Characters / Die Hard

aka: A Good Day To Die Hard

The characters pertaining to the Die Hard film series.

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The McClane Family

In General

McClane Family

• Badass Family: You might be a Big Bad armed to the teeth and have a brilliant Evil Plan, but the moment a McClane gets involved, disaster will inevitably follow as they stare you down with more steely courage and determination than you can possibly counter.

John

John McClane, Sr.

"Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs... Now I know what a TV dinner feels like."

Played By: Bruce Willis ^{Foreign VAs}Patrick Poivey (French), Ramón Langa (Spanish)

Appearances: Die Hard | Die Hard 2 | Die Hard with a Vengeance | Live Free or Die Hard | A Good Day to Die Hard

A New York City Detective who, when visiting his estranged wife’s office building to reconcile with her, finds himself having to take on organised terrorists. He has a very abrasive personality, but more than makes up for it with determination and a sense of heroism.

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• Action Hero: Whilst McClane's ability to think on his feet is his strongest asset, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty.
• Action Survivor: From the very beginning. Although John is a cop, the fact is that he is completely out of his depth, at least in the first few movies. He's not even a detective, just a street cop. In the first movie especially, while he demonstrates plenty of quick thinking, resourcefulness, and observation skills, he makes some serious mistakes and is frequently forced to retreat. Only his resilience and determination allows him to save the day.
• Adaptation Name Change: He was Joe Leland in the book, as opposed to John McClane in the films.
• Adaptational Heroism: He's much more sympathetic than his book counterpart. He's not misogynistic the way Leland is, and McClane mostly kills only in self defense, while Leland executes captured Terrorists simply because he thinks they are about to try and lecture him on the righteousness of their cause. Karl's brother being killed is a deliberate choice by Leland in the book, while in the film it's more accidental due to him trying to overpower McClane. More importantly, McClane's actions save everyone on the roof, so it's clear McClane's involvement is a good thing and unambiguously heroic. In the book, it's never entirely clear if Leland's actions didn't end up making things worse.
• Age Lift: In the novel the main character is a retired police officer (and a WW2 veteran!) and it is his daughter who is working at the skyscraper, instead of a police officer in his thirties visiting his wife.
• Agony of the Feet: At the start of the first film, a veteran air traveller recommends John try stripping off his shoes and socks and clenching his toes in a carpet once he's on land again. John takes his advice and is delighted with the results, before, seconds later, gunfire kicks off the plot of the film and leaves him forced to deal with the whole crisis barefoot. Hans Gruber eventually takes note and leaves him stranded in a room full of broken glass with no option but to walk over it, mutilating one of his feet so badly he's forced to improvise a filthy bandage out of the remains of his tanktop.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: John may be willing to risk his own life, but he will try desperately to negotiate for the lives of others, whether that means police officers, or a hostage who has betrayed him, if he knows their lives are at risk. Unfortunately, Harry Ellis, the hostage in question, is too damn smug to realize his life is in danger due to the lie he told to sell John out, resulting in Ellis's death when John tells the truth in an attempt to beg for Ellis's life.
• The Alcoholic: In the third film a character comments that John McClane is two steps away from being a full-blown alcoholic. McClane corrects him by holding up a single finger and saying "One step."
• Ammunition Conservation: In the first movie, John uses the MP5 submachine gun, which he stole off of a hostage taker, sparingly, preferring to use the more ammunition-efficient semi-automatic Beretta 92 handgun. John only shoots as many bullets as is necessary to kill the hostage takers. Ultimately he ends up with two bullets for the two last hostage takers.^note In real life, the MP5 is not exclusively fully automatic, but selective-fire, and so with its stock and longer barrel allowing for greater accuracy, John likely would've been more accurate shooting the MP5 in semi-auto mode than shooting the Beretta.
• Anti-Hero: Downplayed. He drinks, smokes, curses, bloodily dispatches his enemies, causes wide scale property damage and neglects his married life. But John genuinely cares for the people around him and he'll do whatever he possibly can to save the lives of those in danger.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In the third film, when John talks to his stalker, Simon, on the phone, he mockingly asks Simon what he had arrested Simon for, before listing off offenses such as "purse-snatching", "shoplifting", and finishing with "cross-dressing", something he doesn't seem to take seriously at all.
• Arrested for Heroism: In the first movie, Deputy Chief Robinson intends to charge John with property damage and a few other things after John's interference, but is unable to follow through with the arrest when a surviving gunman pulls a gun. John is briefly taken into custody in the second movie when he is mistaken for an intruder in a restricted airport area after attempting to confront two mercenaries.
• Badass in Distress: In a variation, John initially attempts to notify the LAPD in an attempt to save the hostages since he considers himself to be physically outgunned and outmatched. Despite initially not wanting to be personally involved, John nonetheless manages to intervene in Hans's plot.
• Badass Unintentional: The essence of the character. What made the Die Hard series stand out over other action films, especially the ones from the 1980s, was that McClane is very vulnerable. Just watch his reactions with Hans, especially when he tries to convince Ellis to say they didn't know each other just to save Ellis' life in the first movie, or trying his best to signal the plane that Stuart was gonna crash. He could also barely fight when badly hurt, and had to rely on hiding and dirty tactics to overcome his enemies and stay alive.
• Bald Head of Toughness: Not by coincidence, by movie four he's out of hair and so resilient, the bad guys can beat him but never stop him.
• Being Good Sucks: Over the course of all five movies, his wife has divorced him, his daughter is distant from him, he's completely estranged from his son and when he tries to save him he ends up destroying a secret CIA mission that took three years to plan, and he simply finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time at all times. His fellow officers don't seem to care much for him, he's nearly an alcoholic, he's bitter, alone, and depressed, yet time after time, he continues to save the day simply because he's "that guy", as he puts it in his own words.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior: In the third film, emerges blood-spattered from shooting four mooks in an elevator. Zeus ask with concern, "You all right?" McClane replies, casually, "Yeah, yeah, it's not my blood."
• Bond One-Liner: When the gunman Marco mocks John for not taking the opportunity to shoot him, John proceeds to shoot Marco at the end of the table before dryly thanking him for the advice.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Present, but downplayed in the first film. He expresses confusion and frustration with digital technology, annoyance with LA's lack of traditional Christmas fare, and displays an almost-but-not-quite sexist attitude towards his wife following her career. He gets better by the second one (though he still gets confused by technology).
• Brooklyn Rage: John is a hardened NYPD Detective who goes toe to toe with several armed crooks on multiple occasions.
• Carpet of Virility: John gets to show off his hairy chest; at least in the first movie, with his a-shirt.
• Car Fu: In the fourth movie, he used a car to destroy a helicopter.
  McClane: I was out of bullets.
• Cassandra Truth: When John attempts to report the hostage situation, he is twice initially believed to be a prankster, with the police supervisor being dismissive of his claims until she hears gunshots, and even then, she only sends one cruiser. John also has to contend with skepticism from Deputy Chief Robinson, who is initially dismissive of John's information.
• Character Catchphrase: John says "Yipee-ki-yay, motherfucker!" once per film.
• The Chew Toy: On top of the amount of abuse he takes in each film, his life in general just sucks, with his own children eventually resenting him and his now ex-wife being all but a stranger.
• Chain Pain: John seemingly finishes Karl off by strangling him with a chain. Karl somehow survives, only to die at Powell's hands later.
• Chick Magnet: In the earlier films McClane has no problem attracting female attention. The airline rep from the second film is a great example.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Even if he doesn't like it, but in a world filled with terrorists, incompetent cops and innocent victims, someone has to be the hero.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: John has a tendency to smoke in order to steady his nerves, including when he has just dropped the corpse of a gunman on a police cruiser and has other gunmen searching for him.
• Combat Pragmatist: John is willing to resort to dirty tricks in combat. He's not above putting hairspray in your eyes, for example.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: At the start of the first film, John McClaine is a good cop deep down, trying to get Gruber's henchmen to put down their guns and surrender rather than shooting first and asking questions later even after realizing what sorts of people they are. When he and Tony roll down the stairs and the latter breaks his neck, it's an accident that clearly bothers John. By the end of the movie, he's outright taunting Karl about his brother squealing as he died during their mortal struggle and shoots up Hans and his last henchman without hesitation, to say nothing of the sequels.
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: Despite initially wanting to leave the rescuing to the LAPD, John nonetheless decides to intervene when it becomes clear that Hans has an advantage over the police.
• Cool Old Guy: From the fourth film onwards, John's advanced age does not make him any less of a formidable combatant.
• Cowardly Lion: In one specific instance in the original. It's established early in the film that he's scared of heights, so when he has to bungee jump off the roof to avoid getting blown up in the climax, it takes a lot of mental preparation for him to take the leap. He also has no issues hanging back and letting the police handle things, knowing how outmatched he is and only changing gears when he has to.
• Cowboy Cop: In the first film, the first mook he kills tells him that he won't hurt him because there are rules for cops. He states that his captain keeps telling him that and proceeds to Pistol Whip the mook. Hans comments on McClane's ruthlessness, and then the discussion turns to cowboys in movies, leading to the Catchphrase.
• Deadpan Snarker: John's sarcasm and sharp wit is a strong trait of his, at one point responding to a "John Wayne" comparison by sardonically stating his preference for musician Roy Rogers from a cowboy standpoint.
• Defective Detective: For John saving the day off duty as a police officer is much easier than saving a marriage.
• Dented Iron: Throughout the films, the injuries he takes leave him battered, bruised and bleeding, but still rather capable in taking out hostiles. This is particularly notable in the first film, especially since he's barefoot for the entirety of the hostage situation and at one point his enemies famously take advantage by shooting out all the glass in a room to force him to walk over it.
• Destructive Saviour: John often manages to save people's lives, but not without causing a lot of collateral damage, as demonstrated by Nakatomi Plaza's damage from John using explosives to neutralize a couple of gunmen, additionally covering several police personnel in shattered glass.
• Determinator: A Trope Codifier for the non-invincible action movie hero who has to Earn His Happy Ending. In the first film, he gets beat up, shot at, nearly blown up, jumps himself off a building and crashes through a glass window, his feet get lacerated, and he eventually gets shot in the shoulder. This does not stop him. The third film has him getting pistol-whipped, blown up, beaten, drowned, shot at, beaten, and blown up again. This makes him angry. In the fourth film, he is shot at, blown up, shot at some more, thrown out of a car, beaten up by a Dark Action Girl, dropped down an elevator shaft, frozen, beat up again, shot at by a jet fighter, shot, and then shoots himself. He doesn't give up at any point.
• Disappointed by the Motive: John is not amused when he finds out that Hans tried to decimate his hostages for the purpose of robbing the Nakatomi Vault.
• Establishing Character Moment: His Anti-Hero tendencies start to peek through as he's talking to the doctor on the flight to LA. The same scene also shows he is a nervous flyer, establishing that he is a far more grounded and relatable than the typical effortlessly brave and tough action heroes of the era. He gets a second one shortly after where he rides up front with Argyle, showing his everyman side and affability.
• The Everyman: John is just an average New York police officer, flown into Los Angeles to see his estranged wife Holly - then Hans and his gang attack, leaving John the only one in a position to stop them.
• Experienced Protagonist: John is a seasoned New York cop, and the protagonist of the series. When he's first introduced, he states that he's already been a cop for eleven years.
• Genius Bruiser: John is an excellent detective and extremely good at thinking on his feet, and a devil in a fight.
• Good Is Not Soft: John's actions throughout the series are well-intentioned and heroic, but he's a brutal fighter and a Combat Pragmatist par excellence.
• Grumpy Old Man: As of the fourth movie, John has gotten a lot more agitated with age, partially because of his estrangement from his family.
• Guile Hero:
  • His ability to think on his feet, adapt to his environment, and play mindgames with his opponents is what allows him to come out on top.
  • In the book, hero Leland is even more so. For example, he sends down the corpse with the message "Now we have a machine gun" to make Gruber think there's more than one enemy.
• Heartbroken Badass: John still loves Holly, even if they are not married anymore. It becomes a factor in With a Vengeance where he wants to get back with his wife, only for work to get in the way.
• The Hero: Despite being an Anti-Hero, a major part of McClane's character is that he's less interested in defeating his opponents than protecting innocent people and preventing major disasters. In the first film, he repeatedly gives his opponents chances to surrender, and wants the LAPD to take over and find a solution to the conflict that won't end with a pile of bodies. He only takes action when there are no other options.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: For all his successes in overcoming hostile situations, John considers heroism to be overrated compared to a stable family life, only saving people's lives because he thinks it's the right thing to do.
• Honor Before Reason: He'll often turn down bribes and blackmail, saving the day instead. When Simon Gruber attempts to offer him a portion of the loot from the Federal Reserve Heist, John flatly and vulgarly refuses.
• Hypocritical Humor: To an extent, he smokes, but tells other people that smoking is bad for you in a mocking way.
• Iconic Outfit: Much of the merchandising and promotional artwork has John in a tank-top, or "singlet", and he wears one at least once per film. Even in Die Hard 2, in the snow, he ends up just wearing a singlet under his parka.
• Implied Death Threat: In response to Marvin claiming that he wants $20 for the transmitter, McClane says that he'll "let [Marvin] live", with Marvin making a wisecrack about McClane's bargaining skills.
• Improbable Weapon User: Down to his Combat Pragmatist tendencies, he'll use plenty of Improvised Weapons to get the upper hand, including chairs, computer monitors, rolls of wrapping tape, fire extinguishers, hairspray, cars, chains and whatever else comes to hand.
• Indy Ploy: Most of his "plans" involve improvisation, whether that means pulling a fire alarm, radioing a police station, or dropping a gunman's corpse onto a police cruiser so that Sgt. Powell will call for backup.
• I Shall Taunt You: John taunts his opponents in an effort to catch them off guard, such as when he uses the radio to contact Hans after neutralizing two gunmen, or when he rubs Tony's death in Karl's face in an attempt to make him lose composure and make a tactical misstep.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: Hans initially views John as a nuisance before eventually trying to have him killed for his interference, while his second in command, Karl, has a vendetta towards John due to John's (accidental) slaying of Tony, Karl's younger brother.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's grumpy, potentially rude (though one must usually set him off - just ask the somewhat intrusive news lady in the second film or the dude trying to date his daughter later on), and has difficulty expressing his feelings, but he is a good man with his heart in the right place.
• Knight in Sour Armor: John may be tired and world weary, but what matters is that he still cares about doing what he thinks is right. He even gives a trope-defining little speech in the fourth movie, which somewhat calls back to how some possible allies have definitely not shown him proper respect despite what he's been out to do:
  John McClane: You know what you get for being a hero? Nothin'. You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah, blah, blah, attaboy. You get divorced. Your wife can't remember your last name. Your kids don't want to talk to you. You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me, kid, nobody wants to be that guy.
  Matt Farrell: Then why you doing this?
  John McClane: Because there's nobody else to do it right now, that's why. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I'd let them do it, but there's not. So we're doing it.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: John is a grade-A Determinator, but he's not reckless. If he's in a situation where he knows he's outmatched or outgunned, he'll retreat long enough to figure out a better attack plan.
• Love Cannot Overcome: John and Holly clearly care about each other, but their marriage is already strained in the first movie. While Die Hard ends with them back together, ultimately their relationship can't survive John's Chronic Hero Syndrome and the problems that separated them to begin with. They're officially separated by movie three and divorced by movie four, adding to John's Knight in Sour Armor bitterness.
• MacGyvering: His ability to create makeshift gadgets to save the day would make Angus MacGuyver himself proud, notably using a computer monitor, office chair, and C4 to eliminate a pair of gunmen.
• Made of Iron: John is resilient despite the many injuries he endures. In the fourth film, he keeps taking enough damage to apparently kill a man three or four times, yet he still wipes out an entire assault squad occupying a building, destroys a chopper with a police cruiser and a ramp, kills Mai Linh with a Ford Explorer and an elevator pit, takes out a fighter plane with a big truck and an elevated highway, and shoots himself in the shoulder to kill Thomas Gabriel, who was holding a gun against him. Subsequently, all he needs to get patched up after all this is a calm ride in the ambulance.
• Manipulative Bastard: John shows shades of deviousness throughout the series, notably putting the gunman Tony's body on display to intimidate the other gunmen, and later dropping the corpse of another gunman, Marco, onto Sgt. Powell's cruiser in order to motivate the latter to call for backup.
• Manly Tears: John cries as he fails to save a plane full of innocents from being murdered in Die Harder.
• Mistaken for Terrorist: When John is firing in the air to scare the hostages away from the roof, FBI agents Johnson and Johnson believe him to be one of the gunmen, and shoot at him accordingly, to his frustration.
  John: I'm on YOUR side, you assholes!
• Mocking the Mourner: When Karl confronts John over the latter killing his brother, Tony, John —in a rare heroic example— tells Karl that he should have heard his brother squeal when he broke his neck. This is an attempt to make Karl lose composure so John can deal with him in combat.
• Motivational Lie: Cleverly uses one to get Zeus to help him in the 3rd movie by saying that one of Simon's bomb explosions happened in Harlem. Zeus, concerned and pissed about his neighbourhood getting hit, accepts to help.
• Mr. Fanservice: John spends 60% of the first movie in a tank top before ditching it for the last 20%, much to the delight of the audience.
• Mutilation Conga: It seems like each movie is just an excuse to put McClane through one of these. In the first movie alone, he gets beaten up, falls down a flight of stairs, runs over broken glass barefoot, gets beaten up again, is shot in the shoulder, jumps off a roof with a firehose tied around his waist, crashes through a window, almost gets dragged back out of the window by the fire hose, and jumps into a water fountain to avoid an exploding helicopter. He's fine by the next Christmas.
• Obfuscating Insanity: He has to fake this in the third film when Simon makes him wear a billboard insulting Afro-Americans while in his underwear. Zeus saves him by claiming his insanity, and he runs with it. And in general, McClane has his moments where he appears "unhinged". He does this for various reasons, either to fool and confuse his enemies, or to cope with the crap he has to go through.
• Officer O'Hara: It's downplayed, but John McClane is an Irish flatfoot. In the first movie, when he finds the bombs Hans had Uli set up on the roof, his shocked Oh, Crap! is "Jesus. Mary, mother of God.".
• One-Man Army: Done very well in the first film, where he compensates for being outnumbered and outgunned by using hit-and-run tactics, psychological warfare, and crafty thinking to save the day. Notably, when he is present at Joe Takagi's death, he doesn't take the opportunity to charge in like a regular Action Hero because he notes that if he did so, he'd be dead too. It's played much straighter in the other films, however.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Has a foot sliced wide open enough to leave a trail of blood by broken glass in the first film, and is still able to run and win fistfights with just a mild limp. He's shot in the shoulder blade not long after, and is fine in the next shot.
• The Only One:
  • In the first movie, he's in the building seeing everything up-close, so he is able to respond to the criminals effectively. However, the authorities have their playbook and go through it step-by-step — despite it becoming increasingly obvious that the criminals have read that playbook and either respond with a specific countermeasure or integrate it into their plans.
  • In Die Hard 2, the terrorists are renegade U.S. troops, the military troops sent to take out the terrorists are in cahoots with them, and for most of the movie the airport security guards actively oppose McClane's heroic efforts.
  • From Live Free or Die Hard:
  Farrell: Then why are you doing this?
  McClane: Because there's nobody else to do it right now, that's why. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I'd let them do it. But there's not, so we're doing it.
  Farrell: Ah. That's what makes you that guy.
• Papa Wolf: Despite his strained relationship with both his children, he would go to great lengths to save them.
• Perma-Stubble: John has a noticable 5 O' Clock Shadow in the third movie, because he was pulled out of bed while still hungover from a night of hard drinking. He remains unshaven in the 4th movie as well (he was up all night borderline stalking his daughter, and then had to go all the way from NYC to DC).
• Pragmatic Hero: John is willing to resort to underhanded measures to save lives, such as dropping a corpse on a police cruiser windshield, or lying to a civilian about where a bomb was found to enlist his help.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: When John is told by gunman Tony that "Policemen have rules,", John proceeds to remark "That's what my captain keeps telling me," before engaging Tony in combat.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: John has made a smart-ass remark before assassinating his enemies on more than one occasion, notably wishing Hans Gruber a "happy trails" after shooting him out the window.
• Prohibited Hero Saves the Day: Despite initially attempting to remain uninvolved as instructed when the LAPD attempt to enter Nakatomi, John ends up intervening when Hans has heavy weaponry fired on the police personnel.
• Right Man in the Wrong Place: He was just there for a party and turned out to be the guy made to seriously derail a perfectly good plan.
• Samaritan Syndrome: John feels remorseful over the people he can't save, even if, like Harry Ellis, they betray him.
• Save the Jerk: Despite Harry Ellis betraying John to save his own skin, John attempts to convince Ellis to save himself by admitting he doesn't know John. Hans kills Ellis regardless, much to John's frustration.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!:
  Simon: John. In the back of the truck you are driving, there is $13 billion worth in gold bullion. I wonder if a deal would be out of the question?
  John: Yeah, I got a deal for you: Crawl out from under that rock you hiding under and I'll drive this truck up your ass.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Despite the fact that John does not want to be involved in the hostage situations, John nonetheless intervenes despite the objections of Deputy Chief Robinson in order to mitigate civilian and police casualties, consequences be damned.
• Self-Deprecation: Many of his stings. Sometimes, as he's talking to himself, though he's rarely that harsh with himself. ("Oh, John. What the fuck are you doing?")
• Sherlock Scan: He is able to deduce quite a bit about the Mooks inside the office just by picking up on subtle clues in their attire and actions.
• Shirtless Scene: After being forced to run across broken glass in bare feet, he uses his wifebeater to improvise bandages and spends the last act of the movie shirtless.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Outside of his catchphrase, he spends a lot of time cursing, blaspheming, and insulting people. Oddly enough, it seems to be a Justified Trope - he's only vulgar during high stress crisis situations, and seems reasonably soft spoken when off duty.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: His Iconic Outfit is a singlet (aka wife-beater aka A-shirt) and slacks. Shoes are optional.
• Smoking Is Cool: He smokes a pack by himself in the first film, which takes place over the course of a few hours. He's also a grade-A badass. They also help him deal with being scared shitless.
• The Snark Knight: John makes sarcastic quips at the expense of almost everyone he meets, himself included.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Whenever John meets someone who is snarkier then he is, there's bound to be an exchange of sarcasm. Much of Hans and John's exchanges involve heavy sarcasm, with Hans notably calling John "Mr. Cowboy" and John responding with "Yippee Ki Yay, Motherfucker".
• Spanner in the Works: If you are a bad guy planning something bad and he's anywhere close, John McClane will stop you.
• Stepford Snarker: On the exterior, John is sarcastic. On the interior, he's weary and frustrated, as well as a nervous wreck.
• Supporting Protagonist: John is less prominent of a character in A Good Day to Die Hard, as the movie seems to focus more on Jack and his mission to bring down Chagarin and later Komarov.
• Taught by Experience: All There in the Manual with regard to his hand to hand combat skills. A throwaway stage direction in his fight against Karl describes McClane as bringing "everything from the street."
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He's grumpier in the fourth movie, somewhat forced to punch a civillian to aprehend his vehicle, but still a good man underneath. Justified because he was very alienated from loved ones during the time, so it might have been somewhat understandable.
• Tranquil Fury: John is understandably irate to discover that Hans attempted mass murder in order to cover up a robbery, but as fuming as he is, his reaction is relatively subdued and somewhat sarcastic.
• Troll: He tends to taunt his enemies in some creative ways. Most notably in the first film, he sends the corpse of the first Mook he kills down the elevator with a message written on his jumper indicating that he now has his weapon. He doesn't just do this for shits and giggles, though. He's hiding on top of the elevator listening in and taking notes. Later on, Holly sees Karl fly into a rage and notes that only John can make someone that mad.
  John McClane: You should've heard your brother squeal when I broke his fucking neck!
• Unskilled, but Strong: Downplayed in the first three films and Played Straight in the later films. John clearly lacks any formal training in hand-to-hand, but almost every up close fight he has with the villains shows that he puts all his power into his punches, and his ability to tank insane amounts of damage make him much more dangerous than most fighters. The fact that he has no issue whatsoever doing whatever he can to gain an advantage and is smart enough to often figure out how to turn a fight to his advantage also help.
• Villain Killer: He always finds himself going mostly solo against armed and organized baddies. In the first film, a baddie taunts John that he should always exploit a chance to kill a mortal adversary; John took that advice to heart and forthwith subtracted baddies without mercy.
• Weapon Specialization: His use of the Beretta 92 (specifically, the 92FS variant) in the first three films is one of cinema's most iconic appearances of the gun until he loses it at the end of the third film.
• We Do the Impossible: Never mind anything else this overworked NYPD cop does, he takes out a helicopter with a police car. He's just a mook that always ends up in the wrong place at the right time, or as they say in Live Free or Die Hard, "That's what makes you That Guy." He's never the first guy anyone goes to in an out-of-control terrorist crisis in the films, doesn't get any accolades, and it is in fact suggested in the 4th film that his police department and many other law enforcement agencies consider his actions to be a fluke or an embarrassment. Somehow however, he always ends up being right in the middle of the terrorist plots he thwarts.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's rather terrified of heights and flying. In fact, the entire reason he was shoeless most of the film was on the advice of a fellow plane passenger he took off his shoes, and walked around for a few minutes with toes clenched to get over the anxiety from his cross country plane trip.
• Working-Class Hero: The ultimate everyman, he learned everything he knew from on the job honest policing in the NYPD. Then becomes a generic Super Cop in Live Free or Die Hard.
• Would Hit a Girl: John has no compunctions taking on female combatants, whether he ends up using his fists, a computer monitor, or a car.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: John is excellent at thinking on his feet, as shown when he drops a gunman's corpse on Sgt. Al Powell's cruiser to spook the latter into calling for backup rather than let him walk away without doing anything.

