History FreudianExcuse / FIlm

*** The FromCamouflageToCriminal eco-terrorist leader Alan Jonah meanwhile is a MisanthropeSupreme, who once King Ghidorah begins creating a rapid extinction event instead of just a population cull and ecological regeneration proves that he's a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist and just wants as much of the human race as possible dead. His dialogue reveals he suffered MaddenIntoMisanthropy due to repeatedly seeing the very worst of human nature first-hand during his decades-long military career fighting in one war after another, which made him believe that human nature only gets progressively worse with time. The film's {{novelization}} also reveals that the "tipping point" for Jonah was when [[spoiler:his daughter was gruesomely murdered while Jonah was away on military service and the perpetrator was never caught]].

-->'''Kyle:''' He's a BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Residential Schoo survivor. He was, like...abused and stuff. And I just feel bad for him. It's like, I wish I could help him, right, but I don't know what to do.

* ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'': Frank Abagnale comes from a broken home and he ran away and became a con artist since he couldn't deal with choosing one parent over the other when they were divorcing. Averted in the book. Abagnale says he had a hard time when his parents divorced, [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse but he also says more than once that it's no excuse for his crimes, and most other children from "broken homes" don't become con artists (including Frank's own siblings, who the movie AdaptedOut).

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', there are flashbacks where it suggests Gru got an inferiority complex issue from his mother's lack of enthusiasm for his achievements, including building a fully functional rocket at a young age. Although he otherwise had a healthy relationship with his mother.

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' technically has one, but it's [[DisproportionateRetribution not very good]]. Essentially, the superhero he idolized as a kid wouldn't let him be his sidekick and ultimately got him arrested. That's it. So he'll murder every superhero in the world...

* The underlying reason behind Tai Lung's fury in the original ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. However, after he is told that he had no reason to feel this way, it doesn't matter to him and the years of feeling slighted by Shifu have turned him completely cold.

* Before he [[DefrostingIceKing defrosted]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' wasn't a very sociable ogre, scaring off those who entered his land and getting constantly irritated with [[{{Deuteragonist}} Donkey]]. Later in the first film, however, he reveals to Donkey in a touching scene why he acts like this:

* In the Creator/DavidCronenberg movie ''Film/{{Spider}}'', with Ralph Fiennes, a variety of flashbacks start to illustrate just what has turned Fiennes into a demonic version of Mr. Bean. It turns out that [[spoiler:he imagined the whole thing, and just happens to be insane]]. His character [[spoiler:suffered from schizophrenia, serious brain disease which you cannot control more than epileptic can control his convulsions]]. So he really could not help it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Hades's villainy stems from the deep hatred of the dank and unpleasant job he's currently in as Lord of the Underworld (something which he sees as the cosmic equivalent of janitorial duty). He also envies his older brother Zeus for receiving HundredPercentAdorationRating by all of the Greek gods while he is [[EveryoneHatesHades virtually]] [[HatedByAll hated]]. Plus, it's mentioned in the [[WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] that his [[GreaterScopeVillain father Kronos]] [[AbusiveParents devoured his children]] except Zeus, causing Hades to inherit his evil.

* In the original story board of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', Jafar had a Freudian Excuse themed song explaining why he was angry and evil. Jafar's excuse mainly focused on being mocked and unpopular when he was young, and having to live and work underneath the bumbling Sultan in adulthood. The song was later dropped and was replaced with a reprise of Prince Ali to satisfy the staff's wishes to have the voice actor sing. In the actual film, Jafar has no Freudian Excuse, but he's unhappy in his current position (which is sometimes all you need), thinks the sultan is an idiot, is greedy, and has a case of megalomania (thus the last genie wish). Sympathy is heavily undercut because Jafar now treats Aladdin as lowly as he himself was treated in childhood. The song and storyboards for it can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU6AfCWuZKI here]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'', Joaquin's obsession with heroism and large ego all come from an entire life spent on his father's shadow of a great hero.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', there are flash backs where it suggests Gru got an inferiority complex issue from his mother's lack of enthusiasm for his achievements, including building a fully functional rocket at a young age. Although he otherwise had a healthy relationship with his mother.

