The Friday Question last week, which was about TV shows on DVD, ended up in a comments battle between fans of Jack Bauer, Chuck Norris and other tough guys on television/movies.
Who would win in a fight? Jack or Chuck? John McClane or T.J. Hooker?
You guys started throwing other names out there, and then someone suggested we pit them against each other in a bracket system and vote on it.
I liked the idea and it might be fun to do over the next few weeks. I can’t think of a better name for this competition other than Ultimate Bad Ass, which seems to fit perfectly. If you have a better idea, let’s hear it.
So we need nominations. I’m going to post the ones we have down so far, and then we’ll take anymore nominations.
The rules are simple: An action hero or tough guy (or girl) from either a movie or television show. We’re not dealing with those with superpowers, like Superman, The Hulk, etc. Only those with natural abilities.
A guy like Batman is up for debate. In the comments below, we’ll decide if a character should be allowed in or not.
Once we get a bunch of nominees, I’ll seed them into brackets and we’ll start. I will probably keep this to under 24 total contestants and try to also stick to popular names, so if I cut a favorite of your, my apologies.
Here are our nominees so far:
- Jack Bauer
- Chuck Norris
- John McClane
- T.J. Hooker
- MacGyver
- Michael Westen from Burn Notice
- Mr. T
- James Bond
- Jason Bourne
- Kara “Starbuck” Thrace from Battlestar Galactica
- Bruce Lee
- James T. Kirk
- Colt Seavers (the Fall Guy)
- Benjamin Linus
- Han Solo
- Ash from Evil Dead
Now, following the rules above, let’s get some more good nominations for this list.
Jackie Chan is The One True Action Hero.
Great idea Mike. Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon has to be in the list of nominees.
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Jack Bauer, The Dark Knight, and The Coens
“Dirty” Harry Callahan
Gotta include Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” character – and I’d argue that Michael Chiklis’ “Vic Mackey” from “The Shield” – who by all rights, ought to be considered Dirty Harry’s protégé – needs to be nominated as well.
I put in my argument to include Batman, but only the Christian Bale one
nicky’s last blog post..PSA from my belly.
You’ve got to have a few girls as well, so for one suggestion – Sydney Bristol from Alias.
well if we are going the martial arts route you would also need to throw Jet Li into the mix….
Jet Li is an actor, not a character
Sydney Bristow is a good one!
ok, but neither is Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris…. =)
Sydney is a good one…or the 5th element chick….
of course Conan would bust them all up….
Well, Chuck Norris is an icon, but you make a good point. He gets a pass…Jet Li…egh, not really established yet like Bruce Lee, so there is our martial arts expert
John Matrix (Commando)
Douglas Quaid (Total Recall)
Dutch (Predator)
I see someone mentioned Conan, but that can’t be the only Schwarzenegger role!
Oh, and John Rambo is pretty good too.
John Matrix!!!! great choice!!!! Rambo a good one for sure too…
Here’s a few more:
Quint from Jaws
Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop (have to have at least one funny bad ass, right?)
Unless I’ve missed it, I haven’t seen a single nomination for Samuel L. Jackson. So, Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction.
And another lady . . . The Bride from Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2.
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Jack Bauer, The Dark Knight, and The Coens
Come on now, did no one even SEE my post? Jackie Chan does it for real! Bruce Lee is of course dead, thus not very badass anymore, and Jet Li uses wires and a stuntman FFS!*
Chuck Norris should be on the character list due to the “Chuck Norris Facts” transcending reality. In the same vein, Jackie Chan (The One True Action Hero) has played himself several times so it still works for him as a “character” also.
TJ Hooker should be removed from the list, but Capt Kirk can stay out of respect. His trademark clasped hammerfists was so prominent we refer to it as Jim Kirking someone.
*OK, Jackie’s getting assists now too…but he’s old. Jet Li ain’t.
@ Robert – I agree about T.J. Hooker, and all you said about Chan…I plan on having Chan on this thing.
@ Steven: I love The Bride suggestion, Uma Thurman rocked in that movie!
Mike, I really think Jules needs to be in on this too. I mean, his wallet even said “Bad MF’er”
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Jack Bauer, The Dark Knight, and The Coens
Everyone mentioned here will be evaluated and decided upon…even if I don’t mention their name in a comment
Jules is a good choice, you gotta love him.
What about Mad Max?
