10 More Movie Villains Who Would Have Won By Doing NOTHING

All they had to do was absolutely NOTHING.

Robert De Niro Heat
Warner Bros.

We all love an impossibly complex villainous ploy that sees the antagonist needlessly tying the hero up in knots in their plan to get revenge, dominate the world, or whatever.

Even if it doesn't always make that much sense to the critical mind, it's usually fun to watch unfold, right?

And then there's the polar opposite - those villains who really didn't have to do much at all, and were ultimately better off just sitting around and waiting for events to unfold as they were seemingly destined to.

These 10 movie villains all instead got a little too bold for their own good, indulging in convoluted, needlessly intricate, and excessive acts when simply doing nothing - or next to it - would've sufficed.

In a sequel to our prior article on the subject, these movie villains had victory within their grasp through their sheer inaction, yet their impatience or their infuriating desire to do more was ultimately their very undoing.

Winning means different things to different villains of course, but these bad guys were all better off not taking action than the hot mess they eventually made for themselves...

10. Jafar - Aladdin

Robert De Niro Heat
Disney

The first of two Disney animated film villains on this list, Aladdin's Jafar (Jonathan Freeman) is a textbook example of a baddie who really had to do very little to get everything they wanted.

Jafar seeks the magical lamp containing the Genie (Robin Williams), and ultimately takes Aladdin (Scott Weinger) - the one person worthy of retrieving it - to the cave to find it.

Aladdin succeeds, but rather than simply pay Aladdin a decent reward for his efforts and send him on his way, he ill-advisedly throws him and Abu (Frank Welker) back into the collapsing cave.

This prompts Abu to quickly steal the lamp back and allows Aladdin to make contact with the Genie, events which set Aladdin on a path to successfully seek vengeance against Jafar and vanquish him.

Yet if Jafar had just paid Aladdin off, he would've never had the lamp stolen nor likely received a challenge from Aladdin at all. And even if he did, the lamp would've made him powerful enough to repel him and rule Agrabah unimpeded.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.