I love this list, primarily because it is perfect, but also because I feel like I would have forgotten so many of these folks if I had made it myself. William Munny is the greatest call and just remembering back to those quotes just proves he is the #1 badass.

Nice list, I especially like first and second place. Just missing Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley (Sam Elliot – We Were Soldiers). Marines piss their pants just trying to say good morning to him.

RaTTleR_NL said: Nice list, I especially like first and second place. Just missing Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley (Sam Elliot – We Were Soldiers). Marines piss their pants just trying to say good morning to him.

He's definitely one of Sam Elliot's great characters. And he some great badass dialogue that my buddies and I still quote.

Good Morning sir

How do you know what kind of goddamn day it is?

I was so prepared to hate this list…

But I didn't. It was awesome. Nearly perfect. Bogart needed to be on there. It's just wrong that he isn't. I think you could have lost Aragorn, but, then, maybe that's just me.

If we're going to talk grizzled old soldier ommissions, however, I think R. Lee Ermey should be there for Full Metal Jacket long before Sam Eliott gets on the list for that piece of crap We Were Soldiers. If Eliott belongs on the list, put him on there for one of his good movies. Heck, put him on there for Roadhouse, I don't care. Just don't put him on there for that worthless pile of Mel Gibson hooey.

Otherwise, great list. The fact you remembered Mifune just totally tickled me pink.

This list is a joke. Whoever came up with this list is a total idiot. It has Jason Bourne listed as a Badass, yet it does not include the most Badass character of all time: John J. Rambo.

jack_byrnes86 said: yet it does not include the most Badass character of all time: John J. Rambo.

Rambo is a badass. But I gave my reasoning why he's not there: John Matrix would steel pipe Rambo to a wall while he was bawling like a little biyatch about holding his dead combat buddies guts:((. And you know what Jason Bourne would do if he was holding his friend's guts? He'd save the drama for his mama ands use his buddy's intestines to strangle his enemy to death. Now that's truly badass.:rockon2:

Great list, but you left out one of Will Munny's best lines. When the Schofield Kid reasons that the man he's just shot 'had it comin', Munny just coldly states, "We all have it comin', kid."

An extremely badass line that speaks volumes about the character.

shermy said: Great list, but you left out one of Will Munny's best lines. When the Schofield Kid reasons that the man he's just shot 'had it comin', Munny just coldly states, "We all have it comin', kid."

An extremely badass line that speaks volumes about the character.

I'm in complete agreement. That was an unintentional omission.

