John Wick | John's Family | The Continental Hotels | The High Table | The Tarasov Crime Family | Winston's Crew | Other Criminals
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The Tarasov Crime Family in general
- The Mafiya: They're a Russian mob outfit.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Mooks of the Tarasov family are usually clad in suits.
- Standard Evil Empire Hierarchy:
- The Emperor: Viggo.
- The Right Hand: Avi.
- The General: Kirill, the Mook Lieutenant.
- The Guard: Abram, who runs their chop shop.
- The Oddball: Iosef.
- Evil Counterpart: Ms. Perkins.
- The Syndicate: Less so than later criminal organizations in the series, but they're still powerful enough to have control over the city they're situated in.
Viggo
Viggo Tarasov
"The bodies [John] buried that day laid the foundation of what we are now."
Portrayed By: Michael Nyqvist Other Languages
Appearances: John Wick
"This life... follows you. It clings to you. Infecting everyone that comes close to you."
The head of the Tarasov family and an enterprising businessman with questionable roots.
- Abusive Parents: Viggo, after learning that his son stole John Wick's car and murdered his dog for kicks, offers Ioesf a drink, only to punch him in the gut, causing him to pukenote , makes him clean up his own vomit, and pulls his hair while telling him to leave because he just brought an One-Man Army over his, Viggo's, and their organization's heads.
- Affably Evil: A ruthless and brutal gangster who's not afraid to kill innocents or even use his own son as bait, but he's very cordial and polite for the most part. He even tries reasoning with John. It's only after his Villainous Breakdown that he drops the charm.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Viggo genuinely seems to respect John during his death, and John has a hard time killing him due to this.
- All for Nothing: John basically dismantles his entire criminal enterprise singlehandedly and Viggo still can't save his son from him. Viggo gives Iosef up to save his own skin, and even that becomes pointless when Viggo kills Marcus and John comes to kill him, anyway.
- Always a Bigger Fish: His Establishing Character Moment solidifies John as this for him. Viggo is a feared crime lord, but even he realizes there are worse people to piss off than himself.
- Anti-Villain: He's a villainous character, but he was willing to send his men to die and risk his entire organization in order to protect his son. In fact, Viggo takes the initiative to make peace with John first before resorting to killing him.
- As the Good Book Says...: After the vault in the church gets destroyed by John Wick, Viggo reacts by saying "Ashes to Ashes".
- Bad Boss: Kills the Russian Priest for You Have Failed Me reasons. He also thinks nothing of using his men as distractions and meat shields. He even uses Avi as a distraction to draw John's attention so he can ram John's car - in the process running over Avi's body.
- Battle in the Rain: His final battle with John takes place in the rain.
- Big Bad: Iosef may be the instigator, but Viggo is the threat.
- Big Bad Friend: He was at one point John's associate and employer, only to now find himself with John as his main enemy.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Viggo and his associates subdue John after the church attack. Someone that skilled and dreaded clearly out to destroy them (hence the church attack), and they don't kill him while he's unconscious. To further rub salt in John's psychological wounds, Viggo mocks John's distress over his stolen car and even his dog being killed, and for some reason, decides to have John killed by drawn-out suffocation in a plastic bag. It all goes as well you'd expect.
- Bullying a Dragon: Unlike his son, he seems to at least have been aware of what he was doing by killing Marcus.
- Churchgoing Villain: He's clearly shown to be a practicing Christian thoughout the film and is also the main antagonist.
- Dead Man Walking: He seems fully aware that killing John's mentor would resign him to this, though as noted below that may have been his intent.
- Death Seeker: Not outright stated but after John dismantles his entire criminal empire and kills his son he exacts revenge by killing Marcus, knowing full well it would condemn him as much as Iosef. His escape attempts are only half-hearted, especially considering he called John to tell him about this.
- Despair Event Horizon: He crosses this after John kills Iosef.
- The Don: Of the Russian Mafia.
- The Dreaded: Most of his men and other criminal groups regard him with a mixture of respect and fear, with even the otherwise spoiled and arrogant Iosef treating his father with absolute respect. This serves in turn to highlight just how terrifying John Wick is that Viggo is disturbed and anxious about inciting his wrath.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Viggo is more than aware of how much of a threat Wick is to his son, his empire, and himself. Right from the beginning, we see Viggo start to indulge in alcohol and drugs to help him cope with the pain of what's to come.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Death in a Battle in the Rain against John Wick, with some parting words for his onetime friend, certainly counts.