** From what little was seen from his childhood, Kristoff was largely ignored by the other ice harvesters and lovingly embraced by the trolls, causing him to have a sour opinion on people in general until he met Anna.

** According to WordOfGod, his albino coloring caused his parents to neglect him as child and others to treat him as a bad omen. It can be argued that Shen never would have turned cold enough to commit genocide if he had been more loved.

* Hilariously inadequate to the point that it was most certainly intentional, the villain of ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' became villainous and lost his mind due to a minor mishap as a child in which he lost his baseball team the game because he fell asleep partway through. It fits in with the moral of the story of moving on, because while his team was upset for a while, they got over it and forgave him, but he focused only on that minor mistake and it ruined his entire life.

* On ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'', Pete mentions during his VillainSong that the reason he's so evil is because his mother didn't like him and he wants to impress her by becoming king.
* Scarlett Overkill from ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' reveals in her bedtime story, disguised as a threat, with her and the Minions in it, that she was grew up an orphan, living on the streets, unloved and unwanted. She wants to steal the Queendom of England, or at least the crown, because she believes that by being crowned as a royal, everyone will love her, because "everybody loves a princess".

* In ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'', the "witch" Agatha Prenderghast who cursed the town turns out to be [[spoiler:an eleven year old girl who was unjustly prosecuted (and sentenced to death) simply because of her being able to speak to the dead]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'''s take on the Literature/BookOfExodus, Pharaoh Rameses gets a hefty dose of this. Growing up with his emotionally distant father Pharaoh Seti, Seti constantly told Rameses that the legacy of the Egyptian Empire rested entirely on his shoulders, and that any show of weakness could bring down the dynasty that his forefathers started. With every childhood misdeed, Rameses was reminded, [[ArcWords "One weak link can destroy a chain."]] As an adult, Rameses convinces himself that any show of mercy towards his Hebrew subjects would be just another sign of weakness, and so he doesn't flinch at working them to death, or sending his soldiers to slaughter them wholesale. Since Seti also attempted genocide against the Hebrews, it's implied that Rameses considers his own atrocities to be his way of following in his father's footsteps.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei finds out that the reason that her mother is hard on her is that during one of her transformations as a kid, she injured Grandma Wu and was scared of her powers. [[spoiler:During the climactic fight, Mei calls out her mother, saying that just because she had to be the perfect daughter doesn't mean that it was right how she treated Mei like an ideal extension of all her hopes and dreams and not a person.]]

* As revealed in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', the whole worldview of Comicbook/LexLuthor in the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'' is due to his upbringing. Lex's father, Alexander Luthor Snr., was an [[AbusiveParents abusive jerk]], who [[VillainWithGoodPublicity hid behind the facade]] of a good family man. Luthor Senior used his son as a business ploy (claiming he named his company after Lex and encouraging investors to "write checks for Lex") while behind closed doors he beat (and possibly did worse to) Lex. Unsuprisingly, this upbringing did a number on Lex's psyche, which only gets worse when ComicBook/{{Superman}} appears, as Lex hates Superman, partly because Superman challenges Lex's beliefs that anyone with power cannot truly be selfless and innocent, and partly due to anger that there was no-one to save ''him'' when he was a child.

* ''Film/{{Copycat}}'': {{Discussed}} as Helen notes serial killers have generally suffered from a severe childhood trauma, which she mentions was true for Edward Kemper and John Wayne Gacy. While she doesn't claim this excuses them, Helen says the serial killers ''do'' think it does about themselves and justifies their harming others, to share their pain essentially.

