Top 20 Toughest Characters of All Time
#20: Deadpool
“Marvel Comics” (1991-) When we’re talking about “toughness”, we mean characters who can take a beating and get right back up; characters who can shake off injuries that would kill a normal person; hard-nosed badasses whose grim-faced determination—okay, well that last one might not match Deadpool. But two out of three ain’t bad! The merc with a mouth started out by surviving cancer and then turned it into a superpower through excruciatingly painful surgery. Now he can literally be chopped into pieces and still get back on his feet… as soon as they grow back, anyway. And he does it all without losing his sense of humor. That would put him near the top of our list… if he wasn’t such a doofus.
#19: Master Chief
The 10 Most Difficult Weapons to Master
“Halo” Franchise (2001-) Kidnapped from his parents at the age of 6 years old and trained to be the perfect warrior, Master Chief is cut from a different cloth. His origin story puts him through more trauma than some action heroes do in their entire careers. And that’s before he puts on the powered armor and starts killing aliens. Out of an army of Spartans who routinely start their day by falling out of orbit and into live battlefields, the Chief still manages to stand out. Whether he’s fighting off the Covenant’s invasion of Earth or casually wiping out endless waves of the Flood, you’d think his shoulders would get tired after a while. But so long as there’s trouble, he’s ready for duty.
#18: Kenshiro
“Fist of the North Star” (1983-) Imagine if Mad Max and Bruce Lee had a baby. That’s Kenshiro, the unstoppable martial artist who wanders a post-nuclear wasteland beating the everloving snot out of warlords and thugs to protect innocent people. And boy is he good at it. He can smash boulders and steel with his bare hands and (more importantly) walk through legions of marauders like they’re not even there. No matter how tough the opponent, Kenshiro takes the hits, unleashes a flurry of blows and then gives them a moment to think about what they’ve done before politely informing them… that they’re already dead.
#17: Hellboy
“Hellboy” franchise (1993-) Hellboy doesn’t look like one of the good guys. But you also wouldn’t dare say he looks like a wuss. He’s the son of a demon (who would have guessed?), but he was raised Catholic by a kindly old man. And it seems like the lessons about redemption stuck. Hellboy has torn his way through gods, eldritch horrors and half the hordes of Hell to defend the world that adopted him. He’s fire resistant, stab resistant and -- it turns out -- train resistant. More than once, a villain has tried to get him to fulfill his destiny to end the world. And every time that happens, Hellboy denies his demon roots by ripping his own horns right off his head and telling the devil exactly where he can stick them. You gotta admit, that’s pretty metal.
#16: Alucard
“Hellsing Ultimate” (2006-2012) Being a vampire, Alucard has access to a whole host of abilities that earn him a spot on this list. He’s got superhuman strength, some psychic powers and the ability to shapeshift. He can regenerate instantly from gunshot wounds. But so what? So do lots of vampires. It takes more than that to make this list. Well here’s the thing: Those are the powers Alucard shows when he’s locked down with magic seals that limit his viciousness, his sadism… and his powers. Without them, he’s playing in a whole other league befitting the ultimate vampire himself. Okay, as disguises go, spelling your name backwards is pretty weak. But nobody tell Dracula we said that. We like our blood where it is.
#15: The Bride
Top 20 Sexiest Characters Of All Time
“Kill Bill” franchise (2003-2004) Here’s a tip for you. If you’re planning to gatecrash a wedding, you should probably make sure the bride isn’t one of the world’s deadliest assassins. And if -- just for example -- you were actually aiming to slay her on her wedding day… well, then you’d better finish the job. If you leave her alive, she’ll just get mad and come back for revenge. And are you going to be ready when she shows up to make your heart explode with a secret martial arts technique? No. In a lot of ways, the Kill Bill movies are a cautionary tale. The moral of the story? You absolutely do not want to get on Uma Thurman’s bad side.
#14: Kratos
“God of War” Franchise (2005-) You ever have a really bad day and just blow off some steam by wiping out an entire Pantheon? No? Well, this guy has. The God of War games are known for showcasing some of the most brutal and viscerally satisfying takedowns in video game history, and that’s all fueled by the overflowing rage of Kratos. He’ll impale a hydra, topple a colossus, and work his way through a series of increasingly dangerous supernatural power ups until he becomes the god of war himself, purely out of spite. And when he’s done with the Greek pantheon, he just moves right along to the Norse one. It’s amazing what a guy can get done if he really sets his mind to it - and then goes completely berserk.
