Redeemed! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the best and most notable scenes in which a movie villain saves the good guy.
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00:00Bucky, you've known me your whole life.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the best
00:11and most notable scenes in which a movie villain saves the good guy.
00:15Yo, homie.
00:19That my briefcase?
00:22Number 20.
00:23General Hux saves the gang.
00:25Star Wars Episode IX, The Rise of Skywalker.
00:29Actually, I'd like to do this myself.
00:33Played by Donal Gleeson, General Hux is a major power player within the First Order,
00:38serving directly under Supreme Leader Snoke.
00:41Fearing the Republic's influence within the galaxy and wishing to rule it himself,
00:46he stops at absolutely nothing to wipe them out.
00:49Well, until The Rise of Skywalker.
00:51Hoping to spite and undermine the authority of Kylo Ren,
00:55Hux supplies the Resistance with information and later helps Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca
01:01escape execution by shooting the Stormtroopers.
01:04Of course, he's later killed for his deception, but at least he went out on a good note.
01:09Get me the Supreme Leader.
01:10Yes, sir.
01:15Tell him we found our spy.
01:17Number 19.
01:18An alien saves Alexa.
01:20Alien vs Predator.
01:25The crossover event we all needed.
01:32Alien vs Predator saw a glorious showdown between the two pop culture giants.
01:37And of course, humans just had to get themselves involved too.
01:41It almost costs Alexa her life as she's confronted by a predator named Chopper.
01:46The Arctic Guide is kicked into a pillar and seemingly resigns herself to her violent fate.
01:52But luckily, a xenomorph is there to pierce Chopper through the torso.
01:56And then that little mouth thing gets to work and finishes off the giant predator for good.
02:01It's everything we wanted the crossover to be.
02:04Loud, scary, and bloody.
02:15Number 18.
02:16The lizard catches Spider-Man.
02:18The Amazing Spider-Man.
02:20Mr. Mayor, I can assure you if there was a giant dinosaur running around
02:23the streets of Manhattan, you would be the first to know.
02:25This franchise has always been good at showing the complexities of its villains.
02:29Most of them don't necessarily want to be bad.
02:32They're simply manipulated or influenced by some type of outside force,
02:36such as the case with Lizard.
02:38The transformed Dr. Connors, who was attempting to make a breakthrough in limb regeneration,
02:43before things went a little sideways.
02:46Connors gets into a huge fight with Spider-Man,
02:48and the hero nearly falls off Oscorp Tower.
02:52Luckily, he's saved in the nick of time by the very man he was fighting,
02:56who has returned to normal thanks to a dispersed antidote.
03:09Number 17.
03:10Toomes saves Riddick from the Necromongers.
03:13The Chronicles of Riddick.
03:15The more you resist them, the greater the damage will be.
03:20The entire Riddick franchise concerns uneasy alliances,
03:24and that is certainly present throughout Chronicles.
03:26The titular hero is often the target of bounty hunters,
03:30and in this movie, his pursuer is a grizzled man named Toomes.
03:34Riddick is ordered to be killed by Lord Marshall,
03:37who leads a group of religious fanatics known as the Necromongers.
03:40But Riddick escapes, and Marshall's forces hunt him down.
03:44Enter Toomes, who wants Riddick for himself.
03:47He destroys the Marshall's vehicle, captures Riddick,
03:50and brings him to the prison moon of Krematoria.
03:53Money talks, and Riddick is worth a heck of a lot.
03:57Any questions?
03:58Yeah.
04:02What took you so long?
04:04Number 16.
04:05The Neighbors save the Sandins.
04:07The Purge.
04:08Let me introduce us.
04:09We are some fine, young, very educated guys and gals.
04:16Anything goes in The Purge.
04:17That's kind of the whole idea.
04:19In an alternate universe, the U.S. is ruled by the new founding fathers of America,
04:23who seek to lower crime rates.
04:25To do so, they make all crime, including murder, completely legal for one night.
04:31This is known as The Purge, and as you can expect,
04:34it results in all sorts of shenanigans.
04:37The Sandin family are accosted by a group of masked assailants
04:40who break into the house and commit various acts of violence.
04:44Luckily, they're saved by their arriving neighbors,
04:47who kill the various gang members.
04:49Of course, this is not out of some noble act of morality,
04:52but because they want to kill the Sandins themselves.
