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Ensemble Darkhorse/Film: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[Star Wars]]'' has a few:
** Boba Fett was a minor character in the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' Trilogy, with a total of six lines of dialogue in his cameo appearances in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' and ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', the latter of which depicts his apparent death. The character was first introduced in the cartoon portion of the ''[[The Star Wars Holiday Special]]'' prior to both films. Originally, Lucas conceived that Fett was a clone who shirked off the opportunity to be a stormtrooper because he had somehow become more independent-minded. After the character's rise in popularity (owing in part to the rarity of his action figure in the early '80s), he eventually became a major character in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], his death was written out of the canon, and his backstory (loosely based on the characters conceptual origins) was depicted in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]''.
** Wedge Antilles can also be seen this way; his appearances in the Imperial Trilogy are short, but he's one of your sidekicks in the ''[[Rogue Squadron]]'' videogames (and {{spoiler|replaces Luke as the protagonist of}} ''Rogue Squadron II'' partway through the Battle of Hoth mission), and in the [[X-wing Rogue Squadron|Expanded Universe]], he evolves into a General and commander of the New Republic's armed forces. This may have something to do with being the {{spoiler|only character in the films to survive both Death Star runs (Keyan Farlander flew a Y-Wing at Yavin and an X-Wing at Endor, but he was in the games/EU only)}}, and the only non-major character to appear in all three films of the Imperial Trilogy. Wedge is the [[Badass Normal]] of ''Star Wars'', the everyman, and the "designated survivor". He has fangirls. We love him.
** The ''[[Riff Trax]]'' guys found a pilot named Porkins to be their favorite character.
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* DeeJay & Zangief of ''[[Street Fighter (film)|Street Fighter]]'' both have a lot of fans.
** [[Memetic Mutation|QUICK!]] [[Street Fighter/Funny|CHANGE THE CHANNEL!]]
* Jean Reno's Victor 'The Cleaner' managed to become the most memorable character of the French (original) version of La Femme Nikita with just a few minutes of screen time. His popularity led Luc Besson to make him the main character of his next movie, Leon (The Professional).
* In the ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'' fandom, there are insanely-huge fan-followings for [[Minion with an F In Evil|The]] [[Cute Mute|Other]] [[The Woobie|Wybie.]]
* After the three mains, Bonejangles can be said to be the most popular character in ''[[Corpse Bride]]'', and is often the subject of an alternate ship with Emily. Apart from his big song "Remains of the Day," however, Bonejangles is pretty much just an amusing background character in the movie. He never even gets a name on-screen!
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* [[LL Cool J]]'s character in ''[[Deep Blue Sea]]'' spends most of the movie alone, separated from the main cast, who never even seem to remember he's there. This makes one wonder if he was even originally intended to be in the movie, but eventually he turns out to be a lot more intelligent and probably more likable than the other characters. Apparently he was popular enough that the movie was rewritten to have him survive at the end.
* Simon Phoenix From ''[[Demolition Man]]''
* The most popular character in ''[[Doomsday]]'' is undoubtedly the [[Dark Action Girl]] Viper, who has about maybe seven minutes of screentime and just one line. [[Never Trust a Trailer|Trailers made it look like]] this sexy tattooed [[Badass]] was going to be a major character, causing some disappointment when she's rather casually dispatched early in the film.
* Although Kuzco and Pacha are decently funny in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]'', it's [[Minion with an F In Evil|Kronk]] who provides most of the gutbusting hilarity. He even got his own [[Direct to Video]] sequel and [[Love Interest]].
* Kit in ''Failure to Launch''. She's the roommate of one of the leads, but is often considered the funniest and most likable character in the film. Being played by [[Zooey Deschanel]] certainly doesn't hurt any.
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* Poor Anguirus - he crawls around on the ground, he's got no flashy beam-weapons, and whenever he appears you know it's just so ''[[Godzilla]]'' or the new [[Monster of the Week]] can beat him up to show how tough they are. For this reason, a lot of fans who [[The Woobie|feel sorry for him]] name Anguirus as their favorite [[Kaiju]].
** Just a punching bag? Anguirus nearly took down Gigan all on his own - which is no small feat, considering that Gigan is one of the few kaiju that is truly on-par with Godzilla himself.
** Let's not forget that he was Godzilla's very first opponent and nearly won! Plus, as noted above, he matched Gigan and was one of the three kaiju who directly [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|kill one of King Ghidorah's heads]] in ''[[Destroy All Monsters]].'' Punching bag my ass.
