Help me identify the transforming film trope
January 19, 2011 7:10 PM Subscribe
Movies where the villain transforms into some super-creature at the end? What are some and what was the first?
I am trying to come up with a list of movies where the villain, portrayed by an actor for the vast majority of the film, transforms into some effects-laden creature at the end for a final battle. Extra kudos if you can help me determine the FIRST time this happened in fiction.
I can think of:
Gary Oldman turning into the spider in Lost in Space
Jeffrey Jones into the Dark Overlord in Howard the Duck
Arnold to the Terminator Skeleton in Terminator
Help me with others?
I am trying to come up with a list of movies where the villain, portrayed by an actor for the vast majority of the film, transforms into some effects-laden creature at the end for a final battle. Extra kudos if you can help me determine the FIRST time this happened in fiction.
I can think of:
Gary Oldman turning into the spider in Lost in Space
Jeffrey Jones into the Dark Overlord in Howard the Duck
Arnold to the Terminator Skeleton in Terminator
Help me with others?
Maleficent transforms into a dragon in Sleeping Beauty
posted by dismal at 7:16 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by dismal at 7:16 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
The wicked step mother (Susan Saranadon?) turns into a giant purple CG dragon in Enchanted.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:17 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:17 PM on January 19, 2011
No battle, really, but how about Bartok turning into a mutated fly in The Fly 2?
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 7:17 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 7:17 PM on January 19, 2011
The TV Tropes page for this is One Winged Angel. Not all of the examples there are from the end of the movie, but many of them are, and it's identified as a common component of the Last Villain Stand.
posted by phoenixy at 7:21 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by phoenixy at 7:21 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Not the first, may be the worst: Dreamcatcher. I DUDDITS!
Early, but probably not the first: The Beast Within.
Maybe the first, depending what you count as effects-laden, and maybe not a villain: The Outer Limits episode "The Architects of Fear" from 1963.
Blade
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:22 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Early, but probably not the first: The Beast Within.
Maybe the first, depending what you count as effects-laden, and maybe not a villain: The Outer Limits episode "The Architects of Fear" from 1963.
Blade
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:22 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Shredder in TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:26 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:26 PM on January 19, 2011
The Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze was the first thing to come to mind.
posted by Green With You at 7:26 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Green With You at 7:26 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ursula in the Little Mermaid transforming into a giant purple octopus.
posted by sweetkid at 7:35 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by sweetkid at 7:35 PM on January 19, 2011
Dang it! Beaten by moments. Shouldn't have double checked the movie title...
Because I still wish to contribute, but am unable to think of any other examples that aren't already listed, how about the opposite thing? Monster that become human at the end of the film: "Death" in The Frighteners.
If animation is allowed, maybe the Other Mother in Coraline? The transformation occurred closer to the middle than end though. Jafar in Aladdin is a better fit.
posted by Green With You at 7:40 PM on January 19, 2011
Because I still wish to contribute, but am unable to think of any other examples that aren't already listed, how about the opposite thing? Monster that become human at the end of the film: "Death" in The Frighteners.
If animation is allowed, maybe the Other Mother in Coraline? The transformation occurred closer to the middle than end though. Jafar in Aladdin is a better fit.
posted by Green With You at 7:40 PM on January 19, 2011
Bruce Willis in Planet Terror.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:42 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:42 PM on January 19, 2011
Wilford Brimley in the Thing. (at least in the original script)
posted by leotrotsky at 7:48 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by leotrotsky at 7:48 PM on January 19, 2011
Extra kudos if you can help me determine the FIRST time this happened in fictionI'll court controversy and cite a very early example of the trope: Revelations 12:3.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:48 PM on January 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the villan Judge Doom, played by Christopher Lloyd for much of the movie, turns into his super powerful cartoon alter ego at the end.
posted by Ashley801 at 8:06 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by Ashley801 at 8:06 PM on January 19, 2011
This is actually a common disney trope: Make Myself Grow
posted by leotrotsky at 8:11 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by leotrotsky at 8:11 PM on January 19, 2011
Extra kudos if you can help me determine the FIRST time this happened in fiction.
What you're describing is somewhat along the lines of the Monomyth, in which at the end of the story, right before the hero can escape and return to the normal world, the stakes are suddenly raised significantly and we see what the hero has been really battling the entire time -- the bad guy is suddenly revealed as being 100 times more of a bad guy than you thought (e.g. Arnold's fake Terminator skin is finally burned off, and we see exactly what kind of an evil robot he really is, and we realize that not even burning his skin off is going to stop him).
In another example, some translations of Beowulf portray the final battle against the dragon as the last "boss battle" unleashed by Grendel's mother.
