Characters / Armageddon (1998)

Character page for Michael Bay's Armageddon.

Spoilers ahead.

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Stamper Oil

Harry Stamper

Portrayed By: Bruce Willis

Voiced By: Mario Castañeda (Latin American Spanish)

• The Ace: Of the deep core drilling profession. Pretty much every other drilling company on the planet suggests Harry Stamper as the man to call for the mission. He even designed the mobile drilling rig that NASA pilfered the patents for so they could put them on the Armadillos.
• Celibate Hero: Has no Love Interest, his daughter being the only woman in his life.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Stays behind to detonate the nuke after the remote detonator is destroyed.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being at odds with AJ and his crewmates, he is a good person overall to the point that he's willing to let AJ marry Grace.
• Manly Tears: Sheds these when saying goodbye to Grace.
• Mutual Kill: With the asteroid.
• Papa Wolf: Harry understandably shoots at AJ when he discovers that not only did the latter wreck the drilling equipment, but he was sleeping with Grace in AJ's bed.

AJ Frost

Portrayed By: Ben Affleck

Voiced By: René García (Latin American Spanish), Jean-Pierre Michaël (European French)

• Big Damn Heroes: He saved the entire mission by bringing the second Armadillo all the way to the drilling site, as the first had been destroyed with Max trapped inside.
• Break the Haughty: Was rather full of himself and prone to making rash decisions without Harry's knowledge. But when the going gets tough, he always comes through. This is especially true after he watches his friends die when they crash on the asteroid.
• The Cavalry: After the first Armadillo is sent into space by an explosion, all hope seems lost on Earth. Then he, Bear, and Andropov show up in the other one.
• The Determinator: It's his will to survive with nothing more than the Armadillo to serve as a "lifeboat" that not only does he get himself, Bear and Lev to the Freedom alive, but saves the entire mission by getting the vehicle there intact.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Is willing to pull one when he draws the short straw, but Harry takes his place at the last moment.
• The Lancer: To Harry.
• Like a Son to Me: Harry tells AJ so at the end, just before the former's Heroic Sacrifice.
• Manly Tears: He does not react well to Oscar's death, or to Harry's decision to sacrifice himself in his place.

Grace Stamper

Portrayed By: Liv Tyler

Voiced By: Dulce Guerrero (Latin American Spanish)

• Raised by Dudes: Subverted. Grace is a perfectly well-adjusted and surprisingly feminine young woman, in spite of being raised collectively by the Stamper Oil drillers.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: We don't see the tomboy part of Grace's life but she describes it when arguing with Harry.
  "I was playing with titanium depth gauges when I should've been playing with dolls!"

Charles “Chick” Chapel

Portrayed By: Will Patton

Voiced By: Humberto Solórzano (Latin American Spanish)

• Disappeared Dad: An unwilling example; he has not been allowed to see his only son due to the severity of his gambling addiction.
• Functional Addict: Chick has a gambling addiction so bad that his wife not only divorced him but also went to court to have his rights as a parent annulled. He is, however, the real deal when it comes to being an oil drilling roughneck.
• The Gambling Addict: When the feds are rounding up the crew to take them to N.A.S.A., Chick is picked up at a craps table in a casino, and when discussing their material rewards, Harry mentions that Chick wants an all summer-long, all expenses paid luxury vacation at the Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas. During the crew's day off before the mission, Chick goes to visit his ex-wife and young son, and from their interaction, it's heavily implied his gambling addiction is what led to her successfully suing for sole custody, and deny him visitation rights.
• Heterosexual Life-Partner: With Harry.
• Number Two: Is this for Harry and later for the entire mission.
• Retired Badass: It's mentioned that he served in the Air Force for six years before his days as a driller.
• Undying Loyalty: To Harry. They've worked together for twenty years and Chick makes clear that he is with him all the way.

