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Assassins
Ladybug
Ladybug
"Would you describe me as someone who lives in perpetual anxiety?"
Played By: Brad Pitt
"My bad luck is biblical. I'm not even trying to kill people and someone dies."
An unlucky assassin coming back to work after a period of self-improvement.
- Adaptation Name Change: A slight one. In the book Nanao is referred to by Maria and the other assassins on the train as Ladybird, a nickname he absolutely hates for being seen as a tiny insect. In the film, this is changed to the Americanized Ladybug.
- Badass Pacifist: Subverted. It's established at the beginning that he refuses to take a gun with him and hoping to be able to do the job completly without using violence (begging his opponents for a peaceful solution), the circumstances always go back to involving violence and Ladybug himself ends up killing some of his opponents.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: A Technical Pacifist for most of the movie until that point, he first goes on the lethal offensive against The Hornet, hitting her with her own syringe of venom to coerce her into pulling out her own vial of antivenom so he can use it to cure his own poisoning. His regretful dialogue afterwards implies that he assumed that she'd be carrying more than one pack, though.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Ladybug might be a Martial Pacifist with a dorky-looking outfit who likes saying Ice Cream Koans he learned from therapy to random people and develops an almost childlike fascination for Japanese toilets, but he's also a professional killer who's no slouch in a fight and kills several people without a gun.
- Blessed with Suck: The Elder believes he was nicknamed Ladybug because of the popular belief in Japan that the species carries the sorrows on the world on their backs so that others can be fortunate. He sees it as a noble power, though Ladybug sees it as a burden.
- Broken Ace: He's a tall and handsome (as played by Brad Pitt) assassin who is assumed to be one of the best in his job, he however also has some serious mental issues as he reveals in the beginning he takes some therapy.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He seems to have some serious mental health issues (since he's in therapy) and acts overall very quirky and clumsy throughout the movie, but there is no doubt he's a very competent assassin who usually has the job done, despite his sometimes irritating behaviour.
- Classical Anti-Hero: Ladybug has the combat skills of a typical Hollywood Action Hero while lacking any of the finesse or manliness of one; he's in a situation where he's completely out of his depth, largely fumbles his way through the train and mostly wins fights on accident. He also has crippling anxiety that leads to him having several panic attacks and causes him to doubt his own abilities, needing the constant reassurance from his handler that he's doing fine to keep going.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It's implied that Ladybug used to do much deadlier work; despite his largely mellow personality, he alludes to having anger issues that he's working on and he displays combat skills that are far more advanced than someone who only does snatch-and-grabs would have. His age and weary attitude towards his mission also suggests he's been working in the criminal underworld for a long time.
- Doesn't Like Guns: He refuses to take a gun on the job at the beginning of the movie, hoping to resolve conflicts without violence.
- Experienced Protagonist: From this very first scene in the film, it is established that Ladybug has had a very long career as an assassin, being skilled enough at this point to not only take on some of the deadliest professional killers in the world, but being directly responsible for causing two of their deaths. The job he takes in the movie is him returning to his line of work after taking a break.
- Ice-Cream Koan: He frequently drops philosophical musings and analogies he learned from therapy. Brad Pitt explained in an interview that while Ladybug has gone to therapy and improved from it, he still doesn't fully understand it, so a lot of what he says are just empty platitudes that don't really mean anything.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: He clearly works in organized criminal activity, but (at least currently) he largely is just involved in (theoretically) non-lethal snatch and grabs compared to all the other criminals on the train who are stone cold killers. His combat skills and general detachment from the people he does end up killing in self defense implies that he's probably done lethal work in the past though.
- Martial Pacifist: While being as cool and skillful as any action hero, he does prefer to talk things through before resorting to needless violence.
- Meaningful Name: Ladybug's handler gives him his codename at the beginning of the film in reference to his belief that he's on a bad luck streak. Towards the end of the film, the Elder gives Ladybug another spin on the name. In Japanese culture, it is believed that Ladybugs are lucky for others because they personally carry all bad luck in the black spots on their back. Ladybug isn't too happy about this explanation.
- Motor Mouth: He's quite talkative and has the tendency to run his mouth off, even when he's fighting.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He regrets every single death he's involved with in the movie, but he hits his lowest point when the Elder helps him realize that the Prince is bad news, and that he accidentally killed Tangerine for nothing.
- Nice Guy: Even though he's an assassin, Ladybug is a genuinely friendly and easygoing guy who for the most part treats the other assassins cordially and tries to talk things out before getting into a fight.
- Noodle Incident: It is never explained what he was doing in Johannesburg when he was shot at twice by Lemon or what he was doing at The Wolf's wedding in Mexico when his wife and gang were killed.
- Not So Above It All: While he is a mild-mannered Nice Guy who seems to have a bit of displeasure over his line of work and some of the people in it, he's shown to stoop pretty low at points, such as mocking Carver for calling in sick (although he does have the self-awareness to acknowledge that he's being judgmental in that instance) or adding an extra dosage of sleeping powder when spiking Lemon's water bottle for no reason other than to be petty.
- Pinball Protagonist: Ladybug is completely out of his depth the entire movie. He's hardly helpless, but he largely bounces back and forth between the various other killers on the train while attempting to get the briefcase and get off while everyone else has more concrete plans at each step of the way. And by the halfway point, he's willing to settle for just getting off the train, with or without the case. In the climax, he isn't even the one who deals with The White Death, The Elder is. Ladybug is at the front of the train attempting to stop it while White Death and the Elder have a swordfight further back. And then after the train crashes, Ladybug only survived getting his brains blow out by White Death because the pistol he was using was the one boobytrapped by The Prince earlier. This is all likely rather deliberate, as both Ladybug's terrible luck and Fate are both recurring themes throughout the entire movie. Ladybug wasn't even meant to be on that train to begin with.
