be prominent in later entries. The style of horror itself is much less "creature feature" and more CosmicHorrorStory in tone and presentation; the film was very heavily influenced by the works of Creator/HPLovecraft, particularly ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'', an aspect that very few later entries would try to emulate.
3	** Despite all the slick, cinematic entries this film would inspire, it makes some very cinema verite artistic choices marking it as a contemporary of the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood era. One example is that there is no dialogue for the first five minutes, focusing on the eerie music and setting the scene of the currently empty ''Nostromo''. Then there is the roundtable scene where Ripley decides to blow up the ship, having main cast members out of focus in the background reciting barely audible lines of dialogue and not sweetening them in post-production would be considered amateurish nowadays. There's also a focus on naturalistic dialogue, to the point where major plot points like the existence of androids and the company's bioweapons division are completely unmentioned until they become relevant; Dan O'Bannon, when writing the original script, agonized over working details like what the ship was and why it was there into the dialogue, before deciding that anything that didn't flow naturally was information the audience didn't need to know. Contrast with the sequel, which [[ChekhovsArmoury sets up plot points like the Power Loader early and knocks them over like dominoes]].
4	** The Alien's vocal effects are quite different to those used in future entries in the series, being much more electronically modulated and artificial-sounding. From the next film, a more natural collection of hissing sounds would instead be used.
5	** The crew decide to take weapons when investigating the signal, and are shown with laser pistols slung at their sides. Fortunately they are not used or discussed, because the sequel would establish that KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter for a UsedFuture look.
6	** The Alien itself is markedly different in behavior and nature from how it's species would come to be defined in both the series and pop culture. It takes a much more slow, methodical, and intelligent approach to hunting the humans compared to the later films' Xenomorphs attacking like the feral animals they are. In keeping with the more Lovecraftian horror vibe of the first movie noted above, the Alien here is presented in a much more mysterious and eldritch light; it possesses a phantom-like presence onboard the Nostromo being able to grow in size in a extremely short space of time and indulging in OffscreenTeleportation to increasingly impossible levels, while also [[ItCanThink displaying disturbingly human-like characteristics]] such as its attack on Lambert being sadistic in a manner akin to sexual assault and Ash describing it as "Kane's son". All in all, the original Xenomorph is portrayed as less of a mere animal and more of an ethereal and actively malevolent HumanoidAbomination, with the story having a very deliberate theme of MaybeMagicMaybeMundane and questions raised as to what precisely the Alien is and why it behaves as it does. A great deal of it is OrphanedReference, as [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the originally intended ending]] was going to be a twist where it was revealed that the Xenomorph was actually fully sentient and sapient, so all the strangely human qualities were meant as foreshadowing to a climax that ended up never happening. The second film, while still implying the Xenomorphs to be possibly intelligent, greatly downplayed all of this in favor of a more animalistic depiction, which subsequent entries would go all in on.
7	*** Another rather dramatic oddity with the Alien's depiction is the infamous "egg-morphing". The theatrical release leaves an odd gap in the Xenomorph's life cycle by not showing where the eggs come from (itself an example of this; the Queens wouldn't be introduced until the second film) due to the scene where the reveal happened being cut and not restored until the Director's Cut. This version of the Alien life cycle features the much stranger reproduction method of the monster doing ''[[NothingIsScarier something]]'' to its victims that mutates them into eggs that produce facehuggers, again reflecting the more Lovecraftian vibe of the original film and its emphasis on the Xenomorph being something utterly unnatural, possibly mystical in nature.
8	* The first ''Film/AustinPowers'' was slightly darker in tone than its sequels, parodied ''Film/JamesBond'' tropes more directly, and had those short segments with Austin dancing to music in-between scenes.
9	* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'':
10	** In the [[Film/BackToTheFuture1 first film]], Marty's central personality flaw of the sequels -- his habit of acting foolishly when people call him "chicken" -- isn't anywhere in sight. Indeed, the one time we see him being verbally taunted -- when Biff's gang makes fun of his jacket -- he easily ignores it. His motive for confronting Biff later is entirely a sincere desire to protect his mother; there's no evidence that he cares what they think of him. HandWaved by WordOfGod, who claims that the new timeline created a Marty with a more privileged background, causing the personality change. They also stated that if they had intended to make sequels, they would have included this flaw in the first film.
11	** In the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII second film]], Doc is appalled that Marty would want the Sports Almanac for betting purposes, loudly proclaiming that he didn't invent the time machine for financial gain. In the first movie, though, he tells Marty that, when he travels to the future, he's going to find out who wins the next 25 World Series. Granted, he never explicitly states he's going to bet on them, but it's the most likely explanation.
12	** In the sequels and subsequent spin-offs, the franchise used IdenticalGrandson extensively when meeting ancestors or descendants of characters in the present. The first film, however, had no ActingForTwo involved (aside from some characters making appearances in both 1985 and 1955) and the related characters were all played by unrelated actors.
13	* ''Film/BattalGazi'' is a series of Turkish films starring Creator/CuneytArkin as the eponymous WarriorPrince, and the first movie (''Battal Gazi Destani'') takes place in a ''separate'' continuity altogether. Naturally, there's some inconsistencies around:
14	** In the first movie, Battal Gazi is an only child who lost his father during his childhood - the second film, ''Savulun Battal Gazi Geliyor'', instead depicts a grown-up Battal Gazi kicking ass with his father Hussein, side-by-side, as well as the hero having a sister. The action in the first movie is also somewhat toned down in scale, while the third and fourth films would follow the continuity, themes and over-the-top action scenes started by the second.
15	** Battal Gazi's iconic white outfit with a red sash (basically, Cuneyt Arkin's equivalent to the yellow Bruce Lee tracksuit) is prominently featured in the sequels, but not the first movie. He wears a variety of clothing and spends a large part of the climax fighting in purple.
16	** The Christian invaders from the first film are depicted as armored knights, instead of crusaders in hooded black outfits with red crosses from the second movie onwards (as well as similar films later in Creator/CuneytArkin's career, like ''Film/LionMan'' and ''Fearless Warrior''). This is part of director Natuk Baytan's decision to implement DarkIsEvil in the sequels.