So, when did this happen first in fiction? I don't know -- how long as fiction been around in human history? ;-)
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:16 PM on January 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
What you're describing is somewhat along the lines of the Monomyth, in which at the end of the story, right before the hero can escape and return to the normal world, the stakes are suddenly raised significantly and we see what the hero has been really battling the entire time -- the bad guy is suddenly revealed as being 100 times more of a bad guy than you thought (e.g. Arnold's fake Terminator skin is finally burned off, and we see exactly what kind of an evil robot he really is, and we realize that not even burning his skin off is going to stop him).
In another example, some translations of Beowulf portray the final battle against the dragon as the last "boss battle" unleashed by Grendel's mother.
So, when did this happen first in fiction? I don't know -- how long as fiction been around in human history? ;-)
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:16 PM on January 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Alien Nation. Bad alien guy seems to OD on alien PCP-like drug, seems to die but then turns into super strong badass alien. Why do I remember such an incredibly mediocre movie from 1988? I have no idea.
posted by sapere aude at 9:01 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by sapere aude at 9:01 PM on January 19, 2011
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) reveals the villain's disfigured face during the climactic fight, but it doesn't make him any bigger or stronger.
posted by RobotHero at 10:01 PM on January 19, 2011
posted by RobotHero at 10:01 PM on January 19, 2011
Tetsuo Shima at the end in "Akira"
Nick Nolte as Bruce Banner's father in Ang Lee's "Hulk"
posted by alchemist at 12:42 AM on January 20, 2011
Nick Nolte as Bruce Banner's father in Ang Lee's "Hulk"
posted by alchemist at 12:42 AM on January 20, 2011
Vera in Superman III (1983) turns into a cyborg.
posted by tavegyl at 1:25 AM on January 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by tavegyl at 1:25 AM on January 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
King Koopa in the Super Mario Brothers movie
posted by Redmond Cooper at 3:55 AM on January 20, 2011
posted by Redmond Cooper at 3:55 AM on January 20, 2011
Not a movie, but the Mayor in Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:07 AM on January 20, 2011
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:07 AM on January 20, 2011
Ken Russell's awesome Lair of the White Worm with sexy Amanda Donohue munching on boy scouts.
posted by JJ86 at 6:07 AM on January 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by JJ86 at 6:07 AM on January 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
The supernatural clown turning into a giant spider at the end of It always struck me as a particularly stupid example of this.
posted by saul wright at 6:17 AM on January 20, 2011
posted by saul wright at 6:17 AM on January 20, 2011
The supernatural clown turning into a giant spider at the end of It always struck me as a particularly stupid example of this
So true!! I have always hated that ending. The story was wonderfully creepy and evil, I was so disappointed at that stupid spider.
The old movie I am thinking of is The Quatermass Xperiment-- the Hammer remake. It is great camp when the astronaut turns into the weird creature at the end in Westminster Abbey.
posted by chocolatetiara at 7:34 AM on January 20, 2011
So true!! I have always hated that ending. The story was wonderfully creepy and evil, I was so disappointed at that stupid spider.
The old movie I am thinking of is The Quatermass Xperiment-- the Hammer remake. It is great camp when the astronaut turns into the weird creature at the end in Westminster Abbey.
posted by chocolatetiara at 7:34 AM on January 20, 2011
The bad guys in the Resident Evil movies always turn into monsters at the end, don't they?
posted by CheeseLouise at 8:39 AM on January 20, 2011
posted by CheeseLouise at 8:39 AM on January 20, 2011
The supernatural clown turning into a giant spider at the end of It always struck me as a particularly stupid example of this.
Unfortunately, that's the way it is in the book. ;-(
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:04 AM on January 20, 2011
Unfortunately, that's the way it is in the book. ;-(
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:04 AM on January 20, 2011
It seems I've seen this a million times. The first example that occurs to me is Hellboy: "Rasputin has one last trick up his sleeve: he is possessed by a creature from the Ogdru Jahad. The tentacled Behemoth bursts out of Rasputin's body, grows to immense size ..."
posted by donpedro at 9:42 AM on January 20, 2011
posted by donpedro at 9:42 AM on January 20, 2011
How about Spawn, where the clown transmogrifies into a demon.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 10:16 AM on January 20, 2011
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 10:16 AM on January 20, 2011
Oh! And how about Heavy Metal, when Hanover Fiste changes into a giant.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 10:19 AM on January 20, 2011
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 10:19 AM on January 20, 2011
Scooby Doo. It's not a very good film, and the transformation seems tacked onto the end.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 10:16 PM on January 20, 2011
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 10:16 PM on January 20, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:15 PM on January 19, 2011