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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Those boys inside... I cannot guarantee that they will listen. They are not like you and I. | „ |
| ~ Juan Bolsa describing the Cousins to Gus Fring. |
Marco and Leonel Salamanca, commonly known as the Cousins, are major antagonists in Breaking Bad and supporting antagonists in the prequel Better Call Saul.
They are cold, remorseless hitmen who perform hits for the Cartel.
They were portrayed by Daniel and Luis Moncada, who are brothers (though not twins) in real life as well.
Their Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Them Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- They are sociopathic hitmen for the Juarez Cartel and brutal enforcers of the Salamanca family.
- Although in the end they were betrayed and set up by Gustavo Fring so he could win against their uncle, Hector Salamanca, this does not make them sympathetic at all, as they ultimately deserved it due to their horrible actions.
- While they were abused by their uncle during their childhoods, they are not shown to be that much upset by it and it certainly does not justify the deaths of innocents they have caused.
- Despite the high Heinous Standard of Breaking Bad, they stand out for having very limited resources as they are simple hitmen, and thanks to killing 43 people, they manage to out-perform Nacho Varga, Skyler White, Juan Bolsa, Mike Ehrmantraut, and even Tuco Salamanca.
Better Call Saul[]
- They threatened Mike Ehrmantraut's young granddaughter Kaylee to get him to reduce Tuco's jail time.
- They tortured and killed the driver of one of their trucks that was sabotaged.
- They massacred a gang which they wrongly believed to have shot Nacho Varga and killed his partner.
- They brought the 7 million dollar bail money to Saul Goodman, so they could help bail their cousin, Lalo, out of prison.
- Although they were horrified to see the burned corpse who they thought was Lalo, it wasn't because they had standards but only because they believed their cousin was murdered, especially since they have also committed horrible acts themselves.
- After they were tricked into thinking Lalo was dead because of Nacho, they started chasing him so they could kill and avenge their cousin.
- Marco shot one of his own men because he almost killed Nacho when they were supposed to capture him alive.
- It's all but outright stated that they would torture Nacho if they captured him, with implications even Juan Bolsa is disgusted by it, saying that their methods take "too long".
- This implies they also tortured people beforehand to this particular scene.
- Following Nacho's suicide, they brought Hector to his corpse so he could shoot it out of pure fury.
Breaking Bad[]
- They killed Tortuga by chopping off his head and put it on a defenseless tortoise just so they could make a threat to the DEA to not mess with the Cartel, and they planted a bomb which killed both the tortoise and one DEA agent and wounded three others.
- They shot a guy named “Olive Oil” to death for saying enough to make them worry about possible heat. Following that, they massacred all the immigrants that were being smuggled inside the truck because Olive Oil suddenly went quiet after finding out about their Cartel statuses
- They killed a coyote driver by shooting him in the back and then the head.
- They entered Walt's house with an axe and nearly killed him right after he had a bath, ultimately not going through with it because Gus stopped them.
- They murdered an elderly woman, and then Leonel brutally beat a policeman who came looking for them to death with his brother’s axe.
- It's even implied they killed the driver of the elderly woman's car.
- Leonel shot a random arms dealer, breaking his rib, just to see if his bullet-proof vests worked for them and their “criteria”.
- They attempted to kill Hank Schrader and almost succeeded, if not for Gus warning Hank beforehand and Marco's sadistic desire to draw Hank's death out, choosing to go get the axe instead of shooting Hank right there and then when he had the chance.
- Before tapping out of the conflict to await his time in the hospital, Leonel ordered Marco to kill Hank.
- Despite ultimately being more humane, Marco proved since childhood he was the more violent and cruel one of the two. He showed this in the parking lot battle with Hank, wherein he shot and killed an innocent bystander.
- He also tried to kill another bystander who witnessed this and ran away, and was only stopped from doing so because his gun was out of bullets when he fired at her.
- When Leonel saw Walt at the hospital, he tried getting to him, which inferred his desire to kill Walt even without his legs.
What Prevents Them from Being Pure Evil?[]
For Both Cousins[]
- It's made clear they care for each other at the very least, with Leonel saving Marco from being drowned by Hector when they were kids, and Marco temporarily giving up his hunt on Hank to see if Leonel is fine, as well as thanking Nacho for saving Leonel's life during a shootout.
- They also care about Hector despite his abuse due to respecting and honoring him as family, their cousin Tuco as his death was the reason for their rampage throughout Season 3, and their other Lalo as they were shown to be angry and horrified to see the corpse who they believed to be him.
For Marco Only[]
- He has respect for Nacho, as he donated his blood to save his life after he was shot and was grateful after he saved Leonel's life.
- He has 2 Pet the Dog moments.
- When Leonel checks to see if the vests work after shooting the arms dealer, Marco pays for their vests.
- Although him and Leonel did take a family’s clothes to disguise themselves, they left their own and Marco gave the keys to their car.
Trivia[]
- While they both are Near Pure Evil as well as bloodthirsty killers, Leonel seems to be the worse one out of the two, since Marco cares for his family and respects Nacho while Leonel only has care for his family.
- It's possible this is because Marco's actor, Luis Moncada, has more experience in acting and thus his character got a bit more scenes (such as him having a few more kills than Leonel and having more moments of humanity) between the duo.
External Links[]
- The Cousins on the Villains Wiki.
- The Cousins on the Breaking Bad Wiki.
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 /  Near Pure Evils
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Juarez Cartel Aryan Brotherhood Others | ||