17	* ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'' feels very different in tone to its sequels. ''Film/TheBourneSupremacy'' and ''Film/TheBourneUltimatum'' are contiguous to the point that there is no time-cut at all between the last scenes of the second film and the first scenes of the third film (not counting the Bourne-in-New-York-scene, a ''Supremacy'' note which is also tied up in ''Ultimatum''...). But when you have recently seen ''Supremacy'' and/or ''Ultimatum'', it can come as a bit of a shock to rewatch ''Identity'' and realize how different it is, though it was setting up all the Bourne tropes the later films played on. Notably, the soundtrack is a very different beast, employing techno-ish and poppy background music. Damon's Bourne is also surprisingly chatty and smiley compared to his later silent stoicism. The editing takes a different approach completely, and the camera work is free of the JitterCam that defined the sequels. Most of this change in tone has to do with the first film being made by a different director to its sequels.
18	* The earliest ''Bowery Boys'' movies were still comedies, but had more serious plotlines, with a number of scenes being straightforward melodrama. It wasn't until the series gained traction that the movies became DenserAndWackier.
19	* Creator/BruceLee: Lee's first "big film", ''Film/TheBigBoss'', is very different in style and tone to the subsequent films that follow after. The violence is much more bloodily over-the-top (like in how the titular [[BigBad "Big Boss"]] dies) and sometimes cartoonish (the infamous scene where a man is punched through a wooden wall leaving a perfectly-shaped man hole ''a la'' something out of Looney Tunes) and the total absence of Lee's iconic nun-chucks (he fights with twin knives instead). Notably all his next films are quite DarkerAndEdgier in comparison, most of all ''Film/FistOfFury'', a somber story about a young Chinese man who goes on a quest for revenge in [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar Japanese-occupied Shanghai]] after discovering that a rival Japanese school poisoned his beloved martial arts teacher [[spoiler:which [[DownerEnding ends in tragedy and the death of many people including the hero]]]].
20	* Creator/BusterKeaton didn't invent his famous deadpan "[[TheStoic Great Stone Face]]" persona until breaking out as a star of his own films in TheRoaringTwenties. Viewers of his early work, such as his fourteen films with Creator/FattyArbuckle, may be surprised to see a Keaton who smiles, laughs, cries, and mugs for the camera. See ''Film/ConeyIsland'' (1917) or ''Film/TheGarage'' (1920).
21	* Creator/CharlieChaplin had a lot of this during his first year in Hollywood, because he was working for Mack Sennett and Creator/KeystoneStudios and was not yet in artistic control of his career.
22	** His first feature film, ''Film/TilliesPuncturedRomance'', not only does he not wear the Tramp costume, he's the bad guy.
23	** A similar example from Chaplin's time at Keystone being the short ''Mabel At the Wheel'' (starring and co-directed by Creator/MabelNormand) in which Chaplin not only plays the ''villain'' but in contrast to his "Tramp" persona is seen wearing a top hat, frock coat and goatee-like beard (apparently in imitation of Ford Sterling, whom he'd been hired to replace).
24	** The Tramp's first appearance on film was ''Film/KidAutoRacesAtVenice'', where the Tramp does not display much of his trademark personality. He's simply a bystander at a race who wants to get on camera and keeps wandering into the shot.
25	** In ''Film/MabelsStrangePredicament'', TheTramp was more of a lecherous drunken jerk than a lovable, innocently mischievous hero we all know and love.
26	* In the ''Film/ChildsPlay1988'', a plot point is the fact that Chucky must transfer his soul out of the doll before the doll body turns fully human. As the film progresses, Chucky's body begins to have a more biological look to it including a receding hairline, human like skin, and eyebrows with real hair. The subsequent films would later drop this. According to the creator, it cost too much to make so many different versions of the Chucky doll for a physical change that was so subtle. In later films, Chucky becoming more human is treated more as a metaphorical ticking clock wherein his doll body looks the same, he can just no longer transfer out of the doll after a certain amount of time. For most of the franchise, beyond the first film, Chucky simply looks like a doll throughout.
27	* ''Film/Cinderella2015'' is the first of the Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes to be a straightforward remake of [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} the original]] rather than [[Film/AliceInWonderland2010 a sequel]] or [[Film/{{Maleficent}} a perspective flip]]. But apart from certain character names and other fairly small details borrowed from the animated version, the film comes across much more as a new adaptation of the original fairy tale than as a remake. Subsequent Disney remakes would be much more obviously based on the animated versions, sometimes almost [[ShotForShotRemake shot-for-shot.]]
28	* In the first ''Film/{{Critters}}'' film, one of the titular monsters grows big. This never happens again.
29	* The original ''Film/DeathWish'' is a gritty, realistic look at urban decay and out of control crime in major American cities during the era. The movie was such a hit largely because it embodied the feelings of many honest citizens at the time. In the end there is no dramatic showdown with the men who killed his wife and raped his daughter, they simply disappear into the city and Paul will never know who they were. There's little graphic violence, but what there is is very disturbing; far from [[Film/DeathWish3 mowing down hordes of goons with a mini-gun or blowing a bad guy up with a bazooka]], the first time Paul kills someone is followed by him going home and vomiting in disgust at what he's done. Nothing in the movie could be defined as gratuitous. When the schlocky production company Creator/TheCannonGroup bought the rights eight years later, they began releasing sequels that were more or less exploitation and dumb 1980s-style revenge fantasy action films.
30	* The first ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'' film has Tris narrating the beginning and end portions. Starting with the second film, the series abandons this element. This might be attributed to the change of directors (Creator/NeilBurger in the first and Creator/RobertSchwentke in the rest).
31	* The original ''Film/TheEvilDead1981'' is more a {{Gorn}} horror film, rather than the horror comedy of ''Film/EvilDead2''. Also none of the other cabin members besides Linda is mentioned in the other films. Ash is far from the CatchPhrase-spouting, badass and {{Jerkass}} we see in the sequels, instead being a rather bland FinalGuy. The Necronomicon doesn't have that name and the look of it is completely different from the other films. And lastly, in a subtler example, the Deadites (which aren't named as such until the second movie) are originally just pissed off that the teenagers awoke them from their eons-long sleep, whereas in the sequels they implicitly want to TakeOverTheWorld.