- Pocket Protector: Ladybug only survives The Wolf's initial attack due to his phone taking the brunt of the stab in his shirt's pocket.
- Retired Badass: Until recently, only coming back to do a simple snatch and grab job.
- Right Man in the Wrong Place: An inversion by the climax of the movie. He wasn't supposed to be in the train in the first place, but his involvement with the plot ends up resulting in The White Death's demise and The Elder having his revenge fulfilled.
- Rummage Sale Reject: Wears a bucket hat and thick-rimmed glasses. Lemon describes him as looking like one of several homeless white men he's come across.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: About halfway through the movie, he decides the job is more trouble than it's worth and just wants to get off the train with or without the briefcase, which he's even willing to give to Lemon to get he and Tangerine off his back. Unfortunately, fate just conspires to keep Ladybug on the train.
- Seen It All: Ladybug becomes increasingly weary as the movie progresses. By the third act, he just wants this whole mess to be over with and is barely fazed by anything.
- Unluckily Lucky:
- Views himself as being incredibly unlucky. To an extent he is half right - while his luck gets him into some less than desirable situations, it also gets him to the end of the movie alive.
- His fight with The Wolf probably illustrates it best; it starts with one huge piece of bad luck for him - trying to get off at the one station and exact point the Wolf is trying to get on - followed by two equally huge bits of good luck when his phone deflects the Wolf's initial knife strike by pure chance, then gets an insanely unlikely deflection of said knife ricocheting off the briefcase into The Wolf's heart.
- Walking Disaster Area: Ladybug reflects on several previous jobs he worked on, almost all of which became violent, bloody affairs through sheer happenstance, even when they were supposed to be quick and bloodless. The film implies that the events occurring on the train are pretty much just what happens when Ladybug goes anywhere. He doesn't mean to cause violence and bloodshed, those things just always happen to be near him.
- White Male Lead: The affable white American viewpoint character on a train full of assassins of diverse nationalities and backgrounds.
The Prince
The Prince
"Didn't I mention? I've always been lucky."
Played By: Joey King
"People think that I'm just some young girl. Someone's future wife, or... future mother. But I'm not in someone else's story. You're all in mine."
A young schoolgirl with mysterious motives. She attacks the Father's son to bait him onto the train for her plan.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the book, The Prince is a very dark male version of the Alpha Bitch, a nihilistic sociopath who delights in getting his terrified lackeys to torment those weaker than him to prove his worldview. He becomes morbidly obsessed with Kimura after he stands up to him and with meeting and killing Minegishi, someone feared by all, after picking on a classmate whose father is connected to the gang boss - getting the former on the train to kill the latter. In the film, this is simplified considerably - she is the daughter of The White Death (Minegishi's film equivalent), and is obsessed with revenge on him for ignoring her existence.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Very downplayed, given both book and film Princes are psychopathic manipulative bastards, but present. In the novel, Prince has a dim view of humanity and always believes in the worst of everyone, doing the appalling things he does for his own amusement and curiosity. The movie version of The Prince, who isn't very nice either, has no such beliefs and is driven by the specific goal of revenge on her father, with her actions coming across as more goal-focused evil and less For the Evulz in comparison as a result.
- Badass Adorable: She seems just to be a cute little schoolgirl at first glance, but she actually is one of the biggest Manipulative Bastards and probably most evil characters in the movie, scheming her way to get revenge on her dad and is very capable of using a gun.
- Big Bad Wannabe: The Prince arranges the presence of Yuichi Kimura on the train so she can use him to kill her father, but she over-relies on her innocent schoolgirl act getting her through. Lemon rumbles her easily because she botches her alibi (twice), Tangerine almost kills her later (only surviving due to Ladybug), The Elder proves to be far more cunning and ruthless than her, and her father essentially dismisses her as an irrelevance when the two finally come face to face. Made crystal clear by The Elder when she tries being threatening to him;The Elder: The only thing you know about an old man, young lady, is that he has survived much more, and much worse, than you.
- Born Lucky: According to her, she's extremely lucky, and indeed things just seem to go her way: the case easily falls into her hands, Lemon passes out via sleeping powder right after he clocks her, etcetera. She even survives what would otherwise be a horrifically fatal train crash, only for her luck to run out when she is run over by Lemon at the very end.
- Crocodile Tears: Very fond of using these to manipulate men into seeing her as a helpless damsel who couldn't hurt them if she tried. Lemon is one of the few who catches on, but he passes out from the sleeping powder before he can deal with her.
- Daddy's Little Villain: She's the daughter of The White Death, one of the most feared gangsters on the planet, who tries to kill her father to prove he was wrong to ignore her. While he seems genuinely impressed by her cunning and planning, he still ends up ignoring her in favor of completing his own revenge plot.
- Faux Affably Evil: She presents herself as very chipper and sophisticated as she commits her atrocities. She eventually loses this after she's exposed by The Elder and how she's once again dismissed by her father.
- Face Death with Dignity: When Tangerine has the Prince dead to rights, she forgoes her usual theatrics and settles for a defiant stare...at least until Ladybug walks into the train car behind Tangerine.
- Gender Flip: The Prince in the novel is male (although his appearance is described as being almost feminine) but in the film is female. Lampshaded by her saying her parents likely expected a boy.
- Jerkass: There is a reason why she is compared to Diesel. She's a big, fat liar who loves rubbing it in when she holds power over someone.
- Karmic Death: The Prince is offed by being run over by Lemon driving a truck carrying tangerines. A fitting fate given how she took part in his brother Tangerine's accidental death.
- Mad Bomber: Her original goal in murdering The White Death involved planting bombs in both his briefcase and a gun that he would have used on Yuichi. And of course she's as loony as a one-dollar coin.
- Master Actor: She's very good at putting on an act to fool others and prides herself of it. Even Lemon, an Excellent Judge of Character who sees through it almost immediately, is repeatedly distracted by how good she is at it.