no John Mclane, it's an ok list

This is my list:
Anton Chigurgh "No Country for Old Men". Craaazy…incredibly psycho and smart. Bone chilling to watch.
Richard B. Riddick "Pitch Black". Because he can see in the dark and whoop monster butt like no tomorrow. Also, he has some of the funniest lines even written for a BA. And he’s hot.
Ripley "Aliens". She was scared to death but managed to survive using her WOMANLY wit.
King Leonidas "300". Need I say why? Crazy MoFo went against an army of millions with 299 other fools. And he’s hot.
Darth Vader "Star Wars" series. He’s a Sith Lord, the epitome of BAs.
John Rambo "First Blood". Antisocial, psycho and dangerous as a pit full of hippos on crack.
James Bond "Casino Royale" Edgy, flawed and downright tough. He makes every man wish they can look like that in a scanty bathing suit.
Wolverine "X-Men". I think what I love the most is that he can go from perfectly calm to demon in 1 nanosecond. And the sound of his claws when they come out is hot.
The Bride "Kill Bill". Hell hath no fury…
Jules "Pulp Fiction". And he’s got the wallet to prove it.
William Wallace "Braveheart". Proved that you can be a skirt-wearing BA. The last scene of the movie says it all.
Tony Montana "Scarface". Biggest cojones ever
The Terminator "Terminator". Yes, he’s a machine, but a BA machine nonetheless
Dutch "Predator". Even the Rasta-looking predator gave him his props
Creasy "Man on Fire". Wrote the manual on "how to nonchalantly blow up a guy’s a**…literally"
John McClane "Die Hard". He was barefoot the whole time and he was ballsy enough to tease and mock some other BA’s that outnumbered him 9 to 1
Jason Bourne "The Bourne" series. What I love is how unassuming he looks until he feels he’s in danger. When he goes into combat mode, all bets are off. It’s like a teddy bear on meth.
Korben Dallas "The Fifth Element". A BA you definitively don’t want to negotiate with
Bruce Wayne "Batman Begins". Tortured and crazy as a loon, but oh-so-hot.
Maximus "Gladiator". The "quiet" BA. People never see him coming until is too late.
Bill Munny "Unforgiven". Proving that once a BA, always a BA.
Leon "The Professional". He skillfully kills for money AND has a conscience. Love the paradigm.
Harry Callahan "Dirty Harry". If not for anything else, at least because of that CANNON he carries as a handgun
Hannibal Lecter "Silence of the Lambs". He eats people who annoy him, ok? ’nuff said.
John Doe "Seven". "DETEEECTIVES! I believe you’re looking for me!" I had nightmares for weeks.
Mystique "X-Men". Eerie and mean shapeshifter with a huge chip on her shoulders. Perfect killer.
Morpheus "The Matrix". Cool as all hell. One of my favorite type of BA
Michael Corleone "The Godfather". Brooding, paranoid and with the heart of an assassin. Orchestrated the most BA simultaneous hits in the history of movies.
Hans Gruber "Die Hard". Smarmy Eurotrash never had it so good or so mean.
Snake Plissken "Escape from NY". He made a blockbuster out of a campy-a** movie. Also, he looks darn good in those pants.
Martin Riggs "Lethal Weapon". He might be crazy but there’s no question that he is a BA.
John Shaft "Shaft". Street brawler who single-handedly takes down a helicopter. Wow.
The cast "Sin City". BA galore.
Nico Toscany "Above the Law". We tend to forget that Steven Seagal played a BA with mad skills before he became too fat and too sexy for his shirt and started playing an ex-Green Beret/ex-CIA agent/ex-whatever in every single movie he made.
Mal "Serenity". Funny, resourceful, witty, loyal, in love with a hooker and totally fearless. It does not get much better than that.
Mickey O’Neil "Snatch". Wiry SOB went to fight with an apotheosic hangover and beat the bejesus out of the other guy. And (you guessed) he’s hot.
Max Rockatansky "Mad Max". Boy ain’t afraid of anything or anybody and wears leather and speaks with a hot accent. Yum!
Kwai-Chang Caine "Kung Fu". The most minimalist of all BA’s
Ashley J. "Ash" Williams "The Evil Dead". Yes he went loco, but not before kicking some major zombie butt.
Yoda "Star Wars". The Jedi of Jedis, the little midget is all-knowing and can kick anyone’s butt with a light saber
Rick Blaine "Casablanca". The original BA: cool cat, sharp-witted and cunning.
Roger ’Verbal’ Kint (Kaiser Soeze) "The Usual Suspects". Dude killed his own family so his enemies couldn’t use them as a bargain chip. Crazy SOB
Blondie "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Clinty never looked so good at being bad
Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook, "The Last of the Mohicans". MoFos fight while running and every blow they throw is meant to HURT. Honorable mention to Magua for being so creepy and dying on his feet right after Chingachgook sliced his spine like a ripe tomato.
Han Solo "Star Wars". Oh, admit it: Han is a BA. At least when compared to wimpy Luke "aaah, but I want to go with Wedge to Mos Eisley and get a new Power Converter" Skywalker. If you don’t believe me, ask Greedo.
Castor Troy "Face Off". The cape, dude. It’s all about the cape. One of the coolest names too. Aragon "Lord of the Rings" for so many reasons, but it all comes down to his icy stare.

Damn Romin2003, you have a few more than ten there. Any idea on what your top ten would be?

:-)

Hard to choose from my almost perfect list, but I'll try:

1) Anton Chigurgh "No Country for Old Men".
2) Richard B. Riddick "Pitch Black".
3) King Leonidas "300".
4) John Rambo "First Blood".
5) James Bond "Casino Royale"
6) Bill Munny "Unforgiven".
7) Jules "Pulp Fiction".
8) Tony Montana "Scarface".
9) John McClane "Die Hard".
10) Jason Bourne "The Bourne" series. .

WOAH WOAH WOAH! I made this account just so I could say, "You, sir, are an asshole." I say this because ARAGORN is not some dragon. Notice the second R? Huh? BIG mistake. Other than that, I'm a fan of your work.

P.S. Did you see Gandalf? He's about 100 times better than Aragorn.
P.P.S. Tyler Durden?
P.P.P.S. Uma is a good choice.

tronny said: WOAH WOAH WOAH! I made this account just so I could say, "You, sir, are an asshole." I say this because ARAGORN is not some dragon. Notice the second R? Huh? BIG mistake. Other than that, I'm a fan of your work.

P.S. Did you see Gandalf? He's about 100 times better than Aragorn.
P.P.S. Tyler Durden?
P.P.P.S. Uma is a good choice.