- Establishing Character Moment: We first see him intimidatingly call Aurelio about harming his son, only to resignedly step down on his threat upon hearing that Iosef wronged John Wick. This establishes Viggo as a man not to be trifled with, but also as someone who understands that there are even worse people than him to piss off.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's a bit hard on Iosef, but that's because he had pissed off a man who would stop at nothing to get his revenge. He also tries to keep Iosef safe and tries to have John killed, but then sells him out to save his own skin. In the end, Viggo does, in fact, love Iosef, and is heartbroken by his death; it's the direct catalyst for his Villainous Breakdown, and his subsequent suicidal Last Villain Stand.(to Marcus) You had... every chance... every opportunity... to kill John Wick. And if you had done your job... my son would be still alive!"
- Face Death with Dignity: Following his final fight with John Wick, they both end up being severely wounded, with John being stabbed in the stomach while Viggo is stabbed on the side of his neck with his arm broken. Fully aware that his wounds are fatal, Viggo accepts his fate by saying that he'll be seeing John in death, to which John accepts this. This dialogue kicks it in:Viggo: Be seeing you, John.
John: Yeah... be seeing you.- This eventually comes into full circle in the fourth film, in which John finally dies succumbing to his wounds, joining Viggo in death.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: He's initially quite displeased at Aurelio for punching his son. Cue the Oh, Crap! when he Aurelio matter-of-factly tells him what his son did.
- Faux Affably Evil: Becomes this after his Villainous Breakdown.
- Fedora of Asskicking: Wears one throughout the film, but it's an inversion - Viggo only starts kicking ass himself once he's lost the fedora.
- Forced into Evil: A unique variation on this. It's not that Viggo doesn't want to be evil—left to his own devices, he's a mob boss whose solution to failure is You Have Outlived Your Usefulness. But for most of the movie he is utterly uninterested in opposing John Wick, who he knows as an old ally and friend—until his idiot son Iosef kills John's dog, setting John on his crusade. For most of the movie Viggo is attempting to broker peace, and even when he and John reach a deal—with the condition being Iosef's death—Viggo finds selling out his own son destroys him and makes the conflict even more personal by killing Marcus out of grieving, suicidal spite.
- Friendly Enemy: To John, having previously been his employer. Although whatever friendliness they may have had towards each other completely fizzles out once John kills Iosef.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Viggo's decision to send Perkins after John backfires spectacularly on him, as Perkins has no loyalty and is happy to sell out Viggo to save her own skin. After John overpowers her she divulges the location of the church Viggo uses as a front for his vault, which John promptly destroys. The vault contained all of Viggo's resources, effectively wiping out his power.Viggo: Do you know what was in that vault? Artwork, cash, not without its worth, but the leverage I had on this city, audio recordings, physical evidence, blackmail, it was fuckin' priceless!
- Idiot Ball:
- He should know better than to toy with John yet he belittles John's dog and car, presuming he has John captured and he is as good as dead. John breaks free thanks to intervention from Marcus and is angrier than before, sealing his fate.
- It's Personal: After Iosef's death, things get brutal between him and John.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When push comes to shove, Viggo values his own life over his son's, and reluctantly sells him out. He's not a Dirty Coward, though - that same night, he ends up taking a Last Stand against John.
- Large Ham: After his Villainous Breakdown, he lapses into this.
- Last Stand: By the climax of the film, Viggo has lost his empire, all of his henchmen, and his son to John. With nothing left to lose, he decides to throw down with a Battle in the Rain.
- Laughing Mad: Viggo loses it when John turns up to kill him, sniggering like his impending death is the funniest thing in the world. It could be a coping mechanism, because as stated before, although he knows his death is unavoidable, he's still not ready to die, at least without a fight.
- Lovable Coward: "Lovable" might be too strong a word, but his cowardice is played sympathetically. When John corners him and threatens his life, he sells out Iosef to save his own skin. This is shown to cause Viggo extreme anguish and leads him to become a Death Seeker by continuing his feud against John. He also doesn't fight Wick until he loses all of his men, but to his credit, when he finally nuts up and faces John directly, he doesn't go down without a fight, which is more than can be said for his son.
