10 Video Game Villains Who Actually Killed The Hero

7. Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)

Borderlands 2 Handsome Jack kills Roland
2K Games

Handsome Jack is an extremely paradoxical character, in that he's a nasty piece of work who you'll probably grow to like, even in spite of his despicable actions.

He's a witty and funny villain with a dark, murderous edge, a personality trait that was on full display when he mercilessly gunned down the heroic Roland in Borderlands 2.

After Roland (along with Lilith and the Vault Hunter) infiltrates one of Jack's Hyperion compounds and kills his daughter, Angel - in order to stop Jack from using her power in a nefarious manner - Jack teleports into the room and shoots Roland in the back, leaving a few bloody smears painted across the screen while Lilith screams.

Sure, we're cheating a little with this entry because Roland wasn't a playable character in Borderlands 2 like he was in the first game, but he was one of the story's most pivotal heroes regardless, and furthermore, he just seemed like one of those cool tough-guy badasses who would easily live until the end of the game. So, when Jack killed him rather flippantly, it was a huge moment in terms of cementing how ruthless a villain he really was.

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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!