Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Will Feature Yoda, Other Surprising Returning Personalities

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Will Feature Yoda, Other Surprising Returning Personalities

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge promises to open up a new corner of the Star Wars universe. It creates an outpost on a planet at the edge of wild space where guests will be able to interact with new characters, eat new food, and experience all new attractions. However, it wouldn't be Star Wars if the new land didn't also include those elements of the franchise that we're familiar with. At the recent Star Wars Celebration it was revealed that several classic characters will appear in the new land, including Jedi Master Yoda.

Of course, since the time period for the new Galaxy's Edge land is set in the era of the new trilogy, don't expect to actually see Yoda anyplace in the new land, except possibly as merchandise. Yoda has been long dead by the point in which this part of the story is taking place. However Chris Beatty, the Executive Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering did reveal that Yoda would be heard someplace in the new land, and that Yoda's voice was being provided by Frank Oz, the voice of Yoda throughout all of the films.

Exactly how the voice would be heard wasn't revealed. It could be part of one of the E-ticket attractions inside the new land, though neither of them strikes me as particularly Jedi enough to make Yoda make sense there. Perhaps Yoda will help guide you as you build your own custom lightsaber, which will be something you'll be able to schedule for yourself in one of the Black Spire Outpost shops.

However, Yoda isn't the only classic voice who will be returning for Galaxy's Edge. Fans of the original Star Tours will remember the pilot, named R3x, who was voiced by Paul Reubens. While the current version of the attraction doesn't have R3x flying, Galaxy's Edge will have the character back, as a DJ at Oga's Cantina.  Margaret Kerrison, Story Editor at Walt Disney Imagineering says the new R3x is going to be a lot of fun...

We worked with so many incredible voice-over actors. One of the ones that we definitely wanted to bring back was Paul Reubens. We were super excited to bring him back and nobody was more excited than Paul. He was really great to work with. He really, really was. He brought in a lot of inspiration and new lines for us. Let’s just say you will be thoroughly entertained in Oga’s Cantina.

Reubens apparently recorded a lot of new dialogue for his new role, where he'll be playing a lot of brand new music written specifically for the land. Some of that music is being attributed to the band Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, which is the group more widely known as the "Cantina Band" from Star Wars: A New Hope. Take a listen to some of it below.

One more classic Star Wars character who will be seen at Black Spire Outpost is the alien Nien Nunb. First seen as Lando Calrissian's co-pilot during the attack on the second Death Star in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Nien Nunb was seen as an X-Wing pilot in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he's also a background character in Star Wars: The Last Jedi who survives until the evacuation on Crait.

Nien Nunb will also appear in Galaxy's Edge in some capacity, and he will be voiced by the same man who gave him a voice back in Return of the Jedi, even though, according to Galaxy's Edge project lead Scott Trowbridge, making that happen was a little bit tougher this time around...

I love this story because Nien Nunb, when he was voiced in his original appearance, was voiced by a young man who was a student in the bay area at the time. Actually, was from Kenya. He spoke a unique dialect and had a unique sounding voice. But then, time passed and the gentleman, whose name is Kipsang, went back to Africa. We kind of lost track of him. But when we decided we were going to bring Nien Nunb back for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, we actually went to Kenya, tracked him down, to record the original voice actor for Nien Nunb to play in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge because that’s the kind of thing you want us to do.

All of these characters get added to the list of Star Wars characters we already knew would be appearing. All of the main heroes and villains of the current trilogy will also appear on Batuu. We'll see Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and even Kylo Ren as part of the Rise of the Resistance attraction. Fans of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series will meet an incredibly life like animatronic of Hondo Ohnaka

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge will also see new music written for it created by John Williams, the man who has written nearly every note of music for the galaxy far, far away. It won't simply be ambient music throughout the land, as that would potentially break the illusion that you actually standing on an alien world. I'm sure, however, that Disneyland and Walt Disney World have found plenty of other ways to include the music.

