1. Kidnapping The Hero's Loved One
Appears In: Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, The Dark Knight, The Wolverine The most tired villain ploy of all is also the most desperate, of finding out who the hero's loved one is and then kidnapping them, leading to an inevitable stand-off in which the hero has to rescue them (or as is occasionally the case, not). Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films unimaginatively had Mary-Jane be kidnapped by the villain as a damsel in distress, Batman Begins had Rachel Dawes be kidnapped and poisoned, Superman Returns had Lois and her son be taken by Lex Luthor, The Dark Knight had The Joker kidnap Rachel and blow her to smithereens, and The Wolverine had Mariko Yashida be kidnapped as an attempt to lure Wolverine out. It's not just a tired trope in the comic book genre, but in movies generally; it just makes me groan, and demonstrates a blatant lack of inventiveness on the part of the filmmakers and writers involved. Can we hold a moratorium on this one especially now, please? Which comic book movie villain plots do you never want to see again? Did we miss any off? Let us know in the comments below.