32	* The original ''Film/FinalDestination'' includes some more overtly supernatural elements that were left out of the sequels. Among them are an implied psychic link of sorts between Alex and Clear, the foreboding presence of gusts of wind from nowhere right before a death scene, a smoky black shadow that appears on reflective surfaces when Death is coming for someone, and a shot of Death supernaturally "covering its tracks" [[spoiler:after Tod slips on the water leaking from his toilet, causing his death; the water impossibly recedes under the toilet to "hide" itself and make it look like a suicide.]] The last point is also a rare example within the film itself: The filmmakers had planned for Death to cover its tracks throughout the film, but after the first death they changed their minds to simply have the rest as accidents.
33	* The long-running ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' series has plenty of this:
34	** In the original ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'', Jason not only [[spoiler:isn't the killer, he doesn't even appear save for a dream sequence]]. He doesn't get his trademark hockey mask until ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartIII Part III]]''. Also, in ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPart2 Part 2]]'', he's considerably less physically imposing than subsequent movies.
35	** The first film also has a bit of a Whodunnit mystery to the killer, unlike the later films where, for the most part, the identity of the killer is clearly shown from the get-go.
36	** In the original films with Jason as a killer, he was alive rather than the indestructible undead human of later films. In the second and third films, he would run after his victims, back away if someone came at him with something dangerous, and would sometimes even grunt in pain. Surprisingly, despite not yet having his undead killer status yet in ''Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter'', his behavior is actually closer to as it is in the later films.
37	* ''Film/Godzilla1954'', which kick-started the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, is a surprisingly dark (and seriously scary) horror film rather than a campy monster movie. Because Godzilla is the only monster appearing in the film, the focus is on the humans' response to his rampage rather than on a battle between opposing monsters. Also, Godzilla is a metaphor for the horror of nuclear weapons and is unambiguously presented a villainous monster, albeit an extremely [[TragicMonster tragic one]], incapable of reason or sympathy, rather than the NobleDemon and defender of humanity that he evolved into as the series went on.
38	** Whilst virtually every other installment in the franchise would imply Godzilla is either a prehistoric species of naturally gigantic animal or NuclearMutant which was a reptile of some sort before mutation upon exposure to radiation, the first film leaves this all very vague. Whilst Dr. Yamane does speculate Godzilla is some kind of prehistoric amphibious animal, it's never actually confirmed. Odo Island already features myths of a similar entity and Godzilla never behaves like a regular animal, instead choosing to destroy like they are a vengeful god. Supernatural aspects are present in the franchise elsewhere, but the first film's MaybeMagicMaybeMundane treatment is unique.
39	* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''
40	** The [[Film/{{Halloween 1978}} original film]] is noticeably different from its sequels and [[Film/{{Halloween 2007}} remake]] in a couple of ways; there's much less blood and killing, and it focuses far more on suspense. Starting with ''Film/HalloweenII1981'', Michael's kills were bloodier and more elaborate to more closely match the numerous slasher movies the original had inspired.
41	** In the [[Film/{{Halloween 1978}} first movie]], Michael has no apparent motivation; he's just "pure evil" and kills on instinct. In ''Film/HalloweenII1981'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Laurie, his main target in the previous film and that one, is actually his sister.]] From then on out, every movie he appears in includes an element of him specifically stalking a family member. Taken to its [[VoodooShark illogical extreme]] in the [[Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers sixth movie]], which reveals [[spoiler:Michael suffers from a druid curse that requires him to kill off his entire family.]]
42	* ''Film/HarryPotter''
43	** Throughout the films, [[GeographicFlexibility more and more areas are added to Hogwarts]], making the Hogwarts of the first film almost a kind of bare-bones version with, for example, nothing between the back of the castle and Hagrid's hut but a field of grass. It's also much closer to the castle than in later installments.
44	** In the first two films, Professor Flitwick is an [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100114172044/harrypotter/images/thumb/7/73/Charms_Master_Flitwick.jpg/200px-Charms_Master_Flitwick.jpg elderly-looking dwarf]]. From the third onward, he became a [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100410144823/harrypotter/images/thumb/f/f3/Copia_de_uhpfilius9it%282%29.jpg/180px-Copia_de_uhpfilius9it%282%29.jpg small man with brown hair and moustache]]. It was so unexpected that quite a few people joked that he now looked like Hitler. (The story is complicated: as Flitwick wouldn't appear in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', Creator/WarwickDavis was instead offered a cameo as the chorus conductor - credited only as "Wizard"; through RetCon, that guy became Flitwick in the fourth movie.) Combined with that is the fact that Creator/JKRowling wasn't entirely happy with Flitwick's original appearance. The original movie Flitwick (who has distant goblin ancestry) looked, in her opinion, a bit like a full-blown goblin, while she had always pictured him as just a very small man.
45	** Filch. In the Creator/ChrisColumbus films, his characterization was very much in keeping with his book counterpart; from the fourth movie onward, they used him as comic relief.
46	** In the first film, the brooms look like real-life brooms actually used for sweeping. Harry's Nimbus 2000 is the only exception, which appears to be because it is new and a special model. In the later films, the brooms become increasingly obviously designed for flight rather than cleaning.
47	** There's also a drift away from on-location shooting and towards soundstages. At the start of the series, they couldn't afford to build every room in Hogwarts, so there were only a few purpose-built sets and most of the Hogwarts interiors were filmed at various castles, cathedrals, and universities. As the series went along, they built up more and more sets, which was coupled with improvements in CGI technology. ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]'' was filmed at locations all across Britain, while ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows, Part 2]]'' was filmed almost completely at Leavesden Studios. Some places that were originally filmed on location were reproduced as sets later in the series, often accompanied by changes in design -- compare the hospital wing in the first movie to the hospital wing in the second movie onwards.
48	** In the first movie, the students wore pointed hats with their uniforms during formal scenes in the Great Hall (you'll recall these hats being tossed in the air when Gryffindor won the House Cup). The hats disappeared in the second film and were never seen again. This is probably due to infrequent mentions of hats being part of the school uniform in the books. Doubtlessly, they were dropped because they looked ridiculous.
49	** In the first film, emphasis is put on the fact that the staircases can change path, and this does have an effect on the plot. In the second and third films, this is relegated to background scenery, and by the fourth they seem to have gone altogether.
