Top Movie Monster to Movie Hero Moments

It is a battle that has waged for millennia. Good vs evil. But what happens when the good turn bad and the bad turn good? Great movie plots, is what!

Today, we are looking back to when our most feared movie monsters became our most revered movie heroes. This listicle looks specifically at the monsters that consciously chose to make a U-turn and become good.

From the extra-mechanical to the extra-terrestrial, we look at the world’s most unexpected turns of character by the world’s scariest monsters.

6. COOPER (Super 8, 2011)

The Super 8 alien, or Cooper, crash-landed back in 1958. He was captured by the US military where he was imprisoned and tortured for the next 21 years before a huge train crash lead to his getaway.

Throughout the movie Cooper stomps about the sleepy town stealing mechanical parts, smashing buildings, eating people and scaring away every cat and dog in town. Basically, doing exactly what we expect large otherworldly monsters to do in the movie

But, for all that, after a heart-warming speech from the main protagonist Cooper demonstrates a genuine ability to understand the concept of forgiveness and compassion. He understands that the actions of one are not representative of the many. This is a real emotive scene, it shows that real strength and power comes in your ability to turn the other cheek and that he is not a monster.

5. 'Frankenstein's monster' (The Monster Squad, 1987)

The daddy of all great monsters, Frankenstein's monster (hereafter known as Frank) was brought to life with the intended purpose of playing the instrumental role in Dracula’s plans to plunge the world into darkness in Fred Dekker and Shane Blacks forgotten kids horror classic, The Monster Squad.

And, the Count might have succeeded too, if it weren’t for those pesky kids a.k.a. The Monster Squad led by teenage Sean and his best friend Patrick.

When Frank gets sent to ‘take care’ of the kids by the dastardly Count and his ever-growing army of monsters, Frank, instead, become friends with Sean’s 5 year old sister Phoebe,. He plays dress-up and then gets taken in by the gang as one of their own. Not only is Mary Shelly’s recomposed dead guy instrumental in taking out Dracula, but he also saves everybody else in a teary-eyed moment of slack jawed self-sacrifice.

Literally the hero of the entire movie.

4. King Kong (King Kong, 1933 & 2005)

A monster, and yet not a monster. A 50-foot-tall gorilla is pretty terrifying, yes, but Kong is more of a victim of his environment. This is a story of the evolution of a character. The soulless beast that shows a keen and overt love for others.

In perhaps the weirdest example of Stockholm syndrome ever, Kong befriends Ann Darrow and from that point everything he does is for her. This tragically later leads to his death – but we had love for the monster and he had love in his heart for Ann – which for him was something worth dying for.

3. The Predator (Predator, 2, AVP, AVPR)

More of an anti-hero than an actual hero. Predators, dubbed the ‘Yautja’ by the expanded universe, are a ruthless, species that are specialist inter-galactic hunters who dispatch their victims in any number of harrowing ways.

That said, Predators have an incredibly well-established code of conduct and “honour in the hunt” methodology. But what I really like is that you can earn the respect of a Predator and you can earn your right to life. As outlined in this story below:

In Predator 2, Mike Harrigan is presented with an old Spanish made flintlock pistol by the tribe leader as a reward and sign of ultimate respect for defeating the lead Predator.

This pistol once belonged to the pirate Captain Raphael Adolini in the year 1715. If you look carefully, detailed on the side it reads “Raphael Adolini 1715".

In 1718, Adolini’s crew staged a coups and mutinied. This fight was observed by a Predator (by the name of Greyback). Before the crew managed to overpower the captain, who stood alone and fought valiantly against the whole crew, Greyback stepped in and fought with the captain.

Unfortunately, Adolini was fatally shot, but before he died he gave the pistol to Yautja Greyback, as a thank you. It all came full circle in 1997, where the very same Greyback gave the pistol to Lieutenant Mike Harrigan after he killed the City Hunter.

2. The Terminator (Terminator 2: Judgement Day, 1991)

The T-800 first landed on our screen back in 1984. This cold and calculating killing machine was fear incarnate.

The T-800 has an "attitude problem," the machine favors the physical approach over diplomacy. In the first movie, we saw the T-800 relentlessly stalk Sarah Connor. It was incredibly exciting and a real nerve shredder of a horror.

However, in the second movie (T2), the T-800 returns as the protector, playing bodyguard for John Connor against the new, now more advanced Terminator, the T-1000.

T2 followed the relationship between John and the T-800 in a way that allowed us to see a personality develop within the machine – a genuine bond between the boy and the Terminator.

In my opinion, this movie gave us one of the most memorable big-screen sacrifices of all time. This was a genuinely emotional scene. Thumbs up to you, sir.

1. The T Rex (Jurassic Park, 1993)

The definitive movie monster of the ‘90s, the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park is one of the all-time greats. The build up to his big reveal throughout the first act (“YOU HAVE A T-REX!?!”) pays off in a big way when you see that water rippling for the first time. He devours goats and lawyers and runs amok for the majority of the movie.

He’s the Eastwood of the dinosaurs, stealing every scene he’s in and turning them instantly into classics. But not even a scene that gets parodied by Pixar can top his moment of triumph in the main hall where he chows down on those “clever girls”, allowing our heroes to escape, followed by a victorious roar as the banner reading “WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH” floats across the screen. Although “Ballin’” would’ve been just as appropriate.