Whatever your level of love for Star Wars, there's going to be so much going on in Galaxy's Edge that you're going to find something that strikes a chord. Disney never gives the entire game away and with all this announced only slightly over a month before the new land opens, there's almost certainly more to see and hear that we don't know about yet.

We'll find out when Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens at Disneyland on May 31 and at Walt Disney World August 29. If you want to guarantee yourself access to the new land, you'll need to book a Disneyland Resort hotel stay during the land's first three weeks, as that will get you a no-cost reservation to enter Black Spire Outpost.

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The Battle For SPECTRE - The Rights War That Complicated James Bond For Decades

The Battle For SPECTRE - The Rights War That Complicated James Bond For Decades

Time and time again, we’ve seen issues surrounding intellectual property rights complicate everything from a film’s production to its theatrical release. But some cases are so complicated that they don’t simply go away after the cameras are packed and the posters are removed. And in the case of most other areas of his expertise, nobody does complicated rights better than James Bond.

What started as an idea for a film became a flashpoint of massive legal proportions that, until recently, left the 007 franchise without the usage of one of its most iconic bodies of villainy for quite some time. With the resolution of this conflict still pretty fresh in recent history, and Bond 25 currently in production, the battle for SPECTRE’s very place in the series’ canon is a vital piece of history to revisit.

What Is SPECTRE?

In the history of the film adaptations to Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, the most formidable threat to the world was the SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion. Known as SPECTRE for short, it was the one stop shop for villainous personalities like Dr. Joseph No, Auric Goldfinger, and most notably Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the leader and “Number One” in charge of SPECTRE’s operations.

SPECTRE and its personnel were used in the films intermittently, starting with 1962’s series starter Dr. No, with 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever marking the supposed end of the organization and the one true death of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. It wasn’t until 2015’s Spectre that the James Bond series would reintroduce both that character (through the casting of Christoph Waltz), as the rights issues surrounding the creation and implementation the man and his legacy were subject to legal challenges that weren’t easily circumvented.

The Movie That (Almost) Started It All

When author Ian Fleming looked towards turning his literary franchise into a box office hit, Thunderball was originally considered to be the first film to do so. The eighth novel in his series, his 1961 book was a creation that drew on a rather controversial source: an original screenplay that was written between himself and screenwriters Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham in the late 1950s. While Fleming eventually decided to distance himself from the writing process, McClory and Whittingham would finish the screenplay, which eventually got its title from Ian Fleming himself.

After reading the finished novel before publication, McClory felt that Ian Fleming had plagiarized the screenplay of Thunderball for his novel. Even with some differences separating the two projects, one such difference being the alleged creation of SPECTRE to stand as the villains, Kevin McClory tried to stop the book from being published. While that tactic failed, McClory eventually pursued further legal action that granted him the literary and film rights to Thunderball, leaving Ian Fleming with the rights to the novel he wrote from its screenplay.

The End Of SPECTRE

With Kevin McClory owning the rights to Thunderball, this kind of threw the question of who created SPECTRE into the air, with McClory and Ian Fleming being the two parties the issue landed in-between. In the end, while the matter wasn’t officially resolved, Ernst Stavro Blofeld would make his final appearance in Diamonds Are Forever, with SPECTRE not even being named in the film at all. While there were intentions to use Blofeld and his criminal enterprise in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, McClory was ready with another injunction to prevent this from happening.

Instead of fighting another court battle to continue, the film was altered to omit the organization and its leader, opting instead for an original character, shipping magnate Karl Stromberg, as its villain. Though turnabout was fair play at that same point in Bond history, as Kevin McClory and Sean Connery had worked on a story entitled Warhead, which would be the first of several attempts to revive Thunderball in his own image. With the rights firmly in his hands, it was only a matter of time before he tried again.

The Remakes That Stoked The Fires

Sure enough, Kevin McClory would go on to two more attempts at remaking Thunderball in his own way image. The first was 1983’s Never Say Never Again, in which James Bond and Ernst Stavro Blofeld fought for custody of two nuclear warheads yet again. And oddly enough, Sean Connery was convinced to play the character of 007 yet again, after famously saying he’d never return after Diamonds Are Forever. With this film being released in the same year as the official Bond series’ Octopussy, there was obviously a competition between the two films. Ian Fleming’s estate attempted to prevent such a race, but lost their bid to stop the film’s release. In the end, the two films only saw a $27.5 million difference in their grosses, with Roger Moore’s official James Bond movie winning out.

