Joanna (The Commuter)

✓

This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being terminated blocked. You cannot make said Removal Proposal without permission from an admin first. Additional Notice: This template is meant for admin maintenance only. Users who misuse the template will be blocked for a week minimum.

Evil-doer
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	Joanna
Origin	The Commuter
Occupation	Unknown
Powers / Skills	Manipulation Coordination Knowledge of human psychology Superficial charm
Hobby	Reading books.
Goals	Get rid of Prynne. Disappear in the dark after her crimes (all failed).
Crimes	Murder Attempted mass murder Obstruction of justice Incrimination Sabotage
Type of Villain	Enigmatic Conspirator

“	What if I asked you to do something that could profoundly affect an individual on this train?	„
	~ Joanna

Joanna is the main antagonist from the 2018 thriller film The Commuter.

She was portrayed by Vera Farmiga, who also portrayed Norma Bates in Bates Motel and Emma Russell in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Biography

Joanna was partially shown following Michael MacCauley on a commuter train; with her presence noted by Michael's friend and fellow rider, Walt. After Michael takes his seat, Joanna joins him and starts what appeared to be a friendly conversation, which later turned into Joanna giving a "hypothetical" scenario. She stated that someone on the train doesn't belong and is headed to Cold Spring, and also revealed that $25,000 was waiting for Michael in one of the washrooms, with a $75,000 bonus if he finds the person. The person, as Joanna described, went by the name Prynne and was carrying a bag, but wouldn't say what was in it. Joanna later leaves the train, but not before revealing her knowledge of Michael's past as a former cop.

Michael finds the $25,000 in the washroom, proof that Joanna's scenario was literal, and things took a sinister turn when a young woman appeared and handed Michael an envelope, which was revealed to contain a wedding ring belonging to his wife, Karen. After failed attempts to call Karen, as well as his friend and former NYPD partner, Alex Murphy, Michael is contacted by Joanna, who threatened to harm his family if he didn't find Prynne. Realizing the danger he's in, Michael gave Walt a message to call police, but later on, Joanna contacted Michael again and revealed that she had been watching his every move since the train is rigged with hundreds of hidden cameras and bugs, and that he "broke the rules" by attempting to call police by writing a secret message on Walt's newspaper. She later had her accomplice to locate the man and push Walt into a moving bus, which killed him instantly, and then ordered Michael to place a tracker on Prynne. Michael placed it on a man he believed to be Prynne, only to find the man, named Dylan and an undercover cop, murdered—as he wasn't Prynne.

Joanna informed Michael that police were called due to a reported disturbance on the train, while also stating that Prynne is a witness to a conspiracy, and that she works for a secret organization of corrupt but very powerful people who would do anything to protect themselves. By the film's climax, Michael found Prynne, who was a young woman named Sofia. Sofia stated that she witnessed a pair of men killing city planner Enrique Mendez, who was also Sofia's cousin. She couldn't call police because it was rogue policemen who killed Enrique, who also had evidence of corruption among police and other city employees, which Sofia took. Joanna called Michael again and demanded that he kill Prynne, only for Michael to refuse. She then yells at Michael for "ignoring" his family's safety to protect Prynne, and now stated that everyone on the train would have to die. She remotely detonates rigged explosives on the brakes to derail the train, and burned the engineer to death.

Michael and the conductor Sam unbuckle the carriage from the rest of the train, saving Michael and the others, but Sam was killed as he was on another carriage that crashed. Later, Mike's colleague friend Murphy boarded the train wreck to talk to him when a police force surrounded and secured the area. However he inadvertently reveals himself as the rogue cop who killed Enrique, when he used a phrase about "being noble" - which matched the same words clearly heard by Sofia. Michael forces Murph to reveal his involvement in the conspiracy, who later receives a secret call from Joanna, instructing him to assassinate Sofia. A brutal fight between him, Michael, and the passengers finally ends with the snipers shooting and killing the accomplice, and thus everyone is saved.

Michael was informed that Joanna's whereabouts were unknown, but at the end of the film, Michael found Joanna on a train to Chicago. Joanna claimed not to know him, but Michael uncovered that Joanna was the true mastermind and that she was using Murphy as a pawn as part of her scheme, while also revealing that he's back on the NYPD. The film ends with the implication that Michael took Joanna to custody.

Personality

When first seen talking to Michael, she appears to be very polite and sophisticated, showing great knowledge of human psychology and litterature. Though she is enigmatic because not much information is given on her. She is also charismatic and manipulative, being able to convince the hero to play the "game", even if he does not know exactly what she was talking about.

But later, her true self comes out. She is a ruthless, psychopathic and purely evil madwoman without redeeming qualties. Her great lack of human life is shown when she decides to derail the whole train, provoking more deads than necessary. She is apparently married but this is only mentionned so it is unknown if she genuinely loves her spouse or not. She could also have lied about that.