Edward Cullen Was Twilight's Supervillain All Along: Here's Proof

Stephenie Meyer's captivating series, Twilight, featuring a passionate romance between a regular girl and a centuries-old vampire, was predestined for stardom. However, it was the spectacularly successful movie adaptation, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson leading the charge, that truly solidified Twilight's standing as the most engaging love story of our era.

Yet, it looks like Edward Cullen's character, initially perceived as a knight in shining armour, might have been misunderstood by millions of fans worldwide.

More than a decade has passed since the movie franchise, and fans are only now beginning to see how deranged Edward really is, as his relationship with Bella seems extremely toxic and manipulative by today's standards. First of all, Edward was over 100 years old when he first saw Bella, and the fact that he suggested she drop out of high school and travel the world with him and meet new people is now making many fans question his motives.

Second, Edward would routinely sneak into Bella's room at night to watch her sleep before they started dating, which is super creepy, making Edward a stalker and a pervert rather than a romantic idol.

In addition, he would often treat Bella like property, telling her she didn't deserve him and even breaking up with her to teach her a lesson, all signs of an extremely toxic and manipulative relationship – one hell of a knight in shining armour.

Now, most fans now say they'd be totally cool with Edward being a creep and pervert if he was portrayed as a threat to Bella. The problem is he was presented as her potential lover. The upcoming reboot of the franchise from HBO Max will supposedly take this fan feedback on board and portray the relationship between Bella and Edward not as romantic but as a living nightmare.

With this new approach, Edward's 'idiosyncrasies' will make sense, and werewolf Jacob will finally be seen as a worthy contender for Bella's heart rather than a nuisance nobody takes seriously.

The more intriguing question, though, is whether the original movies really misled fans about Edward by intentionally misrepresenting him as a romantic hero or whether fans simply saw him as one because of Robert Pattinson's gorgeous looks and were willing to ignore all his creepy antics. Perhaps, someone less hot should be cast as Edward in the reboot so as not to confuse fans again.