Top 30 Satisfying Deaths of Hated Movie Characters
These movie deaths put a smile on our faces. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the deaths of villains and other antagonistic characters that felt most deserved.
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00:00What was it you said to me before?
00:03Yippee-ki-yay."
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:08for the deaths of villains and other antagonistic characters
00:11that felt most deserved.
00:13Needless to say, spoiler warning is in effect.
00:16I'm so sorry.
00:2030. Igor Korshinov – Air Force One
00:24One of the greatest undoings of movie villains is hubris,
00:27as is the case of Igor Korshinov,
00:29who hijacks the President's plane in this thriller.
00:32Korshinov boasts about his pending escape via parachute.
00:36I don't parachute.
00:41Whatever happens,
00:44you lose, and I win.
00:47However, his need for theatrics takes up valuable time,
00:50allowing the Commander-in-Chief to tackle and restrain him
00:53before deploying his parachute prematurely.
00:56He then delivers a literally killer send-off line
00:59in a way only Harrison Ford can.
01:01Get off my plane.
01:03This wasn't the first time a deliciously loathsome Gary Oldman character
01:07met a memorable demise, as a few years earlier,
01:10the corrupt Stansfield met his maker via surprise grenades
01:14in Leon the Professional.
01:16Shit.
01:1729. Castor Troy – Face Off
01:20This thriller from action auteur John Woo
01:23makes the most of a can't-miss premise,
01:26with John Travolta playing Sean Archer,
01:28who switches bodies and identities with terrorist Castor Troy,
01:32played by Nicolas Cage.
01:33It's like looking in a mirror, only not.
01:36Towards the end, Archer is receiving a merciless assault from Troy
01:40when he notices a spear gun.
01:42Not giving up easily, Troy tries to wrangle it from him
01:45and carves up his borrowed mug.
01:47You're right, Sean. I've misbehaved.
01:50I need to be punished.
01:52This is more than enough motivation for Archer
01:55to pull the trigger and shut Troy up once and for all.
01:58This scene, as well as much of the rest of the movie,
02:00would not work the same without its stars acting like
02:03and playing off each other.
02:0528. Brad Wesley – Roadhouse
02:08Speaking of spears, here's another.
02:10Now come on out, Dalton.
02:14This town is big enough for both of us?
02:18Let's talk about this.
02:19In the climax of this classic of late 80s machismo,
02:22the power-mad Brad Wesley, played by Ben Gazzara,
02:25unsuccessfully throws one at Patrick Swayze's heroic bouncer,
02:29James Dalton, before trying to kill him with another.
02:32But while Dalton is obviously physically stronger than Wesley,
02:35this scene also demonstrates his emotional strength,
02:38as he doesn't deliver what would surely be a brutal final blow.
02:42For a moment, Wesley thinks he has the upper hand.
02:45No!
02:47It's over!
02:49But the townspeople he's tormented all these years
02:51aren't nearly as merciful.
02:53The sound of the coffee table glass shattering
02:55is still music to our ears.
03:0027. Wretch – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
03:04There have been so many memorable villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
03:07over the years that it's perfectly understandable
03:09if this name isn't ringing a bell.
03:11The bell is our coffee!
03:14Wretch, played by Evan Jones,
03:16isn't anywhere close to being the primary antagonist
03:19of the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
03:21And while joining Taserface's mutiny against Yondu was certainly a lot,
03:25what really ensured our hatred of him was his torment of Baby Groot.
03:33But while Groot may be cute, he's no pushover.
03:36Realising the wrath he's incurred, Wretch wisely attempts an escape.
03:44The key word here being attempts,
03:46as Groot ensnares him and sends him over the catwalk.
03:49It's a swift, brutal, and incredibly satisfying demise.
03:5426. Colonel Tavington – The Patriot
03:57Though it's set during the American Revolutionary War,
03:59Roland Emmerich's epic action-drama shouldn't be used as a historical reference.
04:04One of the most common criticisms levelled against it
04:07was its over-the-top depiction of the British Army.