Holly

Holly Gennero/McClane

Played By: Bonnie Bedelia ^{Foreign VAs}Anne Deleuze (French)

Appearances: Die Hard | Die Hard 2

John McClane's estranged wife. A hard working businesswoman who cares deeply for John and her children despite the separation.

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• '80s Hair: Got a typical 80s perm.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the novel the first film is based on, Holly is an unpleasant person who cheats on her husband with Ellis, has a cocaine habit and helped fund a hostile military takeover in Chile, killing hundreds of innocents. She's nowhere near as awful in the movies, trying to help John through what means available.
• The Cameo:
  • She has a couple lines of dialogue (yelling at John over the phone after he doesn't answer) in Die Hard with a Vengeance, played by an uncredited actress.
  • Her picture (via driver's license) is seen in the fourth film, which also confirms that she and John divorced two years after the events of the third film.
• Damsel out of Distress:
  • While she can't join the fight with her husband, she is the one person who is able to reliably get a rise out of Hans Gruber repeatedly in hopes of making him careless. Furthermore, she is able to negotiate with him on behalf of her coworkers and does everything she can to hide her relationship with John for as long as she can to avoid complicating his fight with Gruber's gang.
  • In Die Hard 2, she is the only one able to shut Thornberg up when he is recklessly creating a panic with his news story.
• Deadpan Snarker: Just like her husband, Holly has a smart mouth. It must run in the family.
• Defiant Captive: While she is held hostage like her co-workers, she doesn't hesitate to confront Hans and insult him when she needs to help one of her co-workers, or hopefully anger him enough to make a rash mistake John can exploit. Even when Hans finds out she is married to John, and she finds herself in real danger, she doesn't hesitate to insult him.
• High-Powered Career Woman: Holly is an executive at Nakatomi Corporation, and her husband is a police officer, which causes a bit of strife between them due to Holly's work taking her to Los Angeles, and John's work keeping him in New York.
• Love Cannot Overcome: John and Holly clearly care about each other, but their marriage is already strained in the first movie. While Die Hard ends with them back together, ultimately their relationship can't survive John's Chronic Hero Syndrome. Before the third film, Holly leaves John, and by the fourth, it's confirmed (in a Freeze-Frame Bonus) that they've long since divorced.
• Married to the Job: Moved to the west coast for the sake of her career while John stayed in New York.
• Meaningful Name: The film takes place around Christmas and her name is Holly.
• Showing Up Chauvinists: Holly is implied to be a far more capable executive than her co-worker, the chauvinistic Harry Ellis.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Her counterpart in Nothing Lasts Forever goes out the window with Gruber, but John saves her in time in the first film.
• You Are in Command Now: She winds up being the hostage negotiating with the terrorists after Takagi is killed.
  Holly: I have a request.
  Hans: What idiot put you in charge?
  Holly: You did. When you murdered my boss. Now everybody's looking to me. Personally, I'd pass on the job. I don't enjoy being this close to you.

Lucy

Lucy Gennero/McClane

Played By: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Taylor Fry (first film) ^{Foreign VAs}Alexandra Garijo (French)

Appearances: Die Hard | Live Free or Die Hard | A Good Day to Die Hard

The daughter of John and Holly McClane.

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• Ascended Extra: Small role in the first Die Hard, turns out to have a major one in the fourth one.
• Defiant Captive: While Gabriel still kidnaps her, Lucy isn't about to get all upset about it.
  Lucy: (over the phone as Gabriel's forcing her to beg for her life): Daddy? There's only five of them now.
• Demoted to Extra: In the fifth film, where her brother was the one that was taking stage. She only appears taking John to the airport, talking to him on the phone in the extended cut, and picking both of the McClanes from the airport.
• Fiery Redhead: Red hair and a defiant, headstrong and snarky personality.
• Like Parent, Like Child: Defiant, headstrong, snarky and very able to put a useful fight against her captors like her father.
  Matt: Wow, I know that tone. It's just weird hearing it come from someone with... hair.
• Rescue Romance: At the end, it looks like Lucy and Matt are flirting hard with each other. This causes Lucy's dad even more pain than anything Gabriel inflicted on him...

Jack

John "Jack" McClane Jr.

Played By: Jai Courtney, Noah Land (first film) ^{Foreign VAs}Damien Ferrette (French)

Appearances: Die Hard | A Good Day to Die Hard

The son of John and Holly McClane.

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• Action Duo: Jack and his dad both engage in combat alongside each other.
• Ascended Extra: Like his sister before him, small role in the first movie and gets to hang with his father in the fifth movie, taking down terrorists with him.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Considering he goes by "Jack" instead of "John Jr.", he calls his dad "John" and they were estranged for so long that John had no idea where his son even was before learning he was in Russia, let alone being a CIA agent.
• The Chessmaster: Compared to his father, Jack's plan took three whole years to set up and he presumably accounted for everything... except his dad.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Jack wanted to be arrested so he could infiltrate The Mafiya/terrorists/Mafiya-terrorists and then his estranged dad suddenly appears to rescues him with a hugely destructive three-way car chase (John (small truck) vs. Jack (large truck) vs. Mafiya (giant armored truck)).
• Deadpan Snarker: Gets it from his dad.
  John: Need a hug?
  Jack: We're not really a hugging family.
  John: Damn straight.
• Foil: The HBO making-of seems to indicate that he is — or wants to be — The Chessmaster to John's Indy Ploy master since he's a CIA agent who deliberately puts himself in dangerous situations, is described as "by-the-book", and his secret mission took three years to set up.
• Like Father, Like Son: It's pretty clear he's just as badass as his dad.
  Jack: Someone's gotta stop him.
  John: Atta boy.

Recurring Characters

Powell

Sgt. Al Powell

"I hear ya, partner. LA's finest are on it, so light 'em if you got 'em."

Played By: Reginald VelJohnson ^{Foreign VAs}Roger Lumont (French)

Appearances: Die Hard | Die Hard 2

A Los Angeles beat cop who becomes John McClane's only ally outside the building in the original Die Hard. He reprises the role for the second film for a short appearance.

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• Accidental Child-Killer Backstory: Powell shot a kid one night. The kid was holding a toy gun, Powell thought it was real. Until John showed up and needed his help, Powell was a desk jokey pushing papers.
• The Atoner: Powell shot a 13-year-old kid who was holding a realistic-looking toy gun. The guilt he feels over the incident causes him to believe that he'll never again be able to pull his gun on somebody. Thankfully, he proves himself wrong by drawing his gun and killing Karl, who attempts to kill McClane at the very end of the first film.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: He has no stomach for using his sidearm in the first film, thanks to shooting a young boy with a toy gun. In the end, he ends up shooting Karl before he can take out John.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Powell is never seen or mentioned again after the second film.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His introduction makes him seem rather buffoonish and lazy; buying a store out of its Twinkie supply and giving up on investigating Nakatomi Plaza for disturbances after realizing how many floors he would have to check, but the remainder of the film shows him to be genuinely competent and reliable, to the point of being the Only Sane Man of the law enforcement outside of the building.
• Deadpan Snarker: He gives his superior a hard time during the Nakatomi crisis due to Robinson's general incompetence. The best line was an ad lib when Robinson is trying to look professional for the FBI agents that arrived on the scene.
  Powell: Need a breath mint?
  [Robinson gives him a Death Glare]
• Demoted to Extra: Major character in the first film, gets all of one scene in the second, then is never seen again.
• Desk Jockey:
  • McClane and Powell have a conversation that jokingly derides desk jockey cops, up until Powell reveals why he's now a desk jockey instead of patrolling the streets. This is because Powell made the horrible mistake of shooting a kid with a fake gun. He still proves he can get the job done when Karl comes back from the dead for one last shot at McClane.
  • The second movie then shows that he's still in the desk job. Of course, it's better paying and safer than a beat cop job.
• Doesn't Like Guns: He states that the reason why he can't use a gun anymore is because he accidentally shot a kid who was using a toy gun. Later, when Karl begins to attack McClane at the end, Al pulls out his gun and guns down Karl.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: In his first scene, he's buying twinkies, for a change, by the dozen. The clerk remarks on it, and Powell claims they're for his pregnant wife.
• Establishing Character Moment: Just before he's assigned to investigate the Nakatomi, you can tell he's a good guy because even though a checkout clerk makes Donut Mess with a Cop jokes to tease him, Powell reacts like it's Actually Pretty Funny and drops some change into the tip jar.
• Hidden Depths: Despite "only" being a desk jockey, Powell is remarkably insightful and clear-headed. He identifies McClane is a cop just by the language he uses, and repeatedly points out how misguided and arrogant his law enforcement superiors are. And as the ending proves, when it's crunch time, he is definitely capable of gunning down a bad guy, despite doubting he'd ever be able to draw his gun again.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Becomes this to an increasingly exhausted McClane in the second half of the film. Being on the ground away from the action, there's not much he can do other than offer emotional support.
• Mission Control: Of a sort. He gives McClane updates on what the police and FBI are up to on the ground, allowing McClane to plan his moves accordingly.
• My Greatest Failure: He cannot forgive himself for shooting a kid with a plastic gun. He averts this when he fires on Karl to save John at the end of the film in My Greatest Second Chance.
• Only Sane Man: He's the only LAPD cop who realizes what's happening.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: Unlike John, Al carries a Smith & Wesson 15 revolver.
• Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: Provides the page quote. He shot a 13-year-old who had a toy ray gun in the dark, which got him relegated to desk duty.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He loves eating Twinkies.
• Underestimating Badassery: Everyone but McClane seems to think of him as a mere desk-jockey, but he manages to kill Karl, the second gunman in command.

Thornberg

Richard 'Dick' Thornberg

Played By: William Atherton ^{Foreign VAs} Bernard Woringer

Appearances: Die Hard | Die Hard 2

A sleazy and ambitious reporter that hounds the McClane family in the first two movies.

