15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes

Irene Adler balances Sherlock Holmes. She possesses intelligence and wit. She fights off the villains in foggy London. She serves as the main love interest and foil in Guy Ritchie's first Sherlock Holmes film. The sequel killed her right away.Game of Shadows appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'..

The cold open shows Professor Moriarty choking out Adler. He believes she is too close to Holmes. Her death pushes Holmes to hunt Moriarty like a bloodhound. Holmes already did this in the source material; the film needed more.Game of Shadows appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'.Professor Moriarty chokes out Adler because he thinks she is too close to Holmes. Her death makes Holmes pursue Moriarty like a bloodhound. Holmes already did this in the source material; the film needed a bigger push.

Bryan and his wife, Lenore, had a tough time in the franchise.Taken appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'.Bryan and Lenore are divorced before the first film. But when their daughter is kidnapped, Bryan acts fast. He shows what a great dad he is.Taken 3 appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'.Lenore's new husband sets her up for a murder for hire. He then makes the stupid choice to frame Bryan, a man with specific skills.

Lenore's death lets Bryan rejoin the fight against bad guys for an hour and a half. That is what people want. He should have acted without killing his ex-wife.

Deadpool 2 appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'.Deadpool 2 opens with the hero's girlfriend, Vanessa, getting killed on their anniversary. This is brutal. It makes Deadpool join the X-Men after he tries to blow himself up. However, she is not the only woman hurt in this movie.

Josh Brolin's Cable becomes a time-traveling jerk because his wife and daughter were hurt in the future. Cable stays gruff. Deadpool gets advice from his dead girlfriend throughout the film, which feels weak.

Deadpool reverses Vanessa and Cable's wife's deaths using time travel tricks. This makes their awful murders seem pointless.

Upgrade appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'.Upgrade tells the story of a paraplegic technophobe. A chip implants in his brain lets him walk. He then loses control to evil AI. This is a classic story.

Grey Trace and his wife drive home in a self-driving car that crashes. Four thugs attack them, killing the wife and cutting Trace's spine. This is a rough watch. This was avoidable.

Grey Trace should just be angry about the car crash, not about technology. He should not upgrade.Upgrade appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'.The protagonist needed a story not centered on his dead wife.

The Dark Knight appears in the list '15 Times Female Characters Died to Motivate Male Heroes'.The Dark Knight asks, "What if you accidentally hurt your own girlfriend?"The Dark KnightBruce Wayne wants to protect Gotham but also wants to kiss Rachel Dawes. Dawes is with Harvey Dent. The Joker gives Batman a choice: blow up Dawes or blow up Dent.

The Caped Crusader knows the police likely won't reach their hostage in time. Whoever he picks survives. Batman saves Dawes because he loves her. The Joker pulls a prank, switching locations. Batman saves Dent. Dawes dies. This gives Batman and Two-Face plot motivation.

Death Wishmight as well be calledFridging: The MovieCharles Bronson plays Paul Kersey, an architect wanting to live with his wife and daughter in Manhattan. Gang members follow the family home from the grocery store. They assault Kersey's wife and beat his daughter. This film is rough. See Bronson's vigilante at 12:15.

After his wife dies in the hospital, Kersey becomes Batman, lacking money and a cool car. He icies guys on the street until cops say, "We won't arrest you if you leave New York City forever, deal?" Then he moves to Chicago, killing guys for three more movies.

Billy Hope has it all. He is a New York City boxer with many titles, a wife, and a daughter. Miguel Escobar, the antagonistic boxer's brother, kills Hope's wife. This action sends the boxer's life off track. Hope turns to drugs and alcohol before getting a one-year suspension for assaulting a boxing official.

Billy finally gets his act together only after Child Protective Services takes his daughter. This guy needed double fridging to fix his life to face Escobar.

Austin Powers: International Man of MysteryThis movie is nearly perfect. The '60s spy freezes himself in the late '90s, defeats Dr. Evil, and marries his sidekick, Mrs. Kensington. The opening moments flip everything.The Spy Who ShaggedMeKensington turns out to be a fembot controlled by Dr. Evil. Powers must take down Kensington himself, essentially fridging his own wife.