04:09You know, it's an ugly business doing one's duty.
04:13But just occasionally, it's a real pleasure.
04:17Inaccuracies aside, Jason Isaac's Colonel William Tavington
04:21is one truly nasty villain, and this death was definitely deserved.
04:26During a battle, Tavington squares off against Colonel Benjamin Martin,
04:30seeking revenge for the death of his son.
04:32Kill me before the war is over, will you?
04:35It appears you are not the better man.
04:40As it often goes, right as it seems like all hope is lost, Tavington gets his.
04:46You're right.
04:51My sons were better men.
04:53Of course, it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying if Isaac's
04:56wasn't so adept at depicting such a remorseless character.
05:01So many bullets have been fired and bodies have been dropped
05:04over the course of four John Wick movies,
05:06that it can be easy to forget that it all started
05:08because the titular hitman sought revenge for the death of his beagle, Daisy.
05:13In that moment, I received some semblance of hope.
05:19An opportunity to grieve unalone.
05:24And your son took that opportunity.
05:29Took that from me.
05:31The party responsible is Yosef Teresov,
05:33the impulsive and cold-hearted son of a Russian mob boss,
05:37played by Alfie Allen.
05:39Wick comes out of retirement and pulls out all the stops to track down Yosef.
05:43And even his own father knows his fate is sealed.
05:46Make the arrangements.
05:48Yosef tries to downplay the weight of his action,
05:50but Wick literally won't let him get the last word in.
05:54Easy now.
05:55Number 24. Felix and Zee. You're next.
05:58If you're in the mood for a slasher that has more going for it than just blood splatter,
06:02we highly recommend You're Next.
06:05A family is terrorised by a masked clan,
06:08only for it to be revealed that two of the members orchestrated it
06:11in a twisted inheritance scheme.
06:13You two better be getting enough money to pay us.
06:18Would I be doing this if I wasn't?
06:20They might have gotten away with it, if not for the resolve of Erin,
06:24played by Sharni Vinson,
06:25who's accompanied her boyfriend Crispian on this family reunion gone wrong.
06:30His brother Felix and his partner Zee try to pick her off,
06:33but she has the power of kitchen equipment,
06:36specifically a knife and a blender on her side.
06:39We also can't forget the punishment she inflicts upon Crispian
06:43upon learning of his involvement.
06:46Where's Felix?
06:49I stuck a blender in his head and killed him.
06:52Oh.
06:55Okay.
07:00It's pretty simple.
07:01If you have two movies called Kill Bill,
07:03Bill had better be killed by the end of the second one.
07:05You overreacted?
07:07Is that your explanation?
07:09I didn't say I was gonna explain myself.
07:11While David Carradine's gravitas and Quentin Tarantino's writing
07:15does make Bill more sympathetic than he might seem on paper,
07:18we can't forget about all the pain he's inflicted upon Beatrix.
07:21When the two finally have their long-anticipated showdown,
07:24it's fairly short on action,
07:26as Bill accepts his fate just as quickly as Beatrix delivers it.
07:36That might be disappointing for those hoping for an ultra-violent death scene
07:39a la other Tarantino antagonists,
07:42but the more we revisit this finale,
07:44the more we appreciate it.
07:4722. Captain Vidal – Pan's Labyrinth
07:49Though director Guillermo del Toro's films are full of fantastical monsters,
07:53arguably none of them are as frightening as Captain Vidal,
07:56the psychopathic officer and stepfather to young Ophelia.
08:08Played by Sergi Lopez,
08:10Vidal is the perfect encapsulation of someone who will stop at nothing
08:14to eliminate opponents of the phalangism cause,
08:17as well as anyone perceived as such, including a child.
08:20Vidal soon finds himself surrounded by rebels
08:23and tries a last-ditch effort at a noble death,
08:26but Mercedes and her brother Pedro
08:29refuse to give Vidal, or his name, any kind of legacy.
08:45Though much of Pan's Labyrinth is grim and bleak,
08:49moments like this remind us that evil can only persist for so long.
