The 60 Most Badass Antiheroes in Movies, Television and Comics; Past To Present.

Pop culture has had a long love affair with antiheroes and badasses in various formats.

Currently they reign supreme on TV. Name one premium cable drama that doesn’t boast one as the protagonist?

So how is an anti-hero defined exactly?

Webster’s Dictionary defines it as; a protagonist or notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities.

This is vague enough to allow for many variables, so here are some notable archetypes for antiheroes:

• A soldier of fortune who’ll do the right thing, but only if there is a reward involved beyond justice.
• A ‘loose cannon’ who will do the right thing, but will defy all conventions and laws to get it done.
• A criminal who has a vague moral code that keeps them from becoming totally evil.
• A reluctant hero, who intervenes only when his conscious nags him to do so.

Likewise a badass is loosely defined as a tough, aggressive,or uncooperative person. So you can see how they’re usually synonymous.

With this in mind, I’ve come up with a list of the greatest badass anti-heroes in pop culture; covering film, TV and comic books.

These are the people you root for against your better nature, or because you believe they are justified in breaking moral convention.

So I’m nixing anti-heroes that are too loathsome or pathetic;  i.e. Rupert Pupkin, Alex DeLarge, Patrick Bateman, Francis Underwood, Don Draper etc. This list covers characters of action; rogue cops, assassins, thieves, bounty hunters, etc.

I’ll have DVD/Blu-ray links under each entry for film/tv characters, and trade collections for comic book characters.

SPOILER ALERT: Some of my descriptions may give away plot points to their respective mediums.

 

60. Frank Lucas (American Gangster).

[amazon_image id=”B001EIOOVS” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]American Gangster [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

Denzel Washington makes a heroin smuggling crook likeable and sympathetic. And the real life Lucas is equally likeable, so much so that he’s great friends with Richie Roberts, the detective who put him behind bars!

 

59. Sgt. William James (The Hurt Locker)

[amazon_image id=”B00275EGX8″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Hurt Locker [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

James (Jeremy Renner)  is cavalier with his own life and those around him with his risky, daredevil approach to bomb disarmament. The fine line between a good soldier and reckless thrill seeker is thin as a explosive tripwire.

 

58. Napoleon Wilson (John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13)

[amazon_image id=”B001HBVE5Q” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Assault on Precinct 13 (Restored Collectors Edition) [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

He’s a killer inmate on death row, but fights alongside a beleaguered police force when their precinct is besieged by gangster snipers, even when given a chance to escape.

 

57. Martin Q Blank  (Grosse Point Blank)

[amazon_image id=”B0080BFVPU” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Grosse Pointe Blank (15th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

Blank is a sociopathic hitman, trying to reconnect with his high school flame at a high school reunion. Finding a balance between his homicidal and romantic urges make him a truly compelling anti-hero, and John Cusack nails the dichotomy.

 

56. J.D. Dean (Heathers)

[amazon_image id=”B0053TWVZA” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Heathers [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

Sure he’s a murderer, but he only kills snobs and assholes that make high school a living hell. It’s wrong, but oh how fun is he to watch?

 

55. Hit Girl (Kick-Ass)

[amazon_image id=”B002ZG9846″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Kick-Ass (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”0785132619″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Kick-Ass[/amazon_image]

Both a comic and movie character, this child takes revenge for her slain father to psychotic, bloody extremes. She’s a lost innocent trained early in the ways of murder. She is truly “kick-ass.”

 

54.  Moses (Attack The Block)

[amazon_image id=”B005J4TLQG” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Attack the Block [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

Moses is the leader of a group of young thugs, but redeems his mugging ways by helping to stop an alien rampage in inner city London, becoming a local legend in the process.

Click here for my list of Great But Forgotten Horror Films.

 

53. Machete

[amazon_image id=”B004B63M1S” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Machete [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

Hilarious and badass. A former federale who thirst for revenge after the death of his family from a vicious drug lord.

