Top 10 Movie Villains Who SHOCKINGLY Didnt Kill Anyone
Villains from Action movies that to our surprise did not actually kill anyone throughout the film. WatchMojo presents the Top 10 Villains with a zero body count. But who will take the top spot on our list? Will it be Grand Moff Tarkin, Bill, or Le Chiffre. Watch to find out!
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We usually think of them as bloodthirsty murderers, but sometimes the best bad guys have no blood on their hands. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’re counting down our picks for Top 10 Movie Villains Who Shockingly Didn’t Kill Anyone.
For this list, we’ll be focusing on villains who don’t personally kill their victims onscreen, but may use other people to kill on their behalf.
#10: The Wicked Witch of the West
“The Wizard of Oz” (1939)
She’s a mean, green, flying machine, not to mention a classic image of villainy. She’s feared throughout the Land of Oz for her wickedness and evil deeds, but surprisingly her list of evil deeds doesn’t include murder. Yes, the Wicked Witch threatens Dorothy when she first arrives in Oz, sets the Scarecrow on fire, and almost kills Dorothy, but she never succeeds in murdering anyone. Actually, if anyone should be charged with murder, it’s Dorothy, who kills both the Wicked Witch of the East and the West. Ultimately, the Wicked Witch of the West is nothing more than a cranky neighbor from Kansas, reimagined by a girl who was somewhere over the rainbow during a tornado.
#9: Ian Howe
“National Treasure” (2004)
When it comes right down to it, Ian Howe is just an overly enthusiastic treasure hunter who really wants to win. If that means lying, breaking and entering, stealing and kidnapping along with blackmail and death threats, then you can be sure he’ll do it. He’s pretty much Benjamin Franklin Gates, just without the moral code. Yet, for all his blackmail, betrayal, and deception, Ian never kills anyone. However, that doesn’t mean he holds a whole lot of respect for human life. It’s clear he doesn’t care one way or the other if his fellow treasure hunter, Ben, dies or not. Particularly when he leaves Ben and his friends trapped in a rickety old underground room that could collapse at any given moment.
#8: Cruella de Vil
“101 Dalmatians” (1996)
As far as villains go, if she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will. Cruella is so desperate for a new fur coat, she’s willing to kidnap and mass murder a litter of Dalmatian puppies. Pretty sure that’s a fashion faux pas, but thankfully she only succeeds in the kidnapping part. To add to her list of crimes, she also threatens the owner of those Dalmatians when they refuse to let her buy them – leading to the kidnapping – and is pretty darn mean to her henchmen Jasper and Horace. However, you have to admire her determination when she tracks down the puppies after they escape. This just goes to show that you should always look out for Cruella de Vil.
#7: Zuul
“Ghostbusters” (1984)
Who you gonna call when this demon shows up in your refrigerator? Zuul is a demigod and a minion of Gozer the Destructor. And while this monster’s chosen form certainly looks as if it could kill, it has other plans while staying on this Earthly plain. This shapeshifter’s job is to bring Gozer into the human dimension, and in order to do that it haunts Dana Barrett’s fridge and takes possession of her body. Zuul also helps cause what we can only assume is millions of dollars in property damage and consummates an unwanted relationship with Dana’s dorky neighbor, who’s also been taken over by spirits. But all in all, this demon leaves its victims alive, not dead.
#6: King Xerxes
“300” (2006)
This. Is. Sparta! Actually, he’s the Persian King come to invade Greece. You’d think, based off his multiple piercings and snazzy jewelry, that this is definitely a guy who’s ready to spill some blood. But nope. Xerxes is always just behind the front lines of the battle, out of harm’s way. And while Xerxes’ soldiers kill nearly all three hundred Spartans under their king’s orders, Xerxes himself never delivers a killing blow. Which is surprising in an action film, where a lot blood and gore is to be expected. It’s even more surprising when even the protagonist Leonidas does his fair share of killing, while Xerxes, the evil emperor, does not.
#5: René Belloq
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981)
Belloq is like the anti-Indiana Jones. On the one hand, much like Indy, Belloq searches for rare historical artifacts. However, on the other, instead of donating those artifacts to museums, Belloq sells them to the highest bidder. But, as much as Belloq is Jones’ rival in every way, he does want Indy alive – partly out of respect for a fellow archaeologist, and partly because Belloq piggybacks off of Indy; he lets Jones do the dirty work, then swoops in at the last minute to take the credit. He may threaten, steal, lie and accidentally get himself and all the Nazis killed, but at the end of the day Belloq’s a coward who’d rather take the easy way than engage in a fight to the death.
#4: Grand Moff Tarkin
“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977)
He’s the muscle behind the Death Star and a favorite of Palpatine. He works alongside the notorious Darth Vader in pursuit of the Rebel Alliance. He orders the destruction of Princess Leia’s home planet Alderaan after he tricked her into revealing the rebel base location and ordered her execution. Yet despite his role in the Empire, Grand Moff Tarkin’s hands are technically clean: he never pushed the button himself for the annihilation of Alderaan, nor did he succeed in killing Leia. In fact, rather than kill the princess, he allows her to escape with Han and Luke so he can track them to the true location of the rebel base and finish the Alliance. For this villain, his victims are worth more to him alive than dead.
#3: Ra’s al Ghul
“Batman Begins” (2005)
This is a villain who plans to destroy hundreds of thousands of lives, yet not once does he kill anyone – but not for lack of trying. Ra’s al Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows, takes a less direct approach in bringing about the downfall of Gotham. He and his league actually caused the Great Depression that affected Gotham, and resulted in rising crime rates and Bruce Wayne’s parents’ deaths. When that failed, he employed Jonathan Crane, the notorious Scarecrow, and his terrifying fear toxin; a drug that has to potential to make anyone insane. Even when he’s trying to get revenge on Bruce Wayne, Ra’s al Ghul leaves him for dead in a burning house rather than killing the man himself.
#2: Bill
“Kill Bill” (2003-04)
It’s ironic that the name of the movie is ‘Kill Bill’ and yet Bill, who does commit other crimes, never kills himself – well, at least directly. Instead, Bill has his snakes from the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad do all the work. Sure, he orders the mass murder of innocent wedding guests, but Bill never successfully commits an onscreen murder in this Tarantino revenge flick. When it comes to tracking Beatrix down, it’s Budd and Elle who are hot on her tail. Bill, in the meantime, is with his daughter, whom he kidnapped and raised in secret, hidden from her mother. In the end, it’s Beatrix, the heroine, who does the killing, which is the whole point of the movie anyway.
#1: Le Chiffre
“Casino Royale” (2006)
It’s all a numbers game with Le Chiffre. As a banker for terrorist organizations, he’s responsible for handling their investments and earning large amounts of money. So, it’s fitting that he enjoys dealing in games of chance and probability, rather than force or violence. The only weapon he uses is his mind, which is why – after losing all of his investor’s money – he resorts to gambling rather than robbery to get it back. When facing off with Bond, Le Chiffre outwits him in poker with bluffs and poison. Even when he resorts to torture, Le Chiffre takes pleasure in seeing a man’s mind deteriorate with the pain rather than sentencing him to death. However, in the end it would seem that the numbers were against him.