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• Actor Allusion: His name is Richard Thornberg and is referred to as "Dick". His actor William Atherton played Walter Peck in Ghostbusters who was referred to as "dickless".
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Last seen lying in the snow on a Dulles runway unable to stand after being tazed during the finale of the second movie. Hasn't made an appearance in any of the following movies since.
• Determinator: He's at least determined in getting news stories on the air, even though he's completely relentless and unethical about it.
• A Dick in Name: He spends the entire first movie trying to get a scoop and endangering John and Holly in the process (not to mention doing so by threatening their children's nanny with deportation in order to get a televised interview with them).
• Dirty Coward: Revealed to be willing to sell others out to save his own skin in the second film. Holly is not surprised.
• Entitled Bastard: He expects special treatment on a plane after doing a news story on the declining quality of airline service.
• Evil Redhead: Downplayed. He isn't the villain but his actions in both films, especially the second goes from just unethical to outright malicious.
• Face Death with Dignity: Averted. He was crying as the plane he was residing in with Mrs. McClane was preparing to crash land since they had no more fuel left in their tanks. (Notably, he was the only one shown crying.)
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Though "friend" is being generous, as most of his own colleagues clearly can't stand him.
• Hate Sink: He ends up exposing who Holly really is by threatening the McClane housekeeper with deportation and terrorizes their kids all for the sake of a story. Possibly the greatest comeuppance example: he gets punched by Holly at the end. He even gets zapped with a stun gun by Holly in Die Hard 2 after revealing on international TV that the airport has been hijacked, thereby causing a panic that the authorities were desperately trying to avoid.
• Immoral Journalist: In Die Hard, he threatens to have the family nanny deported if she doesn't let him interview Holly and John McClane's children. The resultant interview outs Holly as John's wife to the terrorists, leading to potentially fatal consequences. And in Die Hard 2, he goes Large Ham on a live broadcast that terrorists have seized control of Dulles Airport. In reality, the terrorists have simply hacked into the runway wiring, leaving them unlit. This news triggers a panic stampede in the terminal itself.
• It's All About Me:
  • He's smug reporter whose own fame and glory matter more than the safety of others. In the first movie, he reveals her relationship to John on TV, and thus to Hans by forcing his way into Holly's house, blackmailing her maid, and putting her children in the spotlight.
  • In the second movie, he expects special treatment on the plane, and when learns of the terrorists plot, he reveals it to the airport and embellishes the extent of the danger, causing a panic at the airport that impedes John and airport security from taking down the rogue soldiers.
• Jerkass: Is obsessed with his job, insults his co-workers, is generally rude and callous towards people, and doesn't care if his actions cause harm or get other people in trouble.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In trying to get into the McClane house to interview their children (already scummy enough, given both parents are in the middle of a hostage situation), he goes so far as to threaten Holly's housekeeper with deportation if she doesn't let him in. But he does also mention that this is the last opportunity the children will have to speak to their parents; he's ultimately wrong and not doing so from a place of genuine concern, but it's a quite reasonable assumption to make in the moment. He's also not wrong in the sequel when he says that putting Holly near him is in violation of his restraining order.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • He endangered Holly by inadvertently revealing her relation to John on television, resulting in her being taken hostage. When he requests a live interview, she appropriately punches him in the face.
  • In the second film, he acts like a smarmy ass on the plane, and later causes a panic at the airport by revealing and embellishing the terrorist plot impeding John from taking down the terrorists, and possibly injuring hundreds. Holly (probably still sore from getting her kidnapped) tases him.
• Meaningful Name: He really is a dick.
• Slime Ball: He is deliberately portrayed as a total sleazeball. He seems to have no moral or ethical compass, breaking many ethical journalism guidelines such as the hacking of John's files, forcing his way into their family home, and broadcasting their children without consent. In fact, his Editor doesn't even seem to like him.
• Smug Snake: He's a self-absorbed, ruthless and arrogant opportunist who takes advantage of others for his own benefit.
• Strawman News Media: He's a parody of over-the-top news reporters that hound people for dramatic news stories without regards of privacy, ethics or safety.
• The Tooth Hurts: In the second film, Holly reveals that punch in the last film knocked out two teeth.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His entire purpose in both films he appears in is to unintentionally cause trouble. In the first film, he makes the villains aware that the woman they've negotiated with is John's wife, thus getting a key hostage. In the second film he causes a massive panic in the airport, most likely injuring and possibly killing many people, as well as hampering John's efforts against the terrorists.

Die Hard (terrorists)

Hans

Hans Gruber

"I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. McClane. And since I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite."

”And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.”

Played By: Alan Rickman

Dubbed in French By: Pascal Renwick

Dubbed in Korean By: Seongho Shin

A self-described "classically educated professional" criminal, Hans Gruber was originally an anarchist, serving in the radical Volksfrei (People's Freedom) group throughout The '70s - while there he learned how to successfully anticipate certain attacks and defenses and find ways of counteracting them. He eventually became disillusioned with anarchy and radicalism, becoming more interested in securing a big payday. He masterminds a heist of the Nakatomi Tower, using a terrorist pretense based on his former political sympathies to divert the authorities from his real agenda.

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• Actually, I Am Him: Subverted. When he encounters John in person for the first time, he fakes being an escaped hostage, but when he reveals his true identity, John reveals he had seen through the disguise and gave Hans an unloaded gun.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Although part of it is acting, he can't help but break into a "are you kidding me?" laughing fit when McClane tells him he's literally just a cop from New York who ended up at the party by accident.
• Adaptation Name Change: The lead terrorist in Nothing Lasts Forever, the source material for the first film, is named Anton "Red Tony" Grueber. Here, he's named Hans Gruber.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He pretends to be one of the American employees believing John to be one of the terrorists, who begs for his life when confronted by John in the boiler room under the roof.
• AM/FM Characterization: He hums Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at one point.
• Ax-Crazy: Downplayed, but definitely there. Hans isn't joking around when he makes demands, he will kill you if you don't do as he asks.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Very well dressed. He even identifies Takagi's suit as (the fictional) John Phillips, London (presumably a bespoke tailor). He's also willing to get his hands dirty and shoot alongside his men.
• Bad Boss: Brushes off Kristoff's warning that Karl is still on the roof when he blows it up.
• Bait the Dog: He initially comes off as genuinely Affably Evil and having a few scruples, even allowing a couch to be moved to the lobby so a pregnant woman can sit on it. Then it turns out the critical part of his plan is to kill all of the hostages in one fell swoop. Though even this may have just been Pragmatic Villainy considering calm hostages are easier to control.
• Batman Gambit: His plan is completely dependent on the FBI cutting electrical power (per standard procedure), which disables the magnetic lock on the Nakatomi Plaza vault. The plan falls apart, however, thanks to a barefoot New York cop who just happened to be visiting his wife.
• Beard of Evil: Has a neatly trimmed beard and is ranked as the 46th greatest film villain of all time by the AFI.
• Berserk Button: Holly gets a rise out of him by pointing out that for all his posturing and delusions of grandeur, all he's doing is stealing, or rather trying to steal, some money.
• Breakout Villain: Hans Gruber would become one of the most iconic villains of all time and become the Trope Codifier for intelligent action movie villains, which many subsequent villains would take inspiration from, and serve as a invokedStar-Making Role for Alan Rickman. While the character himself couldn't return due to being dropped out of a skyscraper window while on his last job, they did manage to bring in his brother Simon Gruber for the third film who ended up being a worthy replacement.
• Big Bad: As the leader of the thieves and the one who spends the most time in contact with McClane, he is the main villain of the first film.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: He only slips into this at the very end, once everything has gone to hell and his plan has been foiled.
• Brief Accent Imitation: Alan Rickman put on such a convincing American accent, that John McTiernan decided to extend the scene where he pretends to be a hostage in order to show it off. Given a Call-Back in the third film when his brother (played by fellow Brit Jeremy Irons) puts on a heavy Texas accent.
• Card-Carrying Villain: The first time he's given a Boring Insult ("you're nothing but a thief") by Holly, Hans puts a gun to her head and amends it with "I am an exceptional thief, and seeing that I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite!"
• The Chessmaster: He set a new standard for intelligent mastermind villains when the film first came out. He planned for just about everything, and almost anything that could have been considered a problem was just factored into the overall plan, such as the FBI responding to a terrorist attack instead of a robbery. John McClane was pretty much the only thing he hadn't planned on.
• Cold Ham: Hans is pure Alan Rickman on the stage, on his film debut. Most of his dialogue is bombastically understated, with plenty of his lines towards hostages, allies, and antagonists being delivered like theatrical recitations directed towards an audience he'd expect to thrill, seduce, or intimidate with his ostensible culture, wit, and menacing gravitas.
  Hans: I wanted this to be professional. Efficient, adult, cooperative, not a lot to ask. Alas, your Mr. Takagi did not see it that way, so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life.
• Combat Pragmatist: During his shootout with John on the 33rd floor, Hans remembers that John doesn't have shoes and subsequently seizes the opportunity to injure him when he and Karl shoot out all the glass panes and force John to flee, injuring himself further by cutting up his feet and leaving the detonator bag behind. Now Hans can continue with the rest of his plan.
• Counting to Three: He likes this trope. First, he uses the count-up on Takagi. When the latter doesn't give him the access code on three, he gets a headshot. Later, Gruber does the counting on John, but this time. his weapon wasn't loaded.
  Hans: I'm going to count to three. There will not be a four.
• Cultured Badass:
  • Plays this up, comparing himself with Alexander the Great, after taking over the Nakatomi Building.
    Hans: And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer... The benefits of a classical education.
  • Humorously, he is misquoting Plutarch's "Alexander of Macedon, who, upon hearing that there were other worlds, wept that he had not yet conquered one", which is more accurate to his posturing.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Emphasis on deadpan. It comes with the territory.
    Hans: Alas, your Mr. Takagi did not see it that way... so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life.
  • He's also snarky with Theo; when Theo says that it would take a miracle to take out the electromagnetic lock, Hans replies "It's Christmas, Theo, it's the time for miracles."
• Deuteragonist: Almost qualifies as a Villain Protagonist since the audience spends almost as much time with him as with McClane and his heist is the driving force of the film. invokedWriter Steven de Souza confirmed that Hans is the protagonist of the story.
• Diabolical Mastermind: Planned the (almost) perfect heist.
• Didn't See That Coming: He planned for and/or anticipated everything...except a New York cop showing up to see his estranged wife. Even with that Spanner in the Works, however, he manages to roll with the events and adapt on the fly to the point several times he outwits or counters McClane's attempts to stop him with the plan only really coming undone when John managed to force the hostages off the roof to avoid the explosion, and even that wouldn't have been a problem if Karl had just shot him when he had the chance rather than take his time with revenge.
• Disney Villain Death: Attempts to drag Holly down with him by grabbing her watch after he is shot, but McClane unclasps it, and Hans plummets to his death.
• Dissonant Serenity: He's always seen in a calm and composed mood even after murdering someone.
• Early Personality Signs: Hans cites his interest in making models as a boy to his meticulous style as an adult.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • He establishes the suave Chessmaster type of criminal he is when he's directing his goons to prep before taking the Nakatomi Christmas Party hostage. And then, after they burst in and spray the place with bullets, he gently chides the screaming, terrified, hostages to please, please be quiet, and allow him to speak.
  • He shows his refined taste when he compliments Takagi's suit.
  • He actually gets a few in quick succession. After his moment with the hostages at the party and complimenting Tagaki's suit in the elevator, he sees a scale model of Nakatomi Plaza and misquotes that when "Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer" (showing his ego) before nerding out over another model and commenting that he loved making models as a boy for "the exactness, attention to every conceivable detail" (showing that he's a meticulous planner). It shows that Hans is undeniably very smart but not quite as much as he thinks of himself as being.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Downplayed but he has a quiet distaste for Theo's Insufferable Genius demeanour.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: Downplayed. He and his brother Simon didn't actually like each other, but Simon still tries to avenge him since "there's a difference between not liking your brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot knocks him out a window."
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: The main provider of Black Comedy in the film. At times, one gets the impression that Hans enjoys showing off his own witticism even more than running away from the heist very rich.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Rickman's bass voice is put to great use.
• Facial Dialogue: Beautifully expresses a great deal of disgust and contempt without words.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: He pulls some cool eyebrow raises. After all, Alan Rickman IS Mr. Eyebrow.
• Faux Affably Evil: As a side effect of being played by Alan Rickman, Hans is as horrifically charismatic as he is intelligent. To this end, Hans plays up a sophisticated image, and displays a façade of politeness towards the hostages. However, if he doesn't get his way, he feels no revulsion towards killing those in his way without batting an eye. He's rather blasé about killing Takagi and Ellis, and he's rather angered when Holly calls him a "common thief."
  Hans (almost snarling): I am an exceptional thief.
• Faux Fluency: His German is accented with bad grammar.
• Foil: To John. Hans is cold, calculating, and plans things out to the nines while John is a Cowboy Cop, a self-proclaimed "pain in the ass" who makes it his objective to throw as many wrenches into Hans's plan as possible.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: He gets furious when Holly points out that he's nothing but a common thief. He's not a common thief, he's an exceptional thief.
• Jerkass: Putting aside the fact that he's an attempted mass murderer, he's just a rude and condescending individual. His facial expressions alone barely conceal his contempt for others.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Killing Takagi for not knowing the password and codes.
  • And of course, his actual plan for the hostages is to simply Leave No Survivors.
• Laughably Evil: Downplayed. Hans is pretty serious but occasionally gets some chuckles by being a Deadpan Snarker par excellence.
• Leave No Survivors: Hans intends to eliminate all of the hostages in an explosion to fake his own death.
• Major Injury Underreaction: His response to being shot and falling through a sheet of glass is mild annoyance. Becomes Oh, Crap! when he's dropped 30+ stories to his death.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: His henchmen are all extremely well-dressed, but he takes it up a notch with a double-breasted suit & tie.
• Master Actor: When he encounters McClane while checking the explosives on the roof, he convincingly acts the part of an escaped hostage, even faking an American accent. Subverted when McClane isn't fooled and gives him an unloaded gun.
• Near-Villain Victory: Apart from a few hiccups, his heist almost goes to plan until McClane chases the hostages downstairs from the roof.
• The Nicknamer: Calls McClane "Mr. Cowboy" until he learns his real name.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Downplayed as he never fights John one-on-one and it's implied he wouldn't have much chance even if he did but he knows how to use a gun and definitely isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, personally executing Tagaki and trying to kill John and later Holly. He also was in the military prior so he likely has combat experience but prefers not to fight hand to hand now.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: He doesn't mess around with McClane, trying to shoot him point blank in the face, wounding him with broken glass, and immediately trying to blow the roof when he finds out the hostages are coming back downstairs. He lapses into Bond Villain Stupidity at the very end after his Villainous Breakdown, but points for trying.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Inverted. Most Germans who learn Enlish speak it with A US accent because most German dialects, like most British dialects, are non-rhotic (they don't pronounce the letter "r"), so American English (which is mostly rhotic), sounds more foreign. Hans speaking with a rhotic, but British, accent is entirely in character. He sounds like the people near him, but he sounds a little bit foreign. Just foreign enough.
• Not So Above It All: He's clearly having fun bullshitting the police and FBI with his "terrorist demands".
• Oh, Crap!: His look as John undoes Holly's watch, letting Hans plummet to his death, just screams this. This was even invoked as Alan Rickman was let go earlier than he was told, meaning his look of surprise was genuine.
• Pet the Dog: Allowing a couch to be moved out to the lobby so that the very pregnant woman could sit on it and the hostages to take supervised bathroom breaks. But then he sends everybody onto the roof that's wired with explosives anyway.
• Predecessor Villain: To his brother Simon in the third film.
• Rasputinian Death: He gets wounded when he's shot in the gut, crashes through a window, and plummets 30 stories to his demise.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Hans wears a smart suit and notices in the elevator how nice Mr. Takagi's suit is:
  Hans: Nice suit... John Phillips, London. I have two myself. Rumor has it Arafat buys his there.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Played with. He speaks of himself as basically the Napoleon of crime, but most of his big speeches about his amazing success are long before he's managed a single scheme, and his Wicked Cultured aspects break down if one's willing to actually check his sources. His Berserk Button, as Holly discovers, is being reminded that for all his delusions of grandeur, he's ultimately nothing more than an ambitiously unsuccessful thief. However, he still gets very close to succeeding and easily backs up his threats.
• The Sociopath: Ruthless, totally lacking in empathy, charismatic, intelligent but prone to Disproportionate Retribution. He's got it all. Alan Rickman took note of this for his performance. His idea was that Gruber wasn't especially malicious towards others or even outright evil; he just wanted money and, if heads rolled because of it, then no skin off his back.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Hans rarely raises his voice when speaking to the hostages, Takagi, or Ellis, which makes him more sinister.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Hans is (in his own words) an exceptional thief, but his henchmen are less so. Karl and Marco both pass up excellent chances to kill McClane (Karl due to it being personal and Marco due to Bond Villain Stupidity), which later causes the whole plan to become undone.
• Taking You with Me: Defied by McClane. Hans attempts to drag Holly down with him by grabbing her watch after he is shot and shoot John at the same time, but McClane unclasps it, and Hans plummets to his death.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, since he and his men actually aren't terrorists, just pretending as part of the cover for their heist. He even invokes it at one point, as he calls for his "brothers" in captivity around the world, all of them based on real groups — Northern Irish mercenaries ("New Provo Front"), Quebecois separatists ("Liberte de Quebec"), and Sri Lankan ethnic nationalists ("Asian Dawn") — to be freed and flown to Nakatomi by helicopter in two hours; not only is this an impossible demand that has everyone in the LAPD scrambling, but it helps obscure the motives of he and his men even further.
• The Unfettered: Looks like nothing can stop him from trying to achieve his goal. If he has to kill someone or sacrifice his own men if that would mean putting his hands on the millions, then so be it.
• Too Clever by Half: Hans is undeniably very smart but he's still well short of the effortlessly brilliant, cultured renaissance man he clearly thinks of himself as being, with his attempts at showing off his historical intellect just highlighting the gulf. One of the few times he ever gets genuinely angry is when Holly points out that for all his posturing, he's ultimately just a common thief.
• Tranquil Fury: When Hans is frustrated by Takagi's lack of cooperation, he calmly expresses frustration that he has to do things "the hard way".
• Villainous Breakdown: He acts very calm and collected up until the point where Holly calls him "just a common thief", at which point you can see his façade of civility crumble into derangement.
• Villain Protagonist: Well, Villain Deuteragonist. Hans gets just as much screen time as John does, and his actions set the plot into motion. From a musical standpoint, Hans is very much this trope as much of the score features his Leitmotif "Ode to Joy" while John has little musical consistency or theme.
• Villain Respect: He doesn't give it often, but he does seem to give some, begrudgingly, when Holly steps up in the absence of her boss and makes some requests for the hostages in calm, logical terms he can't really argue with.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Hilariously subverted. He pretends to be this for the purposes of the heist, which results in him almost gleefully bullshitting the police and FBI with a fake Motive Rant while he's trying to stall for time and demanding the release of several imprisoned members of terrorist organizations, including one called "Asian Dawn" that he flat-out admits to Karl he read about in TIME Magazine and might not even exist.
• Western Terrorist: Subverted, his group uses this as a cover for committing straightforward crimes, though Gruber is a former terrorist himself. Presumably, he and the others have lost their radical ideals and now just want to make a heap of money and retire.
• Wicked Pretentious:
  • He lampshades this by quoting Plutarch's "Life of Alexander" and then comments, "Benefits of a classical education." Of course, he not only gets the quote wrong, but seems to miss the point of it being that Alexander realized he'd failed to conquer the world, making his comparison to Alexander of Macedon a bit of Foreshadowing in addition to remarkably pretentious.
  • Amusingly enough, he can't even get pop culture right either.
    Hans: Still a cowboy, Mr McClane. Americans, all the same. Well, this time John Wayne does not walk into the sunset with Grace Kelly.
    John: That was Gary Cooper, asshole!
• Worthy Opponent: Is one of the few terrorists who takes McClane seriously. Also extends to a meta level, as fans note that Hans is the series's best villain.
• Would Hurt a Child: One of the hostages he tried to blow up on the roof was a pregnant woman.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He pretends to be an escaped partygoer when he first meets John McClane.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: As soon as he runs into John McClane, he's able to think on the spot to fake an American accent and pretend he's a hostage. During his time with John, he's very observant and notices he's going barefoot. Once John has his back to Hans, he calls for Karl, Franco, and Fritz, which comes in handy when the gun he pointed at John has no bullets. In their next shootout, he takes advantage of this by having his men fire on the glass around where John is taking cover, injuring him and causing him to drop the bag with the detonator charges Hans needed.

