10 Movie Villains Who Caused Their Own Defeats

5. Clayton (Tarzan)

Tarzan Clayton
Disney

The Defeat: If there's one compliment you can pay Clayton, it's that he's determined as hell. This guy does not give up, and will do whatever it takes to see his goals through to completion. He's so determined and focused, in fact, that he didn't even realise he was about to kill himself when he was pursuing Tarzan through the jungle.

During their final showdown, the hero and the villain end up fighting while tangled in a bunch of dangling vines, a situation that concludes with Clayton hanging by the neck.

How He Caused It: Clayton, as resolute as he is, only has eyes for Tarzan. And not in a sexy way. He's out for blood and is fixed on getting it, so much so that - when he starts relentlessly hacking his way through the twisting vines in an effort to reach his opponent - he doesn't realise that with each swing, he's getting one step closer to his own death.

Tarzan, noticing the vine wrapped around Clayton's neck, even tries to warn him, but to no avail. If Clayton had simply stopped, took in his surroundings, and properly absorbed the situation at hand, he maybe could've reached Tarzan a different way and won the fight. As things stand, his bloodlust backfired, and he created his own noose.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!