He kills anyone who crosses his path and has sex with the wife and daughter of one of his enemies out of spite. Despite his brutality, you can’t help but root for his blood lust.

 

52. Charley Varrick

[amazon_image id=”B005EYF5NY” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Charley Varrick[/amazon_image]

He robs a bank and kills cops in the process. But the $ stolen is mob money and he must contend and double cross low-lifes even worse than him. Varrick (Walter Matthau) is always one step ahead, and you root for him to get away with it.

 

51. Lewis Medlock (Deliverance)

[amazon_image id=”B007L2UQJK” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Deliverance[/amazon_image]

Medlock (played by Burt Reynolds) kills a man who has sexually assaulted his friend on a canoeing trip. He decides to cover up the murder, deeming that the local natives would never believe their story.

The fact that he convinces the rest of the party (sans one dissenter), and the audience that this is the right decision, shows how persuasive an anti-hero can be, even when his reckless actions got his friends over their heads in the first place.

 

50. The Spectre (DC Comics)

[amazon_image id=”1401234178″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Showcase Presents: The Spectre Vol. 1 (Showcase Presents (Unnumbered Paperback))[/amazon_image]

Jim Corrigan was a cop brutally murdered by mobsters. He becomes an otherworldly deity, killing his enemies (and other criminals) through occult means. While he inhabits the DC Universe, he’s far from the conventional superhero.

 

49. Riddick (Pitch Black, The Chronicles Of Riddick)

[amazon_image id=”B004GSVX5S” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Riddick Collection (Pitch Black / Chronicles of Riddick) [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]

Riddick is a murderous escaped convict, and a member of an alien race with heightened physical abilities.

But  he shows rare moments of compassion/pity to those less powerful than he, but only on his limited terms. Check out the trailer for the upcoming Riddick film.

 

48. Bennie (Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia)

[amazon_image id=”B003TXM83M” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia ( Tráiganme la cabeza de Alfredo García ) [ Blu-Ray, Reg.A/B/C Import – Spain ][/amazon_image]

Director Sam Peckinpah excelled in anti-heroes, and Bennie is his crown jewel, expertly played by Warren Oates. Bennie is a low-life who decides to dig up a corpse for reward money.

He severs the head for proof and loses his sanity, conversing with it. His girlfriend gets killed by men seeking to reclaim the head for their own reward, leading Bennie to a murderous rampage.

 An honorable mention goes to David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), the man who goes from emasculated wimp to revengeful murderer in Peckinpah’s 1971 film Straw Dogs.

47. Caesar (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes)

Fewer antiheroes are as innately sympathetic as Caesar, an ape of heightened intelligence due to genetic experimentation. He’s taken away from his human caregivers and tortured in an animal sanctuary. He escapes by exposing his ape cellmates to the same process that gave him his advanced intellect.

Once free he attacks those who wronged him, and makes a militant response to authority. While he shows restraint to his former “owner”, it is clear he feels little connection to humanity, which will lead to him overpowering the human race and inheriting the earth in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Click here for my list of Best Apocalyptic Thrillers. 

 

46. Marv (Sin City)

[amazon_image id=”1593072937″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Sin City Volume 1: The Hard Goodbye (3rd Edition)[/amazon_image]

Both a compelling comic book and cinematic character (thanks to Mickey Rourke),  Marv is a mentally disturbed ex-con, who goes on a killing spree to avenge the murder of a prostitute he frequented. But he goes above and beyond, severing the killers limb’s while he’s still alive, and feeding them to his pet wolf.

He’s framed for the murder (as the real killer had political connections) and dies on the electric chair; taunting his captors until the end.

 Click here for my list of the Best Comic Book Movies Ever Made.

 

 45. Jack Bauer (24)

Jack Bauer always saves the day, but he shatters civil liberties, endorses torture and murder, and alienates every one he loves in the process.

If there was ever a character who epitomized how we lost our souls while battling terrorism, he’s it. Yes, he gets the job done, but at what cost?

So that wraps up Part 1 of Most Badass Antiheroes in Pop Culture. Click here for part 2.