Greatest Character Entrances and Exits

[Lapis Exilis]

It came up over in the PotC4 teaser thread about the marvelous scene in which Jack Sparrow is introduced seemingly at the mast of his ship, with a pull back that reveals the ship is rapidly sinking. Not that Jack seems to mind as he steps casually off the mast onto the dock. An entrance which captures the wacky humor of the character perfectly.

What are other great character introductions? And while we're at it - what are some of the great last scenes for memorable characters?

 

[Goliath]

Darth Vader makes a terrific entrance in Star Wars--striding in through the smoke, briefly surveying the carnage, and then moving on.

I'm having a harder time thinking of a memorable exit.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Farscape's Crais comes to mind for a memorable exit:

"Talyn... Stah-buhst."

 

[Goliath]

Rita Hayworth as Gilda. Another great entrance.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot this was SF&F.

 

[The Fatman]

Wolverine's introduction in the cage fighting scene in the original X-Men movie was pretty incredible, I always thought.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Burton's Batman may not be aging well, but the opening scene with Bats taking out the baddies one by one has stayed with me through the years. That first scene with the Joker coming out of the shadows was pretty good, too.

Kong's exits in the original and most recent remake were pretty powerful.

 

[Mr Light]

I'll also vote for Cap'n Jack's first appearance in POTC2, blasting his way out of a coffin and killing a crow in the process.

Morpheus first appearing in Matrix, looking out the window, he turns around and the lightning flashes.

V's first appeared in V For Vendetta with his V synonym speech.

Indy's first appearance in Raiders.

 

[Mistral]

The Terminator. One of the greatest entrances of all time, IMO.

 

[davejames]

Superman's first appearance in Superman II, with that slow-motion run in the alley. The buildup and execution of that scene is absolutely perfect, and gives me chills every time.

The other one that comes to mind is the introduction of Optimus Prime in the first TF.

And Lucy Liu making her badass entrance in Kill Bill with that music from the trailer playing underneath.

 

[Greg Cox]

Kirk's entrance in WRATH OF KHAN is pretty cool, as he enters the enters the trashed simulator in a halo of light.

And, of course, there's Harry Lime's celebrated reveal in THE THIRD MAN.

 

[captcalhoun]

Black Out in Transformers.

oh, there's a rogue helo flying around in the desert. that's odd, but what's that got to do with this? oh. okay, they let it land at their base. why'd the pilot's face flicker like a bad TV? HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT TURNED INTO A FUCKING GIANT ROBOT AND NOW IT'S KILLING EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Rita Hayworth as Gilda. Another great entrance.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot this was SF&F.

You know, that one's so good, it gets a pass. (I adore that movie, "I hate you Johnny. I hate you so much... I think I'm going to die from it...")


I'll go with "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The Great...er...Oz... has spoken!" The entrance of the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz as Toto reveals him by tugging open his concealing curtain while he operates his Big Head special effects.

Also pretty good is the sweet child voice announcing to Kevin Costner, "Daddy... there's a man out there on your lawn." as the family runs to see resurrected Shoeless Joe Jackson magically walking the DIY baseball field in Iowa in Field of Dreams.

The Borg Queen, whatever you may think of how that concept evolved, had a fabulous entrance in First Contact, her head and shoulders descending from the ceiling to meet her body.

But one of the truly great has to be the first appearance of the alien in Alien. None of the other entrances probably made you scream!

 

[Thor Damar]

Non-film one for me. Both the entrance and reveal of the mysterious and sinister Goa'uld Anbuis in the season five finale of Stargate SG1 has to rank as one of my favorites. I remember actually thinking 'WTF is THAT!" when I first saw it.

"Many things have changed since my return!"

 

[Gaith]

How has no one mentioned Indy in Raiders?!

Also: (Diego) Zorro in The Mask of Zorro, Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale, Ethan Hunt in M:I-2... I'm sure I'll think of others...

 

[Whofan]

Speaking of Bond, Sean Connery's first appearence is pretty cool in Dr.No.


"I admire your courage, miss..."

"Trench. Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, mr...?"

"Bond.James Bond."


Also not sure if it really counts as they are more transformations than exits/entrances, but a lot of Doctor Who's regeneration sequences.


It's kind of weird how many Star Wars enterances are fairly undramatic compared to Vader's. Most of the characters just appear (Both Luke and Han's original intros were going to be slightly earlier in the film but got cut out. Luke had an extended prologue where he spots the spaceships battling and informs his friends, and says goodbye to Biggs, and Han would be seen earlier in the cantina sequence with a woman companion). Although Obi-Wan makes a cool entrance both times in ANH and TPM.

 

[Mr Light]

How has no one mentioned Indy in Raiders?!

I did

 

[Whofan]

I think Indy has great first appearences in all the films IMO-The Raiders whip-crack and reveal from out of the shade; Temple's James Bond esque appearence, and although it's not really his 'first' appearence, the transition to adult Indy in The last crusade. Crystal Skull also had a cool entrance for Indy, before the film kind of went downhill. Problem was it was spoiled in the trailer

 

[C_Miller]

John Locke from Lost in Walkabout.

 

[Mr Light]

That would have been his fourth appearance, though...

 

[mimic]

I'm rather fond of Spike's entrance in the BtVS episode School Hard.

Brother Mouzone in The Wire also comes to mind.