10 Good Guys Who Were Secretly The Villain

WhatCulture

Those sneaky hobitsies, space wizards, and dream walkers who were actually the bad guys all along.

Transcript

00:00Whether they were aware of just how much chaos they were causing or not,

00:04or simply did certain things that only a bad guy could dream of,

00:08this bunch of movie quote-unquote heroes were all secretly way more villainous than you may

00:14have realised during a first watch. Oh yeah, and just a special thank you to GeekDaddy75's tweet

00:19on X that inspired this very list too. So with all that said, I am Gareth,

00:24this is WhatCulture, and here are 10 good guys who were secretly the villain.

00:2910. Tony Stark The MCU The iconic Iron Man known as Tony Stark gave his life to save the entire

00:36universe. But in the time before that heartbreaking sacrifice, this Avenger certainly had more than

00:42his fair share of rather villainous moments. People grow of course, and a few mistakes along the way

00:48don't necessarily make you an irredeemable supervillain. However, even after Tony realises

00:53the error of his old playboy billionaire ways, and stops making weapons to be sold off,

00:58the founding member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes still did some rather questionable stuff over the

01:03years. There was that time he ignorantly helped create Ultron in an attempt to keep the planet

01:08safe, with that move almost leading to the population's destruction and still killing many

01:13innocent souls. And remember when Stark just decided to chuck a kid into the middle of a

01:18superhuman battle against the likes of Captain America and the gang, and ultimately put him in

01:22all kinds of danger too. Again, it's not as though Stark was actively looking to cause damage or ruin

01:28lives with these choices. But that doesn't change the fact that his actions were eventually viewed as

01:33bad slash evil ones by the people who suffered the most because of them.

01:379. Miles Morales Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse

01:40He may be the lead protagonist during both of the masterful Spider-Verse animated pictures,

01:45but after the events of Across the Spider-Verse, there is an argument to be made for Miles Morales

01:50actually being one of the series' key antagonists. Coming into the 2023 flick,

01:55fans weren't aware that the spider Miles was bitten by during Into the Spider-Verse wasn't

01:59actually from his universe. It had been pulled into Earth-1610 by a pre-spot Jonathan Owen during

02:06a collider test. The fact this Earth-42 spider then bit Morales led to him becoming the original

02:11anomaly that kicked off the series of events that resulted in the spot becoming the Spider-Society

02:17and Multiverse's biggest headache. In other words, had Miles not been painting graffiti in an abandoned

02:22subway station with his Uncle Aaron that night, perhaps fate wouldn't have eventually tried to

02:27correct this unplanned bite by having Earth-1610's Peter Parker killed, the super-powerful spot wouldn't

02:33have been created, and the Multiverse wouldn't be in danger of falling apart. And also, despite being

02:38told by the Spider-Society that trying to stop the incoming canon event of his police-captain

02:43father being killed, could end up destroying his universe, does that stop Miles trying? Not a chance.

02:49He isn't the villain of his own story, but he would be in the stories of countless innocent

02:53souls if the Multiverse does ultimately get decimated because of his actions.

02:578. Frodo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings

03:00Though he may have started out as a rather innocent soul who just wanted to help his pal Gandalf and the

03:05rest of the gang get the nasty ring back into the volcano it came from, Frodo Baggins hadn't

03:10half turned into a whiny annoyance by the time The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King,

03:14reached its dramatic conclusion. Over the course of his and Samwise Gamgee's quest to get the bling

03:19to Mordor, the One Ring began to corrupt the Little Hobbit. Baggins continually lashed out at

03:25his poor mate during this epic journey, with Frodo also not even thinking twice about telling his pal

03:30to get lost after being easily fooled by the Trixie Gollum. And even after all that, Sam still refused

03:36to give up on his petulant friend, returning to literally carry the increasingly annoying Baggins

03:41up Mount Doom. What was Gamgee's reward for being the real hero of this story? Frodo having a properly

03:47villainous change of heart at the last minute, and popping the ring on his finger after rejecting the

03:52idea of dumping it in the lava. Sure, poor Frodo did have to deal with carrying a poisonous burden no

03:58one else could throughout the flicks, and would inadvertently help destroy it after trying to

04:02wrestle it back off Gollum afterwards, not before having a finger chewed off. But he'd already

04:06established himself as the secret villain of the rings long before that accidental heroism.