* In ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', the events that would lead to the human-ape war are set in motion by one of the founders of the ape society, the bonobo, Koba. The reason he refuses to believe that humans and (super-intelligent) apes can live side by side in peace is because years before [[AfterTheEnd human civilization collapsed]], [[AnimalTesting Koba was kept locked up in a research facility,]] and [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil experimented on.]]

* ''Film/{{Descendants}}'': In the first film, Audrey, the daughter of Sleeping Beauty and her prince, is dumped in front of her whole school by her boyfriend, Ben, for the daughter of the witch who tried to kill her parents. Then, that same daughter shows she is trying to destroy Auradon, which Audrey always suspected. Mal does have a HeelFaceTurn and saves the kingdom from her mother, but Audrey is not convinced of her reform. The book ''Audrey’s Diary'' expands on this. It shows that after the events of the first film, Audrey went from being the most popular girl in school to having Mal and the other villain kids be admired and favored by her friends for saving Auradon. Audrey vents her frustrations further in the diary that she has been good her whole life while Mal has worshipped evil and only recently seen the light, yet Mal got Ben and the majority of Auradon’s approval while Audrey herself got left out in the cold. It’s also shown in the book and the third film that her family put a lot of pressure on her to win Ben’s heart and marry him, eventually becoming his Queen, only to be thrown over by their greatest enemy’s child. She finally snaps at the beginning of ''Descendants 3'' when Ben proposes to Mal in front of the whole kingdom, and her grandmother Queen Leah shames her for not being able to hold onto Ben, even though it wasn’t really her fault. Tired of having been good her whole life, only to be rejected and thrown away in favor of those she considered irredeemable, Audrey has a FaceHeelTurn and steals the Queen’s crown and Maleficent’s magical staff and reeks havoc on Auradon and Ben for betraying her for Mal and the [=VKs=].
* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'': The drill sargeant angrily mocks Private Pyle with this trope when he finds out the rifle Pyle is wielding in the barracks bathroom has live rounds in it. Doesn't turn out well for him:

* ''Film/GoldenEye'': Former British intelligence operative and BigBad Janus/[[spoiler:Alec Trevelyan]] claims that what he is after isn't money, but revenge on Great Britain for the death of his parents (who were Lienz Cossacks). Bond, however questions both his reason and motive; there is no way in hell the son of Lienz cossacks would have passed the necessary background checks to join [=MI6=], and his clearance would have allowed him to hurt Britain immensely just by turning whistleblower, so if he was just after revenge, why wait for decades for an opportunity to strike that just happens to be profitable?

* Martin from ''[[Film/TheHumanCentipede The Human Centipede II]]'' was sexually abused by his father. His psychologist surmises that his obsession with centipedes (and unbeknowst to him the first ''Human Centipede'' film) is a result of his father's abuse: centipedes being phallic-shaped and having a painful bite.

* In ''Film/IpMan'', RivalTurnedEvil Jin defends his actions, which include beating on all of Foshan's kung fu masters and robbing the factory of Ip Man's friend, by saying that he experienced poverty at a child and never wanted to starve again.

** ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'' and ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': Peter Quill's birth farther abandoned his mother, who died from cancer when Peter was a child. Then Peter was kidnapped and raised by Yondu, who beat him up to teach him to fight, kept him in terror by threatening to eat him and is implied to have used him for thieving since he was eight. These events have influenced his personality as an adult.

* ''Film/MostLikelyToDie'': [[spoiler:Although it does not excuse the fact that he murdered most of his closest high school friends, DJ explains that his actions are revenge for the fact that the bullied kid John Dougherty had a rough life as an adult, and ultimately killed himself after DJ came clean about the series of pranks that got him expelled from high school. He also notes that he never wanted to be involved in the final prank, as he hid the gun in John's locker on Ray's request, so that Ray doesn't get into even more trouble and lose his hockey scholarship.]]

