Those sneaky hobitsies, space wizards, and dream walkers who were actually the bad guys all along.
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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
00:47the way don'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
01:03the years. There was that time he ignorantly helped create Ultron in an attempt to keep
01:08the planet safe, with that move almost leading to the population's destruction and still killing
01:13many innocent 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.
02:588. 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
03:36refused to give up on his petulant friend, returning to literally carry the increasingly
03:40annoying Baggins up Mount Doom. What was Gamgee's reward for being the real hero of this story?
03:46Frodo having a properly villainous change of heart at the last minute, and popping the ring on his
03:50finger after rejecting the idea of dumping it in the lava. Sure, poor Frodo did have to deal with
03:56carrying a poisonous burden no one else could throughout the flicks, and would inadvertently
04:00help destroy it after trying to wrestle it back off Gollum afterwards, not before having a finger
04:05chewed off. But he'd already established himself as the secret villain of the rings long before that
04:10accidental heroism. Number 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 George
04:30Stacy 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 dead
04:49man isn't exactly hero behavior either. But does that stop Parker from ultimately going back on his
04:54word one film later? Nope. Sure, they do eventually break things off at one point in the sequel,
05:00but Parker still ends up professing his love for Gwen as the pair go on to plan a life together
05:04in England. All this leads to the heartbreaking moment Gwen inevitably gets caught in the middle
05:09of more spidey drama and killed before film's end. And it could have all been avoided had Parker not
05:14selfishly decided to ignore a dying man's wishes. Number 6, The Jedi, Star Wars.
05:20The Force-sensitive warriors focused on keeping the peace in the galaxy far, far away. May have felt
05:25they 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 a lightsaber. They were also extremely arrogant and rash around the time of the
05:54prequel trilogy in particular, with the Masters on the Jedi Council doubting the return of the Sith
05:59and being quick to expel Ahsoka Tano from the Order in the Clone Wars animated series, after she was
06:05framed for an attack on the Temple. I know we're mostly talking about movies here, but it's still worth
06:09saying. And their response when Ahsoka was proved innocent, they tried to frame the ordeal as a
06:14trial that helped turn her into a better Jedi. The cheek! They also used Jedi mind tricks to control
06:20weak-minded folk, have a history of lying through their teeth, certain point of view my ass, and were
06:26even happy to completely bypass a trial and skip straight to executing individuals. With friends
06:32like these, who needs the Sith, right? 5. Dr. John Hammond, Jurassic Park
06:36There are those who would be quick to point to the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex, chilling
06:41Velociraptors, and the selfish Dennis Nedry as the iconic Jurassic Park's true villains. But you've
06:47always known, deep down, the person truly responsible for all of the death and chaos was the bloke who
06:52decided to foolishly create the unbelievable theme park in the first place. Sure, Dr. John Hammond is
06:58very much a loving grandparent, and a man who wanted to bring the joy of witnessing dinosaurs in the
07:03flesh to the world. However, he's also a rather arrogant person, who didn't stop to think whether
07:08what they were trying to achieve on Isla Nublar was ethical, rushing to unleash prehistoric creatures
07:13without bothering to question if it was even the right thing to do. And while Hammond would also
07:17claim to have spared no expense, it was the fact the stingy businessman refused to pay the aforementioned
07:22Nedry more that ultimately kicked off the mayhem that led to numerous fatalities. Put simply,
07:27here was a guy who selfishly chose to wield a power he didn't fully understand, playing God in
07:33order to make money from the return of the dinos. At least he learned his lesson by film's end,
07:37though, eh? Number 4, 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. However,
07:51by the time the Harry Potter series reached its end in 2011, it had actually become quite difficult to
07:56class the mighty wizard as an out-and-out hero. If the fact that he routinely put his students in
08:01serious danger whilst they were being educated under his roof wasn't bad enough, allowing Harry
08:06and Hermione to riskily travel back in time, allowing an underage student to enter the Triwizard
08:11tournament, the list really does go on. The real reason he protected Potter for all those years was
08:17about as cold and dreadful as it gets. It turned out that Dumbledore wasn't looking after young Harry
08:22because he cared for the lad. Nope, he just realised long ago that he was actually likely another one of
08:27Voldemort's Horcruxes, and had been manipulating him and raising the lad like a pig for slaughter
08:32to die at the proper moment all this time. Sure, Harry came back from the dead in the end,
08:37but that doesn't change the fact Dumbledore secretly planned for the death of a kid.
08:41Not what you call hero behaviour. Number 3, 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 regularly
08:56be found by the side of the film's main protagonist, first popping up on screen as an old bloke who
09:02had spent years in bed due to not quite having the strength to stretch out his legs and support his
09:07family. The second his grandson Charlie returned with a golden ticket, something miraculous happens
09:12to Grandpa Joe. Not only does Joe suddenly discover the strength to wiggle out of bed, he actually goes
09:18on to perform a lively dance number, after years of not moving a finger to help his family and happily
09:23smoking tobacco while everyone else struggles. He also selfishly reacts to the whole golden ticket
09:28reveal, 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 and
09:49foolishly putting his grandson in serious danger after thinking he was above the rules. What a role
09:55model. Number 2, Daniel Hillard, Mrs. Doubtfire. A father doing everything he can to be a part of
10:00his children's life sounds sweet on paper. However, the more you think about Daniel's actions during
10:05the hit dramedy known as Mrs. Doubtfire, the more you realise that this out-of-work voice actor was
10:11actually a bit of a badden. On top of creepily dressing up and pretending to be a nanny in order to
10:15trespass on his ex-wife's property, something that no doubt will have had quite an effect on his poor
10:21kids once he's revealed as the man underneath the Scottish nanny mask, Daniel also attempts to meddle
10:26with Miranda's relationship with Stu and almost kills the man by chucking pepper, something he's
10:31allergic to, onto his dish at a restaurant. Karma strikes back after that last act at least,
10:36with Daniel's mask literally slipping after performing the Heimlich manoeuvre, but all of the
10:41freaky damage had already been done. And after all that, Miranda still ultimately forgives him
10:45and gives the madman joint custody of their children. Would it have been so hard to have
10:49just been a good dad and earn your way back into their lives that way? Apparently so.
10:54Number 1, Dom Cobb, Inception. During the frequently spectacular dive into the world of dreams known as
11:00Inception, extractor Dom Cobb is found risking it all to get back home to his children. And while that
11:05may seem like a pretty noble motivation for this information thief, the truth behind why Dom is
11:10forced to keep running and performing these dangerous jobs is a little more complicated.
11:16Early on, it's established that the projection of Dom's late wife, Maul, keeps threatening to cause
11:20chaos within his own mind and the missions he's a part of. But it's not until later on, after he's
11:26agreed to perform Inception on a target, when Cobb finally confesses to Ariadne that he actually
11:32first performed this act on Maul. He 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,
11:43which was an hour in reality. So Dom planted an idea in her subconscious that ultimately convinced
11:48her to wake up. However, when she did, Maul still didn't believe she had broken free from her dream.
11:54And it was her attempts to once again wake herself up that eventually resulted in her taking her own
11:59life and dying in reality. So not only did Dom continually and quite selfishly put all of his
12:04team at risk by not informing them about the real Maul truth, and also quite illegally infiltrate
12:10people's minds for a living, he also recklessly planted the idea that ultimately led to the death
12:15of his wife and the mother of his children. But at least he got back home, yay!