The second, and final, time that Kevin McClory would try to remake his intellectual property was with the film known as Warhead 2000 A.D. With Sony spurring him on in hopes it could create further competition with its own James Bond franchise. But, much as McClory prevented MGM from using SPECTRE and Blofeld for The Spy Who Loved Me, the studio was able to successfully prevent Kevin McClory from achieving his goal, through a deal with Sony. If the film had progressed, there would have been a chance that either Timothy Dalton or Liam Neeson would have played the role of Bond. But alas, it was never meant to be.

Reuniting Bond and SPECTRE

It seemed that the true James Bond series would never see SPECTRE again in its lifetime. Even Albert Broccoli and EON Productions, the parties that practically ran the show with MGM, thought it to be so. Nowhere was that clearer than in the bold statement they made in the prologue to For Your Eyes Only. With a huge action sequence that saw Bond tormented by and dispatching of a bald man sitting in a wheelchair with a white cat in a smokestack, the message was clear: that contractually complex character is dead, and they didn’t need him anymore.

While the series would eventually move on for decades without official use of SPECTRE or its main villain, circumstances eventually saw those rights landing with MGM and EON Productions once more. After Kevin McClory passed away in 2006, his family would move on to the point where they sold the rights to the intellectual property he held onto through the rest of his life back to the studio. So it came to pass that in 2013, SPECTRE became a part of the official 007 playground once again, just in time to tie the organization in with its modern counterpart, Quantum, in the 2015 film named for this shadowy group of newly restored evil.

At this point, the only way that Ernst Stavro Blofeld won’t return would be due to Christoph Waltz not wanting to portray the character again. Though if the history of Blofeld has taught us anything, it’s that he can always be rewritten for a new actor through cosmetic surgery. It’s worked for him in the past, though if the casting of Rami Malek goes through, it seems unlikely that this route is going to be taken. But at the very least, SPECTRE will be around for any future villain to take their place in, ready to use its apparatus to make James Bond’s life a living hell.

James Bond will return in Bond 25, when it hits theaters on April 8, 2020.

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Oscar Isaac Teases Lots Of Poe And Finn Scenes In Episode IX

Oscar Isaac Teases Lots Of Poe And Finn Scenes In Episode IX

The relationship between Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and John Boyega’s Finn was one of the highlights of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and, depending on your perspective, something that was missing from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The two heroes each had their own stories in the sequel trilogy’s middle chapter so we were denied their fun dynamic together. Fear not though, because Poe and Finn are set to have lots of scenes together in Star Wars: Episode IX as Oscar Isaac teased:

I think the one thing I can say is that it has been the most fun for me, particularly working with John Boyega because we have just had so much more to do together and we just really connected in a great way. It was really a wonderful way to finish it for me because John was the first person I met right when I screen-tested. It was just with me and him. So it just felt like a real full-circle thing.

Oscar Isaac couldn’t reveal much about the ultra-secretive Star Wars: Episode IX in this interview, but what he could reveal should be welcome news for fans who love the bromance between the Resistance pilot and the former Stormtrooper. He told Metro that he and John Boyega had so much more to do together in this film, which makes it sound like the two characters will share more scenes together in this final chapter in the Skywalker Saga.

We don't know the precise plot of Episode IX, but with Finn poised to take on a real leadership role in the Resistance and Finn finally committing to the fight himself, it makes sense that these two would be working together more closely than they did in The Last Jedi when Finn was off on his Canto Bight escapades.

It seems the two actors really connected and had a good relationship, so having the opportunity to reunite with John Boyega to bring "full-circle" closure to what they started together in The Force Awakens was quite rewarding for Oscar Isaac and simply made for a more fun filming experience. Their reunion also allowed the actors but not necessarily the characters to go out on a high note, although hopefully it's a characteristic that extends to the final film itself.

