Top 10 Times Movie Villains Died after Redemption

Once a villain not always a villain! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most notable instances when movie villains turned away from the dark side and redeemed themselves through the ultimate sacrifice. Our countdown includes Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Severus Snape from the "Harry Potter" franchise, Darth Vader from “Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi”, Apollo Creed from the “Rocky” franchise, Boromir from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”, and more! Have we been a villain in your life, leaving off your favorite fatal redemption arc? Redeem us in the comments below!
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#redemption #villain #hero #sacrifice #movies #villaindies

[@WatchMojo]

Have we been a villain in your life, leaving off your favorite fatal redemption arc? Redeem us in the comments below! For more content like this, click here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmiyZJWhZ7CDZqs Don't forget to play our Live Trivia (www.watchmojo.com/play) games at 3pm EST for a chance to win cash! The faster you answer, the more points you get!

[@adamhoward1408]

Harry osbourne aka the new goblin spider man 3

[@BrandonScott-mi5pz]

GREAT WATCHMOJO SPIDER-MAN DOCTOR OCTOPUS 🐙.

[@michaelgualtieri651]

I mean if Darth Vader turning back to Anakin Skywalker wouldn't have been number 1, I would've flipped 😂

[@BigHambachi]

Ofc it's star wars

[@NorthGaReptile]

Too bad they spent half his segment talking about Kylo Ren.

[@VJAllison1974]

Me too!

[@Gor85]

It has to be😀

[@stefantsarev4442]

It was, however, unfair to compare his redemption with that of Kylo Ren. Vader was truly lost in the Dark Side and was scared to death of the Emperor. His redemption was truly heroic.

[@SolCresta3405]

They call it “redemption equals death”. At least Nux went out with a blaze of glory. And Hummel was quite possibly one of the most sympathetic antagonists in any action movie.

[@justapeacefulmanwhosbornin7291]

Sir Tom Hiddleston did a wonderful job playing 2 alternate MCU Loki versions. 🙂👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@jeremywilliams5141]

Honorable mention: Yondu Udonta (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)

[@ErikZarins]

*He may have been your father, but he wasn't your daddy* 😭😭😭😭😭

[@samkresil6011]

I don't think Yondu was really a villain.

[@jeremywilliams5141]

@@samkresil6011 Maybe not. Though he was part of the Ravagers, a group of space pirates.

[@samkresil6011]

@@jeremywilliams5141 Yeah. And mostly a jerk to Peter Quill and somewhat of a failed-father-figure to him at first

[@samkresil6011]

@@jeremywilliams5141 He even joined the Guardians in the end

[@IntimateGamer]

Nux's death was sad but he went out like a champ

[@yanivanthony7058]

Snape was such a well written character definitely top two imo

[@BlackHatCinephile]

🏆🥇

[@CandiceVidito]

At least Snape made it into the top 3. Alan Rickman did an amazing job of portraying the character 😊

[@olliedownie190]

When I first saw Darth Vadar's betrayal to the emperor, I just yelled "PLOT TWIST!" And when I saw the end of that Star Wars movie, I literally cried.

[@Gor85]

Return of the Jedi does that😊

[@olliedownie190]

@@Gor85 yes, I know that.

[@olleselin]

Darth Vader is definetly #1

[@BlackHatCinephile]

🥉

[@waheedabdullah6371]

Wouldn't number 4 be a tie between Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Electro, and The Sandman where Doctor Strange sent them back to their universe and then they all got killed after Spider-Men cured them?

[@Brandonmtlhd]

We don't know if the same thing happens to them when they return.

[@waluigifantoychicaac358]

Apollo Creed shouldn’t be on the list He is more of an antagonist then a villain and wants to test Rocky

[@valeniusthekat]

Thumbs up on Roy Batty.... Didn't see that coming. Thank you Mojo 👍👍👍🥰👍👍👍

[@waittillfamewtf2385]

Jean Grey 🔥 "X-Men: The Last Stand"

[@starscreamthecruel8026]

Dark Phoenix: You would die for them? Wolverine: Not for them, for you: Jean Grey(back in control): Kill me. (That ending really upset me)

[@waheedabdullah6371]

I still think M.O.D.O.K. from Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania doesn't deserve a redemption. At least have him get more appearances in the MCU

[@samkresil6011]

I actually thought the same that he didn't need to be redeemed given he was the bad guy from the first Ant-Man

[@Aldragon]

Too bad he was in a terrible film

[@zackbader3896]

He did redeem himself at least this version of M.O.D.O.K did or should I say Darren redeemed himself big time he died an avenger and I’ll never forget his sacrifice

[@flukciouse]

Boromir is no villain. He's a tragic hero that wanted the best for his people.

