10 Movie Villains Who Wanted To Be Caught

Loki really was the only one who wanted to be on the Helicarrier.

The Riddler Paul Dano
Warner Bros. Pictures

Certain things have come to be expected from almost any movie villain, whether it be a particular action, a motivation, or certain aspects of the character themselves. Antagonists come in all shapes and sizes, but there is usually a common denominator or two to be found.

One such thing is a master plan. Whether buying into the trope of revealing the details of their grand scheme to the wrong person at the wrong time or not, there is typically a plot that the bad guy has mapped out.

Naturally, this is, with few exceptions, a plan that should end with the villain on top, but even so, there are those who make it necessary for their victory to actually be captured. For the heroes to think they have won only for them to realise, probably too late, that they had played right into the hands of their nemesis.

From multiple Batman villains with different reasoning, a movie antagonist with a bone to pick with a specific member of the police force, or even just the want to be famous for what they have done, there are plenty of bad guys who plotted to be caught.

10. Joker & Bane - The Dark Knight Trilogy

The Riddler Paul Dano
Warner Bros.

There are a lot of similarities between Heath Ledger's Joker and Tom Hardy's Bane from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. They both targeted Batman, they both began the film covering their faces, and throughout the events of their individual plans, they both intended to be caught.

Compared to the rest of what he did, this was actually a rather small part of the Joker's scheme. He allowed Batman (Christian Bale) and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) to lock him up so he could break back out of jail with criminal accountant Lau (Chin Han) accompanying him, so he could learn the location of the Gotham mobsters' money pot.

He said himself that it wasn't about the money, so he burned the pile of dollar bills with Lau sitting on top. Bane's entire plan, however, hinged on his capture at the beginning.

Before Bane did anything else, he got himself taken by the CIA, in order to get on the same plane as Dr. Pavel (Alon Aboutboul). This allowed him to fake the doctor's death and kidnap him all at the same time, allowing him to then work on the nuclear bomb that he would later threaten Gotham City with. Plus, it doesn't really matter if you get caught when you plan on killing everyone present anyway.

Contributor
Contributor

This standard nerd combines the looks of Shaggy with the brains of Scooby, has an unhealthy obsession with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is a firm believer that Alter Bridge are the greatest band in the world.