10 Heroes Who Torture Their Enemies

There are plenty of ways to get information, but the most unpleasant method is torture. As you inflict pain on your victims, you force them to confess their carefully guarded secrets. It’s not the most honorable tactic, hinging solely on human suffering. That’s why most storytellers reserve it for villains or unsympathetic figures.

Certain works buck that trend by letting heroes partake in the torture. Writers typically use this tactic to paint the person as a darker protagonist than audiences are accustomed to. Along the same lines, they might want to show their characters’ degrading morals; constant misfortune pushes them to increasingly desperate means to get what they want. Whatever the circumstances, it’s always shocking to see the hero—someone you’re meant to root for—resort to such reprehensible acts.

Related: 10 Movie Warning Signs of a Psychological Breakdown

10 Batman

Several superheroes use brutal methods against crooks, but the most notorious is Batman. The Dark Knight relies on fear. If he can instill that fear in criminals, then they’re ready and willing to give up their fellow ne’er-do-wells. His gothic image and effective reputation are usually enough to get the job done, but braver souls sometimes need a little push.

The Caped Crusader employs all sorts of torture methods. He could dangle victims off rooftops, break their bones, or back up the Batmobile on their heads. The irony is that he holds an ironclad code not to kill, but you’d be surprised what you can live through. Batman’s expert knowledge of human anatomy lets him push these guys just far enough to get what he wants without causing any fatal damage. Such precision is what makes him so frightening, especially to superstitious and cowardly dregs.^[1]

9 Bryan Mills

Taken is the ultimate nightmare for parents, so it calls for an equally nightmarish hero. Bryan Mills is a retired CIA agent who now wants to be there for his daughter. When she falls victim to sex traffickers, he cuts a bloody path across Paris to find her. His dogged detective skills and combat experience make him a one-man fighting force, and he only gets scarier as he approaches his quarry.

When time is of the essence, Bryan makes people pay for wasting his. He finally catches up to the people who took his daughter, but determining her buyer means keeping their leader alive. Stabbing him with spikes and attaching them to jumper cables, Mills fashions a makeshift electroshock treatment. This vengeance doesn’t stop at strangers, though. After discovering his friend’s corruption, he shoots the guy’s wife and threatens to execute her unless he gets some info. Bryan doesn’t distinguish between targets. Like any good parent, he does whatever it takes to save his kid.^[2]

8 Joel Miller

Everyone makes compromises in a zombie dystopia. Joel Miller knows that better than most. In The Last of Us, this blue-collar guy eeks out an existence through dirty deals. Hurting people is on the table most days, as the alternative means being trampled or killed by other desperate survivors. Even by that low standard, though, he reaches a new level of depravity.

After a cannibalistic clan takes his surrogate daughter, Joel captures two members to learn her location. He begins with a brutal beating before moving on to knives. Stabbing his victim in the leg, he threatens to pop out the kneecap. The guy then has to mark the location on a map with the bloody blade. It’s amazing how far Joel goes when he has something to lose.^[3]

7 Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher is an imposing individual on any day. His immense size comes second only to his prowess as a soldier. His militaristic upbringing grants him unparalleled efficacy in melee combat, firearms, and conspiracies. He’s more than a match for any thugs who come his way, making mincemeat of foes in a straight-up fight. However, he’s arguably more intimidating when his enemies can’t fight back.

Reacher is great at causing pain. His extensive expertise on the human body tells him exactly which buttons to push. This knowledge results in torture scenes involving the most unexpected instruments. A particularly twisted example emerges when he pumps air into a catheter, threatening to burst the bladder of a hospitalized villain. You don’t expect such an unorthodox strategy, but that’s what happens when mixing killer know-how with a lack of patience.^[4]

6 Harry Callahan

Police officers combat criminals, but they can only go so far. Inspector Harry Callahan, aka “Dirty Harry,” brazenly defies those limits with his own brand of justice. He regularly kills and brutalizes crooks with little regard for ethics or procedure. He does whatever he feels is necessary to get the job done.