04:55I just need you to listen to me, Grace.
04:59I'm really begging you right now to not do this to my children.
05:02Please, they're my children.
05:03Please.
05:04Number 15.
05:05Leary saves Horrigan.
05:07In the Line of Fire.
05:08Made you into a real monster, right?
05:09That's right.
05:10And now they want to destroy me because we can't have monsters
05:13roaming the quiet countryside now, can we?
05:15A good old-fashioned thriller,
05:17In the Line of Fire is about Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan
05:21attempting to stop an assassination on the president.
05:24The assassin is a disillusioned ex-CIA agent named Mitch Leary.
05:28In one gripping sequence, Horrigan chases Leary across a series of rooftops.
05:33At one point, Leary jumps onto a high lip.
05:36Horrigan pursues, but due to his age, is unable to pull himself up.
05:41Leary arrives and offers his hand to Horrigan,
05:44who is perilously dangling dozens of feet in the air.
05:47He then swings him onto a nearby fire escape, effectively saving his life.
05:52Maybe he just loves the thrill of the chase too much and wasn't willing to give it up.
05:57Take my hand, Frank.
06:01Take it, you don't, you'll die.
06:02Number 14.
06:04The T-Rex Eats the Raptors.
06:06Jurassic Park.
06:12The T-Rex is the undeniable star of Jurassic Park,
06:15even though he's, you know, a human-eating monster.
06:18In the engrossing climax of the film,
06:21the heroes are trapped in the visitor center and accosted by a group of raptors.
06:25And as we learned earlier in the film,
06:27courtesy of the late Muldoon, raptors are no joke.
06:31Funnily enough, it's these little guys who come the closest to killing our heroes.
06:35But the big bad T-Rex arrives just in the nick of time
06:38and saves the day by devouring the creatures.
06:41Hey, a save is a save, however unintentional it may be.
06:50Number 13.
06:51Megatron Disposes of Sentinel.
06:53Transformers Dark of the Moon.
06:55We were gods once, all of us.
06:58But here, please, there will only be one.
07:03Leonard Nimoy stars as Sentinel Prime,
07:06the mentor of Optimus Prime and a skeezy double agent working for the Decepticons.
07:11This results in an uneasy alliance between Optimus and Megatron,
07:15who serves as leader of the Decepticons.
07:18Megatron is successfully manipulated by Karli,
07:21who makes him believe that Sentinel is vying for power and will soon depose Megatron as leader.
07:27Optimus is defeated by Sentinel in the climactic battle,
07:30but when the latter is about to deliver the killing blow,
07:33he's shot from behind by an approaching Megatron.
07:36And how is he thanked?
07:37He's decapitated by Optimus.
07:40Harsh.
07:40All I wanted was to be back in charge.
07:44Besides, who would you be without me, Prime?
07:50Number 12.
07:51Red's Change of Heart.
07:52War for the Planet of the Apes.
07:55God damn it, Donkey!
07:56Give me the launcher!
07:58By the time this third entry in the reboot series comes around,
08:01apes and humans have entered an alliance and serve beside each other
08:05in the army battalion Alpha Omega.
08:08One of the gorillas is Red,
08:10who has turned against his kind and now searches for Caesar's colony.
08:14But he has a wicked change of heart when it comes time for the big action set piece.
08:18As he watches the soldiers slaughter his fellow apes,
08:22Red has a sudden realization
08:24and turns against humankind by killing Preacher and saving Caesar.
08:28It's a brilliant sacrifice,
08:30allowing Caesar and the apes to escape
08:33while he takes a bullet in the head for his betrayal.
08:45Number 11.
08:47Harry Realizes the Truth.
08:49Harry Realizes the Truth.
08:51Spider-Man 3.
08:52You know what you must do.
08:55Make him suffer.
08:56Make him wish he were dead.
08:59First, we attack his heart!
09:02The third Spider-Man film is filled with complex villains,
09:06including Harry Osborn,
09:07who wishes to kill the titular hero and avenge his father's death.
09:11He becomes New Goblin and targets Peter throughout the film.
09:15That is, until his butler reveals that Norman was impaled by his own glider.
09:20While Spider-Man was present at the time,
09:22he wasn't personally responsible.
09:24With this realization,
09:26Harry finally comes to his senses and returns to his old pal Peter,
09:30both figuratively and literally.
