10 Movie Villains Who Tried To Cheat Death

Can you blame them for trying?

harry potter voldermort
Warner Bros.

There are few guarantees in life, but death sure is one of them, so it's little surprise that countless movie villain's schemes have ended up revolving around a quest to keep the Grim Reaper at bay, to achieve eternal live and cheat the inevitability of death.

These plots have ranged from the somewhat quirky to the absolutely, undeniably bats*** crazy, from the admirably smart to the dementedly dumb, and though they largely ended up failing, you've gotta give these antagonists a hand for their committed efforts to staying alive, and for having motives that just about everyone can pretty much relate to, no matter how atrocious the baddies were as human beings.

The pursuit of wealth and fame, and villainy for no sake but its own, are all fine reasons to be bad, but the desire to keep living? That's about as primeval and universal as things get...

10. Ichiro Yashida - The Wolverine

Yashida The Wolverine
Fox

His Plan: Suffering from terminal cancer, Yashida lured Logan to Japan and offered to use genetic manipulation to remove his healing factor and transplant it into himself in order to save his own life, while freeing Logan of his "curse".

When Logan refused, Yashida launched his back-up plan, to extract Logan's healing abilities by force, while barely keeping himself alive in the giant Silver Samurai armour.

What Happened?: Yashida got pretty damn close, removing Logan's adamantium claws and beginning to extract his healing factor to the point that he actually de-aged back into a young man. However, with the help of Yashida's granddaughter Mariko, Logan was able to break free and murder Yashida with his newly-grown bone claws.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.