10 Greatest Movie Characters of the 2020s, Ranked

The 10 Greatest Movie Characters of the 2020s, Ranked Ryan Gosling as Ken, sat posing shirtless outside Barbie's house, in Barbie.Image via Warner Bros. By  William Smith Published Jan 31, 2026, 8:30 PM EST William Smith is a flesh and blood writer who hasn't seen natural sunlight in months. He spends every waking hour at his laptop producing content to satisfy the cruel algorithm and to give those who spend their time in the comments section something to criticize.  Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Movies are nothing without their characters. That's actually not true; movies are still a series of moving images that make up a narrative that can sometimes succeed or fail on the strength of its characters, but the sentiment stands. Characters are who we connect with, who we relate to, and who we will remember when the lights come up. Iconic characters can even outlast the movies they appear in, and while we're just over halfway through this decade, we've gotten plenty of characters sure to endure.

Heroes, villains, sidekicks and everything in between, the greatest movie characters of the 2020s all have something special to offer. They've made us laugh and cry, get outraged and upset, in both comedy and drama. More than anything else, they've been stuck in our brains ever since we met them. These are the ten greatest characters that we've been introduced to in the 2020s — so far, anyway.

10 Death (Wagner Moura) - 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish' (2022)

Puss meets Death, a wolf with a frightening smile and red eyes, at a bar in 'Puss In Boots: The Last Wish.'Image via Universal Pictures

There's nothing quite like a good villain, and what villain could be more intimidating than Death? Puss in Boots: The Last Wish turned out to be unexpectedly awesome for a film that was a belated sequel to a spinoff from an animated franchise that had long run its course. A great part of its success was due to its iconic villain, one big bad wolf who's cool, scary and charismatic.

Voiced by Wagner Moura, this sickle-wielding predator comes after Puss in hopes of claiming his last life, setting the entire plot in motion. While he's got some competition amidst the film's other myriad villains, none are quite as indelible as he. Visually similar to the Grim Reaper, this interpretation also took inspiration from Spaghetti Western characters, as is most apparent in the signature whistle that precedes his every appearance. Of all the big bads we've gotten in this decade, he's the biggest and baddest.

9 Ken (Ryan Gosling) - 'Barbie' (2023)

Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, holds up ten fingers during a musical number in Barbie.Image via Warner Bros.

Everyone loves a good supporting character, and there are few more supportive than Ken, the blond plastic himbo brought to life by Ryan Gosling in Greta Gerwig's Barbie. The role gave Gosling the full opportunity to flex both his comedic and musical muscles, particularly for the character's showstopping song I'm Just Ken. He proves to be far more than just Ken when he also becomes the film's secondary antagonist, who takes over Barbieland and remakes it in his bro-dude image.

As part of the film's critical look at masculinity, Gosling's doll boy is all fragile ego and simple thoughts, along with a golden retriever's enthusiasm. It's the perfect marriage of star and material, making the most out of Gosling's marquee looks as well as his never-ending quest to subvert the expectations that come with them. Not bad for a character that started as a literal hunk of plastic.

8 Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) - 'Weapons' (2025)

Amy Madigan laughing as Aunt Gladys in WeaponsImage via Warner Bros.

2025 had a lot to offer moviegoers in terms of memorable villains, and a great many of them came out of horror films, but none were quite as easy to hate as Aunt Gladys in Zach Cregger's Weapons. Though the character was quickly spoiled on social media, most people who went into Weapons on opening weekend had no idea what to expect, which makes the movie's clown-painted villainess all the more surprising.

Amy Madigan, who rightly received an Oscar nomination for her performance, perfectly toes the line between camp and creepiness. Gladys shows up over halfway through the film's runtime and still makes an incredible impression, vacillating between making other characters feel awkward or disarmed before she breaks out her wooden sticks and goes full sinister. She's a brand-new horror icon who also happens to have the greatest death scene of 2025.

7 Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) - 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' (2022)

Ke Huy Quan as Waymond Wang mid-fight in an office building in Everything Everywhere All at Once.Image via A24

The 2020s haven't blessed audiences with an abundance of new action heroes, at least ones that aren't just holdovers from the prior decade. Still, there have been a few unique ones. We've had certified badasses like Naru in Prey or Furiosa, or more milquetoast ones like the protagonist of Novocaine or the alternate universe versions of tritagonist Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

As the part that put Ke Huy Quan back on the map and won him an Oscar to boot, Waymond gives the immensely talented actor a lot to sink his teeth into with vastly different versions of the character in the multiversal action comedy. Quan also gets to flaunt his incredible physical prowess, most notably in the most adorably badass fight scene, where he serves up a can of whoop ass with his fanny pack.

6 Paul (Delroy Lindo) - 'Da 5 Bloods' (2020)

Delroy Lindo in Da 5 BloodsImage via Netflix

The Academy finally righted a long-overdue injustice when they nominated Delroy Lindo for Best Supporting Actor for his memorable performance as Delta Slim in Sinners. The actor has been turning in phenomenal performances for decades while being consistently overlooked, never more so than in his stunning portrayal of the broken, disaffected Paul in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods.

