Fan-Favorite Superhero Trilogy Should Never Have Been Made

Many theatergoers collectively gasped when Bruce Willis’ David Dunn made a surprise post-credits appearance in Shyamalan’s thrilling film Split, placing the two films in the same world. It was admittedly a pretty cool move, especially because both Unbreakable and Split are among Shyamalan’s best films. If he had actually been able to pull off Glass, it would have been an incredible trilogy, but unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, and thus, it should have never happened.

Fortunately, you could easily watch both Split and Unbreakable as two separate films and pretend they don’t exist in each other’s worlds and that Glass never happened. The two films stand completely on their own, with the only connective tissue being Dunn’s aforementioned appearance in the post-credits scene. So, you could have actually walked out of Split in the theaters a little early and be none-the-wiser that it was part of a cinematic universe.

It’s hard to understate how disappointing Glass was, as there was a lot of promise behind it, especially considering it was the trilogy capper to some of Shyamalan’s finest work. Seeing Samuel L. Jackson back as Mr. Glass, one of his most underrated characters, was also a delight. Of course, both Bruce Willis and James McAvoy brought great performances as well, slipping back into the roles of David Dunn/The Overseer and Kevin Wendell Crumb/The Horde, respectively.

But Glass ended up being extremely underwhelming and had a truly terrible ending, angering fans of Unbreakable, especially. On the bright side, Shyamalan has expressed that he doesn’t intend to make a sequel to Glass, so at least we won’t see anything that could further ruin these fan-favorite characters. The only way anyone would want to see a follow-up to Glass is if it’s a remake that features an entirely different storyline.

If you’ve never seen Unbreakable or Split, don’t let the failure of Glass deter you. As mentioned, both films are completely stand-alone stories, and there’s no need to watch Glass afterward (unless you’re morbidly curious). The former is a great, understated superhero film that stands out in the increasingly saturated superhero genre, and the latter is a terrifying thriller that features one of James McAvoy’s best performances.

Unbreakable is not only a great Shyamalan film, but it’s also one of the best Bruce Willis films, and it features an awesome performance by Samuel L. Jackson. The film follows David Dunn, who learns he has superhuman abilities after surviving a train crash. This leads to comic book store owner Elijah Price taking notice of him. 

Today, Unbreakable is still one of the best superhero films out there and has an extremely strong cult following. It really didn’t need anything added to it, and Split easily stands on its own merits. So, let’s all collectively agree that these two films are their own things and that they’re not a part of a trilogy after all.