Rockhound

Portrayed By: Steve Buscemi

Voiced By: Humberto Vélez (Latin American Spanish)

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His snark and eccentricities are tolerated because he really is as smart as he believes himself to be.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: On Earth; he gets even crazier on the asteroid.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's Steve Buscemi. What did you expect?
• Death Seeker: He expected to not survive the mission, which is why he hit up a loan shark so he could make it rain on their last night on Earth. As a consequence, when it comes time to decide who should stay behind to detonate the nuke, he volunteers to do it.
  "I say we all stay and die, but that's me."
• Insufferable Genius: Extremely smart, and makes sure everyone knows it.
• Ivy League for Everyone: Got a double-doctorate from MIT and taught at Princeton for over two years.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his snark and ego, he's a good guy at heart and cares deeply about the other drillers.
• Ladykiller in Love: A serial womanizer so much that they nicknamed him for horny womanizing, Rockhound declares he wants babies with Molly Mounds once they land safely. He's later seen with the former stripper at the wedding of Grace and AJ.
• Sanity Slippage: Comes down with "space dementia" in the last half hour or so of the film.
• The Smart Guy: To an obnoxious degree.
• The Triple: Why did Rockhound choose to be a driller? Because the money's good, the scenery changes, and they let him use explosives.

Bear (J. Otis Curlene Bear)

Portrayed By: Michael Clarke Duncan

Voiced By: Víctor Hugo Aguilar (Latin American Spanish)

• The Big Guy: Of the entire cast, he looks most like a roughneck.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: In addition to being huge, Bear is a big softy at heart. Even though he taunts the cops.
• Gentle Giant / Nice Guy: In typical Michael Clarke Duncan form; he's easily both the biggest and the most good-hearted member of Harry's crew.

Max Lennert

Portrayed By: Ken Hudson Campbell

Voiced By: Luis Alfonso Padilla (Latin American Spanish)

• The Big Guy: He is the only one on the crew who rivals Bear in size.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: While manning the Armadillo, an explosion launches it into space. Poor guy.
• Momma's Boy: He is shown during the roundup montage getting a "lovin' mother" tattoo, which his mama is touched by.

Oscar Choi

Portrayed By: Owen Wilson

Voiced By: Javier Rivero (Latin American Spanish)

• Ascended Fanboy: He is immediately completely enthusiastic about going to space to save the earth, like it's a dream come true for him.
  "This is deep blue hero stuff!"
• Cloudcuckoolander: Grace describes him in so many words as "spacey" during the montage to find and bring all the roughnecks to NASA.
• Innocently Insensitive: A deleted scene has him commenting on the state of Lev's home country and assuring him that nationalities mean nothing in outer space, and that they're all united as astronauts. As you can imagine, Lev isn't all that flattered, and even Rockhound is giving him looks for this bizarre praise.
• Naïve Newcomer: Appears to be the most excited of Harry's crew to go to space, thinking it will be fun. He doesn't even survive the landing.
• Not Helping Your Case: He mentions having a whopping 56 tickets in seven states that he wants wiped from his record. This among many things doesn't inspire much confidence from the military brass in the team's ability.
• Sacrificial Lamb: He dies in the Independence crash, as he wasn't able to get his helmet on in time.

Freddie Noonan

Portrayed By: Clark Heathcliffe Brolly

• Storyboard Body: Grace, in an argument with Harry, tells him she learned the birds and the bees from Freddie Noonan's tattoos.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: The least distinguished member of Harry's crew; he's not even featured in the montage of the crew being rounded up. He dies in the Independence crash.
  • If you pay attention in the wedding, the camera takes in all of the fallen crew's portraits, then pans away from Freddie's. Poor guy.

NASA

Dan Truman

Portrayed By: Billy Bob Thornton

Voiced By: Raul de la Fuente (Latin American Spanish)

• Benevolent Boss: He's very kind to Harry and his men, even giving them the night off before the launch, and is similarly good to those he works with at NASA, never even losing his temper despite dealing with a situation which would be unimaginably stressful even for a man of his experience.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: When he talks to Harry, Truman tells him he has wanted to go into outer space for as long as he could remember, but the fact that he wears leg braces, likely since he was young boy, disqualified him from even applying to the astronaut program.
• Honorary True Companion: While he couldn't go into space himself, one of Harry's last acts is to give A.J. his mission patch to pass it on to Truman, affirming that Truman was as much a part of the mission as everyone who actively went into space.
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: About 2/3 of the way through the movie, we learn that Truman wanted to be an astronaut, but his disability prevented him from being able. Harry, who made good friends with him, makes sure Truman gets his mission patch.
  "I still remember the first, middle and last names of every man in my class."
• Nice Guy: He's always very polite and respectful to Harry and his men and treats those who work with him well.
• Parental Substitute: Takes over as the father figure for Grace, being protective of her once Harry's left the planet and offering her emotional support after Harry's sacrifice.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's incredibly accommodating to Stamper and his crew, knowing that they are the planet's best shot, and treats them very respectfully.
• Southern-Fried Genius: He's played by the famously southern Billy Bob Thornton and is the head of NASA, a position which requires no shortage of intellect.

