Delivering a great, memorable, even iconic movie villain is one thing, but figuring out how to satisfyingly send them to their fate may ultimately determine how they’re remembered by audiences.
There are few sights as satisfying as seeing a widely loathed antagonist finally get taken out, paying the ultimate price for their crimes and heinous acts throughout the movie or franchise.
Yet coming up with a death scene which leaves everybody gratified is perhaps harder than it seems, as evidenced by these 10 villains, all of whom died profoundly lame cinematic deaths.
From antagonists who expired in an unceremonious fashion you’d expect from an anonymous goon to those who perished in an unintentionally comical way, these movie villains all died profoundly unspectacular deaths which were only memorable for all the wrong reasons.
While these misfire deaths don’t necessarily negate these villains and everything they’ve done, they did ensure that they weren’t given the fitting send-off everybody watching was hoping for.
If nothing else, these deaths indicate that those in charge had no clue how to tie things off and satisfyingly say bon voyage to their iconic screen baddies…
Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) was undeniably one of the coolest new Star Wars characters introduced in The Force Awakens – a mysterious, gender-flipped riff on Boba Fett who made a ton of impact with only a small amount of screen time.
The Force Awakens established a clear rivalry between Phasma and former Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), which was picked up again in sequel The Last Jedi, leading to a battle onboard the flaming wreckage of Supreme Leader Snoke’s (Andy Serkis) flagship, the Supremacy.
Yet the fight lasts all of a hot minute before Finn gets the better of Phasma, breaking her helmet and leaving her to fall into the fiery bowels of the ship.
To many, the ambiguous nature of Phasma’s fate seemed to imply that she’d return for the next film, The Rise of Skywalker, for one final clash with Finn, but alas, it never happened.
According to director Rian Johnson himself, Phasma’s role was curtailed in The Last Jedi due to time constraints and the massive cast he had to juggle.
All the same, given the character’s immense promise it was hugely underwhelming to see her get such a limp demise with so little fanfare.
