In films and television, characters are often given hype or have a reputation that precedes them, providing foreshadowing before they demonstrate their abilities, or even before they actually appear. Usually, a character shows that their hype and reputation is well-deserved, but there are some instances where a character fails to live up to their reputation, leaving the audiences wondering how they even obtained that reputation, at all.
One prominent example, and the character who inspired me to start this thread, is Sao Feng, the pirate lord of Singapore in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The previews and promotional material for that film featured him prominently, suggesting that he would be a major character in that film, and both the fact that he was played by veteran actor Chow-Yun Fat and that he had a personal grudge against Jack Sparrow certainly helped with that idea, but he died halfway through the film without having accomplished anything meaningful, and he was scarcely ever mentioned again after that, nor were the details of his personal grudge against Jack ever revealed, which was very disappointing, to me.
Another example would be Boba Fett from the original Star Wars trilogy. He first appeared as a bounty hunter whom the Empire had hired to hunt down the Millennium Falcon, and was the only one who had a major role beyond his initial appearance (none of the others ever appeared again in the films). While he obviously could not be as badass as Darth Vader, who is the near epitome of badassery, in my mind, I was expecting that he would have a major fight against one of the heroes before the end of the trilogy. However, during the battle atop Jabba's sail barge, Han accidentally knocked him into the Sarlacc pit. For someone who was supposedly such a skilled warrior, he should never have been caught off-guard like that. I know that he is a very popular character in the expanded universe, but, for the purposes of this thread, he never lived up to his hype in the films.
What does everyone else say about this? Who are some characters in film and television who were greatly hyped but failed to live up to that hype? Please keep in mind that some instances may be spoilers for new or currently-active series, so it may be wise to cover your responses with spoiler tags.
- Angelina Jolie's Malificent character in this past year's Malificent movie was a major letdown to me. All along, we saw trailers of a villainous Malificent (at least that's the way she was depicted) and promises of her "true" story. On top of that, she's arguably the most iconic, evil villain in the classic Disney "princess" movies (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, etc). And then we get to the live-action movie and we are supposed to sympathize with her plight and background story; kind of ruined the character and the hype for me at least (and with a 49% Rotten Tomatoes score, it's safe to say many agree, regardless of how much the film made).
- Venom from Spider-Man 3. There was tremendous hype on a live-action Venom prior to the movie coming out - arguably one of the most popular characters in the Spider-Man universe w/ Carnage. You can argue that the movie itself was a disaster, but Venom had very little screen time and Topher Grace's snarky take on Eddie Brock and the character left alot to be desired. I remember leaving the theater saying to myself, "...was that the cool Venom from the comics?".
- Most of the characters in the FOX TV show, Gotham. For months, FOX promoted this show as knowing all the Batman villains and characters before Bruce Wayne donned the cape and cowl. Well, to me, the most interesting character is Jada Pinkett Smith's Fish Mooney character. I do realize that we're only halfway through the first season, but I consider the series and the character somewhat of a disappointment so far.
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One prominent example, and the character who inspired me to start this thread, is Sao Feng, the pirate lord of Singapore in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The previews and promotional material for that film featured him prominently, suggesting that he would be a major character in that film, and both the fact that he was played by veteran actor Chow-Yun Fat and that he had a personal grudge against Jack Sparrow certainly helped with that idea, but he died halfway through the film without having accomplished anything meaningful, and he was scarcely ever mentioned again after that, nor were the details of his personal grudge against Jack ever revealed, which was very disappointing, to me.
Another example would be Boba Fett from the original Star Wars trilogy. He first appeared as a bounty hunter whom the Empire had hired to hunt down the Millennium Falcon, and was the only one who had a major role beyond his initial appearance (none of the others ever appeared again in the films). While he obviously could not be as badass as Darth Vader, who is the near epitome of badassery, in my mind, I was expecting that he would have a major fight against one of the heroes before the end of the trilogy. However, during the battle atop Jabba's sail barge, Han accidentally knocked him into the Sarlacc pit. For someone who was supposedly such a skilled warrior, he should never have been caught off-guard like that. I know that he is a very popular character in the expanded universe, but, for the purposes of this thread, he never lived up to his hype in the films.
What does everyone else say about this? Who are some characters in film and television who were greatly hyped but failed to live up to that hype? Please keep in mind that some instances may be spoilers for new or currently-active series, so it may be wise to cover your responses with spoiler tags.
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- Angelina Jolie's Malificent character in this past year's Malificent movie was a major letdown to me. All along, we saw trailers of a villainous Malificent (at least that's the way she was depicted) and promises of her "true" story. On top of that, she's arguably the most iconic, evil villain in the classic Disney "princess" movies (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, etc). And then we get to the live-action movie and we are supposed to sympathize with her plight and background story; kind of ruined the character and the hype for me at least (and with a 49% Rotten Tomatoes score, it's safe to say many agree, regardless of how much the film made).
- Venom from Spider-Man 3. There was tremendous hype on a live-action Venom prior to the movie coming out - arguably one of the most popular characters in the Spider-Man universe w/ Carnage. You can argue that the movie itself was a disaster, but Venom had very little screen time and Topher Grace's snarky take on Eddie Brock and the character left alot to be desired. I remember leaving the theater saying to myself, "...was that the cool Venom from the comics?".
- Most of the characters in the FOX TV show, Gotham. For months, FOX promoted this show as knowing all the Batman villains and characters before Bruce Wayne donned the cape and cowl. Well, to me, the most interesting character is Jada Pinkett Smith's Fish Mooney character. I do realize that we're only halfway through the first season, but I consider the series and the character somewhat of a disappointment so far.