** ''Film/PsychoIVTheBeginning'': We get to see just how bad Norman's childhood was. Norma emotionally tormented and dominated him, at one forcing him to dress in mother's clothes. Norma's boyfriend Chet was a macho {{Jerkass}} who taunted Norman the same way. He ends up snapping one day and poisons their ice tea, but his guilt drove him to recreate his mother in his mind.

* ''Film/RememberTheNight'': Lee Leander's mother doesnt care for her, and blamed her for stealing money which Lee says she didn't take. She runs away to NYC, and what does she do there? Steal jewelry, clothes, meals -- whatever she can get her hands on.
* ''Film/{{Replicant}}'': When Edward Garrote was a child, his mother murdered his father, then locked him in a closet and set the house on fire -- he survived because it started to rain. Since then, he murders women that he perceives as "bad mothers", and frequently taunts his now immobile and elderly mother about it.

* ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'' provides one for the traitor who agrees to turn Robin over to the Sheriff. [[spoiler: Will Scarlet]] is Robin's illegitimate half-brother. He and his mother, the mistress of the Robin's father after he was widowed, were sent away due to a young Robin's anger at his father over the affair. As a result, he grew up in utter poverty, resenting Robin from afar for "stealing" his father.
* In the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' franchise, almost every killer has a Freudian Excuse. By ''Film/{{Scream 3}}'', Sidney has had enough of this, and yells at the killer that ultimately, these are all [[ShutUpHannibal just excuses to cover up the fact that they're shitty people who kill people]] ForTheEvulz. The exception to this is [[spoiler:Jill]] in ''Film/{{Scream 4}}'' who denies having an excuse and acknowledges that she's a monster, citing "Sick is the new sane".

* BigBad [[TheCracker Raoul Silva]] in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' was a former [=MI6=] operative before M sold him out to the Chinese, where he was tortured for months on end and eventually driven to commit suicide through cyanide capsule. Unfortunately, the cyanide didn't kill him and only [[RedRightHand disfigured his face.]] [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse As it later turns out]], the reason M sold him out was because he went behind her back and hacked the Chinese and there would've been an international crisis otherwise. Part of why he remains [[TragicVillain sympathetic]] though, is that Silva does show signs of Borderline Personality Disorder, and clearly isn't all there. So it might be that he didn't understand that what he did was wrong, and was genuinely hurt by M's abandonment.

** Anakin Skywalker was raised as a slave on a hellish backwater planet, as Yoda pointed out in the very beginning. Then his mother gets killed by Tusken Raiders. Oddly, he seems to have been a fairly happy child. Probably would have cut his master's throat in the night if he'd made it to adolescence on Tatooine, though. This is expanded upon in the ExpandedUniverse though we do see that while Anakin had issues and deep-rooted problems, the real issue laid in that he had no idea how to deal with them and the Jedi didn't know how to help him nor paid enough attention. The Sith on the other hand, saw opportunity and exploited it.

** General Hux is the illegitimate son of a high ranking Imperial officer and a kitchen worker, and, as a child, was regularly abused by his father, who considers him weak-willed and useless. His other mentors include Gallius Rax, who encourages him to lead/train child soldiers into ruthless killers, and Rae Sloane, who wishes him to be taught to become "the best the empire has to offer". In the tie-in comic, ''ComicBook/StarWarsAgeOfResistance'', Snoke pretty much affirms that Hux's vicious nature stems from his past abuse. The additional summary of the character states that while his DarkAndTroubledPast doesn't excuse the nasty actions he has committed as a First Order general, given his upbringing, it is almost impossible to see him become anything ''but'' a cog in the First Order Wheel.
* In ''Film/TheSuicideTheory'', Steve, a deranged hit man, claims that his earliest memory was of his father smashing him headfirst into a glass coffee table at the tender age of five or six, and that it was the only affection anyone ever showed him until he met his wife Annie.
* ''Film/TragedyGirls'': Subverted. The film goes out of its way to show that Sadie and [=McKayla=] had very normal, very stable upbringings, with parents that love them. They weren't bullied in school, or scarred for life by some traumatic event. Nothing made them bad; they just ''[[ForTheEvulz are]]''.

