History VillainousValour / Film

* Riley Biers from ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Eclipse]]''. Fighting for his lover, and actually putting up a good struggle against a werewolf after losing a hand.

* The General is very reminiscent of Eli Wallach's earlier role, Calvera from ''Film/TheMagnificentSevenNineteenSixty''. Although Calvera usually sent scouts to fight and steal, during the climax he fought along with them.

* The General is very reminiscent of Eli Wallach's earlier role, Calvera from ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven''. Although Calvera usually sent scouts to fight and steal, during the climax he fought along with them.

* ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Lieutenant Colonel Packard]], although he's gradually revealed to be an AxCrazy ColonelKilgore, is anything '''but''' ball-less. [[spoiler:Even when he's alone and abandoned by his men who've realized what he's become, he still goes out defiantly trying to kill Kong]].

** Ulysses Klaue is an AzCrazy BloodKnight, but on his first appearance in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', he faces down Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, negotiates coolly with Ultron, seems almost unfazed by having his arm cut off, and hangs in there when the situation develops into a three-sided fight with the Avengers. Then, in ''Film/BlackPanther2018'', he proves equally fearless in a confrontation and car chase with the title character.

* The Jamaican gangster King Willie from ''Film/{{Predator 2}}'', who believes that the titular Predator is actually a demon spirit. Despite this, after it approaches him, he calmly [[SwordCane whips a sword out from his cane]] and duels the damn thing, even though it had single-handedly slaughtered a large portion of his gang as well as the rival Colombian gang.

* Scarlett O'Hara of ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' is a VillainProtagonist. What's undeniable, however, is that she can be as brave and determined as she is reprehensible, selfish, and ruthless. In the wake of her home being destroyed by Union Army looters and everyone she knows either abandoning her or being useless, [[DarkestHour she is left utterly broken, penniless, and starving, with no one left to rely upon.]] After forcing herself to choke down whatever rotten scraps she can find in the ruins, proclaims "With God as my witness, I will never go hungry again!" [[RagsToRiches She doesn't.]]

* When Blonsky (with a little help from some ComicBook/CaptainAmerica serum) first fights the Hulk as a human in ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', you can't help but be impressed by the guy. Sure, he's a creepy jackass, but this is an almost ordinary man trying to go hand-to-hand with the friggin' HULK!

* Colonel Miles Quaritch from ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' is a killer who attacked a civilian (though the line between military and civilian among the Na'vi is very blurry) target with a massive firebombing, but some people can't help admiring his sheer determination when things don't go his way. At one point he is [[IncendiaryExponent set on fire]] and he waits until his AMP suit is prepared to drop before putting the fire out. It helps that he plays AFatherToHisMen very straight and battles alongside them on the frontlines, and of course that the Na'vi are UnintentionallyUnsympathetic.

* There is a really memorable scene in ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'' (though of course it is a film with many), where Wales is relaxing in the saloon in a sleepy town when a BountyHunter walks in and confronts him. At this point in the story Wales has a reputation as a deadly gunslinger with several kills under his belt, and after some short words it seems he intimidates the man into leaving... but then the man steps back in and simply says [[HonorBeforeReason "I had to come back."]]. Wales, with an almost knowing tone, replies "I know" and they draw. The bounty hunter takes is riddled with bullets and falls out of the bar, dead. Wales [[PetTheDog remarks on the nameless young man's bravery and pays towards his funeral]].

* ''Film/TripleThreat'': All of the mercenaries, especially Collins, are willing to go hand to hand against the protagonists, even when the odds turn against them; this is not out of honour, but out of bloodlust, for Collins in particular.

** The same film has the random riot control trooper (aka "[[AllThereInTheManual Nines]]", aka [[FanNickname TR-8R]]) who, upon seeing [[DefectorFromDecadence Finn]] wielding ''Luke fricking Skywalker's lightsaber'', responds by whipping out a shock baton and dueling Finn one on one with it! And ''[[BadassNormal he almost wins]]'', only failing to kill Finn because Chewbacca and Han intervene. You have to wonder whether Nines ever got any training from the Praetorian Guard.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

* When Blonsky (with a little help from some ComicBook/CaptainAmerica serum) first fights the Hulk as a human in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', you can't help but be impressed by the guy. Sure, he's a creepy jackass, but this is an almost ordinary man trying to go hand-to-hand with the friggin' HULK!

