Hans Gruber

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## Amazing Baddie

### Alias

Bubbi (by Ellis)
Bill Clay

### Allies

Volksfrei Movement (formerly)
John Mcclane (falsely)
Ellis (briefly)
Karl Vreski
Theo
Tony Vreski
Eddie
Franco
Fritz
Uli
Kristoff
Heinrich
Marco
James
Alexander

### Powers/Skills

Very high intelligence
Vast resources
Leadership
Manipulation
Mastery of tactics and strategy
Charisma
Marksmanship

### Goals

Steal 640 million dollars from Nakatomi Plaza.
Kill John McClane (both failed).

### Worst Actions

Executing Mr. Takagi for not knowing the vault's code key.
Trying to blow up the hostages on the roof as a distraction.

### Kill Count

8 (directly)
Several (indirectly)
At least dozens (attempted)

### Crimes

Mass murder
Terrorism
Attempted robbery
Identity theft
Theft
Child abuse
Destruction of property
Kidnapping
Unlawful imprisonment
Corruption
Treason
Embezzlement
Voyeurism
Defamation
Harassment
Incrimination
Impersonation
Jailbreak
Extortion
Blackmail
Conspiracy
Betrayal
Death threats
Attempted femicide
Senicide (implied)
Assault and battery
Public endangerment
Possession of explosives and automatic weapons

### Type of AB

Charismatic Mastermind

**Hans Gruber** is the main antagonist of the 1988 action thriller film *Die Hard* and the posthumous overarching antagonist in its 1995 threequel *Die Hard With a Vengeance*.

He is the leader of a group of German terrorists who organized the takeover of the Nakatomi Plaza skyscraper in Los Angeles, and the younger brother of Simon Gruber. Hans was a cold-hearted and calculating mastermind with high intelligence.

He was portrayed by the late Alan Rickman.

## His Brilliance and Evil Rankings

### What Makes Him Amazing?

* He orchestrated the near-perfect heist of the Nakatomi Plaza; even the FBI responding to a terrorist attack was a deliberate Plan B in case Mr. Takagi didn't give him the code key. If only John wasn't there, Hans and his crew would've gotten away with everything.
* Despite being Pure Evil, he only really counts as such due to his greed and high body count, and he's not sadistic at all.
* He's very charismatic, showing impeccable politeness and a modicum of education. He even has a few funny lines here and there (e.g. "Just so you know Mr. Takagi won't be joining us for the rest of his life"). Being played by Alan Rickman certainly helps too.
* Some of his victims (i.e. Harry Ellis and the Johnsons) are hard to mourn due to the former's cowardice in selling out John and the latter's willingness to shoot civilians.
* He fakes an American accent when caught unarmed by John, pretending to be an escaped hostage in an attempt to kill him and retrieve the detonators himself, during which he calls for backup in case something goes wrong. Then, once that plan fails due to John giving him an empty gun, Hans and Karl shoot the glass panes near where a barefoot John is taking cover during their gunfight and *then* gets back the detonators, showing that he knows how to use the environment to his advantage.

### What Makes Him Heinous?

* He attempted to murder over 30 hostages by blowing up the roof of the Nakatomi Plaza skyscraper, one of them being a pregnant woman.
* Shows no sympathy for Karl after McClane killed his brother Tony, insisting that the priority is the plan.
* He murdered Joseph Takagi and Harry Ellis in cold blood. First, Takagi was murdered after he told Hans he was going to have to kill him because he didn't know the code to the vault, horrifying John when he witnessed the interrogation. Hans murdered Ellis after he tried to reason with John by using his life and lives of the hostages as bargaining chips for John to surrender, causing panic to the hostages.
* He didn't care whatsoever that Karl was still on the roof when he detonated the explosives.
* Pretended to be a hostage and acted friendly to John MCclane before trying to kill him.
* He held John McClane's wife hostage while trying to escape with the stolen bonds.
	+ He then attempted to kill her and John after he was hanging from a ledge, trying to take them down with him as a last resort.

## Trivia

* In the second devised draft, Hans directly ordered the shooting down of police choppers, and shot an old lady dead once she panicked upon finding out his plans to blow the place up.

## External Links

* Hans Gruber on the Villains Wiki
* Hans Gruber on the Pure Evil Wiki
* Hans Gruber on the *Die Hard* Wiki
* Hans Gruber on the Unpublished Villains Wiki