08:5421. Howard Payne – Speed
08:57The premise of this 90s action-thriller
08:59about a runaway bus that can't go under 50 mph
09:02is so good that it would be impossible to completely screw up,
09:06but it also wouldn't be the same without the talents of Dennis Hopper.
09:14No, poor people are crazy, Jack.
09:17I'm eccentric.
09:18As bomb squad officer-turned-terrorist Howard Payne,
09:22Hopper is teeming with absolute deranged fury,
09:25up to and including in his death scene.
09:28Grappling with Keanu Reeves' officer Jack Traven atop a speeding subway car,
09:32Payne brags about his superior intelligence.
09:35I'm the guy with the plan,
09:37because I'm smarter than you.
09:39I'm smarter than you!
09:41But if he was really as smart as he claims to be,
09:43he would know things like when to duck.
09:46It's just too bad he wasn't around to hear Traven's perfect retort.
09:49Yeah? Well, I'm taller.
09:5420. Mola Ram – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
09:58While we love a face-melting demise as much as the next person,
10:02that iconic scene was more terrifying than satisfying.
10:06Mola Ram, on the other hand, is a single, despicable person
10:10whose defeat we keenly anticipated from the moment he appeared
10:14and attacked a person's heart.
10:26At the climax of the film, Mola Ram confronts Indiana Jones
10:30on a precarious rope bridge while looking to obtain
10:33the mystical Shankara stones he so desperately craves.
10:37In a surprise move, however, Indy cuts the rope bridge.
10:56Jones and Ram struggle for the stones as they hang from the bridge,
11:00but Ram's greed to catch a burning hot one spells his undoing.
11:04He promptly falls to his doom and gets up close and personal
11:07with a few crocodiles.
11:2119. Sebastian Shaw – X-Men First Class
11:25Klaus Schmidt once asked Eric to move a coin with his powers.
11:29When Eric failed, Schmidt took his mother's life.
11:32This fostered a burning rivalry between the two.
11:47After Schmidt changed his name to Sebastian Shaw,
11:50he finally confronted Eric.
11:52During an opening in the battle, telepath Charles Xavier
11:55freezes Shaw in place.
11:57It's here where we see an antagonist fall and a villain rise.
12:01Eric uses a coin to finally dispatch his old foe.
12:12While there are more despicable villains than Shaw,
12:15few meet their ends in such a thematically appropriate fashion.
12:1918. Alma Coyne – The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2
12:36Speaking of coins, this duplicitous leader of the Second Rebellion
12:40made us actually appreciate the dastardly President Snow
12:44for his forthrightness.
12:45Alma Coyne was the president of the ostensibly eradicated District 13.
12:50She drummed up a propaganda campaign against the capital
12:53with Katniss Eberdein as their figurehead,
12:56or figuratively, their Mockingjay.
12:58Though her cause was just, Coyne secretly made ruthless plans
13:02in order to usurp the enemy.
13:04She even let innocents like Katniss's sister Prim perish
13:08to achieve her goals.
13:09After realizing Coyne will just become another Snow after the war,
13:13Katniss aims an arrow and puts Coyne down.
13:26The Mockingjay ended a cycle of tyranny
13:29and taught everyone the price of messing with her sister.
13:3317. Henry Rhodes – Day of the Dead
13:36When you're the leader of an underground military compound,
13:39you'd better show respect for your subordinates,
13:42even if one of them is a zombie with above-average intelligence.
13:58Upon finding himself in charge,
14:00Captain Rhodes slowly starts to lose his mind.
14:03He becomes quick to dispatch any dissenters without a second thought.
14:07When the base becomes overrun with zombies,
14:09Rhodes puts his self-preservation above all else.
14:12But karma returns to haunt him in the form of Bud,
14:15a zombie in the scientist's domestication program with a bone to pick.
14:20After the undead man shoots Rhodes,
14:22the panicked captain picks the wrong door.
14:30Bud's militaristic salute to Rhodes as zombies descend upon the captain
14:35is the icing on the cake of this perfect send-off.
