10 Movie Characters Who Knew When To Quit (But Didn't)
6. Wikus Van De Merwe - District 9
District 9's unlikely hero is Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an awkward bureaucrat who is spearheading the relocation of a settlement of immigrant insectoid aliens (called "Prawns") to a new internment camp.
Wikus is accidentally infected with an alien fluid which triggers his gradual transformation into one of the creatures. He then attempts to help one of the aliens, Christopher, return to his home planet, in exchange for helping reverse his transformation.
However, once Christopher sees the grotesque, horrific experiments the Multinational United (MNU) has been carrying out on his species, he decides that he must return home at once, and won't be able to reverse Wikus' mutation until he returns in three years.
Wikus naturally isn't too happy about this, attacking Christopher and attempting to reach the alien mothership himself in order to retrieve the means of a cure.
They're both eventually captured by mercenaries, and though Wikus is able to flee, he ultimately decides to help rescue Christopher after hearing that he's about to be executed.
Granted, Wikus basically needed Christopher to help reverse the transformation anyway, but considering that he's left in alien form at film's end regardless and there's no guarantee Christopher will indeed stick to his word, he's pretty much left in the same state as if he'd simply walked away.