With side characters like these, who needs enemies? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the worst secondary characters in movies that are even more despised than the main antagonists.
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00:00You dog me, pal!
00:03This is so nuts.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo,
00:08and today we're counting down our picks for the worst secondary characters
00:11in movies that are even more despised than the main antagonists.
00:14Authority is not given to you to deny the return of the king, steward.
00:21Number 10, Walter Peck, Ghostbusters.
00:24People think they're seeing ghosts,
00:26and they call these bozos who conveniently show up
00:29to deal with the problem with a fake electronic light show.
00:32Despite the plethora of dangerous ghosts,
00:34the true villain in Ghostbusters is bureaucracy.
00:37Released in 1984 during the great Reaganide deregulation boom,
00:41one of the movie's antagonists is actually the Environmental Protection Agency.
00:44While they may sound perfectly reasonable to the modern viewer,
00:47EPA inspector Walter Peck was reviled for years.
00:50Don't patronize me. I'm not grotesquely stupid like the people you built.
00:54He shows up to the Ghostbusters' firehouse,
00:56demanding information about their dangerous technology.
00:59When they refuse to comply, he eventually gets a court order to shut them down,
01:02releasing hundreds of dangerous ghosts onto the streets of New York.
01:05His smugness in the face of their expertise totally warrants this placement.
01:09In 2024's Frozen Empire, Peck returns as the mayor of New York City,
01:13still harboring his distaste for the Ghostbusters.
01:16The Ghostbusters are finished.
01:18Right, well, overruled.
01:20Number 9, Mayor Larry Vaughn, Jaws.
01:23You yelled shark.
01:26We've got a panic on our hands on the 4th of July.
01:29Audiences may respond positively to a villain if they are competent, charismatic,
01:33or if their goals hold a coherent internal logic.
01:36Conversely, there are certain character traits that immediately set moviegoers on edge.
01:40One of those, greed, is perfectly encapsulated in Mayor Larry Vaughn from Jaws.
01:45Now, if you fellas are concerned about the beaches,
01:47you do whatever you have to to make them safe.
01:49But those beaches will be open for this weekend.
01:52At first, the mayor of Amity makes some solid sense.
01:55He's trying to balance public safety with the economic boom provided by beach-going tourists.
01:59Unfortunately, he alienates us all when that balance tips towards money over safety.
02:04Despite signs that lives are at stake,
02:06the mayor chooses to be deliberately obtuse and leave the beaches open.
02:09That poor decision eventually causes panic, as a great white shark claims many lives.
02:14That's it, goodbye.
02:15I'm not going to waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch.
02:18I'm going to see you later, bro.
02:20Number 8, Elle Driver, Kill Bill duology.
02:23She must suffer to her last breath.
02:26Bill, the leader of a band of assassins in the Kill Bill movies, has barely any scream time.
02:31Instead, Beatrix Kiddo, the bride, spends most of the two films wading through his minions.
02:36Some of those characters are even more odious than the King of Killers.
02:39His brother Bud, for example, is a ruthless sexist.
02:42He comes closer than anyone to killing off his erstwhile colleague.
02:47That woman deserves her revenge.
02:50But, in two films filled to the brim with bad guys, Elle Driver takes the evil cake.
02:55Jealous of Beatrix's place in Bill's heart, she lets her personal animus color her actions.
03:00She's sadistic and twisted, deriving utmost pleasure from making her victims suffer.
03:05That's right. I killed your master.
03:09And now I'm going to kill you too.
03:11With your own sword, no less.
03:14Number 7. Count Rugen, The Princess Bride
03:17Take him back to Florin and throw him in a pit of despair.
03:20I swear it will be done.
03:22The manipulative Prince Humperdinck may be the big bad evil guy in The Princess Bride,
03:26but he doesn't hold a candle to the six-fingered man.
03:29As our hero, Wesley, makes his way through the countryside to save his former girlfriend,
03:33he meets Inigo Montoya.
03:35Montoya is a charismatic swordsman hunting for the man who murdered his father.