[@greytakerrev7147]

Agreed, he was just seduced by the evils of the One Ring. He acted decent for the majority of the movie.

[@secondchances1232]

Be betrayed the fellowship and tried to kill frodo

[@flukciouse]

@@secondchances1232 Boromir never tried to kill Frodo. He attempted to scare him and steal the ring which he instantly regretted. He also didn't betray the fellowship. Boromir still chose to stay there and defend his Hobbit friends from the Uruk hai.

[@secondchances1232]

@@flukciouse Incorrect. He did in fact try to kill frodo and steal the ring. It's only because of frodo's own action that boromir failed. A traitor later redeeming themselves doesn't mean they didn't betray others in the first place. Yes he did later choose to do the right thing during the attack, but that was out of guilt of her traitorous actions.

[@secondchances1232]

@@flukciouse he literally chose to betray the fellowship the moment he tried to kill frodo and tried to steal the ring.

[@tylergoodman3560]

Darth Vader's redemption was a perfect full circle moment. 🎉

[@StanHalen1936]

Captain Obvious strikes again.

[@samkresil6011]

May Day - A View To A Kill (1985), Red - War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), Queen Freya - The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), Humpty Dumpty - Puss in Boots (2011), Xu Wenwu/The Mandarin - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), M.O.D.O.K - Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and Harry Osborn/New Goblin - Spider-Man 3 (2007)

[@fyreleomh1896]

I was born in 82 and I never fully appreciated Blade Runner until I saw it in HD in 2015. I thought it was completely overblown (by my brother)until I watched it in HD as an adult. That is one the most visually stunning movies ever created.Then it dawned on me that this was released in 82!!!! HD really changed my movie viewing experience.

[@Hogan231]

When I was little, I never saw Vader as evil.

[@wendieshrader5263]

He blew up Alderan! Yeesh!

[@brycecarroll9665]

Kron from Disney’s Dinosaur. After trying to kill Aladar in a one-on-one fight and being abandoned by the Herd, a Carnotaurus attacks as the former herd leader whom tries to prove Aladar wrong by climbing up the dangerous wall of rocks, only to see that he was right about the sheer drop, supposedly redeeming himself. Moments before his death, he battles the Carnotaurus and is thrown at a wall by the theropod and succumbs to his injuries even before Aladar and Neera ran over to save him. If he had lived, he would’ve apologized to Aladar and told him he was telling the truth.

[@jommyfonseca6109]

Honorable mentions since when DiCaprio was a villain in blood diamonds ?

[@justapeacefulmanwhosbornin7291]

Darth Vader formerly known as Anakin Skywalker went from Jedi Knight to Sith Lord to hero once again. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@nwo2cool]

Honorable mentioned: 1. May Day - A View to a Kill 2. Nemesis - Resident Evil Apocalypse

[@Tapeleg247]

You should do a Top Ten Most Anticipated Summer 2024 movies list. Aside from Deadpool 3 coming out, we still got Furiosa, Twisters, Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, Bad Boys 4, Garfield, Borderlands, If, Quiet Place 3, a Strangers prequel, an M Night Shyamalan film plus a separate one from his daughter. It's not too late.

[@justapeacefulmanwhosbornin7291]

Apollo Creed played by Carl Weathers from all few ‘Rocky’ movies. May he rest in peace…

[@justapeacefulmanwhosbornin7291]

“Either you die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” That’s the famous quote from the award-winning Batman movie created by Christopher Nolan.

[@Shadow.wolf9592]

Honorable Mention: Quicksilver (Avengers: Age of Ultron)

[@billybobjoe1335]

Boromir should not count. Having a moment of weakness around a corrupting evil artifact doesn’t make you a villain

[@patrickspencer6550]

If you look on the TV Tropes website, there's a section called "Easily Forgiven". So, theoretically if they all survived whatever killed them, this would happened... Anakin, Ben, Loki, Wanda, Snape, Roy Batty, and Doc Ock: We're sorry we commited so many war crimes, probably broke your legs, killed a bunch of people you love, and became the literal banes of your existence. Every good guy who hated them: It's all good. You guys had sad backstories. Just something to think about...

[@cameronjr8]

Close enough. I would want animated villains died after redemption. You know what they say, “Die in honor or live in disgrace.”