Powers feels bummed for five minutes. Then he realizes he can sleep with anyone. Her robot death starts a new time-travel adventure. Kensington hanging around would have stopped it.

Julia McCullough has bad luck being married to a main character in aChristopher Nolan movieEarly in the film, Julia performs a water tank trick for her husband, Robert Angier, with Bernard Fallon operating it. Julia drowns in the tank. Angier then accuses Fallon of tying the wrong knot, but Fallon does not know what knot he tied.

This underwater trick sends the two magicians down separate paths as stage performers. They sabotage each other's shows and undercut one another. They perform spectacular stunts along the way, and Julia is responsible for all of it.

Cuckoo bananas.Mandy.The plot centers on a woman being tricked in a gruesome way. The movie takes place in the early '80s near the Mojave Desert. Red Miller lives there, reading the sci-fi novel Mandy. A would-be Manson cult leader sees Mandy walking home and decides he must make her his.

The cult leader does not start a conversation. He gets bikers to break into Mandy and Red's house. They force Mandy onto wasp venom while Red is tied with barbed wire. After Mandy rejects the leader and insults his music, he puts her in a bag and sets her on fire.

Mandy's burning triggers a violent reaction from Red. Red destroys the bikers and cult members who killed his girlfriend.

What makes Maximus, the Roman army's greatest general, fight a one-man war against Marcus Aurelius? Aurelius does not kill Maximus because he resents him or kicks him out of Rome. Aurelius crucifies Maximus's wife and children instead.

This biblical-scale trick starts Maximus's journey from citizen to slave to Rome's savior. Spurred by his wife's trick, Maximus passes out during their burial. Slave drivers kidnap him, forcing him to fight to the death for local entertainment. Without this, he could not rise through the ranks to get revenge on Aurelius.

This strange Val Kilmer crime film begins with a classic trick. While passing the Salton Sea, a mysterious trumpet player and his wife are attacked, and she is killed in front of him. The trumpet player takes on two identities: Tom Van Allen and Danny Parker, to become an informant for the police and hopefully catch the killers.

Daytime, he is Danny Parker, a speed freak. Nighttime, he is Tom Van Allen, a trumpet player and speed freak. He connects with a local meth dealer, the police, and the people behind his wife's murder.The Salton Sea.This is a decent neo-noir. However, the movie needs a dead wife to exist.

You and your partner catch a serial killer using biblical symbols. You get pulled into the whole thing.Se7enDetective David Mills gets assigned the case of John Doe, a killer who murders according to the seven deadly sins. Doe hands himself to Mills. His partner and Mills agree to tell the police anything, as long as Mills and his partner take him somewhere secret.

They reach the spot. A delivery driver brings a package for Detective Mills. Inside is his wife's head. Doe claims he envied what Mills and his wife shared. He thinks Mills deserves death; Mills will get it by embodying wrath. This twist is wild, but it hurts a woman living her life.

Christopher Nolan directs films where wives and girlfriends freeze before the movie begins. This shows the protagonist's emotional distance. Nolan pushes this idea to eleven.MementoLeonard Shelby remains emotionally detached. He also cannot hold onto recent memories.

Amnesia causes major trouble. He investigates his wife's murder. Her brutal death by what Leonard thinks are two attackers drives the movie. The shocking ending stays hidden, but one woman ends up in the fridge.

The CrowThe Crow may be the mall goth style of the early '90s. It is also a major example of the fridge trope. The dark story starts in Detroit on Devil's Night (October 30th). That night, the whole town nearly burns down. It feels like the Purge, just like the Purge.

Spooky rock guy Eric Draven and his fiancée Shelley are in their loft. Greasy creeps break in, torture and murder her, then kill Draven too. This brutal fridging sends Draven back to Detroit a year later as The Crow for revenge. After he eliminates the creepy gang, Draven returns to the grave and stops.