Lesson 4

[Jeremy Kirk]

Subject line: Jeremy Villain Track!

What I learned doing this assignment is creating multiple bad guy’s makes for a better story.

1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.

• A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot. The society of assassins have been trying to kill Jackie for years. He’s sent on the most dangerous of job’s and perseveres. Because of this Birchwood, head of the assassin’s society, places a ten-million-dollar bounty on Jackie’s head. This brings out all the killers to the schoolyard.
• B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero? First, Birchwood tries to kill Jackie in a botched hit, when that fails, he creates the bounty. This causes everyone to try and take a shot at Jackie including his neighbors.
• C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie? Birchwood has the means and money to get killers and, in some cases, the “best” assassins to go after Jackie.
• D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done? Birchwood will be shot dead by his son, that he abandoned for being weak.

2. Include labels with each step of their plan
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1. MISTAKE: Birchwood farms out the hit to Yang and Wang to take out Jackie in a take-out line. But Jackie and his angel are far too clever and escape the hit.
2. DILEMMA: Birchwood now has a problem. He tried and missed. He has to come up with another way.
3. DECISION/KILL HIM: Birchwood creates a bounty of ten-million-dollars and places it on Jackie’s head.
4. PLAN/BOUNTY: By placing such a large bounty in the world, assassins from all over come to collect the prize.
5. FIRST ASSASSIN: The first assassin to reach Jackie is Moose LeHarl and his throwing axes. This is the first time Jackie uses the divine weapon and shoots Moose and causes him to regurgitate frogs.
6. SECOND ASSASIN: after saving Shelly, Jackie encounters Johnny Wrought on the road. After an “explosive” fight, he crashes Johnny into the back of a car.
7. CHOOSE THE BATTLE GROUND: Birchwood receives a call from Jackie that lets him know where he will be, a shipping yard. Birchwood sends out fifty mercenaries to kill Jackie once and for all.
8. SHIT GETS BIBLICAL: Jackie destroys the kill squad with his divine weapon, but gets mortally shot in the process. Birchwood arrives on the scene and finds complete devastation. Jackie fights Letha Koffin, while Yael fights her Guardian Angel Sariel.
9. FITTING ENDING: Once Birchwood gets into his limo, he finds his dejected son Gale in the back with a gun trained on him. After arguing at each other Birchwood goes for a machine gun. Gale and Birchwood shoot each other dead.

[Jason Lauer]

Jason Lauer’s Villain Track

## **Villain: Damien Voss – Breakdown of Strategy and Outcome**

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### **A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero?**

**Damien Voss’s** master plan is to force **Rick Maddox** into reliving the **worst moment of his covert ops career**—a mission in which Rick had to **choose between saving an entire city or rescuing his trapped teammates**. He chose the mission. The world got peace, and Rick got fame—but at the cost of the people who trusted him.

Now, Voss kidnaps the President’s grandson and recreates the impossible choice: **Save the boy**… or **stop a missile from hitting a civilian population center**.

The goal isn’t just to kill Rick physically—Voss wants to **reignite that same moral torment** and break him from the inside out. If Rick chooses the boy, thousands die. If he stops the missile, the boy burns—live for the world to see.

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#### **VILLAIN PLAN LABELS (Steps with updated emotional and moral labels):**

1. **LURE THE LEGEND** – *Bait Plan*
Kidnap the President’s grandson and demand Rick Maddox—Dutch Striker himself—be sent in. Lure him back to the site of his most defining and tragic mission: **Blackridge**.

2. **TRAP THE CONSCIENCE** – *Mirror Plan*
Rebuild the base with advanced traps modeled after Rick’s iconic missions, but more importantly, recreate the scenario that forced Rick to leave men behind.

3. **REVEAL THE TRUTH** – *Guilt Plan*
Leak the real reason Rick’s original team died: it wasn’t cowardice, it was sacrifice. Rick had to **manually arm a device** that stopped a WMD strike—but left his men with no way out. He never forgave himself, even as the public turned him into a legend.

