10 Movie Villains Who Made One Wrong Move

10. Scar - The Lion King

The Wrong Move

Allowing Simba (Matthew Broderick) to flee the site of Mufasa's (James Earl Jones) death and ordering the three hyenas to kill him moments later.

Despite the hyenas' efforts, Simba is scarcely able to escape, setting in motion Scar's (Jeremy Irons) own death when Simba returns to Pride Rock years later to confront his duplicitous uncle.

Ironically, Scar ends up suffering the fate he wished upon his nephew - torn apart by hyenas.

What They Should've Done

Delegating the hero's death to your minions is always a dopey villain move, even if in this case Scar presumably wanted to ensure there was no blood on his hands.

But given that his rule over the Pride Lands as well as his life was at stake, Scar probably should've either murdered Simba himself immediately after killing Mufasa, or at least let the hyenas rip him to pieces in his own presence.

This ever-so-slight change of plan would've ensured Scar's rule went unopposed forever more, and while the hyenas could've theoretically turned on him sometime down the line, there would've been no direct threat to the throne with Simba dead and digested.