- Non-Action Big Bad: The only aversion in the series. He does send everyone he has to kill John first, but when he's the only one left, he does his damndest to kill John himself. And though Viggo is clearly out of his league, John is also injured enough that the field is a little more level.
- Oh, Crap!: When he's informed what his son did to John.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While Viggo is a ruthless crime boss, he is at least somewhat open to reason. Tellingly, while he initially called Aurelio to threaten him for striking Iosef, he immediately lets Aurelio off the hook with no further mention after hearing the context of his actions.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Iosef is killed before him. This makes things personal between Viggo and John.
- Pragmatic Villain: He is utterly horrified and enraged after he finds out his son Iosef broke into John Wick's house and killed his dog, Daisy. However, he is not angered because of Iosef's actions, but rather, he is angered because Isoef did those actions to the worst person he could've done them to.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: His terror at realizing Iosef incurred the wrath of JOHN WICK of all people spurs him on to deride his son for his foolishness, explaining to him that there is absolutely nothing he can do to avoid being killed. Of course, Viggo does still try to stop John to protect his son, but it's blatantly evident that Iosef is an absolutely powerless moron.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Is a crime boss dressed in a red and black suit for the whole movie, who while mostly affable, will snap and unleash levels of brutality when pissed off.
- Reluctant Monster: While it is no question that he deserves karma for his criminal record, the last thing he would want is to incur the wrath of the Boogeyman. John is both an old business friend, and an unstoppable death machine you would not want to see down the barrel of a gun. With that said, he is obligated to antagonize John when his son paints a target on his back when he kills his dog and steals his car.
- Revenge Before Reason: He gives up his son's life to save his own after all the men and treasure he loses trying to protect him... only to murder Marcus for betraying him, and as a means to spite John, putting him right back on John's hitlist. Viggo clearly knows what this means and only makes a half-hearted attempt to escape John's wrath.
- Revenge by Proxy: He kills Marcus to get back at John for killing Iosef, and because he knows Marcus was protecting Wick despite acting like he'd take him out.
- Sadistic Choice: Played with. It's not much of a 'choice', but Viggo knows that opposing John Wick is likely to get him killed and his organisation destroyed, but the only way to avoid this would be to refuse to protect Iosef, which he unsurprisingly won't do.
- Self-Made Man: Viggo built his criminal empire from the ground up.
- Sinister Switchblade: He uses a pearl-handled switchblade which he use to torture Marcus and in his final fight against John; he ends up getting the knife stabbed into the side of his neck, finishing him off for good.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: The film isn't light on profanity, but he drops a lot of F-bombs into his speech.
- Thicker Than Water: He's well aware that Iosef is a moronic psychopath with no redeeming features, but he's still his son.
- Tranquil Fury: When he explains to Iosef who is actually the fucking nobody whose car the boy just stole and whose dog he just killed.
- Villain Has a Point: Despite the fact that he probably has deserved to die several times over, for an outside observer his position (trying to reason with John in a civilized manner, but not wanting to sacrifice his son because of a dead dog) is certainly more reasonable than that of the protagonist. Even killing Marcus makes sense since he betrayed him.
- Villain Respect: Knows better than anybody what John's capable of and, in his own words, he's the man who laid the very foundation of Viggo's criminal enterprise with the people he killed in a single night. It's why he's so terrified upon learning Iosef attacked him.Viggo: John is a man of focus, commitment, sheer will... Something you know very little about. [talking to Iosef]
- Villains Want Mercy: Viggo does this in advance after Iosef already stole John's Ford Mustang and killed his dog. Viggo calls John up and appeals to his rationality to prevent him from sinking to his baser instincts, as he feels stopping John's rampage would be futile.
- Villainous Breakdown: Once John destroys Viggo's money and a stash of private information at the church vault, Viggo starts to completely unravel, and it only gets worse when John finally kills Iosef.
- Villainous Valour: When everything is down he is willing to make sure John pays for what he did, and at the end, he takes his chance at Wick when they are both tired and under the rain.
Iosef
Iosef Tarasov
"Father, I can make this right!"
Portrayed By: Alfie Allen Other Languages
Appearances: John Wick
The arrogant, entitled and foolish son of Viggo Tarasov. His actions against John set off the plot of the movie.
