History KnightTemplar / FIlm

* [[spoiler: [[BigBad Henry J. Waternoose]], CEO]] of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' remarks at one point in the movie that he would be willing to do anything to prevent the monster world from losing power. [[spoiler:[[KickTheDog He wasn't kidding]]]].

* [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Karl Aker]] from ''Film/{{Kite}}'', as opposed to his equivalent from the anime. He trained, equipped and brainwashed Sawa for the express purpose of destroying the human trafficking ring, including blaming the death of Sawa's parents on the ringleader, the Emir.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': Judge Claude Frollo wants to kill gypsies for "inflaming the people's lowest instincts" and considers them to be "heathenish" vermin. His fanaticism is bad enough at first when he accidentally kills a gypsy woman for hiding "stolen goods" (which turn out not to be stolen goods at all, but instead, her deformed baby), but at least at that point he had a code of conduct and morality: he's very clearly devout (though in a twisted, totally-missing-the-point way), and on the priest's command, takes in Quasimodo and raises him. But add some [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny creepy lust]] for another gypsy woman and [[FromBadToWorse things]] ''[[FromBadToWorse really]]'' [[FromBadToWorse go downhill]]. If anything, Frollo is a {{deconstruction}} of a Knight Templar, as he believes that AllCrimesAreEqual with the punishment for every single one is death. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they didn't do anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. Frollo even [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon torches a family's house with them in it]]]], even though they don't even know about the gypsies, causing Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person, especially if they're an authority figure.

* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'':

* John Doe from ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' believes that he is punishing the wicked by killing people that go against his belief system. It could be argued, however, that he is at heart a {{Sadist}}ic {{Sociopath}} who uses religion to justify to himself that people deserve to be brutally punished for being imperfect.[[spoiler: And in fact he doesn't even exclude himself from this!]]

** Played with ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Harvey "ComicBook/TwoFace" Dent who becomes an insane crusader himself after letting his desire for justice get the better of him, right after [[spoiler: hearing the bad news from ComicBook/TheJoker about Rachel Dawes' death]]. He is not a full example however as he is more of a mad nihilist who enforces chance to decide who lives and who dies seeing it as the only fair judge and yet still chooses the ones that he blames for everything, rightfully or not.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': Judge Claude Frollo wants to kill gypsies for "inflaming the people's lowest instincts" and considers them to be "heathenish" vermin. His fanaticism is bad enough at first when he accidentally kills a gypsy woman for hiding "stolen goods" (which turn out not to be stolen goods at all, but instead, her deformed baby), but at least at that point he had a code of conduct and morality: he's very clearly devout (though in a twisted, totally-missing-the-point way), and on the priest's command, takes in Quasimodo and raises him. But add some [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny creepy lust]] for another gypsy woman and [[FromBadToWorse things reeeeeally go downhill]]. If anything, Frollo is a {{deconstruction}} of a Knight Templar, as he believes that AllCrimesAreEqual with the punishment for every single one is death. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they didn't do anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. Frollo even [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon torches a family's house with them in it]]]], even though they don't even know about the gypsies, causing Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person, especially if they're an authority figure.

* ComicBook/SpiderMan2099 in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'' was a HeroAntagonist to Miles, as he was a WellIntentionedExtremist that wanted to protect everyone but his reasoning and methods were flawed. [[spoiler:He kept Miles LockedOutOfTheLoop due to his nature as a ParadoxPerson, and used violence to try to force him to adhere to the rules and prevent a RealityBreakingParadox even though he was living proof things weren't as clear-cut as they thought.]] Miguel was genuinely trying to hold things together and thought he was the good guy doing the right thing, but he was so rigid in his belief that he wouldn't accept any evidence to the contrary.

* ''WesternAnimation/Nimona2023'': [[spoiler:The Director]] firmly believes that society must firmly stick to traditions, no matter what, so that's why they murders the queen and frames Ballister for it, due to being against a commoner like him becoming a knight. They also have a [[FantasticRacism dogmatic hatred of "monsters"]] is willing to [[spoiler:destroy half the city just to kill Nimona, even when it becomes clear she's not actually a threat.]]

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', as Muntz falls into mere self-avenging.

* ''Film/WillysWonderland'': [[spoiler:[[CorruptHick Sheriff Lund]] believes that luring various people into the titular abandoned building will stop the animatronics from slaying people across the town. That being said, when the Janitor actually effortlessly takes care of the situation by thrashing the animatronics, she has no problem handcuffing him and trying to feed ''him'' to Willy. Liv calls Lund out on this when she hears about what the latter had done.]]

* The Christians in ''Film/{{Agora}}''. Special mention must go to Ammonius, who is this UpToEleven and to the point of StupidEvil. The pagans aren't much better, though, doing a TooDumbToLive move, attempting to avenge "an insult to the gods".

** Played with ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Harvey "Two-Face" Dent who becomes an insane crusader himself after letting his desire for justice get the better of him, right after [[spoiler: hearing the bad news from ComicBook/TheJoker about Rachel Dawes' death]]. He is not a full example however as he is more of a mad nihilist who enforces chance to decide who lives and who dies seeing it as the only fair judge and yet still chooses the ones that he blames for everything, rightfully or not.

** [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Mace Windu]] of the Prequel Trilogy is a surprisingly subtle version of this. While Mace lacks the self-righteousness that many other counterparts have, he believes that the Republic is an unquestionable utopia, and that peace must be upheld there even if it means breaking the Jedi Code. [[spoiler: Palpatine uses his nature against him; Mace's militant approach was the final straw to push Anakin over to the dark side]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Judge Claude Frollo wants to kill gypsies for "inflaming the people's lowest instincts" and considers them to be "heathenish" vermin. His fanaticism is bad enough at first when he accidentally kills a gypsy woman for hiding "stolen goods" (which turn out not to be stolen goods at all, but instead, her deformed baby), but at least at that point he had a code of conduct and morality: he's very clearly devout (though in a twisted, totally-missing-the-point way), and on the priest's command, takes in Quasimodo and raises him. But add some [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny creepy lust]] for another gypsy woman and [[FromBadToWorse things reeeeeally go downhill]]. If anything, Frollo is a {{deconstruction}} of a Knight Templar, as he believes that AllCrimesAreEqual with the punishment for every single one is death. While the gypsies have committed crimes, they didn't do anything to bring this kind of punishment down on them. Frollo even [[spoiler:[[MoralEventHorizon torches a family's house with them in it]]]], even though they don't even know about the gypsies, causing Phoebus to turn against him, and Frollo to try to kill him in return. Frollo demonstrates why a Knight Templar, logically and realistically, would be a horrible person, especially if they're an authority figure.

* Jonathan Doe from ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' believes that he is punishing the wicked by killing people that go against his belief system. It could be argued, however, that he is at heart a {{Sadist}}ic {{Sociopath}} who uses religion to justify to himself that people deserve to be brutally punished for being imperfect.[[spoiler: And in fact he doesn't even exclude himself from this!]]

* The Jigsaw Killer from ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' does not consider himself a serial killer. Oh, sure, he acknowledges that his actions frequently lead to horrible death, but he never pulls the trigger. And he firmly believes that the people who survive his [[PoeticSerialKiller themed death traps]] will overcome their sins and become better (though this almost never actually works).