* In ''Film/{{Scanners}}'', Revok plots a daring infiltration of [=ConSec=] headquarters to [[YourHeadASplode assassinate]] their last scanner, and then escape. As the head of a major scanner underground he could have sent in underlings, but he decided this was something he had to do himself. Also, toward the end of the movie, it's TheHero who pulls the NotSoDifferent card instead of the villain.

* [[SoftSpokenSadist Ajax]] from ''Film/Deadpool2016'' puts up a good fight against [[HeroicComedicSociopath Deadpool]], and unlike a certain henchman of his, stubbornly refuses to beg Deadpool for Mercy, and refuses it when offered, instead taunting the latter until he kills him.

* In ''Film/FiveMinutesToLive'', the evil gangster played by Johnny Cash takes a hostage (six year-old Ron Howard) in order to escape from the police. He quietly tells Ron that he has nothing to fear; Johnny would never kill a kid. When this doesn't stop the police from shooting at him, he's outraged, and you can't help but agree with him.

* Scarlett O'Hara of ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' is a VillainProtagonist. What's undeniable, however, is that she can be as brave and determined as she is reprehensible, selfish, and ruthless. In the wake of her home being destroyed by Union Army looters and everyone she knows either abandoning her or being useless, [[DarkestHour she is left utterly broken, penniless, and starving, with no one left to rely upon.]] After forcing herself to choke down whatever rotten scraps she can find in the ruins, proclaims "With God as my witness, I will never go hungry again!" [[RagsToRiches She doesn't.]]
** Scarlett is also noteworthy for defying many social norms of the time and being unafraid of doing whatever it takes to protect herself. She coldly shoots a would-be rapist in the face with a hidden pistol, and later is completely uncaring of the social stigma that befalls her for owning her own small business as a woman in the 1800s - an extremely progressive portrayal for the time. Unfortunately, [[ItsAllAboutMe she's still Scarlett.]]
* Phantom's lackey in ''Film/{{The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen}}'' throws himself between our heroes and the Phantom after [[spoiler: the tables turn on the villain in Dorian Gray's library]]. Instead of being just another faceless, soulless henchman, he screams [[spoiler: "Run James!", and courageously sacrifices himself to allow the villain to escape]]. If we didn't already know the Phantom was the bad guy, a newcomer would be excused for thinking that this villain was an innocent man on the run from armed thugs.
* Freddy Krueger in ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' displays this, oddly enough, when the climatic battle finally goes down. Freddy is a ''lot'' more vulnerable and less practiced with killing somebody face to face than Jason is. Yet, even after being pulled into the mortal world, where he is at a severe disadvantage (for starters, he can actually be ''killed''), he doesn't hesitate for a moment to stand his ground and starts duking it out with [[TheJuggernaut Camp Crystal Lake's killing machine]].[[note]]Hell, before the scene was trimmed he actually started out by TAUNTING Jason for being 'slow, stupid, and having no style', before attempting an unsuccessful GroinAttack, which prompted him to comment 'No balls, eh Voorhees?'[[/note]]
* In the film ''Film/{{United 93}}'' the youngest terrorist (who looks about 14) puts up a disturbingly valiant fight when he's rushed by half the plane's passengers at the end of the film.
* In ''Film/{{Scanners}}'', Revok plots a daring infilitration of [=ConSec=] headquarters to [[YourHeadASplode assassinate]] their last scanner, and then escape. As the head of a major scanner underground he could have sent in underlings, but he decided this was something he had to do himself. Also, toward the end of the movie, it's TheHero who pulls the NotSoDifferent card instead of the villain.

