So for this year's top 25 list, I decided to take a look at different franchises to see if different versions of them exist. To my surprise, a number of those versions just so happen to be dark and twisted so I felt as this relates to Halloween, I decided to dedicate this top 25 to the best versions. So the rules are that everything on the list are things I have indeed either watched, read, listened to or played. They all need to be the darkest and twisted that the franchise has ever gone in its entire lifespan. And while the usual rule of one per franchise would be used, I decided to move the limit up to 3 per franchise as there are so many great ones from one franchise that exist (for the comic side of things, solo characters get three as do any that feature more than one character from one comic book company). And once you've seen what I've put on here, you may never look at the franchise in the same way again. Also everything listed is an official version and not fan made. But be prepared for a lot of spoilers to some of your favourite franchises. May also do some mini reviews while I'm at it. So prepare yourselves as we enter the dark and twisted world of beloved franchises:
25 - Disney's A Twisted Tale/Villain Tales series
Since around 2009, Disney have published a series of books that are loosely based on some of their most beloved of films. In the Villains Tale series, we hear the stories and origins of some of our favourite Disney villains (of which there are plenty of) which although may have been told before, we get a version of it that combines all the known stories we have all heard with some new material. Whereas in the Twisted Tales series, we hear stories based on "What If?" scenarios. Scenarios such as what if Aladdin never left the cave of wonders or if Mulan had to venture into the Underworld or even what if Belle never left the prison that the Beast put her in. All the stories are very dark and on the occasion, twisted. Its unlikely that we will ever get films based on these tales (though
Maleficent came quite close to being based on one of them), but knowing that these are Disney tales is probably a good thing considering they have made a number of great villains over the years. But you may not watch or look at these characters or films in quite the same way again after reading these books. Just saying.
24 - Batman Beyond/of the Future: Return of the Joker
So knowing Batman like we do, there are just so many dark and twisted stories of his as well as his allies that it makes it next to impossible to pick three of his most darkest and twisted adventures. So you may be wondering why
Return of the Joker is here. Well as we all know, there are two versions of this film that exist. The unrated version and the more child friendly version (if you can even call it that). Now over the course of the DC animated universe, there has never been more blood or violence than in this film and its all because of one flashback sequence that sees Harley Quinn fall to her presumed death and Joker getting shot in the chest by his own creation; a Joker-fied Tim Drake. And its this flashback alone that foreshadows the return of the clown prince of crime who up until this film was one of the few
Batman villains to have not appeared in the entirety of the show. And with him being the arch enemy of Batman, that alone should have warranted an appearance from him. But despite that, the film I think was the most appropriate and best way to bring him in after being absent for much of the show and despite it being probably the only DC animated universe thing to not be aimed for kids, it speaks volumes to how great it is. 9/10
23 - The Flintstones comic book series
So in an attempt to catch wind of the success that some comics have had in making dark and twisted versions of beloved franchises, DC decided to do the same with the cartoons of Hanna-Barbera and named this initiative Hanna-Barbera Beyond. Otherwise known as the home to some of the most beloved cartoons and The Flintstones is one of them. So what can someone do to turn one of the most influential cartoons of all time into something completely dark and in some areas, twisted. How about making it a political satire which is exactly what these comics did. It tackles a lot of things such as marriage (same and opposite sex), the effects of war, equal rights, hate crime and more. But although it tackles all of that, it does manage to give us a fresh new take on our favourite stone age family without taking away what made them so good in the first place. Its a series that is clearly made for the very earliest generation of fans as well as future generations who came to love it when Cartoon Network and other channels managed to show reruns of it. Its a nice change to the usual shenanigans that we get from this family, but probably one not to take too lightly.
