10 Movie Villain ‘Twists’ We Saw Coming A Mile Off
Did the filmmakers really think we'd be shocked these guys were bad?
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00:00When a villain walks on screen, it's pretty obvious.
00:02More often than not, they'll be decked in all black, possibly with a cape, sporting
00:06a long and thin moustache, and speaking in a perfectly enunciated British accent.
00:12Generally speaking, spotting a bad guy is less a game of Where's Wall-E and more likely
00:16to be a guy standing with a big sign above his head that says, This is Wall-E.
00:21A film may try and hide who its true villain is for a big third act reveal, but too often
00:26not enough is done to hide these baddies' true intentions, be it bad screenwriting or
00:31directors massively underestimating fans and their theories.
00:35So, with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture, here with 10 Movie Villain Twists We Saw Coming
00:41a Mile Off.
00:42Oh, and obviously, spoiler alert.
00:4510.
00:46Obadiah Stane – Iron Man For all of its MCU groundwork laying and Robert
00:50Downey Jr. wisecracking, Iron Man shared much of the superhero tropes with many earlier
00:56entries in the genre.
00:58It does seem strange that director Jon Favreau would try to dupe us about the true motives
01:04of Jeff Bridges' Obadiah, Tony's mentor, when he just looks so sinister.
01:09I mean, come on.
01:11This is his happy face for crying out loud.
01:13There was little question that Bridges would be chewing scenery by the final act.
01:18It was a little surprising that Stane was the one behind Stark's kidnap, I'll give
01:22you that, but when a supposedly loving mentor spent most of his time being grumpy at Tony,
01:28his villainous intentions were fully clear.
01:319.
01:32Ed Wynn – Predators Predators has a group of deadly human characters,
01:36each the master of their respective killing field, literally dropped onto an alien planet
01:41to serve as game for a gang of Predators.
01:44A smart extension of the original set-up, the gang is a diverse mix of different action
01:49tropes.
01:50You've got a mercenary, a sniper, a yakuza, a cartel enforcer, a prisoner from Death Row,
01:57a commando, two soldiers, and an ordinary doctor.
02:00Right, well, one of those isn't like the others, is it?
02:04From the moment he starts repeating he's just a regular guy, it's pretty clear that Ed Wynn
02:09is going to end up being the most dangerous killer of the lot.
02:13Cast in the film's final act to be an all-out psychopath, Topher Grace plays the villain
02:18very well, although the geeky good doctor act could have done with being toned down
02:23just a little bit.
02:258.
02:26Khan – Star Trek Into Darkness If there's one thing J.J. Abrams is known
02:31for as a director, well, it'd be lens flares, wouldn't it?
02:35But after that, it's high secrecy and infuriating misdirection.
02:39When Benedict Cumberbatch was cast in the sequel to the reboot, the fan community jumped
02:44on that he would be playing Khan.
02:47Abrams didn't take this lying down, pushing that this was a new character to the series
02:51named John Harrison.
02:53Some fans bought it, some didn't.
02:55Into Darkness is a thinly-veiled remake of Wrath of Khan, and once that became readily
03:01apparent, it was only inevitable that there be a scene with Cumberbatch revealing his
03:05true identity to fan gasps and a lot of I-told-you-sos.
03:097.
03:10Lotso Huggin' Bear – Toy Story 3 Toy Story 3 was, in some ways, a retread of
03:18the previous film, with added I'm-not-crying-there's-just-something-in-my-eye moments.
03:23While there are some interesting new ideas, the overall thing is mired in a sense of predictability,
03:28and nowhere is that more clear than with the villain.
03:31Lotso, the leader of the toys at Sunnyside Daycare, was almost too nice and caring when
03:36introduced, not to mention identical in temperaments to the first sequel's villain, Stinky Pete.
03:42With the only other new toy given any exploration being Ken, it was obvious this strawberry-smelling
03:48bear was going to end up tyrannical.
03:516.
03:52George Mack McHale – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
03:57In a film full of irritating characters, Ray Winston's Mack stood out thanks to a
04:02sheer lack of importance to events.
04:05Introduced in the opening as a double agent for the Russians, then later a triple agent
04:09for the Americans, then as a quadruple agent actually working for the Russians, he then
04:14finally is revealed as a selfish lone player after as much gold as possible.