50	** The first movie puts a lot more focus on Harry's life with the Dursleys, probably to help get a feel for how much Hogwarts improves him. In the later films, since the audience already understands, they only make up the first ten-fifteen minutes... if they're even present at all.
51	** Also in the first movie, the Dursleys were portrayed as somewhat over-the-top antagonists, with practically no redeeming features who seemed to take almost sadistic pleasure out of torturing Harry. While no more likeable in the later films, the Dursleys (at least the parents, Dudley always remained a bit of a jerk - at least, without the inclusion of the deleted scenes) became a bit more human in their portrayal.
52	** The CGI Voldemort face seen on the back of Quirrell's head in the first movie looks completely different from the Creator/RalphFiennes version seen in the fourth movie onwards. First-movie Voldemort even (gasp!) has a nose. Voldemort's voice is different as well, since he was voiced in the first movie by Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell.
53	** In the fourth movie, Krum under the Imperius Curse is depicted with MindControlEyes and groaning zombie-like mannerisms. In ''Deathly Hallows'', the curse is depicted TruerToTheText, with victims being blankly smiley and not having whitened eyes.
54	* There are significant differences between the first ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'' and the rest--and more broadly between the first two films and the later ones:
55	** The entire conception of what the Cenobite realm ''is'' changes significantly. In the first film, the realm is never directly called "Hell." The idea that it's a Hell-like place is arguably hinted at in the title and some of the dialogue, but it's never given as the realm's official name. The realm is simply an alternate dimension featuring monstrous creatures that torture people and reconstruct their bodies indefinitely; furthermore, the victims enter the realm voluntarily (even if they don't realize what they're getting themselves into), while alive. There is no suggestion that it's a place where people's souls go after death, and the central theme of the realm isn't punishment but sadomasochism. The Cenobites describe themselves as "explorers in the further regions of experience: demons to some, angels to others." This sentiment is echoed by Frank when he says the puzzle box opens "doors to the pleasures of Heaven or Hell" and that "The Cenobites gave me an experience beyond the limits: pain and pleasure, indivisible." Only by the second film do the Cenobites start to refer to the realm as "Hell," and as the series continues, the realm begins to more closely resemble the traditional Western concept of Hell. For example, in ''Film/HellraiserHellseeker'' we see that a character we know is in the Cenobite realm also has a corpse on Earth--implying his physical body never entered the Cenobite realm, only his spirit or soul did after he died. The first film never suggests the Cenobite realm isn't part of the physical, material world or that the victims didn't bring their actual physical bodies there. More broadly, the later films deal heavily with the theme of people paying for their sins, whereas the theme of sadomasochism is largely set aside.
56	** In the first film, Pinhead is unnamed and simply described as "Lead Cenobite" in the credits. The name "Pinhead" was coined by the makeup crew and does not appear in the dialogue until the third film.
57	** Pinhead had only brief appearances in the first two films and was not intended to be the series' primary villain. But due to the character's popularity with fans, he was [[BreakoutCharacter upgraded]] to main character in the third and fourth film. Ironically, in the later, direct-to-video sequels he went back to cameo-sized appearances (a reflection of their being [[DolledUpInstallment Dolled Up Installments]]), although he is still implied to be the dominant figure among the Cenobites.
58	** Pinhead's characterization and motives change from the BlueAndOrangeMorality of the first film to [[ForTheEvulz more outright evil]]. It is not until the third film that he's shown to be a mass murderer. The retcon explanation is that the separation between Pinhead and Eliot causes Pinhead's evil to be fully unbound, whereas their unification keeps Pinhead's evil in check. But this is quite different from the way he's presented in the first film, where it's heavily implied that Earth-like notions of good and evil are simply irrelevant to the Cenobites.
59	* ''Film/{{Hop}}'' was Illumination's second film, at which time they were leaning toward becoming a label for family films in general, not just computer-animated feature films. To date, this has been Illumination's only live-action film and the only film to have no involvement from their in-house, Paris-based animation studio.
60	* ''Film/TheHungerGames'': There is a considerable number of differences between the first film and its sequels, because the directors are different (Gary Ross departed after the first and was replaced by Francis Lawrence).
61	** The camerawork is by far the biggest difference. Ross employed JitterCam that fits the reality TV feel of the Hunger Games, but which can sometimes feel amateur or unprofessional, while Lawrence used a steady camera. This is the reason why the first film had a significantly lower budget ($78 million) compared to its sequels ($125+ million each).
62	** District 12 is portrayed as much more rural and barebones in the first film, like a town in the middle of the Great Depression, while later films show far more mechanization and infrastructure.
63	** In the first film, the Peacekeepers are equipped with modern riot control gear. The sequels would have them wearing fully-enclosed armor.
64	** The Capitol's tacky fashion is more bizarre in the first film, with the AmazingTechnicolorPopulation of the books being fully represented. Effie dons a chalky, full-body makeup that she never uses again in the sequels.
65	** Buttercup is portrayed as a piebald cat in the first film, and the book-accurate ginger cat in the sequels.
66	** Katniss is brunette in the first film. For the sequels, Creator/JenniferLawrence dyed her hair black, making it closer to Katniss's appearance in the books.
67	* The ''Film/JamesBond'' films:
68	** If you watch ''Film/DrNo'' after other ''Film/JamesBond'' films, it'll be a shock: it's a hard-boiled detective story instead of a spy action thriller - mostly because the budget was low. The fight scenes and car chases are rare and short; the only gadget per se is a mook's CyanidePill (Q - here, Major Boothroyd, and not played by Creator/DesmondLlewelyn - only appears to change Bond's gun). Even the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q9QyChJeNU opening sequence]]'' is all wrong. It starts with a series of weird electronic beeps, and the familiar theme doesn't play until Bond shoots the gun barrel, and it starts on the wrong cue (the big dramatic part of the song, instead of the actual intro). Then the barrel wiggles down to the bottom of the screen and the opening scene wipes in from-- oh? No, it moves on directly to the opening credits while still playing the Bond tune, over some colorful dots appearing all over the screen. Then it jarringly switches to some upbeat salsa music (not a theme song including the movie's title) over some colorful silhouettes of people dancing for a minute or two, when it again suddenly switches to a salsa rendition of "Three Blind Mice" over the silhouettes of the title mice, which then fade into the actual opening of the movie. To call that opening schizophrenic is being a little too kind to it. In fact, the music-video Bond titles didn't appear in their best-known form until ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''.
