# Movies: Child Heroes who are Killers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577 "2011-09-17T00:45:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/1 "2011-09-17T00:45:18Z")
I’m not talking about when they are billed as such. I’m talking about when they do so and it is passed by without comment or consequence. In _The Incredibles_, Dash kills close to a dozen guards flying those disk things. It is never acknowledged, recognized or dealt with. In _The Forbidden Kingdom_, at one point in the final battle, the hero kid grabs the sword of a soldier attacking him and slashes the guy’s own throat with it while the guy is still holding it. A short while later, of course, he essentially kills the Jade Warlord, but I was still rather surprised with the casualness of killing the soldier. Where else is a Child Hero shown to be a killer and it is never acknowledged? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/2 "2011-09-17T00:49:12Z")
in _Superman Returns_, Superman’s illegitimate lovechild kills a thug by throwing a piano at him. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/3 "2011-09-17T00:54:49Z")
Well, there were those platinum blond kids in _Village of the Damned_… [sub]…whaddyamean they weren’t the heroes?![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/4 "2011-09-17T01:34:54Z")
In both of those cases, the child is under attack by the people he kills…and in _The Incredibles_, at least, it’s pretty clear that the baddies intend to kill Dash and his sister. I haven’t seen the other movie, so I can’t comment on it. But Dash is definitely in a kill or be killed situation, he’s greatly outnumbered, and Mom has told him that the baddies WILL kill him and his sister, so he has Mom’s permission. What more does a boy need? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/5 "2011-09-17T01:38:43Z")
_The Incredibles 3_, there the villain asks him"so just how many people have you killed, Dash?" That’s what I want. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/6 "2011-09-17T01:45:41Z")
peter pan and his immortal child army ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/7 "2011-09-17T02:03:35Z")
Anakin Skywalker had to have killed at least a couple of the other pod racers. Plus any Nemoidians on the droid control ship… -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/8 "2011-09-17T02:30:17Z")
Heck, Ender Wiggins’ body count is way up there, so I’m curious what they’ll keep if a film adaptation ever happens. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/9 "2011-09-17T02:33:19Z")
Well, in C.S. Lewis’ _ **Chronicles of Narnia** _, many of the children have to become warriors and take part in battles. Peter and Edmund certainly have to kill enemy soldiers in _ **The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.** _ Of course, at the time, their own father was back on Earth, fighting against the Third Reich with the British Army. The kids are probably sort-of used to the idea of war, and figure they’re just doing their duty, just as Dad is. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/10 "2011-09-17T03:05:48Z")
Mindy Macready/Hitgirl has an impressive body count in _Kick-Ass_ and is fairly bloddthirsty about it, too. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/11 "2011-09-17T03:22:21Z")
Jack. Not just a killer, but a **GIANT** killer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/12 "2011-09-17T03:29:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Lynn Bodoni** : > In both of those cases, the child is under attack by the people he kills…and in The Incredibles, at least, it’s pretty clear that the baddies intend to kill Dash and his sister. I haven’t seen the other movie, so I can’t comment on it. But Dash is definitely in a kill or be killed situation, he’s greatly outnumbered, and Mom has told him that the baddies WILL kill him and his sister, so he has Mom’s permission. What more does a boy need? I don’t think anyone’s arguing that it isn’t justifiable. But it’s still got to be traumatic. Compare Harry Potter, or Aang, who are both conflicted even about killing their worlds’ equivalents of Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/13 "2011-09-17T03:33:05Z")
Well, did anyone ever adapt _The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Doomsday Cult_ ? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/14 "2011-09-17T03:54:08Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Jack. Not just a killer, but a **GIANT** killer. Just who I came into mention. ([Dissected a few months ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=608155).) Also from FairyTale Land: Hansel & Gretel- they kill the witch and in some accounts their stepmother. True, the official version is the witch was out to kill them, but there were no witnesses so we really only have their version for that, and we already know these are kids who stole an old woman’s candy house. How old is Robin of **Batman &** fame? He’s young enough that he’s Bruce Wayne’s ward, which would mean under 18 I’d think, and he and Batman have caused some deaths to supervillains and their henchmen. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/15 "2011-09-17T04:09:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t think anyone’s arguing that it isn’t justifiable. But it’s still got to be traumatic. Compare Harry Potter, or Aang, who are both conflicted even about killing their worlds’ equivalents of Hitler. Aang isn’t conflicted because he’s a kid — it’s because he’s essentially a Buddhist monk who believes in nonviolence to the extent that he’s a vegetarian. I don’t think Harry Potter was ever conflicted about killing Voldemort for a second. He wanted that guy dead from the moment he learned Voldemort’s name. Besides, Aang _didn’t_ kill Fire Lord Ozai. Harry did give Voldemort a chance to repent, but he didn’t really think for a second that Voldemort would actually accept it. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/16 "2011-09-17T04:17:45Z")
I’m surprised no one mentioned Dorothy. ---
**Author:** ![Kaboodle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kaboodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaboodle)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/17 "2011-09-17T04:30:50Z")
How about _Firestarter_? Doesn’t Drew Barrymore fry George C. Scott at the end? It’s definitely a kill or be killed situation. GCS’s character wants to kill Drew’s character just to see her die. Not to get off topic but in regards to Dash in _The Incredibles_. Can you really say he killed any of the guards? In just about every case the guards killed themselves by running into trees, rocks, or each other. About the only death you can pin on him is when Dash lands on a guard’s disk in flight. Though it wasn’t his intent, their fight distracts the guard long enough for him to fly into a rock wall (after he knocks Dash off his disk). ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/18 "2011-09-17T07:43:36Z")
“'One more step, Mr. Hands,” said I “And I’ll blow your head off!’” --Jim Hawkins to Israel Hands in _Treasure Island._ Hands threw a knife but missed. Hawkins, who had two pistols I think, didn’t miss. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/19 "2011-09-17T15:37:03Z")
One of the reoccurring themes in _The Venture Brothers_ is how messed up Rusty Venture is from growing up as a boy adventurer. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/20 "2011-09-17T15:39:51Z")
Jodie Foster as [The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074806/). Her performance gave me _nightmares_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577.md?page=2)