Die Hard remains the most critically acclaimed film in the series based on aggregated reviews. As the sequels progressed, they increasingly hewed closer to the 1980s-style action films Die Hard had eschewed, McClane becoming an invincible killing machine surviving damage that would have killed his original incarnation. NPR called Die Hard a "genuinely great" movie whose legacy has been tarnished by lackluster sequels. According to The Guardian, the evolution of the action genre can be tracked by the differences in each Die Hard sequel, as McClane evolves from human into a superhuman. A comic book prequel and sequel have been released: Die Hard: Year One is set in 1976 and chronicles McClane as a rookie officer; A Million Ways to Die Hard is set 30 years after Die Hard, and features a retired McClane seeking out a serial killer.