* In ''Film/WatchIt'', according to John, the reason why his estranged cousin Michael is such a {{Jerkass}} towards women is because his mother was crazy. Things got better when John's parents adopted Michael, and John promised Michael wouldn't have to go back to his mother, but when John's mother died, Michael was sent back to his mother. This is also the source of the estrangement between John and Michael.

* Subverted in ''Film/{{West Side Story|1961}}'' in the song "Officer Krupke" the teen-age gangsters of the Jets sing sarcastically about their deprived upbringings, acting out how they would play on the sympathies of social workers and juvenile courts.

* BigBad [[TheCracker Raoul Silva]] in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' was a former [=MI6=] operative before M sold him out to the Chinese, where he was tortured for months on end and eventually driven to commit suicide through cyanide capsule. Unfortunately, the cyanide didn't kill him and only [[RedRightHand disfigured his face.]] [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse As it later turns out]], the reason M sold him out was because he went behind her back and hacked the Chinese and there would've been an international crisis otherwise. Part of why he remains [[TragicVillain sympathetic]] though, is that Silva [[AmbiguousDisorder does show signs]] of Borderline Personality Disorder, and clearly isn't all there. So it might be that he didn't understand that what he did was wrong, and was genuinely hurt by M's abandonment.

* Cut from ''Film/TheMuppets'', but the full version of Tex Richman's VillainSong includes his Freudian Excuse; when he was a kid the Muppets performed at his birthday party, and because he couldn't laugh, all the other kids laughed at ''him''. Ever since, he's hated the Muppets.

{{Freudian Excuse}}s in {{Film}}.

* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'''s titular character's [[AnimatedActors in-game backstory]] is that the forest he lived in was cleared away to make way for Niceland Apartments, so he tries to destroy the building to get his home back.
** Even when he's off the clock, he's treated badly by the Nicelanders, who don't see him as anything ''but'' the villain who wrecks their homes every day, even though [[PunchClockVillain that's only his job]]. This is what leads him to leave the game to get a medal, which resulted in the ''Fix-It Felix Jr'' game almost being unplugged, as it didn't work without Ralph there.

!!Film - Animated

!!Film - Live Action

--> '''Debbie:''' My parents, Sharon and Dave. Generous, doting, or were they? All I ever wanted was a Ballerina Barbie. In her [[PrincessesPreferPink pretty pink tutu]]. (slide change) My Birthday. I was 10, and do you know what they got me? MAL-I-BU Barbie.
--> '''Morticia:''' Malibu Barbie.
--> '''Gomez:''' The nightmare.
--> '''Morticia:''' The nerve.
--> '''Debbie:''' That's not what I wanted! That's not who I ''was''. I was a Ballerina, graceful, delicate! [[IDidWhatIHadToDo They had to go.]]
--> (Next slide shows their house on fire.)

* BigBad [[TheCracker Raoul Silva]] in ''Film/Skyfall'' was a former MI6 operative before M sold him out to the Chinese, where he was tortured for months on end and eventually driven to commit suicide through cyanide capsule. Unfortunately, the cyanide didn't kill him and only [[RedRightHand disfigured his face.]] [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse As it later turns out]], the reason M sold him out was because he went behind her back and hacked the Chinese and there would've been an international crisis otherwise. Part of why he remains [[TragicVillain sympathetic]] though, is that Silva [[AmbiguousDisorder does show signs]] of Borderline Personality Disorder, and clearly isn't all there. So it might be that he didn't understand that what he did was wrong, and was genuinely hurt by M's abandonment.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': Peter Quill's birth farther abandoned his mother, who died from cancer when Peter was a child. Then Peter was kidnapped and raised by Yondu, who beat him up to teach him to fight, kept him in terror by threatening to eat him and is implied to have used him for thieving since he was eight. These events have influenced his personality as an adult.

