Foreshadowing / John Wick: Chapter 4

• During his very first scene, the Marquis makes it very clear to Winston that he doesn't believe in second chances, and that is why he is punishing Winston for something he has already receive a pardon for. This foreshadows the revelation later in the movie that he has ordered the death of the leader of the Ruska Roma for their previous assistance to John, despite the fact that they had already been punished for it and accepted back into the fold, and had nothing whatsoever to do with Wick's activities after that.
• The negotiations between Winston and the Marquis are backdropped by several paintings by Eugene Delacroix. Their placement relative to the characters is no coincidence:
  • Throughout the entire conversation the Marquis lingers in front of The Death of Sardanapalus which depicts a Middle Eastern monarch watching disinterestedly as his subjects are murdered around him by his own guards, perfectly mirroring his arrogance, self-destructive incompetence and cowardice, given his refusal to directly engage John in combat, instead nominating Caine as a substitute when challenged to a duel to the death by John.
  • Winston in contrast wanders between Liberty Leading the People and The Raft of the Medusa, symbolizing his situation as man orchestrating an insurgency against a tyrant, a struggle where not everyone will survive and ultimately ends with the death of a cruel French aristocrat. Also, when Winston enters, de Gramont is looking at the former, and Winston plays on de Gramont's fears of losing his power and privileges, much like the French aristos. Alternately/Additionally, the paintings represent the four films. To quote a YouTube comment;
    First painting is Napoleon's war against Russia (John's war against Tarasovs), then there's a shipwreck (John's house and life being destroyed by Santino, ending in excommunication), then there's the passion of Christ (John being persecuted, presumably killed and then resurrected in Chapter 3) and finally there's a painting of the French revolution (John's and Winston's rebellion against the high table in chapter 4).
  • John for his part, in a separate scene, is shown next to Caravaggio's The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, symbolizing his role as everyone's savior. Furthermore, the painting depicts Jesus' stigmata, paralleling the various injuries he receives throughout the film, including getting a blade put through one hand and receiving a fatal gun shot wound to the side in the finale. And if the chairman of Lionsgate's comments are anything to go by, his eventual "resurrection" in subsequent John Wick films.
• Symbols of death hang over the cast throughout the entire movie:
  • Sakura (cherry blossoms) are used as a symbol of death in Japan in certain contexts. The Osaka Continental rife with Sakura trees & decorative motifs, indicating the slaughter about to take place, and is perhaps also a hint towards viewers without meta-knowledge as to John's ultimate fate.
  • Shimazu's fatal duel with Caine at the back exit of the Osaka Continental takes place in the shadow of a funerary bell.
  • When playing Five-Card Draw with Killa, Tracker and Caine, each of the players' hands foreshadows their fate; John's hand is two black Aces and two black Eights, a "Dead Man's Hand". Caine draws a better hand of four Nines and one Four, which brings him a Uncertain Doom in The Stinger after John's death, and the Tracker, who survives the whole film without someone gunning for him, gets a Royal Flush. Killa's hand is the highest rank, "Five of a Kind", but is the lowest possible value and was dealt via cheating; he is the first to die as he broke his own game's rules.
  • The discussion of epitaphs between John, Winston and the Bowery King suggests that at least one of them will soon need one.
  • John has important conversations with Akira on an underground train that notably passes through a darkened section, and later the Bowery King and Winston while riding a boat through an underground river, hinting that the occupants are on an Afterlife Express.
• When Winston and the Bowery King discuss why the Marquis spared the former when he destroyed the New York Continental and personally executed Charon, Winston suggests that he wanted to set an example, as killing Winston would have turned him into a martyr for defying the High Table. John eventually accomplishes this when he dies in a way that takes the Marquis down with him in the final duel.