Ronald Quincy

Portrayed By: Jason Isaacs

Voiced By: Enrique Mederos (Latin American Spanish)

• Deadpan Snarker: As expected given who he's played by, Quincy is quite snarky, most notably in his description of the President's Scientific Advisor. His British accent just makes it even more cutting.
• Fist Pump: During the NASA meeting, Quincy does this gesture while explaining the person closes his/her fist around the firecracker and set it off.
• Insufferable Genius: He's described by Dan as "pretty much the smartest person on the planet" and he knows it but he quickly shows he is absolutely deserving of such a description.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Quincy shares the Insufferable Genius trait with Rockhound, but usually only when he really needs to really get the attention, such as when Gen. Kimsey suggests simply nuking the rock on the word of the President's Scientific Advisor.
  "I know the President's Scientific Advisor. We were at MIT together, and trust me you really don't want to take the advice of someone who got a C- in Astrophysics."
• The Smart Guy: For NASA and apparently according to Truman the smartest person in the world.

Col. Willie Sharp

Portrayed By: William Fichtner

Voiced By: Octavio Rojas (Latin American Spanish)

• Colonel Badass: The first man to wield a gun in space. Also familiar with nuclear devices and helps Gruber disable it when it is remote activated by the military.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He clashes with Harry a lot, but he does eventually come to respect him. Proven when he gets back to earth and meets Grace:
  "Requesting permission to shake the hand of the daughter of the bravest man I've ever met."
• Papa Wolf: He's mentioned to be a father of two girls; like Harry, he's gonna make damned sure they still have a future to look forward to.
• Skeptic No Longer: He is extremely vocal in his lack of faith in Harry's team; it takes some serious pep talk on Harry's part to convince the man that he will see the mission through to the end no matter what the cost. In the end, he is grateful that Harry's proven him wrong, referring to the man he once considered part of NASA's biggest mistake as "the bravest man I've ever met".

Co-Pilot Jennifer Watts

Portrayed By: Jessica Steen

• The Generic Girl: Of the survivors, she has the least characterization. Her only memorable scene is telling Bear and Oscar off when they speak out of turn while she explains the thrusters.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female member of the mission.

Lt. Gruber

Portrayed By: Grayson McCouch

• Brutal Honesty: When Rockhound witnesses the loss of the Independence and refuses to accept the fate of the crew, Gruber steps in to break the bad news to him.
• Demolitions Expert: Is this for the Freedom crew. Disarms the nuclear device on the Freedom shuttle when it is remote activated on Earth by the military.
• No Kill like Overkill: His ultimate fate; he is hit head-on by an incoming meteorite and then impaled against the razor sharp rocks.
• Oh, Crap!: He lives just long enough to see a stray asteroid barreling right at him, but has no time to get out of its path.

Col. Davis

Portrayed By: Marshall R Teague

• Sacrificial Lamb: Killed during the landing on the asteroid.
• Large Ham: "Houston, this is a kickass ride!"
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Good luck, Freedom."
• Thrown Out the Airlock: He and Tucker are violently sucked out of the Independence's cockpit into space when the windows are shattered by asteroid debris.

Co-Pilot Tucker

Portrayed By: Anthony Guidera

• Sacrificial Lamb: Killed during the landing on the asteroid.
• Oh, Crap!: When he sees the windshield cracking under repeated debris strikes, he knows their time has run out.
  Tucker: Oh my god, this is it.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: He and Davis are violently sucked out of the Independence's cockpit into space when the windows are shattered by asteroid debris.

Lt. Halsey

Portrayed By: Greg Collins

• Demolitions Expert: Is this for the Independence crew.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Is killed in the Independence crash.
• The Voiceless: Gets no onscreen lines before his demise on the shuttle.