- Asshole Victim: No one will miss him besides his father, in part because all of his friends die before he does.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: There was no reason for him to kill John's dog beyond simply spiting John.
- Bait the Dog: After John refuses to sell him his car at the gas station, Iosef goes over to the window, spots Daisy and pets her, remarking "I love dogs". He threatens John immediately after and then kills Daisy.
- Beard of Evil: He has a goatee and is an awful, awful person.
- Big Bad Wannabe: In his mind, he's a bigshot who can own whoever or whatever he wants but even associate Aurelio punches him in the face for stealing John's car and killing his dog and doesn't want anything to do with helping Iosef keep John's Mustang. Once Iosef has to start facing John's rampage, he's scared out of his wits and isn't even prepared for a straight fight.
- Break the Haughty: He's such a spoiled little punk that he thinks very little of everyone around him and that he's allowed everything he fancies, and even when Wick finally catches up to him, he seems blissfully and stupidly ignorant about how much he's shat the bed until John comes knocking down his door and teaches him two valuable life lessons: one being crime and punishment, the other about the inevitability of mortality no matter how rich or born into power you are or how much power you THINK you have..
- Butt-Monkey: The movie relishes in seeing his suffering and terror in the face of the protagonist's vengeance. The entire movie makes it clear from how much of a Determinator John is and how much of a Dirty Coward that Iosef is that it's not a matter of if John will put a bullet in his head, but when.
- Chew Toy: Literally nothing goes right for Iosef throughout the film, not that anyone feels bad for him.
- Dead Man Walking: His own father considers him to be this after he learns about what he did to John Wick.
- Dirty Coward: Spends the first act of the movie talking a big game about how he doesn't fear John Wick, but when he later came face to face with him, he's like a deer in headlights. He also uses a woman as a shield.
- The Dragon: The first scene he shares with Viggo has Iosef reporting on a successful mission. It's pretty clear that he's being trained for this. In the context of the narrative, he isn't.
- Entitled Bastard: He sees John's Mustang and feels at least entitled to buy it off of him. He doesn't take "no" or back talk for an answer and beats down John and kills his dog over it right in John's own home before stealing the car. However, he seems to be blissfully unaware of John's reputation as a One-Man Army and doesn't have the foresight to just buy a similar car from someone else.
- Establishing Character Moment: What else can you say about a guy who kills a dog to steal a car?
- Evil Is Petty: Okay, fine, you stole a man's car; you're a criminal, makes sense. However, killing his dog is just outright evil. Considering he only stole the car because John refused to sell it to him (it's not like John has the only vintage black Mustang in the world; if the car was what he actually wanted he could just have gone shopping), so his response was to break into his house and beat him with a baseball bat..
- Failed a Spot Check: Somehow he's the only one who doesn't know about John and his reputation. Everyone else with underworld connection, even the police, know who John is and treat him accordingly with respect and fear.
- Fatal Flaw: Pride is what led Iosef to commit the fatal mistake of messing with Wick. Being a Spoiled Brat, he felt entitled to anything he wanted, condescending of those he thought beneath him and thought that because of his father, he could do anything he wanted. Let's just say he was proven very, very wrong.
- Faux Affably Evil: He acts quite easygoing when he encounters John and his dog at the gas station. This all drops when he raids John's house, assaults him and kills his dog for good measure.
- Foil: Very much one to his father Viggo. Viggo built his criminal empire from scratch, is savvy about the rules of the underworld and can fight himself when push comes to shove. Iosef, by contrast, is an impulsive idiot who relies on his dad for protection, doesn't realize what he's gotten himself into and flees rather than fights.
- Hate Sink: He's petty, rude, condescending, spoiled, and a coward. No doubt there are quite a few people in the audience who cheered when he got what he deserved.
- The Heavy: His father's the Big Bad, but if he had refrained from messing with John Wick (hell, if only he had just stolen the car and left the dog alone), there would have been no movie.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: He talks tough and acts like the whole world is on his plate with his father's crime family to back him up. However, despite everyone around him telling him how completely out of his league he is against John Wick, he still doesn't see him as a threat until John is mowing down his guards left and right, and can't even begin to comprehend why John would be upset over him killing his dog, even when he's at death's door.
- Jerkass: A narcissistic, spiteful prick who's too overconfident for his own good.
