Top 10 Coolest Character Ensembles After ‘The Avengers’

The Avengers brings together not the most impressive group of actors, but some of the coolest teams of characters ever to storm a cinema screen. Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Hawkeye, Nick Fury and Capt. America are worthy of films in their own right – putting them together is genius. It’s arguable that they are the single coolest cinematic team-ups ever. So what are the next ten most awesome collections of characters? We’ve assembled them here today. It should be noted that we’re not looking at the greatest casts or team-ups but the types of films that lead fans to argue about which character is the most awesome.

10. Inception

Nothing brings together a cool bunch of people like a cinematic heist. Although on ground level the premise is not your typical bank robbery the character types are the same. Leonardo DiCaprio is Cobb is the super-cool leader on the edge, Joseph-Gordon Levitt is the dapper right hand man, Ellen Page is the newbie, the ‘architect’, Tom Hardy is the con-man, Ken Watanabe is the investor, Dileep Rao is the technician. Adding extra cool to the cast is Cillian Murphy as the mark and Marion Cotillard, Tom Berenger and the excellent Pete Postlewaite on the opposing team.

9. Kung-Fu Panda & Kung-Fu Panda 2

Quite a few movies were considered for this list but didn’t make the cut – works of Wes Anderson and Robert Altman featured, as did different versions of 12 Angry Men and dramas such as The Big Chill. But then we remembered that we were looking for the coolest ensembles and you can’t get much cooler than anthropomorphic martial arts fighting badass animals. More than just a Jack Black showcase (as the titular panda Po) but we also have his unimaginatively named team mates Snake, Tigress, Mantis, Crane and Monkey – played by Lucy Lui, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, David Cross and Jackie Chan. Need more cool? Master Shifu, the red panda who trains them, is all kinds of awesome and played by Dustin Hoffman. Michael Clarke Duncan as a Rhino, Ian McShane as a snow leopard, Gary Oldman as a peacock, Jean Claude Van Damme as a croc – all with mad kung-fu skills. You can’t argue with that.

8. The Expendables

It would be inaccurate to describe any of the roles in this movie as ‘characters’ – the reality is that each of the actors merely riffed of the characters they’d established over long action movie careers. With one movie Stallone delivered something that movies buffs who grew up on said action films had been dreaming of for decades – an epic team-up! Stallone, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, Roberts and Rourke represent the old-school while Statham, Li, Couture and Austin representing the new. This is what happens when a kid throws all his action figures into a battle royale.

7. Watchmen

Superheros are traditionally a social bunch of fellows – even the more literary of them. Any one of Alan Moore’s Watchmen would make a stand-out character for a cinematic adventure…fortunately Zack Snyder did a pretty decent job of bringing them all to life with most of them backed by strong performers. In this age of more realistic, well rounded spandex clad vigilantes there are few who are as interesting as these maniacs. Rorschach is a demented, twisted crime fighter with an unshakable sense of right and wrong, Niteowl is the noble warrior fighting for justice, the god-like Doctor Manhattan gives insight into an extraordinary mind, The Comedian speaks truths that no sane person would acknowledge, Silk Spectre is the grounded feminist who gives them all a sense of humanity and Ozymandias casts himself as a leader willing to destroy the world to save it. With the exception of the last two we have some downright brilliant performances in this film.

6. Seven Samurai

Although Toshiro Mifune may be the only actor known to cinephiles, any cinema-goer will be familiar with the style. A group of ultra-cool people come together to pull off one last job, each with their own set of skills and personality traits. Kurosawa not only delivered the best of the genre but was the director who first developed the concept. Here we have the wise and war-weary leader, an untested novice, a noble warrior, a jolly optimist, a stone-faced serious type, one who leaves but comes back and the wild-card. The formula was essentially set in stone with this film – each of the characters are unique and memorable, and very cool.

