Over the years filmmakers have not shied away from experimenting. Many a time, in order to add spice to the context, characters have been killed and then mysteriously brought back to life. Some have been our favorite characters while some are those who we strongly hate. But almost all of them have been a critical part of the story and these mini-twists have caused huge diversions to the plot.
‘Brought back from the Dead’ doesn’t necessarily mean that the character had actually died. There can be many ways in which a character can be discontinued. One of them is to actually show him as being killed while another can be to make him disappear. ‘Brought back from the dead’ phrase is also used in the case when a character is seen in a particular film/film series after a long gap. And then, superhero movies always provide the opportunity for dead characters’ souls to be resurrected in new bodies. Either way, this adds to the fun and gives the audience something to be surprised about. While, it is done in many movies now-a-days, only very few actually manage to pull it off with class. Here’s the list of 10 characters that were perfectly brought back from the dead.
10. Hector Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Hector Barbossa has been one of the prominent characters in the Pirates series. Known for his rivalry with Captain Jack Sparrow, he has been identified as one of the persons who needs to be immediately killed by Sparrow. So he does in ‘Curse of the Black Pearl’ as Barbossa dies of the curse and the shot wound from Jack’s gun. But to everyone’s surprise, he is seen again in the ending of ‘Dead Man’s Chest’, apparently revived by Tia Dalma, the voodoo priestess to take command of the Pearl when Jack has to be rescued.
9. Optimus Prime in Transformers Series
Although, the strongest Autobot of all, Optimus Prime has died on multiple occasions in the Transformers series, the most brutal and heartbreaking of his deaths remains the one in ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ where in a bid to protect to Sam Witwicky from Megatron, he sacrifices himself. Later in the movie, Sam finds a way to use the All Spark to revive Optimus and manages to do so having a brought-back-from-dead moment himself. I agree that there have been plenty of such moments in this series and it’s not fair to admit only one in this list, but in my opinion, only this one is spectacular enough as it establishes Optimus Prime as the true hero.
8. Imhotep in ‘The Mummy’
The thought itself of an ancient priest buried alive along with beetles for thousands of years and then, woken up mistakenly is terrifying enough. Imhotep was handed this punishment for killing the Pharaoh. Actually, he didn’t die but a nap of thousand years can be considered as death. And when he was awakened, we all know how much havoc he wrecked on the world.
7. Jack Wilder in ‘Now You See Me’
Well, a film about magic is bound to have certain tricks like a man reappearing after dying. As a matter of fact, even its sequel had a certain such moment. The key is to understand how this death in a high-speed car chase misguided FBI to believe that they had the upper-hand. And then, as the mission is over, Jack comes back saying-”Nothing’s ever Locked.” The reason it ranks this high in the list is because it makes excellent use of the element of magic.
6. Letty Ortiz in Fast and Furious Series
It begins when a really serious Eva Mendes asks Dwayne Johnson- “You believe in ghosts?” with a look at a picture of Letty Ortiz. It is later known that she is leading heists while her death, how much ever saddening and close to the heart, didn’t happen. This caused a huge twist in the tale as Dom sets out on reuniting his family and even in the next films, he tries to break the gravestone of Letty Ortiz. (Why do they still have a gravestone for a finely-breathing lady?)
5. Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible:III
Ethan Hunt, considering the kind of work he does, keeps coming close to death all the time. So, probably, it wasn’t too much to ask for the writers actually killed his breath in the third instalment of this action-packed series. While, in an attempt to rescue his wife, he lets himself be taken by the villain, he is injected with this bomb which stops all brain activity and causes his death (technically). Although, soon after, his wife comes and restarts him using the defibrillator. What’s great is how believable Tom Cruise makes this scene look. Although, it didn’t hold a lot of context in the series, still, it’s a very entertaining scene.
4. Jim Gordon in ‘The Dark Knight’
In the film, Jim Gordon cited his family’s safety as the reason why he faked his death. But in my opinion, it was his strategy to surprise Joker and nab him. And we all know how it turned out. Harvey Dent was right when he credited the Gotham’s finest for it. What made it perfect was that people perfectly substituted him in the meanwhile and his absence wasn’t felt so deeply. As you will go further down the list, you will realize that the remaining had to be really too good to beat this one.
3. Harry Potter in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II’
This series has seen many sacrifices on the road to defeating You-know-who. I guess that Harry’s character was questioned to such an extent that J.K. Rowling decided to show how he could do anything to protect those dear to him. And that’s what he did, surrendering to Voldemort and it was logically justified too since he had to kill himself, the last Horcrux. What followed was one of the most emotional moments as Neville Longbottom motivates everyone to put behind their pain and avenge the deaths of the plenty. I always felt that the Harry Potter films lost their touch as the series went on but this moment was sheer brilliance because rather than Harry or Dumbledore, Neville was the one who stole the show with his speech.
2. Neo in ‘The Matrix’
This is pretty much the usual kiss-to-bring-him-back (just like Sleeping Beauty, except for the role reversal) scene but what’s important is the place it holds in the Matrix Trilogy. Smith shoots Neo dead but Trinity tells him that he can’t die because he is the One. Although, there was lack of believability in this scene, Matrix was never about being believable. The hero wins in the end, who cares about logic then.
1. Winter Soldier/Bucky in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel fans were in for a surprise when in the second Captain America film, when Steve’s closest friend James Buchanan Barnes who was rumoured dead for more than 70 years reappears as a Hydra weapon with a strong metal arm. This gave a definitive edge to the character of Captain America as he now faced a dilemma- to protect his old friend or do his duty. The same was highlighted in Civil War too. Sebastian Stan who plays Barnes in the film perfectly depicts the transition from Cap’s friend to a cold-blooded Hydra weapon. This twist is the reason we love MCU films as they started producing films with strong content. Suddenly, these films began to be appreciated by critics too. So, that’s no. 1 on my list.
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