20 Absolutely Insufferable Film Characters Who Didn't Deserve THAT

18. Pulp Fiction - Marsellus Wallace

Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) is a character viewers will be scared of at first, then things change a bit. In the first sections of Quentin Tarantino's seminal Pulp Fiction, Wallace is established as a ruthless crime lord who's alleged to have once thrown some poor guy off a roof for giving his wife a foot massage, though his wife later claims that story isn't true. Regardless, he's an intimidating thug, and he also goes after Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) with a gun after Butch double-crosses him. 

Their chase ends in the most bizarre and nasty of ways. They end up being taken prisoner in the basement of a pawn shop by the shop's sadistic owners, led by Maynard (Duane Whitaker). Butch initially escapes but, in a rather uplifting moment of heroism in a largely cynical story world, he decides to go back and save Marsellus despite them being mortal enemies. Marsellus' life is saved, but unfortunately, he was already sexually assaulted by the shop owners. 

Regardless of what kind of man Marsellus was, what happened to him here is still very difficult to stomach. Honestly, much like with many things in Tarantino's movies, there's an argument to be made that this went way too far.