* Before he [[DefrostingIceKing defrosted]], ''WesternAnimation/Shrek'' wasn't a very sociable ogre, scaring off those who entered his land and getting constantly irritated with [[{{Deuteragonist}} Donkey]]. Later in the first film, however, he reveals to Donkey in a touching scene why he acts like this:

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' technically has one, but it's [[DisproportionateRetribution not very good]]. Essentially, the superhero he idolized as a kid wouldn't let him be his sidekick. That's it. So he'll murder every superhero in the world...
* ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'': When Evelyn Deavor was young, robbers broke into her father's house and he tried to call two superhero friends for help, but since this was after the Super Relocation Act had passed, there was no response, and the robbers killed him. So now the villain seeks to discredit superheroes forever so people will save themselves instead of looking for Supers to do it for them.

* The titular [[VillainProtagonist supervillain]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' [[ThenLetMeBeEvil turned evil]] because of the constant rejection and bullying he had to face in school. Furthermore, he did crashland in a ''prison'' and was raised by ''criminals,'' (incidentally, they were actually pretty nice to him.) He grew up surrounded by evil (well, [[AffablyEvil criminality]] anyway) and it was pretty much all he knew.

* Scarlett Overkill from ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' reveals in her bedtime story, disguised as a threat, with her and the Minions in it, that she was grew up an orphan, living on the streets, unloved and unwanted. She wants to steal the Queendom of England, or at least the crown, because she believes that by being crowned as a royal, everyone will love her, because “everybody loves a princess”.

* Turned on its head in the Korean film ''Film/TheHost''. The hero gets a Freudian Excuse for his lethargy and occasionally carrying the IdiotBall. He didn't get proper nutrition as a kid. [[spoiler: A brain tissue biopsy later fixes all this. Apparently they removed his [[TookALevelInBadass Awesome Inhibitor]] or something.]]

* In the original story board of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', Jafar had a Freudian Excuse themed song explaining why he was angry and evil. Jafar's excuse mainly focused on being mocked and unpopular when he was young, and having to live and work underneath the bumbling Sultan in adulthood. The song was later dropped and was replaced with a reprise of Prince Ali to satisfy the staff's wishes to have the voice actor sing. In the actual film, Jafar has no FreudianExcuse, but he's unhappy in his current position (which is sometimes all you need), thinks the sultan is an idiot, is greedy, and has a case of megalomania (thus the last genie wish). Sympathy is heavily undercut because Jafar now treats Aladdin as lowly as he himself was treated in childhood. The song and storyboards for it can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU6AfCWuZKI here]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'':
** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', [[spoiler:Stinky Pete is evil because he was an unpopular toy and no child ever played with him]].
** [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse Deconstructed]] in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''. [[spoiler:Lotso the Hugging Bear]] became evil after [[spoiler:his first owner accidentally lost and replaced him.]] Woody [[ShutUpHannibal calls him out on it]] for two reasons: [[spoiler:It showed how selfish he was and doesn't justify all the toys he's hurt or lied to.]]

* Satirized in ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues''. The psychotic Debbie explains it was her parents getting her the wrong {{Franchise/Barbie}} that caused her psychotic break. In the form of a slide show.

* As revealed in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', the whole worldview of Comicbook/LexLuthor in the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'' is due to his upbringing. Lex's father, Alexander Luthor Snr., was an [[AbusiveParents abusive jerk]], who [[VillainWithGoodPublicity hid behind the facade]] of a good family man. Luthor Senior used his son as a business ploy (claiming he named his company after Lex and encouraging investors to "write checks for Lex") while behind closed doors he beat (and possibly did worse to) Lex. Unsuprisingly, this upbringing did a number on Lex's psyche, which only gets worse when Comicbook/{{Superman}} appears, as Lex hates Superman, partly because Superman challenges Lex's beliefs that anyone with power cannot truly be selfless and innocent, and partly due to anger that there was no-one to save ''him'' when he was a child.