69	** Both ''Dr. No'' and ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' featured Bond flirting with Sylvia Trench early in the film before being called away for the mission. This was intended to be an ongoing RunningGag, but was dropped after the second film. The romantic tension would then shift to Bond and Miss Moneypenny.
70	** Desmond Llewelyn's first appearance as Q in ''From Russia With Love'' is noticably different than later appearances. He shows up to M's office to brief Bond on his new attaché case, with Bond using care to learn how to operate the gadget. Starting with ''Goldfinger'', the two would become known for their bickering banter.
71	** Creator/RogerMoore in his [[Film/LiveAndLetDie first outing]] as Bond is much colder and darker than the comedic tone he would be remembered for. [[Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun His second]] is still on the way, with Moore admitting scenes such as Bond interrogating a woman by nearly breaking her arm felt like they were still writing for Creator/SeanConnery.
72	* The first ''Film/LethalWeapon'' movie, before the series embraced its comedic elements, is much darker, with moody sax music, and a bit of a FilmNoir vibe. This is somewhat justified by the fact that Martin Riggs, the main source of humor in the sequels, is always on the verge of killing himself in the first movie. His suicidal tendencies and self-imposed isolation overshadow his more comedic tendencies. Once he becomes part of Roger's family, [[CharacterDevelopment he lightens up considerably]].
73	* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' keeps with the books by having Bilbo non aging because of his possession of the One Ring and has him being played by Creator/IanHolm in both the actual time and the flashback to back when he got the ring. Once ''Film/TheHobbit'' trilogy was made this was ignored in favour of having Bilbo being played by the younger Creator/MartinFreeman.
74	* The first ''Film/MadMax1'' movie is very different from those that followed. It is [[JustBeforeTheEnd not postapocalyptic]], and Max spends most of it as a happily married family man with wife, child and job rather than the lone nomadic warrior of the wastelands he later becomes. The film is also very [[ToneShift different in tone]], relying more on slowly building suspense with only occasional, brief action sequences.
75	* ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' started, or at least inspired, Creator/{{Disney}}'s [[Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes trend]] of making {{Live Action Adaptation}}s of their Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. Despite this, it is extremely different from the other titles. ''Maleficent'' is obviously an AlternateUniverse PerspectiveFlip take on ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty''. It contradicts the original film in location (Scotland instead of England), [[AdaptationNameChange names]] (Diablo's name, and all the fairies have different names, in ''Maleficent''), and most of the characterization of both [[AdaptationalHeroism the title character]] and [[AdaptationalVillainy King Stefan]]. Starting with ''Film/{{Cinderella\|2015}}'', the films instead became more straight adaptations. They follow the original films more accurately, while still being more realistic than the originals and having their fair share of differences.
76	* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
77	** The series' infamous usage of TheStinger took a while to be standardised. All the Phase One films leading up to ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'' only feature one stinger. What would've been ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk\|2008}}'''s stinger takes place just before the credits due to ExecutiveMeddling, and was the only MCU film to lack a true stinger until ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' also foregoes an original scene in favor of showing a trailer for ''The Avengers'' after the credits. ''The Avengers'' is the first film to feature the now-standard format: a mid-credits SequelHook and a more humorous post-credits scene, but even then it took until ''Film/AntMan1'' for that to become the norm.
78	** Movies from Phase Two and onwards are known for their more lighthearted tone and flinging themselves unashamedly into fantasy, whereas the Phase One films were more serious in comparison and subscribed to ClarkesThirdLaw.
79	** Also, pre-''Avengers'' entries were prone to get quite violent at times, with ''The First Avenger'' probably being the closest the MCU came to show FamilyUnfriendlyViolence. As the films became increasingly popular with children and the MPAA ratings board became stricter regarding potentially disturbing imagery, the franchise mostly steered clear from portraying bodily harm afterwards.
80	** ''Film/IronMan1'':
81	*** The first entry into the MCU had a few issues which would be retconned out in later films, mostly regarding ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} Agent Coulson introduces himself as being from the "Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division," then saying they're "working on shortening the name." This suggests that it's a fairly new organization but was likely to ease in moviegoers who were unfamiliar with S.H.I.E.L.D., as later installments would show that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been around for decades.
82	*** Terrence Howard plays Lt. Colonel Rhodes, while Creator/DonCheadle would take the role for later Marvel films.
83	*** The film is set during the contemporary War on Terror in Afghanistan, with screentime dedicated to showing his involvement in supplying weapons to the conflict and his StarterVillain being the Ten Rings, a relatively mundane [[MiddleEasternTerrorists Middle Eastern Terrorist]] organisation. The MCU would never again have a setting so deeply rooted in a real-world conflict; the closest it otherwise gets is ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' being set in World War 2, and even so that film still feels the need to feature the fantastical Hydra as its villain as opposed to rank-and-file Nazis.
84	** ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk\|2008}}'', the second MCU film, in many ways is different from the rest of the series:
85	*** Most prominently, Bruce Banner is played by Creator/EdwardNorton rather than Creator/MarkRuffalo as in later films.
86	*** Virtually no reference is made to the events of the film by any later MCU films.[[note]]Banner does make mention of the fact that the last time he was in New York, he "broke Harlem", which is the climax of the film, and the information that Stark reviews in ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'' is filled with clips from the film as well, but no mention of The Leader or the Abomination is ever made. However, while later films mostly ignore this film, ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' namedrops Abomination's civilian identity of Blonsky to state he is still in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody, and ''Series/{{Luke Cage\|2016}}'' features a newspaper alluding to Hulk's battle there.[[/note]] With the exception of Banner himself, only two characters who debuted in the film ever returned for future installments - General Thaddeus Ross, who took eight years to reappear in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', and Emil Blonsky, who took thirteen years to reappear in ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''. Banner has not had any significant interaction with either of them since his debut film. Ross' daughter Betty, Banner's love interest in the film, has never even received a mention[[note]]Aside from a supporting role in an episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 What If...?]]'', which explicitly takes place in an alternate timeline[[/note]]
87	*** The Tony Stark cameo at the end is a ''pre''-credits scene, not mid- or post- as would be the case in all other films.
