As Sun Tzu said, “If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”. Detective novels have taught us better than trusting every likeable character. Most of the time, the sweetest or the most reliable character is the real mastermind of hell. Plot twists are the core essence of a mystery or thriller that keep the audience hooked. And the idea of sneaking in deceptive characters in the hero’s team never gets old. Then how do the directors and writers always manage to fool us? Is the audience that gullible or are the writers getting better at this? Whatever the cause, it is always shocking and heartbreaking to learn the truth. Here are the 10 times kind characters turned out to be the prime villain.
Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
To be honest, most of us did have some reservations about Ego who suddenly showed up out of nowhere. But we didn’t expect him to be this menacing. Peter Quill aka Star-Lord uniting with his long-lost father, Ego made us believe that things were finally getting better for Peter. We weren’t so surprised to learn that the Celestial father was a megalomaniac. What shook us from the core (much like Ego) was that he implanted a tumour in the head of Peter’s mother.
Mayor Bellwether in Zootopia
We couldn’t have imagined in our wildest dreams that the meek Bellwether would be such a sinister character. She reserved a soft spot in our hearts right from the beginning as a submissive and sweet assistant to the mayor. Disney scarred our ability to trust by showing her true colours. Bellwether turned the predators violent by activating their dormant nature with tech and used it to divide society.
Patrick Morgan in Wonder Woman
DCEU cast the most credible faces of cinemas so the audience could never guess his true intentions. David Thewlis, popularly known for playing Professor Lupin in the “Harry Potter” franchise, started as a peace promoter at the Imperial War Cabinet in “Wonder Woman”. The Amazonian princess was running for the wrong guy all along while the bad guy, Ares was standing right next to her.
Henri Ducard in Batman Begins
No one could have ever doubted one of Bruce’ most trusted allies. Bruce Wayne’s mentor, Henri Ducard was actually the leader of League of Shadows, a terrorist organization. His true identity was Ra’s al Ghul whose only aim was to destroy Gotham City; even of it cost the lives of innocents.
Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home
Jake Gyllenhaal has a history of portraying quirky nutjobs but we never thought of him as a supervillain. Perhaps, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” tapped on the actor’s good image to keep the audience in the dark. Jake’s Mysterio deceived the naive Peter Parker and also the Skrull impersonating Nick Fury. He introduced himself as an ally and a hero from another universe, but in reality, he was the puppet master of all the disasters.
Obadiah Stane in Iron Man
Obadiah Stane was an old family friend and father-like figure to Tony Stark. Even though he had displayed questionable behaviour at the start, non-comic book readers wouldn’t have raised red flags against a family friend. But Stane was not who we thought he was. He went behind Tony’s back to sell weapons to terrorist organizations. Obadiah crossed the line when he grabbed Iron Man’s arc reactor for his Iron Monger suit and went after Tony’s life.
Miranda Tate in The Dark Knight Rises
It’s not easy to earn the Dark Knight’s trust. And here was Miranda Tate who managed to get romantically involved with Bruce Wayne and infiltrate Wayne Enterprise as a board member. Hiding the evil mastermind under the disguise of a supporting character was a genius stroke. Miranda was the daughter of Bruce Wayne’s biggest foe, “Ra’s al Ghul and her real name were Talia al Ghul. Learning that Bane was merely working for Miranda all along was a jaw-dropping revelation.
Prince Hans in Frozen
It was high time that kids learned that not all Prince Charmings are saviors. Sometimes even a rugged harvester can be the hero. “Frozen” took a sharp twist when Princess’ Anne’s fiancé, Prince Hans emerged as a selfish and greedy man who didn’t mind leaving the young princess to freeze to death. The cliché act of ‘true love’ did save Anne but it was her sister, Queen Elsa who did that.
Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier
S.H.I.E.L.D is an extra-governmental intelligence organization that is tasked with counter-terrorism and to ensure national and global security. One of the top operatives of the agency was Alexander Pierce. But the end of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” revealed that he was a HYDRA leader. He infiltrated SHIELD with HYDRA’s forces to execute Project Insight and enable HYDRA to dominate the world.
Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2
It really hurts when a little kid or an elderly deceives you. Stinky Pete appeared to be an old man toy that spent most of his life confined in a box. We can’t forgive him for earning Woody’s sympathy and taking advantage of his benevolence. No one realized what a cynical character Stinky Pete was at the beginning. He hated being around children and was hell-bent on taking Woody with him to the museum. We’d love to know how things turned out for him after falling into a little girl’s bag.
