10 Toughest Movie Heroes Ever

We're going WAY back into the past for this one, and admiring the days of violent, bloody deathmatches where battle-hardened warriors step into the arena to fight for their lives and glory before a blood-thirsty, baiting crowd. God! The old days were great, weren't they?

There's only a handful of warriors who could step into the Colosseum and walk out to a cheering crowd, and Russell Crowe's Maximus Decimus Meridius is one of them. Hell hath no fury like a war hero on a revenge mission, and Ridley Scott's epic sees a determined and vengeful man go up against every enemy and walk away (almost all the time) successfully.

Maximus proves himself to be one of the greatest warriors we've ever seen on screen when fight after fight sees him face and defy impossible odds. His first fight sees him chained to a comrade and unarmed against a barbaric enemy, but Maximus' skills, knowledge and leadership in combat earn him praise and respect from his fellow gladiators. Later on, he defies odds and expectations by using his military experience to lead his fellow slaves to victory against chariot-riding archers, and eventually an amazing fight against a tiger-wielding champion.

Maximus is toppled at the end of the film, but only through dirty tactics conspired by the scheming Commodus. Had the cowardly Emperor not been so slippery, we imagine the final fight between the two would have been over in a matter of seconds. Come on, it's Maximus we're talking about here.