I figured that, just wanted to give you another argument
Mad Max definitely deserves consideration, as do the Hanson Brothers from Slap Shot. They appeared to share a brain, so I think they could be combined into one entry
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Jack Bauer, The Dark Knight, and The Coens
Indiana Jones v. Hans Solo!!! yeah, we need Indiana in the mix.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Tell all the Truth but tell it slant
I agree there should be some funny combatants, so I’m going to nominate Sledge Hammer.
My other (less jokey) nominees are
- Hawk from Spenser: for Hire
- Butch Cassidy (watch his big fight again)
- Charles Gunn from Angel
- I second Vic Mackey and Harry Callahan
- Jane from Firefly
- ‘Mad’ Max Rockatanksy
- Any Charles Bronson character ever, but I like Vince Majestyk since it’s such an awesome name
Mike, my only other suggestion right now is to either seed 16 or 32 positions as it’ll be easier to bracket. Unless you want to seed 24, and just give four fighters a bye in the first round. I could see giving obvious byes to Norris and Bauer, but I don’t know if you could get everyone to agree on the other two.
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..Friday Night Sketch War: Round Nine
I would go with the 32. That gives you 4 head-to-head’s until the final showdown which is the 5th one.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Tell all the Truth but tell it slant
32 would be good….
Since Jina’s point, about more chicks, what about Ripley? She did beat up on Aliens effectively…tho I see her losing first round to most nay other chick…
Cap’n, nice pick with Ripley. She’s a definite badass.
Maybe Faye Dunaway’s Bonnie Parker?
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..Friday Night Sketch War: Round Nine
Lara Croft?
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Tell all the Truth but tell it slant
Ripley should definitely be in.
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Jack Bauer, The Dark Knight, and The Coens
You are right Porter, I think I need to change that. I don’t know if I want to have Bye weeks, but we COULD still do that.
16 seems too little, 32 seems like A LOT and could take awhile to get th rough all the voting, so we may just stick to 16.
If I see that we have too many good people for 16, maybe we’ll just have the bye weeks for some.
Jane from Firefly rocks!
Ripley is a good one.
Oooh, what’s Kate Beckinsale’s character name in Underworld? She’s badd assssss in that
I think the seedings idea rocks!
Okay, her name is Selene…from Underworld. Another bad ass chick
What about William Wallace? ‘they’ll never take our FREEDOM!’
Also Michael Corelone; he had his own brother wacked, he’s got to be in. Oh, and what about Tyler Durden from Fight Club?
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Alice from Resident Evil perhaps. I was also going to say Mad Max and Indiana Jones, but I see there are other’s who have already mentioned them. Excellent choices.
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Tony Soprano?
@Raven -Alice from Res Evil…good choice.
Scotty Dub’s last blog post..Gen Y doesn’t use job boards or do they?
Yes Mike, I think Soprano should be in.
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Jack Bauer, The Dark Knight, and The Coens
Don’t forget Lennie James as HAWKINS on JERICHO.
TOTAL BAD ASS!!
Nancy, agreed, but I’d still go with Jake over him.
How about another Jake, Jake Lo (Brandon Lee) from Rapid Fire?
I veto that. I could never take Brandon Lee seriously after he actually said lines referring admiringly to Dolph Lundren’s…package.
Never heard of Rapid Fire
Ok just occurred to me, I’m still stuck on Jina’s “How about some chicks” So aside from the Ripley nomination I gave earlier, what about these as well:
- Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo (The Bride) KILL BILL
- Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY
- Carrie Fischer as Princess Leia (come on she could kick some storm trooper butt, and shes a Jedi at heart!!)
For dudes, I thought of these extra ones as well..(though I still like the Jason Bourne and John Matrix nominations)
- Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) from Escape from New York
- Mad Max (Mel Gibson, though would he have to fight himself as Martin Riggs?)
- Aragorn, (Viggo Mortensen) LoTR Trilogy, the dood rawked!!
What do you think of these additions?
How had none of us thought of Sarah Connor before now?!? Good call on her, and your others as well.
And thinking of Sarah Connor reminds me that I’m a doofus. I nominated Jane earlier, but forgot River Tam. Considering she can take out a room full of Reavers…
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..Friday Night Sketch War: Round Nine
LOL…. True River is a very good one!!!
P.S I like your Lex for President icon
Funny Cap’n – I know that I nominated The Bride on the previous thread and I believe she has been nominated about 2 or 3 times on this thread. lol
Eventually she will be accepted.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 1 of 10 with Dr. Craig
Sorry my good friend Ape (where ya been buddy?), There were like 50 or so comments from the previous one, and now this one has a ton of comments here, if you mentioned her, you should get the kudos for a good choice…I might not of connected Uma as the bride…was my disconnect
Princess Leia, no way
But love River Tam and Sarah Connor, good picks.
