Sometimes, a movie doesn’t need a sequel. It’s best left as one and done. One example of this is The Crow, the 1994 adaptation of James O’Barr’s gothic revenge comic. Originally planned to be a direct-to-video movie, it managed to get a theatrical release. It was set to be the breakout role for lead star Brandon Lee, but due to a mishandled prop gun, it would end up being his last.
Still, it caught on as a 90s cult classic, receiving novels, a TV series, and a variety of sequels and reboots. None of them recaptured the original’s appeal, but they did at least provide some interesting variants on The Crow himself. Some kept it simple, while others went even more supernatural. So, let’s compare them against each other and see just who comes out on top.
5 Ashe Corven
The Crow: City Of Angels
- Played by: Vincent Perez
- Director: Tim Pope
- Release: August 1996
The bottom ringer goes to the second corvid-related avenger, Ashe Corven, in The Crow: City of Angels. He has a neat angle in trying to even the score with the thugs who killed him and his son, Danny. However, he’s prone to panic attacks and freak-outs, and he has to be told how the crow works by Sarah, the young girl from the first movie. She's all grown up now and played by future Star Trek: Discovery actor Mia Kirshner.
Once he knows the gist of things, he gets down to some impressive kills, often heavy on the bird imagery (Kali, played by original Yellow Power Ranger Thuy Trang, leaves a crow-shaped bloodstain in her fatal fall). Still, the villain, Judah, gets one-up on him by taking his immortality, almost hanging him. In trying to replicate the first Crow's paradoxical mix of vulnerability and invulnerability, they ended up making Corven more of a sad sack.
4 Jimmy Cuervo
The Crow: Wicked Prayer
- Played by: Edward Furlong
- Director: Lance Mungia
- Release: July 2005
The Crow: Wicked Prayer is probably most remembered today for featuring David Boreanaz, who people thought would be stepping into the Crow's shoes after having experience playing paranormal action heroes on TV. But instead, he plays the satanic villain, Luc. The title role was given to Edward Furlong, of Terminator 2 and American History X fame, as Jimmy Cuervo. He has to avenge his and his girlfriend's deaths by tracking down Luc and finishing him off.
Cuervo’s got more action chops than Ashe, as he gets right to work killing off Luc’s henchmen and doing his best to stop his Satanic ritual. Still, he doesn't exactly look like a figure of retribution. He looks more like a goth kid who made the most out of a hefty voucher for Spencer's Gifts. The line between being cool and looking like a poser can be thin, and sadly, Cuervo fell on the wrong side.
3 Eric Draven
The Crow (2024)
- Played by: Bill Skarsgård
- Director: Rupert Sanders
- Release: August 2024
Did anyone know there was a reboot of The Crow out in cinemas? Judging by its reception, apparently not. Its lacking reception rivals that of Morbius, which at least got briefly popular from its memes. However, the new movie more resembles Spawn, with the new Eric Draven being a rehab patient trying to free his late girlfriend’s soul from Hell. It plays up the more supernatural elements, with its immortal, hell-bound villain, and Draven making deals with the devil to get more shots at him.
The Crow Ending, Explained
Bill Skarsgard takes the lead role in the supernatural thriller, The Crow, a remake of the 1994 cult classic.
The movie itself isn’t so hot after 16 years in development, but Bill Skarsgård is a step-up in the acting stakes. His Draven brings hell on earth in pursuit of Roeg, though he doesn’t have much chemistry with FKA Twigs’ Shelly. No wonder his Draven starts doubting his feelings for her, which oddly causes him to lose his powers. It's a touch more convoluted than the source material using a crow as the source of Draven's abilities.
2 Alex Corvis
The Crow: Salvation
- Played by: Eric Mabius
- Director: Bharat Nalluri
- Release: January 2000
The Crow: Salvation twists things around by being part revenge action, part crime thriller. Alex Corvis is sentenced to death by electric chair for murdering his girlfriend, Lauren. Except he didn’t do it. He was framed to cover for a bunch of corrupt cops who, after being seen taking part in a drug smuggling ring, decided to silence her for good.
Revived to get retribution, Corvis goes between seeking evidence to prove his innocence to Lauren’s sister, Erin, and doing the usual Crow business of killing people horribly. He’s straight and to the point about it, too. No trips to Hell or freak-outs involved. The only downside is his looks. It’s meant to be based on his electrocution wounds, but it ultimately looks more like he could only afford eye-shadow and just went all-out with it. Which might be why its sort-of sequel went all-out with Wicked Prayer's Cuervo.
1 Eric Draven
The Crow (1994)
- Played by: Brandon Lee
- Director: Alex Proyas
- Release: May 1994
Perhaps to nobody’s shock, the best incarnation of the Crow is the original Eric Draven. Brandon Lee’s charisma made the role, combining vulnerability, brooding, vengeful rage, and snappy one-liners into a classic character. The writing also helps, as the movie treats him like a mystery, as Sarah and police sergeant Albrecht try to figure out who he is, what his motive is, and how someone can come back from the dead.
If the actor's fatal accident hadn’t happened, Lee would’ve been due to appear in at least two more Crow movies. They might’ve worked out better than the sequels people got. Even if they didn’t, Lee would’ve kept it entertaining with his performance. Instead, he proved himself irreplaceable, as subsequent attempts to capture his Crow have proved fruitless.