Being a mentor of someone young and impressionable gives the mentor a lot of power. And as all superhero fans will know, with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately, not all movie mentors have approached their task of mentoring a student with the level of seriousness and responsibility it deserves.
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As a result, they either have done serious damage or their actions at the very least had the potential to hurt their student. Even though they might have had good intentions, some movie mentors never should have gotten the opportunity in the first place because they were awful to their students, who deserved better.
5Adolf Hitler
Jojo Rabbit(2019) might seem like a charming movie at first but at its core, it’smuch darker and twisted than most viewers would expectfrom a movie whose hero is a small boy. Not only is Jojo distrustful, even hateful at times toward those who are different from him, but his mentor/the best imaginary friend Adolf Hitler supports Jojo’s worst impulses.
When the audience realizes that Adolf basically represents what Jojo believes to be right at first, it soon becomes obvious that Jojo has some serious growing up to do since the things Adolf’s telling him are unsavory. Luckily, as the story progresses, Jojo grows as a person and realizes that what Adolf’s telling him is stupid, and in the end, he lets his made-up mentor go. It’s high time since even though Adolf treats Jojo kindly most of the time, he still hurts his student by filling his head with nonsense.
4Glinda The Good Witch
The Wizard of Oz(1939) is one of the greatest classics, and despite premiering 83 years ago, it still has the power to capture the imagination of today’s audience. However, under the surface of a feel-good fairy tale story/musical are some darker undertones. For example, Glinda is supposed to be the Good Witch, the one who helps Dorothy after the girl ends up in the land of Oz. Not only does Dorothy end up doing Glinda’s dirty work for her and getting rid of the Evil Witch, but Glinda also sends Dorothy on a wild goose chase, to see a wizard that Glinda knows is a fraud.
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On her journey, Dorothy and her new friends face many dangers, and in the end, the wizard is no good. Instead, it’s Glinda who tells Dorothy how she can get back home - which is information Glinda knew even before she sent Dorothy on her dangerous journey. In other words, Glinda is rarely one hundred percent honest to Dorothy, even though it could have saved the girl a lot of trouble.
3Albus Dumbledore
Glinda the Good Witch isn’t the only being with magical powers who repeatedly lies to her student - or, more precisely, withholds important information. Throughout the six years Harry attends Hogwarts, Dumbledore doesn’t bother to tell him vital information about Voldemort, Harry’s past, the Horcruxes, Harry’s connection with Voldemort, Dumbledore’s suspicions about possible Death Eaters in their midst…and the list goes on. For someone who presents himself as the good guy and Harry’s mentor, maybe even an adoptive father figure to a certain degree, that’s a lot of secrets Dumbledore keeps from Harry.
Let’s not forget the fact that Dumbledore barely interacts with Harry in his fifth year, and even though he later explains his reasons, he still could have come up with a better way how to treat the confused and angry Harry. What’s more,Harry’s not the only student Dumbledore puts in dangersince he willingly keeps dangerous creatures in the Hogwarts castle, and he lets Harry attend the Triwizard Tournament even though he and the other principals could have figured out a way to make sure Harry wouldn’t have to compete.
2Henri Ducard
To be fair to Ducard, Bruce should have known better than to trust him. From the beginning, it was obvious that Ducard was much more prone to violence and despised weakness. That’s why he helped Bruce how to overcome his fear. So far so good, for the most part, despite the rough training.
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But then Ducard showed his true face when he revealed himself to be Ra’s al Ghul.He also wanted to destroy Gotham, which didn’t sit well with Bruce, who wished to protect his city. So Ra’s al Ghul almost burned his former student alive in Bruce’s mansion. Talk about tough love. Luckily, he met his end in the movie.
1Tony Stark
Unlike other mentors, Tony Stark has good intentions, and that’s true. But his entire relationship with Peter Parker is wrong in multiple ways. First, there’s the aspect of Tony recruiting a fourteen-year-old kid to fight a bunch of (sometimes enhanced or magically gifted or powered in other ways) individuals who have been in the superhero business much longer thanSpider-Man. In other words: Tony asks a kid to fight his battle.
And once Peter does what Tony wants, Stark continues to ignore him for months instead of providing leadership and guidance to the young hero. His subsequent act of mentorship is thathe takes Peter’s superhero suit awayeven though it helps protect the boy from danger. Tony never treats Peter as his equal in the beginning and instead of trying to explain things to him in a rational way, he just punishes him, even though it puts Spider-Man at even more risk.
