Yet another installment of Villains Who Lost Because they forgot their powers. See the previous installments below.

http://www.cracked.com/article_24559_5-movie-villains-who-lost-because-they-forgot-their-powers.html

Lord Voldemort: Harry Potter

Lord Voldemort AKA the Dark Lord is one of the most renowned villains of all time, and one of the most powerful and versatile wizards in the Potterverse. Voldemort can do it all: he can fly (something only one other person can do…because he taught him how), he can teleport, he can…make random fire snakes, shout and create shockwaves, and survive death for the most part.

For some odd reason however, Voldemort forgets ALL of this when he faces Harry, the one guy prophesized to be able to kill him. The first time they meet, he makes the mistake of trying a killing curse on a baby. A spell made to kill anything is used to specifically kill a baby. He didn’t use any of dozens of his other spells, but the most powerful spell ever to kill something that can die to a cough or a sort of steep drop. But that’s only one time, surely he learns from his mistakes…

Nope. Second time he faces Harry directly, he does a bit better, he uses torture spells, disarms Harry, and generally gets the better of him…until again he goes for that killing curse and ends up in a beam struggle that lets Harry escape.

OK, but the third and last time they face, surely Voldemort switches up and uses his vast array of spells right? Right? Nope. Think again. He goes right for the killing curse and again gets into a beam struggle that destroys him. Now I’m not asking much from Voldemort. I’m not asking him to do the obvious thing and let one of his minions kill Harry, or to hold someone hostage and force Harry to surrender, all Voldemort needs to do is pick ANY of his spells he’s shown before and he wins. Hell, in the graveyard scene, he disarms Harry in a quick gesture and then tortures him with a flick of his wrist. Do that again. When he faces Dumbledore, he makes giant fire snakes, does some kind of spell to destroy glass and then points the shards at Dumbledore, and he even POSSESSES HARRY! Do any of that, and Voldemort easily wins. Literally any of it.

Seriously, just compare what he does with Dumbledore:

To his fights with Harry and see the difference. If he remembers to try any of that, Harry dies a horrible death.

Mimics: Edge of Tomorrow (Live Die Repeat)

The Mimics are the main villain of the epic Tom Cruise sci-fi movie, about a group of aliens attacking Earth and basically kicking its ass. The aliens are a hivemind that have the power to reset time each time they lose so they can anticipate every move. This allows them to slaughter any and every country’s forces with ease.

Tom Cruise’s character, Bill Cage, gets a dose of that power by killing one of their ‘special’ Mimics, an Alpha, and being doused in its blood, apparently hijacking their ability to reset the day each time he dies (usually reserved for the Mimic’s Alpha’s). He uses this to try to find a way to defeat them and ultimately does by finding the big bad, the Omega and the brains behind the hivemind, killing it and ending the threat of the mimics.

But that shouldn’t happen, at all. Firstly, as said before, the mimics are a hivemind, so what one sees, the others see. No matter how hijacked their power is, each time Bill Cage made an adjustment, they should’ve been able to make one too as surely an Alpha is killed before he makes it however far he does. But even if one isn’t, it’s said and shown that the Mimics KNOW Cage has their power and try to lure him into a trap via visions they send him. Again, being a hivemind, the Mimics would know as soon as Cage starts demolishing their troops and avoiding their every move, and should adjust accordingly. But that’s not the worst part. (The contrast between everyone else getting demolished, and Cage DOING the demolishing)

At some point Cage DOES fall for their trap and they fail by having a Mimic attack him, but refrain from killing him (as that resets everything), as an Alpha tries to drain his blood from behind. This is very stupid for a multitude of reasons. For one, why have the normal Mimic attack at all? Why not just let the Alpha jump Cage and drain him of his blood. Two, why stop the normal Mimic from killing Cage? Just make sure it’s drenched in his blood the same way he was from the Alpha, and there shouldn’t be any issues. Three, why have only two Mimics there? Did the Mimics forget they have thousands of soldiers, and at least a few Alphas that could be waiting at that trap to stop him? For a hivemind, they sure planned that trap like a group of individuals.

