Reacher Season 4's Premiere Delivers An Even More Brutal Version Of A John Wick Fight Scene

Who would win in a fight, Jack Reacher or John Wick? Even with Hollywood's crossover obsession, it seems like a question we'll never be able to answer. But thanks to "Reacher" Season 4, we do know who would win in a battle of who can deliver the most brutal kill in a library.

"Reacher" Season 4 is based on the Lee Child book with the most bonkers reveal, "Gone Tomorrow." But after just one episode, we can see the show has deviated significantly from that 2009 novel. Aside from shifting the story from New York City to Philadelphia and bringing the timeline forward, the writers have included multiple action scenes that don't appear in the book. In fact, "Gone Tomorrow" is one of the least action-packed installments in the Jack Reacher saga, making it a somewhat odd choice for an adaptation after Season 3 saw Alan Ritchson's hero face off against a human hulk in Olivier Richters' Paul Van Hoven.

Thankfully, showrunner Nick Santora and his team have inserted multiple action sequences into proceedings already, including a library fight that sees Reacher face off against a knife-wielding thug in a fight that feels very reminiscent of a scene from 2019's "John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum." The "Reacher" version, however, is even more brutal than its predecessor, which is saying something considering the "John Wick" fight culminates in Keanu Reeves slamming a book into his attacker's esophagus. 

"Reacher" Season 4 had to deal with one major problem caused by Season 3: the show had already outdone itself in terms of action. While Season 4 is all about Reacher facing new and more subtle threats, it's also not short on combat, as made clear by the premiere episode.

In Episode 1, entitled "The City of Brotherly Love," Alan Ritchson's Reacher finds himself investigating the suicide of a woman on a subway train. After being tipped off about a Congressman with a supposedly shady military past, he and his new buddy Jacob Merrick (Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette) head to the library, where Reacher is told the military records are in the basement. He heads downstairs and walks between two bookshelves, only for a knife-wielding thug to follow him.

This set up is already very reminiscent of the scene in "John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum" in which Keanu Reeves' hitman visits the New York Public Library in search of a marker medallion and rosary. He walks between two bookshelves before another hitman, Ernest (played by towering professional basketball player Boban Marjanović), appears behind him brandishing — what else? A knife. The scene alludes to John Wick's secret book restoring hobby, but mainly is a chance for the uber-resilient assassin to beat up a really tall guy, which he does with the help of a book in an scene that made /Film's list of the moments John Wick went too far. There's no doubt that watching a massive tome being smashed into the mouth of a giant, whose neck is eventually broken over that same book, is rough. But in its spiritual successor to the "Chapter 3" library scene, "Reacher" delivers an even more gruesome kill.

The similarities between the library fights in "John Wick: Chapter 3" and "Reacher" Season 4, Episode 1 are striking. Both involve the hero using a book to block knife attacks, and both involve trashing a grand, elegant research room. In the "John Wick" instance, Keanu Reeves' hero faces off against a 7-foot, 4-inch giant. In "Reacher," Alan Ritchson is the giant, and he uses his brute force to his advantage.

After tangling with the knife-wielding goon, he manages to trap him between two mobile bookshelves — the kind that move by turning a wheel at the end of the shelves. With his opponent pinned between the racks, Reacher uses his strength to force the shelves closed, crushing his attacker. Seeing the wheel turn as the poor guy screams is even more brutal than seeing Boban Marjanović's head snapped across a slab of literature. (Hey, Ritchson did promise that "Reacher" Season 4 would be the bloodiest yet.) The scene also perfectly exemplifies the difference in appeal between Jack Reacher and John Wick. Sure, they're both seemingly un-killable heroes capable of dispatching entire clans single-handedly. But Reacher is just a mountain of a man who relies on his size and weight. It's not exactly tactical, but it gets the job done, and the audiences love it. 

Whether the "Reacher" crew took inspiration from "John Wick: Chapter 3" or not remains unclear. The show's stunt coordinator, Buster Reeves, has worked on some legendary action films, including the Jason Bourne saga and Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, but he's never contributed to the John Wick movies. Perhaps this was his way of showing us what he might have done with that New York Public Library scene?