SPOILER!
“Bollocks. He killed his gang because he clearly wanted something more than he was - the entire film he wants ”something more“.
He doesn't like the person he is and he doesn't like the people he is with. He never seems to like them, shoots one of them casually near the beginning, and describes them all as ”animals“ before the end. He then says he has to be ”rotten as hell“ to lead ”a bunch like that“. He talks about going to Mexico with that girl and living straight, where he's not wanted.
Wade's state of mind and reaching for something higher than being a cut-throat thief is shown in the very first scene, symbolically, as he is doing the most unlikely thing for a no-good outlaw - ART. He's drawing a bird on a branch, and significantly, the bird flies away before he can finish his art, when HIS GANG, Charlie, in this case, rides around the corner and scares it away. And Wade seems annoyed.
It was no ”change of heart“ or complication. From the beginning, Wade was a man who wanted something more from his life and from himself, but his own cut-throat nature and past deeds held him to who he was. His experience with Evans, and ultimate respect for his courage and decency, finally pushed him over the edge and made him free himself in the only way he knew how. ”
Well put ! This rancher was the better man and Wade knew that all too well.
SPOILER ENDAR!
I'm a winner, I'm a sinner. Do you want my autograph?