9 Movie Heroes Who Lived Long Enough To Become The Villain

9. Henry Fonda - Once Upon A Time In The West

Whilst developing Once Upon a Time in the West, spaghetti western maestro Sergio Leone was struck with a vision he couldn't shake: what if, at the start of the film, the villain appeared and - his appearance disguised - he proceeded to shoot an innocent child? And what if then, the camera titled up to reveal the killer's face, showing him to be... Henry Fonda!

Leone fulfilled this vision, of course, and it resulted in one of cinema's great moments of subversion.

In choosing an actor associated with countless good guy roles as villainous gunslinger turned businessman Frank, with his blue eyes and kind face, an already horrifying moment is made even more shocking. Fonda had played heaps of noble characters in films such as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and - most famously - 12 Angry Men, but had never gone full-on baddie.

Nobody was anticipating this unconventional casting, and yet Fonda arguably made for a better screen villain than he did a hero (and it even inspired him to play a few more bad guys in the years afterwards!).