Karl

Karl Vreski

"We are both professionals. This is personal."

Played By: Alexander Godunov

Dubbed in French By: Bernard Metraux

Hans Gruber's second-in-command, and the primary enforcer for the Nakatomi crew.

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• Barbarian Longhair: The script makes a point of saying he looks "like a rocker."
• Bond Villain Stupidity: See below. He has the drop on McClane and a rifle to his head and has made it clear that he just wants McClane dead. Rather than blow his head off, Karl lets McClane knock his gun away, leading to a fistfight which Karl loses. Bonus points - if Karl had just shot McClane then and there, their plan to blow the hostages would've worked, and he and the remaining thieves would've been able to split $640 million between the six of them. Whoops. This is probably justified through It's Personal.
• *Click* Hello: Puts his gun to McClane's cheek when the latter realizes that the roof is wired with explosives.
• Combat Pragmatist: Zigzagged, whilst he grabs McClane's pistol during their fight and shoots him in the shoulder with it, he makes the mistake of toying with John when he gains the upper hand in the fight.
• Determinator: He'll stop at nothing to kill John.
• The Dragon: Hans's right-hand man and the biggest threat to McClane.
• Dragon Their Feet: Survives after his boss's death to make one last attempt on McClane's life. He's subsequently killed by Powell.
• Dragon with an Agenda: He's deeply affected when McClane kills his brother Tony and subsequently spends the rest of the film hell-bent on killing McClane. A case in point is his conversation with Hans before Ellis comes to talk; Hans is unconcerned with killing John and just wants him unable to cause trouble, but Karl insists on taking revenge by killing him.
  Hans: If you listened to me he would be neutralized already.
  Karl: I don't want neutral, I want dead.
• Establishing Character Moment: He casually fires up a chainsaw and cuts through all the building's phone lines, to the dismay of his brother who'd been trying to hack them, showing his impulsive side and his tendency to ignore good sense and advice.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's deeply affected by the death of his younger brother Tony and subsequently spends the rest of the film hell-bent on killing McClane.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A downplayed example. He thought Takagi would handover the code to the vault, and made a bet with Theo who thought he wouldn't. Theo is proven right, and Karl is annoyed as he hands over a $20 bill.
• Evil Counterpart: Can be seen as one to John. Both are Determinators who are Made of Iron who would do anything for their loved ones.
• Flipping the Table: When he hears his brother Tony is dead, he flips the desk in Holly's office.
• Genius Bruiser: Karl may be impulsive, but he's not stupid. He almost catches McClane several times and gets the drop on him before their fight, throwing John's pistol away and crushing the radio. He also predicts that McClane will be trouble and winds up being proven right when the cop tries to warn the police and steals Heinrich's bag, not to mention killing other terrorists left and right.
• Hot-Blooded: And then some! Nothing will stop him in his quest to kill John himself, though he's not quite as shouty as most examples, usually.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: After John kills his brother Tony, Karl foregoes any other priority and makes it personal with John. "We are both professionals. This is personal."
• Kick Chick: A gender inverted example. His fight with John consists largely of high-flying and powerful Taekwondo kicks, his surprising agility down to Alexander Godunov also being a ballet dancer.
• Leave Him to Me!: (To Franco and Fritz): "No one kills him but me."
• Made of Iron: He can survive a ton of punishment. For example, he gets hanged by a chain and is (presumably) caught in the roof explosion.
• Mighty Glacier: A mix of this and Strong and Skilled, John gets more hits in in their fight but every punch and kick Karl inflicts has more impact.
• Moral Myopia: Absolutely furious that his brother was killed, yet he's probably the most trigger-happy member of the gang, who were all planning to kill all the hostages from the beginning anyway.
• Not So Above It All: While he spends most of the film alternating between Tranquil Fury and Unstoppable Rage after his brother's death, he does have a moment of levity when he hears Hans' "terrorist demands" and expresses confusion about "Asian Dawn" before openly wondering if the police will actually try to fulfill their bullshit demands.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Is shown to be thuggish and impulsive while Tony is calm and crafty; early on, Tony attempts to disable the phone lines electronically, but Karl simply takes a chainsaw and cuts through the lines instead.
• Revenge Before Reason: Downplayed, in that McClaine was probably going to mess things up for the terrorists either way, but Karl's single-minded drive to avenge his brother causes him to repeatedly ignore good sense and orders for the chance to get the kill.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He and his brother Tony. The former is hot-blooded and strong, the latter is calm and craftier (though taller).
• Slasher Smile: The face he makes when he traps John's arm, punches him, and starts kicking him around the room.
• Strong and Skilled: He's very strong and a skilled combatant who displays impressive martial arts prowess while fighting John.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, since he isn't a terrorist, just pretending to be one for the purposes of the heist.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He instructs the other men that no one is to kill John but him.
• Trick Bomb: Karl carries a couple of flash grenades. He uses one to stun the security guard by the elevator during the initial takeover and tries to flush John out with another at the end of the shootout on the 33rd floor.
• Unstoppable Rage: By the end of the film, he has all but given up trying to evade capture by the police and is perfectly willing to open fire on McClane in front of dozens witnesses, including police officers, in a last ditch effort to avenge his boss and brother (and the botched robbery).
• Villainous Breakdown: His brother's death causes Karl to go off the deep end. Also see Unstoppable Rage above.

Theo

Theo

"You didn't bring me along for my charming personality."

Played By: Clarence Gilyard

Dubbed in French By: Jérome Keen

Hans' technical expert, whose tasks include locking down the building and breaking into the vault.

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• Affably Evil: Very upbeat and cheery but has just as flexible morals as the rest of Hans's group, and he always laughs and cheers the loudest when someone gets killed as part of their scheme.
• Back for the Dead: In DieHard Is Back. He presumably held a grudge over McClane sending him to prison, and ends up getting fragged for attempting revenge.
• Black and Nerdy: He's the team's upbeat and cheery hacker, he wears glasses, and doesn't have any combat skills.
• The Cracker: His main displays of cracking skill consist of tapping into the building's camera system and guessing Takagi's password to defeat the first of seven locks on the Nakatomi Corporation vault. To disable locks 2 through 6, he uses a big drill. He doesn't even know how to open the final electromagnetic time lock on the vault until he learns about Hans' gaming the FBI into shutting off the power to the entire city grid that the building is on, thus disabling the lock and giving them access to the vault.
• Deadpan Snarker: Gives a running commentary of the police's efforts at breaking into the building.
  Theo: [as an armored car tries to drive into the building] Looks like the police have themselves an RV.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Theo wears a pair of glasses and is one of the main villains.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: He's a hacker, a safecracker, and the primary method of actually attaining what Hans is trying to get. He also serves as a competent organizer through the building's cameras during the initial LAPD assault. He wins the side bet with Karl by correctly predicting that Joe Takagi won't tell them the safe codes.
• Jerkass: It's implied that even Hans resents Theo's cocky and smug demeanor regarding his own intelligence.
• Lack of Empathy:
  • Even though he doesn't get involved in the violence himself, Theo is shown to have no qualms whatsoever about innocent people being murdered during the Nakatomi siege. On the contrary, he reacts with complete indifference to the loss of life at best and sometimes even finds it amusing to joke about it, cheering in his very first scene as Karl ventilates a poor security guard.
  • This is subtly lampshaded when Theo says to Hans "You didn't bring me along for my charming personality." implying that Theo is actually self-aware that he isn't a pleasant person to be around. Hans smiles sardonically at this, suggesting that even he may actually hold a quiet distaste towards his demeanour.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Winds up punched out by Argyle, who got trapped in the parking garage when Theo locked it down.
• Leitmotif: "Singing in the Rain", as per composer Michael Kamen's suggestion. Theo sings and hums the theme throughout the terrorists' initial takeover.
• Mission Control: Despite being in the field with everybody else, he still counts, since he spends most of his time away from the rest of the group trying to crack open the vault, and using the building's own security system to keep tabs on police movements outside.
• Non-Action Guy: Unlike the rest of the terrorists we never see him so much as hold a weapon let alone kill anyone. When he finally does get caught up in the fighting, he gets knocked out cold by Argyle with one punch.
• Playful Hacker: He's notably chatty and calm even when the rest of the villains have all lost their affable façade due to McClane's interference. It probably helps that he's not on the front lines.
• Put on a Prison Bus: The only member of Gruber's heist team who does not gets killed and thus presumably was arrested. The Bus Came Back thirty years later in DieHard Is Back… for a little while.
• Sole Survivor: The only terrorist with significant screentime (such as Hans, Karl, Eddie, Franco, and Fritz) to survive. He still gets punched out by Argyle, and was presumably arrested.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, as the terrorist thing is just a cover.
• Wicked Cultured: Quotes from "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" as the cops try to attack the building.
  Theo: All right, listen up guys. 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except ... the four assholes coming in the rear in standard two-by-two cover formation.

Tony

Tony Vreski

Played By: Andreas Wisniewski

Dubbed in French By: Patrick Borg

The brother of Karl Vreski. He frequently serves as the brains to Karl's brawn.

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• Adaptation Name Change: Tony's counterpart in the novel "Nothing Lasts Forever" (the source material for the first film) is named Hans.
• Big Little Brother: Karl is the older brother, but Tony is slightly taller at 6'4" (Karl is 6'3"). Despite this, he has smaller feet than John, who's a few inches shorter (Bruce Willis being 5'11").
• Big "NO!": Delivers several shouts of "Nein!" when Karl pulls out the chainsaw to cut the phone lines.
• *Click* Hello: Ends up on the receiving end of McClane's Beretta 92F like this.
• Disposing of a Body: After Hans executes Takagi, Tony is given the responsibility of disposing of his corpse.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears a pair of glasses and is one of the bad guys.
• Genius Bruiser: Seems to be one of the brainier members of the terrorists, as he rejiggers the phone lines (and has to deal with Karl just taking out a chainsaw and neatly sawing them in half before he's finished) and shows a manipulative side as he tries to deal with the interfering John. However, in a physical contest, his grip is not much more feeble than his brother's.
• Kick the Dog: As he approaches where he thinks John McClaine is, he seemingly tries to talk John down, only to open up with his machine gun as soon as he rounds the corner, clearly establishing that he had no intention of leaving him alive.
• Neck Snap: Pushed headfirst into the floor of the stairwell by McClane, breaking his neck.
• Pistol-Whipping: After Tony tells John that there are rules for policemen, John starts off their fight by hitting Tony with his pistol and knocking his glasses off.
• Sacrificial Lamb: For the terrorists, the first of the group to die. He also bears the unlucky distinction of being the first on-screen kill by John McClane.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, since it's just a cover.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: See You Wouldn't Shoot Me. He knows cops have rules. Too bad John is a Cowboy Cop protagonist. Ok, John doesn't shoot him, but he starts a fight that leads to Tony's death.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When John does a *Click* Hello.
  John: Drop it, dickhead. It's the police.
  Tony: You won't hurt me.
  John: Oh yeah? Why not.
  Tony: Because you're a policeman. There are rules for policemen.
  John: Yeah. That's what my captain keeps telling me. [hits Tony, knocking his glasses off]

Franco and Fritz

Franco and Fritz

Played By: Bruno Doyon (Franco), Hans Buhringer (Fritz)

Two of Hans's men who assist Karl in hunting John throughout the film. Franco has dark, curly hair and wears a leather jacket, and Fritz has long sandy-colored hair and wears plaid.

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• Baddie Flattery: Fritz takes a moment to compliment the stereo system in Ellis's office during the initial takeover.
• Bearer of Bad News: Fritz has to tell Karl his brother is dead.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Mook example. Franco is just as eager to kill John as Karl is, albeit for different reasons. Instead, he wants to shut John up before he can reveal the entire operation to the cops.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Indirectly. The glass raining down on Franco after he is killed gives Hans the idea to shoot out the rest of the glass partitions, as he knows John has no shoes.
  Hans: Shoot the glass!
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Franco wears a black leather jacket, which he removes when he, Karl, and Fritz head up to the roof to attack John.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Fritz has long hair.
• Mauve Shirt: They have the most screen time of the Mooks, much of it with Karl and chasing McClane. Franco even gets billing during the opening credits.
• No Kill like Overkill: Fritz gets a good portion of a submachine gun emptied into his torso and Franco is shot messily in the legs, smashes his head into a glass partition, then has glass rained down upon him.
• Oh, Crap!: Fritz does one when he finds Tony's body in the elevator.
• The Quiet One: Franco has only two lines, though he shouts both.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, since they're faking it.
• Those Two Guys: Except for the SWAT assault attempt (Fritz is on the 35th floor helping James bring the missiles down to the third floor, while Franco is guarding the hostages on the 30th floor), they're always in the same scene together.

Eddie

Eddie

Played By: Dennis Hayden

Dubbed in French By: Philippe Catoire

An American terrorist who takes the place of a security guard.

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• Affably Evil: Quite cordial with Powell and wishes him a "Merry Christmas."
• Consummate Liar: He actually managed to completely fool Sgt. Powell, as Powell was just about to leave before John dropped Marco onto his car.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Eddie takes the guard's suit jacket during the takeover as part of his disguise.
• The Face: Eddie spends most of the film manning the guard's desk at the building entrance, in order to distract anyone who comes in. This also includes canceling any calls made within the building, as shown when he thwarts John's first attempt to call for help.
• Mauve Shirt: Has a lot of screen time and makes it all the way to McClane's final confrontation with Hans.
• Pretty Little Headshots: Shot in the head by John. In his case, it's marked by a red dot on his forehead.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted since he's faking it.
• Villains Out Shopping: He's watching TV and (as part of his disguise) mentions he's bet 50 bucks on a game that day.

Uli

Uli

Played By: Al Leong

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• Beard of Evil: He's got an impressive beard.
• Multiple Gunshot Death: John empties four bullets into his chest at point-blank range.
• The Napoleon: The shortest henchman and helps to bomb the roof.
• Not So Above It All: For all the atrocities he is committing under Hans Gruber's instruction, there is one thing he doesn't want anyone to see: snitching a candy bar.
• Oh, Crap!: When he opens the door to the rest of the building after bringing the hostages to the roof and finds himself on the business end of McClane's pistol.
• The Quiet One: Says very little during his time onscreen, four lines at most.
• Sweet Tooth: Snags a couple of candy bars before the SWAT team attempts to assault the building.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, since he's faking it.
• Token Minority: The only Asian henchman.

Marco

Marco

"Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don't hesitate!"

Played By: Lorenzo Caccialanza

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• All Men Are Perverts: When the terrorists begin raiding the offices on the 30th floor, Marco is seen dragging a couple that was making out from one of the offices (the woman's breasts can be seen for several seconds). This also winds up being Distracted by the Sexy since McClane uses the woman's screams as a distraction to escape.
• The Brute: The largest (6'7") and one of the craziest of the "terrorists".
• Car Cushion: McClane throws his body 34 stories onto Al's car, causing another terrorist to attack Powell and forcing the officer to call for assistance.
• Death by Irony: His most famous line is chastising McClane for not killing him earlier when he had the chance...which is exactly what Marco spends his last moments doing: not killing John when he has the chance.
• Evil Gloating: He absolutely relishes when he thinks he has John dead to rights and savours it as much as he can. It doesn't end well for him.
• Faux Affably Evil: He adopts a mockingly friendly tone when he thinks he has John cornered, calling him "pal".
• Giant Mook: Lorenzo Caccialanza stands 6'7", the tallest of the terrorists.
• Groin Attack: Gets half of a 15-round pistol magazine emptied into his groin (the rest goes into his chest).
• Large Ham: Shouts all of his lines in his confrontation with McClane.
  Marco: You are dog now. No more table! Where are you going, PAAAAALL?! Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don't hesitate.
• No Kill like Overkill: Shot at least a dozen times at close range, dropped 34 stories onto Al's car, and his body is sent flying into some trees.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Wears a bright red shirt and a black one under that.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted. As with the rest of Hans's men, he isn't actually a terrorist, just faking it.
• Token Minority: The only Italian in the group.
• Too Dumb to Live: Well, when you do have a chance to kill someone, don't hesitate... Whereupon John immediately shoots through the table and kills him but not before quipping "Thanks for the advice."
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: He does one when he leaps onto the conference table during his confrontation with John.

Heinrich

Heinrich

Played By: Gary Roberts

Hans's explosives expert.

