Spoiler Alert: 5 Movie Heroes-Turned-Villains We Rooted For All Along

The delusion of being a good guy can pursue even the biggest movie criminals and psychos, but the most interesting cases here are those characters, who come to the real understanding of themselves, which sometimes can be quite a bitter truth.

Here are five brightest examples of characters’ re-inventing of themselves as villains.

Teddy Daniels, Shutter Island (2010)

The neo-noir thriller follows an investigator (played by Leonardo DiCaprio ), who explores the disappearance of a patient from a psychiatric facility on an isolated island, in the end realizing he’s not who he is. It turned out he’s Andrew Laeddis, the most dangerous patient himself, who started being delusional after he had killed his wife, and then was put in an medical role-play experiment to cure his mental illnesses.

Leonard Shelby, Memento (2000)

The non-linear narrated movie’s main character (Guy Pearce), suffering from anterograde amnesia, is trying to track down his wife’s murderer, forcing to remind everything to himself on his way. Leonard’s complicated investigation ends up in the conclusion that he was the one who is responsible for his wife’s death (and not only for that), and the whole time he was running from his own blame for it.

Oh Dae-su, Old Boy (2003)

Korean action thriller follows the story of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), who was a prisoner for a back-then unclear reason for 15 years, gaining much desire to avenge his captors. However, he eventually comes to the fact that he misinterpreted some events from his past, which led to the futility of his revenge and his full revaluation of himself.

Patrick Bateman, American Psycho (2000)

Christian Bale ’s iconic character from this satirical psychological horror initially seems to enjoy his violent murders, fulfilling his ego and lust for power, but then he loses his narcissistic side in a nervous breakdown, becoming paranoid and doubtful. He then enters the path of realizing his crimes, even confessing them to his lawyer.

William Foster, Falling Down (1993)

This movie serves as a great example of depicting the character, gradually acknowledging his true self, as William (Michael Douglas) comes to the understanding that he’s a dangerous and unstable person who has lost touch with reality and is not a good guy at all, which finds its peak in his request to shoot him dead.