10 Most Iconic Characters of the 2000s

This is the first list on my blog! I've listed up 10 movie characters that first appeared on the silver screen this decade (starting from year 2000 to 2009). So don't expect to find Darth Vader here because even though he appeared in Episode III (2005), he first appeared in the original Star Wars film (1977). I've picked these characters based on their indelibility on our memories, the performances of the actors and actresses that play them, and their own screen personalities. So here are my 10 most iconic characters of the 2000s.


10. Kirk Lazarus

"I know what dude I am. I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!" - Kirk Lazarus

First appearance: Tropic Thunder (2008)
Played by: Robert Downey Jr.

The aforementioned quote concisely sums up Kirk Lazarus, a five-time Academy Award winning method actor who doesn't break character till he's done with the DVD commentary. In Tropic Thunder he mostly appears as a black soldier striving to speak jive (only to be constantly mocked by the genetically black fellow actor Alpa Chino). He easily surpasses Les Grossman, the foul-mouthed producer played by fat-suit wearing Tom Cruise, as the most memorable character in the brilliant action-comedy spoof with an oblivious seriousness amidst all the surrounding madness. Playing an actor who's disguised as another character, RDJ immerses himself deeply, convincing us that something must have knocked him out of the blue, rendering him someone else.

Recognition: an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (a rare acting honor for a comedy these days).


9. Juno MacGuff

"Nah... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?" - Juno MacGuff

First appearance: Juno (2007)
Played by: Ellen Page

I've gotta tell you first that Juno is the only female character on this list. It's not that I'm a sexist, it's simply because we all know that for every 10 Indiana Joneses or 10 James Bonds, we only get 1 Ellen Ripley. Juno MacGuff, armed with witty lines supplied by screenwriter Diablo Cody, has blossomed into a new teenage heroine. She's in the process of growing up, but that process is about to get awry when she discovers that she's pregnant. The great thing about her is how we get to care for her immediately after the very first scene in an intelligent and self-assured way.

Recognition: an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Page and the so-called Juno Effect. And ooh, $231m in worldwide gross against a production budget of $7m.


8. Maximus Decimus Meridius

"At my signal, unleash hell." - Maximus Decimus Meridius

First appearance: Gladiator (2000)
Played by: Russell Crowe

Maximus Meridius is a classic Shakespearean tragic hero on the silver screen whose sole purpose is to avenge the death of his family. Russell Crowe is the perfect actor to play a shattered Roman general with a deep-seated anguish beneath his tough exterior. As a hero in a sword-and-sandal epic, Maximus is a brilliant tactician and a cool-headed hand-to-hand combatant - his Gladiatorial fight scenes are some of the most entertaining action scenes you can find in any epic masterpiece.

Recognition: Russell Crowe's sole Oscar statuette for Best Actor, and his status as an A-lister.


7. Hans Landa

"Now if one were to determine what attribute the German people share with a beast, it would be the cunning and the predatory instinct of a hawk." - Hans Landa

First appearance: Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Played by: Christoph Waltz

Playing as Hans Landa, Christoph Waltz (after Javier Bardem and Heath Ledger) further epitomizes that if you wanna win an Oscar for acting in a supporting role, play a menacing villain. In Waltz's case, that menacing aura can even be maintained while the actor juggles 4 different languages. Blatantly nicknamed "The Jew Hunter", Hans Landa is a cunning, evil, yet charismatic SS Colonel with a bit of a superiority complex (he calls all his subordinates by the name 'Herrmann'). Quentin Tarantino said that without Christoph Waltz, there would have been no Inglourious Basterds. It was thanks to Waltz's subtle performance and Tarantino's trademark script that have rendered Basterds to be such a unique cinematic experience.

Recognition: International limelight and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar statuette for Waltz.


6. Puss in Boots

"Fear me, if you dare." - Puss in Boots

First appearance: Shrek 2 (2004)
Played by: Antonio Banderas (Voice)

Cute by nature, Puss in Boots is much more than that. Despite his diminutive stature, he is an able swordscat who literally dances with his opponents who can never match his sheer speed and prowess while flirting with the audience in every scene in the Shrek series he's in. The audience seems to fall for him, calling him the most endearing character to all Shrek fans.