The Triple Frontier actor has said before that Episode IX was the most fun to film of the trilogy because of the looseness and energy on set, but now we know it was also because Poe got his friend back. This will no doubt reignite the flames of the Poe/Finn shipper fire, a fire that Oscar Isaac himself has stoked on occasion, but they may have to deal with a third wheel in Daisy Ridley’s Rey.

About a year ago we heard that Star Wars: Episode IX may not separate Rey and Finn, so if true, maybe the entire trio goes off on an adventure together or Finn is with Rey for part of the movie and Poe for other parts. Whatever the case, the duos of Rey and Finn and Finn and Poe have great interplay together and Episode IX can only benefit from more of that.

This is just the latest thing that Oscar Isaac has said that is a positive sign for J.J. Abrams’ film. The actor has said that Episode IX is a fulfilling end to the 9-film Skywalker Saga and that fans will be blown away. He clearly really enjoyed making this last movie and has genuine enthusiasm for what they made.

Hopefully we’ll get a better idea of what that is pretty soon. We are still awaiting the title and first trailer for Episode IX, but Star Wars Celebration is less than a month away and there would be no better movie to attach a big trailer to than April’s Avengers: Endgame.

Star Wars: Episode IX blasts into theaters on December 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of this year’s biggest movies and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all your movie news.

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Pet Sematary Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Pet Sematary Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Sometimes dead is better, but not better than getting an early chance to see the new Pet Sematary movie. The 2019 Stephen King adaptation premiered Saturday night, March 16 at South by Southwest, giving lucky critics and fans a first look at the horror movie before it opens wide in the U.S. on April 5.

So far, it sounds like Pet Sematary is a big win. The film highly impressed many viewers, including CinemaBlend's own Sean O'Connell, although he admitted he missed a few little things from Stephen King's original story:

Collier's Perri Nemiroff absolutely raved about the movie, praising directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, along with young star Jeté Laurence as Ellie Creed.

Erik Davis of Fandango praised the film, adding that it should please fans of Stephen King's novel. He also pushed Captain Marvel's Goose out of the way to make room for Pet Sematary's Church -- as if what we really need isn't a buddy movie starring both cats.

Take me to Church! Chris Evangelista of /Film also noted that Pet Sematary isn't 100% faithful to Stephen King's novel, but that didn't damage his opinion of the movie at all. He called it one of the best King adaptations to date.

(The Ramones have a song called "Pet Sematary," if you didn't know.)

Some fans at home -- myself included, I'll admit -- have worried the Pet Sematary trailers may have given away the entire story. Critics like Heather Wixson of Daily Dead tried to put those fears to rest, adding expectations of some major twists.

Since we're talking about a horror film, Meredith Borders of Fangoria emphasized that it delivers on one major requirement -- scares.

Stephen King published Pet Sematary in 1983, and a horror movie adaptation was first released in 1989. We already know from the trailers that this film makes one semi-big change to the source material, but apparently there are more changes ahead.

The 2019 adaptation stars Jason Clarke as Louis Creed, Amy Seimetz as Rachel Creed, John Lithgow as Jud Crandall, Jeté Laurence as Ellie Creed, and both young Hugo Lavoie and Lucas Lavoie as Gage Creed.

Pet Sematary opens opposite DC's Shazam!, which will be some serious competition at the box office. Early estimates put Pet Sematary's opening anywhere from $20 million to $30 million at the domestic North American market. The movie could skew higher after all of these rave reviews -- including promises of secrets not revealed in the trailers -- driving more curious fans to the theater.

Watch Pet Sematary in theaters starting April 5, as one of the many films to keep an eye on with our 2019 movie release date schedule.

