Chuck Klosterman’s book on villainy, I Wear the Black Hat — while otherwise tangent-filled and unfocused — made one outstanding assertion that perfectly encapsulates this point. He stated that a great villain is someone who knows the most, but cares the least. Nothing could point more to Hans Gruber than that statement alone.
Gruber is truly all-knowing as the story opens up, which makes him an undeniable threat. He knows everything about the Nakatomi Plaza. He knows everything about the company and its leadership. He knows each and every step the authorities will take in their response. He knows exactly what is in the vault and how they must get it. He even assures his hostages that he has left nothing to chance. He is all-knowing and he doesn’t care what happens to anyone as long as he gets what he wants. This tightens his grip on the hostages — and the audience at hand — as the fact that he is all-knowing is proven time and time again.
The one X factor working against him is John McClane. He’s the single element that was missed. Yet even then, just as McClane seems to have gotten the upper hand, Gruber learns something that will surely, in his eyes at least, take him to the end. He learns the secret that had been kept until almost the third act of the film — Holly is John’s wife, and John is a New York detective who shares two children with her.
Hans Gruber is the ultimate threat. Not because he’s the deadliest (the Shark in Jaws). Not because he has the street smarts (Alonzo in Training Day). Not because he is all-powerful (Sauron in Lord of the Rings). Not because he is the craziest (The Joker in The Dark Knight). But because he is all-knowing in the situation. He seems to have an answer to everything that is thrown at him. In fact, everything that is thrown at him, with exception to John McClane, is exactly what he expected — and he had a plan for each and every turn of events.
