Universal is currently readying the release of a new Dracula movie, Renfield, and Nicholas Hoult will play Dracula’s henchman. As Hoult is a fairly big name and respected actor, the role will hopefully be much bigger and more important than the ordinary henchman-type role.
Henchmen are often faceless characters with no background and are killed off in minutes or even seconds, but Redditors have pointed to a number of movies where that isn’t the case. Some users make debatable statements like Kill Bill, but that movie sees the Bride kill 88 assassins in just five minutes. However, there are some henchmen who don’t slouch, they give the protagonist a tough time, and they certainly aren’t pushovers.
The War Boys In Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best legacy sequels ever, but it also achieves the impossible by being even better than any of its predecessors. The 2015 movie has such a unique depiction of a dystopian future, which obviously comes with all sorts of terrifying tribes who only look out for themselves. Okami31 observes, “everyone is a lethal threat.”
The War Boys are on suicide missions, as they’re under the belief that they’ll enter Valhalla if they give their lives to Immortan Joe’s cause. That makes them even more of a threat as they jump between cars in high-speed chases. However, while the War Boys are a cut above most movie henchmen, when Max doesn’t run from them, he still dispenses with them rather swiftly.
August Walker In Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Bridge Mission: Impossible movies feature main antagonists that audiences don’t care about. Only Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III and Solomon Lane stand out as memorable. But ironically, the franchise has way more memorable henchmen, and Arostrat points to August Walker in Mission: Impossible – Fallout as the strongest.
The Redditor simply points out “The bathroom fight scene.” Fallout features one of the best movie nightclub scenes, and it results in an epic close-quarters hand-to-hand combat fight. August makes a short work of Ethan Hunt, and the shot where he “reloads” his arm has become a viral meme.
Minh In Rapid Fire (1992)
Jdixon76 points to the deep-cut Rapid Fire as the movie that has the most competent henchman. Few Brandon Lee-starring movies are known outside of The Crowbut Rapid Fire is one that’s criminally underrated. The movie follows Jake (Lee), who is caught between two feuding drug lords after he witnesses a murder.
In one scene, the actor channels his father at his most lethal, but his opponent is just as agile. The Redditor calls the fight a “Straight up brawl with Al Leong. Love that fight.” The movie and fight are a must-watch for martial arts fans, and audiences really feel it when Leong strikes.
Everyone In The John Wick Series
AKAKorm doesn’t point to one John Wick movie, but the whole series, noting that they’re full of reliable henchmen. The Redditor explains, “Wick definitely gets beaten up in the movies. I think the second and third resort to a bit more cartoony action than the first did though.”
However, the second and third movies have more henchmen that give Wick a run for his money, as the first film sees him kill hundreds of henchmen with absolute ease. John Wick: Chapter 2 features two notable henchmen, Ares and Cassian, both of whom get in some effective and almost fatal shots at Wick. And John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum has Zero and Shinobi, who toy with Wick like a how a cat would toy with a mouse.
Everyone In The Raid (2011)
While John Wick popularized gun-fu in Hollywood, the Indonesian action movie The Raid did it first, and much more successfully too. Every single scene is a suspenseful and intense blood-filled sequence that results in an exorbitant number of deaths. Truckturner5164 posits, “The Raid has multiple protagonists struggling to take out just one henchman. “
The movie is full of tough henchmen, and as the film follows Rama as he works his way up a 15-story building, every floor is like a level that’s harder than the last. However, it goes both ways in the movie, as there are an equal amount of henchmen who get killed in seconds as henchmen who hold their own. And in The Raid 2Yuda kills a number of convicts in a small jail toilet in just two minutes.
Bane In The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Owls_in_pants notes, “Well, technically Bane was a henchman,” but it’s unclear whether they’re talking about The Dark Knight Rises or Batman & Robin. In TDKRwhile Bane has a hilariously goofy voice, he is a huge threat and Batman loses to him in a brawl, which results in Bruce’s back getting broken.
And even though Batman & Robin was critically scathed and the laughing stock of Batman movies, Bane is still somewhat of a threat in the film, despite being hilariously cartoonish. In both films, Bane is a henchman. Even though he was presented as the main antagonist in the promotional material for Risesit was revealed that he was simply Talia Al Ghul’s errand boy and did her heavy lifting.
Oddjob In Goldfinger (1964)
Bridge James Bond movies follow the same formula, as there’s a primary antagonist who relies a little too much on an incompetent henchman. But Goldfinger introduced Oddjob, one of the most iconic henchmen ever, and he did a better job than any other Bond villain at stopping 007.
Derekbaseball notes, “That henchman was clearly more dangerous than the main villain, and Bond only beats him through deception.” Goldfinger is Sean Connery’s best Bond movie, and part of the reason why is because of the unforgettable side villain. However, it could simply be that Oddjob looks great compared to Goldfinger’s other employees, who are some of the dumbest henchmen in film history.
The Black Order In Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
While great, 2012’s The Avengers saw the superhero team face off against thousands of feeble faceless aliens. And the sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultrondoubles down on its predecessor’s most criticized element, as the team once again goes up against a faceless army, only this time they’re robots.
That’s why it was so refreshing that Avengers: Infinity War saw not only Thanos snap half of the universe away, but Thanos’ henchmen, the Black Order, become just as terrifying. Dragon_Blue_Eyes notes, “Though the henchmen do get defeated, most times, they are not an easy fight.” The Order, also known as the Children of Thanos, is made up of Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, and Proxima Midnight, and they all have their own five minutes where they best the Avengers, particularly Wanda and Vision.
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