# Heroic tv show characters who have committed cold-blooded murder (spoilers inevitable) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881 "2009-09-28T19:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/81 "2009-10-01T05:41:30Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > It’s been a while since I’ve seen _The Shield_, but I’m sure Vic Mackey or his partners had to have killed somebody in cold blood! The Strike Team killed a bunch of people: [spoiler] Terry Crowley of course, killed with much malice aforethought. Vic locks two rival gang members in a freight container. When he comes back to check on them only one gets out. The Strike Team set up an Irish guy to take the fall for the Armenian money train robbery. The Armenians duly find this patsy, mutilate him and dump his body. The rapist from season two who got his face burnt on the stove by Vic was ultimately shanked in a holding cell. Not only that, Vic pinned the blame on another cop and she very nearly lost her job over it. Vic kills the Armenian foot-chopper in cold blood and then massages the crime scene to make it look righteous. Aceveda stalks and kills one of his rapists and has the other one murdered in jail. Shane drops a grenade in Lem’s lap. Vic brutally tortures and then murders Guardo Lima for Lem’s murder. As noted above, Guardo had nothing to do with it. Vic also set up a gunfight between the Armenians and Mexicans fully intending for Shane to get caught in the crossfire. Shane escaped but the gangs blew each other away. There’s probably several I’ve forgotten about.[/spoiler] Malcolm Reynolds shoots three unarmed people in Serenity: The Operative- with malice aforethought but without results due to body armor. The Reaver victim- an act of mercy rather than malice. The surviving Alliance pilot at Haven- definite malice. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/82 "2009-10-01T06:15:52Z")
> [@emjaya](#): > > In L.A. Law, Tommy Mullaney shoots a serial killer in cold blood. [Link](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0624049/) Was it in cold blood? Hadn’t the killer broken into Zoe’s house, presumably to kill her? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/83 "2009-10-01T09:53:26Z")
In _Rescue Me_, Tommy’s (Dennis Leary’s character) son is killed by a drunk driver who speeds off. After he is captured, it turns out that the situation is such that he will likely walk. Tommy plans on killing him, but is eventually talked into letting his (much older) Uncle Teddy do the deed. Teddy walks up to the guy as he exits a train (being escorted/extradited back to NYC) and shoots him at point blank range, killing him. Teddy is convicted and serves a couple of years in jail, where he’s generally treated as a hero. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/84 "2009-10-01T09:56:10Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > The Strike Team killed a bunch of people Also [Doctor Doom](http://robotchicken.wikia.com/wiki/Insert_SHIELD_Joke_Here). ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/85 "2009-10-01T10:30:04Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Malcolm Reynolds shoots three unarmed people in Serenity: > The Operative- with malice aforethought but without results due to body armor. > The Reaver victim- an act of mercy rather than malice. > The surviving Alliance pilot at Haven- definite malice. I’d class Malcom as an anti-hero more than a heroic character. No matter how big and damn he think he is. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/86 "2009-10-01T12:05:26Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Missed edit window, sorry for the double post > > Technically, it’s her Grandmother’s brother (I think) so he’d be her Great Uncle. Not that he was very great. He’s a fairly minor part of the story, so it might not be a huge departure, I can’t really say though since I never read the books. > > When she was a child, she read his mind, and he was thinking dirty thoughts about her. He had to leave town after this came out, and he only came back for the Grandmother’s funeral. Sookie gets freaked out about seeing him there, and explains why to Bill, who later tracks him down where he’s living now and kills him. Later Sookie inherits some money from him, but she doesn’t want it and gives the money to Jason. That’s pretty much his entire story. Okay, that sounds more familiar. It has been awhile since I read the first couple of books. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/87 "2009-10-01T23:42:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’d like to ask people to specifically discount anti-heroes and villain protagonists like Dexter. Also out are reformed villains, at least before their come-to-Jesus moments; in other words, anything Xena did before her own series is out, as is anything Angelus did (though not necessarily Angel). “Good Xena” arguably committed murder at least once, when she killed the man known as the Green Dragon (season three two-part episode _The Debt_). **Skald** , I know you’re a Xena fan so you must already know the details. For everyone else, here’s a somewhat simplified description of the situation. Xena receives a message informing her that the Green Dragon (a minor king or feudal lord in what is now China) has recently executed Xena’s former mentor (and