- Kick the Dog: On top of stealing John's Mustang, he literally kills a puppy, a gift from John's late wife; destroys the window of his wife's SUV to piss off John; uses a party-goer as a shield; and he doesn't even try to say sorry for killing John's dog when John finally catches up to him. Needless to say, no mercy is had for this little asshole.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: "It was just a FUCKIN'—!" Blam.
- Lack of Empathy: Shows no remorse for murdering Daisy, John's dog. When John confronts him, he just tries to pass it off as no big deal, giving himself a Boom, Headshot! in the process.
- Lame Last Words: Iosef's screaming of "it was just a fuckin' [dog]!" is done in such a whiny fashion that even if you don't understand Russian or see the subtitles you just know it was an example of this.
- The Load: Iosef has little to offer his father's criminal organization and can't even steal a car without mucking things up.
- Mugging the Monster: Iosef soon finds out that messing with John Wick was a very, very bad idea. John Wick is known throughout the criminal world as one of the deadliest assassins on the planet, and Iosef would be a fool to mess with him. Iosef acts the fool anyway, largely convinced of his own superiority. The first movie sees Iosef become more and more unhinged as he realizes that all of the rumors about John were absolutely true.
- Never My Fault: In his final moments, sitting wounded on the floor of a warehouse, he tries to tell John what he's doing is unnecessary by claiming Daisy was "just a fuckin' dog". Ignoring the fact that Iosef brought his fate on himself over a car that John wouldn't sell him by invading his home and killing his dog over being insulted. The idiot never stopped to think that an inanimate object is not the same as a cherished living creature.
- Oh, Crap!: Gets four of these during the course of the movie as he comes to full grips with the fact that he's pissed off one of the deadliest men alive.
- The first is when Viggo tells him of John's history and ruthlessly hammers home just how screwed he is. The look of utter terror on Iosef's face as Viggo tells him that John will come for him and he can't do a damn thing about it says it all.
- The second one comes at the Red Circle when John kills his way through his father's men just to get to him, sending Iosef running with a towel around his waist and his tail between his legs.
- The third comes right after the big shootout above when he tries to call Victor and gets John instead. "Victor's dead. Everything has a price."
- The final one before his death comes when he sees one of his guards, who is playing a first-person shooter game, get sniped in the head right in front of him, and realizes that John has found him.
- Overlord Jr.: His father is the head of the Russian mob. Iosef has his own smaller operation, but isn't nearly the intimidating figure his father is and has to lean on him for support.
- Plot Armor: He gets this in the bathhouse scene, where he temporarily becomes the one target in the movie Wick can't hit.
- Profane Last Words: "It was just a fucking-!" Boom, Headshot!.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Type B: He's arrogant, impulsive, and has no regard for the feelings of others. His reaction to John hunting him down is like that of a schoolyard bully who's finally met someone tougher. And, literally, when he's partying at the Red Circle and his bodyguard chides him for it and takes his champagne, he screams "I want a bottle! Gimme a bottle!" like a hungry baby.
- Small Name, Big Ego: His father is the big name. As far as the plot (and literally every character in the movie) is concerned, Iosef is a snot-nosed punk who thinks he's tough because his father is one of the most powerful mob bosses in the city. Iosef himself is a complete idiot. Pissing off Wick makes everyone look down on Iosef, and the only reason that he even has bodyguards is because of his father.
- The Sociopath: He beats up John Wick for refusing his offer to buy John's car, kills his puppy out of spite and shows no remorse over it. Even after his father tells him the puppy was a gift from John's late wife, he clearly could not care less. He even has no problem having innocent people killed along the way when he is in the center of John's wrath.
- Spoiled Brat: It's clear he's been living off his father's wealth since he was born, and this has made him a brat who thinks he's entitled to have everything he wants. His assault on the Wick house came just because he wanted John's car and wasn't interested in the fact that it wasn't for sale.
- Stupid Evil: He could have gotten away with no problem if he had decided to leave John alone. But beating him to shit, stealing his car and then killing his dog sets Wick into a Tranquil Fury-fuelled bloodbath coming straight for him.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Even after his father informs him who John Wick is, Iosef declares he can make it right by "finishing what he started."Viggo: Did he listen to a fucking word I said?!
