100 Greg Focker – Ben Stiller is comedy gold. Just his expression alone gets me laughing. And this is his best character.
99 Trinity – Loved the Matrix movies, loved the characters. And Trinity was as cool to watch in a fight as any of them.
98 Col. James Braddock – Chuck Norris kicks ass. All the Chuck Norris jokes tell you as much. For me, the Missing in Action movies put him on the “map in my mind”.
97 Thor – Probably my favorite comic book superhero, translated well to the movies. Though not as well as some of the other ones.
96 Mace Windu – The only Jedi with a purple/violet lightsaber, he was pretty bad ass in a fight. But isn’t that Samuel L. Jackson in all movies?
95 Jack Reacher – This is influenced by the books, which I love. I can’t keep all my biases at bay. I wish they got a bigger man to play this guy, but Tom Cruise did alright.
94 Aragorn – The main hero of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, assuming you don’t buy little hobbits as heroic figures…
93 Maximus – From Gladiator. In my opinion, this put Russell Crowe on the map.
92 Fred Abagnale Jr. – I loved Catch Me if You Can and thought Abagnale, based on a true person, was a genius. And Leonardo DiCaprio was really good playing him.
91 Zorro – This was a legendary character before there was a movie about him.
90 Annie Wilkes – The psycho villain from Misery was played by Kathy Bates. And damn, was she good.
89 Carey Mahoney – Sgt. Mahoney was the wise-cracking officer trainee in Police Academy. I haven’t seen any of these movies since hitting my 20s so I can’t speak to the lasting influence. But man, as a teenager I sure loved these movies.
88 Harry Callahan – Dirty Harry? He made such an impact on our movie-going culture that he’s one of just a couple of characters on this list pre-1980.
87 Optimus Prime – The robot itself looks cool, but I think we can all agree it’s Optimus Prime’s voice that makes this character. Awesome in the cartoon, and they used the same voice in the movies.
86 The Dude – This guy is in most people’s Top 20, but although I respect his popularity, I didn’t get into The Big Lebowski again. The hype for this character is making me want to re-watch this movie, so perhaps I will. And then update this list…
85 Punisher – Another favorite of mine from the comics. I don’t think the movies did a horrible job with him (though I didn’t see Dolph Lundgren’s version, I did see the other two). They could just do better. I look forward to seeing what Marvel does with him in the Daredevil series (TV). He may be better suited for TV.
84 Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) – My daughter’s favorite superhero. I wish Marvel would promote their female heroes as much as the men – I think Black Widow would do well on her own.
83 Clarke Griswold – Chevy Chase was so funny in these movies (and Fletch) that he pretty much remained famous for another 20 years despite everything else that he did failing.
82 The Predator – Nothing will ever match the first Predator movie, but this creature was so well-received that it spawned sequels and even crossovers (with Alien).
81 Hulk (Bruce Banner) – I thought the movies were decent, especially with Edward Norton. Mark Ruffalo took it on with the Avengers and did just fine with it. But everyone, of all ages, knows the Incredible Hulk.
80 Mick Dundee – “That’s not a knife! This…is a knife.” I doubt anyone under 30 would understand.
79 Data – Cool character from Star Trek was key to the one spin-off show that I watched – The Next Generation.
78 Forrest Gump – I fought the power on this movie, refusing to watch it because it looked dumb. But fortunately, I eventually caved. A clever movie, and a clever character.
77 Axel Foley – Eddie Murphy’s breakthrough character made a franchise out of Beverly Hills Cop.
76 Agent J – Will Smith was hilarious in Men in Black. This was his character.
75 Jack Ryan – Several stars have played the role and regardless of which one was the best at it – the character itself is damn good.
74 Agent Smith – “Mister Anderson.” Who didn’t love the villain from the Matrix set?
73 Bryan Mills – I loved the movie Taken. I loved the sequels, critics be damned. But the first one was fantastic and it was released right around the time was daughter was born. So I was “extra” protective fathery at the time.
72 Martin Riggs – The suicidal cop from the Lethal Weapon franchise, Riggs offered up a nice mix of humor and action. And who doesn’t love a cop with nothing to lose?
71 El Mariachi – A.K.A. Desperado. This put Antonio Banderas on the map. We’ll ignore the fact that it was downhill from there, El Mariachi was awesome.
70 Inspector Jacques Clouseau – It’s hard for me to find older movies funny because the shtick has since been copied and repeated to death. And the acting isn’t as strong and the special effects are tough to watch. But the Pink Panther‘s Clouseau is timeless.
69 Mad Max – This many sequels (and a reboot) has to happen for a reason, right?
68 Captain Jack Sparrow – I’m not as high on him as most, but I do admit that he had his funny moments and the movies were interesting enough.
67 Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry – The gun-toting nutty cop from Police Academy…
66 Ellen Ripley – Of Aliens fame.
65 Ethan Hunt – The Mission Impossible franchise was/is great and the Tom Cruise character is a big reason for that.
64 Norman Bates – Say this name, and even those under 40 will know you’re talking about Psycho. This is the only character on this list in which I didn’t see any full movie. Parts of the movies, sure. But not a full one. It’s a case of the “legend” or the “aura” that forces me to include him here.
63 Princess Leia Organa – The most famous female in the most famous movie trilogy.
62 Bilbo Baggins – The Hobbit himself. Doesn’t exactly strike excitement in the viewers – a small humanoid with big feet? But Peter Jackson was able to still make a believable heroic figure out of him – even if he wasn’t able to get the movie the way he wanted it.
61 William Munny – The Unforgiven is one of my favorite movies of all time. And Clint Eastwood’s Munny is a key reason for that (though Morgan Freeman was no slouch either).
60 Katniss Everdeen – Overrated in my eyes, but I have to acknowledge the popularity of this character. I did enjoy Katniss in the books, and I do enjoy her in the movies – I’m just not “ga ga” the way some are. I’m sure some (younger, mostly) would say she should be in the Top 20 here. I didn’t even bother going to see the last three Hunger Games movies, I’ll wait for the video. Although admittedly part of that is due to my aversion to movies getting split into two parts to make more money, as Part 3 was in this case.
59 Professor Charles Xavier – Professor X is the leader of the X-Men. Patrick Stewart is the perfect Professor X. It was a match made in heaven and it turned out correct. James McAvoy playing the younger version of him really works too.
58 Dr. Hannibal Lecter – The world’s most famous fictional cannibal, with a name that rhymes with that very thing.
57 John Doe (Seven) – Seven is another all-time favorite of mine and Kevin Spacey was at his best. John Doe was one of the better villains in movie history.
56 Vincent Vega – John Travolta’s career was dead. And then Vincent Vega appeared in Pulp Fiction. And then John Travolta was a superstar again.
55 Blade – Half-man, half-vampire, all-awesome.
54 Sarah Connor – The Terminator created this pretty bad-ass mom after putting a scare into her in the original.
53 Mystique – The X-Men villain was fantastic no matter who played her, which means the character itself is great.
52 Conan the Barbarian – I loved the books when I was younger, the movies were decent. But regardless – everyone knows Conan the Barbarian. I thought the reboot of this franchise was enjoyable (other than the token romance scene), and didn’t understand the criticism. It’s as if critics were expecting a thought-provoking drama or something…
51 Dr. Evil – So funny (and so imitated)…
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