- Manipulative Bastard: She lures in people to do her dirty works with an innocent foreign school girl act.
- Meaningful Name: She's the offspring of a prestigious family and intends to move her way up in the world like a normal prince would. It turns out that her father is The White Death, the King of Assassins and ruler of Japan's underworld.
- Narcissist: At the end, she starts ranting about how her luck got her father's corpse at her feet, only for Ladybug to interrupt with a lampshade.Ladybug: The narcissism of this chick. Untreatable.
- Psycho Pink: Her outfit has a hot pink color scheme and she is one of the few unambiguously evil characters in the movie.
- Smug Snake: The Prince oozes with this, with her scenes always has her talking down to anyone in her range. She loses this when The Elder out-gambits her.
- Spanner in the Works: To her father's plan, just not the way she expected. Getting Yuichi on the train to kill him eventually leads The Elder, an old enemy of the White Death's, on the train too. That in turn has him rallying the surviving assassins to stand against and eventually kill him.
- Spiteful Spit: She spits on the corpse of her brother, the Son, when she passes by it on the train.
- Undignified Death: The high and mighty Prince is reduced to raving madly about becoming the new White Death, before unceremoniously getting run over by a truck.
- Vague Age: While she resembles a teenaged girl, her exact age is unknown. Joey King was 22 during filming.
- Villainous Breakdown: After being outmaneuvered by The Elder and her ploy to kill her father initially failing, she begins to lose her composure, leaving her a screaming mess in the last moments before her death.
- Wanted a Son Instead: The reason for her name. She's none too pleased about it.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: All she wanted was the approval and attention of her father who cast her aside just because she was born the wrong gender.
- Would Hurt a Child: Pushed a young boy off a roof to bait his dad onto the train, then threatens to have a goon finish the job to have him aid her.
Lemon
Lemon
"Nut up or shut up, bruv."
Played By: Brian Tyree Henry
"Hey, you watch something nowadays, what is it, huh? Nothing. It's twists, violence, drama, no message. What's the point? What are we supposed to learn? Everything I learned about people, I learned from Thomas."
One half of the assassin duo known as The Twins. A thoughtful, observant man with an interest in Thomas & Friends.
- Acrofatic: He's rather pudgy, but during the final confrontation with The White Death's forces, he is seen jumping in the air and kicking three men over at once.
- Adaptational Seriousness: Lemon is far more serious than his book counterpart, who frustrated Tangerine no end with his near-total inability to take anything seriously outside their murder jobs. Here, his Cloud Cuckoo Lander quirks (like his Thomas obsession) are present but downplayed.
- Beware the Silly Ones: He's a grown man with a friendly nature who can gush for hours on end about his favorite cartoon and even carries Thomas and Friends stickers with him. He's also a professional hitman with an impeccable killing streak and a Living Lie Detector.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Doesn't remember shooting Ladybug during a previous job, and he outright forgets that a civilian died in an explosion he indirectly caused when he and Tangerine rescued the Son. Tragically, due to the events of the movie, he'll never forget Ladybug for as long as he lives.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted; while he forms an alliance with Ladybug, who killed his brother during a gun struggle, his final scene with Ladybug reveals that he's still justifiably pissed at him. However, he seemingly sacrifices his life tackling a yakuza about to kill Ladybug out the train.
- Excellent Judge of Character: He prides himself on being able to read people very well, and can analyze and evaluate a person's true nature by speaking to them in only a few minutes. He realizes after a conversation with him that Ladybug isn't the guy they're looking for; he's also the only one who sees through Prince's Wounded Gazelle Gambit act and manages to forewarn Tangerine of it by putting a Diesel sticker on her.
- Fat and Skinny: The Big Guy to his brother's skinny.
- Hypocritical Humor: Despite how he'll go on tirades regarding his favorite television show for several minutes at the most minor opportunity, he has a hard time paying attention to when anyone else is trying to tell him something, whether it's an Ice-Cream Koan from Ladybug or legitimately vital information from his own brother.
- I Call It "Vera": He has a handgun which he calls Lucille and complains to Tangerine after having her stolen by Ladybug.
- Irony:
- He plants a Diesel sticker on the The Prince in a desperate attempt to warn Tangerine about her true nature, but it winds up causing the Twin to come to a lethal misunderstanding with Ladybug.
- An In-Universe example: During the climax, Ladybug finds it ironic that Lemon, who is obsessed with Thomas and Friends, has zero knowledge of how to conduct a train. Lemon himself justifies it by stating it's a metaphor for life, not an instruction on actual train driving.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: While he is a ruthless assassin, he is friendlier and more approachable than his brother Tangerine is, provided you don't piss him off first. He also seems to show some genuine remorse for the innocent civilian he and Tangerine accidentally killed while rescuing The Son and is much nicer to most of the other characters than Tangerine is.
- Living Lie Detector: He has insisted since his introduction that he has great skill at reading people by assigning them the personalities of different characters from Thomas and Friends, which seems to be mostly played as a cheap joke about his obsession with the show. However, as the story progresses, he turns out to be genuinely good at this.
- Manchild: A grown man in his 30s that is absolutely fixated on Thomas and Friends and treats the show with utmost reverence.
- Not Quite Dead:
- After drinking water laced with Ladybug's sleeping powder, Lemon passes out, and Prince takes the opportunity to shoot him. Though he wakes up later, having survived being shot thanks to a bulletproof vest, Tangerine believes him to be gone for good and dies before he discovers that Lemon is alive.
- Afterwards, preceding the train crash in the climax, he falls into a river after tackling one of The White Death's goons to save Ladybug, only to resurface alive later. He even kills that same goon with his own gun when trying to escape.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the book, Lemon dies when he loses motor control due to Ladybug's drugged water and is shot by The Prince. Here he survives the same event due to a bulletproof vest and goes on to help Ladybug, Yuichi and The Elder against the White Death. After another fakeout falling from the speeding train into a river, he survives the whole movie, even being the one to off The Prince in the mid-credits scene.