** In the Mark Cerasi ''Godzilla'' novel series, Anguirus fights and defeats Gigan by himself, after the cyborg monster totally obliterates several Russian cities and new cosmodrome, and pulls him into the Baltic Sea to his death. Later on Anguirus twice battles the Russian-built super-robot MOGUERA and nearly wins both times (he is defeated, but merely sedated so he can be kept in an enclosure).
** Don't forget ''Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: All Out Monsters Attack!'' The movie features [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah]] and some other monster who appeared for five seconds in ''Destroy All Monsters'' and who doesn't even make it to the final showdown. Which just means little Baragon went up against Godzilla ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|all by himself!]]''
** Hell, nearly every Toho [[Kaiju]] is an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] of one kind or another. The most notable examples besides Anguirus are: Biollante, a gigantic rose/Godzilla/human hybrid that operates on sheer [[Nightmare Fuel]]; Gorosaurus, the giant [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] from ''King Kong Escapes'' who got a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] in ''Destroy All Monsters!'' (Heck, if fellow [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] Baragon's suit hadn't been so damaged, he might not have appeared at all!); and Mechagodzilla, Godzilla's [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Evil Twin]] that always gives the King a run for his money.
* Both Sinestro and Tomar-Re from ''[[Green Lantern (film)|Green Lantern]]'' are considered to be this by a good deal of people. It doesn't hurt that Sinestro already has an established fanbase carrying over from the comics, though Tomar-Re has developed a small following in [[Furry Fandom|other places]].
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* Twitchy from ''[[Hoodwinked]]''.
* She appears for less than two minutes in the film and has only one line (apart from loudly inhaling), yet still manages to upstage Carol Burnett, [[Jim Carrey]], ''and'' [[Steve Carell]]. Katie from the CGI ''[[Horton Hears a Who!]]'' is a perfect example of this trope.
** As well as The Mayor's son, JoJo.
* ''[[Hostage]]'', from [[The Film of the Book|the book of the same name]], has [[Ax Crazy|Marshall]] [[Psycho for Hire|"Mars"]] [[Complete Monster|Krupcheck]].
* Ruffnut from ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'', despite having only a few lines and sharing all of her scenes with the other secondary characters.
** She's aroused by insanity, that's always hot!
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** Seneca Crane, thanks to his [[Badass Beard]].
* Scamper the suicidal monster-bunny from ''[[Igor]]'' is arguably the most popular character in the entire movie.
* Tom Hardy's con-man-type character Eames from ''[[Inception]]'' is a definite case of this. He received a lot of buzz around the role, which, for an actor who was supposed to have gotten his big Hollywood break from ''[[Band of Brothers (TV series)|Band of Brothers]]'' nearly a decade ago, is probably a relief at this point.
** Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Point Man Arthur is another case. A high percentage of fanworks made are focused on either characters (whether paired with each other or not).
* ''[[The Incredibles]]'' gave us the crazed, meddling, indignant, and all around badass fashion goddess, Edna Mode.
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*** "I've always tried to teach you two things; One, Never let them see you bleed. Second, Always have an escape plan."
* Robert Muldoon and Roland Tembo are usually quite popular among the ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' fandom. [[Justified Trope]], as both are the [[Only Sane Man]] and [[Great White Hunter]] in their respective novel/movie. Not to mention that both are the ones in [[Authority Equals Asskicking|charge of the security of a lot of people]].
* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'': Mei Ling from ''Secrets of the Furious Five'' has gained quite a following, as have the Wu Sisters (A trio of Lynx assassins) from the video game.
* [[M. Night Shyamalan]] put a [[Straw Critic|film critic]] in ''[[Lady in the Water]]'' mainly so he could [[Take That, Critics!|bash film critics]] for not liking ''[[The Village]]''. A great many viewers felt this critic was the only likeable character in the film.
* [[Jet Li]] in ''[[Lethal Weapon]] 4'', despite playing more or less a [[Complete Monster]], was just so damned ''cool'' that he just about stole the movie. It ended up becoming his breakout role to American audiences.
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* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'', a silent background elf at Elrond's Council, played by [[Flight of the Conchords|Bret Mackenzie]], gained a very, very devoted following of fans. They referred to him as [http://www.figwitlives.net/oldsite/ Figwit], which stands for "Frodo is great... who is that?" Figwit's popularity grew so enormously that the asked McKenzie to come back in the third movie, and even gave him a line. He is referred to as "Figwit" even on official merchandise.
* The penguins from ''[[Madagascar]]'', to the extent that they earned their own spin off ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]''. Be honest - did you see ''Madagascar'' as a film about friends moved from a zoo to the jungle with a few scenes based around penguins, or did you see it as a film about penguins that kept being hijacked by that idiot zebra and his friends?