14:3816. August Walker – John Lark
14:41Mission Impossible – Fallout
14:44Though Owen Davian from MI3 is the more despicable villain,
14:48his end isn't quite as sweet as August Walker's.
14:58Sporting a luscious moustache,
15:00Walker is initially Ethan's anti-hero ally that we really got behind.
15:05But when he's revealed to be nuclear arms buyer John Lark,
15:08with intentions for global catastrophe,
15:10we realise what a formidable and dangerous foe he really is.
15:26Ethan Hunt and the team track him to India.
15:29After a thrilling helicopter chase,
15:31Ethan and Walker battle on a cliffside.
15:33With both hanging from the edge,
15:34Ethan yanks the cable one of the helicopters is dangling from
15:38and sends it in Walker's direction.
15:49The moustachioed villain falls right before the MIF averts yet another disaster.
15:5515. Colin Sullivan – The Departed
15:58We don't usually root against a Matt Damon character.
16:01However, he's just so hateable in The Departed.
16:07He plays Colin Sullivan,
16:09a mole in the Massachusetts State Police
16:11that's even disloyal to the criminals he's supposed to protect.
16:15Upon learning mob boss Frank Costello is an FBI informant,
16:19Sullivan aids the police and takes out Costello.
16:22Billy Costigan, the police mole in the mob,
16:25nearly apprehends Sullivan sometime later.
16:28But a lucky break results in Costigan biting the bullet
16:31before justice is served.
16:33We shuddered at the thought that Sullivan might walk away unscathed.
16:37But the last scene shows Sean Dignam coming to the rescue
16:40by surprising Sullivan in his home and ending the crooked man's life.
16:5214. Stuntman Mike – Death Proof
16:55Quentin Tarantino has a lot of despicable characters in his movies.
16:59Fortunately, he's a master of gleefully taking the villains down before the credits roll.
17:04One character whose end we sorely anticipated was Stuntman Mike.
17:08This car is 100% death proof.
17:11Only to get the benefit of it, honey,
17:14you really need to be sitting in my seat.
17:18Driving a ride that's virtually death proof,
17:20provided he's in the driver's seat,
17:22Mike got used to using it as a dangerous weapon against women on roadways.
17:26When he sees a woman performing a risky stunt on the hood of a car,
17:30he can't help himself.
17:32He torments them for what seems like hours.
17:34Thankfully, the girls are able to avoid wrecking.
17:36They eventually turn the tables and give him a taste of vigilante justice.
17:46Huh. Guess Mike himself wasn't death proof.
17:4913. Mrs. Carmody – The Mist
17:52Mrs. Carmody used everyone's fear of a supernatural mist to craft a violent cult.
18:10We get it.
18:11A mist that envelops the town and unleashes a host of otherworldly monsters is scary stuff.
18:16But you'd hope cooler heads would prevail.
18:18Not so, as Mrs. Carmody is slowly able to amass followers
18:22and preach that the only way to get out of this situation
18:25is for certain people to give up their lives.
18:38While our band of heroes looks to sneak away from the supermarket,
18:41Mrs. Carmody incites the crowd and turns her attention to a vulnerable survivor.
18:46Out of options, store manager Ollie decides to permanently silence her.
18:56Trust us. We're not crying over this spilled milk.
18:5912. Carlo Rizzi – The Godfather
19:06The extended opening sequence of The Godfather
19:09details the goings-on at a wedding as Carlo Rizzi marries into the Corleone crime family.
19:14However happy the occasion is, the marriage itself is anything but.
19:18Miffed at being looked over in the family, Carlo mistreats his new wife Connie.
19:22In retaliation, Connie's brother Sonny beats him to a pulp.
19:36Unable to relent, Carlo colludes with a rival family to orchestrate Sonny's brutal assassination.
19:42Michael Corleone has his suspicions about his sibling's demise.
19:46When he assumes control of the family following his father's passing,
19:49he tricks Carlo into basically admitting his involvement before having him taken out.
20:02It was cold, but well-deserved.