[@daphneloose5880]

Scarlett Witch from Doctor Strange 2 should have been on this list. she was pretty much the bad girl in the whole movie then sacrificed herself to save her children in an alternate dimension. she was good after all. the deaths of Boromir and Darth Vader always gets to me no matter how many times I have see Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

[@waverlyking6045]

Nux was never a true villain. He was brought up a certain way his whole life and he never had a choice. Despite his upbringing, he always had some decency that was allowed by circumstance to manifest itself.

[@CaptainAmerica2001]

Whoa whoa whoa whoa.... let's set this straight for Snape.... he was Never A Bad guy to begin with he had to appear as one but he was protecting Harry Behind the scenes he never hated Harry he loved him like a son

[@jacobdrolet4262]

Amazing video watch mojo,fantastic job.

[@BandidFourLife]

Why is Snape the first one to be shown? He never got redeemed because there was nothing to redeem. He was always a good guy.

[@dealingwiththistube]

Great list, BUT I find it a little far-pushing considering some of them villains, especilly Boromir. He wasn’t a villain; it was the one ring of Sauron that possessed him, making him obsessed with the ring wanting to claim it at any cost. After Frodo puts on the ring to escape Boromir’s attempt, Boromir realizes what had happened then starts breaking down.

[@albertPI007]

What about Top 10 villains who could've been redeemed?

[@supercyberfunk]

Danny Vinyard from American History X. He didn't really do any actions that would redeem himself, but he started to learn the error of his ways before some kid he pissed off earlier in the movie killed him at the end.

[@joshua2111]

One of the more accurate videos of Watchmojo !👏🏾

[@theefrankguy]

What about May Day in "A View to a Kill" (1985)?!!!.

[@samanthabeaver8524]

I may be biased because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE LEO, but Danny in blood diamond should have been in the official list. He was willing to die for the diamond and ended up dying for his friend!

[@keatonburton5636]

How appropriate that this list started with the movie franchise which is getting a new addition.

[@jessemillan1385]

Well, main timeline Loki died before his Variant became the god of stories by repaired the timeline by changing it into a World Tree.

[@Animeguy300]

They're all good guys inside

[@AmitApolloBarman]

Snape always gets me teary eyed.

[@user-dt2gz9gn8t]

Honorable mention: Harry Osborne from Spider-Man 3 (2007).

[@orenwolfox6885]

what music is playing in the background, 1:30, I here it in alot of watchmojo videos and its awesome

[@COWBOYPREACHER13]

Maybe in the next videos, you can mention the character from batteries and included.

[@matthewchelette9088]

Darth Vader is still the the number one character in Star Wars, and one of the best villains in Star Wars. That makes him the best number 1 villains who has redeemed himself in movies.

[@Gor85]

Very nice moments.Snape,dr Octopus,Boromir,he wasn't really a villain. He was just under control of the Ring. Anakin returning to the light is beautiful. Deserving number 1

[@Toledotourbillion]

There's Rinzler from Tron, he saved Flynn the last minute before perishing.

[@oldpunker885]

What about Edward Furlongs character in American History X.i just started the vid, but im assuming this is not one of them. Lol

[@kidz4p509]

1:28 The moment I saw the title of the video, I immediately hoped Hummel would be on here.

[@eugeniapatroncosta920]

Boromir, Severus Snape, Hector Barbossa and Otto Octavius a.k.a. Doctor Octopus were my favourites.

[@EWSwrestling76]

Forgot M.O.D.O.K. at the end of Antman and the Wasp quantumania definitely a top 10 worthy sacrifice

[@DevoutLikestoCreate]

Now why did you have to go and show clips from Star Episode Episode 9?! That just killed my mojo lol

[@jacobdenness8659]

In blade runner it wasn’t that he wouldn’t give Roy more life it was that he couldn’t. Roy wanted a longer life but sadly it turned out to be impossible.

[@flexivefowl8186]

Snape was never a villain.

[@brycecarroll9665]

Just misunderstood.

[@brendenwright7957]

Does anyone know what the background music at the very end of the video is?

[@badbiker666]

I liked Boromir from the very start of the LOTR series. And by that, I mean the books that I read back in the late 60s or early 70s. I was heartbroken when he attacked Frodo and attempted to take the Ring, but he was influenced by the Ring itself, and he broke free. I cheered when he did that. He is a lifelong warrior, and it is the hope of every warrior, that if he must die, that it be a death with meaning. Boromir's death had meaning.

[@keynanmartinez]

My favorite Trope in Media.

[@Jeremiah_Rivers76]

Snape may have been a villain, but he was mostly misunderstood, like many others. He only killed Dumbledore to protect Harry.

