13 Movie Villains Who Sought Immortality - And Nearly Got It

The Villain: Walter Donovan is the wealthy American industrialist and collector who initially hires Professor Henry Walton Jones Sr. to find the missing part of his Grail tablet and, in turn, the Holy Grail’s resting place. 

How He Tried To Achieve Immortality: Jones Sr. discovers that Donovan has sold his soul to the devil, allying himself with the Nazis in his thirst for divine power, and is taken captive. Therefore, Donovan hires Indiana Jones under the same circumstances as his father. After Indiana discovers the Grail’s location, foolishly allows that information to fall into the Nazis’ hands, and frees his old man (after becoming a captive himself), he reaches the Temple of the Sun in the Republic behind Donovan and his antisemitic friends. While there, Donovan shoots Jones Sr. to motivate Indy to navigate the traps protecting the Grail and retrieve it - the healing powers of the Grail being the only thing that can save his father. 

How It Turned Out: Donovan follows Indy as he successfully defuses the caves for safe passage, leading them to a room guarded by a deceptively geriatric knight and filled with many chalices, ranging from sacred-looking to archaic, only one of which is the true Grail. In short, Donovan chooses poorly (thanks to Schneider’s "expertise"), and drinking from a false Grail causes him to rapidly age beyond death. All that remains of him is his Nazi pin.

The Villain: Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, is one of the most powerful wizards of all time, second to only Albus Dumbledore. Like most English wizards, Riddle attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unlike most wizards, Tom is motivated by an extreme prejudice against Muggles (promoting the idea of "purebloods"). He and his followers commit countless slayings and other atrocities in order to rid the world of Muggle-borns and create a totalitarian Wizarding World for him to rule.

How He Tried To Achieve Immortality: At the age of 16, Voldemort creates his first Horcrux, an object in which he hides a fragment of his soul to become immortal. Ultimately, he creates eight Horcruxes, one being Harry Potter, Voldemort unintentionally latching a part of his soul onto Harry after attempting to do away with him as a child. 

How It Turned Out: After trying to kill Harry, Voldemort spends the next 14 years without a physical body and unable to die because of his existing Horcruxes. Eventually, he gets a new body, forcing Harry to find and destroy all of Voldemort’s Horcruxes (including the one that exists inside himself). The Dark Lord is finally taken down by his own curse after unknowingly using the Elder Wand against its master, Harry Potter.

The Villain: Kaecilius is a sorcerer and a former student of the Ancient One and the Masters of the Mystic Arts. Not unlike Stephen Strange, Kaecilius discovers that the Ancient One draws power from the dark dimension, becoming disillusioned with her teachings and believing her to be denying others eternal life. 

How He Tried To Achieve Immortality: Motivated by the “greater good” as well as a desire to be reunited with his deceased wife and son, Kaecilius forms the Zealots, who intend on bringing Dormammu to Earth. Dormammu promises eternal life.

How It Turned Out: Doctor Strange uses the Time Stone to bargain with Dormammu, allowing the inter-dimensional being out of Strange’s time loop if he leaves Earth and takes the Zealots with him. Unfortunately for Kaecilius, Dormammu’s eternal existence doesn’t mean anything equatable to warm and friendly immortality or longevity, but rather a horrible existence in the Dark Dimension.

The Villain: Jim Hudson is a blind art gallery owner who is a member of the Order of the Coagula allied with the Armitage family, an affluent bunch who capture Black people and use them as vessels to transfer their consciousness and achieve a sort of immortality. 

How He Tried To Achieve Immortality: When Rose Armitage brings her new boyfriend Chris Washington to her family’s estate, Jim takes an interest in Chris for his photography skills (for obvious reasons). Despite claiming to disapprove of the Order’s racist beliefs and saying it’s nothing personal, Jim wins the bid to use Chris as a vessel. 

How It Turned Out: Chris is hypnotized, paralyzed, and prepped for the twisted procedure. Jim is put under. However, Chris escapes, defeats the Armitage family, and uses the antlers of a hunting trophy to stab the patriarch - who then stumbles into the operating room and knocks over a candle, leaving Jim to burn while unconscious.

The Villain: Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard, was one of the most terrifying pirates of all time, sailing the West Indies throughout the 18th century. In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, he sails upon his ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge - which spits fire from its bow and is decorated with the bones of Blackbeard’s victims. He’s incredibly cruel to his crew and often kills to make a statement. Some of his men, meanwhile, are resurrected as zombie officers, as Blackbeard is skilled in the use of the dark arts. He keeps captured vessels in bottles as prizes, including the Black Pearl.

How He Tried To Achieve Immortality: Living with the knowledge of his prophesied death at the hands of a one-legged man of his own making, which turns out to be Hector Barbossa, Blackbeard seeks out the much-fabled Fountain of Youth as a way of proactively cheating death. To utilized the Fountain's power, two silver chalices must be retrieved from Ponce de León’s flagship, the Santiago. A mermaid’s tear must be placed in one chalice and drank from while someone else drinks from the other chalice without the tear. The person who doesn’t drink the tear dies and their lifeforce is given to the other.

How It Turned Out: With the help of his daughter, Angelica, and Jack Sparrow, Blackbeard finds the Fountain just as the British Royal Navy (led by Barbossa) and the Spaniards show up. A battle ensues in which Blackbeard is fatally injured by Barbossa and the poisonous Sword of Triton (which also cuts Angelica). Blackbeard asks his daughter to die for him and she agrees; however, Sparrow lies, convincing Blackbeard to drink from the wrong chalice.

The Villain: Ichirō Yashida is saved by Wolverine during the WWII Nagasaki bombing. Grateful and amazed by Wolverine's regenerative abilities, Yashida offers Logan his sword - to which the latter replies, “Keep it safe for me, someday I’ll come get it.” After the war, Yashida becomes obsessed with Wolverine’s healing abilities and establishes the power technology conglomerate, Yashida Corporation.

How He Tried To Achieve Immortality: Thanks to an adamantium bullet, Wolverine loses most of his memories and never returns to Yashida. On his deathbed, Yashida sends his foster granddaughter Yukio to find Wolverine and bring him to Japan. While there, Yashida quasi-reveals that he’s developed a technology capable of removing mutations and transferring them into the body of another. With that in mind, he asks for Wolverine’s regenerative abilities, offering to “end [his] eternity." He wasn't willing to die in 1945 and he's not ready now. Logan says no. 

How It Turned Out: After faking his demise, Yashida keeps himself alive using the Silver Samurai armor - which he then dons to fight Wolverine, cutting off his claws and then extracting his mutation. The process is interrupted by Mariko Yashida, who allows Wolverine to stab her grandfather with his bone claws, ending him for good.