* In Ryuhei Kitamura's ''Film/{{Versus}}'', [[NoNameGiven "The Man"]] finds himself lying battered, lacerated and [[BloodFromTheMouth hacking blood]] before the newly energized hero. However, when the hero tosses him his sword, he rises and prepares to give a good accounting of himself even though he knows he doesn't stand a chance. In the [[DVDCommentary Director's Commentary]], Kitamura described that as the "spirit of Versus." [[spoiler: Also, depending on how you take that business in the epilogue, it's possible that the ''whole movie'' was a case of Villainous Valor.]]
* When Blonsky (with a little help from some ComicBook/CaptainAmerica serum) first fights the Hulk as a human in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', you can't help but be impressed by the guy. Sure, he's a creepy jackass, but this is an almost ordinary man trying to go hand-to-hand with the friggin' HULK!
* The Nigerian gangster boss Obesanjo from ''Film/{{District 9}}''. You really need ''huge'' balls to laugh at the hero while he aims a [[{{BFG}} Big Fucking Alien Gun]] at your head, that had just [[BlownAcrossTheRoom smashed your bodyguards through a wall]] seconds ago.
* Riley Biers from ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Eclipse]]''. Fighting for his lover, and actually putting up a good struggle against a werewolf after losing a hand.
* The Jamaican gangster King Willie from ''Film/{{Predator 2}}'', who believes that the titular Predator is actually a demon spirit. Despite this, after it approaches him, he calmly [[SwordCane whips a sword out from his cane]] and duels the damn thing, even though it had single-handedly slaughtered a large portion of his gang as well as the rival Colombian gang.

* The Sheikh's NumberTwo in ''Film/{{Taken}}'' puts up quite a fight against Liam Neeson's character, even after being wounded by him. He's fighting for his Sheikh, after all.
* Uncle Les in ''Film/{{Braindead}}'' spends most of the film as just a lecherous, repulsive {{Jerkass}}. Then the climax hits, and he surprisingly becomes quite a zombie-killing badass, where he single-handedly takes out about twenty of them with a pair of cleavers.
* In ''Film/{{Battleship}}'', the aliens show signs of this many times. Throughout the movie, they're clearly outnumbered and outgunned by the combined forces of Earth, and their mission seems to be "fight off the superior human fleets and [[GondorCallsForAid try to send a distress signal]] back to the homeworld". The most apparent part, however, is when they launch ''a'' ''[[BigDamnHeroes rescue mission]]'' ''to save one of their number who had been captured by the human heroes''. The fact that they seem to be {{Noble Demon}}s in a WhiteAndGreyMorality setting certainly helps.
* ''Film/{{Scarface|1983}}'' has a variation of this trope for VillainProtagonist Tony Montana. In by far the most famous scene in the movie, he gets high on cocaine, grabs a [[MoreDakka M16 assault rifle]] with an M-203 grenade launcher, and takes on a veritable army of Sosa's assassins alone. Even when badly injured by gunfire, he stands and taunts his assailants. [[spoiler:It takes both barrels of a double-barrel shotgun to the back at point blank range to finally put him down for good.]]

