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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 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, fans weren't aware
01:56that the spider Miles was bitten by during Into the Spider-Verse wasn't actually from his universe.
02:01It had been pulled into Earth-1610 by a pre-spot Jonathan Owen during a collider test. The fact
02:07this Earth-42 spider then bit Morales led to him becoming the original anomaly that kicked off the
02:13series of events that resulted in the spot becoming the Spider-Society and Multiverse's
02:18biggest headache. In other words, had Miles not been painting graffiti in an abandoned subway station
02:23with his Uncle Aaron that night, perhaps fate wouldn't have eventually tried to correct this
02:27unplanned bite by having Earth-1610's Peter Parker killed, the super-powerful spot wouldn't have been
02:33created, and the Multiverse wouldn't be in danger of falling apart. And also, despite being told by the
02:39Spider-Society that trying to stop the incoming canon event of his police captain father being
02:43killed, could end up destroying his universe, does that stop Miles trying? Not a chance. He isn't the
02:50villain of his own story, but he would be in the stories of countless innocent souls if the
02:54Multiverse 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 half
03:10turned into a whiny annoyance by the time The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, reached its
03:14dramatic conclusion. Over the course of his and Samwise Gamgee's quest to get the bling to Mordor,
03:20the One Ring began to corrupt the Little Hobbit. Baggins continually lashed out at his poor mate during
03:26this epic journey, with Frodo also not even thinking twice about telling his pal to get lost after being
03:31easily fooled by the Trixie Gollum. And even after all that, Sam still refused to give up on his
03:37petulant friend, returning to literally carry the increasingly annoying Baggins up Mount Doom.
03:42What was Gamgee's reward for being the real hero of this story? Frodo having a properly villainous
03:47change of heart at the last minute, and popping the ring on his finger after rejecting the idea of
03:52dumping it in the lava. Sure, poor Frodo did have to deal with carrying a poisonous burden no one else
03:58could throughout the flicks, and would inadvertently help destroy it after trying to wrestle it back
04:03off Gollum afterwards, not before having a finger chewed off. But he'd already established himself
04:07as 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 dead man
04:49isn't exactly hero behavior either. But does that stop Parker from ultimately going back on his word
04:55one 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 in
05:04England. All this leads to the heartbreaking moment Gwen inevitably gets caught in the middle of more
05:09spidey 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. The Force-sensitive
05:21warriors focused on keeping the peace in the galaxy far, far away. May have felt they were the folks
05:26fighting the good fight in Star Wars, but the Jedi Order certainly weren't perfect by any means.
05:31In fact, there were times there when they were downright villainous. Just look at the way they
05:35recruited the next generation of potential Jedi Knights and Masters. After searching the galaxy for
05:40Force-sensitive youngsters, the Order would whisk them away from their families,
05:44as children, with many not even properly remembering their parents' faces. That's rather cruel,
05:49whatever way you slice it with a lightsaber. They were also extremely arrogant and rash around the
05:54time of 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? They tried to frame
06:13the ordeal as a trial that helped turn her into a better Jedi. The Cheek! They also used Jedi mind
06:19tricks to control weak-minded folk, have a history of lying through their teeth, certain point of view
06:25my ass, and were even happy to completely bypass a trial and skip straight to executing individuals.
06:31With friends like these, who needs the Sith, right?
06:33Number 5. Dr. John Hammond, Jurassic Park
06:36There are those who would be quick to point to the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex, chilling Velociraptors,
06:42and the selfish Dennis Nedry as the iconic Jurassic Park's true villains. But you've always known,
06:48deep down, the person truly responsible for all of the death and chaos was the bloke who decided to
06:53foolishly create the unbelievable theme park in the first place. Sure, Dr. John Hammond is very much a
06:58loving grandparent, and a man who wanted to bring the joy of witnessing dinosaurs in the flesh to
07:03the world. However, he's also a rather arrogant person, who didn't stop to think whether what they
07:08were trying to achieve on Isla Nublar was ethical, rushing to unleash prehistoric creatures without
07:13bothering to question if it was even the right thing to do. And while Hammond would also claim to
07:17have 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.
07:26Put simply, here was a guy who selfishly chose to wield a power he didn't fully understand,
07:32playing God in order to make money from the return of the dinos. At least he learned his lesson by
07:37film's end though, 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
07:56to class 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 tri-wizard
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
08:27of Voldemort's horcruxes and had been manipulating him and raising the lad like a pig for slaughter to
08:33die at the proper moment all this time. Sure, Harry came back from the dead in the end, but that doesn't
08:38change the fact Dumbledore secretly planned for the death of a kid. Not what you call hero behaviour.
08:43Number 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
08:56regularly be found by the side of the film's main protagonist. First popping up on screen as an
09:01old bloke who had spent years in bed due to not quite having the strength to stretch out his legs
09:06and support his family. The second his grandson Charlie returned with a golden ticket, something
09:11miraculous happens to Grandpa Joe. Not only does Joe suddenly discover the strength to wiggle out
09:16of bed, he actually goes on to perform a lively dance number, after years of not moving a finger
09:22to help his family, and happily smoking tobacco while everyone else struggles. He also selfishly
09:27reacts to the whole golden ticket reveal, like he was the person who found the damn thing,
09:31singing I've got a golden ticket, when Charlie was clearly the one who discovered the final
09:36factory invite and simply asked Joe to come along for the ride. Oh, and there was also that moment
09:41when Joe nearly went and got Charlie killed within the factory too, directly disobeying Wonka's
09:46orders not to consume the fizzy lifting drinks, and foolishly putting his grandson in serious
09:51danger after thinking he was above the rules. What a role model.
09:552. Daniel Hillard, Mrs. Doubtfire A father doing everything he can to be a
10:00part of his children's life sounds sweet on paper. However, the more you think about Daniel's actions
10:05during the hit dramedy known as Mrs. Doubtfire, the more you realise that this out-of-work voice actor
10:10was actually a bit of a badden. On top of creepily dressing up and pretending to be a nanny in order
10:15to trespass on his ex-wife's property, something that no doubt will have had quite an effect on his
10:20poor kids once he's revealed as the man underneath the Scottish nanny mask, Daniel also attempts to
10:26meddle with Miranda's relationship with Stu, and almost kills the man by chucking pepper,
10:30something he's allergic to, onto his dish at a restaurant. Karma strikes back after that last act,
10:36at least. With Daniel's mask literally slipping after performing the Heimlich manoeuvre. But all
10:40of the freaky damage had already been done. And after all that, Miranda still ultimately forgives
10:45him, and gives the madman joint custody of their children. Would it have been so hard to have just
10:50been a good dad and earn your way back into their lives that way? Apparently so.
10:541. 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 may
11:06seem like a pretty noble motivation for this information thief, the truth behind why Dom
11:10is forced 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 Mal 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,
11:26after he's agreed to perform Inception on a target, when Cobb finally confesses to Ariadne
11:31that he actually first performed this act on Maul. He did so on the back of the two experimenting
11:36with dream sharing. Maul simply refused to return to reality after spending 50 years in this dream
11:42state, which was an hour in reality. So Dom planted an idea in her subconscious that ultimately
11:47convinced her to wake up. However, when she did, Maul still didn't believe she had broken free from
11:53her dream. And it was her attempt to once again wake herself up that eventually resulted in her taking
11:58her own life 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!
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