88	** ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} has an EarlyBirdCameo in ''Film/{{Thor}}'', before playing a much larger role in later films. In his first appearance, not only does he not carry his bow and arrows with him at all times, he even briefly considers picking up a gun rather than a bow when Coulson calls him to action.
89	** The Asgard of the ''Thor'' sequels is so colorful that returning to the first movie it seems very dark, as the scenes there are either fire-lit indoors or AlwaysNight outdoors.
90	** Many of the early films in the ''MCU'' preferred to include MythologyGags for the sake of it and without regard for how they'll fit into the wider universe. The SHIELD example in the first ''Iron Man'' mentioned above is one example of this, but perhaps the most famous example is the Infinity Gauntlet appearing inside Odin's vault in ''Thor''. ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', made while the franchise was hyping up the Gauntlet as of paramount importance and in the possession of Thanos, had to explain that this Infinity Gauntlet was a cheap fake.
91	** While the Infinity Stones would eventually become a major element of the first three Phases of the franchises, they weren't actually mentioned or established until Phase 2. The Tesseract was heavily featured in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'', but was never actually called the Space Stone, nor was there any indication it was merely one of a set of powerful objects. The Infinity Stones would not be mentioned by name until 2013's ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'''s mid-credits scene, while 2014's ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy\|2014}}'' was the movie that finally explained the Stones and their importance.
92	** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' can be dark at times, but in general is much campier and LighterAndSofter than its first sequel. The first movie is also more of a straight-up superhero film with a military backdrop, while the sequel had a much bigger emphasis on espionage and political elements. Basically, ''The First Avenger'' feels like ''Film/TheRocketeer'', while ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier The Winter Soldier]]'' feels more like ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'' or ''Film/ThreeDaysOfTheCondor''.
93	** ''Film/{{Captain Marvel\|2019}}'' and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' are the twenty-first and twenty-second installments in their [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse film series]], but were filmed out of order. Carol Danvers' appearance and design in her solo movie had not been finalized when the time came to film ''Endgame'', and there are some noticeable differences in how she wears her hair and makeup.
94	* ''Film/MissionImpossible1996'': Despite the movie being the TropeNamer for MissionImpossibleCableDrop, which in turn would set the bar for the high concept scenes and stunts of the sequels, the first film is VERY different in tone from them. There are very few action scenes until the end - even the cable drop scene is more tension than action or complex stunts. Ethan's character doesn't have that "larger than life" reputation and presentation the other films give him. It's a much more quiet and psychological film, and when watching the series back to back, its tone clashes with its sequels, which would become better known for their action and stunts. (It helps that the first was made by thriller expert Creator/BrianDePalma, while from the second onward the series went for action-based directors.)
95	* ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'':
96	** The first two films are much darker and more serious than the later sequels. Before [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors the third film]], Freddy Krueger was very much a monster, and he wasn't [[FauxAffablyEvil the least bit humorous]]; when he did speak, it was meant to scare his victims rather than have a laugh at their expense. The early films also have some strange quirks of their own:
97	** In [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984 the first film]], the characters and the credits identify the killer strictly as ''Fred'' Krueger (he's only called "Freddy" in the IronicNurseryTune), he only kills four people, and it wraps up with a GainaxEnding that raises the question of just how much of the film was real versus what was in Nancy's head.
98	** The second film, ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge Freddy's Revenge]]'', is even weirder. The plot revolves around Freddy possessing a teenage boy (complete with a BodyHorror-filled [[TransformationOfThePossessed transformation scene]]) in order to re-enter the real world, something that never comes up again in later films. He also has demon dogs in the real world and the idea that the souls of his victims go into his chest is likewise not brought up in the first two films. It also has mountains of HomoeroticSubtext in the protagonist Jesse's character, his "relationship" with Freddy, and some of the kills (most infamously the gym coach's death).
99	* The first ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' had the two lead actors, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, [[TheDanza using their real names for their characters]]. This is because the film was marketed to be a real footage, which was made easier by the fact that it started out as an indie project before it was picked up by Paramount. After it became a smash blockbuster success and Paramount greenlit sequels, the marketing didn't make sense anymore, hence why characters in future films had different names than their actors.
100	* The original ''Film/ThePinkPanther1963'' was written to be about the thieves rather than Inspector Clouseau. It was in the sequel, ''Film/AShotInTheDark'', where [[BreakoutCharacter the series shifted to focus on Clouseau]], and the recurring characters Cato and Dreyfuss were introduced.
101	* The original ''Film/PoisonIvy'' was a character-driven thriller with A-Lister Creator/DrewBarrymore in the title role, and (here's the kicker) no female nudity at all. The following three sequels were a [[InNameOnly loosely connected]] series of erotic dramas starring B-List actresses, known for their gratuitous sex and nudity...and not much else. In an odd subversion, though, the original is probably the most well-known of the four.
102	* The first two ''Film/{{Predator}}'' films seem to imply that the titular aliens wear their iconic face masks because they need to; that the Predators come from a different kind of atmosphere than ours and have trouble breathing on Earth, thus needing the face masks to offset a major hindrance. Both films take care to have a loud decompressing sound accompany the masks' removal, and [[Film/Predator2 the second]] in particular makes this a minor plot point, with the City Hunter [[OhCrap freaking out]] when it loses its mask, visibly struggling to breath after, and using an emergency oxygen mask-like device to keep standing long enough to get back to its ship. This would also add a great deal of significance to the Jungle Hunter in the first film taking off its mask prior to its final fistfight with Dutch; its a way of [[WorthyOpponent evening the odds between them]], the Jungle Hunter giving itself a disadvantage out of respect towards its adversary. The ExpandedUniverse, however, never really used this idea, with many comics and games showing the Predators continuing to function perfectly fine on Earth without the mask, and [[Film/{{Predators}} the third film]] would likewise have Predators showing no issues when their masks come off (albeit while they're on a different planet from Earth). ''Film/Prey2022'' would put a nail in the suggestion by having the Feral Predator's mask not even cover its full face, making abundantly clear that the only apparent purpose of the masks is a mixture of simple head armor and being ceremonially important. Notably, while the first two films had the Predators need to unhitch some kind of air hoses to remove the masks, many later entries just have them casually remove it without such steps. [[TheArtifact The decompression sound remains]], but no longer seems to have any significance.