#13: John McClane
John Oliver: Hilarious Set at Just For Laughs!
“Die Hard” franchise (1988-) John McClane may have started out as a simple New York cop, but when Nakatomi Plaza fell into the clutches of terrorists, he gave us a whole new appreciation for what an everyday guy is capable of. What makes McClane’s action moments so impressive is that he knows they’re going to hurt. He’s not a supersoldier. He’s a normal guy with normal feet that are absolutely going to get cut when he walks on glass. But he does it anyway and then he jumps off a building because dang it… someone has to. And then in “Live Free or Die Hard” he crashed a car into a helicopter. Because… well, he probably didn’t have to but it was cool.
#12: John Rambo
Top 10 Things To Know About John McCain
“Rambo” franchise (1982-) Speaking of ordinary guys in extraordinary circumstances… Meet John Rambo, the world’s sweatiest badass! Rambo is another all-too-human tough guy who made his way this high on the list because of what he’s managed to do without any superpowers. Except for apparently producing his own muscle oil. That is one shiny Stallone. Despite severe PTSD from his first tour of duty, Rambo remains an unstoppable one-man army, returning to service to rescue american POWs in Vietnam with nothing but a knife, a bow and his wits. He’s also survived more torture than most people are comfortable thinking about—so can you blame him when he’s a little miffed that the US Army keeps double crossing him? Okay, maybe more than a little.
#11: John Wick
Top 10 Greatest John Cena Matches
“John Wick” franchise (2014-) If there’s one lesson in the John Wick franchise, it’s that when the world’s greatest assassin decides to retire, you let him STAY retired. You don’t mess with his car. You don’t break into his house. And you most certainly DO NOT kill his dog. And if you do happen to do any of those things… well, you’d better say your prayers. There’s no debating his proficiency in hand-to-hand combat or with weapons. But much like the previous two Johns on this list, where he really excels is in survivability. Wick fights through injuries as if pain is something other people need to worry about. Which, to be fair, they do. He makes sure of it.
#10: The Punisher
Top 20 Strongest Characters of All Time
Marvel Comics (1974-) The Punisher is kind of like the last three entries on this list rolled into one. He’s a veteran of a brutal jungle war who came home to find his wife and kids murdered by the mob and went on a never-ending spree of vigilante justice using… well, murder. Almost exclusively murder. But if being a combination of John Wick, Rambo and McClane wasn’t enough, Frank Castle doesn’t just limit himself to terrorists, thieves and assassins. He also hunts straight-up supervillains. He has no powers of his own, but he goes up against guys with superhuman strength who can just regenerate. That’s the kind of dedication that gets you on this list.
#9: Popeye the Sailor
“Popeye” franchise (1929-) Popeye the Sailor is the literal cartoon extreme of toughness. In fact, because cartoons don’t have to obey the laws of physics, you could say Popeye’s as strong and as durable as he needs to be to make things funny. That might be enough to put him at the top of this list… if it weren’t for his crippling dependency on performance-enhancing produce. Listen, Popeye. We get that vegetables are important to make sure you grow big and strong. But if you can’t win a fight against Bluto without downing a can of spinach it might be time to talk about an intervention.
#8: The Incredible Hulk
Top 20 Scariest Characters of All Time
Marvel Comics (1962-) You may have heard that the madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets, but that’s barely scratching the surface. When puny little Bruce Banner loses his temper, he also gains durability, regenerative abilities and a will so strong he can overcome the Marvel Universe’s most powerful telepaths. His rage is so intense that he’s beat up cosmic entities and shattered continents. In recent Hulk comics, it’s turned out that Bruce Banner pretty much cannot be killed, whether he’s shot in the head by Hawkeye, devoured on a daily basis by mutated bugs or chopped up into pieces. As long as there’s something left to be mad about, he’ll just Hulk right back out again. That’s one heck of a tantrum!
#7: The Doom Slayer
Top 20 Creepiest Characters of All Time
“Doom” franchise (1993-) Like many heroes, the Doomslayer is motivated by the tragic death of a loved one. In his case, that loved one is his pet rabbit, Daisy. And he is somewhat upset with the demons who killed her. As in, the kind of upset where you fight your way INto Hell to battle the demons on their home turf. More than once, he’s been booted out of Hell only to fight his way right back in because he wasn’t finished. In the demon’s own retelling of the story, he kills so many of them that he spreads despair among the hordes of Hell. No, that’s not a mistake. He’s killed so many demons that the things that go bump in the night are afraid of him now.