- Took a Level in Cynic: He loses his jolliness and becomes more moody and harsh after the death of his precious brother.
- Tragic Keepsake: He ends up wearing his brother's golden chain after his unfortunate passing.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Though he still retains some of his childhood innocence thanks to his fixation on Thomas & Friends, a flashback shows that he and his brother Tangerine grew up as innocent kids.
Tangerine
Tangerine
"You're startin' to get on my fuckin' tits."
Played By: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
"Yeah, [the tangerine]'s cross-hybridized with other fruit. They're adaptable. Like me."
The other half of the assassin duo known as The Twins. A temperamental yet focused man.
- Adaptational Badass: While the book Tangerine was greatly feared by those who knew of him, he's actually killed before he gets to show why. The film version, on the other hand, not only gets a lengthy fight scene against Ladybug and nearly wins, but see the Determinator entry for the full story of how he gets back on the train after Ladybug kicks him off.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: The book Tangerine is coldly serious at all times, constantly frustrated with Lemon's mistakes, Thomas obsession and inability to be responsible, while film Tangerine is still lethal but now noticeably more eccentric, being a Sir Swears-a-Lot with a touch of Hair-Trigger Temper and a kleptomaniac to boot.
- Determinator: After getting kicked off the bullet train by Ladybug, he manages an incredible running jump back onto its outside, climbs up to the rear driver's cabin despite the speed of the train threatening to blow him off, smashes through the window with his fists and his head and is walking back down the train to find and kill Ladybug minutes later.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: He's hired by the world's most dangerous criminal overlord and he shows no fear in badmouthing him or telling The White Death to back off every time he or his handler calls.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While "evil" is a bit of a stretch (aside from what he does for work, obviously), Tangerine is a short-tempered criminal who's pretty rude to most people, but he does care deeply for Lemon even though they bicker constantly. Unlike most of his other scenes, his discovery of Lemon's body is played with heartbreaking seriousness, and he's immediately prepared to gun down The Prince when he realises she's the Diesel involved in his brother's death.
- Even Evil Has Standards: For Tangerine, professional murder is absolutely fine, but swearing in front of a young lady? Not on. Doesn't stop him trying to kill The Prince when he realizes she's a "Diesel." Also, his final words have him saying "fucking bell-end" within her earshot.
- Fat and Skinny: The lean and mean to his brother's heavyset.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Always angry and impatient, Tangerine is prone to shouting in rage. He even threatens to shoot Lemon when he gets annoyed by his gushing about Thomas and Friends.
- The Heavy: As The Twin who wants to turn Ladybug into the scapegoat for both the theft of the briefcase and the murder of The Son, Tangerine is the protagonist's most present nemesis for much of the film.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: Played with. In the flashback kill count sequence he quite gleefully counts the hapless tourist they accidentally blew up as part of their score (Lemon doesn't, and seems a bit guilty about it). But later on, he comes across The Prince and, thinking that she's just an innocent girl who got caught up into this whole mess, lets her go without question. This quickly changes when he finds out her true nature, at which point he tries to kill her.
- Mr. Exposition: When it turns out Lemon's never heard of The White Death, Tangerine is the one who fills him - and the audience - in on his backstory.
- Serious Business: Codenames. Insists that he and Lemon refer to one another by their monikers when they're on the job. While annoyed with having to do so, Lemon follows along to the point that he still calls his brother Tangerine even after his death in honor of his wishes.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: His kleptomania and raging belligerence marks him as even more comical than his cartoon-obsessed brother, so the film's third act has to make do without the comic relief he provides by killing him off due to a misunderstanding with Ladybug.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: The most foul-mouthed character in the movie, who curses in most of his sentences.
- Sticky Fingers: He complains that he has a bad habit of filching small things from people. We see him snagging some biscuits from the concession stand cart and later a stuffed toy from a kid.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A flashback by his brother Lemon shows that he was quite mellow and cheerful as a child.
The Wolf
The Wolf
"Run as far as you like. I will find you."
Played By: Bad Bunny note , Ian Martinez (as a boy)
"I come here for revenge. The assassin who killed El Saguaro killed my wife. But fate made this a two for one special."
A fierce Mexican killer with a troubled past. He boards the train in search of his wife's killer.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The Wolf's book equivalent is a minor assassin who prevents Ladybird getting off the train because he recognizes him as the guy who beat him up outside a bar for threatening some kids. Here, his wife, his boss, and his entire gang were brutally killed by The Hornet, and he recognizes Ladybug from the wedding where it happened, leading to his instantly trying to kill him, even though the American had nothing to do with their deaths.
- Blinded by Rage: As soon as The Wolf encounters Ladybug at the train, he immediately recognizes him from the wedding, as the waiter who spilled wine on his suit at his doomed wedding, and tries to kill him in a fit of rage. This ultimately leads to his undoing.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: In spirit, if not literally. He is wearing the white suit he wore at his tragic wedding the entire time he's on the train. It even has a red stain, though it's wine, instead of blood.
- Brick Joke: A rather dark one. During the flashback about his life, he refers to his eventual fiance as "mi corazón" meaning "my heart" in an obviously romantic fashion. "Mi corazón" is also his final words after his thrown knife ricochets off of Ladybug's metal briefcase and strikes him...in his heart.
- Character Tic: Twice when in a fight to the death, he howls towards the sky just like his namesake.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He grew up poor and lost his mother to an illness when he was just a boy. With no family members to take him in, he decided to wander into the world alone where he became one of Mexico's most dangerous mercenaries.
- Drowning My Sorrows: He took to heavy drinking to cope with the lose of his wife and cartel friends.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He keeps the necklace his mother gave to him when he was a child, which indicates how important she was in his life even after he became a killer.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: A ruthless killer he might be, he nonetheless loved his wife and boards the train in revenge for her death. He also shared a bond of friendship with his fellow cartel members, as he drinks to cope with their deaths.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He is accidentally killed by his own knife, which bounced on the briefcase Ladybug was holding when he threw it and the weapon ended up hitting him in the heart.
