Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Mr. Thatcher

He's not in the second half of the movie, but Mr. Thatcher makes a pretty good antagonist. After all, he stands for everything that traditional moviegoers don't like—a rich banker who doesn't care about anything in this world buy money. Well, he meets his match in a young Charles Kane, who's determined to ignore Thatcher's threats and to use every penny of his fortune trying to take down guys like Thatcher.

On top of Thatcher, we get a temporary villain in the crooked Governor of New York, Jim Gettys. Of course, Gettys doesn't stick around long because he blackmails Kane and destroys his political career pretty swiftly. What's important about both villains is that they both symbolize the status quo of rich America.

And what's even more important is that they both defeat Kane in battle (let's not forget that Thatcher is there smiling when Kane has to sell off his newspapers).