10 Movie Scenes That Brilliantly Subverted Expectations

Say what you want about Zack Snyder's polarising Watchmen adaptation, but he absolutely nailed one of the comic book's most iconic moments, when Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) does the exact opposite of what most movie villains would do.

In the climax, Ozy reveals that his plan all along has been to unite the United States and U.S.S.R. by presenting them with a common foe - Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), who he frames for a spate of energy reactor explosions across the globe.

Once heroes Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) and Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson) learn this, they vow to stop him, only for Ozy to shockingly reveal that he triggered the explosions 35 minutes prior.

To rub salt in the wound, he assures the duo that he's "not a comic book villain" before asking them, "Do you seriously think I would explain my master stroke to you if there were even the slightest possibility you could affect the outcome?"

God. Damn.

As "villain" checkmates go, that's a brilliantly cold riposte to the expectation that Ozy, like so many before him, would rattle off a Bond Villain Monologue before his victory was actually secured.