This month we had a simple yet intriguing query for the Mutant Team — what movie character names did we always think were amazing?

Justin: I’m always a sucker for alliteration, even if it’s slightly cheesy. So obviously, Marty McFly, Willy Wonka, Luna Lovegood, Donnie Darko, and Bilbo Baggins are going to make me smile (and that’s not to mention every single superhero whose real identity is an alliterative name). I also love names that are descriptive of the character themselves, such as the roguish Han Solo.

Mike: Literally any character Keanu Reeves has played, including but not limited to: Johnny Utah, Shane Falco, Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan, John Wick, Le Chevalier Raphael Danceny, Johnny Mnemonic, Duke Caboom, and Ortiz the Dog Boy. And, of course, Keanu Reeves as he played himself in Always Be My Maybe.

Drake: You wanted the best, you’ve got… Well, my list, at any rate. Sure, it could be longer, but then I’d have to curtail a review or two just to work on this, and you wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?

Would you?! Hmm, the room got awful quiet all of the sudden…

• Sugar Kane Kowalczyk: Marilyn Monroe was perfectly cast as the ukulele player and singer in Billy Wilder’s classic Some Like It Hot, fronting an all-girl band that Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon don drag to hide out in while they’re dodging mob killers. Although Wilder and Monroe clashed repeatedly on the set, this film sees them both at their peak, with all of that combative energy channeled into one of her best performances and one of his finest films.
• Tony Montana: “Say hello to my little friend!” In a career like Al Pacino has had, it’s tough to pick out his most iconic role. Or maybe it would be if he hadn’t starred as Tony Montana in Brian De Palma’s hyperviolent crime epic Scarface. Pacino is electric in the role, carving out his slice of the American pie with a chainsaw in one hand and an M-16 in the other.
• Xenia Onatopp: I mean, c’mon, there’s no way to make it through a list like this without mentioning a Bond Girl. And let’s face it, Famke Janssen just seemed like she was having a fantastic time playing a sadistic mercenary who happily mowed down a whole room full of computer techs in Goldeneye.
• Johnny Ringo: OK, cheating a bit here since this was the real name of one of the Cowboys who rustled their way through Arizona. Still, cool name, right? Granted, Johnny Ringo may have quoted Shakespeare, as the Bard’s plays were a popular pastime on the Old West, but he never had a verbal duel in Latin with Doc Holliday. Nor did they ever have a gunfight, although they did come close on one or two occasions. But Michael Biehn’s performance as Ringo in Tombstone is still highly memorable, and one of the actor’s best to date.
• Satanico Pandemonium: Salma Hayek’s ancient vampire/goddess/dancer/seductress is just a given here. Hayek may not have had much screen time, but she made the most of what she had and did her best to steal the show. I would have loved to see a Hayek-starring prequel, just to see how she rose to the top of the bloodsucking pyramid in Mexico’s past. Truly a missed opportunity!

Sitting Duck: I suppose Big McLargeHuge of Space Mutiny can’t really count, since all those crazy names were bestowed by the MST3K gang. I’m also uncertain about whether or not Colonel Blood from The Pyrates should count, since he was a historical person who actually did come this close to getting away with stealing the Crown Jewels.

For the purpose of this question, I think my final answer will be Solomon Kane. As befits a character who is essentially a religious fanatic, both his given name and surname have Biblical connotations that reflect his inherent contradictions. On one end we have Solomon, the King of Israel renowned for his great wisdom, as well as being cited as the creator of a wide variety of magical traditions by certain occult types. These are reflected in how Kane not only is resolute in his sense of justice, but most of the foes he squares up against are of a supernatural disposition.

Then we have his surname which is a homophone of Cain, the notorious first murderer whom God cursed to wander the Earth as a fugitive. This is reflected in his willingness to resort to violence and his inability to stay in one place for too long, along with occasional hints of being a decidedly unrighteous person in his past. So while it might not be a more conventional kind of amazing that you get with Blast Hardcheese or Smash Lampjaw, it is amazing in how meaningful it is.