Erik Jan Hanussen is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Gregori Rasputin) of the 2021 action-comdey film The King's Man.
He is the personal advisor of The Kaiser Wilhelm II who convinces him to start a war, and thus Erik is responsible for at least hundreds of thousands of deaths, if not millions or billions. His evilness and manipulative nature make him a direct threat during the events of the film, and therefore he is even more ruthless than other vllains but not as Captain Morton and Gregori Rasputin.
He is portrayed by Daniel Brühl in his first major villainous role.
History[]
Erik Hanussen is the trusted yet ultimately cunning and bloodthirsty advisor of The Kaiser Wilhelm II, who intends to gain power by manipulating his superior and starting a war under his orders. He was known for playing with The Kaesar's insecurities. One day, he convinced Wilhelm to start a massive war against the United States and block the shipment of food and tradable goods. Wilhelm at first did not trust him and was not interested in starving England or his own nation and the entire Europe, but the deceiving advisor gave him a paper which shows that Erik has manipulated Mexico into starting a war with the U.S. However, without King Wilhelm knowing the truth, Erik secretly planned to conquer the world for himself. He also had a close alliance with Germany's monarch Adolf Hitler, whom also was another pawn for Erik's war games. He also manipulates Lenin into taking over Russia and intervening during the war.
Erik had his military forces attacking the world, thus killing hundereds of thousands of civilians.
However, Polly Wilkins foiled his plans by breaking his code and revealing his plans to the U.S president, and the Kaiser eventually made a ceasefire with his enemies. Erik then manipulated Morton by pretending to apologize for some great mistakes he made, as he was in that moment also revealed to be The Shepherd's top spy. He explained that his plans to use all kingdoms against each other were all at risk, as he forced The Kaiser Wilhelm to provoke the US. He did this humiliating move only so Morton would then rectify his failure and attempt conquer the US, while hiring a seductress called Mata Hari with a plan to seduce and kill the US president, so that Erik could easily win the war.
He is later seen starting the WWII, as he usurped Wilhelm's place by ordering a guard to shoot him, and he shot lots of people which he locked up in a glass cage to their deaths, as he was accompanied by many of his guards.
Personality[]
He is one of the most evil, crucial, ruthless and terrifying villains of the entire Kingsman franchise. He starvs his own people before manipulating his own Kaesar and the US to start a massive war with one another. Erik Hanussen is bloodthirsty as he is obviously enjoying himself while he oversees the massive attack which he caused and ultimately killing hundereds of thousands of innocent civillains. He was never actually loyal to The Kaesar, since he played with his insecurities to gain world domination, only to later betray him for Morton, which he also manipulated as he started the war without Morton's approval and it was obvious that they've only used each other as tools for their own plans for global power.
His full sadism is shown also near the end of the movie, as he starts the WWII, kills Wilhelm himself and orders dozens of innocents to be shot by guards inside a glass chamber.
Trivia[]
- Despite instigating most of the WWII and the other attacks, Morton did have big plans for Russia's monarchs to be eliminated.