SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for all of the John Wick movies - including John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, John Wick: Chapter 4, and Ballerina. If you have not seen one or more of the films, proceed at your own risk!
When it comes to articles and discussions of “kill counts,” the traditional subject matter is slashers. In their respective canons, the likes of Freddy Kreuger, Jason Vorhees, Jigsaw, and Michael Myers have murdered many, many people, and we’re scared and horrified when they do so. John Wick, however, is a special case: he is the hero of his own franchise, and while he has slayed hundreds and hundreds of people, he does so while getting movie-goers to cheer and applaud. The Keanu Reeves character makes an art out of dealing death, even when he goes toe-to-toe with some awesomely dangerous foes and some exceptional badasses in the assassin-filled world.
But exactly how many people has John Wick killed over the course of his various appearances on the big screen – from 2014’s John Wick to 2025’s Ballerina? It’s not easy to tabulate that specific number from the elite action series… but the good news for you is that we’ve done the hard work for you. Including only the folks that the Baba Yaga takes down himself (a.k.a. without assistance from any of his awesome allies), we’ve broken down all of the murdering and assassinating for you below - going the extra mile by also identifying his weapon choices.
John Wick
Guns: 73
It’s established very early in the John Wick trilogy that the hero definitely has a weapon of choice, and it’s clearly a gun. While this count also includes the confirmed kills by Marcus, Ms. Perkins, and Winston’s men, John accounts for the vast majority, as he absolutely mows down enemy assassins as he works towards completing his revenge mission.
Swords/Knives: 6
Of course, John Wick isn’t only deadly when armed with a loaded firearm, as he also proves to be quite efficient when handling knives as well. He doesn’t get too many opportunities to show off this skill in his first movie, but he does get a few good stabs and slices in among the many, many headshots. This includes his final kill, where he purposefully gets stabbed by Viggo Tarasov just so that he can take the weapon away and use it himself.
Other: 12
John Wick also has more death by explosions than any other movie in the series so far (seven), and adds in a broken neck, a strangulation, and a couple of car collisions. John got quite creative in this one.
John Wick: Chapter 2
Guns: 110
You’d think that 73 gun deaths would be hard to top, but director Chad Stahelski finds a way in John Wick: Chapter 2. It helps that the action flick features multiple sequences as big as the Red Circle Club rampage, including his escape through the tunnels following the “assassination” of Gianna D'Antonio.
Blades: 2
John Wick: Chapter 2 definitely has the most skewed kill ratio of all the movies so far, as only a small percentage are executed via a blade. That being said, this is the method for one of the most significant deaths in the movie, as it’s with Ares’ own knife that John manages to take her out of the equation.
Other: 6
We really haven’t seen a good amount of stealth from John Wick in the trilogy to this point, as he clearly prefers to go in guns blazing, but we do get to see a couple of more quiet kills at the start of the second movie – which results in a few bodies hitting the floor because of broken necks and even some garrote action. And, of course, this is also the film where we actually get to see what the eponymous killer can do with a pencil, as he ends two lives with one writing utensil.
Before we get into John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, you can revisit all of the John Wick-specific kills by clicking play on our awesome supercut below:
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
Guns: 124
If you went into John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum thinking that the sequel wouldn’t be able to top the gun kill count from the previous installment, you’re clearly not paying attention. It’s worth noting that John does get a lot more help in this one than in the previous movies, as Sofia racks up a pretty high body count while under attack from Berrada's men in Casablanca, but the film most definitely affirms that the titular character knows his way around a firearm.
Blades: 32
There are far more deaths by sword/knife in the third installment of this franchise – mostly because of the stealthy attacks that are executed against John’s allies by Zero and his gang. However, John himself does use a blade more than a few times in the movie, most notably during the first act museum attack, and then later when he is accosted by Zero’s crew on motorcycles upon his return to New York. And, of course, there is the big final battle in The Continental as well.
Other: 11
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum stars with an nontraditional kill, as our protagonist takes out an opponent with just a book – but from there we get to see 10 others scattered throughout the film. A good number of them are actually animal kills – three by dogs, and three by horses – and motorcycle crashes and a chucked axe complete the count.
John Wick: Chapter 4
Guns: 105
John Wick: Chapter 4 may be longer than all of the other movies in the series, but that surprisingly doesn't mean that the central hero ends up using that time to assassinate more people than the previous films. That being said, he ends up taking out a whole lot of people using firearms in the action epic. The vast majority are executed with John's array of pistols, but by far his most efficient weapon proves to be a shotgun that is loaded up with fiery Dragon Breath shells that cook while they kill.
Blades: 6
Compared to John Wick: Chapter 3, the number of blade kills in John Wick: Chapter 4 is way down, but the titular protagonist still makes them count. There is some sharp dagger action in the action here, though the number one bladed weapon the main character uses is an axe that proves quite effective.
Other: 8
John Wick gets good and creative in John Wick: Chapter 4 by using both non-traditional lethal weapons and vehicles. He crushes one guy with a car and throws three of them into moving vehicles; he revs up a motorcycle before letting it go flying; and he puts an end to Killa with a good push off a tall stairwell. My two favorites, however, are John killing an enemy with nunchaku and stabbing a dude with a gun.
Ballerina
Guns: 12
Keanu Reeves’ return as John Wick in Ballerina is relatively quick. He is featured in the first act, his scenes offering a return to his trip to see The Director in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and he plays a key part in the third act temporarily assisting Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro on her mission for revenge. But just because his screentime is limited doesn’t mean he doesn’t have time to kill a few people. In the aforementioned second sequence, he ends up shooting a total of 12 individuals aiming to murder Eve. He doesn’t get creative with his kills, simply using a gun for his executions, but adding a dozen bodies to his ledger remains significant!
This is where the count ends for now… but there is definitely more to come thanks to the continued expansion of the John Wick franchise - including John Wick: Chapter 5, an animated prequel about the impossible task John completed to earn his freedom from the High Table, and a spinoff centering on Donnie Yen's Caine from John Wick: Chapter 4 (it hasn't be said if John will appear in the movie, but you never know!) Be on the lookout here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates about the killer action canon, and as soon as the Baba Yaga starts killing again, you can be sure that we will be keeping track of his body count.
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