Yes, yes assholes can't spell. Didn't you know that? Actually, that is pretty embarassing since I read the book yearly. Gandalf was a near miss. I prefer AragoRn.

Tyler Durden is a badass for meathead frat boys who don't understand Fight Club.

Romin2003 said: :-)

Hard to choose from my almost perfect list, but I'll try:
2) Richard B. Riddick "Pitch Black".
5) James Bond "Casino Royale"
8) Tony Montana "Scarface".

Pretty decent list. Although I think Vin Diesel is better at badass posturing. I've never really bought him as a badass character. Too self-conscious. And Tony Montana…well kind of. But he's sort of a self-sorry wanker by the film's end. And he's got the hots for his sister. So I don't know. However, Daniel Craig's James Bond is indeed the badass of all Bonds, and he missed the list just by a blond hair.

davidfrank said: Yes, yes assholes can't spell. Didn't you know that? Actually, that is pretty embarassing since I read the book yearly. Gandalf was a near miss. I prefer AragoRn.

Tyler Durden is a badass for meathead frat boys who don't understand Fight Club.

I'm hardly a meathead frat boy, and I believe my understanding of Fight Club is deep enough to justify my calling Durden a badass despite the fact that he wasn't real but an embodiment of all that Edward Norton wished he was.

tronny said: I'm hardly a meathead frat boy, and I believe my understanding of Fight Club is deep enough to justify my calling Durden a badass despite the fact that he wasn't real but an embodiment of all that Edward Norton wished he was.

And a typo and preference for AragoRn hardly makes me an asshole.

Doesn't Durden's nonexistence nullify him from being a badass since his actions (in the imaginary image of a "badass" Brad Pitt) have no concrete bearing on the world outside of the Narrator's mind? And since Durden and The Narrator are the one in same don't you have to consider them as one person? And if so would you then consider Durden to be a badass by imagining all of his actions in the image of Edward Norton, which is sort of scary/silly since that means he's talking and beating up himself most of the time?

But let's ignore that. If we were to consider Durden as a separate entity. What's badass about a fascist cult leader with daddy issues who, as it appears in the mind of the Narrator, to hide behind his goon squad of "space monkeys"?

If there is a badass character moment in Fight Club (and don't take this as a bashing of Fight Club, I love the film) it belongs to Edward Norton when he blows a hole in his face, essentially as an FU to everything Durden represents in himself.

davidfrank said: And a typo and preference for AragoRn hardly makes me an asshole.

Doesn't Durden's nonexistence nullify him from being a badass since his actions (in the imaginary image of a "badass" Brad Pitt) have no concrete bearing on the world outside of the Narrator's mind? And since Durden and The Narrator are the one in same don't you have to consider them as one person? And if so would you then consider Durden to be a badass by imagining all of his actions in the image of Edward Norton, which is sort of scary/silly since that means he's talking and beating up himself most of the time?

But let's ignore that. If we were to consider Durden as a separate entity. What's badass about a fascist cult leader with daddy issues who, as it appears in the mind of the Narrator, to hide behind his goon squad of "space monkeys"?

If there is a badass character moment in Fight Club (and don't take this as a bashing of Fight Club, I love the film) it belongs to Edward Norton when he blows a hole in his face, essentially as an FU to everything Durden represents in himself.

The purpose of my labeling you as an asshole was merely to establish that Aragorn deserves enough respect to have his name spelled correctly.

The reason Durden can be characterized as a badass without bringing in Edward Norton is that he is still considered a separate entity because he is, in essence, acting separately from the conscious Edward Norton. Norton's schizophrenic counterpart can hardly be considered a part of Norton because of how little the conscious that we believe to be the narrator is involved in Durden's actions. Basically, Norton, as the narrator, isn't even there when Durden acts, which is why we still see Norton. It's not as if Norton is seeing to screens at the same time, both his perspective and Tyler's perspective. He's only seeing the third-person point of view.

Saying that Durden can't be badass because he's a "fascist cult leader" brings into question the entire idea of what makes a badass badass. You list other's such as John Matrix and Snake Plissken, who both act as vigilantes, flouting the law to enforce their own style of justice. By including these two but not considering Durden makes it seem as though you define a badass as the good guy. You're real basis for what makes a badass has turned into a judgement of who's intentions agree with your own most closely. People like Connor and Murphy of Boondock Saints would have more of a chance in making your list than Anton Chigurh.

Come on man, an opinion is an opinion. Also calling someone an asshole for a misspelling is silly, and based on that statement I originally thought you calling David an asshole made you a typical online commenter and I would have ignored you because of it. Fortunately David didn't, and your follow up posts are actually what we like to have around here, they are thought out and worthy of discussion.