* In ''Film/JurassicPark'', the last raptor [[spoiler: attacks the T.rex despite the Tyrannosaurus killing her remaining partner with a single bite and outweighing the raptor by several tons.]]
* Shingen Yashida from ''Film/TheWolverine''. {{Jerkass}} or not, throwing yourself towards an immortal adamantium-boned warrior with just a Katana ''takes some balls''.
* Imhotep from ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' is presented as a ridiculously powerful, unstoppable supernatural menace in the [[Film/TheMummy1999 first film]]. In the climax of the [[Film/TheMummyReturns second film]], Anubis takes away all of his powers and makes him a mortal, but he still elects to take on the Scorpion King, and even fights Rick to a standstill.
* ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'': Koba may have been a psychotic, human-hating monster, but how many bonobo apes do you know that can [[spoiler:take on entire squads of humans behind fortified defenses by holding an assault rifle in each hand]], and [[spoiler:destroy a tank single-handedly]]?
* In ''Film/TheInterview'' the control room technician put up not only a valiant fight against Seth Rogen's character, but a truly vicious one as well. Case in point: he [[spoiler:bit Seth Rogen's character's finger off]] to stop the live feed. To top it off he didn't stop fighting even after he was [[spoiler:planted on a control stick that went up his butt]] and only stopped when shot in the head.
* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', Gazelle fights Eggsy one on one during the climax after Merlin takes out all of Valentine's other soldiers by hacking their loyalty implants to explode. It's a very close fight and delays Eggsy long enough that while Valentine is eventually stopped the likely consequences are far more injuries and fatalities across the world.
* The General from ''Literature/LordJim''. Any other villain in a Hollywood movie would have tried to escape when they had the chance. Not the General. When the heroes launched their second attack, he stayed and fought, eventually going out in a blaze of glory while wounded and trying to put out a fuse, instead of trying to save himself escaping through a secret tunnel like Cornelius did.
* The General is very reminiscent of Eli Wallach's earlier role, Calvera from ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven''. Although Calvera usually sent scouts to fight and steal, during the climax he fought along with them.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:''
** In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' Loki risks his life to save Jane and his brother from the Kursed, almost getting [[ItMakesSenseInContext sucked into a black hole grenade]] in the process. In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', he faces an army of undead warriors and [[spoiler: his sister, the [[PhysicalGod nigh-invulnerable goddess of death]], in order to save the people of Asgard.]] Finally, in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', he [[spoiler: tries to attack Thanos to save Thor and prevent Thanos from getting the Tesseract, and when that doesn’t work, [[DefiantToTheEnd talks down to the most powerful being in the Universe who he has been afraid of for years,]] while getting his throat crushed.]]
** Possessing nerves of steel is also one of [[BigBad Hela's]] only positive traits. At the end of ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', when faced with [[spoiler: both an indestructible [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Surtur]] and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the prophesized destruction of Asgard]], she flinches for barely a moment before [[DefiantToTheEnd regaining her resolve]], and raising her sword to attack him.]] The fact that Hela and Loki are from the same [[ProudWarriorRace warrior culture]] and were [[spoiler: raised by the same man, who was a war god in Myth/NorseMythology]], probably has something to do with the reason they share this trait.
* [[SoftSpokenSadist Ajax]] from ''Film/Deadpool2016'' puts up a good fight against [[HeroicComedicSociopath Deadpool]], and unlike a certain henchman of his, stubbornly refuses to beg Deadpool for Mercy, and refuses it when offered, instead taunting the latter until he kills him.

** The same film has the random riot control trooper (aka "[[AllThereInTheManual Nines]]") who, upon seeing [[DefectorFromDecadence Finn]] wielding ''Luke fricking Skywalker's lightsaber'', responds by whipping out a shock baton and dueling Finn one on one with it! And ''[[BadassNormal he almost wins]]'', only failing to kill Finn because Chewbacca and Han intervene. You have to wonder whether Nines ever got any training from the Praetorian Guard.

* The General is very reminiscent of Eli Wallach's earlier role, Calvera from ''TheMagnificentSeven''. Although Calvera usually sent scouts to fight and steal, during the climax he fought along with them.

* In Ryuhei Kitamura's ''Film/{{Versus}}'', [[NoNameGiven "The Man"]] finds himself lying battered, lacerated and [[BloodFromTheMouth hacking blood]] before the newly energized hero. However, when the hero tosses him his sword, he rises and prepares to give a good accounting of himself even though he knows he doesn't stand a chance. In the [[DVDCommentary Director's Commentary]], Kitamura described that as the "spirit of Versus." [[spoiler: Also, depending on how you take that business in the epilogue, it's possible that the ''whole movie'' was a case of ValiantVillainy.]]

* Colonel Miles Quaritch from ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' is a killer who attacked a civilian (though the line between military and civilian among the Na'vi is very blurry) target with a massive firebombing, but some people can't help admiring his sheer determination when things don't go his way. At one point he is [[IncendiaryExponent set on fire]] and he waits until his AMP suit is prepared to drop before putting the fire out. It helps that the Na'vi are UnintentionallyUnsympathetic.