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Bullets, bombs, and bravery - such as the things that define heroism in action cinema.
But which of them actually deserve recognition as the greatest of all time?
A toast to the men and women whose knuckles are bloodied and eyes are bruised.
This is a salute to the greatest of them all.
Call it love, call it infatuation, call it whatever you want.
Ethans world was forever changed when Ilsa Faust entered the picture, and thats saying something.
Hellboy
You would never expect the son of hells demons to love candy, TV, and beer.
But Ron Perlmans Hellboy has more personality than he does horns.
He might be a demon, but hes more human than the stiff suits giving him orders.
A U.S. Marine and master of ninjutsu, Frank Dux participates in the dangerous underground martial arts tournament Kumite.
After shedding much blood, sweat, and blinding tears, Frank finally comes out on top.
Luke Hobbs
Its rare for an action movie character to make any meaningful impact in thefifthinstallment.
But Dwayne The Rock Johnson is just built different.
Though an antagonist in Fast Five, Luke returns in subsequent sequels as an uneasy ally.
(He also starred in his own standalone feature, Hobbs & Shaw, co-starring Jason Statham.)
Deadpool
They call him the Merc with the Mouth, and its not hard to see why.
Dirty Harry Callahan
Do you feel lucky, punk?
You better hope so.
is perhaps his greatest single character work to date.
Bad guys beware, because theres an even badder man not far behind you.
Captain Jack Sparrow
He might be the worst pirate youve ever heard of, but youhaveheard of him.
You just cant guarantee he wont run into trouble again.
We would all do the same.
Although the man is practically indistinguishable from his own character, the paper-thin characterization works to Lees advantage.
After all, when youre Bruce Lee, you dont need to be anyone else.
John Wick is always dressed to kill, and youll never see him as anything less.
Captain America
Can a shared universe of superheroes have a conscience?
With Chris Evans as Captain America, they do.
Trinity
Shes more than just the love interest for the Chosen One.
Ellen Ripley
If only the crew of theNostromolistened to her, maybe nothing would have gone wrong.
(Game of Thrones Emilia Clarke also played a different Sarah Connor in the standalone Terminator Genisys.)
While that temptation never really goes away, Luke is more than capable of always choosing the better path.
May we all know to do the same.
Indiana Jones
Hes like no college professor youve ever had.
(Not to mention a fear of snakes.)
Inspector Tequila
One part tequila, one part ginger ale, and SLAM!
Thats how you make a tequila slammer.
And its how the ultra-cool Inspector Tequila enters John Woos 1992 heroic bloodshed classic Hard Boiled.
Major Alan Dutch Schaefer
If it bleeds, we can kill it.
Its lines such as those that made Arnold Schwarzenegger one of the greatest action stars of all time.
But Schwarzenegger is in exceptionally fine form in the 1987 classic Predator.
If it were any other actor playing Dutch, it would be hard to imagine themnotrunning to da choppa.
But because its Schwarzenegger, we believe otherwise.
James Bond (Daniel Craig)
Many men before Daniel Craig had their license to kill.
Furiosa
The name in the title Mad Max: Fury Road isnt hers.
(Just watch her punch her way out of her own grave.)
Ethan Hunt
Hes climbed skyscrapers, fallen from helicopters, and held for dear life off of airplanes.
WhatisntEthan Hunt going to do next?
Maybe one day that story can be told authentically, without the ghastly glorification of the monster hes become.
John McClane
Seasons greetings from Nakatomi Plaza!
Hes flawed, petty, and jealous over his ex-wifes new life without him.