20:0411. Dick Jones – Robocop
20:07There are plenty of gruesome and over-the-top fatalities in this Paul Verhoeven classic,
20:12but the most cathartic demise belongs to OCP Senior Vice President Dick Jones.
20:17To combat the rampant crime plague in Detroit,
20:20Jones tries to issue the ED-209 droid for police use.
20:24When the demonstration fails drastically, Robocop rises in its place.
20:29Undeterred, Jones continues his plans to control both the city's police and criminal empire.
20:34He even goes so far as to install a directive in Robocop preventing him from acting against an OCP executive.
20:54This initially keeps Robocop from harming Jones in the final scene,
20:58but after Jones' superior promptly fires him, Robocop is free to deal out justice.
21:0810. Margaret White – Carrie
21:10Before Mrs. Carmody in The Mist,
21:12there was no more detestable horror movie villain linked to religion than Margaret White.
21:17Though not quite as extreme as Mrs. Carmody,
21:20Margaret is first seen punishing her daughter Carrie just for having her first period.
21:29Unfortunately for Carrie, her burgeoning telekinesis
21:33only furthers Margaret's belief that she's a witch and ought to be eradicated.
21:38After Carrie returns from her horrific prom, Margaret attacks Carrie while pretending to comfort her.
21:44Whether consciously or purely by instinct,
21:46Carrie uses her powers to bring Margaret's reign of terror to an end.
21:599. Cypher – The Matrix
22:16While we can sympathise with Cypher preferring the safe confines of the Matrix
22:20to the ravaged and bleak real world, there's no justification for what he did.
22:24This member of the human resistance makes a deal with the machines
22:27that he'll be put back into the Matrix in exchange for the leader, Morpheus.
22:32As if that wasn't bad enough, Cypher unplugs back into the real world
22:36and assassinates multiple allies while they're plugged in and essentially defenceless.
22:50Before he can do the same to Neo,
22:52Tank reveals himself to still be alive.
22:54He ultimately gets vengeance on Cypher in glorious fashion.
23:02In a story where Neo is a Christ-like figure, Cypher was definitely the Judas.
23:088. Annie Wilkes – Misery
23:16Like both Mrs. Carmody and Margaret White before her,
23:19Annie Wilkes continues Stephen King's legacy of writing captivatingly horrendous villainesses.
23:25The unbalanced Annie Wilkes holds her favourite author, Paul Sheldon, captive
23:30under the guise of nursing him back to health.
23:32All the while, she forces him to write his premiere character back to life.
23:36If he doesn't, he'll face horrible repercussions.
23:50After several unsuccessful attempts to flee, Paul is forced to scrap with Annie in order to survive.
23:58Although she initially seems to meet her end after a collision with a typewriter,
24:02Paul ultimately puts an end to her story with his own hands.
24:067. Emperor Palpatine – Star Wars Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
24:21Is there a movie villain more classically evil than Emperor Palpatine?
24:25He already deserved a terrible fate for luring Anakin Skywalker to the dark side.
24:30But not satisfied with ruining one Skywalker,
24:33Palpatine tries to tempt Luke to strike down Darth Vader and become evil too.
24:38Although an intense lightsaber duel does take place, Luke ultimately refuses to take his father's life.
24:44Palpatine rewards this restraint by hitting Luke with Force lightning.
24:48If you will not return, you will be destroyed.
24:54In a classic moment, Vader's familial love brings him back to the light and he decides to defy his master.
25:01He sacrifices himself to take Palpatine down.
25:14Though the rise of Skywalker would later play around with the details of the Emperor's end,
25:19his demise in Return of the Jedi is still satisfying.
25:236. Bellatrix Lestrange – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
25:28Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange became one of the most hated characters in the wizarding world
25:33after she took the life of Harry Potter's godfather Sirius.
25:53Her comeuppance finally came during the climactic Battle of Hogwarts.
25:57Bellatrix attempts to take the life of Ginny Weasley in the Great Hall.
26:01This prompts Molly Weasley to step in with an epic line and defend her daughter.
