10 Movie Characters That Got Happy Endings They Did Not Deserve

He may have played multiple different versions of Santa Claus on the big screen, but damn J.K. Simmons can play a good bad guy. He has portrayed Omni-Man in Invincible, a despicable alien super being who thought human life was expendable, nearly killed his own son, and thought of his own wife as a pet, but a drum teacher is still his most hated character.

Simmons brought to life Terrence Fletcher in Whiplash, opposite Miles Teller's Andrew, Fletcher's student. There was however, so much more to their dynamic than that of a typical mentor and mentee. 

Fletcher, in simple terms, was mentally, physically, and verbally abusive. He claimed it was in pursuit of greatness, but he put Andrew through hell, and not for the first time. One of his previous students had committed suicide thanks to Fletcher and his abusive authority, but the teacher showed no remorse, and would continue to work this way, breaking others.

The problem is that Andrew was so desperate to be great, and became so desperate for Fletcher's approval, that he did ultimately earn it, playing for him at the end of the film. This vindicated the horrific methods of the teacher, as he likely went off after the events of the story to traumatise more students with the same lack of remorse.