The only thing better than a great movie villain is watching that villain get their comeuppance at the end. A great plot deserves a great bad guy to test our heroes’ strength, and while we may grow to love cinema’s most iconic baddies just for how bad they are, it always feels good to watch them get beaten in the end, just as long as the punishment is equal to the litany of their crimes.
Oftentimes, the only thing more memorable than a particularly great villain is the part of the movie when they finally get their just desserts — and usually those come in the form of their death (unless, of course, the movie is setting up a sequel showdown). Depending on how much they suck, a bad guy’s death is rarely peaceful, and the badder they are, the more we want to watch them suffer. For the record, we’re not condoning the enjoyment of human suffering…but some characters are so awful it’s hard not to feel a sense of relief once they’re gone.
A truly great villain death is not always a nice thing to witness, but, when done right, it’s marked by a grand sense of catharsis. Some are more memorable than others, whether because of how crazy violent they are, or how the momentum of the scene sets up their demise, or simply because they’re done in by their own hubris, their own sense of entitlement and indifference to the suffering of others. These guys may have been bad, but it’s nice to know that they got what was coming to them at last.
The Most Satisfying Movie Villain Deaths in History
We hate to see them leave, but we love to watch them go.
Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky
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Sure, they do bad things, but somehow we still find ourselves on their side.
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