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• Chekhov's Gun: Heinrich's bag of explosives is stolen by John after he is killed and becomes the MacGuffin in the second act.
• Combat Pragmatist: Uses Marco as a distraction for John while he comes up behind with a pistol.
• Demolitions Expert: Looks to be Hans' man for bombs, as he's given charge of wiring the roof.
• The Driver: Heinrich drove the truck used by the terrorists.
• Light Is Not Good: He's a bad guy wearing an off-white sweater.
• Mad Bomber: His task is to lay explosives that will blow up the roof, killing all the hostages and covering the thieves' escape.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Heinrich is the second of the terrorists to die, but he was an important member of the crew whose death (along with Marco's) complicates things for Hans because the timetable is crunched thanks to the cops' arrival and Hans now has to find his bag to finish wiring the roof.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, as with the rest of Hans's men.

Alexander, James, and Kristoff

Alexander, James, and Kristoff

Played By: Joey Plewa (Alexander), Wilhelm Von Homberg (James), Gerard Bonn (Kristoff)

The other three terrorists in Hans's group.

• All There in the Manual: Their names are not mentioned onscreen, though Kristoff gets named in a Deleted Scene when Theo shouts at him.
• BFG: Alexander wields a M60E3 machine gun and a missile launcher.
• Cop Killer: Alexander blows up the cops in the "RV".
• Death from Above: James and Alexander are killed when John drops a packet of poorly-prepped C4 down the elevator shaft.
  John: Geronimo, motherfucker!
• Even Evil Has Standards: Kristoff balks at blowing up the roof when Hans tells him to since Karl is still on the roof.
• Evil Redhead: Alexander has red hair.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: James wears a brown leather jacket.
• Missed Him by That Much: During the initial takeover, James almost catches John by opening Ellis's door, but is distracted by the screaming of a topless hostage. By the time he turns back to open the door, John has already fled into the stairwell.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Alexander attacks Sgt. Powell, forcing the officer to call for assistance.
• Pistol-Whipping: Kristoff is knocked out by John with the butt of an MP5.
• Sidekick: Kristoff is Theo's assistant.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Kristoff tends to be forgotten; the posters say there are 12 terrorists when there are actually 13, and even the other characters forget about him when Al tells Big and Little Johnson that there are 12 terrorists.^note In-universe explanation: John may have counted 12 terrorists taking the Christmas party hostage, but the 13th - Eddie, the door guard - never came up to the 30th floor, and John is the LAPD's sole source of information about things going on in the building
• Sole Survivor: While we never learned what happened to him after John knocked him out, Kristoff is the only other survivor of the entire terrorist group outside of Theo.
• Steel Ear Drums: Averted. James is seen crouching down and holding his ears when Alexander fires the missile launcher.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Subverted, as with the rest of Hans's men.
• The Unintelligible: James only speaks in German.
• Villains Out Shopping: During the takeover, Fritz points out a nice-looking stereo system in one of the offices. James replies that he owns two of them in Berlin.

Die Hard (police)

Robinson

Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson

"We don't know shit, Powell. If there's hostages, how come nobody's come to us with ransom demands, huh? If there's terrorists up there, where's their list of demands? All we know is somebody shot your car up. It's probably the same silly son of a bitch you've been talking to on the radio."

Robinson: This is Deputy Chief of Police, Dwayne T. Robinson, and I am in charge of this situation.
John: Oh, you're in charge? Well, I got some bad news for you, Dwayne, from up here it doesn't look like you're in charge of jack shit.

Played By: Paul Gleason

Dubbed in French By: Jean-Luc Kayser

Deputy Chief of the LAPD, who is in charge of the attempt to rescue the hostages.

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• Adaptational Heroism: A Dirty Cop in the book, but there's nothing in the film to indicate he's corrupt.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the novel, he gets shot protecting Leland (McClane's literary counterpart) from Karl, while here he doesn't do such a thing, instead ducking his head like anyone else.
• Butt-Monkey: His handling of the crisis is deplorable before the FBI takes command, earns and gets no respect from anybody, and as John puts it, he gets butt-fucked on national TV in the process.
• By-the-Book Cop: At least initially. By the time the FBI shows up, he seems to be starting to believe Powell about McClane and even banters with him about the FBI's stupidity. He does begin to chew John out for his actions at the end of the film but is interrupted by Karl.
• Commander Contrarian:
  • He spends his time blaming McClane like an incompetent cop. Even with Al defending McClane, Robinson finally pushes too far when McClane saves some cops with an explosion, only for Robinson to take the radio and complain about him causing falling glass:
  McClane: Oh, you're in charge? Well, I got some bad news for you, Dwayne. From up here it doesn't look like you're in charge of jack shit.
  Robinson: You listen to me, you little asshole, I'm—
  McClane: Asshole? I'm not the one who just got butt-fucked on national TV, Dwayne. Now, you listen to me, jerk-off, if you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem. Quit being a part of the fucking problem and put the other guy back on!
• Entertainingly Wrong: His incompetence and general cluelessness do produce memorable quotes nonetheless.
  (Watches Hans fall to his death) "Why, I hope that isn't another hostage."
• Everyone Has Standards: He seems to draw the line at collateral damage, as shown when he calls the idea of cutting the power to ten blocks on Christmas Eve "crazy" and with his worried look at the FBI bringing out helicopters. He's also put off by Johnson threatening the rig worker to cut the power or he will use his connections to get him fired.
  • To his credit, Robinson intended to handle the situation with as few deaths as possible, showing he at least has some value on the lives of others, especially compared to the two FBI agents who were fully prepared to let some of the hostages die.
• Get Out!: Invites Powell to head home as they argue after Hans kills Ellis. Powell's response?
  Powell: No sir. You couldn't drag me away.
• Gonna Need More X: His flippant reaction to the demise of Johnson and Johnson
  [Hans blows the roof]: "Holy shit! We're gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess."
• Hate Sink: He's a massive Jerkass, continually assumes Powell is wrong, distrusts McClane, and generally acts as though he has the Idiot Ball glued in his pocket at all times. Admittedly, he does get better in a few instances, particularly when the FBI agents arrive and prove themselves to be bigger assholes than he is^note in an interesting bit of trivia, Roger Ebert found Robinson so loathsome that he is single-handedly responsible for Ebert giving the film two stars in his review for the Chicago Sun Times.
• Jerkass: He's callous, obstructive, and unnecessarily unpleasant at times. He lightens up when he sees how careless the FBI is.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As crude as he is, his initial skepticism about McClane isn't unjustified, especially given that all Powell had to go on is "a hunch" that McClane is a cop: As his quote indicates, all that was known at the moment is that a gunman shot up Powell's car and an anonymous voice on the radio claims a hostage situation is going on. Of course, given that Robinson quickly writes off Marco's dropped body as "probably just a stockbroker who got depressed", being rightly skeptical of one thing doesn't make him competent in general.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Robinson's a stubborn ass with consistently bad instincts, but it helps that from the FBI to his own SWAT commander, everyone who outranks him is an even worse person with even worse instincts. And at least Robinson's trying to get out of this situation with as few deaths as possible; the FBI was outright planning to lose a bunch of the hostages to take out their captors.
• Pet the Dog: He actually does try to call off the tactical assault on the Nakatomi building when he realizes how bad of an idea it is before the team was overwhelmed, though the tactical officer refuses to back down. He also shows a greater care for the lives of the hostages than the FBI.
• Police Are Useless: Robinson dismisses much of John's intel, and complains about John's interference even though John wouldn't be interfering if his concerns were taken seriously. Still, he isn't as useless as Johnson and Johnson.
• Smart Ball: He realizes the tactical assault on the Nakatomi is a bad idea and tries to revoke it before the team gets mauled, but the tactical officer at the scene brushes him off. He also has justifiable reservations about the things the FBI's trying that all turn out to be playing into Gruber's hands. Basically whenever there is another commander around that can overrule him Robinson becomes very much like Al, acting as Only Sane Man. The moment they are gone though he goes back to holding the Idiot Ball.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the book, Robinson is killed by Karl when the latter makes his reappearance at the very end. Here, he survives.
• Took a Level in Kindness: A minor one, made apparent by his supplantation by a pair of even bigger jackasses. By the end of the film, he and Al are more or less on the same page, although John almost hits him when he tries to yell at him following the conclusion of the crisis.
• Unwitting Pawn: By demanding the release of terrorists, Hans uses him to call the FBI, who cut power to the building, enabling Hans to open the vault.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Makes clear to Al that he will nail John for Ellis's death. When John makes it out of the building with Holly, Robinson tries doing just that, only for Karl to turn out to be Not Quite Dead.

Johnson and Johnson

Special Agent "Big" Johnson and Agent "Little" Johnson

Big Johnson: Just like fuckin' Saigon, hey, Slick?
Little Johnson: I was in junior high, dickhead.

Played By: Robert Davi (Big Johnson) and Grand L. Bush (Little Johnson)

Dubbed in French By: Michel Beaune (Big Johnson) and Greg Germain (Little Johnson)

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• Asshole Victim: After their whole smug shtick, the demise of these G-Men in an act of duty is somewhat played for Black Comedy.
  Robinson: We are gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess.
• Blood Knight: Big Johnson sounds pretty excited about the chance to take out terrorists; the quote above is delivered after a loud "Yee-ha!"
• By-the-Book Cop: They follow procedure to the letter. Even if it means that the hostages might suffer. This is exploited by Hans.
• Captain Obvious: Played for Laughs. Little Johnson feels the need to point out that he and Big Johnson aren't related when they have different ethnicities.
• Entertainingly Wrong : They can't get anything right, but by god, are they ever amusing.
  Big Johnson: Those bastards are probably pissing in their pants right now
  (cuts back to "Ode to joy", the vault has opened, the terrorists are in ecstasy)
• Establishing Character Moment: They show up late in the middle of the crisis, walking with determination towards the Nakatomi. Little Johnson greets the friendly LAPD chief with unconcealed disdain and a totally unnecessary clarification, while Big Johnson doesn't even bother to introduce himself nor shake Robinson's hand, quickly establishing themselves as two high and mighty assholes who think they are The Cavalry.
  Johnson: I'm agent Johnson, this is Special Agent Johnson... No relation
  Robinson: I'm a... I'm Dwayne Robinson, LAPD. I'm in charge here...
  Big Johnson: Not anymore.
• FBI Agent: They take over the law enforcement response to the takeover and, as Al Powell says, "They've got the universal terrorist playbook and they're running it step by step." This plays right into the hands of Hans Gruber, who takes advantage of their tactics to break into the vault. The agents then try to slaughter the terrorists while risking the hostages' lives and get blown up by a terrorist trap.
• Hate Sink: They are rather disrespectful to Powell and even Robinson, unknowingly play into the robbers' hands by cutting the power, threatening the electrical worker to cut the power and are perfectly fine with allowing some of the hostages to die if it means getting the villains. They end up getting killed when Hans blows up the roof and their heilcopter is caught in the blast.
• Jerkass: They are both rude, disrespectful and throw their authority around, clearly viewing the local law enforcement as beneath them, Big Johnson more so. They're such assholes that they manage to make Robinson sympathetic by comparison.
• Jurisdiction Friction: They take over the situation without any kind of professional courtesy, pushing everybody around. The LAPD are not particularly happy to see them, and even Powell warns them to no avail that the terrorists know what they're up to. They don't listen to any of it, remaining aloof and condescending during the whole crisis.
  Big Johnson: When we commandeer your men, we'll try to let you know.
• Kick the Dog: They have an exchange in which they determine that their plan to stop the terrorists (which was actually a vital part of Hans Gruber's Evil Plan) could end up with 25% of the hostages dead, but they dismiss it as being an acceptable casualty. Presumably this is to obliterate any sympathy one might have for the fact that they get blown up by Gruber five minutes later. But that poor helicopter pilot.... They also threaten the electrical worker to cut the power or get fired.
• Kill It with Fire: Their chopper is caught in the explosion when Hans blows the roof, sending them and all aboard crashing down in a fiery inferno.
• Meaningful Name: Johnson is a name for government stooge. It's also a euphemism for a dick, in the "obstructive asshole" sense.
• The Men in Black: They're FBI agents.
• More Dakka: This appears to have been their plan to deal with Hans by flying up in gunships and coating the deck with automatic gunfire.
• Mr. Smith: One's white, the other black. Amusingly, at one point when one of the agents is making a call to have the power to Nakatomi Plaza cut, he identifies himself as "Agent Johnson. No, the other one."
• One-Steve Limit: A Played for Laughs aversion. "Johnson and Johnson, no relation". Rather amusing given that one is white and the other is black.
  Big Johnson: [over the phone] This is Agent Johnson... No, the other one.
• Out-Gambitted: Neither Johnson intended to fill Hans' demands (even if they were fake) and just planned to kill them once in range, which also translates into the helicopters they intended to use (Little Johnson mentions that the terrorists would expect transports instead of gunships). Unfortunately, Hans anticipated their plan as he was going to blow the roof once they arrived.
• Police Are Useless: Though they seem more capable than the local police, in the end they aren't much more effective and even end up nearly killing John and the hostages before dying themselves.
• Small Name, Big Ego: They behave like if they were the second coming of J. Edgar Hoover, but they are far from being some anti-criminal masterminds; they are just two excessively self-satisfied FBI lackeys who are easily outplayed by Hans and get killed for their troubles.
• Smug Snake: Two conceited guys not nearly as good as they think they are. They act tough and badass, looking down at everybody, but they play right into Hans' hand.
• Those Two Guys: They show up in the middle of the movie and mostly act as one character dropping some highly quotable dialogue.
• Trigger-Happy: Hopelessly gung-ho.
  Big Johnson: Figure we take out the terrorists. Lose 20, 25 percent of the hostages, tops.
  Little Johnson: I can live with that.
• Unwitting Pawn: They think they've got Hans scared when their actions are exactly what he was counting on and they play into his hand just as he planned.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: They seem to think they're the tough heroes who will effortlessly stop Hans and save the day while the local police look on in awe rather than being overly macho idiots who just make things worse and get themselves killed.

Die Hard (Nakatomi)

Ellis

Harry Ellis

Hey babe, I negotiate million dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle this Eurotrash

Played By: Hart Bochner

Dubbed in French By: Bernard Woringer

One of Holly's coworkers at the Nakatomi Corporation.

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• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Ellis's ill-thought-out plan to negotiate with Hans was likely influenced by all the cocaine he was on that night (in fact he takes some right before talking with them.)
• Annoying Laugh: Enforced with the subtitles. He lets out a drawn-out Slimeball-befitting laugh when John and Takagi are exchanging jokes.
• Asshole Victim: He betrays John to Hans, in a foolish attempt to save his own skin, resulting in a death that is presented as brought on by his own selfishness. Nonetheless, John pleads for Ellis' life and is anguished when he is killed.
• Boom, Headshot!: Ellis receives a bullet in the cranium from Hans after his failed attempt to sell John out.
• Butt-Monkey: His screen time and life are filled with perpetual self-ridicule and derision until Hans puts an end to it.
• Die Laughing: He nervously chuckles right before Hans blows his brains out.
• Dirty Coward: He tries to get John to surrender himself to Hans in a craven attempt to save his own skin.
• Drugs Are Bad: He's seen snorting cocaine at least twice. The last is when he decides to negotiate with Hans. It doesn't end well.
• Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. Thinking you can play Hans Gruber with yuppie-esque tactics and make John surrender with your silver tongue? Bad move, Ellis.
  Hey babe, I negotiate million-dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle this Eurotrash.
• Foil: To John. He's after Holly and incredibly sleazy about it while John is awkwardly trying to salvage his marriage. He also thinks that the villains actually are terrorists and he's the one able to defuse the situation while John is only making the situation worse. John, on the other hand, knows exactly what he is and what the villains are.
• Hate Sink: Ellis is an annoying coworker of Holly's who makes unwanted advances on her while talking down about The Hero and her ex-husband John McClane. When Hans Gruber and his terrorists invade the Nakatomi Plaza, he highlights his cowardice and incompetence by despicably trying to sell John out to Hans before being gunned dead by Hans out of annoyance. While John In-Universe clearly doesn't want Ellis to die, tries to plead for Hans to leave him alone, and only shows anguish when he dies anyways, it's not a feeling the audience will share in.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Ellis views himself as God's gift to humanity, but his actual competence, people skills, and swagger are very limited.
• Killed Offscreen: When Hans kills him, the shot is only heard, not shown on-screen (though his body is shown being dragged out after the fact).
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Besides giving John's name to Hans, Richard also gets the name and causes even more trouble afterward.
• Pet the Dog: At the start of their radio conversation John worries that Ellis has told Hans about Holly. To Ellis's credit, he hasn't, instead claiming that he was the one who invited John there. Whether this is because he's vaguely aware of just how much danger this would put her in or because it would ruin his made-up story he's trying to sell Hans, this still probably saves her life.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: His "business pitch" to the terrorists is so full of jargon that it makes Hans fall into Metaphorgotten territory.
  Ellis: You're here in a hostile takeover, you grab us for some greenmail, but you didn't expect some poison pill was gonna be running around in the building. Am I right?
  Hans (puzzled): I must have missed 60 Minutes. What are you saying?
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Downplayed. The film becomes a lot tenser after his death but still retains some humour.
• Slimeball: Comes across as a smarmy and smug executive from the moment we meet him.
• Smug Smiler: Is always smiling when he thinks he's got the upper hand. In fact, the last thing he's seen doing is smiling, albeit a bit more forced since he just failed to deliver on his promise of getting John to give up.
• Smug Snake: A sleazy scumbag trying to hit on Holly and is confident that the "Euro-trash" can be negotiated with.
• Too Dumb to Live: Yes, go to the dangerous terrorist leader who isn’t above casually executing hostages and try to sell out the guy you just met earlier who happens to be far savvier on how hostage situations work. Even better, fail at doing so when you claim you could and the best you can do is blow it off with a small laugh.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He thinks he can negotiate with Gruber (thinking he's a terrorist instead of pretending to be as such) and that John is a pesky wannabe hero making the situation worse. He's wrong on both accounts and literally and especially dead wrong on the first.
• Yiddish as a Second Language: He very famously calls Hans Gruber "bubby", short for "bubalah", a term of endearment. The line was ad-libbed by Hart Bochner, who is Jewish. That said, Ellis also casually drops an anti-Semitic slur in the same scene, so it's unlikely that the character himself is Jewish (although he could be making use of N-Word Privileges). It is also possible that Ellis could've said "Bubi", which roughly translates to German as "little boy" or "laddie". Whether he was trying to intentionally provoke Hans or it was simply because of his poor grasp of the language was unclear.
• Yuppie: A classic example with his overconfidence, arrogance, and sleazy behavior, wrongly thinking that trying to negotiate with Gruber is just another ruthless business deal.

