Greatest Character Showdown! (Nominations CLOSED)

[Morrus]

The Doctor

The character of the Doctor was initially shrouded in mystery. All that was known about him in the programme's early days was that he was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring Time and Space in an unreliable old time machine called the TARDIS. (The TARDIS is much larger on the inside than on the outside, and is stuck in the shape of a 1950s-style British police box.)

The initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellowed into a more compassionate figure and it was eventually revealed that he had been "on the run" from his own people, the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey. Also, like all Time Lords, the Doctor had the ability to "regenerate" his body when near death. This concept allows for the convenient re-casting of the lead actor. Ten actors have played the part for television.

A Time Lord can regenerate twelve times and the Doctor has gone through this process (and its resulting after-effects) on nine occasions, with each of his incarnations having his own quirks and abilities.

 

[Mark]

21. Major Toht - Sadistic Nazi Villain.

 

[Morrus]

My girlfriend with the incredibly bad taste nomimates...

Harry Potter

The only child of James and Lily Potter, with whom he shares many distinct characteristics, most notably James' unruly black hair and Lily's green eyes. He achieved fame at the age of one when Lord Voldemort, the most feared wizard of the age, attacked his home, murdering his parents but failing to kill him, though leaving him with his instantly recognisable scar. In the attempt, Voldemort was hit and ripped from his body by his own backfiring Killing Curse. At Hogwarts, Harry has shown himself to be a gifted wizard, excelling both at Defence Against the Dark Arts and Quidditch, along with being recognised as a capable leader within his house, Gryffindor, and the school in general. Despite his best attempts, he has been unable to downplay his fame and his inability to do so has at times been a source of great frustration to him, making him the target of unwanted media attention, rumours, gawking (chiefly at his scar), and the ire of professors and classmates alike. However, despite all external pressures, he remains overall courageous, noble, and high minded, though at times these qualities have been shown to negatively manifest themselves in what Hermione Granger termed his "saving-people thing". He is best friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and his enemies are the scary sallow-faced potions teacher, Severus Snape, and Draco Malfoy.

 

[Morrus]

Captain Jack Sparrow

Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional pirate and main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. Captain Jack Sparrow commands the legendary and accursed ship named the Black Pearl. Not much is know about how Jack's early life other than he was Captain of the Black Pearl at the time it was lost to the depths of the ocean, an event which sparked Jack to strike a deal with Davy Jones.

Sparrow's most obvious characteristic is a slightly drunken stagger, accompanied by awkwardly flailing hand gestures that make him look unfocused (or possibly slightly ataxic). Attributed to the heat stroke he was rumored to have suffered while marooned—he actually spent that time cavorting with the rum runners who helped him escape and was unlikely to have suffered anything worse than a severe hangover—Sparrow's gestures are believed to be a ploy to help keep his enemies off-guard. His perpetual drunkenness could also lead to his tendency to slur his speech. Jack possesses a distinctive tattoo on his right forearm of a swallow flying in front of a setting sun over the ocean. This is apparently a well-known identifying mark for the infamous pirate as Commodore Norrington seemed to recognize it immediately. He also has had the letter "P" (for pirate) branded on his right wrist by the East India Trading Company.

While atypical for a pirate, Sparrow is also known for his altruistic nature; he often puts himself in harm's way to save other people, most notably Will and Elizabeth. The film's script suggests Jack's kindness is part of the reason why his crew mutinied—when Jack offers a nonviolent way to find a piece of the cursed Aztec gold on the Navy ship Interceptor, Barbossa claims, "Now, y'see Jack, that's exactly the attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easier to search when they're dead." Additionally, he appears highly adept at employing game theory to achieve his ends.

Jack is oftened accused of fabricating stories to glorify his escapades, however several scars and pirate brandings would lend to proof to the concensus that Jack has had his fair share of dangerous outings.

