Your hench is yours to keep! 
Here is a Cobra Viper’s Filecard.
http://www.yojoe.com/filecard/86/viper.shtml
Cobra’s footsoldiers are pretty much henchmen.
The motives ascribed to them seem to fit.
Are you sure this was Austin Powers? I have no memory of this scene whatsoever.
In the real world, who were the types of guys hired to beat up union organizers in the early part of the 20th Century? How did you get in to that line of work?
Wal-Mart managers? 
It’s a deleted scene. Check the DVD.
Anyway, “henchman” is just another word for “mercenary,” and up until the 18th century, “mercenary” was just another word for “professional soldier.” Look at medieval/early modern European history - most wars were carried out by groups of knights and lordlings leading companies of “henchmen”. They fought for a roof over their head, food on their table and the occasional chance of plunder. And beside, fighting was what they knew how to do.
It’s better to burn down a village than to have your village burned down. Civilians are suckers.
The Pinkerton Detectives did a lot of that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency
I don’t know which is scarier, the fact that I laughed my ass off just reading about this scene or the fact that someone actually liked this movie enough to get the DVD and surf the extras!!
One thing to consider is that a lot of these guys might be ex-military or government intel branch that have been RIF’d. A few James Bond henchmen extras strike me as ex-Spetznast or ex-KGB, but I got an especially ex-military vibe from the cannon fodder in The Incredibles. Their overall manner and bearing just struck me as having been fostered in that kind of environment.
Well, consider the situation. For fifteen, twenty years or so, you’ve been in the special forces or rangers at the top of your game. You get to fly to exotic locales to train, you get to learn how to disassemble and reassemble everything from an M-16 to a nuclear warhead, and suddenly, thanks to army cutbacks, you’re out on your ass, and the only thing you’re qualified to do in the civilian world is be a cop (long waiting list) or a manager in your local Wal-mart (Yawn). One day, you find yourself considering you options, thinking about shipping out to France to join the Foreign Legion just for something to do, when in walks the supreme evil commander’s friendly representative and asks if you would like a job using your special talents for ten times the salary you ever saw as a ranger.
I think it would be pretty easy to talk yourself out of any morale qualms you might have, especially if you don’t know what you’re getting into. By the time you do know what you’re getting into, of course, it’s far too late to back out.
That filecard reminded me of a ficlet I saw posted on a Daria messageboard. Here is a link, posted with the permission of the author:
It’s a Living
Can any of us say where we might really end up after graduation?
Evil Leaders need PR flacks, too.
BRAVO! BRAVO!
<APPLAUSE>
Please send my warmest complements to the author!
Grade A!
When the organization/crimeboss they work for has an ideology beyond ‘I get power and money!’ - more Kobra than Cobra - there’s also the fact that a lot (though, in a large organization, probably not all) of the henchies actually believe it.
In small organizations, the henchmen might have a personal relationship/loyalty to the leader.
Danke.
Remind me to link to the sequel, some time, if y’all’re interested.
I’M INTRESTED, ALREADY!!!
So, link? ;j
Feh! What do those lunkheads need money for? They’re just going to die on the end of some adventurer’s sword anyway.
–Xykon
I suppose it’s possible that at least some of the henchmen may sincerely believe that they are the good guys (I’m sure SOMEONE here other than me has seen the Street Fighter movie :D) They could also have personal issues with the World (or specifically, the Hero’s government), ala 006 in Goldeneye.
Otherwise, as others have said, it’s possible that many of them just didn’t know what they were signing up for until it was too late (ie: let’s say you joined the Army and did a stint as an MP, but as your first enlistment was coming to an end, someone approached you with this sweet offer for a corporate security job…)
Great stuff! Is there more?
The one thing I’m still trying to understand is why are there male Americans still left to work at McD.
With so many working as henchmen, you’d think the legal side of the sucky jobs would have been overrun by women already.
One of my favorite scenes is from the 1966 Batman movie.
The villans are in a submarine, with Joker, Penguin and Catwoman looking through their periscope(s) at Batman on the surface. They are laughing and chortling at his predicament, when all of a sudden, Catwoman lets out this long, drawn out “Meeeoooowwwwwraorrrowwwrrrr!”, while a henchman slowly turns to stare at her like she has gone out of her freakin’ mind!
I wait for that scene every time the movie comes on TV.
Well, speaking as a professional henchman, one of the drawbacks is having to stuff a smelly drunk in the trunk of the car.
That was the scene that we filmed yesterday for the movie I’m in. I play Evil Henchman #1.
Shameless plug. The movie will be out in September. Buy many copies of it, please.