Cinema's most compelling characters aren't always the heroes β sometimes it's the morally compromised, deeply flawed figures who steal the entire film. From cold-blooded criminals to ruthless mercenaries, these are the characters who made you question your own moral compass.
Put the items in your preferred order.
Tony Montana
Al Pacino's manic, cocaine-fuelled rise and fall in Brian De Palma's Miami epic is one of cinema's great tragic portraits. You know he's monstrous, yet somehow you can't tear yourself away from his relentless, doomed ambition.

Amy Dunne
Rosamund Pike's ice-cold, meticulously calculating Amy is arguably the most unsettling antihero of modern cinema. She's manipulative, dangerous, and completely terrifying β and yet David Fincher makes sure you understand exactly why she snapped.

Leon
A hitman who lives off milk and houseplants shouldn't be this endearing, yet Jean Reno's lonely, gentle assassin is one of cinema's most quietly heartbreaking figures. Luc Besson crafted a character whose tenderness makes you forget β almost β what he does for a living.

Walter White
Bryan Cranston's transformation from defeated chemistry teacher to drug empire kingpin remains one of the most forensically detailed character studies ever committed to screen. The genius of Walt is that you root for him long after any reasonable person should have given up on him.

Deadpool
Ryan Reynolds' foul-mouthed, fourth-wall-demolishing mercenary gave superhero films a much-needed kick up the backside β and proved British and American audiences alike were desperate for something genuinely irreverent. He's selfish, chaotic, and utterly impossible not to love.
Drag the photo to reorder
Which British monarch's coronation in 1953 inspired the creation of Coronation Chicken?
π½οΈ Food & Drinks Β· 26 votes
Which UK marine creature can regenerate its entire body from just a single arm attached to part of its central disc?
πΏ Nature & Animals Β· 26 votes
Should new housing estates be required to plant only UK-native trees like oak and rowan?
πΏ Nature & Animals Β· 26 votes
Which 1986 film features Bob Hoskins as a private detective in a world where humans and cartoons coexist?
π³ 29 votes