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As long as there have been movies, there have been aliens—whether they are little green men or the nightmarish creations of H.R. Giger. And as long as there have been aliens on screen, there have been badass alien hunters for us to cheer on. You see, aliens make for the perfect bad guy. They always seem too tough, too smart, and too scary to ever be beaten, but they never count on having to deal with a Ripley or a MacReady or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here are the 10 roughest, gruffest, and most all-around badass alien killers to ever hit the big screen.
R.J. MacReady, The Thing (1982)
It’s hard enough to kill aliens when they look like monsters from another dimension, but what happens when they can perfectly mimic your best friend or man’s best friend? That’s the twist in John Carpenter’s version of The Thing. A group of scientists are on a research station in Antarctica when they take in a stray husky—that is infected by an alien. Luckily, one of the scientists is Kurt Russell. Playing the rugged MacReady (and wearing a hat that even Pharrell would take a pass on), Russell chomps cigars, flies helicopters, and set fire to anything he suspects of being an alien—even himself. In The Thing, it pays to be paranoid, but it’s best to be a badass.
Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, Battlefield Earth (2000)
The people of Earth have been enslaved by the Psychlos and only one man can unite the people to overthrow their alien masters. That man? Jonnie Goodboy Tyler. Ok, so maybe he doesn’t have the most badass of hero names, but you’ll certainly be rooting for Jonnie (played by Barry Pepper) to kick the ass of John Travolta, who plays the alien Terl and is the main reason this piece of cinematic garbage made it to the screen. Battlefield Earth is one of those movies that is so bad that it’s amazing. Multiple viewings might have you praying for an alien invasion.
Ray Ferrier, War of the Worlds (2005)
When aliens explode out from under the ground of Bayonne, New Jersey, it’s up to Tom Cruise as the character Ray Ferrier to send these UFOs back to their home planet. Well, actually, Cruise just kind of bumbles around in War of the Worlds. He can barely keep his family together as the aliens destroy everything in their path. Seriously, nobody can stop these aliens. Luckily they forgot to get their immunization shots before visiting Earth. Much like the classic sci-fi novel by H.G. Wells on which the movie is based, the true badasses that put a halt to this invasion are germs, bacteria, and viruses. Extraterrestrials might be able to handle Hollywood star Tom Cruise, but are no match for the common cold.
John Nada, They Live (1988)
“I’m here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I’m all out of bubble gum.” Only a true badass could deliver a line like that. Wrestling star Roddy Piper plays Nada in John Carpenter’s They Live. In this movie the aliens are living among us and controlling our thoughts using subliminal messages and radio waves. The only way to see through the brainwashing is to wear a special pair of sunglasses or contacts. Luckily, Nada finds a pair and proceeds to bust alien heads, break alien necks, and take back the planet.
Agent K and Agent J, Men in Black (1997)
With the premise that aliens are living among us and need to be policed, Men in Black took a comical look at alien law enforcement. Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent J (Will Smith) play the roles of square cop-cool cop. The two battle bugs and talking pugs as they make the planet safe from alien invasion—well, at least they prevent the rest of us from knowing about it.
Dutch, Predator (1987)
When Arnold Schwarzenegger is cast in a movie, you can bet that he is going to be the badass. He nearly met his match in Predator. Although little backstory is reveled about the aliens in the first movie of the Predator franchise, we know that they love to hunt humans and they’re damn good at it. Arnold plays the team leader Dutch, though the rest of his team is quickly decimated by the predator. Dutch is overmatched physically and needs to rely on his wits (one of the few times that happens to a Schwarzenegger character). By setting traps, a mud covered Dutch is able to rid the world of the hunting alien. But they’ll be back.
Ripley, Alien (1979)
There aren’t a lot of women on the list of alien-killing badasses, but Ripley might be the most badass of them all. The aliens in this movie are truly horrifying creatures that will suck your face, plant alien babies in your stomach, and keep you alive just long enough to see them pop out of your chest. Ripley is the only survivor after her team of interstellar miners is attacked by the aliens. Her survival means that she gets to live through a couple more sequels where she slays even more of the aliens. Seems like a good deal to us.
Aliens…and Predators, AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
This face-off seemed destined since the moment these two monsters hit the screen. It was a classic nerd question: who would win in a fight, Alien or Predator? This movie set about to answer that. Unfortunately, it also tried to have a plot (something about pyramids in the Arctic). Who cares? Just get to the part where the Aliens are fighting the Predators. There are a few humans running around in this as well, but they’re mainly there to be sacrificed to the Aliens. The final result is too close to call. We’ll need a couple more movies to decide.
Peter Quill, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Peter Quill, better known as Star-Lord, spends as much time kissing aliens as he does kicking their asses. That’s what makes Star-Lord a unique alien fighter—he was raised by a group of space pirates as one of their own. While Star-Lord is a new character to the big screen, he has been a comic book character in the Marvel Universe since the 1970s. And while he’s always been whooping up on some Kree and Skrull butts, he only recently started doing so with an awesome mixtape as a soundtrack.
Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes, Space Jam (1996)
There are many different ways to kick alien behind. One way is to humiliate them on the basketball court, and who could be a better choice than the greatest basketball player on earth, Michael Jordan? Better yet, team him up with Billy Murray and Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil, and you’ve got yourself an army of badass alien slayers. In Space Jam, the evil aliens (known as the Nerdlucks) steal the powers of NBA stars to transform into the Monstars. But it’s no match for basketball badass Michael Jordan. We’ll have to wait and see if LeBron James signs up for Space Jam 2.