John Wick is known as "the boogeyman" for good reason: He is an unstoppable killing
machine. But no man is an island. These are the weapons, people, and items John Wick needs
to survive in his cutthroat world, from coins symbolizing blood oaths to his canine companions.
John Wick is a cold-blooded contract killer who ends lives for a living.
But the man has a solid code of ethics and an impressive reputation.
He is called "the boogeyman" after all. It's this hard-earned stature as one of the deadliest men
alive that gives John a competitive advantage. His rivals respect and fear his extreme focus,
commitment, and sheer force of will. Without these, he's nothing. With them, he's a legend.
In Chapter 2, John finds himself pulled back into the world of assassins by Santino D'Antonio.
The Italian crime lord forces John's hand, ordering him to kill Santino's sister Gianna.
He then puts a seven-million-dollar bounty on John's head after he completes the mission.
The lack of honor in D'Antonio's behavior doesn't go unnoticed by John, and his personal code of
ethics shines through. He allows Gianna to take own her life on her own terms, and then
he goes after Santino. When word of John's pursuit makes it back to the Continental, and its manager
Winston, he has some hard words for Santino. "You incinerated the priest's temple;
burnt it to the ground. Now he's free of the marker. What do you think he'll do?"
John is violent, but he never abandons his sense of right and wrong,
even in the midst of battle. Santino ignores this to his own peril.
John Wick is as comfortable with bladed weapons as he is with guns.
He's also well-versed in a number of martial arts, including jiu-jitsu, judo, and karate.
In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum we learn that John was raised by The Institute.
This ballet company is actually a front for a secret school that trains young assassins.
His time there shows. Watching John fight is like watching a dancer at the top of their game.
His physical strength seems almost otherworldly at times, as does his endurance. No matter how
many hits he takes, or the times he's shot or stabbed, he keeps getting up.
You have to wonder if the Institute does more than just train its students.
Could John Wick actually be some sort of enhanced super-soldier?
Even if he doesn't have any real superpowers, John's abilities are beyond doubt.
Over the course of the John Wick films, muscle cars prove to be one of our hero's trademarks.
From the Chevelle loaner he gets after Iosef Tarasov steals his Boss 429 Mustang,
to the 2011 Dodge Charger that helps him finish off his beef with the Tarasov family for good,
John always travels in style. These vehicles aren't just eye candy though.
John has his work cut out for him across the franchise, and his quest for revenge
would be exponentially harder without this horsepower at his disposal during the movies.
Even when they're getting destroyed, cars are still incredibly valuable. Iosef's
theft of John's Mustang might actually be the Russian criminal's true downfall.
John knows to head to a Syndicate-run chop shop managed by master mechanic Aurelio,
who, unfortunately for Iosef, is one of John's closest allies. Aurelio does his
part to make things right by loaning John a new car for his quest for vengeance.
In the world that John Wick lives in, trust is a hard thing
to come by. But despite the double- and triple-crosses that John must overcome,
he has still managed to find a few people who he considers friends and allies.
As mentioned, one of John's closest friends is Aurelio. They have a long history, which hopefully
we'll get to see more of in future movies. Then there's Marcus, an equal parts rival and ally,
whose true colors shine through when he dies trying to help his friend.
There are also several smaller players in John's orbit who he can rely on. A local cop named Jimmy,
who is all too familiar with John's line of work, watches over his house. Harry, a fellow assassin,
guards Ms. Perkins after John stops her assassination attempt. And John seems
friendly with a Syndicate Doctor who stitches him up at the Continental in the first movie,
and then again in Chinatown near the beginning of Chapter 3.
John Wick is full of potent symbols, as seen in the repeated use of unique
gold coins, Markers, and tattoos. The custom minted gold coins that every assassin carries
around bankroll the activities of everyone from the High Table down. Markers are silver disks
marked with bloody thumbprints that symbolize blood oaths. In fact, it's a Marker that
Santino D'Antonio uses to pull John Wick back into the fray at the beginning of Chapter 2.
John heads to the New York Public Library in Chapter 3 to retrieve
several invaluable keepsakes from a book of Russian fairy tales, hidden within the thousands
of works housed in the massive building. These items, which include a rosary and a Marker, prove
invaluable to his survival. The rosary grants him entry into the Institute, the place where
his life as an assassin began. And the Marker belongs to Sofia Al-Azwar who owes him a crucial
debt after he saved the life of her daughter. The meaning of John's back tattoo is revealed
in Chapter 3. It is a mark of his kinship to the people of the Institute.
Unfortunately for John, he sacrifices that kinship for safe passage to Casablanca.
The rosary he recovered from the library is used as a brand that destroys the tattoo,
leaving a mark that says he can never come home again. Despite the significant consequences
of his decision to abandon his family, it saves his life when he needs it the most.
"When Helen died, I lost everything. Until that dog arrived on my doorstep.
A final gift from my wife."
It's easy to forget that the John Wick saga begins as a family drama.
As John's wife Helen dies, her spirit lives on in Daisy,
a puppy that Helen posthumously gifts to John to help him remember his humanity.
But when Iosef Tarasov's goon kills Daisy, we see John's spirit die a little. When he gets back up,
he has become a force of unstoppable rage that carries him through the rest of the movie.
