Characters / Natural Born Killers

A list of characters in the film Natural Born Killers.

The Knoxes

Both Mickey and Mallory

• Abusive Parents: Both have suffered from these.
  • One flashback of Mickey's past shows him getting into an argument and a physical fight with his dad and later saw him commit suicide right in front of him.
  • Mallory's dad. He's been sexually abusing Mallory for years, constantly volleying insults and threatening violence towards her and the rest of his family.
• Adaptational Heroism: To an extent—the Knoxes are hardly "heroes"; still, Stone's film has them moralizing (eventually calling out Gayle for his antics) and expressing regret for some of their actions. The Abusive Parents angle also provides sympathy of sorts for them. None of this is in Tarantino's original script, which has the couple as something of a dark Deconstruction of the Bonnie and Clyde concept.
• Ax-Crazy: He and Mallory are mass murdering killers.
• Cop Killer: Mickey and Mallory kill plenty of cops during their crime spree and escape. This causes many instances of Police Brutality directed towards them once they're captured.
• The Family That Slays Together: They are technically a family after "marrying" on a bridge and murder together. Mickey and Mallory end their killing sprees after they decide to settle down and have kids.
• Outlaw Couple: As the psychiatrist puts it, Mickey and Mallory know the difference between good and evil, but they don't care and break the law with everything they do and are proud of it.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mallory is very emotional and short-tempered, while Mickey is often calm and collected.
• Serial Killer: Mickey and Mallory kill dozens of people over the course of several weeks.
• Übermensch:
  • Mickey displays a mindset like this during his interview with Wayne Gale.
  "You and me, we're not even the same species. I used to be you then I evolved. From where you're standing you're a man. From where I'm standing you're an ape."
  • Mallory steps barefoot on a cigarette and shows no sign of pain, this symbolizes how much she has been removed from being a "normal" human being.
• Unholy Matrimony: Mickey and Mallory are a married couple that go on a cross country killing spree over the course of the movie.
• Villain Protagonist: Obviously, the Knoxes, but even the people assigned to their capture have their villainous moments; Jack Scagnetti strangles a prostitute to death for seemingly no reason.
• Yandere Couple: Psychotically devoted to one another.

Mickey Knox

Mickey Knox

Played By: Woody Harrelson

• Accidental Murder: Mickey accidentally shoots the Native American man sheltering him and Mallory after coming out of a nightmare.
• Asshole Victim: Ed was an irredeemable bastard and it's not hard to side with Mickey when he kills him.
• Bald of Evil: Shaves his head bald just before the climax.
• Catapult Nightmare: Mickey has one, coming out of it shooting a person.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Mickey is shown to be almost supernaturally strong and resilient despite being a rather normal-looking man.
• Dying Smirk: In the alternate ending, before Owen Traft kills him, he has...some sort of expression on his face that approximates this. It looks more like a crazed rictus.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: A key part of his character is his love for Mallory. When Scagnetti threatens to kill her, he surrenders to the cops.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Downplayed. Despite killing over 50 people, Mickey is still disgusted at how the media has sensationalized his actions. He glorifies in it because he's an insane killer - what's their excuse?
  " You'll never understand Wayne. You and me, we're not even the same species. I used to be you then I evolved. From where you're standing you're a man. From where I'm standing you're an ape. You're not even an ape; you're a media person. Media's like the weather, only it's man made. Murder is pure. You're the one made it impure. You're buying and selling fear."
  • Also, after killing Mallory's parents, Mickey was about to go after her kid brother, only for her to stop him and inform him that he was free now. The smile he gives back to her as the couple leaves shows that he agrees with her.
  • As they were getting married on a bridge and reciting their vows, a carload of guys yell out the window as they speed by, interrupting Mallory's vows. She decides to shoot them for doing this, but Mickey stops her, angrily telling her that they were not killing anyone on their wedding day.
  • Plus, what happened between them and the Native American man that took them in is the only killing that they regret doing, a given considering it was an accident.
• Faux Affably Evil: He can be charming enough that it's easy to forget he's a mass murderer.
• Freudian Excuse: He watched his dad kill himself as a child.
• I Am What I Am: Calls himself a "natural born killer".
• Important Haircut: Mickey shaves his head, right before his interview.
• Karmic Death: In the alternate ending, Owen blows his head off with a shotgun, fulfilling Mickey's nightmares of a "headless man" ( his father, who committed suicide the same way).
• Karma Houdini: He and Mallory get away scot free in the theatrical ending, living a normal life and having kids.
• Lack of Empathy: He has no remorse for the many murders he's commited.
• Madeof Iron: Mickey has nigh-invulnerability to all manner of attacks. Highlighted in a deleted scene wherein a witness at he and Mallory’s trial acquiesces that she saw Mickey take multiple kicks to the head from a trained martial artist, before shrugging it off and effortlessly beating the guy.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When he accidentally shoots the Native American. It's the only murder he commits that he regrets.
• Pure Is Not Good: Mickey calls murder "pure", and that media sensationalism makes it "impure".
• Scary Shiny Glasses: What he wears.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: How he and Mallory see their relationship.
• Title Drop: "Shit, man. I'm a Natural Born Killer."
• Villain Protagonist: Along with Mallory.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: He's a mass murderer with a noticeably receding hairline.