ex-lover?). He’s also one evil dude in general. Xena decides he needs killin’. Xena’s assassination plan is foiled, and she is captured and sentenced to death. She naturally escapes at the last minute, destroying the Green Dragon’s palace in the process. Xena then has a final confrontation with the Green Dragon but appears to realize that she’s defeated him thoroughly and doesn’t need to kill him. But the Green Dragon begins taunting Xena about how he’d killed her mentor, making a big point of saying the woman was crying as he cut her heart out. This is when Xena kills him. Had Xena’s initial plan succeeded then that would indeed have been cold-blooded murder, regardless of how unsympathetic the victim was. But by the time she _actually_ kills him it looks more like voluntary manslaughter to me. Since the Green Dragon was deliberately provoking Xena just before she killed him, it’s at worst _hot-blooded_ murder. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/88 "2009-10-02T02:32:01Z")
From one of the Lethal Weapon movies. “Diplomatic immunity” **BLAM!** “It’s been revoked” ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/89 "2009-10-02T04:32:30Z")
In one of the later seasons or “ER”, Nurse Samantha Taggart, played by the lovely Linda Cardellini, has her ex-husband, played by perpetual bad-guy Garret Dillahunt, escape from prison. He and his fellow escapees come to the ER to get his son, shoot the place up, kidnap Sam and her son, then go on a spree that results in other deaths, including the ex-husband killing one of his own partners. Since this guy has had a history of violent crime, insists that a “boy should be with his father”, and is proven to be a ruthless killer, Sam decides there is only one way to end this. When she gets a chance, she gets a gun, finds her ex-husband sleeping in another room, and kills him in his sleep, all while her son watches from the van. The bastard had it coming, but it was a cold-blooded kill. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/90 "2009-10-02T15:37:10Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > [ > Oh please. The only thing wrong with Kennedy was that Tara was dead. It’s not like Willow was cheating on her. I never said that Willow was cheating on Tara (though it would not surprise me to find out that she did, or that she would have if Tara had lived long enough.) I just meant that I never liked Kennedy; she was irritating. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/91 "2009-10-02T15:39:34Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > “Good Xena” arguably committed murder at least once, when she killed the man known as the Green Dragon (season three two-part episode _The Debt_). > > **Skald** , I know you’re a Xena fan so you must already know the details. For everyone else, here’s a somewhat simplified description of the situation. Xena receives a message informing her that the Green Dragon (a minor king or feudal lord in what is now China) has recently executed Xena’s former mentor (and ex-lover?). He’s also one evil dude in general. Xena decides he needs killin’. > > Xena’s assassination plan is foiled, and she is captured and sentenced to death. She naturally escapes at the last minute, destroying the Green Dragon’s palace in the process. Xena then has a final confrontation with the Green Dragon but appears to realize that she’s defeated him thoroughly and doesn’t need to kill him. But the Green Dragon begins taunting Xena about how he’d killed her mentor, making a big point of saying the woman was crying as he cut her heart out. This is when Xena kills him. > > Had Xena’s initial plan succeeded then that would indeed have been cold-blooded murder, regardless of how unsympathetic the victim was. But by the time she _actually_ kills him it looks more like voluntary manslaughter to me. Since the Green Dragon was deliberately provoking Xena just before she killed him, it’s at worst _hot-blooded_ murder. I was thinking of that one when I opened the thread (which is why I phrased my OP as I did). I think it’s cold-blooded murder, myself. Particularly as Xena had no illusions about whether it was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/92 "2009-10-02T17:05:11Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I just meant that I never liked Kennedy; she was irritating. I recently rewatched the last season, and was keeping an eye on the whole Kennedy thing. The impression I got was that while she wasn’t as endearing as Tara, she was actually pretty good in her interaction with Willow - I thought she was a good girlfriend for her, especially in the episode where she turns into Warren. The parts where she is irritating is where she’s constantly challenging Buffy - and a lot of the other characters do the same thing and come off just as dickish. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/93 "2009-10-02T17:18:58Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Police Chief Wiggum once shot the captain of the basketball team, although I am not sure he killed him. Also, it was a Halloween episode so that probably doesn’t count. Plus the guy was turning into a monster, according to Wiggum’s testimony. Still, not a nice thing to do. If Halloween episodes count: Zombie Flanders: Hey Homer, I’m feeling a little peckish. Mind if I…NIBBLE ON YOUR BRAIN? BLAM! Bart: Dad! You shot zombie Flanders! Homer: Flanders was a zombie??? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/94 "2009-10-02T17:21:29Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > If Halloween episodes count: > > Zombie Flanders: Hey Homer, I’m feeling a little peckish. Mind if I…NIBBLE ON YOUR BRAIN? > > BLAM! > > Bart: Dad! You shot zombie Flanders! > > Homer: Flanders was a zombie??? Well, this is a close call, because even though Homer thought he was committing cold blooded murder, in fact Flanders WAS a zombie and Homer actually acted, inadvertantly, out of self defense. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/95 "2009-10-02T17:36:36Z")