22 - Dexter's Laboratory: Rude Removal
Otherwise known as one of the earliest Cartoon Network originals during its prime days, no one ever thought that
Dexter's Laboratory could ever go the distance to make an episode quite like this. I mean sure Cartoon Network have managed to get away with a lot of cartoons with some dark and twisted moments that may haunt us for the rest of our lives, but never have they showed an episode as literally rude as this. So the episode sees Dexter making a machine that can be rid of anyone's rudeness and makes it in an attempt to get rid of Dee Dee's rudeness. But Dee Dee thinks otherwise causing the pair to fight and accidentally end up in the machine where two pairs of them come out; one is polite and the other is rude. So rude that it goes to the point where all their swearing is bleeped out. Now it has been known to everyone that the episode has seen the light of day as its been shown at various animation festivals and then in 2013 after an overwhelming response to it, Adult Swim uploaded the full episode on YouTube. So maybe it never showed on Cartoon Network, but it did get seen elsewhere. Its only dark and twisted because its something we never ever saw in the show's original run due to it being seen on an otherwise child friendly channel even though the channel in question has shown some dark and twisted stuff unintentionally.
21 - Sonic Unleashed
Lots of people hate
Unleashed for a number of reasons. I could talk about those reasons, but to be honest there is literally nothing else I can say about it that hasn't been said. But it isn't as bad as many fans make out as the day stages would set the standard for most future 3D Sonic games and people loved SEGA for taking possibly the only good thing about
Unleashed and making it the standard for the future of the franchise. So let's talk about why I think
Unleashed is dark and in a way twisted. To begin with, Sonic turns into a werehog at night and is a very different hedgehog to what we are used to during that time. He's a tad more aggressive, more muscular and furrier (not in that way) and can kick some butt in a way that's quite a lot different to how he does it when he's the hedgehog we know and love. It may not be the greatest game of the franchise, but its certainly the darkest that's for sure.
20 - Star Trek: Into Darkness
I think if anything, the name of the film gives away that this is in fact a dark
Star Trek film. But probably more darker than what we are used to. So to begin with, we get a version of Khan who doesn't really make any witty Shakespeare remarks that his original series version did, but is nevertheless still ruthless and ready to do what it takes to achieve his overall goal of getting revenge on Starfleet even though the odds were against him seeing as he believed his crew were all but wiped out (the truth however is that they were in cryogenic sleep). In many ways, this version of him is the reason why this film is in the literal sense of the title bringing
Star Trek into darkness. It deals with terrorism and we get a Starfleet faction that is a semi-fascist xenomorphic warmongering faction. Yeah this really is the darkest
Star Trek has ever gone and it probably won't be the last for better or worse.
19 - The Spongebob SquarePants Movie (the first one)
Yeah even a very light hearted child friendly cartoon like
Spongebob SquarePants can go dark as well. In the first film adaptation (which largely remains faithful to the source material unlike the second film even though the 3D wasn't as big of a deal as the trailers made out), Plankton is far more evil than before to the point where he actually starts to like the idea of King Neptune killing off Mr. Krabs. Then of course there is the many things that Spongebob and Patrick face when on their mission to find Neptune's crown which involves a lot of dark moments. But the biggest one of all is when the pair almost face certain death at the hands of the human Cyclops due to dehydration and the fact that they are out of water. But despite all of that, it is still the
Spongebob SquarePants cartoon we know and love even though its on the big screen, feature length and is considerably darker than the show.
18 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney version)
It goes without saying that Disney have made a number of great and not so great films. When it came to making a film based on
The Hunchback of Notre Dame novel, it seemed to be too much of an impossible task seeing as the novel itself is quite dark and twisted as it is. And yet despite this, Disney made the film with some obvious changes to keep it a family friendly film, but it still remains to this day for being a dark and twisted Disney film that like the novel, is about a disfigured man who just wants to be loved and appreciated by all, but seemingly ends up in a war between Judge Claude Frollo and the so called gypsies that are in Paris. There are moments of death where Frollo twice tries to kill Quasimodo as well as the leader of the gypsies Esmeralda of which he is sexually obsessed with. Then there's some religious stuff involved as well and generally when compared to other Disney films, it's still one of their darkest films. But despite all of that, it does however manage to be much more light hearted and family friendly when compared to the source material, but dark and twisted (in some areas for the latter) nevertheless.