04:18His arc is incredibly convoluted for someone whose character begins and ends with,
04:24played by Ray Winston.
04:26The first reveal takes us by surprise because we've just met him, but once he starts to
04:29play Pong with allegiances, it's clear Mack's only here to make sure both sides never fall
04:35too far behind the other.
04:37It was less of a surprise and more of a disappointment that the film took the incredibly obvious
04:41route.
04:425.
04:43Palpatine – The Star Wars Prequels It would be easy to assume that this was never
04:47meant to be a twist at all.
04:48Senator Palpatine and Darth Sidious are both played by the same actor who also portrayed
04:53the evil Emperor in Return of the Jedi, but there's lots of simple tricks such as hiding
04:58Sidious' face and him not appearing in the credits that Lucas plays to pull the rug from
05:03under non-die-hards.
05:04But even if you didn't know the original trilogy, which you need to fix right now if you haven't,
05:10it was pretty obvious.
05:11Palpatine is either being ridiculously righteous or manipulating Anakin, the stereotypical makings
05:17of a hidden villain.
05:19It was so cut and dry that some fans couldn't accept it as being so simple, and the notion
05:24of clones or even brothers were genuine theories that were thrown around before Revenge of
05:30the Sith came out.
05:31Maybe Jar Jar Binks being evil was a better one.
05:344.
05:35Alexander Pierce – Captain America The Winter Soldier
05:37Whenever a new character is introduced into a prominent role in a Marvel film, they have
05:42one of three directions to go.
05:45Love interest, new supporting hero, or the big villain.
05:49And when they're played by a big-name actor, it can really only be the latter.
05:53So yeah, when 70s political thriller star Robert Redford was stunt cast as Alexander
05:59Pierce, it was unthinkable he'd not be the big bad come the third act.
06:053.
06:06Miles Axelrod – Cars 2 Cars 2 is overwhelmed with a green message
06:11and reliance on giving META funny things to do, all of which leads to a rather predictable
06:16set of events.
06:18Chief among them is the reveal that the baddie behind the scheme to discredit Ecofuel is
06:22its creator, Miles Axelrod.
06:24It's fitting that a film so happy to sit in cruise control has such an obvious twist.
06:30Miles is, like so many on this list, too nice, but plays too large a role for him to not
06:36have something extra to him.
06:382.
06:39Megatron – Transformers Age of Extinction Megatron is not in the sequel, Michael Bay
06:45told Empire magazine while promoting Revenge of the Fallen, wherein Hugo Weaving's naughty
06:50Transformer was resurrected so there could be new toys based on him made.
06:55The only two advertised returning Transformers were Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, but this
07:01being a Bay film where plot logic is thrown out at the first script meeting, anything
07:06can happen, because, well, mostly because of explosions.
07:11In the film, Stanley Tucci is attempting to build his own Transformers, chief among them
07:15Galvatron, who the remains of Megatron have been used to help construct.
07:20You don't need to be an 80s kid to see where this is going.
07:23And as expected, it transpires Galvatron is just a new body for the original baddie, likely
07:28done because Hugo Weaving refused to return to the franchise when he realised how crummy
07:32the whole enterprise actually was.
07:35STOP MAKING TRANSFORMERS MOVIES!
07:371.
07:38Talia al Ghul – The Dark Knight Rises This was the movie to round off the trilogy,
07:43and what better way to thematically link the villains than have the last one be the daughter
07:48of the first.
07:50Except it transpired that Marion Cotillard's character was Miranda Tate, an entirely new
07:55creation involved in the financial battles at Wayne Enterprises.
07:59However, that didn't stop everyone thinking this was just a cover and feeling more than
08:04a little smug when Tate stabbed Batman in the back.
08:08More than just being the usual good guy with no story unless they're a villain, Miranda
08:13slash Talia was a victim of a common issue with comic book adaptations.
08:17The ending is almost always out there for fans to figure out.
08:21And that concludes our list.
08:23If you can think of any others, then please do let us know in the comments down below.
08:27And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
08:31Also head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
08:34just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
08:36I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real soon.
08:41If Star Trek is something that you're very interested in, then make sure you head over
08:44to our sister channel Trek Culture for all the latest and greatest surrounding Star Trek.