Some movie characters just seem out of place. Sometimes, this is by design: the perpetual misfit makes for a compelling archetype, after all. Other times, it’s less deliberate, with characters that don’t quite match the world they inhabit.
Exactly how this phenomenon occurs varies from film to film. It’s not always initially obvious that a character doesn’t belong because some actually blend in (to some degree, at least). However, closer examination always reveals that they’re distinctly out of place because no matter how you slice it, they simply don’t fit within their own movie.
Whether it’s down to poor writing, tonal inconsistency, or simple genre confusion, there are many examples of ill-fitting characters. In many instances, they’re impossible to miss, largely because they stand out by nature. They can be good, bad, or even ugly, but each of these characters seemed so out of place that they probably belonged in other movies.
8. Hal Jordan – Green Lantern (2011)
2011’s Green Lantern gets an awful lot of hate. It’s pretty obvious why that is: it’s not a very good movie. Perhaps its biggest crime is the way that it drastically misunderstands its own eponymous hero, and that goes some way to explaining why he’s so out of place in his own movie.
In the film, Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan has the power of the Green Lantern bestowed upon him. Though he certainly acts the hero, he’s very… Ryan Reynolds. This means sarcasm, an endearing sort of gentle arrogance, and regular wisecracking that just doesn’t really seem very Hal Jordan. The hero is all about willpower, and that’s something that the character just doesn’t communicate at all.
Honestly, Green Lantern‘s Hal Jordan would seem more at home in the sort of self-aware hero movie that Reynolds went on to make with 2016’s Deadpool. That role suited Reynolds’ style much better, and it translated into a much better movie overall. The out-of-place portrayal of Hal Jordan is probably why Green Lantern‘s teased sequel never happened, so maybe it was for the best in the end.