- Light Is Not Good: Wears his white wedding suit and is a cold-hearted assassin.
- Lone Wolf Boss: All jokes aside, The Wolf is the only one of Ladybug's opponents whose presence on the train The White Death didn't arrange.
- Love at First Sight: From what his flashback shows, he and his eventual wife fell for each other as soon as they exchanged looks at a bar. Then they had sex and then they got married.
- Neck Snap: After getting stabbed in the heart, he falls and breaks his neck upon the briefcase.
- Past Victim Showcase: The walls of his house are filled with portraits of his targets along with the accessories he collected from them.
- Revenge Before Reason: He's so determined to take revenge against whoever murdered his bride and cartel that he doesn't mind taking out whoever crosses his path. Even when Ladybug tries to reason with him, The Wolf doesn't care and still insists on killing him.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: After the horrific poisoning of his wife at their wedding, he travels all the way across the world to take revenge on her killer, only to end up fighting someone else that he (wrongly) thinks was involved, and dies by his own knife without ever seeing The Hornet. While Ladybug kills her later, it's his saving his own life, rather than avenging The Wolf, his wife, or his cartel friends.
- Small Role, Big Impact: It turns out he was carrying an envelope with the Hornet's picture; Ladybug finds this and is able to identify the Hornet when she comes after him.
- Spanner in the Works: Ladybug would’ve immediately grabbed the case and left without a hitch had he not run into him on the way out.
- Tragic Keepsake: The wolf necklace he wears all the time was given to him by his mama just before she passed away.
- Villain in a White Suit: He's an assassin who wears his white wedding tux during his crusade for revenge.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: His introduction flashback is longer than his (active) presence in the movie.
- Widowed at the Wedding: Tragically, his wife and all the guests at their wedding were poisoned to death after eating the cake.
- You Kill It, You Bought It: He has the habit of taking collectables from his victims, and his house is filled with items he claimed for himself.
The Hornet
Hornet
"The hornet stings, bitch!"
Click to see her in a Momomon Costume.
Played By: Zazie Beetz
"One little prick from this, you know what happens?"
A hitwoman who specializes in poisons and disguises.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the books the Hornet was eventually revealed to be a duo, disguised as members of the train staff, who orchestrated everything for a chance to kill Minegishi, the book's Big Bad. In the film, she's a solo act who spends most of her screen time disguised as a Japanese TV mascot, and is also one of The White Death's revenge targets.
- Ax-Crazy: Subtlety is not her strong suit. She will not hesitate to kill or brutally harm anyone who stands in the way of her mission.
- Hate Sink: While The Prince, The Wolf, and even The White Death are vicious and clearly evil, they at least have some sympathetic qualities. The Hornet possesses none.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: She is killed by her own poison and arrogance, due to only carrying one dose of antivenom.
- Irony: She calls herself "The Hornet" and uses venom to kill people, but it's from a venomous snake instead of a hornet.
- Karmic Death: She dies a brutal death from the boomslang poison she uses to kill her victims.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: She manages to swear in almost every single sentence she speaks in her brief screentime.
- Master of Disguise: She takes on different disguises to infiltrate any location of interest.
- Master Poisoner: Specializes in poisons made from boomslang snake poison.
- Meaningful Name: She's named after an insect known to deliver poisonous pain to anyone she comes across. Additionally, her violent and aggressive nature can be a reference to the idiom "madder than a hornet."
- Nice Character, Mean Actor: Happens in-universe. One of her disguises was the Happy Cat mascot which she wore while poisoning The Son of The White Death.
- Noodle Incident: She orchestrated the mass poisoning at the Wolf's wedding and was responsible for killing the surgeon that would have saved the White Death's wife. There is no explanation as to who hired her for each of those events.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She's an unfortunate minor character in this captivating tale. But her relevance comes with the reveal that she murdered the surgeon who could have saved The White Death's Disposable Woman of a wife. Her death would drive him to create a perfect murder scheme that would wipe out every killer he believes was responsible for her death.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: The Hornet is fond of punctuating her sentences with "bitch." She even lets one off before the venom she was injected with begins affecting her.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: She is killed off in her second scene, and is on-screen for even less time than The Wolf. She even dies in the same train car as him.
The Father
Yuichi Kimura/The Father
"You don't know anything about life. How hard it is."
Played By: Andrew Koji
Yuichi: I found out who pushed Wataru off that roof.
The Elder: Did you go to the authorities?
Yuichi: I wanted to handle it myself.
The Elder: Did you go to the authorities?
Yuichi: I wanted to handle it myself.
A Yakuza underling who boards the train in search of the person who attempted to kill his son, only to be coerced into aiding their plans.
- Action Dad: He lives up to the role in the climax when he fights against The White Death's minions.
- The Alcoholic: Strongly implied - he's constantly in a haze early on, and when The Prince finds him dropping off the case he's swigging from a small bottle. A later Kick the Dog moment has her sneering about what kind of father doesn't notice his child missing for three hours, with it again implied he was drunk.
- Beard of Sorrow: Sports one throughout the entirety of the movie, likely grown during his grief over the near-death of his son.
- Didn't Think This Through: The moment he gains a note proclaiming to have pushed his son off a building, he decides to venture into the bullet train alone without any exit plan or strategy.
- Forced into Evil: He's forced to serve The Prince under threat of losing his son.
- Like Father, Like Son: Just like his old man, Yuichi works for another yakuza family and is a worthy assassin.
