John Wick Guns: Every Film's Key Weapon Moments

Winston Scott shoots John in John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019), directed by Chad Stahelski, and John falls from the roof of the Continental to the street. John is already excommunicado after killing a High Table member inside the hotel, and the High Table has stripped the Continental of its protected status. Winston then appears to side with the High Table.

The betrayal turns out to be a ruse. John survives and is carried to safety with the Bowery King, and John, Winston and the Bowery King agree to fight the High Table together.

The shot sets up the war that john wick 4 pays off. For the character who pulls the trigger, see winston john wick, and for the man who catches John, see the bowery king john wick.

A formal duel is the one place in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) where a pistol is governed by a rulebook. John can only end the Marquis's hunt by challenging him, and a challenger needs a crime family behind him, which is why he travels to the Ruska Roma in Berlin and kills Killa Harkan to earn Katia's backing.

The appointment is sunrise at Sacré-Cœur in Paris. The Marquis names a reluctant Caine as his stand-in, and Winston stands as John's second with his own life riding on the outcome. Getting there means crossing a city full of assassins and then climbing the Rue Foyatier steps.

Caine wounds John first. Then Winston points out that John has not yet fired his third shot, and John uses it to kill the Marquis. The Harbinger honors the result, releasing John and Caine and returning Winston to his post. John collapses at the top of the steps, and a gravestone bearing his name later sits beside Helen's.

For the two men across from him, see marquis de gramont john wick and caine john wick.

Ballerina (2025), directed by Len Wiseman, puts grenades and a flamethrower into Eve's fight through Hallstatt, Austria. The film is a spinoff set during Chapter 3, and Eve is a Ruska Roma trained killer hunting the cult that killed her father.

In Hallstatt, a town where nearly everyone seems to belong to the cult, Eve fights her way through the townspeople. Later, she battles through the town again, including with a flamethrower. Grenades badly wound both Eve and her older sister Lena, who dies after telling Eve she missed her.

For more on the character, see eve ballerina and the ballerina john wick film page.

Eve ends the spinoff's main story with a gunshot at the Chancellor, the cult's leader. He is trying to escape with his granddaughter Ella when Eve fires, kills him and takes the girl back. Daniel Pine lives and is reunited with his daughter.

Keanu Reeves's John Wick turns up late as the Director's messenger. He has been told to stop Eve, allows her a short window to reach the Chancellor first, and afterward reports the man's death. The Director accepts that and leaves.

The closing image is a notification rather than a bullet. During a Swan Lake performance with her friend Tatiana on stage, Eve receives word of a 5 million dollar bounty on her and walks out. Winston had already cautioned her that the cult's survivors would come looking.

In my opinion, the three shot duel in Chapter 4 is the most important weapon moment in the series, because it is where a firearm decides whether John is freed from the High Table's hunt. John does not escape the Marquis, he beats him inside the rules, and Winston's reminder about the third shot is the line that turns a wounded John into a winner.

Second, I would put Winston's shot in Chapter 3. It could be argued that it is the series' best piece of misdirection, since it makes the audience believe the Continental's owner has abandoned John, and the ruse reshapes the alliance of John, Winston and the Bowery King.

Third is Eve's flamethrower fight in Hallstatt. Perhaps it is the least tied to John's own story, but it is the spinoff's loudest statement that Ballerina plays by a different set of tools. Fourth is Eve's shot at the Chancellor, which pays off the revenge plot cleanly but carries less surprise.

If you are new to the series, start with Chapter 4 for the duel and Chapter 3 for the betrayal. For the full films against each other, see john wick movies ranked, and for where each moment lands in the story, see the john wick timeline.