10 Most Badass Horror Movie Survivors

4. MacReady - The Thing

31 Sheri Moon Zombie
Universal

Take the ridiculously badass Kurt Russell, stick a marvellously badass beard on him, throw him in a beautifully badass snowy locale, hand him a badass and visually impressive flamethrower, and let a terrifying, parasitic alien run amok - and there you have The Thing.

By the time that this sci-fi horror ride from the legendary John Carpenter - itself based on John W. Campbell Jr.'s 1938 novella Who Goes There? - had come to an end, there were technically two survivors. That would be Russell's MacReady and Keith David's Childs.

Having been put through the wringer and with tension high at which of MacReady and Childs was now really an alien menace, The Thing concludes with the surviving duo side-eyeing each other as they share a bottle of scotch and await their fate.

Why does MacReady get the nod over Childs when it comes to inclusion on this list, then? That's down to the fact that Carpenter, Russell, and David have all discussed in interviews over the years how they presumed Childs had been assimilated by the alien parasite.

Then there's also the Dark Horse Comics follow-up to The Thing in which it's revealed that, yes, Childs was the one compromised at the end of the 1982 movie - making MacReady the only true survivor. Adding further weight to this, 2002's The Thing video game sees MacReady swoop in on a helicopter to save the day during the game's closing moments.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.