8 Surprising Movie Villain Turns You Never Saw Coming

These betrayals are why we all have trust issues.

Rosamund Pike Gone Girl
20th Century Fox

It's not easy for a movie these days to really surprise viewers with a great villain twist. Having to get the balance right between laying the foundations that something could be amiss without giving the game away too early (and also not just having someone flip from being a good guy to bad on a dime without it making sense in the narrative), more often than not filmmakers completely skew the execution.

We've covered the worst offenders before, with the likes of Toy Story 3's Lots-o-Huggin' Bear and The Dark Knight Rises' Talia Al Ghul all being prime examples of villainous characters movies poorly disguised. In a way you can't blame them for fudging it a little bit, but there's nothing worse than a film thinking it has a smart twist, only for the whole audience to figure it out immediately.

That said, when a flick does nail it perfectly, revealing that a character you've been rooting for has actually been a villain the whole time, it's nothing but pure cinema magic, and almost guarantees to make a release an instant must-see.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked full time as a content producer at WhatCulture for nine years. In that time he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple channels, specialising in subjects such as gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 most listened to gaming podcast in the UK that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, covered breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.