John Wick: Chapter 4 is about to continue the story that began in the original John Wick film in 2014. Keanu Reeves headlines the franchise as the title character, a former hitman who was dragged back into his former profession. And so far, John’s return to his old world is not going very smoothly. For repeatedly daring to defy the rules of the criminal underworld, John Wick has been marked for death by the very organization that he served for years.
But are the rules of the underworld? The three previous John Wick films have offered only brief and tantalizing glimpses of a world that resembles our own, but is in fact very different.
There’s a hierarchy in place that controls almost everything that John comes into contact with, as well as an apparent unwritten pact with the general public that keeps anyone on the outside from directly acknowledging that their lives are governed by something more than they can perceive.
Ahead of John Wick: Chapter 4, we’re taking a look at everything we know about the rules of John Wick’s world of assassins. And it won’t even cost you a gold coin.
World of Violence
There’s a particularly telling scene in John Wick: Chapter 2 in which a gun fight between John and a vengeful Cassian is almost ignored by the civilians around them. The ordinary people aren’t immune to the violence around them, but they seem to be turning an intentional blind eye to it. This may be the unofficial agreement between the underworld and the civilians who live outside of it. The ordinary people pretend not to notice the underworld killers, and in turn, they are largely left alone by the truly dangerous individuals who kill for a living. It’s an implicit admission that the police and government mean nothing in this world. The real power lies in darkness.
Additionally, it’s pretty notable just how many assassins there are anywhere at any given moment in the world of John Wick. Supposedly, hired killers are hard to find in the real world, but apparently not so in this mythos. There is such an abundance of guns for hire in these movies that they can seemingly fill up a park at a moment’s notice! It must be a pretty popular vocation in this world.
Live By the Coin
As seen in the first three movies, almost all transactions in the underworld are done via gold coins which are untraceable and unlinked to the currency of any world government. To anyone on the outside, they may appear to be simple coins of moderate value. However, their true worth seems to be far greater than the amount of gold they contain. A single gold coin can cover an assassination, or criminal missions. They are also exclusively used by the underworld guests of the Continental Hotel, which offers complete sanctuary from any outside threats.
John and others have been known to keep these coins on their person at all times. No bank could be trusted with the coins, nor would ordinary civilians understand their true purpose. The real currency of the underworld is favors, and that’s what the coins have come to represent.
Honor Every Marker
John Wick: Chapter 2 established that there are two unbreakable rules of the underworld. The first unbreakable rule is that every marker must be honored, no matter the price. It is literally a blood oath medallion, and the pact is sealed with a bloody thumbprint from the person who requested the favor. When the return favor is complete, the holder of the medallion will add their own bloody thumbprint to it as a sign that it has been honored.
Within Chapter 2, John’s attempt to return to his retirement was thwarted by Santino D’Antonio, the crime boss who helped John earn his freedom from Viggo Tarasov five years before the events of the first film. John had been able to escape the consequences of that promise because he was truly out of the game. By taking his vengeance on Viggo and his son, Iosef, John was effectively out of retirement and once again bound by the oath.
Winston warned John there was no other option: “You dishonor the marker, you die. You kill the holder of the marker, you die. You run, you die.” The pull of a blood oath marker is so strong that John went out of his way to retrieve a marker that he held over Sofia Al-Azwar early in John Wick: Chapter 3. Even then, Sofia only reluctantly aided John while he was on the run.
Everything is Continental
The other unbreakable rule of the underworld is simple: “No killing on Continental grounds.” The hotel staff are quite serious about this rule. In the first film, Winston executed Ms. Perkins for trying to kill John in the hotel. And in the second movie, John found himself in hot water for the same crime when he killed D’Antonio inside the hotel. In fact, that’s the primary reason why John is still in danger two movies later.
But what is the Continental? It’s a sanctuary for the underworld, and also a high-end hotel chain for ordinary visitors. Although the movies primarily deal with the New York Continental, there is also a Continental hotel in Italy in Chapter 2, and Sofia was the manager of the Continental in Morocco in Chapter 3. It is truly a home away from home for hired killers, with unique amenities including black market medical attention, body armor, gun service, and even pet service courtesy of the New York concierge, Charon.
Although the Continental hotels appear to be autonomous from outside control, they are also integral to the underworld in several ways. The Continental is apparently the source of the gold coins used for currency, and the basement features a command center where criminal contracts are sent out through intentionally outdated computers that can not be hacked. It was from there that John was declared “excommunicado”, which revoked his Continental privileges and protections for killing D’Antonio. Regardless, Winston liked John enough that he gave him a head start of one hour before this went into effect at the beginning of Chapter 3.
Underworld Authority
As established in Chapter 2, the underworld is ruled by the High Table, a council of crime lords from around the world that includes representatives from the Camorra, the Yakuza, the Triad, the Bratva, Cosa Nostra, and more. There are only 12 seats at the High Table, which is why Santino D’Antonio wanted John to murder his sister, Gianna D’Antonio, so he could assume her place in the organization. And once John went through with the mission, Santino placed a hit on him to cover up his own involvement with Gianna’s death.
Although the High Table prefers to remain in shadows, they did dispatch the Adjudicator (pictured above) in Chapter 3 to punish Winston for giving John a head start. The Adjudicator acted with the full authority of the High Table by attempting to strip the Continental away from Winston and by hiring additional killers to target John.
There is only one power in this world with more authority than the High Table: The enigmatic Elder glimpsed in Chapter 3. John went to great lengths to find the Elder and beg his forgiveness. And the price of John’s absolution was his ring finger, his wedding ring, his eternal fealty to the High Table, and the death of Winston. John willingly gave up the first three, but he ultimately refused to kill Winston.
Unfortunately for John, Winston was all too eager to shoot him once he received an offer for reinstatement from the Adjudicator. Either Winston did it to reclaim what was his, or it was his way of offering John mercy and even a remote chance of survival when he fell off the roof of the Continental. There’s a degree of ambiguity there that could go both ways, but it’s an open question of whether John can ever trust Winston again.
And that’s where John Wick: Chapter 4 will pick up. John has angered the powers that be and set the world of assassins against him. Fortunately, for John, he’s not alone in this fight. The Bowery King has also vowed revenge on the High Table, and John’s greatest battles lie ahead.