04:11Number 7, Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man

04:14Swinging back into spider territory for this next entry, Andrew Garfield's version of the iconic

04:19web-slinger found himself in a rather unenviable position during The Amazing Spider-Man series.

04:24As his girlfriend's father lay dying in front of him, Parker was made to promise Captain

04:29George Stacy that he would not continue seeing his daughter. This would help keep Gwen safe from

04:34the dangers being associated with Spider-Man could bring. So while it would unquestionably be a tough

04:40decision, Peter must have known deep down that this was the only way he could ensure his beloved

04:45would stay out of harm's way. Not to mention the fact that breaking a promise you've made to a

04:49dead man isn't exactly hero behavior either. But does that stop Parker from ultimately going back on

04:54his word one film later? Nope. Sure, they do eventually break things off at one point in

04:59the sequel, but Parker still ends up professing his love for Gwen as the pair go on to plan a life

05:04together in England. All this leads to the heartbreaking moment Gwen inevitably gets caught

05:08in the middle of more spidey drama and killed before film's end. And it could have all been avoided

05:13had Parker not selfishly decided to ignore a dying man's wishes.

05:18Number 6, The Jedi, Star Wars

05:20The Force-sensitive warriors focused on keeping the peace in the galaxy far, far away. May have

05:25felt they were the folks fighting the good fight in Star Wars, but the Jedi Order certainly weren't

05:30perfect by any means. In fact, there were times there when they were downright villainous. Just

05:34look at the way they recruited the next generation of potential Jedi Knights and Masters. After searching

05:40the galaxy for Force-sensitive youngsters, the Order would whisk them away from their families as

05:45children, with many not even properly remembering their parents' faces. That's rather cruel whatever

05:49way you slice it with the lightsaber. They were also extremely arrogant and rash around the time

05:54of the prequel trilogy in particular, with the Masters on the Jedi Council doubting the return

05:59of the Sith, and being quick to expel Ahsoka Tano from the Order in the Clone Wars animated series,

06:04after she was framed for an attack on the Temple. I know we're mostly talking about movies here,

06:09but it's still worth saying. And their response when Ahsoka was proved innocent,

06:12they tried to frame the ordeal as a trial that helped turn her into a better Jedi.

06:17The cheek! They also used Jedi mind tricks to control weak-minded folk, have a history of

06:23lying through their teeth, certain point of view my ass, and were even happy to completely bypass

06:28a trial and skip straight to executing individuals. With friends like these, who needs the Sith, right?

06:345. Dr. John Hammond, Jurassic Park

06:36There are those who would be quick to point to the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex,

06:40chilling velociraptors, and the selfish Dennis Nedry as the iconic Jurassic Park's true villains.

06:46But you've always known, deep down, the person truly responsible for all of the death and chaos

06:51was the bloke who decided to foolishly create the unbelievable theme park in the first place.

06:56Sure, Dr. John Hammond is very much a loving grandparent, and a man who wanted to bring the

07:01joy of witnessing dinosaurs in the flesh to the world. However, he's also a rather arrogant person,

07:06who didn't stop to think whether what they were trying to achieve on Isla Nublar was ethical,

07:11rushing to unleash prehistoric creatures without bothering to question if it was even the right

07:15thing to do. And while Hammond would also claim to have spared no expense, it was the fact the

07:20stingy businessman refused to pay the aforementioned Nedry more that ultimately kicked off the mayhem

07:25that led to numerous fatalities. Put simply, here was a guy who selfishly chose to wield a power he

07:30didn't fully understand, playing God in order to make money from the return of the dinos. At least he learned

07:36his lesson by film's end though, eh?

07:384. Albus Dumbledore – Harry Potter

07:40During those first few trips to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the majority of viewers

07:45grew to respect and admire the powerful and wise headmaster known as Albus Dumbledore.