- Motif: Alcohol is his to an extent. The Father is strongly implied to be The Alcoholic, having dropped off the briefcase while drinking from a small bottle. The Prince has a Kick the Dog moment where she sneers about Yuichi failing to notice the disappearance of his son when he was almost killed, with the implication that he was again drunk. There's even a brief shot during the scene where The Prince finds the briefcase, he is surrounded by several bottles of alcohol. During the climax, he grabs another bottle and debates on whether or not to drink it...before using said bottle to disorient one of The White Death's goons and causes him to shoot another henchman before stabbing him with his makeshift spear.
- Parental Neglect: He's guilty of this given that he had no idea where his son was for three hours until his hospitalization.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Yuichi knowingly takes a bullet for The Prince from Lemon because he thinks if she does and fails to answer her phone, her man in the hospital will kill his son Wataru. Except it later turns out his father, The Elder, had an assassin who easily kills The Prince's man watching over Wataru the whole time, meaning he took a very painful gutshot for nothing.
The Elder
The Elder
"A father's job is to protect his family."
Played By: Hiroyuki Sanada, Yoshi Sudarso (young)
"Everything that has ever happened to you has led to this moment. Fate."
A retired Yakuza with a vendetta against The White Death. He's also the father of Yuichi Kimura.
- Because Destiny Says So: A strong believer that there is a time and place for everything and how everyone has a role to play no matter how small or unconventional it may be.
- Cassandra Truth: In the past, he warned his former superior Minegishi that allowing The White Death to rise higher in their ranks will only lead to their destruction. If Minegishi had listened to The Elder's advice, he may have avoided such a horrifying fate.
- Cool Old Guy: Fate has been very kind to this gentleman as he's capable of defeating and killing assassins while performing amazing acrobatic feats without breaking a sweat. He's also a wise, well-dressed old man who dispenses words of advice, no matter how confusing they might be, to the younger assassins.
- Cool Sword: Wields a sword cane katana as his weapon.
- Crazy-Prepared: He proudly boasts to The Prince that he already assigned an assassin to take out the Prince's stooge to keep his grandson safe.The Prince: (about Yuichi and Wataru) They are both dead.The Elder: (smirking) My grandson was pushed off a roof. What makes you think I would leave him unprotected?
- The Fatalist: An anti-heroic instance of this trope. Accepts and acknowledges the power of fate.
- Handicapped Badass: He walks with a cane due to getting stabbed in the leg in his youth, but is still a terrifyingly competent fighter.
- Papa Wolf: His above quote, which he ends up illustrating when he has a Yakuza assassin disguised as a nurse murder The Prince's hitman that was stationed to kill Wataru (his grandson) and forced Yuichi (his son) to work for Prince.
- Villain of Another Story: He used to be a yakuza, but never comes into direct conflict with Ladybug and even teams up with him in the climax.
Carver (SPOILERS)
Carver
Played By: Ryan Reynolds note
"Carver. What an ego. I mean, talk about a candidate for self-improvement. I mean, calling in sick? I mean, what is that, high school?"
— Ladybug
A fellow assassin who Ladybug is filling in for due to an illness.
- Informed Attribute: Ladybug describes him as an arrogant jerk. This is never confirmed as he is only in one flashback and he doesn't even speak in it.
- Karma Houdini: He killed an innocent woman, whose psychotic, yakuza husband organized a massive plan to lure him and everyone indirectly responsible for her death, but survived due to a stomach bug and having Ladybug take his place.
- Serendipitous Survival: He avoids The White Death's revenge scheme because of a random stomach bug.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite only appearing in a flashback and being mentioned by other characters, his attempted assassination of the White Death and him killing his wife are kickstart the entire plot.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His assassination attempt that caused the death of the White Death's wife is what triggered the whole revenge plot.
The White Death's Organization
The White Death
The White Death
"If you do not control your fate... it will control you."
Played By: Michael Shannon
"No one really knows the truth. But what is known is this Russian... worked his way up the ranks. Bit by bit, kill by kill. And very, very fucking quickly became one of Minegishi's closest advisors. And those loyal to him said: 'Hold your horses. This geezer ain’t the full ticket. He ain’t to be trusted. He's dangerous.', they said. 'A modern plague', they said. 'A White Death.'"
— Tangerine
A vicious Russian killer who manipulated and backstabbed his way to the top of the Japanese underworld.
- Accidental Suicide: In the climax, he's about to kill Ladybug with his gun, only for the gun to backfire on him due to The Prince's tampering.
- Archnemesis Dad: The White Death for the Prince, as she wants revenge on him for neglecting and ignoring her for her entire life. Interestingly both her dialogue (when she tells Yuichi she's always been seen as fit only to be a wife or mother) and his (when he tells her he'd always seen her even if she wasn't in his plans, and telling the Elder how hard he'd tried raising her) indicates he'd merely intended her to stay out of the criminal life, with her taking it in the worst possible way.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He rose through the ranks of Minegishi's clan by defeating several of the members in combat. And then became the top crime boss in Japan by annihilating the clan and everyone else that opposed him.
- Ax-Crazy: Stated multiple times to be a dangerous psycho, who orders people's arms and hands to be chopped off. While he appears to be a stoic and serious man upon his actual introduction to the story in the climax. Afterwards, he is reduced to a screaming and raving mess in his final moments, when he is about to kill Ladybug.
- Big Bad: Is the great threat waiting towards everyone on the train at the last stop in Kyoto. He is the one who gathered them all on the train to begin with, in a complicated plan to avenge his wife's death.
- Boom, Headshot!: His head winds up getting blown up by his own rigged pistol in the climax. He is even missing half of his face before he dies.
- The Chessmaster: The White Death is responsible for organizing the whole plot, gathering the other players to kill each other.
- Complexity Addiction: His plan to punish all the people he holds responsible for this wife's death is absurdly and needlessly complicated, specially for someone with a literal army of international assassins that he could send after the parties responsible. It is even lampshaded that he could have solved everything by himself.
- Composite Character: Interestingly, The White Death takes on the roles of both Minegishi (his book counterpart, the supreme gang boss who everyone is terrified of) and his killer, the book Hornet - or rather, the second Hornet, who arranged for most of the main characters to be on the train fighting over the briefcase.
