Denzel Washington has never been a “franchise” guy, which is why this selection of movies is such a fascinating choice for him. By the time he ended up taking on this role, he was well past the point of an actor for hire. He was a genuine superstar with Oscar glory behind him, and with the kind of career that didn’t exactly seem like it needed him to play a vigilante who works as a Lyft driver or in a hardware store.
Across three Equalizermovies, Washington plays Robert McCall, a former government operative trying to live a quiet life while repeatedly finding himself pulled back into violence. The basic formula is, well, basic. McCall sees people being hurt, gives the bad guys a chance to walk away, and then when they don’t take it, he hurts them. But McCall doesn’t want to do any of this, and that might just be why it’s so effective. He’s a genuinely lovely man who’s haunted and lonely and driven by justice, but in a very specific way. The action scenes are satisfying because McCall is so lethal and deadly, but the hook comes from watching a guy who wishes people would be as decent as him to save him the bother.
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
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Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
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🚀Star Wars
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01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
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02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
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03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
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04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
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05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
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06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
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07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
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08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
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Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
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The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
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The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
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Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
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Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
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A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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Who Stars in ‘The Equalizer’ Trilogy?
The Equalizer trilogy stars the iconic Washington (Training Day) as Robert McCall, the titular Equalizer; Marton Csokas (Kingdom of Heaven) as Teddy Rensen, a pimp; Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) as Alina, a young sex worker McCall tries to help; David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Masters, a corrupt CIA operative; Melissa Leo(Prisoners) as Susan Plummer, McCall’s closest friend; Bill Pullman (Independence Day) as Brian Plummer, Susan’s husband; Pedro Pascal (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) as Dave York, McCall’s former partner; Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) as Miles Whittaker, a young artist; Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds) as Emma Collins, a CIA analyst; David Denman(Brightburn) as Frank Conroy, Emma’s colleague; Sonia Ammar (Scream) as Chiara Bonucci, a local woman in Italy; and Gaia Scodellaro (Promises) as Aminah, a café owner.
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All three films were directed by Antoine Fuqua, and in the wake of the third Equalizer film, which looked set to send McCall into retirement, word is that we’ll be getting two more outings, and nobody will argue with that.
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