Best movie characters

49 ELO points separate Jack Sparrow from Yoda at the top of the Cinema ranking, after 31962 duels, with Darth Vader holding first place at 1416 ELO.

Darth Vader commands the podium with 1416 ELO points across 414 duels, winning 63% of his matchups against other cinema icons. The sharpest divide in the top tier sits between ranks 2 and 3, where Jack Sparrow holds 1399 ELO and Yoda trails at 1350—a 49-point gap that marks the clearest boundary among the leaders. This separation suggests the community draws a firm line between the swashbuckling pirate and the Jedi master. Gandalf follows close behind at 1345 ELO, while Captain America rounds out the top 5 with a 50% win rate over 1260 duels, the highest duel count in the upper ranks. The ranking's lower end tells a harsher story: Milton languishes at rank 117 with 921 ELO and a 30% win rate across 454 duels, Edward sits just above at 937 ELO after 433 duels, and Alphie occupies rank 115 despite facing 512 matchups. The community's judgment on these bottom contenders remains unforgiving.

This ranking draws from 31962 duels across 64 players, covering 117 cinema characters as of 10 October 2026. The breadth of the vote reflects sustained engagement: voters have weighed icons like Darth Vader against hundreds of peers, from franchise legends to relative unknowns. The ELO spread demonstrates clear hierarchies, with the podium far removed from the basement. Cast your own vote and shape the standings—every duel shifts the balance.

Updated on October 10, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →