This is part 2 in a series covering the 60 Most Badass Antiheroes in Pop Culture.
Click here to read Part 1 for entries 60-45
SPOILER ALERT: Some entries contain spoilers in discussing certain anti-heroes attributes.
And I’ll have Amazon and Entertainment Earth links for movies, comics and collectibles under each entry.
44. Namor, The Sub-Mariner (Marvel Comics)
[amazon_image id=”0785150684″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Marvel Masterworks: The Sub-Mariner – Volume 1[/amazon_image]
Ill-tempered Prince Namor is torn by his ties to land and sea, given his heritage; His father is human, but his mother Atlantean.
He vowed revenge on humanity for nuclear fallout in the oceans, but will occasionally fight alongside humanity. He’s the original comic book anti-hero, debuting in 1939.
43. The Driver (Drive)
[amazon_image id=”B0064NTZJO” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Drive (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
A getaway driver for robberies has a soft spot for a young woman and her child. His violent nature comes into play when they’re threatened, leading to acts of brutality tempered by moments of tenderness (and great music)
42. Quint (Jaws)
[amazon_image id=”B007STBUIW” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Jaws (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)[/amazon_image]
Quint (Robert Shaw) will kill the iconic shark for money and glory. But his oversized ego threatens his crew, and his arrogance outweighs common sense and mortality.
Yet we still hate to watch him get eaten!
Click here for my Jaws Blu-Ray Review.
41. Frank (Thief)/Neil McCauley (Heat)
[amazon_image id=”B003WYXJRC” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Heat[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”0792838947″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Thief (Special Director’s Edition)[/amazon_image]
Michael Mann directed both of these anti hero-centric films.
Frank (James Cann) is a jewel thief who wants to retire after falling in love. But his vicious mob boss refuses to let him quit. Frank must end his relationship to protect his fiancée. Knowing he has nothing else to lose sends him on a bloody path to revenge.
Neil McCauley is an extrapolation of Frank’s character. His need for revenge against a partner that wronged him costs him his relationship, and his life.
*Honorable mention goes to troubled ex-con Max Denbo, played by Dustin Hoffman in the underrated film Straight Time, for which Mann wrote the screenplay.
40. Sherlock Holmes (BBC Show)
[amazon_image id=”B00499K9E0″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]A Study in Pink[/amazon_image]
In this modern adaptation, Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) is driven less by justice than his huge ego. He solves mysteries to appease his own intellect, yet often lacks empathy for the victims, and for his colleagues. I wonder whats in store for Season 3 of this awesome show?
39. Jim Malone (The Untouchables)
[amazon_image id=”B00AEBBA1S” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Untouchables [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) requests Malone’s help in his war against Al Capone, because he’s the only honest cop he knows. Malone (Sean Connery) resists at first : Mr Ness I wish I met you 10 years and 20 pounds ago…But it’s just got more important for me to stay alive.
But don’t mistake honest cop for nice guy. As he tells Ness; You wanna get Capone? Here’s how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That’s the Chicago way, and that’s how you get Capone!
He’ll beat up a suspect or even his friend to get information. Anything to get his vision of justice accomplished.
When Malone is murdered by Frank Nitti, Ness turns into an anti-hero as well, killing him out of vengeance, not justice.
38.V (V For Vendetta)
[amazon_image id=”1401238580″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]V for Vendetta Deluxe Collector Set, Book and Mask Set[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”B000PC0U1W” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]V for Vendetta [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
V is a revolutionary battling a totalitarian regime through terroristic tactics. He justifies that these acts are for the greater good, even when it involves the mental torture of his confidant Evie. He claims it was to free her mind, but it shows there’s no limits to his anarchist vision.
37. Conan The Barbarian
[amazon_image id=”1593078382″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 1 (v. 1)[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”0783225768″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Conan the Barbarian[/amazon_image]
This anti-hero is so popular he’s infiltrated literature, comic books, and cinema. He’s a thief, pirate, warrior and womanizer, motivated by pleasure and adventure above any other sense of duty.
36.Leon (The Professional)
[amazon_image id=”B002O5M4SA” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Léon: The Professional (Theatrical and Extended Edition) [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
Leon (Jean Reno) is a mob hit-man who rescues Matilda (Natalie Portman), the daughter of parents killed by corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman). Leon becomes her surrogate parent, protecting her and teaching her how to survive. He tells Matilda she’s given him a taste for life right before he taps into his violent nature to save her.
35. Jake Gittes (Chinatown)
[amazon_image id=”B00C2IJJLO” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Chinatown [Blu-ray Steelbook][/amazon_image]
Gittes is a sleazy private eye who will break all rules in getting to the bottom of a mysterious case. He’s both abusive, abrasive and empathetic. In the end he tries to do the right thing, but has waited too late. One of Jack Nicholson’s finest performances.
