It’s hardly surprising that prequels are so popular, as they tend to feature fan-favorite characters of existing franchises as the sole focal point. And they are becoming increasingly popular today, as studios have even started to focus on villain origin stories.
However, many of these prequels fall into cliches of explaining every tiny bit of lore that doesn’t need an explanation, and even the best, award-winning prequels fall into this trap too. At their best, these story details are unnecessary, and at the worst, the original movies lose value because of them.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
It’s unlikely that anybody in the world ever wondered why Han’s last name was Solo. Like most names, it’s simply that, a name. But in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the prequel went to great lengths to explain what didn’t need to be explained.
Velocicopter puts it best by saying that it was unnecessary and observes that “when you exist in a universe with names like Skywalker and Dexter Jettster and Boba Fett, it’s not inconceivable to have the surname ‘Solo.'” And that was just one of many instances in which Solo pointlessly answered a question that nobody was asking, as it also needlessly explained how he got the dice that hang in the Millenium Falcon.
X-Men: First Class (2011)
X-Men: First Class was a course correction for the X-Men series, as it followed two critically scathed movies in the series and reset the timeline. It was a huge success on all fronts, but there’s one scene that’s so out of place, as the tone is off and features the same comedy as a kids’ morning show.
The scene in question features all the child mutants that were rounded up by Charles and Erik, and they give each other their superhero names. Somnambulist815 thinks it’s the worst scene in the movie. The Redditor thinks that “First Class deciding ‘Magneto’ was a result of a bunch of drunk teens was a little much.” While the 2011 movie is great for the most part, it’s one of the things in X-Men that has aged poorly.
Cruella (2021)
Cruella is a strange movie for several reasons, mostly because it attempts to humanize a woman who skins dogs. However, it still manages to be surprisingly entertaining despite some of its drawbacks, but it also goes into unnecessary details that prequels have gotten into a pattern of doing. And like Solo, the film attempts to give the character’s name a back story.
Mcmcsample explains that “I never felt the need to question why Cruella de Vil was called Cruella.” The explanation behind the character’s name is that it’s a pun on the words “cruel” and “devil.” But the hint was already there, and the fact that it was broken down for fans ruins its mystique.
Death On The Nile (2021)
Of all things to have a backstory, a mustache is certainly one of the most ludicrous. And AstroK120 is most offended by it, explaining that they “really don’t think Poirot’s mustache needed an origin story.” In Death on the Nile, the follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express, it once again sees the iconic Detective Poirot solving another murder, but before audiences are thrown into the fascinating mystery, they’re are given the unnecessary origin.
The prologue explains that his mustache is a result of hiding facial lacerations after being in an explosion in World War I. In fairness, it’s an incredible, almost two-layered mustache, with it looking like one mustache sits on top of another. But that still doesn’t mean it warrants an origin story.
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)
There are loads of young Indiana Jones movies, but though it might not be a complete prequel, none of them reach the highs of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade‘s opening sequence. River Phoenix played the younger version of Indy perfectly as he was being chased on a circus train full of animals and lizards.
However, ToyVaren has a problem with the fact that it explains “the scar on Harrison Ford’s chin,” as he accidentally whips himself in the face. In fairness, not only does it explain the actor/character’s chin scar, but it also explains his fear of snakes and how he got his fedora, which all happened in one morning of the character’s life.
Black Widow (2021)
Being yet another example of a prequel explaining why the hero came to wear what they do, Black Widow is possibly the very worst example of that. When considering answers that viewers didn’t need questions to, Also_roses explains that “where Black Widow gets her vest for Avengers: Endgame was the first thing that came to mind.”
As great as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, it seems as if Marvel Studios was a little deluded in believing that Black Widow’s jacket was remotely iconic. At least Indy’s fedora is a staple of the character, but nobody had once even considered Natasha’s attire to be so tied to her character.
Joker (2019)
Just like Cruella, Joker is an origin movie about a villain that attempts to humanize them, and it falls into the same trappings that origin movies can’t escape. Jelatinman puts it best by explaining that “Joker did not need to be the origin of Batman.”
For what feels like the 100th time, audiences once again had to sit through Bruce Wayne’s parents’ death and Martha’s pearls being ripped off her. However, it does leave open the possibility for Batman to be introduced in a potential sequel, though it’d have to be set a decade or two later.
Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
No other series has been more ambitious when it comes to prequels, as George Lucas made three movies to essentially explain one plot point in the original Star Wars movies. And while there’s so much about the prequel trilogy that fans can nitpick over, Hungry-Paper2541 thinks the worst revolves around Emperor Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith.
The Redditor explains that “how Palpatine got his scars was a stupid one. Took all the mystery out of that character in Return of the Jedi.” While Revenge of the Sith was the perfect finale for the Star Wars prequel trilogy in a lot of ways, the explanation of Palpatine’s scars is one of the many examples of how there’s no mystery or wonder in the franchise anymore.
Captain Marvel (2019)
The way Captain Marvel used the 1990s was so effective, whether it was the use of the time period’s music or a heavily-featured Blockbuster store, which parents probably had to explain to their kids after the film ended. But with it being set years before every other MCU movie (except for Captain America: The First Avenger), along with being Carol Danvers’ best friend, there are some misguided reveals about Nick Fury.
One Redditor doesn’t like “the revelation of Nick Fury’s eye in Captain Marvel, which is just a joke” The reveal is literally a joke, as the reason for his scars and being blind in one eye was simply because of a cat scratching at him, which was just thrown in at the end of the movie for a gag.
Prometheus (2012)
There was so much hype surrounding Prometheus, and as the marketing for the movie questioned who life’s creator is, audiences were expecting Ridler Scott to give them the answer to the meaning of life. So it led to inevitable disappointment when it turned out to simply be about the Engineer, the pilot of the ship found in Alien.
Anders_gustavsson posits that “Nobody, absolutely nobody wants to know the backstory of the chest burst ‘Engineer’ that is found in the first film.” While it is interesting to see how the xenomorph was brought into life, a full-length prequel wasn’t remotely necessary.