5. Reservoir Dogs

You could almost put together the top 5 coolest ensemble casts just from the filmography of Tarantino, but eventually we have to make a choice. Plenty of long discussions have been given over to who is the coolest ‘Dog’. Michael Madsen’s Mr. Blonde is a quick favourite with his unpredictable behaviour, with Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink with his hyperactive reactionary response to pressure and Harvey Keitel playing cool as Mr. White taking up most of the other side of the argument. Not that they carry the movie on their own, not with Tarantino, Chris Penn, Laurence Tierney, Tim Roth and real life criminal Eddie Bunker as Mr. Brown, Nice Guy Eddie, Joe Calbolt, Mr. Orange and Mr. Blue respectively.

4. Dark Knight Trilogy

Having lifted most of the characters from the comic series doesn’t loose any points from this awesome line-up of characters. Christian Bale as Batman is already a win and while Michael Caine and Gary Oldman may not be the obvious choices for Alfred and Gordon, but they totally nailed it. Half the reason we love Batman, however, is the villains. The casting and performances can make or break a movie. Damn good thing we’ve got Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow, Liam Neeson as Ra’s al Ghul (plus Ken Watanabe as his decoy), Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face, Heath Ledger’s spellbinding turn as The Joker with Tom Wilkinson, Eric Roberts and Michael Jai White filling out roles as gangsters. Add to the mix Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman and Rutger Hauer is supporting roles. With Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon Levitt joining the team in the next round, things are looking to continue to be gold.

3. The Lord of the Rings

Yikes. No doubt the first word that sprung to the casting directors mind when given this monumental task. With fan expectations looming, hundreds of millions of dollars on the line and a massive gamble of a project, the casting was crucial. Bringing the iconic characters of Gandalf and Frodo to life is one thing but backing them up with Legolas, Gimli, Aragon, Boromir, Merry, Sam, Pippin, Ewoyn, Eyomir, Theoden, Galadriel, Saruman, Wormtongue, Gollum, Arwen, Elrond, Faramir, Treebeard, Denethor and so forth becomes one of the greatest casting calls in history. One of the great selling points of the series is how well each actor fits their role and the genuine relationships that formed between the cast. Without that human touch the film may have only been popular for fans.

2. Ocean’s Eleven

Did someone say cool? Some of the coolest actors on the planet playing super-cool criminals in an awesomely cool setting pulling of an undoubtedly cool heist. Also, they wear cool suits. When Steven Soderbergh was putting together this uber-cool crime caper, a remake of the rat-pack starring original, the cast proved out of the reach of the budget until they opted to take a pay cut in order to see it through. George Clooney leads the pack as career criminal Danny Ocean, Brad Pitt as his smirking lieutenant Rusty Ryan, Matt Damon as the talented new kid, Bernie Mac as the inside man, Casey Affleck and Scott Caan as bickering getaway drivers, Elliot Gould as the money man, Don Cheadle as the rhyming slang spouting demolition man. Round it out with Andy Garcia as the ice-cold villain and who’ve got what is almost the coolest group of characters in a film. Oh, and Julia Roberts was in it.

1. Kill Bill

What we needed to top out this list was a movie featuring cool actors playing cool characters. In some entries the actors brought most of the cool, and sometimes we had a couple of cool characters, but not all were cool. Finally we have Kill Bill. Uma Thurman could happily retire knowing that the leather jacket sporting, yellow jumpsuit clad, sword wielding, motorbike riding, Pussy Wagon driving Beatrix Kiddo aka Black Mamba is the coolest thing she will ever do. A master assassin, thwarted when giving it up for love and now hell bent of vengeance is distilled cool. The comes her list. First is the quick as a whip Vernita Green, deadly silent O-Ren Ishii, down and dirty Bud, vicious and vengeful Elle Driver and finally Bill. Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Darrly Hannah and David Carridine are all very cool in these memorable roles (let’s not speak any more of Carridine). Backing them up is the madhouse of maniacs Go-Go Yubari, Sofie Fatale, Johnny Mo, The Crazy 88, Hattori Hanzo and Pei Mei, proving that Tarantino is as deranged as he is brilliant. Need extra cool? Samuel L. Jackson will pop in a shadowy character on piano. Named Rufus.