9 Stupidly Risky Plans From TV's Most Notorious Villains

3. Charles Augustus Magnussen Admits He's Got Not Proof €“ Sherlock

Why is Charles Augustus Magnusson so feared? Well, that's an easy one €“ he's a master blackmailer who's able to make even Mycroft Holmes quake in his boots. He holds everyone to ransom with a huge vault of secrets known as Appledor, and forensically knows €“ and not through Google glasses, as Sherlock originally thought €“ everyone important's weakness. It's believed that he keeps the aforementioned vault under his Bond villain house, which doubles as an impenetrable fortress and basically confirms that his man does indeed mean business. Indeed, he means business so much that even Sherlock seems briefly overwhelmed by him, and in true Bondian style he gives our two erstwhile heroes a tour of his house-lair before showing them what Appledor is €“ nothing. Well, it's not nothing, but it's not the vault that Sherlock was expecting. Instead, it's just his own personal mind palace, where he sifts through reams of data before finding what he wants and disseminates it through his media empire. As he tells Sherlock during his gloat about using one long plan to bring both Holmes boys under his thumb, holding the evidence can be risky, so he immediately destroys it after he's remembered the juicy bits. Sorry, what? Basically, in the midst of acting out his villainous scheme, Magnussen admits he's a blackmailer without proof, which is to say he really isn't a proper blackmailer at all. Needless to say, Sherlock reacts to this new information by shooting his adversary through the head €“ and, by extension, his mind-palace €“ thus ending the thrall Magnussen had over all his enemies. The day is saved, entirely because Magnussen handed Sherlock his one glaring weakness on a platter. Frankly, the guy really needs to go back to planning school, because this isn't how you do it.