07:51However, by the time the Harry Potter series reached its end in 2011, it had actually become

07:55quite difficult to class the mighty wizard as an out-and-out hero. If the fact that he routinely

08:00put his students in serious danger whilst they were being educated under his roof wasn't bad enough,

08:05allowing Harry and Hermione to riskily travel back in time, allowing an underage student to enter the

08:11Triwizard Tournament, the list really does go on. The real reason he protected Potter for all those

08:16years was about as cold and dreadful as it gets. It turned out that Dumbledore wasn't looking after

08:22young Harry because he cared for the lad. Nope, he just realised long ago that he was actually likely

08:27another one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, and had been manipulating him and raising the lad like a pig for

08:32slaughter to die at the proper moment all this time. Sure, Harry came back from the dead in the

08:37end, but that doesn't change the fact Dumbledore secretly planned for the death of a kid. Not what

08:42you call hero behaviour.

08:433. Grandpa Joe, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

08:46There are certainly more than a few rather dark and annoying figures present in the magical experience

08:52that is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But arguably the most villainous of the lot can

08:56regularly be found by the side of the film's main protagonist. First popping up on screen as an old

09:01bloke who had spent years in bed, due to not quite having the strength to stretch out his legs and

09:06support his family. The second his grandson Charlie returned with a golden ticket, something miraculous

09:12happens to Grandpa Joe. Not only does Joe suddenly discover the strength to wiggle out of bed, he actually

09:18goes on to perform a lively dance number. After years of not moving a finger to help his family,

09:23and happily smoking tobacco while everyone else struggles. He also selfishly reacts to the whole

09:28golden ticket reveal, like he was the person who found the damn thing, singing I've got a golden ticket,

09:34when Charlie was clearly the one who discovered the final factory invite, and simply asked Joe to come

09:39along for the ride. Oh, and there was also that moment when Joe nearly went and got Charlie killed

09:43within the factory too, directly disobeying Wonka's orders not to consume the fizzy lifting drinks,

09:49and foolishly putting his grandson in serious danger after thinking he was above the rules.

09:54What a role model.

09:55Number 2. Daniel Hillard, Mrs. Doubtfire

09:58A father doing everything he can to be a part of his children's life sounds sweet on paper.

10:03However, the more you think about Daniel's actions during the hit dramedy known as Mrs. Doubtfire,

10:08the more you realise that this out-of-work voice actor was actually a bit of a badden.

10:12On top of creepily dressing up and pretending to be a nanny in order to trespass on his ex-wife's

10:17property, something that no doubt will have had quite an effect on his poor kids once he's revealed

10:22as the man underneath the Scottish nanny mask, Daniel also attempts to meddle with Miranda's

10:27relationship with Stu, and almost kills the man by chucking pepper, something he's allergic to,

10:32onto his dish at a restaurant. Karma strikes back after that last act at least, with Daniel's mask

10:37literally slipping after performing the Heimlich manoeuvre, but all of the freaky damage had already

10:42been done. And after all that, Miranda still ultimately forgives him, and gives the madman

10:46joint custody of their children. Would it have been so hard to have just been a good dad and

10:51earn your way back into their lives that way? Apparently so.

10:541. Dom Cobb Inception

10:56During the frequently spectacular dive into the world of dreams known as Inception,

11:01extractor Dom Cobb is found risking it all to get back home to his children. And while that may seem

11:06like a pretty noble motivation for this information thief, the truth behind why Dom is forced to keep

11:11running, and performing these dangerous jobs is a little more complicated. Early on, it's established

11:17that the projection of Dom's late wife Maul keeps threatening to cause chaos within his own mind and

11:22the missions he's a part of. But it's not until later on, after he's agreed to perform Inception

11:27on a target, when Cobb finally confesses to Ariadne that he actually first performed this act on Maul.

11:34He did so on the back of the two experimenting with dream sharing.

11:37Maul simply refused to return to reality after spending 50 years in this dream state, which was an

11:43hour in reality. So Dom planted an idea in her subconscious that ultimately convinced her to wake

11:49up. However, when she did, Maul still didn't believe she had broken free from her dream. And it was her

11:54attempts to once again wake herself up that eventually resulted in her taking her own life and dying in

12:00reality. So not only did Dom continually and quite selfishly put all of his team at risk by not

12:05informing them about the real Maul truth, and also quite illegally infiltrate people's minds for a

12:11living, he also recklessly planted the idea that ultimately led to the death of his wife and the

12:16mother of his children. But at least he got back home, yay!

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