With the recent release of Nobody - a movie about a man named Hutch (played by Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk), a former assassin for the CIA who seeks revenge on people who invaded his home - people have been quick to compare the movie to John Wick. The similarities are barely a coincidence, as it’s written by Derek Kolstad, the creator of John Wick, and it’s produced by David Leitch, the co-director of that movie as well.
The first John Wick movie set a high bar, not just for the Wick series, but for all other movies in the action-hero genre too, as the stunt work and world building are unrivaled in any current franchise. However, Nobody gives the beloved assassin franchise a good run for its money, even though it does borrow so many story beats and the premise is essentially identical.
They’re Both Retired Assassins
Starting with the blindingly obvious, both John Wick and and Hutch are retired assassins, and they’re both superb at what they do. There are some fans who even think Wick is the real villain, since he goes around murdering hundreds of men who can’t defend themselves and some arguably don’t even deserve it, and the same could be said for Hutch.
The former CIA employee is arguably even worse than Wick, as he sets up booby traps that take out dozens at a time. And when he feels inferior after not being able to stop a home invasion, he goes out looking for a fight with any random people.
Both Feature The Russian Mafia
It isn’t exactly rare when a Russian is the bad guy in a Hollywood movie, as Americans and Russians have been locking horns ever since the space race, but given all of the other similarities, it has to be more than just a coincidence.
In both John Wick and Nobody, the protagonists inadvertently draw the attention of the deadliest Russian mob bosses in cinema history. Not only that, but both mob bosses just happen to be as well versed in combat as each other too.
Disobedient Kids
On top of the Russian mafia bosses being the big bads of both movies, what first draws their attention to the protagonists is the way both John Wick and Hutch handle the relatives of the mobsters. John Wick hunts down Viggo’s son, Iosef, and Hutch beats Teddy, Yulian’s younger brother, to a bloody pulp.
Neither of them show any mercy, as Hutch slightly slits Teddy’s throat and sticks a plastic straw inside him just so he can continue to breathe, and Wick shoots Iosef in the head at such close range. It was only a matter of time until both of the former assassins were going to have cohorts of Russians on their tails.
Both Movies Prominently Feature Muscle Cars
In John Wick, the titular assassin seemingly loves two things - dogs and muscle cars. In the first movie, the character vents his anger by driving around a dock yard in a 1969 Mustang GT, and by the end of the movie, he’s given a 2011 Dodge Charger.
And in Nobody, Hutch’s neighbor arrogantly gloats about his 1972 Dodge Challenger. But in one of the most satisfying sequences in the movie, Hitch steals the Charger and roams around in it, channelling his inner Wick.
Gun-Fu
Bob Odenkirk trained rigorously for the role of Hutch, and it massively paid off, as audiences can almost feel every punch, kick, and gunshot. All of those things combined is called "gun-fu," a style of movie fighting that was made famous with the John Wick movies.
Though the gun-fu in the John Wick series is much better and way more ambitious, Keanu Reeves has been doing his own stunts for decades at this point, and there have been three movies for the stunt coordinators to perfect it. But if Nobody does get a sequel, then it could eventually equal John Wick in its ambition.
Setting Fire To The Mobster’s Money
Though Nobody does bear a ton of similarities to John Wick, the movie actually does a great job of doing enough interesting and different things to stand apart from the now iconic series. However, when it comes to the arc with the Russian mob, the story is almost beat for beat the same.
Not only do the protagonists fall in to this cat and mouse chase due to disobedient kids, but right before the final show down with the Russian mob bosses, both main characters set fire to boat loads of cash belonging to the gangsters. The shots are almost the same too, as they’re shot in slo-mo with both Wick and Hutch walking away, not looking behind them.
Doing It For The Family
The Fast and Furious series isn’t the only action franchise that’s all about family. Though Wick is completely solo when audiences first meet him, and he has nothing except for a dog, this canine comes to represent his family in a way, while Hutch actually has two children, a wife, a brother, and a father, whom he's all very close to.
Therefore, in their revenge missions, both Hutch and Wick are doing it for the same reasons. Wick is clearly venting after the loss of his wife and the puppy who was the only connection to her he had left, and Hutch is protecting his family after he felt like he no longer could.
Nobody Wants To Be A Franchise Too
Though the fourth and fifth entries in the John Wick franchise were initially planned to be shot back-to-back, COVID-19 put a halt to that. However, the fourth movie is currently in production and a fifth movie is still being developed, and John Wick will probably continue after Chapter 5 too.
The first movie was a sleeper hit at the box-office, but it has now become an established franchise, with each movie making almost double the previous one. It’s clearly Universal’s intention to do the same with Nobody, and hopefully that happens, as there was some great world-building in the movie and a mid-credits scene even hints at a sequel. Just like John Wick, Nobody was a sleeper hit too, but it still managed to make more than three times its budget, so hopefully a sequel will be green lit.
The Poster
It’s obvious who Universal is trying to appeal to, as the poster for Nobody is almost identical to that of John Wick: Chapter 2. Hutch’s face is in the centre of that poster, just as John Wick’s face is, and Hutch is surrounded by fists being launched at him.
In the poster for Chapter 2, it looks the same, only instead of fists, there are guns. Though Nobody is not in the same universe as the John Wick series, anybody could have been fooled otherwise with this poster.