Top 10 Movie Characters Who Surprisingly Survived

“The Dark Knight” (2008)
Serving as one of the most memorable movie villains of the 21st century, Heath Ledger’s Joker was almost guaranteed to die. Batman isn’t really one to off his victims, but still, the bad guys do die - including Jack Nicholson’s Joker in the 1989 “Batman.” However, things were different for “The Dark Knight.” Batman finds The Joker using Gotham’s phones, and after a brief fight, tosses him off the tall building. Not being one for murder, Batman saves the falling Joker with his grappling hook and leaves him dangling for the police. He nearly encounters the same fate as Nicholson’s Joker, but that wouldn’t have been very original or surprising now, would it?

“Escape from New York” (1981)
Serving as one of John Carpenter’s greatest action films, “Escape from New York” stars Kurt Russell as a federal prisoner named Snake Plissken. Snake is ordered to save the President from a crime-ridden Manhattan, which has been converted into a giant maximum security prison. It’s essentially a suicide mission and supporting characters repeatedly express surprise at Snake being alive. And despite all that he is put through, Snake does indeed survive. The mission proves a success, the President is saved, and Snake is successful in embarrassing the President in front of the summit.

“Fargo” (1996)
This Coen brothers’ masterpiece sees Gaear Grimsrud and Carl Showalter acting as main antagonists, as they are hired by Jerry Lundegaard to kidnap Jerry’s wife, Jean. Of course, things immediately go off the rails due to Carl’s careless ineptitude. And while audiences may have expected both to die, Carl is the only one who faces death, being famously murdered by Gaear and fed through a woodchipper. Gaear himself is simply shot in the leg by Marge and arrested, leaving him one of the few survivors of this grim and bloody tale.

“Furious 7” (2015)
This isn’t the type of franchise to permanently off beloved characters - especially the main character played by the very bankable Vin Diesel. But things were looking quite dire for a second there. The climax of “Furious 7” sees Dom attempting to crash his car into Jakande’s helicopter. However, the car narrowly misses the helicopter, plunges into the collapsed parking garage, and falls to the street below. By all accounts, the man is dead. However, Letty brings him back with the power of love or something, and Dom regains consciousness with a quip. He’s then able to see off Brian in one of the decade’s most famous endings.

Jakande https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/1c96fc47-7340-4784-972b-1ea4bf6fd847

“Get Out” (2017)
Jordan Peele is great for subverting expectations. Especially when it comes to the comedic characters. It’s a well-known fact that funny supporting characters don’t survive horror movies. Rod was by far the funniest character in “Get Out,” and while he wasn’t a part of the main action in Upstate New York, we still expected him to die. However, Rod actually proves quite competent as a friend and detective and actually rescues Chris at the end of the movie. Peele would again allow the funny character to live in “Us,” as Gabe survives with the rest of his family.

“Titanic” (1997)
Cal was just begging to die. He’s the main antagonist of the movie (well, besides that dreaded iceberg). He’s a slimy character that the audience grows to hate. He serves as the primary obstacle between Jack and Rose. And we all know that the Titanic will sink. It was obvious that Cal would be one of the victims. Yet he wasn’t. After chasing Jack and Rose through the sinking Titanic, Cal relents and decides to get off the ship with a lost child. He is later seen looking for Rose aboard the Carpathia, and Rose’s voiceover informs us that he apparently committed suicide after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. It was the Great Depression that claimed Cal, not the Titanic.

“War of the Worlds” (2005)
The ending of this movie is quite infamous - both for its anticlimactic conclusion (the aliens die from bacterial infection) and for the fact that Robbie inexplicably survives for the sake of a happy ending. Robbie fancies himself a hero, and he later decides to join the military to fight the alien invaders (despite no training, experience, equipment, or weapons). Just as Robbie rushes off, the hill is rocked by a massive explosion and the arrival of an alien tripod, both of which spelled doom for anyone in the nearby vicinity. And then Robbie shows up at his mother’s house at the end of the movie, and he and Ray share a touching father-son hug. His survival and subsequent journey to Boston is never explained.

“Scream” (1996)
Throughout “Scream,” Randy is established as the resident horror movie nerd. He knows all the tropes, and he’s the one who eventually establishes “the rules” to his fellow high school students. Randy’s profound knowledge of the horror genre, combined with his status as “the funny character,” should have guaranteed his death. There are a few fakeouts. In one scene, Ghostface hovers just above Randy as he drunkenly lies on the couch. In another, he is shot in the chest by Billy. But despite these close calls, Randy makes it out alive - even warning Sidney that Billy was likely to come back for “one last scare.” Unfortunately, Randy doesn’t prove as lucky in the sequel...

“Inglourious Basterds” (2009)
Movie viewers were waiting roughly 150 minutes to witness Hans Landa’s demise. Landa is one of the most despicable villains in modern movie history, played to absolute perfection by Christoph Waltz. His death would have proven incredibly satisfying. But this is Hans Landa we’re talking about. The man is smart. Landa manages to strike a deal with the American government, offering them Hitler and the end of World War II in exchange for his personal freedom and a pardon. The deal is accepted, and while Landa gets a nasty forehead swastika at the hands of Aldo, he nevertheless survives and presumably lives out the rest of his days in Massachusetts. We can safely say that no one was expecting that outcome.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Chris Mannix, “The Hateful Eight” (2015)
Despite His Nasty Wound, Mannix Makes It to the End (with Major Marquis Warren)


Private Richard Reiben, “Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
Reiben Was a Minor Character & One of the Few to Survive


Nick Van Owen, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997)
Nick Escapes & Re-Appears with Some Rescue Helicopters

Phil Connors, “Groundhog Day” (1993)
Phil Escapes the Loop & Continues Life with Rita Hanson (Despite Numerous Attempts on His Life)

Chev Chelios, “Crank” (2006)
The Man Survives Everything… Even Falling Out of a Helicopter

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008)
We weren’t expecting Indiana Jones to make it out of this one. For one thing, Harrison Ford was 65 years old when the movie was released, and it seemed like “one last hurrah” for the iconic character before Ford threw in the towel. But more importantly, the movie contained an infamous scene involving a fridge and a nuclear weapon. Trapped in the Nevada Test Site during an atomic bomb test, Jones decides to hide inside a lead-lined refrigerator. Said fridge is then blasted through the air (rather than being pulverized), and Indiana shambles out like nothing happened. It’s a ridiculous sequence, even by “Indiana Jones” standards, and the series should have ended right then and there.