Henceforth, the following well-established characters no longer need to be shown how they become who they are:
- Spider-Man
- Batman
- Superman
- Green Lantern
- Green Arrow
- The Fantastic Four
- All the X-Men
- The Lone Ranger
- The Phantom
- Captain America
- Thor
- Iron Man
- Iron Giant
- Luke Skywalker
- Anakin Skywalker
- James T. Kirk
- Spock
- Willy Wonka
- Indiana Jones
- Sherlock Holmes
- Jackie Robinson
- Babe Ruth
- Charles Foster Kane
- Bane
- Harvey Dent
- Catwoman
- Pretty Woman
- Jack Ryan
- The Hulk
- Hulk Hogan
- Rocky
- Rambo
- Bambi
- Godzilla
- Scooby Doo
- Yogi Bear
- Bruce Lee
- Bruce Almighty
- Evan Almighty
- The 40 Year Old Virgin
- The Seventh Seal
- Bill
- Ted
- Steve Jobs
- JFK
- RFK
- FDR
- ALF
- Hal 9000
- The Watchmen
- The Wedding Crashers
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Hobbit
- Hitler
- Black Hitler
- Madea
- Big Momma
- Freddy Krueger
- Jason
- Michael Myers
- Austin Powers
- Dorothy
- The Wizard of Oz
- The inmates of Oz
- Franklin
- Bash
- James Bond
- Jaws
- Jesus
- Underdog
- Dog the Bounty Hunter
- Boba Fett
- Willy Wonka
- Sarah Palin
- Any fictional president who’s really just a veiled take on Bill Clinton
- That guy who sawed off his own arm
- The Punisher
- The Terminator
- John Connor
- Sarah Connor
- The Transformers
- Mad Max
- Maxwell Smart
- E.T.
- Nemo (the fish)
- Kung Fu Panda
- Oskar Schindler
- Helen Keller
- Mr. Magoo
- The Alien from Alien
- The Aliens from Aliens
- Ellen Ripley
- The Talented Mr. Ripley
- Jason Bourne
- Ethan Hunt
- Rain Man
- The Graduate
- The Godfather
- Robin Hood
- King Arthur
- Merlin
- Houdini
- Harry Potter
- Burt Wonderstone
- Snow White
- The Fly
- Marty McFly
- Stuart Little
- Robocop
- Axel Foley
- The Ghostbusters
- Neo
- Mulder
- Scully
- Josh Baskin
- The Rocketeer
- The family from Parenthood (the movie and both television shows)
- The Odd Couple
- Dr. Strangelove
- The Mob Doctor
- Darkman
- Donnie Darko
- William Shakespeare
- Mozart
- Beethoven (the dog)
- Richard Nixon
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Blade
- Dracula
- Frankenstein
- Young Frankenstein
- Ben Stein
- Bella
- Edward
- Jacob
- Derek Zoolander
- Paul Blart
- Gumby
- Judge Dredd
- Swamp Thing
- Tomb Raider
- Sgt. Bilko
- The A-Team
- Katniss Everdeen
- Frank Abagnale, Jr.
- The guy from the The Terminal
- Anyone from G.I. Joe
- Norman Bates
- Dexter
- Ebenezer Scrooge
- Scrooge McDuck
- Howard the Duck
- Howard Hughes
- Amelia Earhart
- Supergirl
- Charlie’s Angels
- Liberace
- Mark Zuckerberg
The following characters haven’t really had their origins explored on screen yet… but that’s okay. Embrace the mystery. Skip the origin story for them, too:
- Han Solo
- Hugh Hefner
- Jack Bauer
- John McClane
- John McCain
- Propeller guy from Titanic
- The Fonz
- The Golden Girls
- Rapping Granny
- Captain Hook
- Grumpy Smurf
- MacGuyver
- Mary Poppins
The following is the entire list of pre-existing characters for whom it’s completely okay to retell their origin story:
- Mighty Mouse
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