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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | My father used to say "How you do anything is how you do everything". Called it the first and last rule of life. You believe in rules, Mr. Manager? And what of consequences? | „ |
| ~ Marquis's introduction to Winston. |
| “ | You are nothing. You are excommunicado. And as such, you no longer need the services of a concierge. | „ |
| ~ The Marquis shortly before murdering Charon in cold blood. |
| “ | A new day is dawning. New ideas, new rules, new management. | „ |
| ~ Marquis's ambitious dialogue to Winston. |
Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont, also known as the Marquis or Marquis de Gramont, is the main antagonist of the 2023 neo-noir action film John Wick: Chapter 4, the fourth and the final installment of the John Wick film series.
He is an ambitious yet dishonorable crime lord appointed by the High Table to reassert their authority after the murder of the new Elder at the hands of John Wick. His mission is to eliminate John Wick and anyone who helps him in any way or opposes the Table. He uses this opportunity to elevate his own standing within the Table. Because of this, Gramont becomes the most conniving foe of John Wick and the archenemy of Winston Scott for causing a destruction on the New York Continental and murdering Charon.
He was portrayed by Bill Skarsgård, who also played Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the It duology.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- While he is appointed to deal with John Wick and has been granted unlimited authority, he bends the High Table rules as he sees fit, as he sees them as an inconvenience. His extremely dishonorable, craven and excessively heavy-handed approach in general is implied to be barely tolerated by the High Table because the organization was very desperate to kill John, given that the Harbinger called him out multiple times on his way of dealing with the situation. This shows that even by the clan's standards, Marquis is excessively cruel and underhanded when it comes to enforcing the High Table's supremacy.
- He forced Caine into hunting John Wick down by blackmailing him with his daughter’s life.
- He had the New York continental obliterated, and also killed Charon instead of Winston, intending to leave Winston tormented by guilt. Before he killed Charon, he deliberately stalled time to make them witness the New York continental blow up.
- He had the Osaka Continental attacked, leading to needless bloodshed, because Shimazu would give John safe harbor. When called out on it by the Harbinger, the Marquis replied that he wanted to send a message to those aiding John.
- This also led to the death of Shimazu at the hands of Caine, who really didn’t want to kill Shimazu. This also could end up being Caine’s death, as Akira is now seeking vengeance, and in the post credits scene, she walked towards him with a knife, but the scene cut to black before the audience saw what happened.
- When Winston tried to goad him into a duel, he gleefully replied that Winston’s life is forfeit if the Marquis won the duel.
- The act of accepting the duel also put the reputation of the High Table at stake, because if John won, it would mean John beat the High Table at its own game, shattering its reputation as an untouchable authority. The Harbinger points this out to the Marquis, and again, the Harbinger's advice falls on deaf ears. While the High Table had it coming with the way they flaunted their authority, this shows that he has no regards for others, and solely wants the infamy of being the one that killed John Wick, and to rise within the High Table.
- His treatment of Mr. Nobody in general:
- When Mr. Nobody negotiated the price for his services, where they settled for 23 million USD, the Marquis shakes his hand, only to stab it and had Nobody demonstrate his loyalty to the Marquis by pulling his hand out of the knife, severely damaging his hand.
- When Nobody called him to tell him he found John Wick, he went back on his word by telling him to kill Wick. This is somewhat justified as the Marquis never specified the services. Then again, it shows that the Marquis has no honor and doesn’t hold up his end of the agreement if he finds a loophole.
- Later on, he also had raised the public bounty on John’s head raised to 26 million, only agreeing to pay Mr. Nobody 40 million to get him to stop his mistreatment-induced assault on the other assassins and kill John himself out of sheer desperation when John kept fighting his assailants off and making his way to the duel and Nobody helping him.
- He had Pyotr executed by Killa and billed Pyotr’s daughter Katia for the affair.
- After he and John Wick determined the details of the duel (time, place, choice of weapons), the Marquis got what he wanted in that the duel will be held at sunrise while John got the location and weapons he wanted per the terms of the duel. The Marquis cowardly nominated Caine to duel in his stead and cravenly used the interval to his advantage by raising the bounty to 26 million, and later on 40 million USD, to get every willing assassin after Wick to either:
- Kill him, which could have happened had he not mistreated Nobody to the point that Nobody decided to forget his deal with the Marquis to help Wick.
- Or in another suitable outcome, stall him long enough to make sure he never reaches the duel in time, which would have resulted in the Marquis winning by default, and John’s and Winston’s lives would have been forfeited. This very likely would have happened had Caine not helped Wick get up the stairs again after getting knocked down from it.
- When Caine shot John in the third round in their duel, he moves in to deliver the coup de grâce, as he believed John is down for the count and too injured to retaliate.
- While the Marquis did grant Caine his freedom and his daughter’s safety after Caine shot John to the point where the Marquis wanted to claim the coup de grâce, this was pragmatic as he is bound by the High Table to honor his word, not out of genuine altruism, considering he played fast and loose with the other agreements and rules.
- Even if John managed to kill him, the Marquis posthumously succeeded in killing John Wick; Caine managed to shoot John in the final round and after de Gramont died, John died shortly after from his wounds.
- Unlike many other members of the High Table, Marquis does not appear to have genuine loyalty toward the High Table and its traditions. When Winston reminds Marquis they are bound by rules, he replies that a new age is dawning with new management and new rules. This implies he sought to gain a higher position in the High Table so he could create new rules for his own benefit.
- Despite the extremely high Heinous Standards of the John Wick series, the Marquis de Gramont manages to stand out due to his uniquely sadistic nature and excessive bloodshed, having others killed or mutilated just to make a point and willing to commit any crime for the glorification of his own ego.
Trivia[]
- As of now, The Marquis is the only Pure Evil villain in the John Wick franchise.
- The Dynamite Comics prequel series features an assassin named Calamity, who is infamous for her sadism and tendency to kill innocents, and destroys entire neighborhoods in her attempts to kill a young John Wick. Calamity is arguably worse than Gramont, despite having nowhere near as many resources, given her possibly higher bodycount (carried out personally) and not restricting her cruelty to other criminals. Given the comics' ambiguous canon status, though, she cannot contribute to the franchise' Heinous Standards.
- It is implied that the Marquis either blinded Caine or forced Caine to blind himself as part of a deal considering Caine's retirement and that he planned to overthrow the High Table once he had enough power and influence to do so. If it were confirmed, it would make the Marquis even worse.
External Links[]
- Marquis de Gramont on the Villains Wiki
- Marquis de Gramont on the Hate Sink Wiki
- Marquis de Gramont on the John Wick Wiki