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John Wick Chapter 3 Is The Type Of Movie Star Anjelica Huston Usually Hates

John Wick Chapter 3 Is The Type Of Movie Star Anjelica Huston Usually Hates

The John Wick franchise has never been short on talent, but it is getting a major infusion of it for John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum with two Oscar winners, Halle Berry and Anjelica Huston. As a former Bond girl who also was Storm in the X-Men franchise, we’re used to seeing Halle Berry in these kinds of movies, but it is less familiar for Anjelica Huston. In fact, John Wick: Chapter 3 is the type of movie Anjelica Huston usually hates, as she explained:

I don’t like violent movies. But I like this movie. This is a movie about a guy who’s basically avenging the death of his puppy. Jesus, I’m passionate about dogs. It’s a huge thing.

Generally speaking, you’re far more likely to find Anjelica Huston in a Wes Anderson film or voicing a character in a kid’s animated series than in a violent action film. And perhaps that is the result of her distaste for violence. Yet, for someone who doesn’t like violent movies, she really dove into the deep end of the genre with John Wick: Chapter 3.

This franchise is one of the most violent out there (although not especially bloody), with kill counts measured in the triple digits. The actress was cool with it here, and actually likes Parabellum because it isn’t senseless violence, this series started with John Wick simply trying to avenge the murder of his dog.

As a good dog owner who loved his pet, John Wick’s violent response is really quite appropriate given the circumstances, restrained even. Anjelica Huston clearly understands and likes this about the character because as she told Vulture, she is passionate about dogs and actually owns three dogs herself, in addition to a sheep, 13 goats and 5 horses.

Anjelica Huston is clearly an animal lover and that made her like this movie more than most violent fare. Which is kind of a fun contrast considering that in the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, her character the Director, a Russian ballet instructor, incredulously asks Keanu Reeves’ character, “All of this for what, because of a puppy?”

So despite her usual aversion to violent movies, Anjelica Huston signed on to John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabelleum and it didn’t take much convincing for her to do so, as she explained:

Oh God, it’s so easy. Quite honestly, I’m looking for movies that impress me in some way, that aren’t apologetically humble or humiliating like, ‘Band of cheerleaders gets back together for one last hurrah,’ you know. An old-lady cheerleader movie. I don’t like that kind of thing. If I’m going to be an old lady — and I’m sort of touching old lady these days — at least I want to be a special old lady. I don’t want to be relegated to some has-been making a comeback. I hate comebacks.

On top of her affinity for John Wick’s responsible pet ownership, Anjelica Huston seems to also have really appreciated her character in the film. As she said, she likes to play “a special old lady” and while we haven't seen a lot from the Director just yet, she appears to fit that bill and was special enough to impress Anjelica Huston.

The Director appears to be a sage, somewhat sassy character and as a member of the High Table, she has some sort of influence. That John Wick appears to go to her for help means that she may be an old lady, but her years have put her in a position of major power. Basically, she’s cool.

This is in contrast to the other kinds of characters Anjelica Huston would rather not play, ones that are somewhat humiliating, making age into a source of humor or something to be triumphed over and not one of dignity. It’s an understandable opinion to have and thankfully, John Wick: Chapter 3 had a role that was suitable and appealing enough to bring her aboard.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum opens on May 17. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the biggest movies headed your way this summer season.

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Sounds Like Avengers: Endgame Was Always Going To Be The Movie’s Title

Sounds Like Avengers: Endgame Was Always Going To Be The Movie’s Title

When it was first announced, many years ago, it was known as Avengers: Infinity War - Part 2. In time, that vague subtitle was dropped, and the legitimate title reveal was left a mystery. But eventually, the conclusion to the cliffhanger left at the end of Avengers: Infinity War became known as Avengers: Endgame, lifted (in part) from Doctor Stephen Strange’s hint to Tony Stark that he is “in the endgame now.” When CinemaBlend got a chance to interview Endgame co-director Anthony Russo, we asked him flat out if he and his brother, Joe, ever considered any other subtitles for the upcoming Marvel movie, and he confirmed:

Yeah, you know, look, you might get different answers from different people about this. But, my brother and I, we've been very focused on Endgame ever since, you know what I mean? Ever since we started writing those scripts with [Christopher] Markus and [Stephen] McFeely. So yeah, we've been very focused on that. There was never another title.

