6 Movies Where The Hero and Villain Never Meet

Whenever you watch an action movie, it all seems to build up to a very specific point. The entire story is built around getting the villain and the hero in the same place at the same time, to do the ultimate stand-off where nine times out of ten, the hero wins without any real issues. Some movies decide to do things completely different though.

While it is ridiculously hard and sounds almost impossible to have your hero and villain never meet in a movie, some movies have actually done so with great success. Granted, most of them don’t, which is why this almost never gets done. But let’s take a look at some movies where the villain and hero never meeting each other doesn’t diminish the overall experience or story.

Mel Gibson Corazon Valiente, Nose, Skin, Lip, Eyebrow, Mouth, Beard, Sky, Human body, Jaw, Neck
Braveheart Patrick Mcgoohan, Gesture

Braveheart

While William Wallace smacks his way through a lot of English soldiers trying to get to King Edward “Longshanks,” the two actually never meet. The final battle almost gives you the impression that that big moment is going to happen, as King Edward is giving orders to the troops on the field, but before William can actually get to him he gets betrayed and brutally murdered as an example and warning to others trying to sympathize with his cause.

Truman Show Jim Carrey, Forehead, Chin, Hairstyle, Flash photography
Truman Show Trailer, Forehead, Nose, Glasses, Skin, Eyebrow, Vision care, Eyewear, Flash photography, Gesture

The Truman Show

While this isn’t an action movie at all, it does have a clear villain and hero. It’s not your typical trope but the movie does evolve to the point where Jim Carrey’s Truman Burbank becomes more and more aware of his situation which sets up his growth as a hero with a clear goal in mind: leave the TV show that his entire life has become because of the villain, Ed Harris’ Cristof. The two interact briefly, though never actually meet, and this just adds to the idea that Cristof acts like some sort of God hanging over Truman’s life.

Elijah Wood The Lord Of The Rings, Nose, Cheek, Hand, Eyebrow, Flash photography, Jaw, Gesture
Sauron In Lord Of The Rings, Cloud, Sky, Atmosphere, World, Flash photography

The Lord of the Rings

“The Lord of the Rings” has many heroes and villains acting together and seperately from each other, but the main conflict is about Frodo trying to destroy the One Ring and Sauron trying to capture Frodo to regain the ring’s power. Frodo runs into a lot — a lót — of Sauron’s handymen but never actually runs into Sauron himself. The main reason for his of course being that Sauron in the present time isn’t more than just an eye. But even then, Frodo manages to evade the eye’s gaze for most of his quest to Mount Doom, even when right under Sauron’s nose.

Luke Skywalker Looking, Sky, Flash photography
Vader Battlefront 2, Darth vader, Outerwear, Sleeve

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

A New Hope was the one Star Wars movie that did what every other movie seemed to struggle with massively, which is slow and proper pacing. A New Hope introduces us to Luke as he goes on an epic adventure to find out who he is and take down the Empire along the way, while also introducing us to the murderous Lord Vader who seems hellbent on making sure the Jedi don’t return. And despite the heroes and villains of the story pretty much constantly running into each other after “A New Hope,” the only main characters that actually interact with Vader as a main villain are Ben Kenobi and Leia. Luke and Vader just got a glimpse of each other but never actually meet.

Bruce Willis Fifth Element, Nose, Joint, Skin, Lip, Hand, Shoulder, Eyebrow, Arm, Muscle, Mouth
Just Bring Me Those Stones, Jaw

The Fifth Element

Gary Oldman’s Zorg was almost as memorable in this movie as Bruce Willis’ Corbin Dallas, but despite both characters being at odds for the entire length of the movie, they never physically meet. The one moment where they got close was when Corbin exited an elevator right as Zorg entered it, but calling that a meeting between villain and hero would be quite a stretch.

Spock Wrath Of Khan, Forehead, Gesture

Star Trek: Wrath of Khan

Despite Star Trek movies being on space ships, which makes meeting a bit hard, Star Trek lore has made it abundantly clear that while teleporting into someone else’s starship is hard, it’s not impossible. The main characters only talking via holoscreens and never physically interacting at all makes the movie a lot better, and it adds to the tension quite a bit.