Hollywood Heroes

What is a "hero"? Originally, a hero was a legendary figure, often divine, someone with extraordinary strength and supernatural powers. Heroes performed great deeds of bravery, travelled on exciting journeys and demonstrated great courage and gallantry.




As time went on, the hero was simply the male protagonist or male lead in the dramatic work, the man who's story is being told. Writers no longer limited themselves to the traditional hero, but wrote tales of ordinary men who could be less than admirable, a bit flawed as mere humans tend to be. An anti-hero emerged, no longer perfect, no longer the most noble of men.

Take a look at Hollywood's traditional heroes listed below:


Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson in "Titanic"

Will Smith as Muhammad Ali in "Ali"

Edward Norton as Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk"

Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man in "Spider-Man"

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in "Iron Man"

Daniel Craig as James Bond in "Casino Royale"

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in "The Bourne Identity"

Bruce Willis as James Cole in "12 Monkeys"

Ben Kingsley as Gandhi in "Gandhi"

Mel Gibson as William Wallace in "Braveheart"

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in "X-Men"

Russell Crowe as Maximus in "Gladiator"

Keanu Reeves as Neo in "The Matrix"

Christian Bale as Batman in "The Dark Knight"

Roger Moore as James Bond in "Live and Let Die"

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Bruce Willis as Officer John McClaine in "Die Hard"

Christopher Reeves as Superman in "Superman"

Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator in "Terminator 2"

Denzel Washington as Malcolm X in "Malcolm X"