Now that Halloween and Ultraman are old news we can finally return to endlessly speculating about what's next.

While reading hundreds of guesses in the other thread (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/spooky-2021-game-speculation-thread), I noticed something seemingly unique to Evil Dead / Army of Darkness vs. all the rest:

Evil Dead is the only "spooky" franchise where the iconic figure is the hero, not the monster.

For every other, the star is the villain: Jason, Freddy, Michael Meyers, Ghostface, Candyman, Pennywise, Phantasm guy, Hellraiser guy, etc. For ED / AOD, it's Ash.

Even when enemy isn't a single individual (zombie movies, Predator, Aliens, Terminators, Tremors), the featured attraction is the monsters. And while some of these franchises have heroes that appear in multiple installments (like Sarah Conner, Ripley, Zombieland crew), in none of them do those heroes eclipse the monster as the #1 iconic element of the series.

I'm no movie expert, so please point out any others that fit this at least very rare formula. The closest thing I can think are ones outside of the horror or sci fi genres like Indiana Jones or Die Hard.

EDIT:
I thought of a few others that probably apply. So it's not a unique thing, just an uncommon one.

Funny enough, one of the other frequently requested themes—Scooby Doo—probably counts. These probably do as well (I've never seen them, so could be wrong):

- Blade
- Hellboy
- Spawn
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer

And if we extend it to multiple heroes, that opens up others (like Ghostbusters, as mentioned below).

Agree with this for a group (though not individual)

I don't believe any of these are franchises except for Escape from New York (and I'd agree with that one)

EDIT: And Robocop, apparently

Agree. I was just asking about franchises because i realized how uncommon it is.

As I recall, it sounded like Bruce Campbell's $ demands to sign on were the roadblock.

Standalone, I'd favor Army of Darkness. Original trilogy makes most sense. I'd frankly be fine with just ED2 + AOD, but there are lots of true horror fans that love the original and would seem odd to exclude it. That said, most of what happens in 1 re-happens in two (just with different sensibilities, plus a lot more stuff that lends itself better to pinball). Having the distinctly different moods could be a boon too for ambience changes. Just would hope it wouldn't line up as a 1 split.

All that said, the more movies, the more licensing challenges. Don't know if decades have brought them under the same roof, but rights issues even impacted what previous footage could be used in later movies.

Should ask benheck to come in here to share some of that vision. Don't remember what percentage were just ideas vs. actually developed.

Oh man. Just imagine. Elwin. Sight unseen buy.