A Vietnam vet struggling with PTSD, Paul is a representative for many disenfranchised Black men in America, specifically those who fought in the war and whose service was promptly forgotten by the government. That disillusionment is made palpable and political in the way the character proudly wears a MAGA hat, a loaded image in 2020 that has only gotten more potent since. Da 5 Bloods gives Lindo the chance to bring everything he's got to a character, and he leaves it all out on the field.

5 Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) - 'The Substance' (2024)

Image via Mubi

The Substance is not a film for the faint of heart. It's a bold, gross body horror satire on the impossible beauty standards and age discrimination faced by women that goes for broke in its visuals. Also going for broke is Demi Moore as faded star Elisabeth Sparkle, who gets addicted to the titular illicit substance. It splits her into two identities, with the latter being a younger, idealized version of herself, played by Margaret Qualley.

Moore has never been better or more raw than she is as Elisabeth, using her history as a sex symbol to inform the character's emotional turmoil. Her obsession with youth, naturally, comes with unintended consequences, with Moore eventually buried under prosthetics as a decrepit version of herself that involves some incredible physical work from the actress. Elisabeth's transformation into a monster may be disgusting, but no more than the lecherous ghouls of Hollywood who created her.

4 Sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro) - 'One Battle After Another' (2025)

Benicio del Toro in One Battle After AnotherImage via Warner Bros.

Calm, cool and collected in the face of injustice, Sensei Sergio is the hero we didn't know we needed right now. Benicio del Toro's consistently unfazed karate instructor and resistance leader is the dignified counterpoint to Leonardo DiCaprio's frazzled and panicky revolutionary in One Battle After Another. The Academy Award-winning actor brings a career's worth of cool to the character, who knows all too well the violence that government forces can and will use against people like him and never loses sight of the goal post.

While he may be the face of everyone's new favorite meme thanks to a quietly hilarious scene where the character is given a roadside sobriety test, there's a lot more underneath the surface. In fact, almost everything suggests Sensei Sergio's had a lifetime of keeping his head on a swivel. It's another indelible character and performance from del Toro, who has made a career out of them.

3 Calum Patterson (Paul Mescal) in 'Aftersun' (2022)

Paul Mescal as the father on a boat with his daughter in Aftersun, 2022.Image via A24

There are characters that can make us have a visceral response to them, whether it's joy, fear, or disgust. Then, there are those that reach down deep and rip your heart right out of you. Calum Patterson, the young, troubled father played by Paul Mescal at the center of Charlotte Wells' soulful Aftersun, is the latter. As a divorced, potentially queer character, he comes with a lot of anguish, which he occasionally reveals to his daughter during their excursion in Turkey.

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Wells' film is a deeply personal examination of parental relationships, and the ways in which we view our parents can evolve over time. There's so much that the audience can read into the character of Calum, from his sexuality to his deep-seated insecurities and depression. He's a man in distress, which is distressing to watch through the eyes of his daughter and realize how many of us may have never understood much of the pain our parents had when we were once young.

2 Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) - 'The Banshees of Inisherin' (2022)

Martin McDonagh's bleakly comic The Banshees of Inisherin portrays a civil war between two former friends set on the titular fictional island off the coast of Ireland in the early 20th century. It reteams Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson from the director's previous In Bruges, and the two have scarcely ever been better, but Farrell is absolutely dynamite as the friendly but too-thick-for-his-own-good Pádraic. He's a simple man of simple pleasures, wanting nothing more than to tend to his land and enjoy pints with his best friend Colm.

When that friendship is unceremoniously ended by Colm, for little reason other than that life is too short to spend it drinking pints with a thick man instead of creating music, it causes no end of consternation for Pádraic. Farrell has always been at his best when playing more idiosyncratic characters as opposed to action heroes or other bland Hollywood leads. In McDonagh, he's found a collaborator who knows the perfect words for him. Pádraic is heartbreaking, hilarious, and infuriating in equal turns.

1 Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) - Tár (2022)

Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár in TÁRImage via Focus Features

Some of the greatest movie characters are the ones we find ourselves drawn to in fascination despite their deep flaws. Violent gangsters, selfish manchildren, or egotistical narcissists make up some of the most iconic film leads. Add to those Lydia Tár, the ambitious conductor at the heart of Todd Fields' Tár, played to perfection by Cate Blanchett. She's ambitious, authoritarian and undeniably talented, but her power begins to crumble when allegations of sexual misconduct are leveled at her.

Coming out in close proximity to the #MeToo movement, Tár could easily be seen as a stand-in for any number of those who took advantage of their positions of power to prey on those beneath them. Lydia Tár's gender makes her stand out in that regard, as women were seldom accused in that movement, though it speaks more to the universality of power dynamics and abuse that can occur in any form. The film itself is less a diatribe towards cancel culture than a portrait of a woman whose ambitions and rise to power brought with it a corruption of her soul that allowed her to become an abuser. It's a dynamic, dangerous character brought to life by one of the greatest actresses of her generation.

Tar R Drama Music Release Date October 7, 2022 Runtime 158 minutes Director Todd Field

Cast Cate Blanchett, Noemie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong Writers Todd Field Powered by Expand Collapse

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