Detailed villain backstories aren’t always necessary and many Hollywood productions have performed well without explaining how someone became evil. Even so, providing some information about the primary antagonist’s past normally helps audiences to understand their motivations. Consequently, their actions don’t come off as senseless or foolish.
Today, the majority of celebrated movie villains have proper backgrounds but for each baddie with a tragic or unusual event in their past, there is another that has had a rather ridiculous journey. These confusing stories generally come about when too much conflicting information is provided or when the explanations that are given make no sense at all, especially when weighed against their recent actions. Fans thus get the feeling that these details ought to have been left out entirely.
10Ben Willis (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
Slasher villains need to look the part and Ben Willis has always been convincing, thanks to his meat hook weapon and long black trench coat. Initially, he has rational motives for murder, since a couple of teenagers accidentally run him over, and instead of taking responsibility, they drive away. However, with each new installment ofI Know What You Did Last Summer, fresh information about his past gets provided, but this only makes things more baffling.
Among the revelations that make no sense is that Ben killed his wife during their honeymoon. This implies that he might have pursued the teenagers because he is a sadistic murderer by nature and not because he is a scorned person chasing vengeance. It’s also stated that Ben killed his son-in-law, David, for causing an accident that led to his daughter Susie’s death. This happened the same night he was run over by the teenagers. Such fresh details have only made the villain look worse and the desire to always too much is definitely one of thereasons we don’t need another sequel.
9Ernst Stavro Blofeld (James Bond Franchise)
Blofeld is a competent overarching villain and in the majority of the early films, he’s only known as the leader of the global criminal and terrorist organization known as SPECTRE. For a long time, his past remains obscure, but this changes inSpectre. In the Sam Mendes film, it’s disclosed that Blofeld is actually Bond’s foster brother. As a boy, he grew jealous when his father took in the orphaned Bond and began favoring him. This caused him to kill the guardian and run away.
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It seems a bit far-fetched for someone to kill their father just because he is showing more love to a foster sibling. Forcing audiences to believe that Blofeld has held a grudge for decades because Bond was favored by their father is also laughable. Whatever happened is in no way the MI6 agent’s fault and so a seemingly intelligent person like Blofeld shouldn’t feel the need to use so many resources in an effort to destroy him.
8Dr. Poison (Wonder Woman)
InWonder Woman, an effort is made to make Dr. Poison a little different from her comic counterparts. Rather than work for the more controversial Nazi regime, the toxicology and fluid dynamics expert serves the Ottoman Empire and the Imperial German Army during World War I era. to test her gases work, she intentionally exposes herself to them, scarring her face in the process,
None of the Dr. Poison iterations in DC Comics have these facial scars covered by plates and so audiences are left wondering why she deliberately harmed herself. There was clearly the better option of testing the gas elsewhere and there is no doubt that such a route is only taken to make her look terrifying.
7Dante (Fast X)
Dante Reyes is a brilliantFast & Furiousvillain, and arguably the best ever. He is daring, has a great fashion sense, and keeps cracking up audiences with lines such as “I’m Dante, enchante,” and “The Vatican? You guys are going to hell.” Most importantly, he runs circles around Dom’s entire team and exhibits child-like excitement while doing so. In spite of his awesomeness, there are various things about his background that raise question marks.
Dante is said to have been present during the Rio heist inFast Fivebut at no point in the movie was it hinted that his father Hernan Reyes had a son. Audiences also get to learn that Dante waited 10 years to get revenge on Dom and his crew, but an impulsive person like him had no reason to wait that long. After all, he was neither locked up nor institutionalized. Additionally, there were various other times when the crew was weaker, giving him the perfect opportunity to pounce, yet he never did.
6Jason Vorhees (Friday The 13th)
Every new production team that has handled Jason Vorhees has felt the need to make the villain cooler, but this has only made him look overdeveloped. Furthermore, two conflicting stories have emerged regarding his background. The first story states that Jason died after being harassed by bullies and then resurrected to avenge his mother’s death. The second story claims that he survived and disappeared then came back years later as a killer.
Though it’s the more popular version, the resurrection story is less convincing since the procedure is never explained in detail. His fictional world seems like normal one so arguments about coming to life feel unrealistic. Recently, there has been news that aFriday The 13threboot might be madeso fans will hope that the confusion surrounding the origin will get resolved.
5The Joker (Batman ’89)
In the eyes of fans, Jack Nicholson’s performance in Tim Burton’sBatmanis only second to that of Heath Ledger, but his version of the Joker is the least realistic. The blame goes to his history as it’s explained that he fell into a pool of chemical waste at Axis Chemicals and then emerged as a psychologically damaged and deformed person. He then underwent plastic surgery, becoming the Joker. On the other hand, Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix’s versions of the character only have white skin because they use paint/makeup.
Logically, what happened to Jack Nicholson’s Joker, otherwise known as Joe Chill, ought to have left him dead and unable to speak. Additionally, audiences learn that Chill was very keen on keeping his original appearance when he went to the plastic surgeon but no reason is given as to why he settled for snow-white skin rather than his usual one.
4Daniel Robitaille (Candyman)
Tony Todd’s version ofCandymanremains a legendary horror villain, thanks to his choice of weapon and high kill count. The story of his former life is even more powerful since it explores racism and parent-child conflict. After Daniel begins dating a White woman, his racist potential father-in-law sets him up for a mob lynching, and in the process, he loses his hand and then dies. Later, he rises as a spiteful spirit and begins killing people.
The only flaw with this tale is that there is a disconnect between his past and present. Rather than come back to hunt those that tormented him or racist individuals in general, he goes after everyone that simply mentions his name twice. Because of this, he is no different from the people that punished him.
Among the three main characters ofThe Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Angel Eyesis the most hated one because of his total lack of remorse. Nonetheless, he impresses audiences in all his scenes because of his expert marksmanship, dedication to the job, and incredible one-liners. “When I’m paid, I always get the job done,” he says. But therein lies the problem,
Angel Eyes narrates his backstory himself, claiming that he has never had a problem killing anyone, including his employers. He is a fair executioner, but it isn’t logical for people to keep hiring him given his reputation. Still, he continues to get high-profile jobs and those that seek his services end up paying dearly for it.
2The Elder (John Wick - Chapter 3: Parabellum)
The Elder is introduced inJohn Wick - Chapter 3: Parabellum,where is shown to the leader of the High Table. He lives in an unknown location in deserts of Morocco, so anyone assassin who makes a major mistake and hopes to avoid punishment has to go and seek penance from him. John learns about this when his own life gets threatened because he killed the Italian crime boss, Santino D’Antonio.
While it’s always good to have a mysterious villain, questions arise as to why the leader of the most powerful criminal organization in the world would settle for a tent in the desert as his home. The residence isn’t safe either and this is proven in the next film when John Wick shows up again and kills him.
1Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
A case could be made forHome AlonebutGoodfellasis undoubtedly the most recommendable amongJoe Pesci’s best movies. The mob flick has plenty of malicious characters but his character Tommy DeVito stands out because of his brutality and incredibly quotes. The tense “funny how?” scene still gets discussed to this day and so does the body disposal one.
A few details are provided about Tommy’s life, notably the fact that he used to be a shoe-shiner before rising to the top levels of the Cosa Nostra. Surprisingly, he still isn’t a “Made Man” (official member) of his crime family in the movie, yet he is shown to be so influential. Not only does he bark orders at everyone but he also commits plenty of punishable sins without any consequences. Why a person like him is kept at a lower level yet granted so much power thus remains a mystery.
