Villains are great and all, driving conflict in a way only they can and giving more noble characters something to resist or fight against. A great bad guy (or gal) will often steal the show, but just as valuable is a heroic character for the audience to root for. If the villain’s great enough, the hero can admittedly be just about anyone, but if an equally compelling hero is placed against them, movie magic often ensues.
The following characters can all count themselves among the very best and most memorable heroes in movie history. They’re prominent characters within the films they’re featured in – usually the protagonists – and, even though some have their flaws,all show great bravery, go through interesting character arcs, or stand up against terrifying villains. Sometimes, they do all of the above, and are ranked below, from great to greatest.
30Maximus Meridius
‘Gladiator’ (2000)
Gladiatorhelped kick off something of a resurgence for large-scale action epics, telling a simple yet satisfying story of revenge with an underdog hero at its center. Said hero was Maximus Meridius, who’s betrayed, has his family murdered, and is sold into slavery, all before finding a chance to get back at the man who wronged him through his new life as a gladiator.
Russell Crowehas given more nuanced performances, sure, but he’s excellent atcapturing the physicality and grim determination of Maximus throughout. It helps that he also has an excellent villain to take on (played byJoaquin Phoenix), but Crowe’s performance here is also essential in makingGladiatorwork as well as it does… well, and the direction fromRidley Scott at the top of his gamecertainly doesn’t hurt, either.
29Erin Brockovich
‘Erin Brockovich’ (2000)
ThoughErin Brockovichwas released the same year asGladiator, it couldn’t be more different genre-wise, being a relatively grounded drama and therefore lacking in spectacle and action. However, both films have great central heroes, with the titularErin Brockovich– a real-life person –having her story told in this 2000 release, detailing how she helped uncover a cover-uprelating to various illnesses situated around a small town.
It works well as a stripped-back and no-nonsense biographical movie, withJulia Roberts undoubtedly giving one of the best performancesof her career in the titular role.Erin Brockovichis about a more ordinary hero; someone who didn’t need to perform dramatic or physically strenuous acts to achieve good in the world and, perhaps a little like the aforementioned Maximus, Erin Brockovich also overcame great odds as an underdog of sorts to achieve a surprisingly impactful victory.
Erin Brockovich
28Kanji Watanabe
‘Ikiru’ (1952)
Another individual who achieved a victory on a small scale, and became a hero without being part of an expansive and/or world-threatening series of events, Kanji Watanabe’s heroism is nonetheless very impressive. He’s the central characterof Akira Kurosawa’sIkiru, and is introduced as one cog in a rather useless bureaucratic machine; someone whose life is defined by pointless busywork and an avoidance of ever taking charge or making a serious change.
Things are upturned when Kanji learns he has a terminal illness and doesn’t have long to live, leading to him defying the unspoken rules of his job by going out of his way – even while his health declines – to complete the construction of a playground long requested by a group of frequently ignored mothers. It’s an everyday drama, but it’s as inspiring as it is sad;a testament to the difference a person can make if they’re willing to tough things outand exercise some extreme patience in the face of unfeeling organizations.
Watch on Criterion
27Han Solo
The ‘Star Wars’ series (1977-2019)
At least initially,Star Warswas pretty clear-cut about who was good and who was evil, and that simplicity was oddly charming, and fit with the space opera feel of the original trilogy (prequel and sequel trilogies would complicate things a little more). There’s an argument to be made that Han Solo veered close to being an antihero, at least at first, but the post-1977Star Warsmovies softened him up considerably.
The bad boy thing seemed like an act, really, with Han always being similarly heroic, at least deep down, to the other Rebels he eventually allied himself with. On the other hand, it’s the fact thatHan still has some attitude throughout which might well make him extra cool and memorable, though.Harrison Fordseemed born to play this role, and both he and his character are two of the best things about thatoriginalStar Warstrilogy.
Watch on Disney+
26Imperator Furiosa
Introduced inMad Max: Fury Road, and then fleshed out further with the underrated prequel that wasFuriosa, Imperator Furiosa is certainly the most iconic character found within theMad Maxseries after the titular one. Even then, Furiosa is perhaps more of a straightforward hero than Max, who’s a little harder to pin down, owing to him changing quite a bit, depending on the film he appears in.
Furiosa’s backstory is pretty dire, as shown inFuriosa, but she makes it through and does find the revenge she seeks. Then, wanting further redemption (potentially) and a chance to break free of a hellish life, she orchestrates a dangerous yet heroic rescue mission, as shown throughoutFury Road, hitting a vile villain right where it hurts in the process.Few characters in recent memory show quite the same level of determination that Furiosa does, and it helps that bothCharlize TheronandAnya Taylor-Joyplayed her fantastically.
Mad Max: Fury Road
25Marge Gunderson
‘Fargo’ (1996)
Just about everyone in 1996’sFargois an idiot, but not in a way that makes the film itself feel stupid.The Coen Brotherswere honestly kind of genius for tackling this sort of story and making it funny, tense, and ultimately strangely heartwarming, all the while having it feature greedy characters who scheme above their weight, and start ruining everything as a result. That is, until Marge Gunderson steps in and basically fixes everything.
Inthe Coen Brothers movie, she’s a determined Police Chief who steps in to investigate the entire series of events that transpired earlier, and it shifts the entire film,with a competent, clever, and good-natured character swiftly bringing an eventual end toFargo. It’s satisfying seeing her take down some great (but, again, somewhat stupid) villainous characters, and that she also does all this while heavily pregnant just makes her even more admirable.
24Tony Stark/Iron Man
‘Iron Man’ (2008)
Tony Stark is an interesting hero among other superheroes, because he’s really not too far off being a villain when he’s first introduced inIron Man. Okay, sure, he’s not evil necessarily, but he is self-centered and doesn’t seem to care too much about the effects his work as a weapons manufacturer has on the world. 2008’s Iron Man sees him have a change of heart (kind of in more ways than one), andover the next 10 years of MCU movies, he continually becomes more heroic.
This culminates inAvengers: Endgame, where it’s unequivocally apparent that Tony Stark is perhaps “the” hero of the MCU, or at least the one that all future main characters will be compared to. He never lost his sarcasm or willingness to be snarky, but the character arc he goes through in his first movie is impressive, and the one he undergoes across 10+ years of movies even more so.
23Zatoichi
The ‘Zatoichi’ series (1962-1989)
Zatoichi is the titular character ofan iconic and long-running samurai movie series, though he himself is not a samurai; more a lone wanderer who possesses the skills various samurai warriors have. He devotes himself to wandering around Japan and helping different downtrodden people in just about every movie he appears in, even though he’s blind and without a true home, in the traditional sense.
Across 25 movies that were released between 1962 and 1973 (plus a 26th in 1989), Zatoichi helped too many people to count, and was consistently selfless while also being charming and rebellious in his own way.He’s also the kind of hero who doesn’t always resort to violence, given his high level of intelligence and ability to read what people are thinking/feeling, even without being able to lay eyes on them, on account of his blindness and all. But when situations get physical, few can fight their way out of such altercations armed with a sword quite like Zatoichi can.
22Harry Potter
The ‘Harry Potter’ series (2001-2011)
Afantasy series that reigned supremethroughout the 2000s (and a little into the 2010s), there were a total of eightHarry Pottermovies based on seven books, with the final book getting split into two movies, and was fashionable – not to mention profitable – at the time. The titular character is the undisputed hero of the whole thing, obviously, an unlikely chosen one who finds himself thrust into a magical world and at the center of a drastic battle between good and evil.
Harry grows considerably, both physically and emotionally, as the series progresses, with the entire saga also being something of an unusual coming-of-age story, beginning with Harry as an 11-year-old and ending with him almost being a young adult.He defies alarming odds and stands up to much evil throughout the series, being a positive role model and something of an inspiration both in the series' universe and outside it.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
21Virgil Tibbs
‘In the Heat of the Night’ (1967)
In the Heat of the Nightwasa Best Picture-winning crime/mystery/drama moviefrom 1967, touching upon themes regarding justice and prejudice that were topical back then, and remain so to this day. Certain things it deals with prove complex, but the story is very straightforward as far as movies about murder investigations go, and it has a clear hero in protagonist Virgil Tibbs, played bySidney Poitierin a career-best performance.
Tibbs is assigned to look into the story’s central murder, which has taken place in a town with some rather racist inhabitants who don’t take kindly to the fact that Tibbs is African-American. Yet he does his job despite the pushback, stands up to those who are particularly prejudiced, anddoes it all while being very charismatic, too (largely thanks to Poitier’s charisma and dominant screen presence as an actor).
