3. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner)—Star Trek
Who He Is: Captain of the USS Enterprise, fighter, lover, diplomat, scholar, and all-around most kick-ass male in the galaxy.
Why He’s a Badass: He can short-circuit robots and omnipotent computers just by giving a rousing speech, woman are constantly coming on to him (far more than he actually beds, in fact), he appears to have his own patented form of martial arts (Kirk-fu), he never gives up no matter how hopeless the situation looks, oh, and:
He once clubbed a guy with what appears to be a plaster cast of his own penis.
Badass Moment: How to pick just one? Fuck it, we’ll just go with the Corbomite Maneuver. Look it up.
How Does He Go Out? He doesn’t in the show, and we’re not going to get into any fatal wrestling matches with Malcolm McDowell in this post.
Badass Dialog: “This is the Captain of the
Enterprise. Our respect for other life forms requires that we give you this… warning. One critical item of information that has never been incorporated into the memory banks of any Earth ship. Since the early years of space exploration, Earth vessels have had incorporated into them a substance known as…corbomite. It is a material and a device which prevents attack on us. If any destructive energy touches our vessel, a reverse reaction of equal strength is created, destroying the attacker. It may interest you to know that since the initial use of corbomite more than two of our centuries ago, no attacking vessel has survived the attempt. Death has… little meaning to us. If it has none to you then attack us now. We grow annoyed at your foolishness.”
4. President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen)—The West Wing
Who He Is: Controversial two-term President of the United States.
Why He’s a Badass: His principles are inflexible. He can’t stand intolerance in any form. He survived an assassination attempt. He was originally intended to be a recurring character on the show, and almost immediately took over the entire thing through sheer force of charisma.
Badass Moment: There are several tense faceoffs with diplomats, religious leaders, and the press, but my favorite moment is this deeply religious man’s smackdown on God after his beloved personal secretary was killed in a car crash.
How Does He Go Out? His term ends and he passes the torch to Jimmy Smits (possibly for a new
West Wing show that never happened).
Badass Dialoge: “You’re a son of a bitch, you know that? She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What? Was that supposed to be funny? ‘You can’t conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,’ says Graham Greene. I don’t know whose ass he was kissing there, ‘cause I think you’re just vindictive.”