10 Movie Villains So Dumb They Deserved To Fail

These villains took 'being bad' to a new level...

Harry Potter Voldemort Death
Warner Bros. Pictures

Whether a movie villain is a terrorist, a corrupt businessman, a sorcerer, or an alien overlord, they tend to share one trait: they have brains to spare.

Of course, even the most intelligent antagonists have to make a few mistakes, otherwise the good guys would lose. But there are some baddies who aren't just sloppy - they're borderline braindead.

Despite the fact these evildoers are supposed to be brainiacs, they tell everyone about their secret plan, often accompanied by slideshows or 3D holograms. They try to work in secret, but leave a trail of breadcrumbs, so the protagonist can effortlessly find them. These sinister scoundrels also have a habit of creating overelaborate schemes to defeat their enemy, when they could've devised a much simpler and efficient method. (Why doesn't the bad guy shoot the hero when they have the chance?)

These 10 villains may have doctorates and PhDs coming out of the wazoo, but that doesn't change the fact every one of them is an idiot.

10. Nolan Sorrento - Ready Player One

Harry Potter Voldemort Death
Warner Bros.

Ready Player One is set in a dystopian future where humanity spends most of their time in a virtual reality called the OASIS. When the system's creator, Halliday, reveals he'll bestow the OASIS to the first person to find three hidden keys, Wade Watts and his friends do what they can to find them.

Hoping to maintain control over the virtual world as well as the real one, tyrannical CEO, Nolan Sorrento, does everything in his power to locate the keys. With billions at his disposal, countless henchmen, and unlimited resources, it looks like Wade doesn't have a chance at competing against Sorrento.

The only way Wade could destabilise Sorrento's company long enough to find the keys is if he hacked his account. Of course, this is impossible, unless Wade happened to figure out Sorrento's password.

Fortunately, Sorrento is stupid enough to leave his password beside his console for anyone to see. Why doesn't he put it somewhere less conspicuous or have it memorised?

Now, this could be a little justified if Sorrento's code was really long and complicated. But considering the password is "B055men69" (as in "Bossmen69") there's no reason why the greedy entrepreneur is so careless about it.

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows