10 Movie Villain ‘Twists’ We Saw Coming A Mile Off

WhatCulture

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.

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