09:32Spider-Man is seemingly defeated by the tag team of Venom and Sandman,
09:37but he's saved when Harry arrives on his glider and takes care of business.
09:42Looks like just in the nick of time.
09:44A couple minutes ago wouldn't have been so bad either.
09:47What are you gonna do?
09:48Number 10.
09:49Thrash Kills Clove.
09:50The Hunger Games.
10:01When care packages appear at the cornucopia,
10:04every tribute left in The Hunger Games comes sprinting towards them.
10:07After a near miss with another tribute,
10:09Katniss makes a break for it and grabs her bag.
10:12As soon as she leaves, however,
10:14Clove comes right at her and puts a knife to her throat.
10:17Instead of killing Katniss,
10:19Clove torments her over Rue's death.
10:21Clove's words get the best of her, however,
10:23when Thrash brutally kills her.
10:25Katniss is in shock,
10:27but Thrash insists he saved her as payback for Rue.
10:30The act of goodwill in the midst of a bloodbath
10:33make this moment both intense and moving.
10:36Just this time, Twelve.
10:38For Rue.
10:40Number 9.
10:41Satan, South Park, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
10:46After Saddam Hussein and Satan musically reconcile their relationship,
10:50they come to the surface to take over Earth.
10:52Armed with hellfire and demons,
10:54the evil pair quickly make humanity bow down to their power.
10:57Saddam, however, hogs all the glory for himself,
11:01upsetting Satan as he goes back on his promises.
11:04When Saddam is backed into a corner,
11:06he uses the same line on Cartman that he used to win Satan back.
11:10Brokenhearted, Satan finally stands up for himself
11:13and throws the dictator into a fiery grave.
11:15Between the bizarre power dynamic and Satan's personal triumph,
11:19this finale is oddly satisfying.
11:22I have you to thank, little one.
11:24You showed me that I had to get away from him.
11:26Number 8.
11:27Mr. White, Casino Royale.
11:36When Le Chiffre loses all of his investors' money in a game of poker,
11:40he's forced to take drastic measures.
11:42Tying Bond to a chair,
11:43Le Chiffre proceeds to torture him by whipping his, ahem, family jewels.
11:49James doesn't break character, however,
11:51refusing to give Le Chiffre his bank password despite the agony.
11:55Bond even toys with his captor,
11:57asking him to scratch his itch, finding the strength to laugh.
12:00Bringing an unexpected but welcome end to the pain
12:03is the sudden arrival of Mr. White,
12:06who, after informing Le Chiffre that he has lost his trust,
12:10promptly shoots Bond's torturer.
12:12The utilitarian Mr. White may not be the savior Bond wants,
12:16but when tied to a chair, best not to be too picky.
12:19Money isn't as valuable to our organization as knowing who to trust.
12:24Number 7.
12:25Batty saves Deckard, Blade Runner.
12:28Taking revenge for his fallen comrades,
12:30replicant Roy Batty chases Deckard through a building in a game of cat and mouse.
12:35Batty terrifies Deckard throughout the hunt,
12:37even punching through a wall to break some of Deckard's fingers.
12:40Unable to shoot, Deckard jumps off a rooftop as he tries to escape from Batty.
12:45Hanging from a beam, Deckard stares in fear as Batty watches him struggle to survive.
12:50Right as Deckard falls, however,
12:51Batty grabs him and throws him into the water.
12:54Right as Deckard falls, however,
12:56Batty grabs him and lifts him to safety.
12:58Having instilled in Deckard the same fear that all replicants feel,
13:02Batty surprisingly spares his life as a lesson in power, responsibility, and compassion.
13:14Number 6.
13:15Khan fights Klingons, Star Trek Into Darkness.
13:18When the hostile Klingons turn on the crew of the Enterprise, almost killing Ahura,
13:23a lone gunman comes to the rescue.
13:25With the help of the very man they were pursuing, John Harrison,
13:28the crew of the Enterprise slowly gain the upper hand.
13:31Harrison shoots down Klingon soldiers and even a ship,
13:34easily overpowering all those who dare oppose him.
13:37Of course, given his terrorist activity,
13:40his decision to fight the Klingons doesn't make sense at first.
13:43When it turns out that Harrison is a Klingon,
13:45doesn't make sense at first.