- Disproportionate Retribution: It's mentioned that he once cut a woman's arm off for being five minutes late on delivering some money she owed him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He dearly loved his wife. Her death is what kicks off the plot.
- Evil Is Petty: After learning that Ladybug isn't Carver and was just filling in for him since he was sick, thus making most of his plan All for Nothing, he still tries to kill Ladybug out of spite.
- Fixing the Game: He plays Russian Roulette in a very specific matter (which includes rolling the revolver cylinders on his arms), implying that he's cheating and that he'd never get shot by his own gun.
- Gang of Hats: Under him, the Yakuza wears traditional Japanese demon masks, something his goons complain about in secret for being too melodramatic. One of them even mocks the fact that they won't save them from something like a bomb...which is exactly what the briefcase is rigged with.
- Heartbroken Badass: The loss of his wife is ultimately what spurs on his master plan.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His final defeat is a combination of multiple petards born from various coincidences and his own actions, befitting the film's themes of fate. His dismissiveness towards his daughter leads to her both rigging the case he had the assassins fighting over and her own gun, taking advantage of his tendency to Use Their Own Weapon Against Them. When he has "Carver" at his mercy and is about to execute him, the case is set off by his Mooks, blowing both of them onto the train before Ladybug can clear up the confusion. In his attempt to find him, he fights and nearly kills the Elder in single combat, but decides "for old times sake" to play the same game of Russian Roulette he executed their former boss with, giving him an overly melodramatic execution that allows the Son to intervene and make him waste his shot, allowing the Elder to morally wound him in turn. Whilst he barely survives the train crash and has a clear line of fire on Ladybug, he then learns that his overly-complicated plan to get revenge on Carver was undone from the start by a simple stomach bug, meaning everything was All for Nothing. And because he wasted his only shot earlier, his attempt to gain some catharsis via persistently shooting Ladybug results in him using the rigged gun, finishing him off.
- Husky Russkie: Stated by Tangerine to be about 2 meters tall and is tough enough to have defeated several members of the Minegishi crime family in combat, destroying the clan later and enduring enough to survive a train crash and a katana shoved through his chest. Only The Prince's rigged gun manages to kill him in the end.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Despite having taken over the Yakuza, his life has been filled with tragedy in response for his sins: he was married to a woman he adored, but was given two horrible children, a incompetent, deadbeat son and a girl (who while competent, wasn’t the son he wanted), his wife got killed as a result of a series of unfortunate eventsnote , afterwards, he became a shut-in and spent a long time formulating a plan to kill everyone marginally involved in his wife's death, only for outside forces and Fate itself to intervene and ultimately deny him the death of the one man who directly killed his wife (Carver, whom Ladybug was filling in for). He then ends up getting heavily injured after fighting with one of the sole survivors of the Yakuza clan he slaughtered and still being on the bullet train when crashes, ultimately killing himself when he unknowingly blows half his head off with a rigged gun he took from his daughter, who he spent her whole life neglecting.
- Let's You and Him Fight: His revenge plot is revolves around getting everyone he wants dead on a bullet train and set them up to fight and kill each other then pick off the survivors.
- Made of Iron: The White Death endures a hell of a lot of damage over the course of the final act and only dies when his sabotaged gun blows up.
- Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Variation. His wife didn't die in childbirth, but in an accident on the way to pick up their useless son from the police. The White Death then conspired to have their son killed along with everyone else he blamed for her death.
- Mighty Whitey: A villainous and definitively unsympathetic version. He is a Russian man who managed to become the most powerful crime boss in Japan, though he did so by ruthless violence and usurpation of the clan that took him in.
- Moral Myopia: He orchestrated the movie's entire plot to seek revenge on those he blamed for his wife's death, but callously mocks the Elder's quest of retribution against him for murdering HIS wife.
- Mysterious Past: Per Tangerine, nobody knows what he was before he started working for Minegishi. Ex-KGB or Russian Mafiya are suggested.
- Occidental Otaku: Implied. He is from Russia, but becomes the top crime boss in Japan and also demonstrates proficience with a katana and wears an oni mask at one point- and outfits his assassins with similar facewear.
- Offing the Offspring: He admits to have contracted Hornet to kill his son for being instrumental in his wife's death and for being fed up with his fruitless, party boy lifestyle.
- Rasputinian Death: He gets blown away by a massive explosion, slashed across the stomach, has a sword driven into his shoulder so deep it ends up in his chest, caught in a train crash, and only dies when his daughter's bomb explodes and blows half his head off.
- Revenge: All the assassins (and his son) were involved in his wife's death in various ways (except for Ladybug, who was substituting for one of them). He had arranged for them all to be on the train by him in so that they would kill each other.
- Parental Neglect: The Prince mentions that he had little to no involvement in her life, preferring to manage his criminal empire while showing more attention to her unworthy brother.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: It's implied he doesn't have the highest view of women given his neglect and dismissive attitude towards his daughter as well as a lack of any notable female assassins in his employ despite the love he shows for his late wife.
- Red Baron: The unrepentant boss of the Japanese underworld is only ever called The White Death.
- Signature Move: When he has a certain target at his mercy he plays a game of Russian Roulette with his handgun by sliding the chamber across his left arm and then pointing it at his own head. He then shoots his opponent in the head with the next bullet.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Heavily implied given his treatment of The Prince. Along with ignoring her her entire life, her monologue suggests that he only saw her potential as another man's wife or as a mother. Plus there is a noticeable lack of women assassins among his armed forces.
- Taking You with Me: Given the extent of his injuries and being left alone without any minions to aid him, surrounded by enemies, his attempt to insistently shoot ladybug even after learning he's not Carver seems to be a spiteful final attempt to just kill him anyway before his own expiration.
- Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: The Prince states it to be his trademark in dealing with assassination attempts, having killed several opponents who tried to kill him with their own weapons. In his fight with The Elder, he tries to have his throat slit by his own katana. However, when he really wants to kill a certain target, he uses his own handgun. It backfires on him in the climax when the Prince sabotages the gun he took from her so that he unknowingly kills himself.
- The Usurper: He rose to power by earning his place in the inner circle of Japan's most fearsome yakuza clan. Once he made the right connections, he immediately took over by killing his boss and cementing himself as the Ultimate Criminal Overlord.
The Son
The Son
Played By: Logan Lerman
"He doesn't need a reason to kill people like you. He needs a reason not to. Does he have one?"
The heir and wastrel son of the White Death. He's rescued by the Twins who were assigned to return him to his father.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the book Little Minegishi is, despite his heritage, a polite and well-mannered young man that's more confused by what's happening than anything else. His film counterpart, The White Death's son, is a a prick to his rescuers for no reasonnote and a misogynist (his facial tattoos read "Trust no bitch") despite needing to be constantly bailed out of trouble by his mother. Tangerine and Lemon can't stand him and even his own father isn't fazed by his death. The latter is because he's the one that arranged for his son to be killed on the train.
- Bound and Gagged: Was shown to be tied up and cleave gagged by some hired goons.
- Dude in Distress: He was kidnapped by his father's enemies with the intention of ransoming him.
- Irony: He tells Tangerine early on that his father doesn't need a reason to kill people, he needs a reason not to. He's among the first to die because, as we find out near the end, with his mother dead, The White Death lost any reason to keep him alive.
- Momma's Boy: Constantly relied on his mother to bail him out of prison.
- Silver Spoon Troublemaker: Only reason he's on the train is because he got into some trouble with the Triads and had to be saved by Lemon and Tangarine. It turns out this is the reason The White Death is willing to kill his own son, because his pathetic calling for his mother lead to her death.
- Tears of Blood: As a result of the boomslang venom, his body is discovered with these.
Others
Maria Beetle
Maria Beetle
Played By: Sandra Bullock
"Boundaries. We need boundaries."
Ladybug's dry-witted handler.
- Actually Pretty Funny: She's livid when her expensive sports car is crushed by a falling power line after driving all the way to save Ladybug, but can't help but crack a smile when he suggests she should see it as a good thing because a train section barely missed crushing them both in a comical manner.
- Adaptational Badass: Where the book version of the handler does try and reach the train's terminus to help Ladybird, she's incredibly bad at it, turning up late due to falling asleep (she had watched all the Star Wars films the night before) and then getting on the wrong train. The film version, on the other hand, is shown at the end to have been traveling unceasingly toward Ladybug as soon as she realized something was wrong. While she still arrives late, it's not from any lack of effort on her part.
- Deadpan Snarker: She has a dry sense of humor and frequently makes snarky remarks, usually directed towards Ladybug.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is Maria Beetle and she's a handler for Ladybug, which are a type of beetle.
- Mission Control: Ladybug's guide throughout his mission.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Maria has an attitude of cold professionalism and is frequently annoyed at Ladybug's antics, but she does genuinely care for him. When he complains about his bad luck early on, she tries to reassure him that he does not have bad luck and that he just has to reframe it more positively, and helps him calm down when he freaks out following The Hornet's death. And it later turns out that she went out of her way to pick up Ladybug and get him off the train.
- The Voice: Only every heard over the phone until the end, when she shows up in person to aid Ladybug.
The Conductor
The Conductor
Played By: Masi Oka
A conductor on the bullet train who crosses paths with Ladybug early on.
- The Artifact: In the book it turns out he's also The Hornet, as nobody knew that the Hornet was a duo instead of a single assassin. Here, there's only one Hornet, but his numerous times crossing paths with Ladybug are kept in.
- The Dreaded: Played for laughs. Ladybug, a trained and highly effective assassin, runs afoul of him early thanks to Yuichi causing him to lose his ticket, and thereafter hides from him rather than cross him again. Justified in that Ladybug mentions The Conductor's creating a scene will allow Lemon and Tangerine to catch up to and kill him.
- Uncertain Doom: Unless he got off at the stop before Kyoto, he was almost certainly killed when the train crashed, but he never shows up after mid-way through the movie when Ladybug was trying to evade him.
The Concession Girl
The Concession Girl
Played By: Karen Fukuhara
- The Artifact: Like The Conductor, the novel version is one half of The Hornet duo, fighting and being killed by Ladybird after her cover is blown. Here, she's exactly what she appears to be, with The Hornet connection only coming into play after the real thing knocks her out and steals her uniform.
- Uncertain Doom: She was knocked out by The Hornet and doesn't show up again. Considering what happened to the train, she is almost certainly dead.
The Boomslang Snake
The Boomslang Snake
- Artistic License – Biology: The boomslang does not look like a real boomslang; in the film, the boomslang has black eyes and is tan with leopard-like, while a real boomslang looks like this
. - Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Played with. The snake itself is just an animal. Its venom is used by an assassin, but they go by The Hornet, and don't have a snake theme.
- Villainy-Free Villain: Its just a snake. It hisses at, then later attacks Ladybug, but doesn't have any sinister agenda, its just acting on its instincts.
The Horny Passenger
The Horny Passenger
Played By: Channing Tatum note
"What do you need, bro?"
A passenger who takes notice of some of the men on the train.
- Accent Interest: When he hears the British Tangerine's accent, the passenger (who thinks he's being propositioned) comments that he does love an accent.
- Ambiguously Gay: Thinks on two separate occasions that Ladybug and Tangerine are propositioning him for sex, only to be disappointed when they're not interested.Ladybug: Want to make an easy 200 bucks?
Horny Passenger: (Beat) Is this like a... like a sex thing? - Eating the Eye Candy: Shamelessly watches Tangerine's Unflinching Walk and clearly likes what he sees.
