Top 10 Times Movie Villains Got What They Deserved
#10: Dennis Nedry
Top 10 Dennis Hopper Performances
“Jurassic Park” (1993) Industrial espionage is a dangerous business. Of course, it’s usually not this dangerous! A programmer at the titular dinosaur park, Dennis Nedry agrees to smuggle out dino embryos to a competing company. However, in doing so, he disables the entire park’s security, leading to dinosaurs running amok. Nedry gets lost in a storm while trying to escape the island and his mockery of a nearby dinosaur soon comes back to bite him – literally. Not even saying the magic word would’ve gotten him out of this one.
#9: Biff Tannen
“Back to the Future” (1985) Biff Tannen is the quintessential movie bully – mean, dumb, and a complete sleezeball. He torments Marty McFly’s dad George in high school, and ends up being his supervisor at work. Thankfully, thanks to Marty’s time travel shenanigans, that all changes. When Biff assaults Marty’s mother Lorraine, George steps in - punching him right in the face and knocking him out! When Marty returns to his own time, in 1985, Biff has become far more mild mannered. In fact, he seems to look up to George, who hires him to wax the family’s cars!
#8: Scar
“The Lion King” (1994) Scar is a deliciously evil lion, but he ends up proving delicious in a far more literal way. The scheming brother of Mufasa, the king of the Pride Lands, Scar arranges a stampede, and manages to kill Mufasa in the chaos. After driving Simba away and taking over the pride, Scar brings it to ruin by letting the hungry hyenas run rampant. However, the usurper king is undone when Simba battles his uncle and defeats him. Scar tries to blame the hyenas, but this proves to be a mistake, as they overhear his betrayal and find a new way to satisfy their hunger …
#7: Percy Wetmore
“The Green Mile” (1999) A sadistic guard at a penitentiary, Percy is domineering and cruel to the prisoners on death row, despite his fear of them. He even kills Del’s pet mouse and sabotages his execution to cause him more pain while he dies. Although the guards do a good job scaring him on their own, the miraculous prisoner John Coffey gives Percy exactly what he deserves. He uses his powers to transfer an ailment to Percy, who ends up committed to the same asylum he planned to work at. A man who mistreated prisoners is left a prisoner of his own mind.
#6: Iosef Tarasov
“John Wick” (2014) In the annals of movie screw ups, they don’t get much bigger than this. Iosef Tarasov is the spoiled heir to a Russian gangster. While at a gas station, he offers John Wick money for his car and newly acquired dog. John refuses, so Iosef beats John, steals his car, and kills his dog. Iosef is soon informed of the gravity of his mistake by his father. John Wick is a former assassin who was gifted that dog by his late wife. John’s rampage sends Iosef on the run, but in the end, there’s no one left to hide behind. Iosef is gunned down, still trying to insist that it was “just” a dog!
#5: Hans Gruber
Top 10 Best Hans Zimmer Scores
“Die Hard” (1988) Hans Gruber is one of the most entertaining and engaging villains in action movie history, but even he needs to get what’s coming to him. A thief posing as a terrorist, Gruber is merciless to the hostages his crew takes at Los Angeles’ Nakatomi Plaza. But he makes the mistake of taking over the building where John McClane’s wife works. The NYPD Detective launches a one-man war from inside the building. But in the end it comes down to a confrontation between the two of them. McClane gets the drop on Hans with a hidden gun, and Hans takes a drop of his own. The shock on his face is priceless.
#4: Thanos
Gorr vs Thanos
“Avengers: Endgame” (2019) Thanos is perhaps the most prolific fictional mass murderer of all time. With a snap of his fingers, he disintegrates half of all life in the universe. How could such a crime ever be avenged? Well, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes do their best. First, they track the Mad Titan and cut his head off. But when a time traveling version of the conqueror from the past comes to the future, it’s up to Iron Man to give Thanos a taste of his own medicine. A costly use of the Infinity Stones by Tony Stark reduces Thanos, his armies, and his ambitions to dust. He may be inevitable, but Tony is Iron Man!
#3: Hans Landa
“Inglourious Basterds” (2009) Nicknamed “the Jew Hunter,” Austrian SS officer Hans Landa is a terrifying foe. He’s cunning, ruthless, and opportunistic, willing to do anything to further his own self-interest - whether that’s tracking down Jews in hiding, or plotting against his own superiors. When he decides to switch sides and assist the Basterds in killing Hitler, he negotiates for a comfortable new life in America. It seems he’ll get away with all his crimes scot-free. However, they don’t call them the Basterds for nothing! Aldo Raine decides to shoot Landa’s accomplice, and give Landa a swastika he can’t take off.
#2: Count Tyrone Rugen
Supervillain Origins: Count Nefaria
“The Princess Bride” (1987) The right-hand man of Prince Humperdinck, Count Rugen is arguably even worse than his boss. The sadist crafts one of the most fiendish torture implements in fiction and uses it on Wesley. But that’s not his worst crime! The six-fingered man took the life of Inigo Montoya’s father after ordering a sword from him and trying to cheat him. Inigo Montoya finally catches up with his father’s killer and delivers his immortal words of vengeance in an extended duel that leaves Rugen begging for his life. But the one thing Inigo wants, Rugen can’t deliver.
#1: Commodus
“Gladiator” (2000) Some villains are just infinitely hateable. Commodus does plenty to deserve the hate. He kills his father, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He has his general Maximus’ family murdered. He threatens his nephew! And the less said about his feelings for his sister, the better! But Commodus’ misdeeds come back to haunt him when Maximus debuts as a gladiator in the Colosseum. Eventually, Commodus battles Maximus in a duel. Despite being stabbed beforehand, Maximus manages to defeat the contemptible ruler before succumbing to his wounds. It’s fitting that Commodus’ body is left to rot, while Maximus is honored in death. Sic semper tyrannis - thus always to tyrants.