13:47When it turns out that Harrison is in fact Khan,
13:49and that he only rescued them to save his frozen shipmates,
13:53the fact remains that Kirk, Ahura, and Spock wouldn't have survived without his help.
14:07Number 5.
14:09Magneto holds the Blackbird, X2, X-Men United.
14:15On their way back to Xavier's mansion,
14:22the iconic X-Men aircraft is tailed by a swarm of jets.
14:25Storms, tornadoes eventually get rid of the fighters,
14:28but not before a few missiles are fired off.
14:31And while Jean Grey manages to knock out one rocket,
14:34the Blackbird is ultimately hit by a second one.
14:36As the ship hurtles towards the ground, Rogue is sucked out of the X-Jet,
14:40only surviving thanks to Nightcrawler's quick thinking.
14:43Even so, the X-Men are hurling towards certain doom
14:46when the Blackbird suddenly repairs itself.
14:48Their hero, Magneto, who then also stops the jet from crashing.
14:53Though he saves his enemies in the name of an alliance,
14:56Magneto still can't help but make a joke at their expense.
15:03Number 4.
15:04Vincent saves Max, Collateral.
15:07In this neo-noir action thriller,
15:14Hitman Vincent forces Max to drive him around to his assassinations,
15:18tying his hands to the wheel at their second stop of the night.
15:21Yelling for help, Max calls over some thugs who attempt to rob him.
15:25The men take Max's wallet and Vincent's briefcase,
15:28unaware of who they're messing with.
15:30Vincent returns just in time, hollering to get his briefcase back.
15:34Just when it seems like Vincent might be in trouble,
15:36he guns down the thieves like it's nothing.
15:38Since losing the briefcase would have likely gotten Max killed,
15:41Max is arguably saved from Vincent by Vincent.
15:50Number 3.
15:51Mayday's sacrifice.
15:53A view to a kill.
15:59As part of his plot to flood Silicon Valley,
16:02Bond villain Max Zorin plants a bomb in a mine along several fault lines.
16:06Zorin's partner and henchwoman Mayday guards the mine,
16:09only to be trapped with James Bond when Zorin collapses the tunnels.
16:13Betrayed and in danger,
16:15Mayday decides to help James remove the bomb as revenge.
16:19When their Hankar's brake malfunctions,
16:21Mayday sacrifices herself by riding out with the bomb to make sure it detonates safely.
16:25Foiling Zorin's plan,
16:27Mayday is proof of just how dangerous a woman's scorn can be.
16:32Number 2.
16:36Bucky Barnes saves Captain America.
16:38Captain America, the Winter Soldier.
16:50Even while the two trade blows,
16:51Captain America refuses to give up on his old friend Bucky Barnes.
16:55Bucky, for his part, can't shake his conditioning or his anger,
16:58and continues to attack until Steve falls into the Potomac River.
17:02Unconscious from the brawl,
17:04Captain America sinks quickly and appears to drown.
17:07Just when Steve seems as good as dead, however,
17:10a metallic hand comes through the water to save him.
17:12In a move that proves the real Bucky is still in there,
17:15the Winter Soldier drags Steve from the river before walking away.
17:19Not only does Steve live to fight again,
17:21but he gets further reason to believe in his friend.
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17:48Number 1.
17:49Darth Vader saves Luke Skywalker.
17:51Star Wars Episode VI, Return of the Jedi.
17:59In this iconic scene, Luke defeats his father, Darth Vader.
18:04Looking at the fallen Sith Lord's severed hand and his own robotic appendage,
18:09he finds himself at a crossroads.
18:11The Emperor encourages him to give in to his dark impulses and finish the job,
18:15but Luke ultimately denounces the dark side.
18:17Disappointed, the Emperor tortures his would-be new apprentice.
18:21As Luke screams in pain,
18:23Vader can't help but be moved by his son's suffering.
18:26Turning on his Sith Master,
18:27Vader throws the Emperor to his death,
18:29taking the brunt of the electric shock in the process.
18:32Vader's sacrifice coupled with his character shift
18:35combine to make this a powerful and moving moment,
18:38not just between father and son, but hero and villain as well.
18:42I'll not leave you here. I've got to save you.
18:44You already have.
18:47What's your favorite example of this trope?
18:50Let us know in the comments.
18:52I may need some help over here.
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