* After Sean in ''Film/BoyWonder'' watched his mother murdered and grew while the case was never solved, he grew into a solitary, obsessive, and violent boy. [[spoiler: Having his father convince him to lie about who he saw at the scene didn't help.]]

* ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'': Frank Abagnale comes from a broken home and he ran away and became a con artist since he couldn't deal with choosing one parent over the other when they were divorcing. Averted in the book. Abagnale says he had a hard time when his parents divorced, [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse but he also says more than once that it's no excuse for his crimes, and most other children from "broken homes" don't become con artists]] (including Frank's own siblings, who the movie AdaptedOut).

* ''Film/CherryFalls'': [[spoiler: Loralee beat Leonard throughout his childhood, resulting in him becoming the AxCrazy and mommy issues ridden killer that he is now.]]

*** The [[EcoTerrorist Eco-Terrorists]]' secret mastermind, [[spoiler:Emma Russell]], went down the path that led her to her UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans plan to release all the slumbering Titans on humanity as [[GaiasVengeance Gaia's Avenger]] as a hypocritical, InsaneTrollLogic way of ensuring the death of her [[spoiler:son Andrew]], who died five years ago as a casualty of Godzilla's [[Film/Godzilla2014 Kaiju battle in the previous film]], wasn't "in vain".

* The new remake of ''Film/{{Halloween 2007}}'' attempts this with Michael Myers.
** The original ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}'', while appearing to be a shallow motiveless-serial-killer movie at first, it is notable for how it stresses just ''how'' strange Myers' behavior actually is. Behind the scenes, Nick Castle (the man behind the mask) reportedly tried to figure out just what would drive a serial killer like Myers and act accordingly, but Carpenter specifically insisted on the "soulless killing machine" approach. One of the main characters, Dr. Loomis, is an experienced psychiatrist who is both baffled and terrified at the seemingly causeless evil lurking behind Myers' eyes. The overall idea is that, by any realistic standard, there should be a ''reason'' for someone to be anywhere near as warped as he is.

** In ''Film/{{Thor}}'', the titular character's brother Loki is revealed to actually be [[spoiler: [[EvilOrphan adopted]]. What's more, his true father is Laufey, the leader of the Frost Giants, who are sworn enemies of the Asgardians]]. This combined with Odin's clear favoritism of Thor contributes to Loki becoming [[spoiler: [[BigBad the main bad guy]]]], [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds as illustrated]] throughout the rest of the movie and in the subsequent ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2:'' Peter Quill's birth farther abandoned his mother, who died from cancer when Peter was a child. Then Peter was kidnapped and raised by Yondu, who beat him up to teach him to fight, kept him in terror by threatening to eat him and is implied to have used him for thieving since he was eight. These events have influenced his personality as an adult.
** In ''[[Film/BlackPanther2018 Black Panther]]'', what motivates [[BigBad Killmonger's]] actions (taking [[spoiler:the throne from T'Challa and using Wakandan technology to wage war on the world and not caring if Wakanda is destroyed in the process]]) is the fact that his father [[spoiler:Prince N'jobu]] was killed [[spoiler:by his own brother King T'Chaka]], leaving him alone [[spoiler:in the slums of Oakland, where he experienced first hand the rampant institutionalized racism of the United States.]]

* {{Film/Nixon}}:

* ''{{Film/Redbeard}}'': The Mantis Woman is clearly upset by being sexually abused as a child, but Dr. Redbeard is quick to point out that not all sexually abused children grow up to be serial killers. He thinks there's something organic wrong with her brain.

* In the Creator/DavidCronenberg movie ''Film/{{Spider}}'', with Ralph Fiennes, a variety of flashbacks start to illustrate just what has turned Fiennes into a demonic version of Mr. Bean. It turns out that [[spoiler: he imagined the whole thing, and just happens to be insane]]. His character [[spoiler: suffered from schizophrenia, serious brain disease which you cannot control more than epileptic can control his convulsions]]. So he really could not help it.

