John Doe (Se7en)

"It's more comfortable for you to label me as insane."

- John Doe to Detective David Mills

John Doe is the main antagonist in the 1995 film Seven.

He is portrayed by Kevin Spacey.

Film
John Doe is a psychopathic serial killer obsessed with the seven Deadly Sins of Christianity, and he kills his victims in symbolic murders representing in an attempt (at least in his own mind) to remind the world about the inevitability to avoid these sins. His insanity is based on fanaticism and obsession but did little to damage his knowledge; in fact, his madness may have added to it as he is portrayed as a twisted mastermind who is comfortable with toying with the authorities. Doe particularly seems to enjoy playing games with the film's protagonists, Detective David Mills and Detective William Somerset, in a similiar fashion to killers such as Jack the Ripper.

Each of Doe's murders represent one of the Deadly Sins, and include:

Mills and Somerset eventually track Doe to his apartment, unaware that Doe is out at the time. Doe then comes down the corridor and sees the two detectives at his front door, prompting him to fire upon them. Mills chases Doe out of the building but Doe catches him off guard and aims a gun at the side of his head. Mills is unable to identify the killer as his face is shrouded in darkness, but Doe leaves him alive and disappears.
 * Forcing an obese man to feed himself to death (representing the first sin, Gluttony). It is mentioned that a person cannot physically eat themselves to death in one sitting, so Doe eventually deals a heavy blow to the man's stomach, causing it to burst.
 * Arranging a fatal bloodletting of a rich attorney (representing the second sin, Greed).
 * Tying up a drug dealer and child molester on a bed for a year, just about keeping him alive and eventually letting him die from shock (representing the third sin, Sloth).
 * Forcing a man wearing a bladed S&M device to simultaneously rape and kill a prostitute (representing the fourth sin, Lust).
 * Mutiliating a young model's face to drive her into suicide (representing the fifth sin, Pride).

Later, when Mills and Somerset return to the police station, Doe appears to them and intentionally gets himself arrested. The detectives are confused as to why Doe would hand himself in when he is two murders away from completing his "masterpiece", but Doe tells them that there are two more bodies hidden away. He then states that he will show them where the bodies are as long as Mills and Somerset are the only two to accompany him, otherwise he will plead insanity. The detectives agree and Doe directs them in their police car to the location of the bodies. Throughout the journey, Mills desperately and aggressively attempts to understand Doe's reasons for his actions, with Doe calmly stating that God told him to reveal to mankind what an awful and tragic place the world has become.

They arrive in a desert area in the middle of nowhere and a delivery van steadily approaches them, alarming Somerset. As he halts the van in its tracks, the driver claims that he was told to arrive at this location at this precise time to deliver a box. While Somerset looks at the box curiously, unsure whether he should open it or not, Doe tells Mills that he admires him. When Mills questions him on this, Doe reveals that he was jealous of his normal life (representing the sixth sin, Envy) and went to visit Mills' wife Tracy, attempting to "play husband" by raping her. Since this didn't work out, Doe decapitated her, and Somerset is horrified to find that the box contains Tracy's severed head. Somerset rushes back to Mills in an attempt to prevent him from killing Doe, knowing that is what the killer wants, but Doe provokes him further by telling Mills that Tracy was pregnant, as she had been keeping it a secret from him. Doe then awaits the inevitable punishment for his Deadly Sin, and unable to contain his fury and distress, Mills shoots him repeatdely (despite Somerset's objections). Even after his death, Doe's plan still succeeds since his masterful manipulation had prompted Mills to complete the seventh and final sin, Wrath. Following Doe's death, Mills becomes catatonic and is taken away by the police, much to Somerset's discomfort.