Argyle

Argyle

Played By: De'voreaux White

Dubbed in French By: Alain Flick

The Nakatomi Corporation's newest employee — the limo driver.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: Starts laughing when he hears John say "I'm not the one who just got buttfucked on national TV, Dwayne!"
• Almighty Janitor: Argyle the limo driver takes out one of the terrorists with nothing but his car and his fists. This technically means Argyle was more useful in aiding McClane in his fight against the terrorists than both the entire FBI and LAPD were (except for Sgt Powell).
• AM/FM Characterization: He gleefully blares Run–D.M.C. on the limo's radio.
• Audience Surrogate: At the start, it's through Argyle that we learn who John McClane is, the state of his marriage, and why he's flown into LA on Christmas Eve.
• Badass Bystander: He becomes one at the end. It's revealed it's the first time he's driven a limo and he uses it at the end to stop Theo from escaping, then he knocks Theo out with one punch.
• Car Fu: Uses the limo to crash into Theo's getaway car.
• The Driver: Of the limo that Takagi sends to the airport to pick up McClane and take him to the Nakatomi building.
• Heroic Bystander: He's just a passive limo driver for most of the film. He takes out Theo when he tries to escape.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: When he realises that the building's been taken over by terrorists and he can't escape from the parking lot, he switches from pouring himself a drink with a mixer to taking a swig straight from the bottle.
• Nice Guy: Early on, he goes above and beyond the call of duty by not just driving John to the party, but offering to hang around and drive him somewhere else if things don't go well with Holly. Not that he's got much else to do, but he didn't have to offer that.
• Oh, Crap!: When he hears Thornburg's broadcast and attempts to escape, only to discover that he's trapped inside the parking garage.
• One-Hit KO: How he then takes out Theo.
• Uncle Tomfoolery: At first, it led to a small Funny Background Event moment when Powell's car is being shot up. Thankfully, on the whole, he avoids most of the more unsavory aspects of the trope.

Takagi

Joseph Yoshinobu "Joe" Takagi

"Hey we're flexible, Pearl Harbor didn't work out so we got you with tape decks."

Played By: James Shigeta

Dubbed in French By: Jean-Pierre Delage

President of Nakatomi Trading.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: He's a lot more noble and personable than his book counterpart.
• Baddie Flattery: On the receiving end. Hans Gruber compliments him on his nice John Phillips suit.
• Benevolent Boss: He is quickly established as a paternalistic, caring figure, enough that the audience appreciates Holly's loyalty to him and is genuinely outraged when Hans executes him
  • Throws his best employees a party and refuses to sell out his corporation. He was also the one who paid for the limo that brought John to Nakatomi Towers and seems to get along fine with him. Killing him demonstrated how evil Hans was.
  • Holly quietly tries to stop him from stepping forward during the hostage-taking, as she does what she can to protect her boss.
• Boom, Headshot!: Receives one from Hans when he doesn't give up the codes.
  Hans: We do it the hard way.
• Defiant to the End: Hans Gruber threatens to kill him if he doesn't tell Hans the access codes to the Nakatomi vault. Not only does he adamantly refuse, he outright goads Hans into killing him (although he sounds so calm that he doesn't seem like he's expecting Hans to kill him):
  Takagi: I don't know it, I'm telling you. Get on a jet to Tokyo and ask the Chairman. I'm telling you, you're just going to have to kill me.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Mildly. He gets shot in the lapel in the book, shot in the head in the film.
• Establishing Character Moment: He sends John a limo at the airport and affably greets him at the party, showing his friendly side and endearing the audience to him right away.
• Face Death with Dignity: He knows he's going to die, and politely tells Hans to shove it.
• Gentleman Snarker: He is a very polite Nice Guy but isn't above snarking. Most of them are good-natured, though.
• Ivy League for Everyone: He's mentioned as having an MBA from Harvard. He also went to Stanford which isn't Ivy League but still a very prestigious school.
• Japan Takes Over the World: Truly a man of his time. Born in Japan and raised in America, he was sent to an internment camp as a child during World War II and likes to joke about Japan's economic dominance in the years since.
• Nerves of Steel: He's extremely composed throughout his interrogation.
• Nice Guy: Organised a limo for McClane, very polite and affable, and a family man.
• Present Absence: He's referenced multiple times after his death, even later than Ellis.
• Race Lift: Takagi's counterpart in the book is a Caucasian man named Mr. Rivers.
• Rags to Riches: He was a Japanese immigrant who is now a very wealthy businessman.
• Sacrificial Lamb: The big shot of the Nakatomi building and a decent guy. He puts up some resistance and his death shows that the terrorists mean business.
• Self-Made Man: He was born in Japan and immigrated to America at a young age and worked his way up to his current position.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Hans notices in the elevator how nice Mr. Takagi's suit is and admits that he'd hate to ruin it by killing him.
  Hans: Nice suit. John Philips. I have two myself. Rumor is that Arafat buys his there.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Takagi doesn't last much longer than the 30-minute mark, but he hired Argyle to drive John to Nakatomi Plaza, making him indirectly responsible for putting John into place to foil Hans' heist and setting off the events of the whole franchise.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Col. Stuart

Colonel William Stuart

"Who I am is unimportant. What I want... well, if you don't want those planes to start splashing into the Potomac 'cause they run out of fuel, then what I want is very important."

"We've got you."

Played By: William Sadler

Dubbed in French By: Gérard Berner

A Special Forces Colonel who becomes disillusioned with Washington after the arrest of Ramon Esperanza, whose government was seen by Stuart as an effective bulwark against communism in Latin America. Stuart and his unit go rogue, taking Dulles International Airport hostage in an attempt to negotiate Esperanza's release.

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• Adaptational Job Change: His 58 Minutes counterpart was an international terrorist, wanted in every major western country, hell bent on executing the first major terrorist attack on US soil. In the film, he's an ex-Special Forces colonel turned mercenary.
• Adaptational Name Change: His counterpart in 58 Minutes was named Willi Staub.
• All There in the Script: His first name is only given in the screenplay.
• Armies Are Evil: He and his henchmen embody the negative merciless attributes of the military.
• Ax-Crazy: He is a Sociopathic Soldier and a Colonel Kilgore who loves the sounds and sights of screams of innocents and Gorn all over the place. When he brings out a knife for his fight with John, he looks positively gleeful.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears one to cover himself from the cold weather. Quite good looking one too.
• Bad Boss: Colonel Stuart is a pretty abusive boss. He doesn't give a damn about any of his men and even lets Major Grant die for no real reason other than that saving him (which he could easily do) would not directly benefit him, and holds a gun to Miller's head because he "let" Cochrane die.
• Believing Their Own Lies: He honestly believes he's a noble patriot doing what's best for his country at great personal cost rather than the sociopathic mercenary who is far more of a threat to American lives than any of the enemies he claims to be battling.
• Big Bad: Of the second film.
• Blood Knight: The only time he loses his composure is during his fight with John on the plane's wing, where he puts on a Slasher Smile while attacking John with a knife, and letting loose an Evil Laugh when he has John on the ropes.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A Faux Affably Evil example, as he sounded hearty and cheery whenever he raises his voice the next time he confronts and addresses John who he treats him as a Worthy Opponent in his twisted perspective such as asking "How's it going?!" during the final fight, which only shows how sadistically mocking he can be.
• Brief Accent Imitation: While impersonating air traffic control in order to crash the Windsor Air plane, he speaks with a Southern accent.
• Colonel Badass: Leads his troops with military precision. Much like a typical villain in the franchise, he embodies Evil Is Cool.
• Colonel Kilgore: Coldly relishes in the bloodshed.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Hans Gruber was a Gentleman Thief from Germany, with him and his crew robbing Nakatomi Plaza while posing as far-left Western Terrorists in order to deflect police attention from what they're actually up to. While he once was a leftist terrorist himself, he has long since abandoned any political ideals; his motive here is purely about getting rich. Col. Stuart is an American ex-Special Forces colonel who launches a genuine terrorist attack at Dulles International Airport, seeking to rescue Ramon Esperanza, the drug lord dictator of a Latin American Banana Republic. His motive is expressly political and anti-communist, seeing Esperanza as a key ally in the Cold War who the US recklessly removed from power (though Stuart's people are also getting paid a lot of money, according to one of Esperanza's lines).
• Cruel and Unusual Death: While the plane explosion happens fairly quickly, we get a glimpse inside and hear the soldier's agonized screams that show that Stuart's death, while relatively quick, was most definitely not painless. Given what a monster he is, it's quite cathartic, to say the least.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He easily dominates and beats John during their fight due to both his own superior fighting skill and John being exhausted and badly injured from numerous other fights and the general events of the night prior. Though John does get a few good hits in that clearly phase Stuart and even bites off a chunk of one of the bastard's hands, causing the nearly robotic Stuart to scream in agony.
• Dark Is Evil: He's clad entirely in dark clothing, which fits how evil and cold he is.
• Deadpan Snarker: His sense of humour is very dry and sardonic.
• Death by Irony: He dies when his getaway plane explodes while he and his men celebrate their supposed victory, in a manner that resembles how he crashed a plane full of innocent passengers who were unaware of the danger until right before their deaths.
• Death Glare: This seems to be his default expression. And it's nothing short of chilling.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: While Stuart gets blown up in the movie, Staub is shot and killed by Malone while trying to make a run for it in the novel.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's clearly a little unsettled by Major Grant's horrific death, though he gets over it quickly.
• Face–Heel Turn: Implied to have happened to him sometime in the past, since he's implied to have been a somewhat well-known war hero before he became a traitor.
• Fallen Hero: He's implied to have been a war hero and an exemplar soldier before he became a traitor.
• A Father to His Men: Subverted. He tries to give off this vibe and reacts with extreme rage whenever his men are killed, but he really only sees them as extensions of himself, and is perfectly willing to kill them if they prove to be a liability or let them die even if they are useful for no real reason other than it not directly benefiting him.
• Faux Affably Evil: He is polite towards McClane in some of their interactions and is quippy during their fight on the plane's wing, mockingly treating him as a Worthy Opponent after recollecting his heroism in the first film he read about in People Magazine and seeing him on Nightline.
  Stuart: Oh, McClane. John McClane. The policeman hero who saved the Nakatomi hostages. I read about you in People Magazine. You seemed a bit out of your league on Nightline, I thought.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• Hate Sink: Perhaps the most unpleasant of all the Die Hard villains, in a stark contrast to Hans Gruber who, evil as he was, at least had plenty of sardonic lines and Alan Rickman's charm. He is cold, cruel, blunt, demanding and ruthless, puts a gun to the head of one of his own men for letting another of his own men get killed (while not actually caring about the dead man), has an innocent old man murdered so his team can set up shop in his church, crashes an entire plane in retaliation for McClane killing some of his men (who had just slaughtered an airport security team), and his master plan is to rescue a murderous drug-dealing dictator from prison because he fully agrees with said dictator (and is being paid of course). He not only shows zero remorse for any of his actions but is outright proud and defiant about them too, while having little in the way of interpersonal charm. He's so despicable that his actor has even said that he takes it as a compliment whenever someone tells him how much they hated him in this movie, because even he interpreted the character he was playing as an absolutely evil irredeemable bastard.
• Hypocrite: He claims to be a patriot looking to help protect America from communism by rescuing Esperanza, who was an important ally to the US during the Cold War. This is undermined by most of his victims being Americans, many of whom were either civilians or police officers trying to save the civilians Stuart was putting in danger. He also conveniently omts the fact that he is getting paid for his work, making him just as much of a mercenary and petty criminal as Hans Gruber.
• Icy Blue Eyes: He has blue eyes, and is cold in all senses of the word.
• It's All About Me: Stuart only really cares about himself. The way he sees it, him being disillusioned with politics and disagreeing with General Esperanza's imprisonment gives him the right to betray his country and kill countless innocents. He doesn't even care about his own men that much, even letting Major Grant die because saving him wouldn't provide him any benefit. However, he views any of them being killed as a slight against him, and will enact brutal revenge on anyone who dares inconvenience him.
• Jerkass: In addition to being a monster who coldly murders civilians, he's awful on a personal level. He's cold, blunt, snide, condescending, unpleasant and unbearably smug and full of himself. While Hans Gruber was evil in a similar way, he at least had impeccable manners and a dry wit and Alan Rickman's effortless charisma. Stuart is just an unpleasant bastard.
• Karmic Death: Sending a plane full of innocents to their deaths is pretty unforgivable. So it's only fitting that he and his mooks are blown up on a plane while Stuart can do nothing but scream in terror.
• Kick the Dog: He sends a plane full of innocent people to their deaths as retaliation for the deaths of some of his men, and he clearly enjoys it the entire time, showing nothing but satisfaction as the plane crashes into the ground, killing everyone aboard including children.
• Kill It with Fire: He dies when the getaway plane explodes, in almost the exact same way the plane full of innocent civilians he crashed died.
• Lack of Empathy: He kills a plane full of people on Christmas Eve and has completely no remorse for it.
• Lightning Bruiser: He manages to outfight McClane at the end of the movie with some quick and hard hitting martial arts.
• Man Bites Man: John bites him in the hand during their fight, tearing out a two-inch portion and causing the near robotic Stuart to scream in pain.
• Moral Myopia: Killing an old man just to use his church as a base? Just a part of the operation. Killing airport security who just did their jobs? Just a part of the operation. John killing the terrorists who just killed said airport security workers and were about to shoot Leslie? Crash an entire plane as punishment.
• Mr. Fanservice: He gets an introductory scene in the nude to show off his impressive, glistening physique. Sadler even asked for time to work out when he learned he'd be appearing naked.
• Naked First Impression: His introductory scene had him practicing martial arts in the nude.
• Narcissist: It's subtle, but still there. He is introduced admiring himself in the mirror, and he tends to view others as extensions of himself, treating his men as expendable while also flipping his lid when they are killed. He also sincerely believes he's a noble patriot who knows best for his country and will eventually be regarded as a hero, even as he coldly orders the murder of innocent civilians for profit.
• Near-Villain Victory: He comes this close to getting everything he wants and escaping to a life of freedom and luxury until John lights the fuel trail and blows Stuart and his men to kingdom come.
• Never My Fault: Stuart has a tendency to blame his rash actions on the actions of others. Him getting his command terminated and subsequently turning traitor for continuing to fund Esperanza? The government's fault, for not being willing to combat communism. Him crashing a plane full of innocent people? It's McClane and the Dulles Airport staff's fault for trying to save the planes Stuart has stuck in the air, which necessitated retaliation. It shows that he still can't quite grasp that he's not the noble patriot he thinks of himself as being.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: As an unstable ultra-right wing Special Forces colonel who got entangled in criminal activity supporting an oppressive Latin American regime out of hatred of communism, he's clearly meant to call to mind then-infamous centerpiece of the Iran-Contra Affair Oliver North.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Beating McClane to a pulp and throwing him off the plane's wing in the finale. Of the series' Big Bads, he's the only one to physically beat the crap out of McClane, albeit partially due to having a considerable advantage with John's weakened state after the events of the night. Too bad he didn't kill him, because McClane still shrugged off the beating and blew up Stuart's plane.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Stuart doesn't care about anything other than achieving his end goal, and focuses on his strategies and readjusts them depending on the situation. He even nearly wins before getting killed.
• Not So Stoic: When he battles McClane on the plane's wing, he loses his stoic facade and gleefully taunts him and draws the fight out and even cries out in pain when John bites off a chunk of his hand.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He fancies himself as a patriot doing whatever is necessary to combat communism and save those who would aid him in that fight. But he has several Americans killed and the man he want to rescue is a drug dealing dictator and The Generalissimo, traits often associated with communist leaders outside of the Soviet Union, and he's getting paid for it.
• Oh, Crap!: His final moments are him seeing the giant wall of flame reaching through the plane and screaming in terror as he is utterly powerless to do anything.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: Colonel Stuart was a model soldier before he turned against the US to rescue General Esperanza.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "Okay, McClane, time for the main event!"
• Psycho Knife Nut: Brings out a combat knife first against John, before the cop bites him.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: The only villainous leader in the franchise to qualify for this trope.
• Sadist: He visibly enjoys causing a plane filled with civilians to crash and shows nothing but satisfaction afterwards, and he gets way too much pleasure out of giving John a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
• Smug Snake: On top of everything, Stuart is almost insufferably smug in a manner that, unlike Hans Gruber's smugness, is not endearing in any way and just serves to make Stuart even more unlikable. He never treats John as a serious threat and smugly mocks him in spite of how capable and badass John proves himself to be, and he oozes smugness and self-satisfaction whenever he calls the Dulles staff, particularly when he causes a plane filled with civilians to crash and enjoys it, smugly rubbing it in to the staff that they can't save the plane as he leads it to its doom.
• The Sociopath: The only villain in the franchise to murder children, and feel nothing but cold satisfaction afterwards on top of that.
• Sociopathic Soldier: He is a former Special Forces Colonel and The Sociopath.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He almost always speak in a soft voice and rarely shouts and it highlights how cold-blooded he is.
• The Stoic: Not one time does he emote to anything. He always acts and speaks with a very stoic presence. And it makes him more terrifying.
• Strong and Skilled: He's in excellent physical shape and an outstanding combatant who easily defeats John with some impressive Karate, Muay Thai and Taekwondo moves.
• Undignified Death: He dies pathetically screaming right before the getaway plane explodes.
• Viler New Villain: Not that Hans Gruber wasn't vile, but even he didn't murder a planeful of people just to prove a point. Stuart also manages this despite John's best attempts, and gives John a pretty brutal beatdown too.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims to be a patriot doing whatever is necessary to combat communism, which is why he plots to rescue General Esperanza. Being paid handsomely is also a factor, but his political motivations seem genuine.
• Western Terrorist: Of the Right Wing Militia Fanatic variety. Stuart is motivated by his desire to battle communism and Soviet influence, even if it means betraying his country and rescuing a murderous dictator.
• Wicked Cultured: While he doesn't put up the sophisticated front of Hans Gruber, he's well-versed enough to quote Cardinal Richelieu.
• Worthy Opponent: After recollecting McClane for being a publicized hero for his actions in the first film, he seems to view him as this, though in a mocking insincere Faux Affably Evil manner.
• Would Hurt a Child: He has no issue whatsoever crashing planes that have kids on board.