103	* The original ''Film/TheProducers'', being Creator/MelBrooks' first movie, is a bit straightforward compared to his later comedies. Particularly, it completely lacks the [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaks]] and MediumAwareness of ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' and ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights''.
104	* While the sequels portrayed Film/{{Pumpkinhead}} as little more than a near-mindless animal, in the first film it could speak, was cunning enough to do things like disable a vehicle and play possum, and was more overtly demonic, doing things like taking the time out to trash a church and sadistically carve a cross into the forehead of a cowering girl named Maggie. Another dropped element was Pumpkinhead gradually growing to resemble its summoner, while the summoner slowly started to look like Pumpkinhead.
105	* ''Film/ThePurge'' is basically ''Film/TheStrangers'' with a different ExcusePlot, a movie about wealthy people, with a cast made up almost entirely of white actors, set almost entirely within a single well-protected household. All the sequels have taken efforts to show several different angles to a Purge night, in a wider variety of settings, and ethnically diverse casts too.
106	* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' has several differences with its successors:
107	** It's the only Indiana Jones film without the name "Indiana Jones" in the title. Though recent boxsets and home releases label the film as "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark."
108	** While it does have its share of gags (such as the famous shooting-the-swordsman scene) and one-liners ("It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage"), it is overall a lot more serious in tone than any of the later films, which feature outright slapstick and screwball elements.
109	** It goes much further than any of the later films in imitating the look and style of 1940's serials and adventure films such as ''The Spy Smasher''.
110	* The ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' films are known as popcorn action flicks about a OneManArmy named Rambo mowing down armies of DirtyCommunists with a heavy machine gun. The first film, ''Film/FirstBlood'', is an anti-war film about the dehumanization of soldiers, which involves a ShellShockedVeteran named Rambo becoming a fugitive from the law after being mistreated by lawmen in the country he served, tormented to the core by his traumatic experiences fighting the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar. This Rambo goes out of his way to ''avoid'' killing, slaying three police dogs in self-defense because he had no other option, and subduing the rest of his pursuers non-lethally because he just wants them to leave him alone. The only person to die is an AssholeVictim who is killed completely by accident, and whose death has major plot significance unlike the {{Mook}}s of later films. When he's brought into TranquilFury / UnstoppableRage by an explosive attempt to kill him and gets a heavy machine gun, Rambo uses it to destroy property and disable an enemy but ''still'' doesn't use it to kill anyone. The one time he seems ready to kill someone, he is met by his former commander who successfully talks him down. It ends on a famous two-part speech about the trauma and mistreatment of veterans delivered by a Rambo who suffers a mental breakdown midway through and starts crying. That's not even mentioning that the film is [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] [[Literature/FirstBlood a book]] that's not only more violent than the film is but has a much less sympathetic take on Rambo than the film does.
111	* ''Film/{{The Ring\|1927}}'' was the fourth film Creator/AlfredHitchcock directed and the second to be released. It's a {{Sports Stor\|ies}}y, the only one of his career. It's the only film for which he got sole credit for the screenplay. It doesn't have any of the plot elements that would become typical of Hitchcock--no crime, no murder, no one WrongfullyAccused, and it isn't a thriller (it's a simple LoveTriangle drama). And he doesn't have a CreatorCameo.
112	* ''Film/RoadToSingapore'', the first of seven "Road to..." movies featuring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, is a fairly typical adventure-comedy movie, and doesn't do much in the way of BreakingTheFourthWall, compared to the later entries in the series.
113	* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''. In the first two films, Jigsaw is a brutal SerialKiller with an interesting MO. Also, the [[Film/SawI first film]] contains very little gore, and the [[Film/SawII second]] only contains a lot of blood, but nothing too explicit beyond that. The TorturePorn that the films became known for didn't really start until the [[Film/SawIII third film]], at which point Jigsaw was toned down considerably into a very deranged man with a tragic past, but [[FromACertainPointOfView with his heart in the right place.]] While still a psychotic villain, he is no longer like the first two films. [[spoiler: That role, instead, gets taken over by his apprentices, especially Hoffman.]]
114	* Creator/WCFields became famous for his portrayals of bitter old misanthropes who hated children. But in early starring vehicle ''Film/SosYourOldMan'', he's a loving, if bumbling, husband and father. Additionally, he's quite a bit thinner and more nimble than he was in later films, and he sports a bushy mustache in this film.
115	* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
116	** ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', in contrast to [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] AND the successive films, featured Starfleet officers wearing [[SpaceClothes very drab, colorless pajama-like uniforms]], with most of its action taking place on a plainly lit bridge. The movie itself was criticized for being rather [[LeaveTheCameraRunning slow and plodding]], and for lacking any human or humanoid antagonist. In the following Star Trek movie, ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and in the original cast movies that followed, Starfleet officers were given crisp, bright red uniforms, and the Enterprise bridge was lit in a more visually exciting way. One could even argue that Trek producers [[BroadStrokes even pretended that ST:TMP never even happened in later movies]]; for example, the Enterprise is shown as being newly renovated and retrofitted in ST:TMP, and then again just seemingly a couple years later in ST:TWOK. ([[StockFootage Mostly using scenes taken from the original]])
117	** ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' was the first ''Franchise/StarTrek'' production to feature the full Klingon language, and so a lot of the word pronunciations are different to how they would sound in TNG onwards -- for example, listen to how Kruge says ''Qapla''' (with a more phonetic sound) just before Torg's boarding party leaves for the ''Enterprise''. The most common explanation for this among fans is that Kruge just has an odd regional accent.
118	* In Creator/StevenSeagal's first film ''Film/AboveTheLaw1988'', he doesn't sport his trademark ponytail. Even more notably, considering his later defining characteristic as an InvincibleHero, his character of Nico gets the shit kicked out of him ''hard'' during the climax, which actually makes his HeroicSecondWind far more believable.
