Rex Hanson

"What a great twist, right? I mean, at first I was just gonna take all the money and throw you guys under the bus. I mean, come on. Duh. But then when Dad called the cops and proved he doesn't give a f*** about me (shoots his dad again) I realized, why just take a few of his millions when I can inherit all of them and you guys can take the fall for it? Right? Because, in minutes, the police will be down here and discover that you three killed my poor father with a gun that you stole from my room when you abducted me."

- Rex revealing his true nature

Rex Hanson is the hidden main antagonist of the 2014 sequel, Horrible Bosses 2. He is portrayed by Chris Pine in his first villainous role.

Biography
Rex first appears offering to buy Nick, Kurt and Dale's company, outsourcing labor to China, but they refuse. He then reveals he was going to pay them 3 million dollars, which the boys try to accept, but he has decided against it. Before he can send the boys out, his father tells them to build 100,000 Shower Buddies all just for him. However, once the order is made Burt cancels the order and reveals his plan to purchase the boys' company for very cheap as well as rebrand the Shower Buddy as his own business and have it manufactured by the Chinese, which Rex takes amusement in. The trio then plot to kidnap Rex for the 500,000 dollars needed to save their company. However, due to a misunderstanding, they end up knocking themselves out with the nitrous oxide they stole.

When Rex finds them in the morning, he almost calls the cops, but decides against it, opting to play along with the kidnapping, changing the ransom demand to 5 million dollars before sending it to his father. He then climbs into the trunk of the guys' car, pretending to be bound and gagged.

When the three find Rex, they try to back out of the ruse, but Rex forces them to do it, stating he would call the cops if they didn't go along with it (even going so far as to literally beat himself up, or as Kurt put it "fight-club himself"). After the ransom call is made, Rex finds out his father called the police (despite being ordered not to) and begins to believe his father cares more about the money than him.

While comforting Rex, they agree to make a plan; if it isn't good, Rex would "escape" and they would forget about the whole thing. Working together, the four make a seemingly flawless plan to get the money while escaping the law. During this, the trio and Rex form a close friendship.

Despite a few kinks, the plan proceeds okay, until Rex reveals his true nature, by shooting and killing his father. He originally planned to betray the guys and take the 5 million dollars for himself, but after realizing his dad didn't care about him, he decided to kill him, frame the guys, and inherit his father's company and fortune. Because Dale has a slip of tongue his pants have his dad's blood on them, he forces Kurt to trade pants with him.

With help from their friend "Motherfucker" Jones, the boys lead the police to the warehouse where Rex is supposed to be tied up before he gets there, so they can prove their innocence. But Rex slips in unseen at the last minute, and the guys are about to be arrested.

Luckily for the guys, Kurt's phone (which he accidentally left for Burt to find) in Rex's pants rings, causing the police to realize Rex lied to them. Rex immediately grabs Hatcher's gun and uses it to take Hatcher hostage, then forces the other police officers to leave one car (with the keys in) open for him to get away. Dale rushes at him, getting shot and allowing Hatcher to escape. Hatcher then tells the police to beat Rex up before arresting him, while Dale is taken to a hospital.

Personality
Rex is a very malicious and immature man who acts like a child instead of his current age. He thinks he is entitled to some of his dad's net worth, always protesting that his dad Bert can afford to stay rich even while giving large amounts of money to his son. In Rex's defense, Bert refused to take the responsibility of being a father. Bert's negligence towards Rex was enough to make Rex determined to commit patricide (the act of killing one's father). Rex is the (only) original character in Horrible Bosses 2 who is a "horrible boss", as he bullies his Asian maid by pranking her or with his racist "Asian" accent. He also forced Nick, Kurt and Dale to dangerously fool the police in order to earn the ransom money for the staged kidnapping, being no better to them than a failure-intolerant dictator.

He is also very intelligent, capable of coming up with elaborate schemes on the fly and even being able to fake incidents that happened to him. In addition, he is resilient, being able to bounce back from setbacks instantly. In the climax, he proves to be a backstabber, killing his father Bert as payback for neglectful parenting and betraying Nick, Kurt and Dale in one fell swoop. All in all, Rex is a psychopath (even before the climax, there was already evidence of this).

Critical Reception
Rex Hanson earned negative reviews from critics, who complained that Horrible Bosses 2 was a mediocre film due to lazy writing. Jason Bateman, the actor who plays Nick, hated the sequel too.

Trivia

 * Rex commits the same atrocities as all 3 bosses from the first movie, and is just as bad, if not even worse than all three bosses combined:
 * Similar to David Harken (who served as the main villain in the first film), Rex killed off the secondary antagonist that he disliked and planned to frame the protagonists for it.
 * Similar to Julia Harris ordering Dale to have sex with her or else Julia will report to Stacy that Dale actually did have sex with Julia and cheated on Stacy, he ordered the protagonists to pretend to be kidnapping him for ransom money or else he would report to the cops that they actually did kidnap him.
 * Similar to Bobby Pellett, as their fathers are owners of the companies that they work at (essentially, they work for their fathers) and they are very childish, mentally ill and despise their fathers. After their fathers die, they inherit the family fortune, but unlike Rex, Bobby is killed off. Rex is also a lot smarter than Bobby.
 * Even after he betrayed the trio and killed his father, Rex still considered them his friends because of all the time he'd spent with them (and possibly because of their common goal to get revenge on Bert for screwing them over), so he could be considered a Big Bad Friend to Nick, Kurt and Dale.
 * It is actually never known who was calling Kurt's phone when it was in Rex's pants. It may have been a woman that Kurt was hitting on, so Rhonda (Harken's wife) is a possibility.
 * Rex probably did inherit his dad Bert's net worth, but now that he is in prison he can't use that money to buy luxuries.
 * Rex collects all sorts of things, such as Jimmy Hendrix's guitar, a T-Rex head and even a Predator fang. He also enjoys the movie Predator (which Dale also enjoys), and the song "Roar" by Katy Perry (which Kurt also enjoys), showing that he has a few things in common with them.


 * Rex shares some similarities with the following Villains:
 * Dimentio from Super Paper Mario, as he was initially working with the guy who was promoted as the main antagonist (Rex: Bert, Dimentio: Count Bleck), but they themselves turn out to be the real main villains.
 * Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones, they were abused by their fathers and were also mentally ill. They eventually betray and kill their fathers, but unlike Ramsay, Rex doesn't die.
 * Joshua Washington from Until Dawn, since both of them were mentally ill, initially posed as good guys and still considered the protagonists to be their friends after their betrayal.
 * The protagonists also sympathize with them until their true intentions are revealed.