Movie Villains Who Were Evil For No Reason
Sometimes, filmmakers get so caught up in making a villain evil that they forget to include the reason why. It's not that they forgot to include a backstory, it's just that they forgot to connect that motivation to villain's current evil actions. Sometimes, it doesn't make sense, other times it seems like the villain just never realized that they had other options. Either way, here are some movie villains who were evil for no reason.
Dr. Octopus - Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Most supervillains are defined by their plans. The Joker wants to cause chaos, Lex Luthor wants to own all the beachfront property, Magneto wants to stop mutant discrimination, and Dr. Octopus wants to invent a new type of energy that will be incredibly beneficial for all mankind. Wait, what? All Doc Ock wants to do is legitimate science. He only robs that bank to fund his research, and then kidnaps Mary Jane in exchange for the materials he needs from OSCORP. Even when he almost destroys the city, it's an accident. Did he even try to get a grant or anything? He just wakes up, sees that he has mechanical arms, and says "okay, I'm evil now." It doesn't even make any sense, because it just makes his job harder. How many scientists have to deal with Spider-Man trying to punch them while they work on their experiments? It seems like he would've gotten his work done much faster without all of the super-powered shenanigans.
General Zod - Man of Steel (2013)
We get it, General Zod from Man of Steel. You were bred to be a warrior and to serve Krypton. You're genetically coded to be obsessed with Krypton. No one is arguing with you trying to recreate Krypton. But why do you have to destroy Earth in the process? All we want is an explanation. There are tons of planets out there. Also, you have superpowers on Earth. So, how about keeping Earth the way that it is, and then finding another planet to recreate Krypton on? That way, everyone gets what they want, right? We could understand if you were trying to conquer Earth, but you seem to have no ill will towards us. We're simply in your way, except that we're totally not. Come on, Zod, just take a minute and think about this.
Carter Burke - Aliens (1986)
Since it came out in the 1980s, Aliens had to have a corporate bad guy. Paul Reiser plays Carter Burke, and you know he's evil because he does things like wear a suit and worry about costs. For the first half of the movie, however, Carter seems like a good guy. It isn't until halfway through that we find out that everything is his fault and that he's trying to smuggle aliens back to Earth. There's no reason for him to be sneaky about this, or even duplicitous. Since the marines seem to take orders from Weyland Yutani (the company Carter works for), why not just be open about wanting to bring home a sample? He could have just been like "hey, your orders are to rescue to the civilians and if you see any aliens, bring back a sample." He only lies about it because that's what evil people do. Is he this sneaky with every aspect of his job? Does he fill out his TPS reports, and then try to smuggle them past security instead of just handing them to his boss? What a weird guy.
Two-Face - The Dark Knight (2008)
Look, it's understandable that a guy would be pissed if somebody kills his fiance and then blows off half his face. It makes sense that Harvey Dent wants to kill all of the people responsible for his accident. It never really makes sense why he's mad at Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight, though. He knows who betrayed him, and it's not Gordon. Hell, Gordon even saves Dent's life the first time the Joker tries to kill him. Two-Face doesn't even become a bad guy until he kidnaps Gordon's family. Before that, he's just killing gangsters and corrupt cops. Then, all of a sudden, he's like "I think I'm going to go murder some innocent children." That's a huge change of plans. When Batman shows up, instead of trying to appeal to Two-Face, he should've just asked him to clarify his plan. Batman should have just asked him to actually say his plan out loud, because then Two-Face would have seen how absurd it was. "Well, I'm going to kill all of the people who betrayed us. Then I'm going to kill a kid who wasn't even involved. Oh wait, maybe I'll just do the first part."
Brenda Bates - Urban Legend (1998)
Slasher movie killers never really need a motivation. So when they get one that doesn't make any sense, it's extra infuriating. For example, the killer from Urban Legend, Brenda, doesn't need to kill anybody at all. Her motivation for killing is that her boyfriend was accidentally killed by two girls re-enacting an urban legend. So, Brenda becomes an urban-legend themed serial killer, seeking revenge on the two girls. Which is perfectly fine motivation, even though it would be easier to go to the cops. These two girls are guilty of manslaughter, but we can understand why Brenda would want to kill them. Unfortunately, she also kills a bunch of other people who have nothing to do with the original accident, or even know about it. In fact, she spends more time stalking and murdering these random people than she does avenging her boyfriend. It's almost like she got confused. She spent so much time researching urban legends and forgot all about her boyfriend.
Nero - Star Trek (2009)
In 2009's Star Trek, the time-traveling villain Nero is mad because, in the future, his home planet of Romulus is destroyed by a natural disaster. Spock and the Federation are unable to save it in time. After accidentally creating a black hole, he ends up in the past with a super advanced ship and more black hole goo, so he blows up Spock's home planet and tries to do the same the Earth. He does this instead of saving Romulus. He's in the past—he has plenty of time to save his home planet! He no longer has a reason to seek revenge. In fact, he kind of owes Spock, who supplies the red matter that created the time travel worm hole. Also, how does blowing up Vulcan help prevent Romulus from blowing up? There's no indication that Nero even tries to call his planet and be like "hey guys, in like, 200 years, watch out for this space wave." Instead, he just spends 25 years jumping around his gigantic, poorly designed ship.