Others

Lev Andropov

Portrayed By: Peter Stormare

Voiced By: Ricardo Hill (Latin American Spanish)

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Kooky as all hell, but he's still an incredibly competent cosmonaut, saving the lives of the crew on no less than three occasions.
  Andropov: I AM THE ONLY QUALIFIED ASTRONAUT AND I'M SAVING YOUR AMERICAN ASS!
• Closest Thing We Got: When he, A.J. and Bear are alone in the other Armadillo, he volunteers for a "spacewalk" to fix damage on the Armadillo's exterior as the only qualified astronaut available, even though he has no real experience with the Armadillo.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Hoo boy...
  Truman: He's been on the Russian Space Station for 18 months...alone. So don't be surprised if he's a little...off.
• Colonel Badass: He climbs out of the Armadillo to repair it and prevent it from flying into space.
• Funny Foreigner: The only Russian on the team, and a deeply eccentric man never short of snark or a witty comment.
• Leave No Man Behind: He refuses to evacuate the Russian space station until he's retrieved AJ, by which time both men are trapped by the raging inferno. Against all odds, he get himself and AJ out with seconds to spare.
• Lzherusskie: Stormare is Swedish.
• Made of Iron: He survives the destruction of the space station, of the shuttle, and a rock storm while repairing the Armadillo, the last of which was floating through zero gravity at the time.

General Kimsey

Portrayed By: Keith David

Voiced By: Med Hondo (European French), Carlos Segundo (Latin American Spanish)

• General Ripper: His first instinct upon learning about the asteroid is to fire every nuke they have and rip the asteroid apart. Subverted later, when he tries to convince the President not to prematurely detonate.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's not nice about it but he's right to be skeptical of the mission and the crew given the stakes and the improbability of getting them ready in such a short space of time.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his initial hostility and somewhat abrasive attitude, he comes around to the crew and supports Dan's plan, even buying them time to succeed.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Tries to talk the President out of having the nuke detonated early, well aware of the consequences.
• Scientist vs. Soldier: He is the face of the "soldier" part of the equation in this sub-plot. His Establishing Character Moment is snarking about launching every nuke in the world at the asteroid before Quincy makes clear that unless the nuke is placed deep inside of the asteroid this is not going to work, and when the President makes the decision to detonate the nuke prematurely, Kimsey is the one who takes over Mission Control.
• The Skeptic: Understandably, as Harry's team consists of oil drillers who on top of not being trained astronauts have quite the rap sheet assembled amongst themselves.

"Molly Mounds"

Portrayed by: Layla Roberts

• Ms. Fanservice:
  • Rockhound is MOST pleased to see her when he returns to Earth, and who could blame him?
  • She's also played by Layla Roberts, a former model and Playboy Playmate.

The Asteroid aka "Dottie" aka "That Cast-Iron Bitch"

• Code Name: Given a NASA-only codename because the person who discovers it gets to name it. Once the world discovers its existence, they just refer to it as "the Asteroid." Freedom and Independence crews have a number of colorful names for it.
  Karl the amateur astronomer: I wanna name her Dottie after my wife. [Dottie looks touched] She's a vicious, life-suckin' bitch from which there is no escape. [Dottie stops looking touched and flips him off]
  Dan Truman: [awkwardly] That's–that's sweet, Karl.
• Colony Drop: This thing is somewhere between a quarter and a third the size of the moon.
• Death from Above: The dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid six miles wide. This asteroid is the size of Texas (900 miles, give or take). Do the math.
• Eldritch Abomination: No one suggests that the Asteroid is literally one of these, but it is very much treated and referred to as an enemy or monster instead of a natural disaster - complete with a subtle "monster roaring" sound effect each time it appears onscreen. The fact that a giant rock has received an entry on the character page proves how effective this was.
  Harry: I don't think this thing likes us.
  Chick: That's cause it knows we're here to kill it.
• Eldritch Location: Fitting with above, the massive iron rock large enough to build a small country on, formed somewhere in the farthest reaches of deep space, has a terrifying appearance, with tall jagged twisting spires and massive equally gnarly canyons.
  Rockhound: This place is like Dr. Seuss' worst nightmare.
• Half The Asteroid It Used To Be: Gets blown in half by Harry and the halves fly past Earth (barely).
• Made of Iron: Literally. The Freedom shuttle ends up landing in an area where the surface consists of compressed iron ferrite, making the drilling more difficult than they had expected.
• Mutual Kill: With Harry.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Karl, the astronomer who discovers the asteroid, gave it his wife's name as a very deliberate insult to her ("She's a vicious, life-suckin' bitch from which there is no escape”). The human Dottie is touched about it… for the two seconds before Karl explains to Truman why he chose the name.

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