The subtitle Endgame doesn’t only have to refer to the line spoken by Benedict Cumberbatch before he turns to dust. Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) actually spoke it in this pivotal scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The Avengers can deal with small threats on Earth all day long. Tony knew that the real battle had to be taken to the skies – to the galaxies – if our planet ever was going to feel real peace. So, is that what we are going to see in Avengers: Endgame?

There are subplots that need to play out in this upcoming movie. The Avengers need to avenge the fallen, and make Thanos pay for his crimes. But what if that’s only half of Endgame? In the recent Captain Marvel, we met two significant alien life forms in the Kree and the Skrulls. Could there be a lot more space stuff coming up in Endgame than what we anticipate? Could the team encounter even stranger stuff in the Quantum Realm?

We’re so close to finding out. Joe and Anthony Russo’s pending blockbuster will be the culmination of a journey that began way back in Iron Man, and has powered through the past 11 years with one overarching story, broken in numerous parts. We, personally, can’t wait to see how it ends on April 26. And as of today, tickets for Avengers: Endgame are currently on sale, so be sure to hurry and grab seats at your favorite local theater, before they are all gone.

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J.K. Rowling, George Lucas And 4 Other Creators Who Retconned Movies After They Were Released

J.K. Rowling, George Lucas And 4 Other Creators Who Retconned Movies After They Were Released

Warning: spoilers for several properties, like the Fantastic Beasts and Avengers franchises, are in play.

Telling a basic story requires three things: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sounds pretty simple, but it’s the characters we meet, the relationships they form, and the events they live through or partake in that really put the meat in the sandwich we call a story. And much like a sandwich artist, it takes the right amount of skill to know when you’ve finished your masterpiece, or when it needs a little more work.

However, there have been times when story creators made pretty big reversals to stuff they’d established earlier in their respective canons. We’ve seen it a lot with J.K. Rowling lately, as she’s expanded the lore of her Wizarding World on whims as of late. She’s not the first, and nor will she be the last person to revisit their own worlds of fiction, with a red pen and some big ideas in mind, as you’ll see in the following list of hugest shifts made to pre-existing material, and the folks behind them.

Let's start with the writer who got this list off the ground...

J.K. Rowling

We didn't know a ton about Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series of novels and films, but we did know he had two siblings, a friend named Gellert Grindelwald, and a life full of adventures from his younger years. Slowly but surely, J.K. Rowling has started filling in more of that story, with some rather interesting and contradictory results.

Not only was Dumbledore outed as being gay once the series of books had been completed, with nary a hint or trace of any sort of romance for the venerable Hogwarts headmaster existing in those books, but it was then decided that Grindelwald was the intense object of his affection. That intensity is another change that Rowling has made in the wake of the latest film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Though it should be noted that film had its fair share of surprises, as it decided to throw another Dumbledore sibling into the works, and we'll see how that storyline plays out in Fantastic Beasts 3.

The Russo Brothers

Alongside writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, Joe and Anthony Russo have had the run of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and plotted its fate up to their final film in the universe, Avengers: Endgame. But the details that came out after the film had dropped, as well as within the film itself, have made some of the most recent history of the series feel a little weird. Most importantly is the whole plot twist that now instead of Captain America and Sharon Carter being a cute one-off romance that now seems like a creepy moment between uncle and niece.

Not to mention, that Hulk’s damage to his arm is permanent, despite no further mention of it being made throughout the rest of Avengers: Endgame whatsoever. (I guess we're just supposed to compare' Hulk's damage to Thanos'?) Most revealing of all these off screen changes was the fact that in between the release of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, major characters like Shuri and Aunt May were dusted off screen.

There was always bound to be some random, off camera folks who were sent away in Thanos’ Decimation, but with characters so notable suffering that very fate, it was a bit of a shock to find out that those we thought were safe turned out to be dusted through interviews and trailers released after the fact.

