Being one of the best stealth-espionage game series out there, the Hitman games are bolstered in quality due to the various methods taken in assassinating targets. For the most part, the people in question aren’t given much characterization, being treated as part of the job by Agent 47.
However, there are some that have either managed to gain gamers’ sympathies or struck a nerve with them. These targets were also given further storylines that fleshed out their narratives better, giving players reasons to feel more strongly toward them. That said, here are five of these targets that didn’t deserve to be assassinated, and five that most certainly did.
10 DIDN'T DESERVE IT: Diana Burnwood
Being the one target 47 ended up sparing, Diana doesn’t fall under the antagonist category. As 47’s handler, she’s the person who knows him better than anybody else could. Having been led to believe that Diana betrayed the ICA, 47 had her as his target in Hitman: Absolution.
However, upon finding out that her intentions with the super-powered Victoria weren’t malicious, he spared Diana and joined her cause. It should be noted that while 47 technically did finish the hit on Diana by shooting her when she was in the shower, the bullet was non-lethal.
9 DESERVED IT: The Mysterious Assassin
Nothing is known about this assassin from Hitman: Blood Money, other than she derived pleasure from killing her targets. When 47 comes across her during an intended hit, this assassin tries to use her seductive qualities to blindside him and take his life.
If a player fails to react, a cutscene is shown where she violently executes 47, proving that killing is more pleasurable than a job for her. Fortunately, 47 is the canonical winner, and this assassin is prevented from claiming any more victims.
8 DIDN'T DESERVE IT: Silvio Caruso
Caruso is the target found in Sapienza in Hitman (2016), the most open-world level in the series. He might have been devising a dangerous virus, and even took his mother’s life, but the worst in him had to do with the severe mental abuse his mother put him through.
Eventually developing intense anxiety and being socially inept, it’s a shame this guy never knew what real love felt like. The ways he can be executed are harsh as well, including being smothered, blown apart, and having his throat slit. He wasn’t a good person, but it still wasn’t his fault how he turned out.
7 DESERVED IT: Blake Dexter
While Hitman: Absolution might not be the most critically acclaimed entry of the series, it did deliver in some aspects. Specifically, it was satisfying to see Dexter get what was coming to him. Despite being a rich industrial owner, the guy was extremely greedy, ruthless, and had no scruples.Â
Threatening to kill the teenager Victoria in exchange for money, Dexter’s path of greed led to his son’s death, and a slew of others. Not to mention how he had no remorse right until the end, retaining his foul mouth and still crying about money.
6 DIDN'T DESERVE IT: Rick Henderson
This poor man from Hitman: Blood Money was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Having arrived to conduct an interview about a different matter, he’s forced to cover the supposed death of 47 instead. In the end, it’s simply because he’s at 47’s intended cremation that he’s killed.
After 47 is revived, he takes to murdering every single person present in order to leave no witnesses. Henderson even pleads for his life in his final moments, but is gunned down despite having done nothing wrong.
5 DESERVED IT: The Saints
The mission to take down the Saints felt more like Metal Gear than Hitman. This villainous group of assassins from Hitman: Absolution took pride in the chance to take down 47. In this way, they might even have considered it an honor to be killed by him in the process.Â
Having survived their initial ambush against him, 47 systematically takes the Saints down by hiding in the tall grass and with his use of stealth. Since they got beat at their own game, the Saints were dealt defeat by the very best; a fitting end to this deadly faction.
4 DIDN'T DESERVE IT: Joseph Clarence
Seen in Hitman: Blood Money, the “Swing King” was the owner of an amusement park where a malfunctioning ride killed a child. Clarence’s final moments are pitiful, after the hit on his life is ordered by a bereaved family member of the accident victim.
47 makes sure to show the child’s picture to Clarence, who resorts to begging for his life and showing remorse for his negligence. Although Clarence did sell his plot out to drug dealers for money, he still wasn’t close to being as heinous as the other targets. Sending him off to jail would’ve been real justice, and such a cruel way to die is something he didn’t deserve.
3 DESERVED IT: Meat King
This mission in Hitman: Contracts is scarier than most horror games have to offer. 47's main target here is the Meat King, a crime boss who kidnapped the daughter of a rich businessman and had her tortured to death by his brother.
Along with running a gluttonous lifestyle, the Meat King had many other murderous associates. 47’s killing of this man was more than welcome, which posthumously brought retribution for the horrible murder of the kidnapped girl.
2 DIDN'T DESERVE IT: Jasper Knight's Actor
There are many tips and techniques one can use to complete assassinations in Hitman (2016). Unfortunately for this actor, he was chosen to play the role of Jasper Knight, a world famous chess master and Soviet spy who just so happens to be 47’s final training test. Although this mission is supposedly just a simulation, it’s implied that the actor might actually have been killed.
The worst of these potential deaths is one where the actor is flung high into the sky by a helicopter ejection seat. That sounds like a bad way to die, especially since the guy was innocent and was only playing a role.
1 DESERVED IT: Alexander Cayne
Hitman: Blood Money is considered as one of the best stealth games to be made. One of the reasons is due to the quality villain in Cayne, a duplicitous and cunning man who sought to take out 47 and the ICA.Â
Having targeted 47 for so long, and fabricated stories to discredit him after his death, it’s fitting to execute him in what was supposed to be 47’s funeral. For all his schemes and plans, Cayne went out absolutely thunderstruck when his would-be victim turned the tables to end his life.