Jack apparently suffers from extremely bad breath. He caused Norrington to take a step back when he got a little close, and made Governor Swann gag at the end of the first film.

 

[Talgian]

My girlfriend with the incredibly bad taste nomimates...

Uh huh, blame it on the "girlfriend."

-Talgian

 

[Talgian]

24. The Joker

The Joker is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and widely considered Batman's archenemy. The character was initially conceived by art assistant Jerry Robinson and re-designed by Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger. He first appeared in Batman #1 (1940).

The Joker has been featured throughout Batman's comic book history and has been an enemy of the Caped Crusader in most adaptations in other media. Well-known interpretations of the Joker include Cesar Romero's in the 1960s Batman television series, Jack Nicholson's in the 1989 feature film and Mark Hamill's in Batman: The Animated Series and other DC Animated Universe shows.

Along with Lex Luthor, he is possibly the most well-known villain in American comic books.

-Talgian

 

[Yellow Sign]

25. Rick Blaine

Richard "Rick" Blaine - Played by Humphrey Bogart. The owner of Rick's Café Americain and the film's protagonist. When we first meet Rick, he is a jaded bar owner in Casablanca who wears a dour expression as he drinks and plays chess alone. He constantly proclaims his freedom from all bonds, be they political or personal. After Ilsa enters the picture, he undergoes a considerable change. In a flashback, we see Rick in Paris. He is in love with Ilsa and visibly happy, and he is devastated when she doesn't show up at the train station. Rick never turns back into the lighthearted lover he was in Paris, but he does overcome his cynicism and apathy to become a self-sacrificing idealist, committed to helping the Allied cause in World War II.

 

[Yellow Sign]

26. Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding

Spaulding is a famous explorer on return from a trek across Africa to be the guest of honor at a high-society party. Although despite his hosts' frequent claims that he is one of the most courageous travelers in the world, his own accounts of his safari reveal his cowardice.

"Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I'll never know!"

"While shooting elephants in Africa, I found the tusks very difficult to remove. But in Alabama the Tuskaloosa. But that's entirely ir-elephant to what I was saying."

"We took some pictures of the native girls, but they weren't developed. But we're going back again in a couple of weeks."

 

[Nightfall]

Well to keep up with the affirmative action part, I suggest this one:

The ORGINAL Batgirl, Barbara Gordan!

While currently working as Oracle, in our heart of hearts, we all know she deserves to be returned to us as the one and only Bat-girl of all time.

 

[Talgian]

28. Keyser Soze

So mysterious that even his nationality is disputed, Soze allegedly began his criminal career in Turkey as a low-level drug smuggler. The entity that is Keyser Soze was truly born, however, when rival smugglers working for the Hungarian Mafia invaded his house while he wasn't at home, raping his wife, and holding his children hostage, killing one of them when Soze arrived to show him they were serious. They then threatened to kill his wife and remaining children if he did not surrender his business to them. Soze's response to this was perhaps the greatest of his legendary acts. Rather than give in to their demands, he shot and killed his family and all but one of the Hungarians, whom he spared to spread word of his ruthless nature.

After burying his family, Soze went after the Mob, killing dozens of people, including the mobsters' families, friends, and even people who owed them money. He then "went underground", never again doing business in person and remaining invisible even to his henchmen, who almost never knew who they were working for (To quote one of the most famous lines from the movie: "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist." This sentence is inspired by a line from a work of the French poet Charles Baudelaire's. [1]) When he did commit crimes, it was always in disguise and under a fake name, leaving no one the wiser.

Soze's ruthlessness is legendary, having enemies and disloyal henchmen brutally murdered, along with everyone they held dear, for the slightest infractions. Despite this, however, if someone working for Soze without realizing it unwittingly stole from him, he would offer them the chance to redeem themselves. Over the years, his criminal empire, centered around the drug trade, flourished, as did his legend; he became "a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night", and on a par with the Devil in the world of crime.

-Talgian