17 - The Incredibles
So recently I played
Lego Incredibles on Steam and then rewatched the film and noticed how many things from the film did not make it into the game. As great as the two films are, they both contain a lot of very dark and mature moments that includes mass destruction, gun violence, electric torture and at least one villain who would be prepared to kill children as well as adults. The second film even had a scene that was way too flashy for most of us to handle. In all honesty, these two films as great as they are, tackle a lot of mature content that in a way is the reason why the franchise has been successful enough to be where it is. The biggest thing that these films do a really good job at is the political side of things. Most films like this would not even care about it too much, but the director Brad Bird made a big deal out of it. So yeah there is plenty to take in when watching these two films.
16 - Torchwood
During the Russell T Davis era of
Doctor Who, there was some talk about there being two spin-offs, both tailored to different audiences. One would be for the younger fans which ended up being
The Sarah-Jane Adventures all about one of the Doctor's most popular companions and her adventures with her young companions, her computer Mr. Smith and K9 which lasted for five seasons up until the passing of Elizabeth Sladen. The other would be for the more mature audiences which ended up being
Torchwood. This sci-fi spin-off is basically
Doctor Who but with more violence, blood, gore and allowances for some nudity, strong language, drug use and sex. The show was about a group of people who have all experienced alien phenomenons and following the values and principles that Queen Victoria set out for the larger organisation to tackle alien threats. But rather than fight them, this team would only ever go that way if there is no other choice of which their leader Captain Jack Harkness learned from his time with The Doctor. It is a lot darker and a lot more maturer than
Doctor Who, but it is a very good show that while only lasted for four seasons managed to be very successful and stand on its own without the shadow of the parent show taking over. However despite how it is, I still believe that the parent show can be dark as well as we will find out later in the list.
15 - Afterlife with Archie
For the world of
Archie, I had a choice of two things. The first was the TV series
Riverdale which itself is based on the characters and settings of
Archie, but with a more modern, realistic and darker tone to things. However as dark as that show is, it is full of heart and a worthy adaptation of the
Archie comics and even has its own companion series which is almost in the same league as the show. So that left me with the other dark
Archie thing and that became
Afterlife with Archie which is basically the world of
Archie but set in an alternate timeline where a zombie apocalypse has arrived in Riverdale following Sabrina's attempt to revive a dying Hot Dog (which ironically is the name of a dog in this universe) at the desperate request of Jughead, only for the dog to turn into a zombie and spreading the virus starting with Jughead. Its quite frankly a massive departure from the traditional things we know and love about
Archie and it was so good that the company decided to form a new brand of comics known as
Archie Horror because of its success. Its probably the darkest that the people of Riverdale can go. Way darker than the TV show any day.
14 - Flashpoint (film version)
You all know my thoughts about this film so I won't go on about it. So I recently read the
Flashpoint comic book and in an attempt to compare it to the film, I noticed a lot of differences. Both stories largely remain the same, but most people had an issue with the murder of Captain Thunder who is comprised of up to five children. That scene alone just shows how different the film is to the comics. Its also very brutal to the point where Cyborg gets ripped apart, decapitation of heads occur, arms chopped off and so many other things that it really is a dark film. And the worst and most horrifying thing about it (although its the same in the comics) is that this was all caused by one Barry Allen, a man who took the mantle of the Flash and people look up to him. Even though it is an all time favourite film of mine, I still find it hard to digest what I see in this film. It is a great film don't get me wrong, but definitely not one to eat popcorn while watching as you may get a bit sick.
13 - Doctor Who (Steven Moffat era)
So I mentioned previously that
Torchwood was a dark
Doctor Who thing, but that's just a spin-off. Many of us may argue about what truly is the darkest and twisted that the show has ever gone. For me it was the Steven Moffat era. Practically everything or most of the things we saw in this era was dark. The story of River Song, the cracks in time and even the fact that every companion the Doctor had in this era got killed off in some capacity. I suppose when we really think about it, the stories Steven Moffat did before he took over as head writer, were dark anyway. So it would be natural that his tenure on the show would feature a lot of dark moments. Plus he also had the honour of making the fiftieth anniversary special which itself was part of a four part story arc that foreshadowed the supposed death of the Doctor, but also gave us a new variation of him never before seen until that fateful day. Say what you want about Steven Moffat, but if there is one thing he did right during his time, it was bringing the darkness into
Doctor Who which although caused some backfire did in fact put the show at its most darkest. Twisted maybe, but definitely its darkest.