Mallory Knox

Mallory Wilson Knox

Played By: Juliette Lewis

• Abusive Parents: Her father was emotionally, physically, and sexually abusive to her, and her mother was utterly apathetic to it.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In the alternate ending, after Owen Traft kills Mickey, her first priority is her own safety; she has just enough time to exclaim "Wait!" before Owen finishes her off.
• Ax-Crazy: In addition to being a mass murderer, she's more openly psychotic than Mickey.
• Berserk Button: The only person who calls Mallory "You stupid bitch" and lives is Mickey.
• Blood Knight: She's more openly excited by killing than Mickey.
• Damsel in Distress: Mickey does, effectively, rescue Mallory from her immediately-dangerous plight (continuous sexual and verbal abuse from her father) and liberate her from the house in which she's basically trapped. This does also involve him orchestrating the killing of the monster that is keeping her there (her abusive father). Mickey saves her again after they've been sent to prison, this time breaking her out of her jail cell and killing Jack Scagnetti holding her hostage.
• Dark Action Girl: Mallory is as capable and ruthless a murderer as Mickey.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Aside from her love for Mickey, she spared her innocent little brother the night she and Mickey killed her parents.
• Even Evil Has Standards: She's really pissed at Mickey for accidentally killing the Native American.
• Freudian Excuse: Her father was an abusive asshole who often touched her.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Mallory is quick to anger, and even Mickey accidentally cause her to have violent outbursts.
• Honey Trap: She occasionally draws in her victims with the promise of sex.
• Karmic Death: In the alternate ending, Owen Traft kills her for spurning his advances, mirroring the way she's killed men for accepting them in the first place.
• Karma Houdini: She and Mickey get away scot free in the theatrical ending, living a normal life with kids.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Before killing Scagnetti: "Do you still like me, Jack?"
• Self-Made Orphan: She killed both her parents with Mickey's help, which is what got the two of them hooked on killing.
• Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: She has a female case of this, due to deep-seated issues about her abusive father. She repeatedly initiates flirtation or sexual activity with men other than Mickey, then flips out and kills them for being depraved sex beasts. Sometimes this is justified (eg. with Scagnetti) but at other times definitely not (eg. the gas station attendant).
• Star-Crossed Lovers: What she and Mickey consider themselves to be.
• Villainous Parental Instinct: Her brother is heavily implied to be a Child by Rape and she spares him when she could've killed him, as she killed her parents.
• Villain Protagonist: Alongside Mickey.
• Wedding Ring Removal: Played with. Mallory takes off her wedding ring to wash the dishes, but Mickey is horrified by this and insists that she must never take it off.
• What The Hell, Villain?: She really lays into Mickey for killing the Native American by mistake.

Other Characters

Wayne Gale

Wayne Gale

Played By: Robert Downey Jr.

