- "In for a penny, in for a pound."
- —Ms. Perkins to Marcus
Ms. Perkins was a ruthless contract killer who targeted her ex-colleague, John Wick, when a $2m bounty is put on his head by Russian mobster Viggo Tarasov. She was a supporting antagonist in the 2014 film John Wick.
History
Ms. Perkins is first seen at the reception of the Continental Hotel, a facility for assassins who has a rule where no killings may take place inside it. She meets John Wick and claims that it is good to see him again. When Viggo Tarasov puts a $2m bounty on Wick's head in order to prevent him for killing his son Iosef, Perkins informs the mobster's assistant Avi that John is at the Continental and that she is willing to take him out despite the rules of the Continental which state that no "business" may be done inside of the hotel. To reward her, Viggo doubles the bounty.
Later, while John recovers from his wounds after fighting Iosef's security team at the Red Circle club, Perkins sneaks into his room with a silenced pistol to finish him off. Unbeknownst to her, John's old friend Marcus watches over him with a sniper rifle and shoots near John's head to prevent the legendary assassin of the danger and a fight breaks out between the two during which Perkins makes numerous teasing remarks towards Wick, implying the they have a history together. Perkins also seems to look down on Wick as he still has some ethical code he lived by. Sadly for her, John wins the fight and askers her ex-colleague about Viggo while holding her at gunpoint. Perkins reluctantly tells him about the place where the Russian hides his money and John givers her to Harry, another guest at the continental, whom he tells to watch over her before knocking the killer unconscious.
When Perkins wakes up, she is handcuffed on a chair in Harry's room and the latter tells her that Winston, the owner of the Continental, is not happy about her breaking the rules of the hotel by trying to kill John in his suite. During this conversation Perkins dislocates her thumb to slip out of her cuffs before knocking Harry down, forcing a pillow onto his head, and killing him.
After John killed Iosef, Viggo has captured Marcus, being angry about being betrayed by the sniper and blames him for his son's death. Perkins is in the room as well and watches with pleasure as Marcus gets tortured by Viggo. The sniper however manages to break free however and kills two of Viggo's henchmen before Perkins takes him down with a shot of her gun, Viggo then finishes Marcus off.
While waiting outside the building where Marcus was killed to ambush John, she gets called by Winston. When she meets with him he tells her that her membership of the Continental has been revoked because she broke the rules of the hotel. Perkins is then executed by four of his henchmen via gunshots fired by each of them. Winston then pays a gold coin to Charlie, having planned to pay the cleaner to dispose of her body beforehand.
Personality
Compared to other assassins, Perkins was ruthless and arrogant. She was willing to break the rules and kill John in the hotel. During the fight, she mentioned how she considered him weak. Even after John spared her life she killed the guest that guarded her and kept trying to target him for the bounty.
Behind the Scenes
About the character of Ms. Perkins, actress Adrianne Palicki said, "Ms. Perkins is what you think the quintessential assassin would be. She’s cold, heartless, conniving, badass and I think that she has fun with what she does. She enjoys it. I think that she’d clearly do it for a dollar. Ultimately in the film, she’s doing it for four million, so it's a little different." Originally the character of Perkins was envisioned as a man named David Perkins in the original scenario, but the decision was reversed during a brainstorming session and the desire to create "an authentic female action character".
Co-director David Leitch stated, "You believe this woman could come in and give John Wick a run for his money.", so Chad Stahelski, Leitch, and Basil Iwanyk changed it and offered the role to Adrianne. Palicki spoke most highly of working with Reeves and the inclusion of stunt work on her part, to which he stated, "Chad wanted to make sure I would be willing to do my own stuff in the huge fight sequence that I have with Keanu—and I was all game." Palicki spent months of training learning Judo and Jujutsu. After the film's release, Palicki revealed background information, "I also think we talked about a backstory. It's likely [Ms. Perkins and Wick] had a history as well, before his marriage. She may have a personal vendetta as well as the money. I think there's enjoyment on multiple levels." On what she hopes for with regard to the fan response, "It's a lot of fun. They're going to want to see what happens next. Most importantly, I hope they’re rooting for John Wick the way that I did when I read the script.".
Skills
- Expert Markswoman: Ms. Perkins is a highly skilled operative and an expert in assassination and firearms.
- Expert Martial Artist: Ms. Perkins is also skilled at hand-to-hand combat, utilizing the art of judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Grappling. During her fight against John, she used her jacket for lapel chokes and used kimura, tomoe nage, sidemount, crucifix hold, back mount, and various takedowns to match John and nearly beat him.
Equipment
Weapons
Perkins attempting to kill John
- Walther P99: Perkins' sidearm is a suppressed semi-automatic pistol. She used it during her assassination attempt on John in his Continental hotel bedroom, but she was subdued and disarmed.
- Colt Python: Perkins used a revolver to shoot and kill Harry, holding a pillow over his face to improvise a suppressor.
Gallery
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References