- Too Dumb to Live: Iosef and his two-man crew seem to be the only people in the entire city who don't know who John Wick is. Even the mooks assigned to guard him treat him like a moron for pissing the guy off. Keep in mind that Wick only dropped out of the game five years ago, so Iosef was at least a teenager back when Wick was piling up bodies, yet he still doesn't know the guy who single-handedly catapulted their organization to the top. Even when John is about to kill him, his last words are "It was just a fucking—". Moments from death, and he's too stupid to try apologizing.
- Underestimating Badassery: Even after his father tells him who John is, Iosef treats his situation as nothing to worry about. It's not until he sees John slaughter almost his entire security force to get to him that he begins to panic.
- Unintentionally Notorious Crime: John's bloodbath, four films long, world-wide, and eventually aiming to destroy a criminal enterprise older than many countries, begins because of this little idiot's decision to steal John's Mustang (and killing Daisy the puppy as collateral damage).
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A significant chunk of the Russian Mafia in New York City are all killed, himself included because he wanted to steal John Wick's car and killed his dog because he annoyed him. The chain of events he started would then go on to result in the deaths of hundreds more people across four continents, the deaths of sitting members of the High Table and the deconsecration of two Continentals.
- Villainous Breakdown: After his near-death experience in the Red Circle, Iosef starts to come apart, becoming nervous and unstable. It gets to the point that he shouts at one of his friends to stop playing a video game because the noise of gunfire is freaking him out. Then he's reduced to fleeing for his life in pure terror, and all he can manage is a terrified and exasperated protest that "It was just a fuckin'-" before John executes him.
- Villainous Legacy: Were it not for his assault on John and his cold-blooded murder of his puppy Daisy, the events of the John Wick films would probably never have happened, as John coming out of retirement to track Iosef down and kill him triggered everything that came after. Iosef is actually an interesting case in that despite his actions holding such tremendous weight, he as a character is treated as just another thug John has to kill and he's quickly forgotten about after his death.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: His own father despises him, and knows better than he does not mess with John.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Iosef is told in no uncertain terms that his death from John Wick is inevitable. At first, he blows off the threat of John Wick but once he sees how horribly outclassed his guards are against John, Iosef goes into panic mode and realizes that his end is inevitable.
- You Have Failed Me: Downplayed; If not for being the son of The Don, Iosef's bodyguards would have no issue with John Wick having his way for him screwing up so badly. Even though the father Viggo still gives him around the clock protection, he still tells Iosef that there's nothing he can do to stop John. Viggo even approves of Aurelio punching Iosef in the face; Viggo also dupes Iosef into drinking vodka so he can punch him in the gut to force him to painfully regurgitate.
Avi
Avi
"English, please."
Portrayed By: Dean Winters Other Languages
Appearances: John Wick
Viggo's right hand, the second in command and has been Viggo's lawyer for many years.
- Amoral Attorney: He's a lawyer working for a crime lord.
- Blood from the Mouth: After John hits him with his car.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Getting shot in the chest and hit with a car is rough, sure. But then Viggo rams John’s car, dragging Avi underneath the vehicles for several hundred feet, the rough asphalt almost certainly sanding off a good chunk of his body. If he wasn’t dead before, he definitely was then.
- The Dragon: Fits this role best as Viggo's Number Two.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He has the decency to try to convince Viggo to stop hurting Iosef even though he doesn't seem to like the kid much.
- Evil Genius: He's the main brains within Viggo's organization, as both Viggo's lawyer and advisor.
- The Consigliere: He's Viggo's right-hand-man and trusted advisor.
- Non-Action Guy: Avi is rather averse to violence and doesn't even carry his own gun. Tellingly, he only gets one poorly-aimed shot on John during the climax before promptly getting hit by his car.
- Number Two: To Viggo as an advisor.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Viggo's red.
- Too Dumb to Live: When John crashes Viggo's SUV, instead of running away and let John kill his suicidal boss, he makes Viggo give him his Glock and tries to shoot John, but fails to hit him; John then shoots him and smashes into him with his car. Just to seal the deal, Viggo then crushes his body when he rams his SUV into John's car.
Kirill
Kirill
"My job is to keep a boy safe. Not babysit a drunkard."
Portrayed By: Daniel Bernhardt Other Languages
Appearances: John Wick
One of Viggo's top enforcers.
- All There in the Script: For such a major opponent, he's never named in the film.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's the head of Viggo's security and the only one who can nearly match John in combat.
