10 Movies Where The Villains BOTCHED An Easy Win

10. Simon Gruber - Die Hard With A Vengeance

You'd think that battling a chronically hungover hero would be the easiest thing in the world for a smart, organised villain, but in the case of Die Hard with a Vengeance's Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons), it ironically ended up being his undoing.

Down-and-out hero John McClane (Bruce Willis) is attempting to foil Gruber while fending off the mother of all hangovers, and several times throughout the film verbally mentions his desire to pop a couple of aspirin.

And right at the end of the movie, when Gruber has McClane and Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) tied up on a tanker, McClane asks him for an aspirin. Believing there couldn't possibly be any harm in it, Gruber throws him a bottle and even charitably tells him to keep it.

But this small act ultimately ruins Gruber, as once McClane and Zeus escape the tanker, McClane reads the aspirin bottle and sees the words "Nord des Lignes," identifying where Gruber purchased them - a truck stop in Quebec.

McClane quickly passes this information onto the NYPD, who promptly swarm the nearby warehouse where Gruber is holed up, leading to Gruber's men being captured and Gruber's own death while attempting to escape.

After pulling off a stunning heist and facing off against an enemy who was physically and mentally beaten, Gruber undid it all because of a damn bottle of aspirin.