At the conclusion of the first film, John adopts a pit bull that was on a shelter's kill list,
and this act seems to bring him back to himself a little.
He doesn't give the puppy a name, instead preferring to call it "dog." Perhaps he's
reluctant to get attached again, like he allowed himself to do with Daisy, and Helen before that.
Chapter 3 introduces even more canine companions in the form of Sofia Al-Azwar's German shepherds.
Though they aren't John's dogs, they do save his life, and Sofia's, on multiple occasions.
John Wick doesn't need guns to be deadly, but they certainly help. In John Wick, as he plots revenge,
he digs up his personal stash from beneath his house. But for the job that he is forced to do
for Santino D'Antonio, he needs a whole new arsenal. In a memorable scene from Chapter 2,
John visits the Sommelier. This artisan of weapons helps put together a selection of guns and knives
for John, describing each of them in terms of fine wines. John plays along in a perfect deadpan.
After Santino's betrayal and the seven-million-dollar bounty placed on his head,
John negotiates with the Bowery King for a gun and seven bullets, one for each million of the dollars
in the bounty. Rearmed, John contronts Santino and eventually kills him on Continental grounds,
which results in him being declared excommunicado from the Syndicate.
By the time Chapter 3 starts, John is on the run from every assassin in the world, and his
access to weapons has become limited. In one of the early fight sequences of the third movie,
John cobbles together a working pistol from several antique guns
that functions long enough to kill one of his many pursuers.
Fortunately, John makes it back to the Continental by the end of Chapter 3, and together with Charon,
the concierge of the famous hotel, he raids the establishment's armory for the final shootout.
Right from the first movie, it's clear that John has a very good sense of style, but it's not until
Chapter 2 that we realize that his choice of clothes also gives him a tactical advantage.
During the job to assassinate Gianna D'Antonio, he visits a man named the Tailor. When the Tailor
asks about the kind of lining he would like, John's answer is simple:
Tactical. The request pays off. In a great moment in Chapter 2, John pounds his chest
after being shot many times, sending dozens of bullets falling to the ground around him.
If John's outfit has any weaknesses, it's his choice of plain white dress shirts.
Though they look stylish, the clean-cut garments don't prevent attacks from knives.
On several occasions, John has his shirt, and body, slashed and stabbed by attackers
wielding blades. Clothes may make the man, but they can't always work miracles.
It's safe to say that without Sofia Al-Azwar, John Wick would be a dead man. Sofia is the
manager of the Casablanca Continental, and, long ago, John helped to save her daughter,
for which Sofia offered John a Marker in return. John brings the Marker back many years later,
with the request that Sofia help him find the Elder, the only person who sits above
the High Table. Only the Elder can nullify the fourteen-million-dollar bounty on John's head.
Ultimately, Sofia agrees to help, but doesn't initially allow him to cash in his Marker.
The move means that she will assist John, but will still owe him a debt,
and it raises questions about what actually motivates this enigmatic woman.
This becomes especially true when their search for the Elder puts Sofia and her
beloved dogs in grave danger for helping John. How Sofia and John's relationship will
play out in future movies is uncertain, but one thing is for sure, it will be exciting.
John Wick has a complicated relationship with the Continental,
the chain of hotels run by the Syndicate and the High Table.
Spread across the world, these establishments act as neutral territory for the criminal underworld.
Even though they crawl with hitmen and assassins, no business is permitted on Continental grounds.
Even after being declared excommunicado, John still relies on the hotel's services. In every
movie, John goes to Winston, the manager of the New York hotel for help and guidance. When John
breaks the most sacred rule by killing Santino D'Antonio within the walls of the Continental,
Winston still gives John a one-hour grace period before putting in the call for
excommunication . Eventually, John makes his way back to the Continental at the end of Chapter 3,
and it's here where the franchise's most epic battle is fought.
In Chapter 2, John and his rival Cassian battle across the streets of Rome,
crashing into the local Continental in the process. The unexpected change of scenery
puts a temporary stop to their battle, though both warriors know their fight is far from over. Later,
the Casablanca branch allows John to reach Sofia, her mentor Berrada,
and ultimately the Elder, who commutes John's death sentence.
It's highly likely that John Wick will need to live without the aid
of the Continental in future movies, given Winston's betrayal at the end of Chapter 3.
But it probably won't be long before John finds his way back into those plush hallways,
rubbing elbows with other members of the criminal underworld.
The Bowery King is an outsider in the world of John Wick. Whereas most assassins we've seen up
to this point are well dressed and extremely put together, the Bowery King is a street enforcer,
whose network of carrier pigeons and fake homeless people keep information flowing around New York
City, completely off the grid. When John comes to the Bowery King in Chapter 2 seeking help,
it's not clear he'll get any. "It seems to me that the real
question, Mr. Wick, is who in this cruel world of ours is going to help you."
Ultimately, the Bowery King decides to help John. He gives the hunted
assassin just enough power to take the fight back to Santino D'Antonio.
By the end of Chapter 3, the Bowery King has been brutalized for aiding John. After Winston's
betrayal, and John's fall from the roof of the Continental, the Tick-Tock Man recovers John's
wounded body and delivers him to The Bowery King. They both survived their trials, but barely. Their
mutual rage and singular desire to seek revenge on the Continental and the Syndicate results in
an alliance that could be the end of the High Table and anyone who would stand in their way.
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