Amputee Henchmen

Being a henchman for a villain is a dangerous job, fraught with hazards. At best, you'll get to get do die in a cool one-on-one battle with the hero. At worst, your own boss will kill you out of spite. But apparently, losing a limb falls under the definition of "on-the-job hazard" down at the henchman temp agency, qualifying you for some kind of compensation. And in action films, especially of the secret agent variety, this usually means you get some kind of cool cyborg attachment.

So, let's talk about different types of limb replacements in henchmen, shall we?

The Hook - Pretty self-explanatory. Not just for pirates! Karg in Masters of the Universe (the movie, I mean) has a wicked-looking serrated hook for one hand. Hooks are used either because you want to make a fashion statement (as Karg apparently did; you'd think cyborg technology would be available on Eternia) or because it's all you have available, like, say, if you're a pirate.

The Deluxe Model - Means you get an actual, functioning replacement limb, usually a hand or entire arm. Example: Zigesfeld in If Looks Could Kill had a working robotic hand, with moving parts and everything (and which resembled a Terminator endoskeleton more than anything). You only get this if your boss is obscenely wealthy, or if the technology is widely available to civilians. In Zigesfeld's case, it's the former.

The Good Enough - You get this if your boss is a cheapskate. Also known as the "In-Between" or "The Claw." A mostly-functional hydraulic grabber thingie that doesn't look too aesthetically pleasing, but gets the job done. See Tee-Hee from Live and Let Die.

The All-In-One - If you get this then you're a lucky henchman. Mr. Igoe in Innerspace is the only henchman I can think of at the moment who has this particular enhancement (outside of Trap-Jaw from the Masters of the Universe cartoon). He's got a basic, "default" cosmetic hand, which has no moving parts, but this can he "swapped out," so to speak, for a variety of different weapons and devices, including a gun disguised as another cosmetic hand (with the pointing finger being the gunbarrel), a blowtorch, a drill, a vibrator (!), and a wine bottle opener. The man is a walking Swiss army knife.

The WTF?! - The limb replacement that just boggles the mind and makes you wonder why the henchman chose it. A "specialty" thing that makes them unique. Snelgrave from CutThroat Island replaces his missing hand not with the traditional hook, but with a length of chain that he uses as a whip. It's a lot more trouble than it's worth, since it tends to get stuck on things, and, in the end, he'd have been better off with an ordinary hook-hand, the poor sap.

The Leg - Self-explanatory. One-legged henchmen are fairly uncommon, and when they are used, it's usually strictly in pirate movies, where they have peg legs. The exception to this is Skip from Darkman. Proving once and for all the genius of Sam Raimi, Skip's artificial leg is actually a concealed machine gun. It can be detached and instantly converted to gun mode, and used to blow away surprised enemies. Skip himself never wields it; he's too busy hopping up and down on one foot trying not to fall over, so whenever the "gun leg" is put into play, it's used by another henchman.

So, any other amputee henchmen out there? Discuss! Smile

(And, I know a lot of people would've probably liked to see Kroenen from Hellboy be used as the example for the mechanical hand, but where possible I used the earliest examples, and Zigesfeld predates his fellow Teutonic cyborg by over ten years. And, anticipating further "Buts," yes Dr. No in Dr. No had mechanical hands and thus predates Zigesfeld, but No was the main villain of his movie, not a henchman. And, no, even though he works for Palpatine I dare not demote Darth Vader to the lowly status of a mere henchman, hence his non-inclusion.)