10 Movie Heroes Who Made Everything Worse

Movie heroes who failed at their job! Star-Lord, Superman & more!

ghostbusters ray
Sony

What is a hero if not the individual who foils the villain and saves the day, ensuring audiences go home with smiles on their faces?

It's an archetype for a reason, but at the same time, not all heroes are cut out to be squeaky-clean, faultless pillars of integrity and strategic intelligence.

And so, there are those occasional "heroes" who ultimately ended up causing more suffering and pain - whether for themselves or those around them - than had they basically done nothing at all.

Their efforts to make the world, even the universe, a better place, fell flat amid absent-minded decision making and a failure to actually think long and hard about what they were doing.

Though for the most part the intentions were good, we all know how the saying goes. For people in these positions and with all this power, good intentions simply aren't good enough, because their reckless behaviour resulted in a sure world of hurt.

That's not to say their actions were irredeemable or even irreversible, but their attempts at heroism left audiences screaming at the screen, "What the hell are you doing?"...

10. Ray Stantz - Ghostbusters (1984)

ghostbusters ray
Columbia Pictures

As gloriously surreal and entertaining as the finale to Ghostbusters is, it's safe to say that the heroes' showdown against shape-shifting god of destruction Gozer the Gozerian (Slavitza Jovan) would've gone far more smoothly were it not for the absent-mindedness of Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd).

In the finale, Gozer demands the Ghostbusters pick the destructive form the shape-shifter will take, prompting the team to effectively empty their minds and ensure Gozer can't draw from their thoughts.

Though Peter (Bill Murray), Egon (Harold Ramis), and Winston (Ernie Hudson) successfully switch their brains off, Ray accidentally recalls a seemingly harmless figure from his childhood - the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man mascot.

This of course leads to Gozer taking the form of a skyscraper-sized Mr. Stay Puft and terrorising New York, forcing the team to cross their proton pack streams and melt Stay Puft into a goopy slop, in turn sending Gozer back to its realm.

Everything worked out in the end, but Ray's inability to be a team player resulted in a ton of needless destruction, terror, and near-obliteration.

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.