Maj. Grant

Major Grant

"I'm just your kind of asshole!"

Played By: John Amos

Dubbed in French By: Sady Rebbot

The leader of a Special Forces team sent to Dulles to help the police neutralize Colonel Stuart's Renegade Splinter Faction... or so it seems.

---

• Evil All Along: Came to the airport under the guise of a soldier with one full platoon trying to stop Stuart, but revealed half-way through the movie that he and the entire platoon were in on the plot with Stuart and Esperanza.
• Faux Affably Evil: "Too bad McClane, I kind of like you!"
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• Kick the Dog: He coldly slices poor Telford's throat open and then watches him die.
• Slashed Throat: Does this to Telford, who wasn't in on the plan.
• Turbine Blender: John knocks him off the wing they were fighting on and he is sucked into the engine and diced up.
• Villain Respect: He genuinely respects McClane, and even admits he liked him while in the middle of trying to kill him.
• Walking Spoiler: It's incredibly hard to talk about him without spoiling that he and his men are working with Colonel Stuart.
• Western Terrorists: Subverted. Unlike Stuart, Grant is entirely motivated by monetary reward, and is upfront about it.

General Esperanza

General Ramon Esperanza

Played By: Franco Nero

Dubbed in French By: Marc Alfos

Formerly the dictator of Val Verde. Esperanza's regime provided a fairly effective bulwark against neighboring communist forces, but American support for his regime dried up after reports of the brutality of his rule got out, and when he took up drug dealing to replace the lost foreign aid money, the US Government arranged for him to be deposed and arrested.

---

• Ace Pilot: Manages to fly the plane that was transporting him through a blinding snowstorm and a bullet hole in the windshield to the ground with little incident. Later on, he flies the getaway plane that all the terrorists are on.
• Beard of Evil: He's an evil dictator who has committed countless crimes and also sports a beard.
• Benevolent Boss: While he does berate Stuart and his men for failing to kill McClane, Esperanza is usually cordial with them, promises them a reward for rescuing him, and makes sure to pull his own weight by piloting their getaway plane.
• Cigar Chomper: He's seen asking his guard to light his up during the flight.
• *Click* Hello: The pilot of Esperanza's plane is being told by Stuart to land at a different runway than he has been instructed to. As he's protesting the change in orders: *CLICK* "Captain, please tell the tower you will proceed as ordered."
• Faux Affably Evil: He's very chummy and cordial, a front he uses to get people to forget he's actually a cold-blooded killer, most notably his guard, who he strangles to death after feigning respect for him.
• Faux Fluency: If you speak Spanish, than you can tell that Franco Nero clearly isn't a native speaker, with a very thick Italian accent.
• The Generalissimo: Of Val Verde, no less. Maybe Rico Rodriguez brought him in.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Colonel Stuart's actions are all to free him from captivity.
• Handy Cuffs: Esperanza uses his to strangle his guard on the plane to get access to his handcuff key.
• Kill It with Fire: Dies in the plane explosion.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's clearly based on Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, and bears a physical resemblance to former President Cuban Fidel Castro. There's also a bit of Pablo Escobar in there as well.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Gets shot in the shoulder by John when he arrives.
• Undignified Death: He dies screaming pathetically right before the getaway plane explodes.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Stuart's people see him as one, a man willing to do anything to oppose Communism. Reading between the lines, it's entirely likely that he actually is just willing to do anything to maintain his own powerbase, and the fact that many of the enemies of his regime were Communists was a coincidence.

Sam

Samantha "Sam" Coleman

"You give me this story and I'll have your baby."

Played By: Sheila McCarthy

Dubbed in French By: Virginie Ledieu

A reporter covering the Dulles Airport Crisis. She generally tends to be nicer and more ethical than Richard Thorberg.

---

• Badass Bystander: Does not take part in the struggle against the terrorists; that is until the end when McClane flags her down for a place on the news chopper she flew in on, allowing him to board Stuart's escape plane.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Spends the better part of the first act looking for something to report on at the airport while awaiting Esperanza's arrival. Before long she's reporting on the destruction of a passenger plane full of innocents deliberately crashed into the runway by Colonel Stuart, with no survivors to be found.
• Butt-Monkey: Is constantly blown off in her overly eager efforts to land the next big spot while awaiting the arrival of General Esperanza, even earning a "Fuck You" from Colonel Stuart for her troubles.
• Foil: To Richard Thornburg, in that she is just as eager to land her next big story but isn't malicious about it, and actually comes around to be an important ally when the situation demands it.
• Intrepid Reporter: She is a refreshing change of pace from the opportunistic Thornberg. Although she initially annoys McClane with her questions, she helps John chase the villains in her news helicopter. The fact she's getting a spectacular exclusive of McClane stopping Colonel Stuart doesn't hurt either as something she legitimately earned.

Marvin

Marvin

Played By: Tom Bower

Dubbed in French By: Joseph Falcucci

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• Badass Bystander: He may be just a janitor, but his intimate knowledge of the airport facilities proves to be a huge help to McClane and he helps John to warn the airport police of Grant's treachery after the church shootout.
• Chekhov's Gun: He recovers Miller's CB communicator, which still had its code active allowing John to listen in on all of Stuart's chatter. This allows him to intercept General Esperanza when the latter's plane arrives at the airport.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: A bit of an odd duck, to say the least. In a deleted scene he is shown to be living in the airport basement as he is homeless, a fact as of yet unnoticed by the airport staff. John agrees to keep this under wraps for himself.
• Cool Old Guy: He proves to be a critical ally to McClane due to his familiarity with the airport and spares no expense to help McClane in any way he can.
• Shellshocked Veteran: Is implied to be a veteran of World War II. He's quite proud of it, too.

Trudeau

Ed Trudeau

Played By: Fred Dalton Thompson

Dubbed in French By: William Sabatier

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• Badass Bystander: As Chief of Air Operations, he doesn't take any direct action against the terrorists, but maintains some semblance of control amid the deteriorating situation at the airport and after witnessing Stuart's wrath firsthand does everything in his power to regain control of the tower's communications.
• Despair Event Horizon: Is forced to witness the crash of the Windsor flight, and is visibly distressed that they were not able to prevent Stuart from following through on his threat to crash the planes above.
• Large and in Charge: He's Chief of Air Operations and played by the 6'6 Fred Thompson.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Is one of the few higher-ups willing to hear out John's warnings when it becomes apparent that a major terrorist plot is unfolding before him.

Barnes

Leslie Barnes

Played By: Art Evans

Dubbed in French By: Robert Darmel

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• Badass Bystander: He is the Chief Engineer at the tower and its through his own brilliant skill that he outmaneuvers the terrorists in their control of the tower; multiple times, at that.
• "Eureka!" Moment: He has several of these, and it is his use of the outer marker beacon as a radio signal that allows the tower to alert the planes above of what is really happening at the airport. He also is able to deduce where the terrorists' hideout is.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His attempt to re-establish communications with the planes with the antenna array leads to the crash of Windsor 114.
• Oh, Crap!: When O'Reilly presses a gun to his temple; thankfully, McClane arrives in the nick of time.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Gets his arm bloodied up in the skywalk shootout when a glass pane explodes near him; it doesn't seem to faze him much though as he is able to aid McClane throughout the rest of the siege.
• Sole Survivor: He is the only survivor of the skywalk shootout due to McClane's intervention, having been under the escort of the SWAT team before they were wiped out.

Carmine

Captain Carmine Lorenzo

Played By: Dennis Franz

Dubbed in French By: Yves Barsacq

The incredibly abrasive head of the Dulles Airport Police.

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• Da Chief: Is basically an even more aggressive version of this trope, openly threatening John, accusing him of everything, and getting up in his face.
• Dumbass Has a Point: As stupid and obstructive as Lorenzo normally is, he has a logical reason to send the airport SWAT Team to help Barnes activate the marker beacon. He says that if Barnes figured out how to counter the terrorist plot, the terrorists may have figured out that they are vulnerable in that respect and taken precautions. The terrorists are guarding the route to the marker beacon, and while the SWAT cops turn out to be a Redshirt Army, they do manage to kill one Mook and keep Barnes from being killed outright. However, John speculates that Stuart wanted Lorenzo to do that in order to take out the toughest cops on the scene.
• Jerkass: He only really gets better near the end, and spends much of his on-screen time haranguing John and screaming at his subordinates and being just extremely unpleasant to the point that it's a Christmas miracle that anyone can stand to be around him. He's especially vicious towards John.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's an absolutely colossal jerk about it but he's quite right that shutting down a section of a major airport on Christmas Eve based largely on John's hunch that there might be more to the crime is not remotely practical.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: Lorenzo seems to finally respect John after the latter proves that he was right about Stuart and Grant being in cahoots and prepares to mobilize the airport police to take the terrorists down. However, Thornberg's broadcast sends the airport into a panic, preventing him and John from getting to the runway and forcing the latter to find outside assistance (Samantha Coleman) to reach them.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: A very angry, loudmouthed example. He utterly refuses to listen to John about anything and goes out of his way to be as rude and uncooperative to him as possible. Grant even describes him as such.
• Pet the Dog: He eventually warms up to John by the time the film is over and tears up his parking ticket as a favor.
• Sibling Team: His brother Vito is an officer on the Dulles Airport Police and just as much of a jerk.

Garber

Garber

"God loves the infantry."

Played By: Don Harvey

Dubbed in French By: Patrick Borg

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• Chekhov's Gun: His MP5A3 is taken by John during the snowmobile chase. John learns the hard way that Garber's gun is filled with blank rounds, which means that the firefight was staged.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: His hair is perpetually slicked back.
• Multiple Gunshot Death: Shot six times by John during the snowmobile chase, marking him as the ninth terrorist to die (eighth killed by John).
• Number Two: Colonel Stuart's second in command. He's not enough of a badass to be The Dragon.

Miller

Miller

Played By: Vondie Curtis-Hall

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• Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: After returning to the church after Cochrane is killed, Stuart threatens him with a pistol to the forehead. He even pulls the trigger-but the gun is not loaded.
  Stuart: You fail me again and the chamber won't be empty. Dismissed.
• Combat Pragmatist: Uses luggage as weapons twice during his first fight with McClane, shooting a suitcase to knock McClane's gun out of his hand and hitting him with another.
• Eye Scream: John sprays an unknown aerosol in his face during the baggage fight.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• The Quiet One: Doesn't have another word in the film after being threatened by Stuart.
• Token Minority: The only black member of Stuart's team, apart from Grant and his men.

O'Reilly

O'Reilly

Played By: Robert Patrick

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• Bond One-Liner: (Deleted scene): "This is Alice, we're down the rabbit hole."
• Boom, Headshot!: Delivers one of these to the SWAT team leader, at point-blank range no less.
• *Click* Hello: Does a silent version by putting his gun to Barnes' temple.
• Death from Above: He has Barnes at gunpoint and is about to kill him when McClane appears from the grate above him. The grate lands on him, preventing him from moving his hands until McClane shoots and kills him.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• Guns Akimbo: Uses a Glock 17 pistol in his right hand and H&K submachine gun in his left for the skywalk shootout.
• Kill and Replace: Murders two painters in a deleted scene for their uniforms.
• Light Is Not Good: For most of his screentime, he wears a white painter's jumpsuit as a disguise, which he took from a painter he killed in a deleted scene.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "A sitting duck." (Delivered to a SWAT officer to start the skywalk shootout).

Thompson

Thompson

"This is Buckwheat. The clubhouse is open."

Played By: Peter Nelson

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• Bond One-Liner: "This is Buckwheat. The clubhouse is open." (After Baker kills the church keeper).
• Death from Above: He's the one who resets the ground level to -200 feet, resulting in the crash of Windsor 114.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Brief, but he's a little hesitant when Stuart orders him to manipulate the ground levels, leading to the infamous plane crash.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• Impromptu Tracheotomy: Shot in the throat by John when Stuart goes to pick up Esperanza at the airport. It's quite bloodless.

Baker

Baker

Played By: Tony Ganios

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• The Brute: The strongest of Stuart's men, who comes the closest to killing McClane through strength rather than martial skill.
• Eye Scream: McClane stabs an icicle into his eye.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You're right about that." (When the church keeper states he feels like a part of him is dying with the church).

Burke

Burke

Played By: John Leguizamo

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• All There in the Manual: His name is not mentioned in dialogue.
• Chainsaw Good: Uses a chainsaw to cut the ILS landing system lines.
• The Cracker: Hacks the church's power grid so the terrorists can use the equipment.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• In the Back: Shot several times in the back by John, causing him to crash his snowmobile into an icy pond.
• Kill It with Ice: Crashes into the icy pond outside the church during the snowmobile chase.
• The Medic: Shown patching up a gunshot wound Esperanza suffered when Stuart came to pick him up.
• The Quiet One: Only has one line.

Kahn

Kahn

Played By: Tom Verica

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• All There in the Manual: His name is not mentioned onscreen.
• The Driver: Drives Esperanza during the snowmobile chase.
• Enemy-Detecting Radar: He's the one who's manning the listening post at the airport (initially set up by Miller and Cochrane) and tells Garber that Barnes tried to set up the antenna array, leading to the crash of Windsor 114.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's an ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• Mauve Shirt: Kahn manages to last all the way to the final confrontation with John before getting blown up in the plane explosion.
• Not the Intended Use: Kahn has an...interesting use for a fire ax. When John flees to the plane's cockpit and Kahn can't shoot through the door, Kahn blocks the door with the fire ax so John can't escape.

Cochrane

Oswald Cochrane

Played By: John Costelloe

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• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Shoots an aerosol can out of John's hand during the baggage handling fight.
• Death from Above: John jumps him from above, causing both of them to fall onto the conveyor belt.
• Faking the Dead: Apparently killed in a helicopter crash two years before the film. This is the first real clue to John that something is wrong.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's an ex-Special Forces-turned terrorist.
• No Kill like Overkill: He is beaten to a pulp by John, then held on a conveyor belt to the electrical baggage press before a roller either crushes his head or electrocutes him.
• Only One Name: Inverted. He's the only Mook given a first name.
• Sacrificial Lamb: The first of the terrorists to die.

Die Hard with a Vengeance

Carver

Zeus Carver

Played By: Samuel L. Jackson

Dubbed in French By: Thierry Desroses

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• Accidental Misnaming: "Why do you keep calling me Jésus?! Do I look Puerto Rican to you?"
• Action Duo: With McClane.
• Action Survivor: He helps out a lot throughout the film, but he's just a civilian who got dragged into the events and not an Action Hero like McClane.
• Arc Hero: He's only in the third movie.
• Audience Surrogate: Jackson saw him as how a regular person would react to McClane's antics.
• Black and Nerdy: He's a qualified electrician.
• Cool Uncle: His nephews clearly love him, and he goes Papa Wolf when he thinks they're at risk of being killed.
• Deuteragonist: He's the second main character of the film.
• The Drag-Along: He gets roped into John McClane's bomb-defusing adventure after trying to protect McClane from a street gang without realizing what was happening. They become friends by the end.
• Good is Not Nice: While he's a racist and doesn't have the best temper, he's willing to risk his own life to save a complete stranger despite said stranger wearing a sandwich board with a crude anti-black slogan.
• Good Samaritan: He doesn't know anything about John McClane other than he's a white man in Harlem wearing nothing but a racist sandwich board sign. Despite being a rather unrepentantly bitter and biased man when it comes to white people, he saves him from a gang. It wasn't that he necessarily wanted him to live, but he was afraid of what would happen if a white guy was killed on his block. Throughout the film, Simon Gruber calls him "The Samaritan."
• Good with Numbers: Good enough to say he's good at this and perform multi-digit multiplication in his head under pressure (though he also realizes it was a trick question). He runs a store so that might have something to do with it.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's openly hostile to white people, even when he's putting himself in danger to save their lives.
• Kidnapped by the Call: After he plays Good Samaritan and saves McClane, Simon forces him to team with McClane and solve together several puzzles to defuse some bombs scattered all along the city.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Zeus is openly racist against white people and has a chip on his shoulder but still plays the hero.
• The Lancer: Works back-to-back with John, but McClane is still the hero of the story.
• Malcolm Xerox: He definitely qualifies. In fact, Jackson researched the role to look and act exactly like Malcolm X himself. He gradually drifts into more sensible territory as the movie progresses, though.
• Meaningful Name: A man named after the god of thunder is working as an electrician.
• Noble Bigot: Zeus's Establishing Character Moment reveals he has a severe grudge against white people. He still saves John's life and teams up with him to defeat Simon.
• Non-Action Guy: He's a civilian, so he doesn't have any combat prowess. He tries to pull a gun on Simon, but it doesn't go well.
• Papa Wolf: When he finds out that the school bomb is planted in the same school his nephews attend, the first thing he does is threaten to shoot Simon.
• Scary Black Man: Nicely averted despite the presence of a tough black character from the hood who's played by Samuel L. Jackson. He's a no-nonsense individual with the courage to get done what he needs to, but he's not particularly intimidating just by his looks or presence, even with a gun in his hand, as he handles it rather nervously as he's not experienced with firearms. Though it's played straight with the hoods who were about to knife McClane before Zeus intervened.
• The Smart Guy: McClane himself is hardly stupid, being a Guile Hero par excellence, but Zeus has some pretty solid maths and science skills that he shows off throughout the film.
• Specs of Awesome: He wears glasses and is one of the film's primary heroes.
• You Are What You Hate: He's a black man with serious problems with white racists, which is understandable. However, he also exhibits unabashed racial disdain towards white people in general. Eventually McClane calls him out on the fact that he's just plain racist.