Personally I agree with David in that you must consider both The Narrator and Tyler when looking at Durden considering one doesn't exist without the other and since The Narrator is a pussy hiding behind a second personality I probably would have nixed him as well. It's all a matter of opinion. But, I think you should read David's statement on Boondock Saints just for kicks since you brought it up.

Maybe try and cut down on the name calling since you obviously have more intelligent things to say. Nice to have you around.

tronny said:
Saying that Durden can't be badass because he's a "fascist cult leader" brings into question the entire idea of what makes a badass badass. You list other's such as John Matrix and Snake Plissken, who both act as vigilantes, flouting the law to enforce their own style of justice.

I'm not saying Durden isn't a badass because he's just a "fascist cult leader." You missed 2 qualifiers: he's got whiney daddy issues (which makes him come off as an overgrown emo kid) and if you want to view him as a separate entity then from The Narrator's perspective Durden uses his cult of space monkeys to hide behind, which feels a tad cowardly in my opinion.

But those are sort of superficial reasons. I'm glad you brought up the whole topic of character's philosophical persuasions if you will.

It isn't that I agree or disagree with a character's "intentions." It whether the characters themselves (and perhaps even the film itself) truly believe in their belief system—which may boil down to if you mess with me, I’ll kill you. And their commitment to their beliefs is displayed through their actions without wavering in the moment, which is an important ingredient in badasses. Fortitude is perhaps the foundation of badassosity. For example, Snake's actions at the end of Escape From LA are the logical extension of his moral code if you will. And he pushes that button with out questioning himself.

However Fight Club is a constant internal struggle with one’s philosophy. You have a character who is so unsure in his belief system that he has a mental schism. And he’s literally beating himself up over his indecisiveness. And to me, you just can’t separate The Narrator from Durden. No matter the POV or the level of awareness, Durden still sprung from The Narrator's mind. They are the one and same. Therefore the buildings going down at the end don’t carry the same “conviction to action” weight as the conclusion of Escape from LA because The Narrator (who is also Durden) has rejected the moral code—his moral code–that has brought this action about. In fact he (and the film) has rejected the entire “Durden Belief System” and that to me diminishes any badassosity Durden (if even one considered him as a separate entity) could have mustered.

But why am I trying to prove a negative here. I want to know why Durden is badass.

David, swetiee, thanks. Allow me to elaborate:

Riddick: because if MY ass was in the line, I much rather have him by my side than Durden, a total psycopathic loon who does not even know who the deuce he really is. Riddick knows who he is, what he has, and what he can do with it and when. As a woman, that's the man I want to have my back, not some shortcuited poor excuse of a human being. Posturing or not, I believed Riddick, I don't give a rat's bottom about Vin Diesel.

Scarface. Because that MoFo stood up in the hugest coke distributor's turf, questioned him about having cojones and pretty much said "either kill me or shut the #$&* up. If you can do that to a drug lord and walk away with your male gkands in one piece, then my hat's off to you.

James Bond. Let's try the little chair exercise for a minute, shall we? My husband moans like a haunted soul when he has a cold, and runs from me when I try to put alcohol in a little scrape. He grimaced all the way home after we watched the movie in the theater. By the way, he's not a sissy: my husband played Defesive Tackle in HS and college, is 6'4" and 298 lbs and has practiced Krav Maga since he was 12 (hence, my fascination with bad asses).

Don't mean to sound TOO defensive, but I am a woman and I know what women like. You need to ask some female figures in your life what's up. :-) Peace

Romin2003 said: Don't mean to sound TOO defensive, but I am a woman and I know what women like. You need to ask some female figures in your life what's up. :-) Peace

Fair enough. If there was any character of Diesel's I'd say at least approached real badassness for me, it would be Riddick.

And I definitely agree that Scarface is badass for the majority of the movie, the more I think about it.

And well, I didn't disagree with you one bit when it came to Craig's James Bond. He is badass. And like I said, only missed the list by a hair.

I just asked my wife about badasses. She chose Maverick from Top Gun. I'm divorcing her.

Maverick? He's wuss!. Not even Jack Bawer Michael Schofield? I work for lawyers…let me know.

We overlooked some of the minorities on the list:
Denzel Washington Man on Fire
Richard Roundtree Shaft
Sam Jackson Shaft & Pulp Fiction
Sly Stallone Rambo
Bruce Willis as John McClain
David Carradine Long Riders
Wesley Snipes Blade
Mel Gibson Payback
R. Hauer Hitcher
Bruce Lee Baddest Bad Ass of all time.