119	* The original ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990'' movie is a good deal grittier than its sequels, with an overall more serious tone and fewer comic-book gimmicks. Yes, there is plenty of humor, but it is there only to underscore the brooding nature of the piece rather than to exist for its own sake. Also the jettisoning of most supernatural elements: Master Splinter and the Turtles themselves have a supernatural origin, but their allies and enemies are all ordinary human beings. Not until ''[[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze The Secret of the Ooze]]'' (1991) do we get to see used as villains the bizarrely mutated beasts for which the cartoon series and the original comics had become famous.
120	* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'':
121	** The [[Film/TheTerminator first]] film is really weird compared to the ones that follow. Chief amongst the differences is that it's a Horror-Action hybrid which borders on SlasherFilm. It also has a much lower budget than the rest of the films, making it look somewhat dated in special effects. And finally, the TimeTravel plot mechanic uses a very closed and fatalistic StableTimeLoop while the rest of the movies run amuck with the TimeyWimeyBall.
122	** The first film implied that all T-800s looked different, as they were designed to infiltrate the Resistance and it's a plot point that Kyle Reese doesn't know what the Terminator looks like and has to wait for it to attack Sarah to find out. But [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Arnie]] became so iconic in the role that they weren't gonna give him up, so in later films, there's a whole bunch of other Terminators with the exact same appearance, including at least three working for the Resistance.
123	** The way a T-800's organic skin covering works also seems to have had a mild retcon; as the first film goes on, the terminator's flesh becomes necrotic and starts to rot, attracting flies and gaining a noticeably putrid stench that attracts flies. [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay T2]] changes this with its T-800 mentioning that its skin can heal and regenerate at least similarly to a human's skin, noting that it will recover from bullet wounds. By Film/TerminatorGenisys, it is a minor plot point that T-800 skin regeneration is so advanced that, given enough time, an ''entire arm'' can be destroyed down to the metal endoskeleton and regrow no worse for wear.
124	* Film/TheThreeStooges started their long and successful run at Creator/ColumbiaPictures with ''Film/TheCaptainHatesTheSea'', a feature film in which they are background players as the band on a cruise boat, and only Larry has a line. Afterwards they'd become stars of their own series of comic shorts.
125	* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'':
126	** ''Film/Transformers2007'' is a more straightforward story with a relatively small number of robot characters (SequelEscalation and SerialEscalation were ''heavy'' in the two movies that followed). Also, while Bumblebee drops Sam and Mikaela out of his vehicle mode before transforming into his robot mode to fight Barricade, the sequels have the transformations fast enough to safely eject any passengers and quickly convert into robot mode in one quick go.
127	** The first film had Cybertronians bleed blue-green AlienBlood (most likely meant to be Energon). The sequels replace it with a red substance that may or may not be ''real'' blood (they're [[MechanicalLifeforms alien robots]], remember).
128	* If your knowledge of ''Literature/Twilight2005'' comes from PopCulturalOsmosis, you'll find the first movie awfully strange. It's essentially a low-budget indie ([[SleeperHit a very successful one]]) and it feels like it. There are only the most basic special effects and it generally just feels "small". In contrast, the sequels had higher budgets, so they feel bigger and have a blockbuster "sheen" which the original lacked. The first film also features no gratuitous {{Fanservice}}.
129	* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
130	** ComicBook/KittyPryde (Shadowcat) is notably discussed in the US Senate in ''[[Film/XMen1 X1]]'' and referenced by Professor X to the President of the United States in ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', but she only had cameos and was played by two different actresses. In ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', she finally becomes an important character with whole sequences that are centered around her, and is portrayed by Creator/ElliotPage.
131	** The first film also features a different actor as John Allerdyce (Pyro) in a brief cameo. John later becomes a major character and is played by Aaron Stanford in the next two movies.
132	** The first movie has ComicBook/{{Mystique}} barely speaking (she has plenty to say in all her later appearances), and Sabretooth is a TerseTalker [[TheBrute Brute]] - a huge contrast to the ManipulativeBastard version Creator/LievSchreiber played in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''.
133	** Mystique also disguises herself as a statue while the X-Men infiltrate Liberty Island. This is the only film in the series where she demonstrates the ability to turn into inanimate objects.
134	** The initial three films also give no indication that ComicBook/ProfessorX and Mystique are related or even ''know each other'', whereas the prequels deal heavily with the fact that they're adopted siblings and are very close.
135	** Creator/HalleBerry gives ComicBook/{{Storm\|MarvelComics}} a hint of an African accent in the first film. Realizing that it didn't sound very good, she uses her normal voice in subsequent films.
136	** Wolverine's trademark HealingFactor seems to be downplayed in the earlier movies: He gets knocked out in ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' when he's shot in the head by some regular cops. In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', Wolverine gets shot multiple times by gangsters with no real effect on him. In ''Film/TheWolverine'' he even survives being nuked in WWII which chronologically sets this event decades before the headshot in the second movie.
137	** ''Film/XMenFirstClass'':
138	*** Creator/MichaelFassbender's ComicBook/{{Magneto}} alternates between sounding ambiguously British and Irish in various scenes. Essentially Fassbender's NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent. The film was envisioned as a ContinuityReboot, [[BroadStrokes mostly]] unconnected to the previous ones. In the [[Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast next movie]], which features CanonWelding with the series, Fassbender matches his accent with that of Creator/IanMcKellen's Magneto.
139	*** Invoked, as the prequel versions of the characters display characteristics that they're implied to grow out of. Charles Xavier sometimes acts like a cocky, womanizing ditz (which is a sharp contrast compared to his ''much'' more subdued and mature persona later on), Magneto doesn't hesitate to use a gun if he likes to (whereas in the previous films, he sneers at firearms with disdain), Mystique is more of a shy shrinking violet who desires to fit in, and ComicBook/{{Beast\|Marvel Comics}} is socially awkward with severe self-esteem issues--you wouldn't have expected that the confident politician in ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' had started his adulthood as an introvert.
140	** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': This prequel seeks to evoke this for the adolescent X-Men. ComicBook/JeanGrey is scared of her powers and isn't in control of them yet, ComicBook/{{Cyclops\|MarvelComics}} is a bad boy and isn't leadership material, ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} is afraid of his own shadow, and Storm is a morally dubious thief who sides with the BigBad.

Context EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / LiveActionFilms