4. **FORCE THE CHOICE AGAIN** – *Moral Trial Plan*
Rig the missile to hit a city unless disarmed. Rick only has time to **rescue the boy OR stop the missile**—not both. Voss wants Rick to relive his trauma and either:

* Save the city and kill the boy, confirming he hasn’t changed.
* Save the boy and doom thousands, corrupting his own legacy.

5. **REPLACE THE LEGEND** – *Legacy Theft Plan*
Voss broadcasts the entire event as a legacy war. If Rick fails, Voss becomes the new icon of power and control. He won’t just win—he’ll rewrite who the world believes was the better man.

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### **B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?**

1. **Trap-based Assaults** – High-tech killzones styled after Rick’s classic missions, but digitized and deadlier.
2. **Emotional Pressure** – Forces Rick into a choice that echoes his greatest loss: save one or save many.
3. **Public Exposure** – Reveals classified footage of Rick’s impossible decision, spinning it to question whether it was ever justified.
4. **Media Weaponization** – Voss frames Rick’s every move through the lens of moral failure or outdated methods.
5. **Physical Combat** – In the climax, Voss fights Rick atop the missile gantry, taunting him to "make the same call again."

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### **C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?**

**Advantages:**

* **Youth & Precision** – Trained in modern tactics, he’s faster, leaner, and sharper.
* **Technological Superiority** – Full command of Blackridge's AI systems, drones, and predictive surveillance.
* **Psychological Warfare** – Intimate knowledge of Rick’s most painful memory.
* **Control of Time** – Voss controls the countdown clock, forcing Rick into rushed decisions.

**Exploitation:**

* Uses Rick’s **past trauma** as a battlefield.
* Forces a **moral replay** of Rick’s old mission—turning strength into hesitation.
* Controls the **narrative and battlefield**, making Rick look reckless or obsolete.

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### **D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?**

**Fitting End:**
Rick **outsmarts Voss** not through muscle, but through sacrifice. He manages to **rig the launch to self-destruct**, preventing the missile from firing while **simultaneously freeing the boy** using analog timing and mechanical override.

**Voss is left behind**, screaming that this wasn’t possible. As the silo implodes, his entire performance is wiped out—no broadcast, no legacy, no one watching.

He dies alone, consumed by the very weapon he thought would immortalize him.

Meanwhile, Rick walks away **not as a myth—but as a man who finally made the right choice** and lived with it.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 1 day ago by  Jason Lauer.

[Tom Wilson]

Tom’s Villain Track
Doing this assignment, I learned it’s important to know if the Villain plans ahead or thinks on his feet.

1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.

• What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot. General Ratkin abruptly pulls U.S. troops out of Afghanistan so he can run for President and forces popular Afghan scientist Sara to marry him and campaign with him so voters forget he deserted the Afghans and put him in the White House.

• How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero? He threatens to return Sara to Afghanistan if she doesn’t help him get elected President. She says no. He lies to the FBI, says she’s a terrorist, forcing her to flee to Afghanistan to find the real terrorist and clear her name.

• What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit it in this movie? For many, Ratkin’s a war hero which helps his political campaign. For others, he’s a coward who chose his own political ambitions over saving the Afghans.

• What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done? Ratkin is wounded, nearly killed in a political assassination attempt.

2. Include labels with each step of your plan.

1. COERCION – Ratkin forces Sara to become his fiancé to help him be elected President.

2. DILEMMA – If Ratkin can’t get Sara to campaign with him, he will not be elected President.

3. GET OUT OF DODGE – Ratkin exits Afghanistan with U.S. troops and Sara.

4. PLAN NOT WORKING – Ratkin asks Sara to campaign with him. She says no.

5. RAT HER OUT – Because Sara turns Ratkin down, he lies to the FBI: she’s a terrorist!

6. SOLUTION – Ratkin gets Matt, Sara’s true love, to get her to help him win the election.

7. BIG CAMPAIGN RALLIES – Ratkin uses Sara’s charm so voters put him in the White House.

8. UNFITTING ENDING – Ratkin is wounded and calls the attack on him his badge of honor.