03:38My name is Inigo Montoya.
03:41You killed my father. Prepare to die.
03:45That man was Count Rugen, Humperdinck's advisor and torture enthusiast.
03:49Comedian Christopher Guest plays Rugen with a downplayed, malicious gusto
03:53as he reads as cold and merciless.
03:55He tortures Wesley and taunts Montoya about his father's death.
03:58Montoya's eventual triumph over Rugen
04:01stands as one of the all-time most satisfying moments in cinema history.
04:05I'm sure you've discovered my deep and abiding interest in pain.
04:08At present, I'm writing the definitive work on the subject.
04:29Over four films, Keanu Reeves' John Wick killed more than 400 people.
04:33His journey began back in 2014
04:35because of the arrogant son of a Russian mob boss.
04:38Upon meeting Wick, who he mistook for a civilian,
04:40Yosef Tarasov was insulted when Wick refused to sell him his car.
04:45How much?
04:46Excuse me?
04:48How much for the car?
04:50She's not for sale.
04:52He and his boys roll up on Wick's house, beating him and murdering his puppy,
04:56a final gift from Wick's deceased wife.
04:58Yosef is a rich, spoiled and entitled criminal.
05:01He's also the epitome of the phrase,
05:04His sadism and lack of self-control unleashed a wave of death and destruction
05:08that would ultimately shake the very foundations of the criminal world
05:11under the high table.
05:12It's not what you did, son, that angers me so.
05:16It's who you did it to.
05:29RoboCop may be an action series,
05:31but the first few films were also meant to be a satire about capitalist dehumanization.
05:35The ultimate baddie in those installments was The Old Man,
05:38CEO of evil megacorporation OCP.
05:41However, it's Clarence J. Boddicker
05:43who truly embodies the worst of humanity in the first film.
05:46Cops don't like me,
05:49so I don't like cops.
05:52He and his gang of sadists are responsible
05:54for turning police officer Alex Murphy into RoboCop.
05:57Boddicker is a Joker-esque character
05:59motivated by chaos as opposed to greed.
06:01He is vicious, reveling in the suffering of his victims.
06:04He does what he wants when he wants,
06:06and what he usually wants is to steal and kill.
06:09Like many 80s villains,
06:10Boddicker is one-dimensional,
06:12with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever.
06:14You probably don't think I'm a very nice guy.
06:17Number 4, Lord Denethor,
06:19The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King.
06:21But for Faramir, this city would still be standing.
06:25Were you not entrusted to protect it?
06:27In many ways, Denethor, the steward of Gondor,
06:30is a tragic figure.
06:31He was born to rule the human nation of Gondor,
06:34but was slowly tainted by the influence of Sauron.
06:36Denethor arrogantly thought to use a palantir,
06:39one of the Lost Seeing Stones,
06:40to observe the comings and goings of Middle-Earth.
06:43Through that connection, Sauron played on his fear and paranoia.
06:46Oh yes, word has reached my ears of this Aragorn,
06:51son of Arathorn, and I tell you now,
06:54I will not bow to this ranger from the north.
06:57The death of his favorite son, Boromir,
06:59tipped Denethor fully over the edge,
07:01his judgment utterly clouded by grief.
07:03At the end of his reign,
07:04Denethor made every wrong decision possible.
07:07He takes his pain out on his remaining son, Faramir,
07:09who he foolishly sends out to certain death.
07:11Instead of defending the city,
07:13Denethor falls into despair.
07:15That I had died and Boromir had lived?
07:21Yes.
07:24I wish that.
07:30I mean, listen...
07:31Listen to what you're saying.
07:33The Alien franchise has crossed into many genres over the years.
07:36While the first film was more of a psychological thriller,
07:38subsequent installments have leaned into action or even horror.
07:41One consistent theme throughout, however,
07:43has been the perpetual threat of corporate greed.
07:46Time and again, the wailing Yutani corporation
07:48was more than willing to prioritize profit over lives.
