10 Movie Villains Who Made One Wrong Move

A great movie villain will make the audience love to hate them, and take great satisfaction in the hero finally triumphing over them at the end of the story.

Better still, smart screenwriters will leave the villain just a step or two away from securing their victory and winning the day, making the hero's journey and skin-of-their-teeth success that much more satisfying.

But sometimes villains get so damn close to getting what they want that it beggars belief they didn't actually pull it off.

Whether blocking their own shot and literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, or failing to take advantage of a fortuitous moment, these 10 movie villains had the win pretty much in the bag.

However, one fundamental error of judgment gave the hero time to recover, or exposed a fatal flaw to be exploited later.

Had they taken an extra moment to think things through, kept their mouths shut or just taken the bloody shot, things would've turned out very differently for these antagonists. But of course, such is Hollywood...