Simon Gruber

Simon Peter Gruber is the main antagonist in the 1995 live action film, Die Hard with a Vengeance. He is an East German People’s Army colonel-turned-terrorist and the brother of Hans Gruber. He was bent on killing John McClane in order to gain revenge upon him for the death of his brother in the first film and to steal gold bullions worth of $140,000,000,000 from the Federal Reserve Bank.

He was portrayed by Jeremy Irons, who also played Profion in Dungeons & Dragons, Alan Rikkin in the Assassin's Creed franchise and Scar in Disney's The Lion King.

UnLike his brother, Simon is an extremely callous, relentless, and sympathetic murderer who is nevertheless genteel, assertive, respectable, well-spoken, complaisant, and well-educated. Much unlike Hans (and most Hollywood villains, for that matter), however, Simon possesses a measure of morality and honor; he will deliberately make sure that no innocent children will be (directly) harmed by his actions, even if it will compromise the mission at hand. This sense of honor seems to be shared by his men. He even joins in and approves of mourning for the men lost in the battle against Mclane, genuinely saddened by their deaths. If ever bested in scheme and combat by an equal, like McLane, he shows genuine respect for the bravery and resourcefulness of said enemy. Simon's personal pride in his sense of honor is summarized by his response to Mclane's surprise that no real bombs were planted in schools "I'm a soldier, not a monster; even though I sometimes work for monsters".

Also, unlike his brother who was much more master tactician and strategist, Simon seemed to be master of psychological warfare which gave him the ability to play mind games with his nemesis; John McClane and manipulating him into solving his games that he prepared for him and Zeus in exchange for disarming his bombs that he secretly planted all over New York City.