* The Black Knight from ''[[Monty Python and
* While showing movies that would have faded into obscurity on their own, the hosts of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' will sometimes find a favorite character in a generally-subpar film. Often, the fans agree.
** Dablone, the boisterous, laughing resistance leader from ''[[Escape 2000]]''. Mike and the 'bots nickname him "Toblerone" and seriously begin to miss him when he is absent from a large chunk of the movie.
** Vadinho, the hulking Aztec from ''[[Puma Man]]'', as described in the page quote.
** Phantom of Krankor from ''[[Prince of Space]]''
** "[[Manos: The Hands of Fate|I aM TORgo. I Take CARe oF THe pLaCE whILE the MASTer is awAY.]]"
** Megaweapon from ''[[Warrior of the Lost World]]''.
** Klein!
** Rowsdower!
* Buddy the porcupine from ''[[Open Season]].''
* Tinkerbell from ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]'' became hugely iconic, overshadowing Peter himself.
* Rocky and to a lesser extent Tim from ''Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead''.
** Some would argue that Reggie from ''[[Phantasm (Film)|Phantasm]]'' is right up there with Inspector Clouseau and Pinhead as far as defining this trope goes. He's the balding ice cream salesman sidekick in the first film -- and the protagonist of the next three!
* The original ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' was designed as a star vehicle for [[David Niven]] as a charming gentleman thief. Unluckily for Niven, [[Peter Sellers]] was cast as the thief's nemesis, the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, and ended up completely stealing the film. [[Breakout Character|Several other movies were made]] featuring Clouseau, and when the thief character returned, he was played by Christopher Plummer.
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* The [[Mauve Shirt|nameless chubby guy]] always sipping from a hip flask in Troma's ''Redneck Zombies'' is popular with fans of the film, despite never doing anything really relevant or [[The Voiceless|even speaking]]. Even his actor ("Bill Johnson" according to the DVD commentary) went uncredited. And yet fans love the "Always Drinking Guy."
* ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera|Repo the Genetic Opera]]''
** Grave-Robber's actually a fairly minor character, but fans ''adore'' him. Him being played by the incredible Terrance Zdunich doesn't exactly hurt matters.
** Pavi Largo could also be considered an example of this; he should be funny-but-creepy-as-hell, but he's played by Ogre, who makes the whole thing just too cute for words.
* The Tarman zombie from ''[[Return of the Living Dead]]'' seems to be rather popular amongst zombie movie fans. He has had a figurine made and people also like to make Tarman costumes.
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** Coulson is definitely a contender for [[Most Triumphant Example (Sugar Wiki)|Most Triumphant Example]]. He was ''actually'' in Iron Man ''1.'' Remember the guy who kept trying to get Tony to get Iron Man to join SHIELD, was mostly ignored, and there's a [[Running Gag]] of him saying SHIELD's full name and being told it was too long? ''That's him.'' This gag's pretty much all he gets as well as being in a few crowd scenes. By now, he's one of the most popular characters in the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] just due to being his lovable Woobieish self, the face of SHIELD to everybody who doesn't like organizations like SHIELD. [[Powers That Be]] have definitely taken note and the actor has ''really'' gotten into the role, so he wound up in Thor ''and'' had a much bigger role in The Avengers. There are ''two'' short films with him (the other being The Consultant) and now he has appeared in first a non-canon side story in the comics, and then an [[Canon Immigrant|appearance that definitely counts]]. Also, he's a major character in ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (animation)|Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', being the SHIELD agent who is under cover as the principal at Peter's high school, keeping an eye on them. His design is basically [[Ink Suit Actor|the exact likeness of his actor, Clark Gregg]], and he also has the same voice - Gregg has so much fun with the role and is somewhat protective of it by now. There's just one Agent Coulson! He's also got a cameo in ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures|Iron Man Armored Adventures]].'' Coulson's gone from a bit part to a ''phenomenon.''
* Some supporting players in [[The Three Stooges]] shorts have sizable fan bases, especially Vernon Dent, Christine McIntyre, and Emil Sitka.
* Castor in ''[[Tron: Legacy]]''.
* Uri Boyka from ''[[Undisputed]] II''
** Gaga, the gangster who is Boyka's patron, also is quite adept at stealing the scenes he's in. Also, quite a few people think Andreago Silva, capoeira fighter played by Lateef Crowder in ''Undisputed III'', should have had a much more prominent role than he did.
* Michael Jai White in ''Universal Soldier: The Return''
* [[Downfall (film)|Bruno Ganz]] as Jurgen in ''[[Unknown]]'' steals the movie and swallows it whole for breakfast. With tea.
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