07:51How many different ways do you want me to tell the same story?
07:54Look at it from our perspective, please.
07:57In the first film, for example,
07:59it was the android Ash who was tasked with recovering a live xenomorph.
08:02Comedian Paul Reiser was expertly cast as Carter Burke,
08:05the face of the corporation in the second film, Aliens.
08:08He is introduced to our heroine, Ripley, as an ally.
08:11However, as the film progresses,
08:13we quickly learn that Burke is a double-crossing corporate shill.
08:16He figured that he could get an alien back through quarantine
08:20if one of us was impregnated.
08:23Number 2, Cipher, The Matrix.
08:25Goddamn you, Cipher!
08:27Don't hate me, Trinity. I'm just a messenger.
08:31There is a reason why Dante reserves the last circle of hell
08:34for betrayers in his book, L'Inferno.
08:36Traitors must first earn someone's trust in order to betray it.
08:40Cipher, from the first Matrix film,
08:42is one of the worst betrayers in movie history.
08:44Worn out by the war against the machines
08:46and jealous of Neo's relationship with Trinity,
08:48Cipher wants to be plugged back into the Matrix.
08:52After nine years, you know what I realize?
09:04Ignorance is bliss.
09:06While that motivation may be understandable, the cost isn't.
09:09Not only must Cipher betray and kill his crew,
09:11he has to give over his captain to the machines.
09:14Through their interrogation of Morpheus,
09:16they can gain the entry codes to Zion,
09:18thereby wiping all of free humanity off the Earth.
09:21I bet you never saw this coming.
09:23Did you?
09:25Before we unveil our top pick,
09:27here are a few dishonorable mentions.
09:29Carlo Rizzi, The Godfather.
09:31A serial philanderer, Carlo crosses a final line
09:33when he sets Sonny up to be killed.
09:35Mike, you got it all wrong.
09:37You fingered Sonny for the Barzini people.
09:40Ah, that little farce you played with my sister.
09:45Mike, I'm innocent.
09:47I swore on the kids.
09:49Please, Mike, don't do this to me.
09:51Major Arnold Tote, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
09:53The only thing worse than a Nazi is a gross, creepy Nazi.
09:57Wait, wait. I can be reasonable.
09:59That time is past.
10:01You don't need that.
10:05Wait.
10:08I'll tell you everything.
10:10Yes, I know you will.
10:14Captain Byron Hadley, The Shawshank Redemption.
10:17This sadistic, murderous prison guard
10:19is the bane of Shawshank's prisoners.
10:21You don't push them off the roof.
10:22Because if you do trust her,
10:23there's no reason you can't keep that 35,000.
10:26What did you say?
10:2735,000.
10:2835,000?
10:29All of it.
10:30All of it?
10:31Every penny.
10:32You better start making sense.
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10:50Number 1, Dolores Umbridge, Harry Potter Franchise.
10:54You have been told that a certain dark wizard is at large once again.
11:01This is a lie.
11:04The Harry Potter books and films are filled to the gills
11:07with evil monsters and terrible people.
11:09The Malfoys are cruel, selfish bigots.
11:11Voldemort is a wizard supremacist and mass murderer.
11:14While Bellatrix Lestrange, his favorite weapon,
11:16is a psychotic killer who delights in the pain of others.
11:19None, however, are as universally reviled as Dolores Umbridge.
11:23See me later, Mr. Potter?
11:26My office.
11:30Umbridge is the perfect representation of many real-life petty people
11:34drawn to bureaucratic positions of power.
11:36She uses her position to enforce her rigid ideology
11:39through psychological punishment, physical torture,
11:41and the infliction of suffering,
11:43but manages to hide her sadism behind her bubbly pink facade.
11:46Umbridge represents institutional cruelty at its worst,
11:49which is why she is one of the most hated fictional characters ever.
11:53Yes?
12:02Nothing.
12:03Do you agree with our list
12:04or hate it as much as we hate these side characters?
12:06Let us know in the comments below.
12:08What are you jimmies staring at? Back to work!