Viewers learn the extent of those measures when a serial killer—nicknamed “Scorpio”—begins plaguing the city. Harry relentlessly pursues the psycho, but botched police procedures result in more bodies piling up. Upon finally catching up to Scorpio, the furious detective shoots him in the leg and steps on the wound. He does this to learn the location of the killer’s next victim. The cruel twist is that said victim is already dead. Worse, the torture means that the information isn’t admissible in court. Of course, that doesn’t stop Harry from doing it again in subsequent films.^[5]

5 Anakin Skywalker

Star Wars fans mainly know Anakin Skywalker for turning to the Dark Side and becoming Darth Vader. However, he displays dark tendencies even as a Jedi. While he distinguishes himself through his combat prowess and Force affinity, he doesn’t always have the control to use these gifts responsibly. He lacks the emotional detachment instilled in Jedi at a young age, so he goes the extra mile to save others. That drive normally makes him a hero, but not to those who get in his way.

Anakin doesn’t hesitate to inflict pain and terror on his enemies. If prisoners have a critical piece of information, then he uses the Force to choke them into giving it up. This approach obviously goes against the Jedi’s code, but it’s usually more effective than their traditional methods, especially in wartime. That mindset of the end justifying the means is what leads Skywalker down the path to evil.^[6]

4 Furiosa

The post-apocalyptic wasteland of Mad Max robs countless people of their humanity. Furiosa is one such soul. Although she’s originally from an oasis, a roving band of marauders takes her prisoner. The leader, Dementus, then kills her mother before bartering the child off. Over the next several years, Furiosa quietly matures into a deadly road warrior. When she clashes with Dementus again, he takes her man and her arm in horrific fashion. Luckily, her cunning finally defeats the wannabe overlord.

After using other wasteland factions to wipe out his gang, Furiosa pursues Dementus through the desert. At first, she sadistically toys with him by slicing his canteen and haunting him from a distance. Eventually, though, she reveals herself before chaining him up and beating him to within an inch of his life. For the final bit of cruel irony, she uses an acorn from her oasis to plant a tree with him at the center, essentially making him into an emaciated human fertilizer while he’s still alive. “Purposeful savagery,” indeed.^[7]

3 Ragnar Lothbrok

The Norsemen may have been settlers and explorers, but they never lost their roots as warriors. Even the sharp-minded Ragnar Lothbrok falls back on those old instincts. While he spends most of the Vikings series charting a path forward for his people, his violent side comes out when people threaten his family. Such is the case with Jarl Borg. Seeking revenge for a past insult, he seizes Ragnar’s village and tries to kill his wife, children, and brother. His reign doesn’t last long, though.

Ragnar quickly captures Borg and resolves to kill him. It’s not a simple beheading, however. Instead, he subjects his prisoner to the Blood Eagle. This torturous ritual involves cutting his back open, hacking his ribs apart, and pulling his lungs out. If he suffers without screaming, then he can enter the Norse afterlife of Valhalla. That prospect is easier said than done, as the Blood Eagle is among the most excruciating executions ever devised. Suffice it to say Ragnar gets his revenge and then some.^[8]

2 Lisbeth Salander

As the eponymous Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander is already an intense individual. Her abusive upbringing makes her a cold and distant outcast. That misery comes to a head when her guardian sexually assaults her in a merciless manner. The scene is utterly traumatizing, but Lisbeth doesn’t stay down for long.

In her own way, the vengeful hacker makes the act more scarring for the perpetrator. Not only does Salander commit the same act on him with a metal instrument, but she also blackmails him with footage of the original encounter. She uses this leverage to secure her freedom and financial security. For the final insult, she tattoos a “Rapist Pig” label on his chest. Rather than simply kill her abuser, she squeezes him for all he’s worth. What an oddly pragmatic approach to torture.^[9]

1 Barbie

You’d never expect torture from a family franchise like Toy Story, least of all from a dainty toy like Barbie. That said, Toy Story 3 pushes her to desperate measures. She initially buys into the paradise of Sunnyside Day Care, thanks in part to the romantic salesmanship of one resident, Ken. Unfortunately, the place soon turns into a brutal prison, so the toys must work together in an elaborate escape.

Barbie’s role in this plan is to find out a key piece of info from Ken. After tricking him into modeling clothes for her, she ambushes him and ties him up with a paddleball. She then subjects him to the unspeakable torture…of watching her rip his vintage outfits. It may not harm him physically, but the mere sight is enough to hurt his soul. Maybe that’s the most brutal torture of all.^[10]

fact checked by
Darci Heikkinen