10 Most Satisfying Movie Deaths From The Last 20 Years

2. Commodus- Gladiator

Has anyone else in modern cinema ever made audiences hate him with such gusto as Joaquin Phoenix did as the father-murdering, creepily perverse, incestuous, spoiled, unnecessarily blood-thirsty Commodus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator? You know, outside of snuff movies.

Commodus is the polar opposite of our hero, Russell Crowe's righteous, loyal, tolerant, and above all,notbug-eyed Maximus Decimus Meridius. And because, despite what Paula Adbul would have you think, opposites don't always attract in the best of ways, Commodus spends the majority of the film trying to dick over Maximus.

The snake-tongued Commodus forces him into barbaric fights to the death for other people's enjoyment, murders his family, and then sticks a knife in his side just before the two are to have a "legitimate" duel in the Colosseum.

So when Maximus is able to overcome Commodus' dirty and despicable tactics, even whilst bleeding to death, we have to applaud when he slowly plunges the ruler's own knife into his throat.