The Joker
As our search for some of cinema’s most iconic characters we have entered the top ten and we have a pair of serial killers, a pirate, a teacher and a gangster.
10. The Joker
Played by Heath Ledger
The Joker began life as a DC Comic super-villain, making his first appearance in Batman #1 in 1940.
With bleached white skin and green hair he was a violent sociopath who committed a series of crimes, including murder, for his own entertainment.
Nicholson's performance in Tim Burton’s Batman has gone down as one of the most iconic villains of the big screen as the film went on to be an international smash hit.
But Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight, which is released last summer, saw the return of the Joker, for the first time in nearly twenty years, portrayed by Heath Ledger.
While Nicholson's Joker was done with a smile and a joke this time around the character returns to his evil comic book roots as a psychopathic, mass-murdering schizophrenic.
And it proved to be the performance of Ledger’s short career as he dominated the awards circuit scooping the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Bafta, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild.
9. Jack Sparrow
Played by Johnny Depp
Who would have thought that when Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl sailed into cinemas in 2003 that one of the biggest cinema icons of the last decades would emerge from it.
But that is exactly what Johnny Depp did with his character of Captain Jack Sparrow, and it has gone on to become his most famous character.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the film that, on paper at least, should not have been a success. Based on a film genre that never did well at the box office and inspired by a theme park ride that filmed was slammed before it was ever released.
Yet the film didn't crash and burn it became one of the most successful films of 2003 grossing almost $654 million worldwide.
Two sequels followed. Dead Man’s Chest becoming just one of four movies that have broke the $1 billion barrier, joining Titanic, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and The Dark Knight.
Depp is set to reprise the role of Sparrow, based on Keith Richards, for a fourth movie in the franchise.
8. Tony Montana
Played by Al Pacino
Pacino has enjoyed a career that has spanned over forty years but the characters of Tony Montana in gangster movie Scarface still remains one of the roles that he is mostly associated with.
Released in 1983, directed by Brian De Palma, Scarface follow Tony, a Cuban refugee who comes to Florida in the eighties.
The film follows his rise to the top of Miami’s criminal underworld during the cocaine boom of the eighties and his downfall.
Despite it’s now cult status the film was not met well by the critics when it was released, due to the explicit levels of violence, De Palma had to cut the movie three times before it was given an R rating.
Now, almost thirty years later, Tony Montana is one of the most iconic characters in this genre of film.
7. Indiana Jones
Played by Harrison Ford
For more than twenty five years the expeditions and exploits of Jones, professor by day adventurer by night, have excited and thrilled cinema go-ers.
The character of Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, was introduced in 1981 with the release of the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was set in 1936.
Indy is a respected archaeologist and professor at a college in New England. But Jones is pitted against the Nazis as they try to discover the location of the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to contain the Ten Commandments, in a bid to make their army invincible.
Temple of Doom was a prequel to Raider of the Lost Ark set in 1935. Jones is searching for three mystical stones that have been stolen from an Indian village. During the search he stumbles across a dangerous cult that are using children as slaves.
The Holy Grail was nest on the agenda for the professor in 1989's The Last Crusade. Jones is forced to in search of the cup of Christ after his father Dr. Henry Jones Sr, played by Sean Connery, is kidnapped whilst pursuing his life long dream of finding the Grail.
Once again Indy faces the Nazi's, who are also searching for the Grail, as he retraces his father's steps in a bid to rescue him.
But Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg reprised the role of the famous adventurer in 2008's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, after almost a twenty year hiatus.
Over the years Indiana Jones has become a successful franchise and the character of Jones with his bullwhip, fedora, and leather jacket have become iconic.
6. Hannibal Lector
Played by Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lector became one of cinemas classic villains in psychological thriller The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.
Based on Thomas Harris' novel Lector is a brilliant psychiatrist and a cannibalistic serial killer currently in prison.
The character is rumoured to be based on murders that Harris covered as a crime scene reporter in the 1960s and on Albert Fish, a serial killer, cannibal and paedophile.
The character of Lector has spanned four movies. In Silence of the Lambs Lector is in prison and is visited by an FBI trainee Clarice Starling seeking his help on catching Buffalo Bill, a serial killer.
For his performance in the film Hopkins won a best Actor Oscar.
In 2001 Lector returned in Hannibal which took place ten years after Silence of the Lambs with lector out of prison and living in France.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Pirates of the Caribbean