How about the Simpsons killing all the mutants in the [HΩmega Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehouse_of_Horror_VIII)? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/96 "2009-10-02T17:43:41Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Then again; Data was designed to be flexible. Capable or learning and changing. Just because he WAS programmed a particular way doesn’t mean he’d stay that way. When the bad guy killed this woman who helped Data, Data finally said “I cannot permit this to continue” and pointed the phaser. I consider it a moment of personal growth. > > IIRC, the man talks about how he’ll get out and add Data to his collection sooner or later. And Data tells him that no he won’t; all his “collected” goods are being returned to their owners. The collector says Data must enjoy his victory and Data says something like “Enjoy? No, I do not. I feel nothing. I am an android.” and walks out. Which in context was something of an extra slam to the guy who had been treating him as an object. Particularly since that episode established (to the viewer; I’m not sure Riker realizes it) that Data has gained the ability to lie. That, not the ability to kill, is the true moment of growth (he could not have his job if it were impossible for him to kill) and he very sensibly keeps to himself. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/97 "2009-10-02T17:47:32Z")
> [@stanger](#): > > In one of the later seasons or “ER”, Nurse Samantha Taggart, played by the lovely Linda Cardellini, has her ex-husband, played by perpetual bad-guy Garret Dillahunt, escape from prison. He and his fellow escapees come to the ER to get his son, shoot the place up, kidnap Sam and her son, then go on a spree that results in other deaths, including the ex-husband killing one of his own partners. > > Since this guy has had a history of violent crime, insists that a “boy should be with his father”, and is proven to be a ruthless killer, Sam decides there is only one way to end this. > > When she gets a chance, she gets a gun, finds her ex-husband sleeping in another room, and kills him in his sleep, all while her son watches from the van. > > The bastard had it coming, but it was a cold-blooded kill. You omitted the fact that he earlier raped Sam. I’m not sure whether the son witnessed that or not, as I was busy shuddering in horror at the idiocy of the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/98 "2009-10-02T23:36:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I was thinking of that one when I opened the thread (which is why I phrased my OP as I did). I think it’s cold-blooded murder, myself. Particularly as Xena had no illusions about whether it was wrong. Well, she had no illusions about whether _Gabrielle_ would think it was wrong. Later in the season (_The Bitter Suite_) the fact that Xena lied to Gabrielle about having killed the Green Dragon was portrayed as a greater sin than actually killing him. Frankly, Gabrielle’s sanctimonious behavior about the whole situation only served to make me more sympathetic towards Xena’s chosen course of action. There’s no doubt that Xena deliberately killed the Green Dragon in a situation where he was no immediate threat to her or anyone else, so it can’t be justified as a self-defense or heat-of-battle killing. By the definition of “cold-blooded” murder you give in your OP then this situation fits the bill, but I don’t agree with your definition. A “cold-blooded murder” normally means one carried out without any strong emotion on the part of the killer. Killing someone in a fit of rage may be murder, but there’s nothing “cold-blooded” about it. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/99 "2009-10-03T08:01:57Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > I’d class Malcom as an anti-hero more than a heroic character. He’s neither - he’s a soldier. ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881/100 "2009-10-03T09:22:24Z")
On Criminal Minds Elle waits for a rapist that was getting off because she fucked up the sting to arrest him and shots him in cold blood. Also Leroy Jethro Gibbs doesn’t pull the trigger but just as well have when he knows he can’t get a conviction for gang member Ceasar who kills a marine. He brings the other gang members in and proves to them that Ceasar killed their leader in an effort to take over then tells them he can’t get a conviction. He then drops him off at the gangs club and says “Goodbye Ceasar” as the other gang members surround him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroic-tv-show-characters-who-have-committed-cold-blooded-murder-spoilers-inevitable/511881.md?page=6)