- Beard of Evil: He has a black goatee with a few grey touches.
- Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: He's The Brute of Viggo's organisation, and of all John's major opponents (including Viggo, Iosef, Miss Perkins, and Avi), he's the first to die.
- The Brute: He's skilled enough to give John a real fight on not one but three occasions, and actually beats him the first two times.
- Car Fu: Manages to incapacitate John this way.
- Co-Dragons: He's a high ranking minion in Viggo's unit and the go-to guy when someone needs to die. However, Avi is Viggo's Number Two, Iosef is known to conduct missions on his father's behalf, so it's clearly a shared position.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He clearly dislikes Iosef and isn't happy about having to having to protect him because of his idiotic decision of who to bully. He even berates him at one point to stop making such an ass of himself in the club.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Smashes a bottle on John's head, then stabs him in the gut with the glass shards.
- Mook Lieutenant: He's a high-ranking enforcer for Viggo who leads his regular henchmen, and is fittingly skilled enough to give John a real fight.
- Neck Snap: How John kills him. He sets it up by choking him out with his zip-wire bound wrists; this alone would have been enough to kill him, but John was in a hurry.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: He's shown forcefully, but protectively, shoving clubgoers out of the way so he can line up a clear shot at Wick.
- The Rival: He and John never actually exchange any words, but they have three fights throughout the film. Kirill wins the first two by making John retreat and knocking him unconscious respectively. John wins the third.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: This is true of all Viggo's men, but that turtleneck and suit combo are both stylish and practical for cold weather and fistfights.
- Threshold Guardian: Kirill is the first person to give John a real fight, and even injures him enough to seek medical help.
Abram
Abram Tarasov
"Can a man like you know peace?"
Portrayed By: Peter Stormare Other Languages
Appearances: John Wick: Chapter 2
Viggo's brother who operates a chop shop and smuggling ring. He makes his debut in the sequel.
- Affably Evil: He's a crime boss but he's not above reason, taking John's offer of a truce to avoid further bloodshed, and even sharing a drink with him and making polite conversation, wishing him well.
- Beard of Evil: He's affiliated with a crime ring and has a full, dark beard.
- Dragon Ascendant: He becomes the new leader of the Tarasov Mob after his brother's death.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He's not confident in his chances against John at all. When John offers peace Abram takes it without trying to go for a backstab like many of John's other enemies.
- Noble Demon: He honors his word to keep the peace with John, even after John is made a target at the end. This is likely a combination of honor and being smart enough to know that trying to take out John is a really bad idea.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction to learning how his nephew and brother put him in John Wick's crosshairs. It intensifies when he hears car crashes, fighting, and then gunshots and screams in the warehouse outside his office.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Toyed with. As mentioned, he accepts John's olive branch and has not been seen since, but was initially dismissive of the idea, feeling that John would never stop coming after them.
- Revenge Before Reason: Subverted hard. Unlike his brother, he knows to fold them. If anything, he was more surprised by John being willing to consider peace than by anything else.Abram: He killed my nephew, my brother, and a dozen of my men, over his car. And a puppy. And you, you think he will stop now?
- Sole Survivor: He makes his debut in the second movie as the last seen member of the Tarasov family as John had killed the rest of the higher-ups in the previous film. Ultimately Abram was the only one to walk away.
- Starter Villain: Abram plays with this trope. He's the first antagonist of the sequel, he's connected to the crime family of the first film and John wraps up the loose ends while fighting him. Abram's function is to show off John to the audience by re-establishing him as The Dreaded by talking him up as someone you don't want to mess with and depicting John's mercy, as John ultimately lets him go.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: His sole purpose in the film is to resolve John's car subplot from the first film, after which he is never seen again. Even in the ending where John's bounty has gone international and almost every character who is still alive are shown to receive the message, Abram is not seen among those characters despite having all the reasons in the world to pursue the bounty. Considering how his meeting with John went, this may be due to the fact that he is not interested in going after John under any circumstances. The only mention afterwards comes in the fourth film, when it is mentioned that representatives of the Tarasov Family are scheduled to meet the Manager of the Osaka Continental.
- You Killed My Father: Averted. While he talks about how John Wick killed his brother and nephew, he easily accepts John's peace offering once he shows up, showing no desire to avenge his relatives.