26:10While their duel is quick, it's thrilling.
26:13Molly's able to stun Bellatrix before obliterating her completely.
26:18What's really satisfying about Bellatrix's defeat is the fact that it comes at the hands of Molly Weasley,
26:24who normally doesn't get to show off how fierce she is on the battlefield.
26:285. Immortan Joe – Mad Max Fury Road
26:32Immortan Joe was the self-imposed leader of the post-apocalyptic city known as the Citadel.
26:37The cruel leader ruled with the powers of the Sith and the Jedi.
26:41Not only did he hoard the only known water source over its citizens,
26:45but he neglected to care about what several of his wives actually wanted.
26:49And he's so possessive that he flies into a frenzy when Lieutenant Imperator Furiosa flees with his spouses.
27:12For the majority of the movie, Joe's forces chase his wives down.
27:16On the ride back to the Citadel, Furiosa finally confronts him on the side of his rig.
27:21She makes sure that Immortan Joe will never have the opportunity to mistreat one of his wives again.
27:334. The Armitage Family – Get Out
27:36On the outset, the Armitage family seems like your average upper-class family
27:40that tries way too hard to show their accepting of everyone.
27:43But it's clear there's something much more sinister going on under the surface.
27:47Now, sink into the floor.
27:52Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
27:53Sink.
27:54As Chris comes to learn, the Armitages have made a business of abducting people
28:05and stealing their bodies by implanting the mind of the highest bidder.
28:09Before this can happen to Chris, he fights back.
28:12Dean Armitage, his wife Missy and their eldest son Jeremy all receive brutal but just ends.
28:29Once Chris takes the three of them down, he's confronted by his girlfriend, Rose.
28:34But after a brainwashed groundskeeper is temporarily freed,
28:38he puts an end to this horrendous family.
28:553. Hans Gruber – Die Hard
28:57We love to hate this villain so much, it almost circles back to just love.
29:02This is partially because Hans Gruber took out Harry Ellis, a character we just plain hated.
29:24But that obnoxious man's demise isn't the most glorious one in the film.
29:28Gruber is a supposed extremist who casually hurts people,
29:31but is really nothing more than an extremely brutal thief.
29:35He eventually gets more than he bargained for
29:37when everyman cop John McClane arrives to save his wife Holly.
29:44The conflict between the cop and thief comes to a head
29:47when Gruber is left hanging out the window by Holly's wrist.
29:50Fortunately, McClane unclasps Holly's wristwatch and sends Gruber to his doom.
29:56Happy trails indeed, Hans.
30:072. Count Tyrone Rugen – The Princess Bride
30:10Few characters have focused more on taking out their enemies than Inigo Montoya has.
30:15He spent years thinking about getting revenge on the man who slayed his father.
30:27Inigo eventually learns that the vicious Count Rugen was responsible.
30:31While he's helping with a rescue mission in a castle, he and the Count finally meet.
30:36During their long-awaited duel, Inigo repeats his promise to get revenge on the Count.
30:46For a moment, it seems like he's trying to get revenge on his father.
30:51For a moment, it seems like it won't happen at all.
30:54But Inigo's sheer tenacity and will ensures that he finally gets closure
30:59and avenges his father by slaying the Count.
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31:321. Commodus, Gladiator
31:47There's hardly a greater tale of revenge than that of Maximus Decimus Meridius against Commodus.
31:53After Commodus usurps his father as Emperor of Rome, he asks General Maximus to swear allegiance.
31:59But the warrior refuses.
32:01A slighted Commodus takes the lives of Maximus' wife and son.
32:05After Maximus escapes his own grim fate, he swears vengeance against the Emperor.
32:20He rose through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena and slowly gained favour with the people of Rome.
32:25Desperate to see his enemy fall, Commodus wounds Maximus before the two compete in gladiatorial combat.
32:31But Maximus manages to overcome his fatal wounds and slay Commodus before finding peace.
32:46What movie death gave you the most satisfaction? Let us know in the comments.
32:52Diplomatic immunity!
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