10 Awesome Movie Moments Where You Think The Villain Might Actually Win

Even though it was tactlessly spoiled by the movie's soundtrack listing shortly before release, the death of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) at the hands of Darth Maul (Ray Park) in Star Wars: Episode I was a massive shocker to most fans.

Furthermore, it was demoralising enough to suggest that The Phantom Menace was about to serve up an Empire Strikes Back-esque downer ending for the ages.

While we knew that Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) would survive the events of the trilogy per necessity, Qui-Gon's death nevertheless did a fantastic job of putting Darth Maul over, and so had he gained custody of Padme (Natalie Portman) by the end of the film, it would've surprised nobody.

Shocked audiences were, then, that Darth Maul ends up killed - or as we now know, not killed - by Obi-Wan mere moments later, seemingly throwing Maul in the bin just as fans got to see how truly badass he was.

Having the villains win in Episode I would've been a fun subversion of the expected, especially as mirroring the original trilogy's dark second entry would seem cliched, and Anakin's (Jake Lloyd) turn to the Dark Side was already widely expected in Episode III.

Instead, Maul's iconic murderous act was quickly sabered into irrelevance when Obi-Wan punked him out like a no-name mook. Terrible.