Ape, I already agreed with you on The Bride, that’s a good pick.
B.A. Baracus from A-Team
I think we have Mr. T already, so not sure having him twice would be good…
Although we do have Han Solo and Indiana Jones
Okay, I’m compiling this list, but I came up with 3 good additions in looking around the web, but need to make sure one fits:
Neo from the Matrix. Do you consider him having powers and thus not qualified?
The other two:
Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible
Maximus from Gladiator
Maximus – excellent pick!
I don’t think Neo should qualify, but he would be a good addition.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 2 of 10 with Dr. Craig
I’m not sure about Neo…he operates on sort of a separate plane of existence…
I don’t think we’ve mentioned it, but do you think movie characters and TV characters should be separate? TV characters have tons of episodes to impress us…but then movie characters have bigger budgets and usually better weapons…
Good observation, but that might be too technical of a line to draw. You have a character like John McClane from the Die Hard movies going up against a Jack Bauer – that would be an interesting matchup and I don’t think either one has an unfair advantage over the other. I don’t think that there should be that fine of a distinction.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 2 of 10 with Dr. Craig
No on Neo, good picks on the others!
Yeah, good points, but as far along as we are, I’m going to have to separate it.
Because yeah, Jack Bauer would just roll to a win probably without any real competition
I vote to stop TV and movie action hero segregation! We are in the 21st century for pete’s sake – have we learned nothing?
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 2 of 10 with Dr. Craig
I would agree that Tv vs movie doesnt matter, keep em combined! We all know Papa smurf is going to win the throw-down anyways…
Have YOU learned nothing? Do you know how much harder TV action heroes have to work than those pampered, whiny movie heroes? They produce a mere 90 minutes a year on average while the working class action hero on TV has to produce 10-25 HOURS of ass-kicking entertainment. Doesn’t seem so equal now, does it?
Maybe the TV heroes need that much more practice to be on the same ground as amovie a** kicker. You know, it takes Jack Bauer 500 pushups to equal one Chuck Norris finger flex…
I don’t see any reason to bring religion into this, dude.
Religion?!? Maybe its early in the morning and thats over my head…
Oh. You aren’t from The Church of Chuck? Humblest apologies, you know how they’re always out proselytizing.
That’s a cult – Chuck is the anti-Christ
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 2 of 10 with Dr. Craig
The Church of a**-kickin? and Chuck is delivering the sermon…
If people dont align with others thinking they are in a cult, its the norm… I’m gonna start a Crispy Creme cult, cause I worship those warm glazed doughnuts!
No – Chuck is getting the sermon delivered to him…
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 2 of 10 with Dr. Craig
Let’s see…
Christ: didn’t kick much ass
Chuck: did, and still does
I’m not sure about the cult part, but your other assertion seems spot on to me. However, in His defense, Chuck would only kick ass when old ladies were being beat up, good people intimidated with violence, or you shot his dog or spilled his drink, so he does have some Christ-like qualities as well.
That remains to be seen…well unless you read braille of course..then it remains to be felt…
Shouldn’t that be Krispy Kreme Kult…uh, nevermind…
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 2 of 10 with Dr. Craig
@ Cap’n – wrong thread for that commnet, but still funny.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? – Part 2 of 10 with Dr. Craig
In your cult it can be Krispy Kreme…
The Trousered Ape is right. We need to move beyond this action movie, action television divide. (I hope someone appreciates this.)
There is one story in particular that I’d like to leave you with today � a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Martin Brody’s birthday at his home church on Amity Island.
There is a young woman named Ashley who worked on a television action series. Midway through her first season the network cut the show’s budget. That’s when Ashley decided that she had to so something to help her show.
Ashley convinced craft services that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her show’s ratings got better.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the combined Ultimate Bad Ass bracket. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific hero. And finally they come to this elderly action movie star who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific hero. He does not say Die Hard or Shaft. He does not say explosions or war movies. He does not say that he was there because of Mike and Jason. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..Alamo Futility
That was awesome
LOL R.A.. well done!
Okay, maybe I’m working too hard and not getting enough sleep or maybe reading so many comments has fried my brain, but…
I don’t get it.
Jason, I was just happy a couple of people did get it. I was reaching pretty far with it.
Search for “Ashley” in this link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23690567/page/3/
R.A. Porter’s last blog post..Repo Trailer