10 Recent Movie Twists EVERYONE Predicted

Though Macrinus (Denzel Washington) is very obviously the mustache-twirling main villain of Gladiator II, hero Lucius (Paul Mescal) also has to deal with twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).

It doesn't take more than a single scene for audiences to appreciate that Geta is the more cunning and calculating of the two brothers while Caracalla is unstable, even outright unhinged.

And it's also easy to see how, while Geta is smarter, Caracalla is a dangerous, obviously placed foil for his brother, and one who can be manipulated by Macrinus to take Geta out.

And that's exactly what happens - there's nothing surprising about any of this, Macrinus' plan being almost hilariously, pantomime-tier obvious to the audience, though still a ton of fun to watch unfold.

Additionally, given that Macrinus makes little secret of the fact that he's clearing the path all the way to the emperor's throne, it's a foregone conclusion that he follows up by killing Caracalla himself.