One Of The Most Shocking Betrayals In Movie History Is Based On A Real-Life Double-Cross

In The Godfather Part II, new Mafia don Michael Corleone is attacked at home while his wife sleeps and his children play with their toys. He survives the assassination attempt and suspects his business partner Hyman Roth is behind it, along with the help of a traitorous family member.

It's much later, while partying in Cuba with his brother Fredo, Roth, and Roth's right-hand man Johnny Ola that Michael confirms the conspiracy. After pretending not to know Ola, Fredo stupidly announces, “Johnny Ola told me about this place,” which sends Michael into a tizzy. Covered in confetti from a New Year's celebration, Michael kisses Fredo and reveals that he knows the truth. He orders hits on Roth and Ola, but spares Fredo while their mother Carmela is still alive.

Alas, their mother soon passes, and Michael has Fredo terminated on a fishing boat near his compound. While we know Fredo exchanged information with Roth and Ola for compensation, the film never reveals how much of the plot Fredo knew about, and therefore how deep the betrayal actually was.

In a poignant flashback to 1941, Fredo is shown to be the only family member who supported Michael joining the US Marines. The movie ends with present-day mobbed-up Michael looking out over the lake containing his brother's body.

In Braveheart, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce are Scottish allies against English imperialism. However, Robert's father is in cahoots with the English to make his son Scotland's king. Wallace defends Scotland from another English invasion, but his army loses when his fellow noblemen are bribed to withdraw and Wallace discovers, after putting a knife to his throat and tearing off his helmet, that Robert was fighting with England. The reveal is almost too much for Wallace to bear.

Robert regrets his actions and tries to organize a meeting with Wallace, but Robert's father uses the opportunity to have Wallace captured and turned over to the English. As nearly everybody now knows, Wallace is tortured and executed.

Although Robert becomes Scotland's king, instead of accepting English rule, he and his army chant Wallace's name and go into battle at Bannockburn, successfully earning Scotland its freedom.

Having eluded the Imperial fleet in The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo, Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO take refuge in the idyllic-sounding Cloud City governed by Han's friend Lando Calrissian. It's a warm reunion that ends in a sudden cold snap: Darth Vader waiting in ambush. 

Lando apologizes to Han, explaining that Vader arrived first and threatened to take over the city if he didn't get his fugitives. Lando eventually redeems himself by helping the crew escape, and joins the Rebel Alliance.

In the first film of The Matrix franchise, the Nebuchadnezzar crew get ambushed by Agents and police after entering the Matrix and visiting the Oracle. Morpheus sacrifices himself to let the others escape, but when they try to use the phone-portals, they get blocked. 

It turns out that one of their own, Cypher, was on the other end killing their real bodies. He dispatches Dozer, Apoc, and Switch before setting upon Neo. Just as the plug is about to be pulled, an injured Tank kills Cypher and frees Neo and Trinity. 

As was alluded to in an earlier restaurant scene, Cypher gave up Morpheus to Agent Smith in exchange for blissful reinsertion into the Matrix. Looking at that juicy steak, it's easy to understand why.

Virtually all the events that happen before and during Aliens result from an ulterior motive. Partway through her bloody rescue mission of alien-hunted colonists, Ellen Ripley discovers that the executive who organized the mission, Carter Burke, had sent the colonists to their demise to turn a profit on alien eggs. 

But that's not his worst motive. Ripley later awakens in a locked room with a little girl survivor and two facehuggers released by Burke to impregnate the females, which would have made it easier to smuggle the aliens onto Earth. Alas for Burke, the girls are saved and he gets killed by one of his desired possessions.

Unlike many of the other betrayals on this list, this one is almost impossible to forgive.

In Gladiator, Roman general Maximus is tapped by Marcus Aurelius to succeed him as emperor. Marcus's son Commodus gets wind of this and kills his father. Now the emperor, Commodus requests the general's loyalty but is rejected. However, Maximus's second-in-command, Quintus, sides with the illegitimate emperor and orders the execution of Maximus and his family. Maximus escapes, but it's too late for his wife and son, resulting in a horrifying moment that spurs his quest for vengeance.

Quintus gets something of a redemption arc, though, as he refuses to help Commodus during his climactic duel with Maximus, which results in the illegitimate emperor's demise.