10 Brilliant Movie Villains Defeated In The DUMBEST Way Possible

2. The Wicked Witch - The Wizard Of Oz

Bane The Dark Knight Rises
MGM

For many viewers, The Wicked Witch was the first movie villain that truly terrified us. Even though The Wizard of Oz is a children's classic, Margaret Hamilton's performance as the cackling sorcerers was petrifying. With the power of flight, teleportation, pyrokinesis, and scrying, the green-faced enchantress seemed invincible.

How could Dorothy and her comrades possibly defeat someone who is borderline omnipotent?

Simple. Dorothy splashes the Witch with water, melllllllting her into a pile of goo. What makes this death sillier is how Dorothy didn't even mean to do it. She defeated the Wicked Witch completely by accident.

Not only is this an absurd way to kill off a character, it makes you wonder how The Wicked Witch lived her life without a single droplet of water coming into contact with her.

Now, there are some people who defend the Witch's death, saying that's how she was killed off in L. Frank Baum's original novel and the filmmakers were simply staying faithful to the source material. But considering the Witch in the book is a one-eyed dwarf with pigtails and the film adaptation made drastic changes to the story, it's peculiar the scriptwriters maintained the character's demise.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows