Top 10 Satisfying Villain Deaths in Movies

As the head henchman of an evil corporate president, Mr. Boddicker was just following orders when he killed Bob Morton. But when he killed Alex Murphy, well, that was just him and his goons shooting cops for fun. Unfortunately for him, that cop he murdered later became equipped with some cool tech and a taste for stabbing. That all leads to a final confrontation at a drug factory, where Robocop finally gets the upper hand.

Watching your mentor attempt to electrocute your son to death apparently does a lot to an estranged parent. Palpatine was basically trying to replace Darth Vader with a younger, less disfigured model and thought Luke Skywalker would be a perfect fit. Unfortunately for Palpatine, the younger Skywalker wouldn’t give in to the dark side. Even more unfortunate for him, Vader wasn’t just about to sit around and watch some pale wrinkly dude kill his kid.

When you’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, the last thing you’re expecting is for the zombies to start having emotions and wanting vengeance. Tell that to Bub, the zombie with a heart of gold and memories of his past life – thanks to experiments by Dr. Logan. After Bub discovers his favorite scientist friend dead at the hands of Rhodes, he guns him down in the halls of a military complex, leaving him to die at the hands of fellow zombies with a final salute. Ouch.

There’s no shortage of nefarious villains with elaborate schemes in 007’s life. So when a former MI6 agent and friend, 006, develops a convoluted plan to exact revenge on Britain for past wrongs, a dramatic death is obviously in order. Bond and Trevelyan end up in hand-to-hand combat atop an antenna several hundred feet in the air. But as dangerous as that might sound, it’s even more dangerous when you’re a mad man bent on global destruction. And if the fall don’t kill ya, the plummeting and fiery metal certainly will.

As a detective with a pretty fierce drug habit, you knew he was gonna meet his maker earlier than most. But considering Stansfield’s heavy pursuit of a highly skilled assassin and his preteen charge, he was essentially signing his own death warrant. Leon, the film’s antihero, almost makes it out of an ambush alive; but not before Stansfield shoots him in the back. However, Leon’s farewell present is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Matt Damon stars in yet another film set in Boston, but this time as a cop doing double duty as a man on the inside for a mob boss. He somehow manages to survive one dirty move after another – even going so far as to kill his mob boss and longtime mentor in order to protect his identity. And by the end of the movie, he seems to be in the clear. That is, until he enters his apartment.

This character takes fandom to the extreme. Annie’s a deranged woman who holds her favorite author, Paul Sheldon, hostage after saving him from a car crash during a snowstorm. Going from sickly sweet to bat-shit insane in seconds, Paul’s number one fan grows even more unstable once she learns he’s killed her favorite character. After months of torture, Paul Sheldon fights back, and he and Annie engage in a wrestling battle to the death. But, as Paul learns the hard way, it takes more than a few blows to the skull to stop a stalker.

This murder-bot’s expressionless cop face was enough to make us root for something really bad to happen to it. And while it was designed to be the ultimate killing machine to finish the job its turncoat predecessor started, it had a little bit of an attitude, too. That is, until its own face got split in half and it was dumped into a vat of molten steel. Not so invincible anymore, eh buddy?

It’s frustrating enough when diplomatic immunity covers up any and all criminal activity a government rep might get into, but it’s particularly annoying when it gets in the way of a good kill. At least, it’s supposed to. When an all-around awful South African consul-slash-smuggler gets in the way of Riggs and Murtaugh’s investigation into his dealings, it all boils down to a shootout without a blanket of government protection and with what is quite possibly the best send-off line in cinema history – cheesy as it may be.

Before we kill off our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- The Shark
“Jaws” (1975)
- Lord Voldemort
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” (2011)
- Adolf Hitler
“Inglourious Basterds” (2009)
- Mola Ram
“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984)
- Dieter Von Cunth
“MacGruber” (2010)

The film may’ve been the perfect vehicle to showcase Keanu Reeves’ varied and limitless acting talent, but audiences really only cared about what was going to happen with that bus. And that whole thing worked itself out. But the bad guy behind the attempted bus bombing had to be dealt with, and of course the speed had to be increased by moving the action to a subway train. And that’s where Payne gets a little…ahead of himself.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the most satisfying villain death in film? For more entertaining Top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.