Top 10 Memorable Movie Characters of All Time

One of the most iconic super-villains ever, even before Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger’s rethink of the role in 2008, “The Dark Knight”s Joker opens our list! A sociopathic mass murderer with apparently zero empathy for his victims, this is a bad guy who goes above and beyond his calling! Heath Ledger reportedly prepared for the part by living alone in a hotel room for a month, perfecting the Joker’s posture, habits, nervous ticks and speech... One of the greatest examplesof method acting ever achieved, the finished product puts all other villains in its shadow!

From the inherently pitiful to the inherently deplorable... Hannibal Lecter is the performance of a lifetime for Sir Anthony Hopkins, and the villain of a generation for the rest of us! A man made familiar largely through his relationship with fledgling FBI agent and memorable character in her own right, Clarice Starling, Lecter is so evil, he’s impressive! Not first on the invite list to any right-minded dinner party, he’s got a way with words this one... And a taste for flesh... Flesh of the human variety!

Here at number eight, Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa steps into our ring in style! An everyday man boxing his way through the roughest parts of Philadelphia, Rocky’s story is the stuff of dreams! By incredible chance, he’s scheduled to fight the World Heavyweight Champion, and by incredible determination, he very nearly wins! The first fighter to ever ‘go the distance’ with Apollo Creed, he’s the ultimate underdog, the working class hero, the wearer of our bronze medal!

A character that very nearly never made it to the big screen at all, Mary Poppins was made internationally famous by Disney, but was initially created by British writer, P. L. Travers. Travers was extremely reluctant to allow her nanny a cinematic adaptation, but aren’t we glad she relented in the end! Poppins is pure family fun, and an expert umbrella-ist! There ain’t no amount of made up words that can ever really do this character justice, though! She’s supercalifragilisticexpialidociously amazing!

As we soar into sixth spot, we can’t leave out this oddly proportioned alien that had the whole world laughing, crying and ‘calling home’ all at the sametime! Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” captured even the hardest of hearts, as the movie paired the lost and confused extra-terrestrial with an equally lonely ten-year-old boy, bringing the very best out in both of them! As far as ‘otherworldly beings’ go, there are none more famous or more loved, and there are few who brightened our place up quite as effectively as E.T.!

Cracking our top 5 is a human-like robot that’s a little bit of a bad guy and a little bit of good one! When the Terminator first time travelled onto our screens in the ‘80s, the Arnold Schwarzenegger character was definitely a villain! But, in the early ‘90s, in the more successful sequel to the franchise, Arnie’s T-800 has ‘learned the value of human life’ and is bidding to save John Connor, and effectively save the future of mankind! The worthiest of heroes with a uniquely badass edge, the Terminator gets a huge thumbs up from us!

Here’s another Steven Spielbergian stalwart, the archaeologist-turned-action-adventurer that is, Indiana Jones! Played by Harrison Ford, Indy is one of the most instantly recognisable characters in cinematic history... Who else can pair a bullwhip with a leather jacket, and still come up cool?! Who else can teach college students one day, and go fight Nazis the next?! Jones is one part scholar, one part superhero, one part everyday guy in the street...And this time around, he’s just one spot shy of WatchMojo’s top 3!

An iconic character played by an iconic actor, what’s not to remember about Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone?! The head of New York City’s most powerful Mafia clan, he wields unprecedented power in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather”. At once reasonable and ruthless, Corleone is arguably one of the cleverest characters on today’s countdown... We might’ve selected his son, Al Pacino’s Michael, as our memorable runner-up... But the Don’s third place placing on the podium is something we simply ‘cannot refuse’!

Is there anyone on the planet who doesn’t know who this guy is?? Easily the most memorable character of his time, Darth Vader still reigns super-villainous supreme, decades after his debut! Ruthless servant of the Galactic Empire, Vader is Emperor Palpatine’s prize fighter! From his all-black cyborg suit to his outstandingly ominous breathing apparatus, this villain’s a class act! Han Solo might’ve won silver if we were siding with the Rebels, but even WatchMojo goes over to the ‘Dark Side’ sometimes!

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are some honorable mentions:

Gollum
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (2002)
The Tramp
“The Tramp” franchise (1914-36)
Dr. Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown
“Back to the Future” (1985)
Forrest Gump
“Forrest Gump” (1994)
Joker
“The Dark Knight” (2008)
Harry Potter
“Harry Potter” franchise (2001-11)
Katniss Everdeen
“The Hunger Games” franchise (2012-15)

The subject of the longest continually running film series to date, James Bond is never likely to be forgotten, not least because of his iconic intro line! The MI6 super-spy was first played by Sean Connery in “Dr. No”, and since 1962 he’s been busy shaking, not stirring, but generally stunning cinema audiences on an impressively regular basis, with another five Bond films coming before 1970 alone. He talks the talk and walks the walk... He gets the best gadgets, the guns, and he always gets the girl! The guy’s colossally cool with theme music to match, and an immeasurably memorable movie character!
Do you agree with our list? Who do you think is the most memorable movie of all time? For more unforgettable top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.