Essentially, if the Mimics remember that they’re a hivemind AND that they can pinpoint Cage’s position and send him images to lead him into a trap, they easily take their powers back, stop him, and win the battle for Earth. They only lost due to forgetting what they were and how they worked.

Jadis, the White Witch: Chronicles of Narnia

The White Witch in Chronicles of Narnia, she creates an eternal winter, she tricks Edmund to her side, and ultimately finagles a way to get Aslan to live up to his Jesus Allegory by sacrificing himself. Everything seems to be going great until the final battle where Aslan returns and ends up killing her himself. But it didn’t have to happen this way.

The White Witch has shown, time and time again, that she absolutely LOVES to turn her enemies to stone when they cross her. She has an entire statue display of fallen warriors at her castle and hits nearly every opponent with her wand to do so. So the question is, why didn’t she do so to Aslan?

The White Witch had Aslan seemingly powerless, allowing himself to be shaven, humiliated, and strapped to a table, and even killed by a dagger. He eventually revives due to some sacrifice mumbo jumbo where death is reversed but you know what’s NOT death and just as good? Turning him into a statue.

So fine, let’s say she HAS to kill him on the Stone Table, and HAS to go through the ritual. What stops her from turning Aslan into a statue AFTER he dies and bringing him to her castle? No way she goes through all the trouble of humiliating him, shaving him, etc. and doesn’t think to turn him to stone to complete the embarrassment. The only explanation, is that she forgot she could. Even if you argue that Aslan can counter petrification (as he helps others who are petrified), that would be normal invulnerable god-like Aslan, not this Aslan who gave himself up and was hurt and shaved by normal weapons. Also remember that when she died, the Witch reached for her sword (Aslan didn’t let her get it), as if he could be hurt and fended off by it, so clearly she thought she could hurt him. She lost only due to forgetting her favorite hobby and way of defeating her enemies, at the completely wrong time.

Queen Ravenna: Snow White

Queen Ravenna, famous for consulting a mirror on her life decisions and now for dying when she had no business doing so. Unlike the normal fairy tale, or production by Disney, in this story Ravenna dies from being surprise stabbed by Snow White after demolishing her in battle. Ignoring the fact that she’s taken such a stab just fine before, let’s take a look at some of Queen Ravenna’s powers she uses throughout the movie that could’ve helped with this moment.

Boom! She literally grabs a girl by the throat and sucks out her life energy. Sure, Ravenna wanted to carve out Snow White’s heart to get eternal youth, but at that moment, she’s literally dying and ends up croaking after about a minute of some strange seizure-like movements. If Ravenna just remembered that she can suck the life out of people at a moment’s notice, this doesn’t happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHYkujOVPE

And this. Ravenna uses a poison apple on Snow White (need them Disney parallels) and escapes in the time it takes a sword to swing, by transforming into some Ravens and flying away. Any reason she couldn’t do this same thing and grab a random person and suck their life out to save herself? No? Yeah Ravenna dropped the ball here.

And finally, something she could’ve used to simply win instead of mounting Snow White and trying to carve out her heart (through armor? Where’s the logic in that?) , Ravenna can grab people, sink her nails into them slightly and stop their heart. She does this to Snow White and either carves the heart out right there or does it later, and she wins. Period. The mirror even tells her she just needs to consume Snow White’s heart, not carve it out while she’s fighting and breathing, so this is possibly her biggest mess up in the entire movie.

That’s just a glimpse at her fight with Snow White and how she destroys her. Also note how she has these black…cutting demon things that she fails to use to restrain Snow White. I wasn’t even going to include that in here, but yet another power Ravenna refuses to use on Snow White, even when it’s being used in the next room. She literally chooses death over competence.