[@Gor85]

He wasn't a villain. He always worked with Dumbledore to destroy Voldemort.That's why Voldemort had him killed

[@jamiewright7017]

The Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 2’s soundtrack is so good and fits the theme of the film so perfectly it’s just perfect and it’s one of the best films there is no wonder the Harry Potter series is watched so much on Netflix.

[@javiersantanaaviles5885]

Darth Vader redemption is the stuff of legends

[@JordanCesaroni93]

Yay for Vader!

[@Supasmartguy]

Why did you feature footage of Azula at the end? She was not killed nor redeemed.

[@zackbader3896]

I hope that if you ever do a top 20 on this subject I hope M.O.D.O.K is there somewhere I’ll never forget Darren’s sacrifice

[@adamhoward1408]

Top 10 times tom was the nicest character in tom and Jerry

[@waverlyking6045]

Poor Tom was just trying to do his job as a mouser.

[@downrazor11]

Major Duncan Heyward in 'The Last of the Mohicans', a villain, but not the main villain. But, hey, if Snape, Boromir, and Walt Kowalski qualify, then so does this guy..

[@desertsniper23]

Why was Azula at the end of this. She didn't redeem herself she just had a psychotic break and she didn't die.

[@AC-rp1hc]

Roy Batty was an AMAZING villain! Rip Rutger Hauer.

[@dimitru6024]

I think the number 1 pick here is beyond question or debate and is no surprise to anyone.

[@ericthompson3982]

Do... do you mean Galadriel...?

[@eugeniapatroncosta920]

I would also love to see Humpty Dumpty from Puss in Boots. His friendship and brotherhood with Puss redimees himself.

[@gertrudesregis9166]

LATE VIEWER FROM PHILIPPINES

[@LaLaSimpkins]

9:09 The powerful figure… Galadreer….?? 🤔 Man, I thought I knew Lord of the Rings pretty well. Must have missed some important details.

[@Sundae-Hopia]

Cj? Dawn of the dead 2004

[@hamzamasloub798]

I still can’t believe that Alan rickman , and Carl weathers are dead . And I wanted to meet them , but never had the chance to do that . Rest in peace to both of them

[@chelseacanales8763]

I honestly don’t think Apollo Creed is a villain in Rocky 2. I don’t see that, he is or I should say was the best character ever. 😢😢😢😢❤❤❤❤

[@leonardolim8976]

Wanda: what have you done? I destroyed the darkhold and get no credit?

[@DanSolo0119]

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Or you can do both.

[@lp-xl9ld]

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." --Harvey Dent

[@user-dt8vy2yb3d]

Darth Vader made his ultimate sacrifice to save his son, Luke Skywalker by stopping the Emperor in Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi.

[@jaredquinney204]

Interesting

[@donsmeltzer4083]

Walt Kowalski wasn't really a villain, he was more of an antihero.

[@lerinowstudios]

93 likes and 0 views?

[@beatrixdobson4795]

Walt is definitely not a villain in Gran Torino.

[@Filthyism]

To be fair, Nux was more a misguided errand boy more than anything. About as threatening as a mosquito

[@KainzMusic]

Boromir died like a freekin warrior

[@brycecarroll9665]

Why consider him a villain? He may have been a misunderstood character.

[@DJET723]

Boromir was never a villain, he’s just a product of corruption, such as all who come into contact with the ring

[@Aldragon]

I’m disappointed Nux from Mad Max isn’t higher on the list. I’m guessing it’s because he was a henchman rather than a big bad, but god damn if I don’t cry when he says witness me at the end… fury road was his story as much as Furiosa’s.

[@Aldragon]

Now I watched to the end and god damn you put Boromir as a villain??? Really???? Now it’s really egregious you didn’t put Nux higher if you’re counting him >:(

[@downrazor11]

Does Schwarzenegger's Terminator qualify? If so, he should be #2 on the list..

[@LuisDiaz-lg6fn]

Apollo Creed??? He didnt die for redemption or any noble cause just his pride

[@raven3067]

#1: Megamind. Megamind was redeemed when he saved Metro City from Tighten. Then Megamind 2 killed him.

[@joshcoe]

freak! you're great!

[@davidgarrett6951]

I wouldn't call Snape a villain. More of an antagonist to the main character Harry.

[@mrne1988]

I'm not sure Snape is a villain. He is not a hero, to be sure, but he is more of antagonist or antihero than villain.

[@FabianDiazGutierrez]

poor Anakin, loki, snape, octavius, Aragón and Héctor barbossa.😔😪😭

[@JerrellHale]

Nux deserved to live and deserved to find love

[@VocAIdol-Music-no-copyright-]

personally i think walt(gran torino) best from list