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He goes through every bribe he can think of to try and get Mickey and Mallory to spare him, altough he is able to Face Death with Dignity in his final moments.
• Asshole Victim: He ends up becoming the last victim of Mickey and Mallory.
• Ax-Crazy: He begins killing people himself in the climax, and loves it.
• Beard of Evil: Has a beard and is definitely a prick.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Zigzagged. He cheats on his wife with another woman named Ming, whom he attempts to leave his wife for only to be dumped himself. However, when his long suffering assistant Julie, who tends to get comparatively little of the ire he reserves for the rest of his crew, is shot dead by guards as they flee through the prison, is the moment when an outraged Wayne goes from merely spectating to actively participating in the Knox's violence.
• Face Death with Dignity: Although he initially begs for his life, he is finally able to stand tall and accept his fate in his last moments.
• Immoral Journalist: He pursues Outlaw Couple Mickey and Mallory Knox, filming their crimes in lurid detail and turning them into cult icon purely to keep in business.
• Jerkass: An arrogant, obnoxious prick who only cares about boosting the ratings of his show. Once he starts killing people in the climax, he's no better than the Knox couple.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: During his interview with Mickey, he proves to have some form of morality when he chews Mickey out for killing innocent people...but as soon as the show cuts to commercial, it turns out this was just an act to add drama and he's actually very pleased with Mickey for increasing his ratings.
• Karmic Death: Ends up getting killed by the two murderers who he used to increase his ratings.
• Large Ham: Robert Downey Jr. is clearly having the time of his life with the role.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Based on real life tabloid journalist Steve Dunleavy, down to the Australian accent.
• Sanity Slippage: During the prison riot, he snaps and begins killing people himself while helping Mickey and Mallory to escape.
• Smug Snake: He thinks he's better than everyone else because he stars in a successful TV show. Mickey and Mallory prove him wrong.
• Viewers Are Morons: A firm believer in this; he even explicitly calls his millions of viewers "morons".
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He thinks that since he aided the Knox couple in their escape, they will spare him and accept him as one of their own. They don't.

Jack Scagnetti

Detective Jack Scagnetti

Played By: Tom Sizemore

• Asshole Victim: Mallory kills him after he brutalizes her.
• Beard of Evil: He's got a grubby little goatee to show what a bastard he is.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Warden McClusky.
• Boom, Headshot!: How Mallory finishes him off.
• Dirty Cop: He is a detective trying to take down the Knoxes, but engages in illegal activity himself that includes murder.
• Faux Affably Evil: He can be pretty charming, but it's all an act to hide what a complete psycho he is.
• Freudian Excuse: His mother was a victim of Charles Whitman's shooting spree and Jack was with her on the day, still remembering seeing her die. It left him a little messed up, to say the least.
• Hand Cannon: He carries a massive Desert Eagle as his sidearm.
• Hero Antagonist: Subverted. He is a cop trying to stop the murders so one can sympathize with him at first, until it's revealed that he is just as evil and murderous as the Knoxes. Also, he is only interested in them because he has a Villainous Crush on Mallory,
• Hypocrite: He claims to want to take down psychopaths because one killed his mother, but is a psycho himself who murders prostitutes.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: It quickly becomes clear that he's a complete misogynist.
• Slashed Throat: Mallory wounds him by slicing his throat, before finishing him off with a headshot.
• Villainous Crush: On Mallory. He eventually tries to have sex with her, leading to his death.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Despite secretly being a monster, he is a respected cop in the eyes of the public and has even written a successful autobiography.

Dwight McClusky

Warden Dwight McClusky

Played By: Tommy Lee Jones

• Asshole Victim: He and his remaining guards get massacred by escaping inmates during the riot.
• Beard of Evil: A creepy-looking mustache.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Jack Scagnetti.
• Dirty Cop: He's a warden, not a cop, but the trope still applies. He plans to have the Knoxes killed.
• Dirty Coward: While he initially seems like a badass, he is only this when he has the upper hand. During the riot he either runs or hides.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He is disgusted by the crimes of many of his prisoners, though that doesn't stop him from engaging in some illegal activity himself.
• Evil Laugh: Wayne even describes it as a "horrific fucking laugh".
• Evil Old Folks: Is older than most of the cast but still a scumbag.
• Jerkass: He treats his prisoners like shit.
• Jerkass Has a Point: However, he's not wrong in thinking that the Knoxes are murderous scumbags.
• Karmic Death: Is killed by the inmates he despised so much.
• Large Ham: Is he ever. He only gets more over the top when shit starts hitting the fan.
• Off with His Head!: He is beheaded by escaping inmates.
• Revenge Before Reason: When the Knoxes are cornered in the shower, Dwight's own guards tell him to stop fucking around with them. As far as he's concerned, they're the reason the riot happened and he will make sure they die.
  Sparky: Dwight, for Christ's sake, the fucking joint's exploding and you're diddling around with these pukes. We have more important things to do.
  McClusky: These two, these are the ones that die today. You hear me, Sparky? I'll wipe that fucking scum off the face of the fucking Earth if it's the last fucking thing I do!
• Villainous Breakdown: Completely loses his shit during the riot.

