3. Han Solo

Appearances: The Star Wars series (1977–2015)

Creator: George Lucas

Performer: Harrison Ford

Defining moment: Granted, Vader had the better wardrobe (black cape, motorcycle leathers), but Solo’s scruffy-looking smuggler still takes the gundark’s share of Star Wars cool. Shooting first (sorry George) and cracking wise, he’s every inch the space cowboy. The Quintessential Solo is heartfelt as well as cocksure, though, and never more so than in Ford’s famously ad-libbed response to Leia’s, “I love you,” in Episode V: “I know.”

Fascinating fact: In Lucas’ early drafts of The Star Wars, Solo’s character was Ureallian: a noseless, green-skinned, slime-covered alien with large gills, who trapped Wookiees. Not quite so romantic now, is it?

Buy Star Wars now on Amazon