Recognition: His own spin-off movie in development, and (perhaps) the huge boost in box office intake enjoyed by Shrek 2 over the first Shrek.


5. Jason Bourne

"Look at us. Look at what they make you give." - Jason Bourne

First appearance: The Bourne Identity (2002)
Played by: Matt Damon

In Jason Bourne we now have an American super spy. While JB is more straight-faced than James Bond, he makes up for the lack of a figure like Q (and thus the nonexistence of gadgets and cool cars) with a slick ability to use any available items as weapons and shields during hand-to-hand combats. He also takes his audience to a globe-trotting, identity-searching thrill ride throughout the trilogy and, like a good tour guide, he speaks all the languages of all those countries he visits and is familiar with the localities - he gained all these during his tenure as a CIA Operative. The definite thing that makes us root for him is his desperate quest for redemption.

Recognition: Made Matt Damon an action star. More and more audience seemed to be wanting to see him in action too: each movie in the trilogy always outgrosses its predecessor.


4. Tony Stark

"Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job for peace." - Tony Stark

First appearance: Iron Man (2008)
Played by: Robert Downey Jr.

This is Downey Jr.'s second appearance on this list and it is the role that made his name blip on the Hollywood radar again. Superficially the flashy version of Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark is much more than that. He's essentially what every man dreams of becoming: intelligent (he's a genius, in fact), charming (and eccentric), quiet a looker, wackily humorous, and one of the richest men on the planet with a noble vocation to protect it, in style. Downey Jr. effortlessly improvised on the script to bring a cheerful take on this classic anti-hero.

Recognition: The box office stratosphere and a career revival for the once drug-addled actor.


3. Gollum

"So bright... so beautiful... ah, Precious." - Gollum

First appearance: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Played by: Andy Serkis (mo-cap performance and voice)

Gollum was arguably the most expressive CG character ever created in the history of filmmaking at that time. A heartbreaking figure in the legendary trilogy, Gollum (or Smeagol) spends most of his initial screen time fighting and eventually succumbing to a sinister id whose sole purpose is not to be parted with the Ring. He eventually plays a monumental role by *SPOILER ALERT (but I guess you already know)* inexplicably dropping the One Ring into the fires of Mt. Doom, ridding the Middle Earth from its ultimate badass. Surely, even the smallest (or twisted) person can change the course of the future.

Recognition: Perhaps without him a small film called Avatar wouldn't have existed - Gollum's creation kick-started a new wave of motion-capture technology. Oh and I'm sure he lingers on the minds of those millions who have read and/or seen the novels and movies.


2. Jack Sparrow

"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do." - Jack Sparrow

First appearance: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Played by: Johnny Depp

Perhaps it was one of the greatest achievements in recent Hollywood blockbuster moviemaking to conceive Capt. Jack Sparrow as a permanent drunkard with expressive hand gestures, mangled speech and Keith Richards-like personality. It was Depp's Sparrow that lifted PotC from being a run-of-the-mill epic fantasy by providing regular comic relief, acting bravura, and some brains. Jack Sparrow has a witty, sharp mind that helps him escape from grave danger which befalls on him the whole time. Being a pirate has made him deceitful and disloyal, but we get some glimpses of his humanity in his closeted attraction to Elizabeth Swann.

Recognition: The role got Depp his first ever Academy Awards nom and blockbuster.


1. The Joker

"Well, you look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got 'em?" - The Joker

First appearance: The Dark Knight (2008)
Played by: Heath Ledger

The greatest character of the 00s is a villain and it shouldn't be very surprising for Heath Ledger's last memorable role to take home the prize. The supervillain's insatiable craving for social devastation has prompted him to mastermind a grand scheme to bring down Gotham City along with its White and Dark Knights with his ingenious 'social experiments'. Profoundly disillusioned by humanity and society, he has turned himself into a remorseless psycho who believes that he's just the extreme version of human nature. Ledger's Joker will always be remembered in the coming decades as one of the most terrifying screen bad guys of all time.

Recognition: Ledger became the second person to win a posthumous Academy Award for acting. The Dark Knight's enormous leap in box office grosses over Batman Begins must have been partly or significantly contributed by the presence of The Joker.


Honorable mentions (those who almost made the cut): Wall-E (Wall-E), Gandalf (LotR trilogy), The Bride (Kill Bill), Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men), Marv (Sin City)