Sylvester Stallone

Looking to end the Rocky series on a high note, creator/star Sylvester Stallone cooked up the scenario to end all scenarios with Rocky V. Taking one last fight, the underdog-turned-champion Rocky Balboa would risk his whole life on this final bout, as he was diagnosed with permanent brain damage and advised never to fight again.

And yet, despite making that decision to take Rocky out of the ring, it would only take 16 years for it to be undone in the name of progress. With 2006’s Rocky Balboa, Stallone basically said that with the medical advancements that had taken place between the films, Rocky was eventually cleared to box again and it wasn’t that serious in the first place.

Though if we’re being honest, Sylvester Stallone’s own version of the perfect Rocky franchise continuity sees only Rocky and Rocky Balboa still standing, as he believed the films to be perfect bookends to one another. So that’s another thing to keep in mind when untangling the twisty nature of the Rocky franchise.

Sam Raimi

With his interpretation of the Spider-Man mythos, and David Koepp’s pen helping do the lifting on the story end, director Sam Raimi’s 2002 debut of Peter Parker’s big screen adventures set the tone for his career as a crimefighter. And it included one of the saddest moments of his entire life: the death of his uncle Ben.

In the version of events we saw in Spider-Man, a random thug holds up a wrestling promoter that Peter found himself cheated by. But as Peter didn’t stop this thug from getting away, they eventually tried to steal Uncle Ben’s car, killing him in the process. However Sam Raimi, along with co-writers Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent, changed one of the most crucial moments in Peter Parker’s genesis as a superhero, when it came time to write the story for Spider-Man 3.

Now, instead of a random thug, the man who killed Uncle Ben was Flint Marko, better known as the villainous Sandman. Only, Sandman wasn’t too much of a villain, as he was only stealing to support his sick daughter, and Uncle Ben’s death was a total accident. While it doesn’t alter Peter’s character all that much, it’s still one of those things that consciously undoes the pre-existing lore so much, you can see how much disarray the franchise was already in with its third of a proposed seven entry series.

Chris Morgan

While the Fast and Furious series has never been known for its economy of story, there is one event that was so pivotal to a fan-favorite character that it had to be shuffled down the timeline into later films. Killing Han Lue may have felt like the right story beat for Chris Morgan’s script to The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift to undertake, but in order for actor Sung Kang’s character to have more adventures with the Torretto crime family, a lot of explaining would need to be done.

In particular, that film’s slot as the third film in the chronological release order is betrayed by the fact the film’s events were eventually rewritten by Chris Morgan to take place between Fast and Furious 6 and Furious 7. Even more baffling is how instead of the Yakuza (or a rival racer) killing Han, Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw was the person behind that heinous murder.

Were Deckard to have stayed a villain in the Fast and Furious series, this might not have been a problem.  With this character being turned into such a hero his whole entire family has been spun off into a new franchise, there are some who are less than forgiving for Chris Morgan’s big switcharoo; which may explain one reason he’s no longer the main writer on the series’ next installment, Fast 9.

George Lucas

It really feels like there’s a precedent with retconning characters named Han. Though out of these two instances, it’s no question that George Lucas’ massive change to the Star Wars universe is the one with the greater impact.

While the original trilogy’s theatrical version saw Han Solo shoot rival Greedo before he had the chance to get the drop on him, the special editions of the film’s 20th anniversary played out rather differently. This time around, the pivotal moment that proved Han to be a badass without remorse saw his murder of Greedo as a result of the luck of the draw, as they both shot simultaneously.

There were plenty more changes that Lucas would implement through not only the special editions of 1997, but also the prequel trilogy he would eventually embark on as a result. Yet out of everything that would change as a result of George Lucas revisiting the Star Wars galaxy, Han Solo’s status as a rogue being reduced to a lucky bastard is one the fans still have a problem accepting to this very day.

They may not be pretty, but these examples of creators retconning their creations into something different than initially intended are prime reminders that any fictional canon can be meddled with at any time. Nothing is ever final, until those who have the power to say so let them be. Remember that the next time you see an ending, whether you agree with it or not, and take comfort that fans and creators both can interpret events in their own special way, with neither owing any fealty to the other.

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