#6: Goku
“Dragon Ball” franchise (1986-) The thing with the Dragon Ball franchise is that power levels are always changing. By the same token, there’s also no telling exactly how hard a punch Goku’s taking in any given fight. But our cheery hero has gone toe-to-toe with every tough guy in a universe where the average power level gets multiplied by 10 twice a week, so he’s definitely no pushover. Goku has inspired millions with his dedication to training and willingness to spar with godlike beings just to see if he can beat them. Plus, his species has a built-in failsafe that brings them back even stronger when they come close to death, so even if you get in a couple of lucky shots… don’t count on winning round 2.
#5: Squirrel Girl
“Marvel Comics” (1991) If anyone on this list is going to beat Goku, it had better be someone amazing. Someone who has stood up to the worst villains their universe has ever produced without breaking a sweat. Someone like the unbeatable… Squirrel Girl? Yes, you read that right. It’s not a typo, either. Doreen Green may look like a teenage dork -- and that’s mostly because she is. But she’s a teenage dork who has single-handedly beaten the snot out of avengers-level threats like Thanos. Well, single-handed if you don’t count her squirrels. She’s also one of the few characters to have personally defeated Doctor Doom. In her first appearance no less! Hey, we said they had to be tough. Nobody said they couldn’t also be adorable.
#4: Batman
“DC Comics” (1939-) Remember all that stuff that made the Punisher impressive? Now imagine that he did it all while refusing to actually kill anyone. Or even pick up a gun for that matter. That’s Batman. Waging a lifelong war against crime in a city with more criminals than pizza places has turned him from a growly weirdo with a penchant for cosplay into a superhero able to stand side by side with the Justice League. He occasionally beats them up too—when he can find the Kryptonite to do it. Sure, he’s got money. Sure, he’s got brains. But so does Elon Musk. You don’t see him throwing down with aliens. Deep down, what sets Batman apart is that he simply will not quit.
#3: Guts
“Berserk” (1989-) Speaking of “refusing to quit”, Guts was orphaned as a child, disowned, enlisted as a soldier and attacked by wolves—things just kept getting worse. But still, he survived. Maybe it’s no wonder that he grows up to be the kind of hero who struggles his way through waves of madness-inducing demons, watches his friend betray him, and is still willing to lose his own arm off to stay in the fight. Honestly, this franchise gets very grisly. Like… so grisly that there’s a lot we can’t show here. Still, if he can face it all and come out alive and fighting, then he’s definitely earned his spot on this list.
#2: Superman
Top 10 Superman Easter Eggs in Pop Culture
“DC Comics” (1938-) Superman may not look quite as gritty as a lot of the other characters on this list, but that doesn’t make him a pushover. Everything from bullets to lasers to artillery fire pings off his invulnerable skin without leaving so much as a scratch. He can survive just as comfortably in the arctic circle as in the depths of space or the core of the earth or the centre of the sun. One time, the monster Doomsday did manage to kill him. But he got better. Superman belongs on this list for unparalleled durability alone. But what really sets him apart is his unflinching dedication to kindness despite carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sometimes...literally. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. The Terminator, “Terminator” Franchise (1984-) The T-800 Might Not Be the Newest Model, But He Can Take Some Damage! Marv, “Sin City” Franchise (1991-) As Creator Frank Miller Put It, “Conan in a Trench Coat” Thanos, Marvel Comics (1973-) The Mad Titan Is Almost Unstoppable in His Quest to Depopulate the Universe
#1 (Fakeout): Chuck Norris
As Seen in Internet Memes in the Early 2000s When Chuck Norris jumps into a lake, he doesn’t get wet. The water gets Chuck. Okay, okay, kidding. Our real #1 is...
#1: Wolverine
Wolverine Returns?! Chris Pratt Fires Back! James Cameron Abandons Avatar? Stranger Things S5 News!
“Marvel Comics” That’s right, bub. He’s the best there is at what he does. And what he does ain’t pretty. Everytime Wolverine uses his claws, he has to force them out through the flesh of his hands, so you know he’s got pain tolerance. Before his superheroics, that gritty attitude and mutant healing saw him through lifetimes as a soldier, a samurai and a brutally mistreated test subject. Wolverine’s origin story involves having his bones coated in superheated metal. And he didn’t even go insane… for long, anyway. Since he joined the X-Men, he’s been creatively destroyed in every way imaginable, including being impaled with rebar by Magneto. Say what you will about his hair cut, Wolverine can take more pain than just about anyone.