12 - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
The seventh main instalment of the series is by far the most darkest and twisted the
Resident Evil franchise has ever gone. Its a complete change of genre while keeping the horror side of things well and truly the main focus. Most of the games up until this one were action orientated while here its just a battle for survival and going through a series of death traps and a whole host of other horrible things. This is truly the darkest
Resident Evil has ever gone and certainly is twisted as well. Some gamers may never look the same again after playing this.
11 - Batman: The Killing Joke
In both versions of the story, its all about the idea of Joker having an origin story that occurs before the accident that changed him forever. But in the present day, he goes to great lengths in bringing torture and pain to the Gordon family. He manages to fracture Barbara and take photos of her naked while attempting to make a naked James Gordon go insane in what feels like a twisted attempt at causing pain at the hands of a Joker that's a monster. Maybe he was more of a monster in the
Arkham games than he is here, but this is still one of the most iconic moments in the history of the Joker. Especially as this also unintentionally leads to Barbera taking on the identity of the Oracle serving as a information broker to both Batman and the Justice League. However there may be another thing on this list that makes Joker far more of a monster than a clown.
10 - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess manga series
Often when we get games from Japan, many of them are accompanied by a manga series which is basically the game but made for those who just want the story without the gameplay. So you would expect it all to be exactly the same as the game. Well unfortunately that isn't the case here at all as the manga for
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is different to the game for a number of dark and twisted reasons. Link's left arm gets chopped off, nudity in the form of naked Barbie doll type nudity is shown, Zelda watches clips of Ganondorf as a child being killed and those are just some of the many things that make the manga differentiate from the game. Yeah you never thought Nintendo would go down this dark path now did you. But of course Nintendo have unintentionally made a lot of dark and twisted moments appear in their games. But you would never expect them to go down this path in books. Its just madness. Although this does come from a company who think its OK to have Mario and his friends fight, race, party and go sporty. A company who put many Nintendo characters in an attempt to have them beat the living day lights out of one another. And the list goes on.
9 - Blackest Night
As part of a series of big events that affect the Lantern Corps,
Blackest Night is exactly what we expect it to be. The DC Universe at a time where the dead have risen and are out to take down their loved ones in an attempt for the Black Lantern Corps (at least their leader anyway) to be rid of all positive and negative life in the universe. All that stands in their way is the Green Lantern Corps. Definitely dark in all the ways it can be. Twisted as well where it needs to be. Its DC's living and breathing heroes and villains against DC's undead heroes and villains. It doesn't get any more darker and twisted than that (well maybe except for one other DC universe).
8 - Civil War comic book version
So we all know the story of
Civil War. The government introduces something that causes all the heroes still alive and on Earth at this point to be divided on where they stand. Captain America finds that this new government thing is wrong and chooses to rebel against it. While Iron Man is in support of it and wants to enforce what the government want to do. Lots of heroes and some villains are forced to pick sides while little old Spider-Man gets thrown slap bang in the middle of this battle that would see our favourite heroes be divided. Most of you may have watched the film version which for obvious reasons, is drastically different to the comic book version but still keeping it as a Captain America VS Iron Man battle all because of a government thing. But the comic book version is very different in that it involves way more characters, is much more serious than the film and there is a definitive winner in the battle at the end with at least one character getting killed off. Still it is what it is and the Marvel universe never looked the same again after it.
7 - Dastardly and Muttley comic book series
In comparison to the
Flintstones comics, this one is also quite dark. I just felt that it had to be higher in ranks because its a very enjoyable read, but also quite a sad one towards the end. More sad than what we saw in the
Flintstones comics. So Dastardly and Muttley in this scenario are air pilots who get exposed to some kind of chemical that slowly turns them into their villainous counterparts and other so called real characters into cartoons. They obviously need to stop it before everyone gets turned into a cartoon. But in the end, we find out that the sad thing of it is that even after saving the world, the characters that turned into cartoons remain as cartoons. Its a very funny story, but also sad enough for me to put it on the list especially as its a nice change to the duo being villains and is a bit more serious than
The Flintstones as far as what's at stake and that the story is world threatening than town threatening.
