The Big Picture

• Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, & Bruce Willis made their mark in the 80s & 90s action movies as larger-than-life heroes.
• Bruce Willis' John McClane was different from others, an everyday cop forced into action out of necessity, not desire.
• The alternate ending of Die Hard With a Vengeance betrayed John McClane's character, making him engage in ruthless acts he wouldn't.

In the history of '80s and '90s action movies, three names stand out above the rest: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis. The first two names made their mark through their imposing presence. From the Terminator films and Predator, to the Rambo films and Cobra, Schwarzenegger and Stallone were all about being larger than life. They looked like something out of a comic book with their bulging muscles, and they'd do whatever it took to save the day while enjoying every second of it.

Then there was Bruce Willis, Hollywood's golden boy of cinema. In the '90s, Willis was lean and athletic, but he wasn't chiseled out of granite like Schwarzenegger and Stallone. He was an everyman with thinning hair who made it big with his cool charisma. Willis' most popular role was that of John McClane in the Die Hard franchise. John McClane would do what was needed to beat the bad guys, but he also had limits. That's why the alternate ending to the third film, 1995's Die Hard With a Vengeance, is so shocking. In it, Bruce Willis takes McClane to a place we'd never seen him go, and a place that it was wisely decided we shouldn't see him go. If the alternate ending had been used, its grim take on what McClane was capable of would have forever changed how his character is perceived.

Why John McClane Was Different From Other Action Heroes

While John McClane might have been one of the most loved action heroes of the era, he wasn't like some of the others. John McClane wasn't some trained assassin badass. He was just a cop in the wrong place at the wrong time, an everyday guy in a bad marriage who only wanted to make it home to his kids. He turned into a tough guy, but not because he was built for it. He just had no other choice when bad guys would take his wife hostage or threaten to blow up planes. He fought back as a last resort, not because he liked it. McClane spends much of the first act of the original Die Hard trying to get the cops to help. When they're slow on the uptake and won't take him seriously, McClane takes saving everyone into his hands, but only because he has to. That's not to say that McClane feels bad when he has to kill the bad guy. He sure looks to enjoy that iconic action movie one-liner "Yippie-ki-yay, motherf**ker," but it's because he's glad evil has been defeated, not because he loved doing it.

The Ending of 'Die Hard With a Vengeance' Follows the Formula

After Die Hard 2, the franchise sat dormant for five years, before returning in 1995. Director John McTiernan, who helmed the first film, returned and Bruce Willis was still a megastar. On top of that, he was finally going to get a true sidekick with him at all times in shopkeeper Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson). The third movie, Die Hard With a Vengeance, switched things up by going to New York. This film sees Jeremy Irons as the villain, a terrorist named Simon who has planted bombs all around the Big Apple, with his endgame being to rob the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Simon is a serious man with no conscience who loves to play games and who keeps making John McClane his target. McClane again has to use his brains just as much as his brawn to fight back. Later in the film, Simon reveals himself to be the brother of the first movie's villain, Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, and is actually the superior Gruber villain. This isn't a man just out to cause chaos and get rich. Simon wants revenge.

Throughout the film, McClane stays on Simon's trail while also getting help from the NYPD. He isn't a lone wolf. He doesn't want to be a savior. If Simon was to put up his hands and say he gave up, that would be perfect for McClane. But Simon has to be killed to be stopped. The original ending of Die Hard With a Vengeance sees Simon getting away in a helicopter, a smile on his face as he points a rifle John's way. Poor McClane just has a little revolver on him, but he uses his brains to decide to shoot a nearby cable; of course, uttering the cool, "Say hello to your brother" as he does. The cable dislodges and swings down into the helicopter, which crashes to the ground and explodes. It's the predictable yet effective ending of a Die Hard movie we've come to expect and love. The alternate ending, however, was something completely demented.

The Alternative Ending Betrayed the Character of John McClane

The alternate ending to Die Hard With a Vengeance has Simon getting away with his heist and escaping. The bad guy wins for now. Sometime later Simon is having a drink in a fancy restaurant when in walks McClane. "Gotta watch that drinking during the day," he tells Simon. "Bad for your health." Simon doesn't seem scared. He's as calm as ever, telling McClane, "You're looking remarkably alive, John." Simon pulls out a phone and makes a call, but we can hear the phone of whoever he's calling ringing. John holds it up and tells Simon, "I'm not sure if I got it from the two guys I killed or if it's the two guys I left handcuffed over in the warehouse."

McClane holds a long package in his arms, which he lies on the table as he sits across from Simon. John talks about being fired from the NYPD because the cops thought he had something to do with Simon's heist. Simon asks about Zeus and his kids and McClane asks about his girlfriend. They almost seem like old friends with a bad history. "You got away with it," John McClane says, guessing that all of the stolen gold is in Canada now. Before Simon can pull out a gun, McClane shows his own under the table. He requests that Simon tell everyone around to leave and he obliges. McClane goes on to tell Simon how he tracked him down and then opens up his package. Inside is a Chinese rocket launcher. "We're gonna play a little game," John says. This time it won't be Simon Says, as Simon Gruber likes to play, but McClane Says. John puts the rocket launcher on the table and tells Simon that as long as he keeps answering questions right, they'll keep going.

If he gets one wrong, Simon has to pull the trigger. It's a bit like Russian roulette though, as the sights have been removed from the rocket launcher so that he can't tell who it's truly pointed out. John asks a series of riddle-like questions that Simon gets right. Eventually, he gets one wrong and Simon now has to pull the trigger. He turns the rocket launcher around a few times, trying to guess who it's pointed at. When he's done, McClane asks, "Are you sure?" Gruber confidently says, "Oh yes," and pulls the trigger. The rocket launcher goes off and Simon is immediately killed. He guessed wrong.

While you could argue that this ending is more thrilling, it's also out of place. John McClane here is a man driven mad by his dealings with Simon. He's at the end of the rope. Does he even care if he lives or dies? For him to kill Simon like this is ruthless and lacks any emotion. It's exactly what a Sylvester Stallone or an Arnold Schwarzenegger action hero would do, but not John McClane. The true John McClane, when he tracked Simon down, would have reported it. If no one did anything about it, he may have gone in himself, gun drawn, ready to use it, but looking to place Simon under arrest. He wouldn't plan out some elaborate, depraved murder and enjoy it so much. This scene betrays John McClane. He might let bad guys fall to their death and shoot them out of the sky, but he's not a man to look someone in the eye with a smile on his face and commit cold-blooded murder. The ending John McTiernan went with keeps his heroic everyman persona intact.

Die Hard with a Vengeance is currently available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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