Coolest, Most Heroic, and Stupidest Heroes of all time...

[Wormwood]

Inspired by This thread, but I want to know who's batting for the angels (in film and television).

My picks

1. Coolest Hero: Leon (Leon/The Professional). Just damn. He could sneak into the Death Star and kick Vader in the cyber-nads, and still have time to infiltrate the Mountain of Power and stick an icepick in Thulsa Doom's ear.

2. Most Heroic: Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird). Not a Jedi. Not the One. Just a good man willing to stand up and do the Right Thing, even though he knew he would lose.

3. Stupidiest Hero: Jean Claude Van Damme (anything). Double the brain damage.

 

[Ferret]

Coolest: Mal from firefly, or Nicohlas Cage from Air-con. (He is generally cool)

Most heroic: Not sure....

Stupidist: Stalone, most of the time.

I haven't seen much, or at least remembered it.

 

[Particle_Man]

Coolest: Ace Rimmer. What a guy.

Most Heroic: Superman.

Dumbest: If you mean lacking in intelligence, I would go for The Tick. If you mean "makes me want to claw my eyes out rather than see or read about this guy", then The Punisher, latest movie.

 

[Klaus]

Coolest: Nightwing. He's as good ad Batman, but without the emotional baggage, and he gets lots more action with the ladies!

Heroic-est: Superman.

Dumbest: So many... First, the Punisher, 'cause he's nothing more than a glorified thug. Second, Matter-Eater Lad, just 'cause. But most of all: The entire cast of Independence Day. I mean, really.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Cool: Batman - guy can wear black leather, laytex and hang around with kids in costumes and not seem like a perv. That takes style.

Heroic: Sturm - dying on the battlements.

Dumb: Ash - how many times did he go back to the flaipping cabin?

 

[The Serge]

Coolest: The Batman. C'mon. He has one of the best, simplest, and shocking origins out there. He's one of the best looking characters out there; his silhouette alone tells you what you're dealing with. He's suprisingly complex as a character build (not the character himself), which allows for some great storylines, imagery, and symbolism. He won't let anything stop him in spite of his humanity. Laws don't mean anything to him if they get in the way of his ideas about justice, which -- fortunately for America -- tends to gel with the general perceptions of what should be just. He uses his mind, his body, and his soul to achieve his goals. He's the man and my favorite hero.
Others: Wonder Woman, Merlin (from Excalibur), Gandalf, Constantine, Spock, Picard, Han Solo, Indiana Jones.

Heroic: Superman. If Batman looks cool and is cool, Superman personifies almost everything America (and I would argue much of the West) values in a hero. He's an optimist who will never knowingly cross the line in pursuit of justice. He values the law even with its limitations because he doesn't believe anyone's above the law that supports the common good. He does not impose his own values on others despite his clear ability to do so. And that's probably what makes him such a great hero: Superman's single greatest, most necessary weakness is his inability to do go beyond the ideals of our society. Yet, he's not self-righteous and he's not perfect because of this flaw. Although he's not my favorite hero, he's certainly an awesome hero.
Others: Frodo and Sam (for different reason. In many ways, they tie with Superman because they sacrificed A LOT in LotRs).

Dumbest: That's tough too. There are so many. At the top of my list is Richard Rahl from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth cycle. I can't stand him. It took an entire book for the author to figure out what this moron looked like... He's used to personify seriously right-winged political perspectives without even a veneer of "everymanness." He's a huge rip from half of the concepts from Jordan's Wheel of Time. He makes me sick.

 

[Krieg]

Coolest - James Bond is the definition of cool.

Most Heroic - Sydney Carton

Dumbest - The Tick (but it works for him )

It is interesting how our personal definition of "hero" influences our choices. I find the number of voted for Superman as the most heroic odd. To me it's easy being the hero when you are stronger, faster & tougher than everybody else. To me heroism involves traveling the bumpy road & risking everything even when you do not have the tools to do so.

Now of course Superman is the modern personification of the Greek heroic ideal, but that isn't necessarily my definition.

 

[Krug]

Cool: Paul Chadwich's Concrete. A thinking man's hero.

Most Heroic: Hmm.. probably Batman.

Dumbest: Austin Powers... heh. Naturally.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Dumb: Ash - how many times did he go back to the flaipping cabin?

Alright now, I know you didn't just diss Ash.

Oh, you did?

OK...

Nevermind.




(And he only went to the cabin once in the three movies. The start of the second was a rehash of the first movie because they for some reason weren't allowed to use footage from it.)

 

[The Serge]

To me it's easy being the hero when you are stronger, faster & tougher than everybody else. To me heroism involves traveling the bumpy road & risking everything even when you do not have the tools to do so.

Actually, I nominated Superman as most heroic because he doesn't impose his own desires on a world that would quickly fall to his power. He has the tools to impose martial law, garner worship, destroy nations. He could have hauled Luthor and any number of criminals in numerous times. He could have overthrown tyrannies. But, he does none of these things not because he's stupid or witless, but because he knows that to do so, to use his power in such a fashion to impose on others, does not help anyone and only serves to ingratiate himself. I think this self-restraint and his inability to even recognize it is what makes him a hero. Again, he's not my favorite hero (I prefer darker, "grittier" heroes), but Superman is the most heroic because he doesn't allow personal demons to infect him and thereby affect a world that would be ill-prepared to deal with him.