6 - Injustice comic series and video games
Believe it or not, there was in fact a time where Superman wasn't going to be the hero that many of us would come to love and would instead be a dictator of sorts with a bald head. Many of us are glad that we never got to see this Superman, but the developers at NetherRealm Studios wanted to explore the concept further and so we got a DC universe that feels like the main stream one, but it isn't. Lois Lane has died at the hands of Superman who was drugged and tricked by Joker to believe that what he was fighting was Doomsday. An enraged Superman would then rip the heart out of Joker right in the middle of Batman's interrogation of him causing them both to fall at odds. Then we soon start to see Superman's true colours where he starts to become a dictator and wants to use more killer means to bring peace to the world and remake the world in his image. But Batman meanwhile thinks this path is wrong and opts to not kill but instead deal with criminals in a more dignified way. So naturally both heroes are against each other leading the Justice League to be disbanded and many heroes and villains are forced to choose sides with Batman's team seemingly losing at every turn. That is until he comes across another Earth and brings some of that Earth's heroes to save his world and stop Superman. This is basically what
Civil War would look like if DC did it and for what its worth, its really good. Very different from any other DC thing I have seen or read and one that should be treated as one of the Multiverse just like everybody else.
5 - Samurai Jack Season 5 (aka the final season)
Long ago in 2001, a man known as Genndy Tartakovsky unleashed a great action packed show on Cartoon Network called
Samurai Jack with a plot about the titular samurai trying to find a way home back to the past to stop an evil demon known as Aku. However before the story could wrap up, Cartoon Network finished it after only four seasons with no resolution to the overall narrative. So Tartakovsky spent what free time he could have between projects to try and revive the show. There was a comic book series which he considered non-canon as well as a film project which never came to fruition due to countless delays. So eventually he got some free time, formed a team and made one final season to the show. What made season five different to the rest of the series was that it was following a continuous narrative over self contained (and occasionally two-three part) episodes and was tailored to the fans who grew up with it. The season is set fifty years after season 4 wrapped up where both Jack and Aku have lost their ways. Aku has destroyed the last known time portal and thus prevented Jack from ever returning home as well as tricking Jack into killing living beings over robots (the living beings in question being sheep). But has seemingly decided not to pursue him knowing that Jack could easily kill him with his enchanted sword. However unbeknown to Aku, Jack has lost his sword and the way of the samurai and is just about ready to give up. But things soon change when he decides to kill all but one of Aku's daughters (Aku basically granted a cult some of his essence to create killing machines in the form of daughters trained to be assassins) who chooses to turn over a new leaf once learning of Jack's heroic deeds and helps him defeat a dark and twisted hallucination of his former self in an attempt to revive him and turn him back into the samurai he once was. So basically there is more violence than previously (but not all out senseless violence) and a few sexual innuendos such as the daughter Aashi having a few moments where she isn't wearing much due to her lack of knowing the concept of clothes and the pair having a few awkward but romantic moments. But despite its dark and twisted nature, the big question is does it give us that long awaited but much needed satisfactory ending and the simple answer is yes. I think the show is a very good show with the art style making it look like a work of art over being a cartoon like it was back in its original run. And also unlike many violent cartoons and shows, all the violence isn't senseless and almost always has a meaning towards it.
4 - Deadpool Killology series
So previously, Marvel did a series where it puts the Punisher against other Marvel characters which was very well received. So the minds at Marvel decided to do quite the dark and twisted story that puts Deadpool an otherwise comic relief character known to break the fourth wall into a similar scenario. The scenario being on a more killer level as he goes about killing Avengers, X-Men, solo characters like Spider-Man, Agents of SHIELD, the Marvel writers, characters of fiction and many other characters. All culminating into a final showdown where we find that this Deadpool is actually known as Dreadpool and its up to our Deadpool to stop him before all known Deadpools in the Marvel multiverse are killed. Its probably the most darkest and twisted that the Merc with a Mouth has ever gone and although we may never look at him in quite the same light again, the series was very popular. So popular in fact that later on we would get a sequel where Marvel villains manipulate Deadpool in killing more Marvel characters which this time would extend to the Guardians of the Galaxy all before the Marvel universe has a crack at killing him in a role reversal sort of thing. A funny, but also very messed up series that makes us wonder if a powerful character like Deadpool should be allowed to be free after all the bloodshed he has caused. Could be interesting though if they ever make a film about this series. But we'll see what happens.