** General Hux is the illegitimate son of a high ranking Imperial officer and a kitchen worker, and, as a child, was regularly abused by his father, who considers him weak-willed and useless. His other mentors include Gallius Rax, who encourages him to lead/train child soldiers into ruthless killers, and Rae Sloane, who wishes him to be taught to become "the best the empire has to offer". In the tie-in comic, ''ComicBook/StarWarsAgeOfResistance'', Snoke pretty much affirms that Hux's vicious nature stems from his past abuse. The additional summary of the character states that while his DarkAndTroubledPast [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse doesn't excuse the nasty actions he has committed as a First Order general]], given his upbringing, it is almost impossible to see him become anything ''but'' a cog in the First Order Wheel.

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* As soon as ''Film/{{Cruella}}'' was announced, there were jokes that to make an OriginsEpisode of [[Westernanimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians a villain who wanted to make fur coats out of dogs]], Cruella turns evil because Dalmatians hurt her. [[IKnewIt They were right]] - [[JokeAndReceive Dalmatians killed her mother]]! [[spoiler:Granted, it's not the whole reason for her shift in personality, and the dog attack was under orders of the movie's villain, but it didn't reduce how {{Narm}}y the "Dalmatians knocking a woman off a balcony" scene ended up being.]]
* Subverted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. The Joker explains what seems to be the source of his insanity when he reveals the origin of his smile-scars, involving an abusive alcoholic father who wanted to know why he was "so serious"--after killing his mother right in front of him. But later in the movie, he eagerly reveals the origins of his scars again, [[MultipleChoicePast changing his story]] to one involving a wife who wanted him to smile more, who was disfigured to pay for her gambling debts, and taking to self-mutilation to make her feel better. Chances of both stories being outright lies (or at best delusions) suddenly look pretty good.

*** Not only is Ivan Vanko driven to "avenge" his father, Anton, but that Anton spent the last 20 years of his life in Siberia in a "Vodka-fueled rage". In Nick Fury's words, not a good setting to raise a child - except Fury's tone definitely says "yeah, that sucks, but there's nothing we can do about it and you've still got to stop him."

* Regina of ''Film/MeanGirls'': her mother is a mindless drunk who is so desperate to be seen as young, hip, and her teenage daughter's best friend that she has become a willing slave that Regina treats with total contempt - the suggestion being that her total ineffectiveness and lack of parenting is what created her daughter.

* ''Film/RememberTheNight'': Lee Leander's mother doesnt care for her, and blamed her for stealing money which Lee says she didn't take. She runs away to NYC, and what does she do there? Steal jewelry, clothes, meals---whatever she can get her hands on.
* ''Film/{{Replicant}}'': When Edward Garrote was a child, his mother murdered his father, then locked him in a closet and set the house on fire--he survived because it started to rain. Since then, he murders women that he perceives as "bad mothers", and frequently taunts his now immobile and elderly mother about it.

** [[Film/TheForceAwakens Kylo Ren]]'s parents are two characters that the audience knows and loves. However, given the [[BelligerentSexualTension tumultuous]] nature of their relationship, it makes sense that a kid of theirs might exhibit a few temper problems. This becomes a major issue when your son has some serious MindOverMatter abilities, and a [[TheCorrupter voice inside his head]] telling him how evil he is. It all goes to crap when his parents send him away to learn to be a Jedi - where he's expected to be able to suppress all negative emotions, and, when his Uncle reacts [[NiceJobBreakingItHero badly]] to his failure to do so, he turns to the Dark Side.

* 'WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'': When Evelyn Deavor was young, robbers broke into her father's house and he tried to call two superhero friends for help, but since this was after the Super Relocation Act had passed, there was no response, and the robbers killed him. So now the villain seeks to discredit superheroes forever so people will save themselves instead of looking for Supers to do it for them.