Ed Wilson

Ed Wilson

Played By: Rodney Dangerfield

• Abusive Parents: He was the abusive parent for Mallory.
• Asshole Victim: Mallory and Mickey could not have picked a better person to be their first victim.
• Dirty Old Man: A particularly awful example in that his lust is aimed at his young daughter.
• Evil Old Folks: He is old and as evil as they come.
• Hate Sink: A loathsome, abusive, reprehensible excuse for a human being.
• Parental Incest: He gropes and sexually abuses his daughter. Then we learn that the only reason Mallory's younger brother was born is that a drunk Ed had sex with his wife, thinking it was Mallory.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Sexist, homophobic, and racist.
• Posthumous Character: Was killed by Mickey and Mallory prior to the start of the movie, and only appears in two very memorable flashback scenes.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Compared to his wife, he is a foul-mouthed old man.

Warren Red Cloud, Sr.

Warren Red Cloud, Sr.

Played By: Russell Means

• Cool Old Guy: Seems to be a sage and wise old man, from the little we see of him.
• Magical Native American: He's able to sense the "sad sickness" in Mickey and Mallory, understanding that they are "trapped in a world of ghosts", and is apparently responsible for their strange dreams. After Mickey kills him, he mentions having foreseen his death 20 years prior.
• Nice Guy: He takes in Mickey and Mallory despite their highly suspicious look.
• The Farmer and the Viper: A variation is recounted by him. Sure enough, he's killed by Mickey, but accidentally - Mickey comes out of a nightmare and fires his gun on reflex. Mallory is not amused.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Mickey accidentally kills him while in the midst of a nightmare. He is the only person that Mickey and Mallory regret killing.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Only around for a few minutes before getting killed.

Owen Traft

Owen Traft

Played By: Arliss Howard

• Affably Evil: Very polite and friendly to the Knoxes, but there's clearly something off about him. We never quite learn what it is. In the alternate ending, he's their killer.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Played for Horror in the alternate ending. He's a soft-spoken, rather naive man who thinks of the Knoxes as his friends and has a crush on Mallory. He's also a deranged murderer who punishes them for rejecting him by dishing out some Karmic Deaths.
• Eviler than Thou: In the alternate ending. While he looks rather innocent, he's clearly done some nasty stuff, and he establishes just how bad he is by doing what no else in the movie could; killing Mickey and Mallory.
• Foil: To the Knoxes, which comes through more clearly in the alternate ending. Whereas the Knoxes are a bombastic, extroverted Serial Killer Couple who think of themselves as übermenschen and become celebrities, Owen is a mysterious, quiet, and solitary man who's a fan of their work. He's also the only one capable of bringing them to any kind of justice.
• In Love with Your Carnage: In the alternate ending, he has a bit of this going on with Mallory. When she throws it back in his face, he quickly proves himself to be worse by killing her.
• Loony Fan: An especially disturbing case in the alternate ending, since the people he idolizes are psychopathic spree killers. Mickey and Mallory also treat him the same way most hotshot celebrities do overeager admirers, which turns out to be a fatal mistake on their part.
• Not Good with Rejection: He's as nice as a homicidal maniac like him can be, but in the alternate ending, he expects to tag along with Mickey and Mallory after helping them escape, and he also shows some attraction to Mallory. When they mock him, he kills them both.
• The Spook: He shows up during the climax to assist Mickey and Mallory, but we learn absolutely nothing of his motivations or why he seems to regard Mickey as a good friend. In the alternate ending, Owen claims that he comes "from the fire," not that that clarifies much. After Mickey and Mallory spurn him for his clingy behavior, he kills them.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Vanishes after the inmates murder the Warden. However, in a deleted scene, he was to have killed Mickey and Mallory after they mocked him.

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