3 - Five Nights at Freddy's 4
Say what you will about the FNAF games, but I personally find the fourth game to be quite terrifying. I mean we got a story that ends with a kid being violently hurt by one of the anamatronics. The actual anamatronics look terrifying and nightmarish. And its also a big change to being in the security room and instead play a little boy in his bedroom trying to scare the monsters away. That's how dark and twisted the fourth game can get. No wonder many YouTubers try to get through these games. But at least they do it so we don't have to. I guess that's just one advantage of being a fan of FNAF. You get to watch other people's pain and theorise away like you do. But yeah the fourth game is dark and twisted. More so than any other game in the series. Nuff said.
2 - Marvel Zombies series
So we've almost exhausted the whole idea of zombie stuff. Let's see how Marvel do. So in one Marvel universe, a virus has spread which has caused the population to be all but wiped out. All that remains are zombified heroes and villains who are very hungry and go to great lengths to get food. Even going as far as eating Galactus, the Silver Surfer and others. Yeah that's really dark and really twisted. A world where all known Marvel characters are zombies and later on, they start to question their very existance. All this from the mind of Robert Kirkman, the creator of
The Walking Dead.
Honourable Mentions
- Harry Potter (film series) - Each one gets progressively darker with the WB logo at the beginning visually and how it tackles things like death and just overall dark stuff
- Toy Story 3 - Everything foreshadowed by Stinky Pete of the second film almost comes true here with Lotso being the most darkest and twisted of all the villainous toys of the series and just the film's overall tone.
- Star Wars - While A New Hope is ok, the rest of the films and parts of the franchise overall (canon or not) have a darker tone that we may not be aware of. This is particularly the case in the prequel and sequel trilogies for reasons that should be obvious.
- Babe: Pig in the City - Despite having little to nothing to do with its more faithful predecessor, its nevertheless darker and twisted than the first film for lots of reasons.
- James Bond (Daniel Craig era) - Although there have been a few films that are dark and twisted, the Daniel Craig era is more of that because of its more realistic and mature tone.
- Spider-Man (Tobey McGuire era) - Each one is darker than the last to the point where Spider-Man dons a new dark black suit upon making contact with the alien Venom.
- Pirates of the Caribbean (film series) - I don't think I need to explain this one as it's very dark and twisted at times. Especially as one of them has people being hanged at the beginning soon after seeing the Disney castle. If that's not messed up then I don't know what is.
- Back to the Future Part II - Although not completely dark and twisted, the alternate reality sequence is where things are dark and twisted. Especially as this film gave us their take on what Donald Trump's America could look like.
- Avengers: Infinty War - A lot of people die or get wiped from existence in this one and it puts the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy in a scenario where they lose and act as the villains over Thanos for very complex and complicated reasons.
- Logan - Pretty much the darkest story we're going to get with Wolverine. Its got a lot of violence, at least two beloved X-Men characters die in it and its in quite a twisted way the perfect ending to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.
- Almost every single decision based game - All these games share that one gameplay element and its this element that leads to many of them go down a dark and twisted path. And the twist here is that you the player are making it go down that way.
1 - Batman: Death of the Family
What's worse than tormenting your allies? Ripping your face off and do it, that's what. So it was too close to pick between two Batman stories with very similar titles. In the end I went with the most disturbing of the two where Joker after a long absence, returns to Gotham wearing his ripped off face as a mask and with a vendetta to take on the Bat Family in an attempt to draw Batman out. What follows is a series of events that make me believe that Joker is no longer a clown but a psychotic monster who will do anything to get Batman hate him. But what makes this more dark and twisted is the mystery behind Joker. Who is he and is he truly a man. Things don't get as dark and twisted like this so that's why
Death of the Family is at number one.
Thought of any other dark and twisted things? Then leave them in the comments below for me to check out. And until next time, happy Halloween and be safe out there at night.
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