34. Jack Burton (Big Trouble In Little China)
[amazon_image id=”B0028ZDJF8″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Big Trouble in Little China [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
Burton is the supporting character in his own movie, but he’s unaware. His ignorance of Asian culture is only outweighed by his massive ego.
But it’s impossible not to root for this blowhard jackass thanks to Kurt Russell’s sublime performance.
33.Cat-Woman (DC Comics)
[amazon_image id=”1401202136″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Catwoman: Nine Lives of a Feline Fatale (Catwoman (Graphic Novels))[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”B001X0ZKM4″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Batman Returns[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”B004LWZWGK” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Dark Knight Rises (Blu-ray/DVD Combo+UltraViolet Digital Copy)[/amazon_image]
She’s Batman’s on-again, off-again lover and villain. At times she fits into his view of justice, and at other’s she betrays him with her criminal ways. But she always proves irresistible, no matter which path she chooses.
32. Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction)
Sure Jules (Samuel L Jackson) is a hit-man, but he’s also philosophical and abides by his own code.
His anti-hero persona culminates after quoting the bible verse Ezekiel 25:17 while confronting armed robbers: The truth is you’re the weak. And I’m the tyranny of evil men. But I’m tryin’, Ringo (Pumpkin). I’m tryin’ real hard to be a shepherd.
*Get Jules’s wallet from Entertainment Earth!
31. Bud White, Ed Exley, Jack Vincennes (L.A. Confidential)
[amazon_image id=”B000Q8QH0I” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]L.A. Confidential [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
White (Russell Crowe) is an abusive hot head, Exley (Guy Pearce) is a calculating careerist and Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is an opportunistic narc who gets paid for ratting out Hollywood celebrities dirty secrets to tabloids. But in the end these corrupt cops pursue officers far more wicked than they, consequences be damned.
30. Jason Bourne (Bourne films and books)
Bourne remains compelling because even he loses sight about what side he’s on. He can’t remember his past, but he knows all too easily how to murder. The realization that he willingly signed up for the experiment that robbed him of his identity cements his anti-hero status.
29. Eric Draven (The Crow)
Draven’s wife is raped and murdered by vicious thugs, who force him to watch before killing him as well. His resurrected spirit goes on a bloody trail of revenge, offering no mercy for the wicked, or anyone involved with them.
Click here for my list of Best Comic Book Movies.
28. Jack Carter (Get Carter)/Wilson (The Limey)
Carter (Michael Caine) is a London Gangster who seeks revenge after the murder of his brother. He loses any semblance of humanity in the process.
Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey is an homage to Carter, and Wilson (Terrence Stamp) is just as abrasive, violent, and revenge minded against the man who killed his daughter. But he manages to retain his humanity in the end.
Some of The Limey’s finest moments:
27. The Bride (Kill Bill)
The Bride’s (Uma Thurman) need for revenge is understandable. She was left for her dead by her crime boss/former lover Bill, who also murdered her groom and family at her wedding. But she’s a former assassin, and will torture and behead anyone in her wrath.
She later kills an enemy and confronts her daughter, telling her that her mother deserved to die, but if she seeks revenge, she’ll be waiting for her. Thus setting the stage for a potential sequel to this Quentin Tarantino classic.
26. Rick Deckard (Blade Runner)
[amazon_image id=”B000UBMWG4″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector’s Edition) [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a police officer hired to kill Replicants; lifelike androids with 4 year lifespans and homicidal impulses. He’s troubled as he’s fallen in love with one named Rachel. But that doesn’t stop him from his grim mission, including shooting a running replicant in the back, and finishing the mission so he can escape with her.
But is he a replicant himself? We may find out in the sequel.
*Honorable mention goes out to Sci-fi anti-heroes Sarah Connor and the reprogrammed Terminator in T2: Judgment Day.
Click here for my list of the Best Movie Sequels Ever Made.
25. R.J. MacReady (The Thing)
[amazon_image id=”B001CW7ZWG” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Thing [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]
Kurt Russell’s second badass entry is a grouchy helicopter pilot who battles an alien that can imitate other life forms perfectly after killing the host. Paranoia runs rampant with a isolated research crew who can’t tell who’s still human.
MacReady becomes the reluctant alpha male. He kills an innocent man (who he mistakes for the alien) before figuring out a makeshift blood test to flush out the creature and kick its ass.
So that wraps up Part 2 of the 60 Most Badass Anti-heroes! Now click here for the final 24!
