"Empire Magazine" recently asked their readers to vote for their favorite movie hero of all-time and they chose one of cinema's prolific cinematic heroes to top their list.
The results of the poll had Harrison Ford's, Indiana Jones topping the list with Ellen Ripley from the ALIEN franchise landing in second. The list consists of 50 movie heroes that cross a wide range of genres and time periods. Judging from the results, it shows that audiences can appreciate heroes that are regular folks like you and me (Marty McFly) or billionaire vigilantes (Batman). You will also find other diverse heroes on the list such as James Bond, Black Widow, John Wick, Atticus Finch, and Imperator Furiosa.
It's not exactly surprising that Indiana Jones would top the list. Steven Spielberg crafted the character to be a James Bond-type but with a more adventurous personality. Thanks in large part to the charismatic performance of Harrison Ford, the original INDIANA JONES trilogy is a classic because of the mass appeal of the character himself. With badass appeal, the character whipped his way into the pop-culture consciousness which has allowed the character to thrive today. Even at the age that Harrison Ford is now, fans really don't want to see anyone tackle the role because of what he has brought to it over the years.
He's also a hero that has been imitated and largely never duplicated. The same character tropes were used for Brendan Fraser's character in THE MUMMY movies and the INDIANA JONES aesthetic can be felt in other films like TOMB RAIDER and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY as well as in TV and video games in projects like Ducktales and Uncharted, the latter of which will likely be inspired by INDIANA JONES even more in its upcoming feature film adaptation.
Even though Ellen Ripley placed second, one could argue that her importance in cinema history is more impactful. Sigourney Weaver showed strength as the character in 1979's ALIEN, playing her not as an unrelatable superwoman but as a vulnerable soldier caught in an impossible situation. It's 1986's ALIENS that helped shape and redefine the limitless possibilities of the female action hero and that's based on Weaver expanding the character and giving her more of an edge from her first experience with the Xenomorphs.
You can thank Weaver's Ripley for inspiring other female cinematic heroes like TERMINATOR's Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), KILL BILL's The Bride (Uma Thurman), the MCU's Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and MAD MAX's Furiosa (Charlize Theron). I don't think you get any of them on the big screen without the template that Weaver set with Ellen Ripley.
What are some of YOUR favorite movie heroes? Would these two top YOUR list?