Simon

Simon Peter Gruber

Played By: Jeremy Irons

Dubbed in French By: Bernard Tiphaine

The brother of Hans Gruber, Simon was a Colonel in the GDR National Volksarmee, where he oversaw an infiltration unit that was scrapped due to the cessation of the Cold War. Like Hans before him, he eventually deradicalised and became a mercenary for hire. He undertakes a bold heist to rob the Federal Reserve while also seeking to avenge his brother's death.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: Simon appreciates John's sardonic sense of humor. In particular when John calls his late brother Hans an "asshole," Simon laughs and tells John he's absolutely right.
• Affably Evil: A very polite terrorist and thief. This works against him when he gives McClane a bottle of aspirins containing relevant information. Steers towards Faux Affably Evil when he's robbing the bank.
• Avenging the Villain: Played With. He initially claims that his bombings are a campaign of vengeance against McClane for the death of his brother, but it turns out that's a cover for his real motivation, robbing banks on Wall Street. In fact, he explicitly agrees with John that Hans was an Asshole Victim. But, on the other hand, he also explicitly states, "There is a difference, you know, between not liking one's brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot drops him out of a window!"
• Batman Gambit: Wreaks havoc to divert law enforcement attention from his real target.
• Benevolent Boss: He's a pretty good leader to his men, joining them on the frontlines and appreciating their work and pays his respects to those who died during the operation.
• Big Bad: Simon is the primary antagonist of the third film.
• Big Brother Instinct: He may not have liked Hans, but... "There's a difference between not liking your brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot drops him out a window."
• Bond Villain Stupidity: He handcuffs John McClane and Zeus to a bomb on a ship and leaves them to die instead of shooting them and blowing up the ship after.
• The Chessmaster: Plays several sides and moves a lot of pieces to try to achieve his goals.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Simon betrays his Middle Eastern clients by trying to keep the gold instead of blowing it up and then tries to maximise his share. He keeps at least some of his accomplices in the dark about the ultimate fate of the gold and then kills them when they find out. In the alternate ending, he's killed his girlfriend as well a few months after the movie's over.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
  • To his brother Hans. They're both polite criminals who fake being terrorists as a distraction from their elaborate theft schemes, but Hans only puts on a polite front, intends to kill countless innocent people for the sake of a robbery, takes himself extremely seriously, doesn’t know who McClane is for a large chunk of the film, and gets enraged when called out on his lackluster motivations. Simon is a genuinely Affably Evil Noble Demon and a dark-humored trickster who enjoys screwing with people, and fakes being a cruel Mad Bomber motivated by a grudge against McClane. The grudge actually is genuine, but killing McClane is secondary to completing his robbery. And while Hans tries to kill McClane at every opportunity, Simon prefers to run him through Criminal Mind Games to keep him distracted.
  • To Colonel Stuart. Colonel Stuart is a sociopathic, stoic, and callous villain who kills countless civilians just to accomplish his goal, and is motivated by his political ideology. Simon is a Laughably Evil Noble Demon who is genuinely charming most of the time, avoids casualties whenever he can, loves trolling people, and is focused entirely on a heist as well as a personal vendetta. Both were former soldiers who claimed political motivations, but Simon's claims are just a smokescreen while Stuart seemed to honestly believe he was a freedom fighter. They also have different dynamics with John, Stuart only facing him because John happened to be in the airport during the operation but quickly developing an intense mutual hatred while viewing John as beneath him. Simon specifically seeks out John and has a legitimate grudge against him but also seems to have some level of genuine respect and even affection for him and admits that taking John out was always secondary to his actual goal. The difference is best summed up by the fact that Stuart crashed a plane, killing hundreds of civilians, including children, without the slightest hint of remorse or reservation while Simon's main ploy of the bomb hidden in a school is revealed to be a bluff and he even says afterwards that "I'm a soldier, not a monster" whereas Stuart was both.
• Crazy-Prepared: He prepared quite a few puzzles and deathtraps for John and Zeus, considering that any one of them could have easily killed them both early on. Perhaps Simon knew just how indestructible John McClane really was.
• Criminal Mind Games: Subverted, his quests are all part of a misdirection.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He reveals that he wasn't happy that McClane killed his brother, Hans, despite Simon admitting that he disliked his brother.
  There's a difference, you know, between not liking one's brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot drops him out of a window.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In spite of the money at stake, he will not murder children in cold blood for it. After all, "I'm a soldier, not a monster... though I sometimes work for monsters." He does try to avoid civilian casualties during his mission when possible, for instance preferring to tranquilize the bank guards rather than kill them outright, though he's perfectly willing to hurt anyone who gets in his way. He was even willing to let Zeus go midway through rather than have his men take him out.
• Evil Genius: Like his brother, he's very intelligent, effortlessly pulling off a massive scheme right under the nose of the NYPD and FBI and nearly getting away with it, and lacking in morals.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Speaks in a low voice while playing up his ruthlessness.
• Evil Virtues: Simon is evil but he's not without admirable qualities. He's highly intelligent, ambitious, resourceful, determined, brave, doesn't kill innocents if he doesn't have to and is capable of genuine respect, comradery and mercy, even towards his enemies.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's a Former Regime Personnel-turned terrorist.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He gave McClane a bottle of aspirin, which gave him the location of their hideout in the climax.
• Large Ham: Jeremy Irons seems like he has a lot of fun playing a charming and devious villain.
• Laughably Evil: His brother in the first film has shades of this (mostly due to being a Deadpan Snarker) though Simon is ultimately more humorous thanks to being a total troll who really enjoys what he does.
• Leitmotif: "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is used as Simon's theme, as well as pretty much the main theme of the movie itself. The most notable scene where it plays is when he's robbing the Federal Reserve Bank.
• Mr. Fanservice: He strips down to a vest during the gold robbery, showing off his muscles.
• Near-Villain Victory: He nearly gets away with everything until John notices the address on the aspirin bottle and tracks him down.
• Nerves of Steel: Simon is many things but a coward isn't one of them. He doesn't even flinch when shotgun rounds fly mere inches from him or when Zeus has a machine gun pointed at him.
• Noble Demon: The kind of leader a band of warriors have is reflected in their behavior, for unlike most moustache-twirling one-dimensional villains, Simon's men actually go out of their way to make sure children will not be hurt in their operations and actually bother to mourn the losses of their brothers before rejoicing in their ill-gotten money. Goes hand-in-hand with Even Evil Has Standards above.
• Noble Top Enforcer: Invoked after the bomb at the school turns out to be a decoy.
  "Of course. I'm not a monster. Even though I sometimes work for monsters."
• Obviously Evil: There's a moment when he appears in person in all his sinister sunglasses, sinister voice, and on-and-off machine-like mannerisms and apparently has a bank official convinced he speaks as a man in the flower business.
• Pet the Dog: He instructs his men to let Zeus go rather than take him out with John.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He plays with this trope like a kitten does a ball of yarn; he seems to delight in making people think he is bigoted, mostly because he thinks it's fun to anger people and/or fake them out. When first speaking to Zeus Carver, for example, Simon (who is German but can mimic American Accents quite well, and who knows that Zeus is an angry black man because he's been watching him on hidden video cameras) says: "So whot's yowuh name, boy?" in twangy, hick fashion just to irritate Zeus; he then apologizes, explaining that he's fond of tasteless jokes. Later the trope is seemingly played straight when Simon calls John McClane a "dumb Irish flatfoot," but this is due not to anti-Irish sentiment but to Simon's general bitterness toward John for having killed his brother Hans in the first movie. Simon admits that he didn't even like Hans, but he's still determined to exact vengeance on anyone who messes with his family, saying "There's a difference between not liking one's brother and not caring when some dumb Irish flatfoot drops him off a building."
• Porky Pig Pronunciation: Throughout the film, Simon seemed to have a stutter of sorts when talking over the phone when "pushed". However, in the scenes when he wasn't speaking to the NYPD, he talks and speaks perfectly fine and fakes a stutter while calling New York police gullible, indicating it was just a ruse.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His acts are literally based around a children's game, Simon Says. Also treats his acts more like a child having fun more than his brother ever did.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Appears to have been one in the past, judging by his line about working for monsters.
• Putting on the Reich: Simon's archive photo depicts him dressed in an early NVA uniform, looking completely Nazi save for the imperial eagle.
• Troll: Simon really enjoys screwing with people and often puts on acts to mess with whoever he's talking to.
• Villain Respect: While he wants vengeance on John for killing his brother, he seems to genuinely like him to an extent, or at least respect him.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: It turns out the school bomb was a fake designed to distract the NYPD, which Simon admits was borne out of not actually wanting to place the lives of children in danger.

Katya

Katya

Played By: Sam Phillips

The Bulgarian girlfriend of Matthias Targo, often working as an assassin during his missions.

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• Blood Knight: She needs to be physically restrained by Simon and Targo from further cutting up the poor Federal Reserve guard she already killed. An almost literal example, as her knife-work leaves her clothes covered in blood for the rest of the film.
• Dark Action Girl: Evil, female, and deadly.
• Dark Mistress: She's clearly infatuated with Simon.
• The Dragon: Works as the main muscle for Simon.
  • Co-Dragons: With Targo, though it's quickly established that she is the sole dragon through her Undying Loyalty.
• Femme Fatale: Sexy and absolutely dangerous.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: She's a Former Regime Personnel-turned terrorist.
• Not So Stoic: She never smiles, never speaks, never even makes a sound throughout all her scenes...until the film's climax, when she and Simon are interrupted by John McClane and Zeus Carver at a very inopportune moment - and she completely loses her cool, firing off a machine gun and screaming in rage.
• Psycho Knife Nut: Slices up a security guard with a fillet knife until Simon and Targo need to hold back to make her stop.
• Silent Antagonist: She utters only a single sound (a frustrated scream) in the entire film. Ironic, given that Sam Phillips is a noted singer in real life.
• The Voiceless: The original ending to the movie suggests she may be mute (and she has a noticeable scar on her throat), but in the final cut, she does yell when shooting at McClane. She was originally supposed to have a speaking part in the film; however, it was decided that her character would be silent since it made her appear much more imposing and lethal. This makes the scene where she slices one of the Federal Reserve guards to death much more powerful.

Targo

Mathias Targo

Played By: Nicholas Wyman

Dubbed in French By: Bernard Métraux

A former explosives expert for the Hungarian Army, Matthias Targo now works as a contract saboteur. Radicalized against the West, Targo works primarily for the Iranians. In this capacity, he serves as Simon's handler in the Federal Reserve Heist mission.

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• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: "Targo" isn't a Hungarian surname, while "Mathias" is the Germanic rendering of the name that would be rendered in Hungarian as "Mátyás".
• Bomb Throwing Anarchist: Unlike most of Simon's troops, he actually did seek to "level the economic playing field" of the world. He is quite angry when he finds out that Simon is Only in It for the Money.
• The Dragon: Shares this role with Katya, but he gets the big fight with McClane.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While still a terrorist, he at least believes in the cause he's involved in and isn't happy to learn that Simon intends to steal the gold instead of destroying it. He's also angered when John kills one of his men.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: He's a Hungarian Former Regime Personnel-turned terrorist.
• Genius Bruiser: Being a Demolition Expert, he knows how to create bombs and how to properly place them. He's also a giant of a man who can give John a solid beating.
• Made of Iron: McClane stabs a big sharp piece of metal into his leg and it does nothing to him. It's only when he gets tripped by a chain is when John is finally able to lay a beatdown on him.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Doesn't acknowledge John stabbing him in the leg at all.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives McClane one in their fight and ends up on the receiving end after McClane manages to trip him.
• Perpetual Frowner: He always has the frown that is shown in his character image.
• Super-Strength: He throws McClane around by grabbing one motherfucking leg.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: He, unlike Simon's other men, actually is an anarchistic terrorist, but he doesn't seem to have an end goal outside of screwing over "the economic playing field" and is noted to loan his services out.
• Unholy Matrimony: Implied to be this with Katya.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: "Simon, kill him. Stop toying with him and kill him now!"

Cobb

Walter Cobb

Played By: Larry Bryggman

Dubbed in French By: Guy Chapelier

The head of the NYPD's Major Cases unit, and John's commanding officer.

• Da Chief: Heads up what is ostensibly New York's biggest crime-tackling division.
• Exact Words: When addressing the senior officers regarding the bomb in the school, Walter informs them that Simon has said that they can't evacuate, but he didn't say that they can't search.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite the fact that he previously suspended John for alcoholism (and even has officers tailing him through part of the film), he puts all his faith in him, reinstating him at the first opportunity.
• Remember the New Guy?: He's apparently been John's boss for some time, likely before the events of the first film, but he wasn't referenced until the plot kickstarts and he's forced into action to bring McClane onboard. In fairness, the first two films take place outside NY, and in the second film, McClane is with the LAPD. It can be surmised that when McClane and Holly had their martial troubles, he moved back to New York and back into his former position under Cobb's command, which is why he wasn't seen or referenced before this film.

Kowalski

Connie Kowalski

Played By: Colleen Camp

Dubbed in French By: Josiane Pinson

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• Deadpan Snarker: When asked why anyone would want to blow up a department store, Connie quips that perhaps a woman is angry about missing a shoe sale.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Connie is a blonde cop who works hard during the crisis and risks her life trying to evacuate a school believed to have a bomb inside.

Lambert

Joe Lambert

Played By: Graham Greene (Actor)

Dubbed in French By: Marc Alfos

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• Badass Native: He's a Native American and a no-nonsense cop.
• Spotting the Thread: The first lines in the movie have him wondering out loud why anyone would want to blow up a school, saying there's nothing there of relevance. This is long before the Bonwits bombing is revealed to be a distraction for the real heist at the Federal Reserve.

Walsh

Ricky Walsh

Played By: Anthony Peck

Dubbed in French By: José Luccioni

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• Mauve Shirt: He's revealed to be one of McClane's friends, and after he dies, John grieves over him for a moment before resuming his focus.
• Never Win the Lottery: Ricky has been futilely playing the lottery for years, always using his badge number.
• Sacrificial Lion: Simon's men kill him during the infiltration of the Federal Reserve.

Weiss

Charlie Weiss

Played By: Kevin Chamberlin

Dubbed in French By: Jean-Loup Horwitz

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• Demolitions Expert: Charlie is a bomb expert who first describes how one bomb works and later works to disarm a second one when children are in danger.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He stays behind to try and disarm the bomb in the school, fully expecting to be blown up. It comes as a shock when the "bomb" turns out to be a fake, filled with pancake syrup instead.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Charlie is a bespectacled expert in the field of analyzing and disarming explosive devices.

Raymond and Dexter

Raymond and Dexter

Played By: Aldis Hodge and Raymond Alexander Jackson

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• Delinquents: They skip school a lot and hang out with a kid who steals radios, which is Played for Laughs.

Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0

Farrell

Matt Farrell

Played By: Justin Long

Dubbed in French By: Patrick Mancini

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• Action Survivor: He's a kid with a laptop, he's got nothing physically, but by the end of the movie he's determined to save Lucy and America.
• Arc Hero: Similar to Zeus from the third film, Matt is exclusive to the fourth film.
• Deadpan Snarker: McClane's humor is contagious even for his sidekicks.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He has some anti social behaviors and is not happy to be dragged along in the adventure but he ends up having the best of intentions.
• The Lancer: Acts as John's partner and has a contrasting skill set to his.
• Motor Mouth: Talks about a mile a minute, which contrasts against John's more laconic nature.
• Non-Action Guy: While Matt isn't very accomplished when it comes to fighting, he knows all the hacker tricks McClane needs to defeat Gabriel.
• Pipe Pain: Uses a pipe to kill one of Mai's henchmen by hitting him in the back; the henchman subsequently falls into the elevator shaft.
• Playful Hacker: Large computer terminals, chugs down energy drinks... and went to Space Camp!
• The Smart Guy: McClane is out of his depth with all of the hacker stuff but Matt picks up the slack.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Has this dynamic with John; he often needs McClane to fend off bad guys long enough to hack into whatever Gabriel is up to, but can stall Gabriel's plans and figure out his plans in ways that non-tech-savvy McClane could not on his own. Their combination of brains and brawn save the day.
• Took a Level in Badass: Though he does later pick up a gun and shoots Gabriel's other Dragon during the final showdown.

Bowman

Miguel Bowman

Played By: Cliff Curtis

Dubbed in French By: Joël Zaffarano

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• Deadpan Snarker: Especially to the DHS and FBI agents sent in to assist with the situation.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Not so much at first since he's skeptical of Matt's suggestion that the entire situation is a fire sale. However, he quickly wises up and tries to support McClane and Matt as much as he can. He even gives his word later on that he would save Lucy after she was kidnapped should something happen to John.

Molina

Alex Molina

Played By: Željko Ivanek

Dubbed in French By: Daniel Lafourcade

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• Number Two: He is Bowman's second-in-command.

Gabriel

Thomas Gabriel

"You know, John, I feel like we've gotten off on the wrong foot. And because of that, you think I'm the bad guy. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm the good guy here. I told them this could happen if they didn't prepare. And did I get a 'thank you'? No, I got crucified. But they wouldn't listen."

Played By: Timothy Olyphant

Dubbed in French By: Jean-Pierre Michaël

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• Bad Boss: He'll kill anyone he doesn't have a use for anymore.
• Big Bad: Gabriel is the primary antagonist of the fourth film.
• The Chessmaster: His plans are far reaching and manipulates many parties to get what he needs.
• The Cracker: No system is safe against him. As recounted by Warlock, he hacked into NORAD and shut down the entire U.S. Defense network with a laptop just to prove a point about the system's vulnerabilities.
• Creepy Monotone: Speaks in a level tone which highlights his callousness.
• Dark Is Evil: Wears all black clothes.
• Deadpan Snarker: He is not impressed when McClane covers up a camera to block sound.
• Diabolical Mastermind: He is the leader of a pretty elaborate evil plan.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He is not at all happy when Mai is killed.
• Fallen Hero: In a way. He once wanted to protect the country from cyber crime. Then he decided that infinite wealth would be kind of nice.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Doubly so; shot by McClane with his own gun, through a bullet wound that he was torturing McClane with.
• It's All About Me: Screw the U.S.! He has money to make!
• It's Personal: He really doesn't like John killing Mai well. In general, he also has a big grudge against the U.S. for ruining his reputation despite his rather unorthodox methods of trying to show how vulnerable their systems were to cyberwarfare.
• Jerkass: Described as "not a people person." He's an asshole to his own Mooks except for Mai.
• Lack of Empathy: Shuts down the entire country just to be rich and gives zero fucks. Just ask the people who probably died when he blew the gas mains.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His habit of offing anyone who is no longer useful winds up piquing the NYPD’s (and John McClane by extension) attention.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Just because he is a technology driven villain doesn't mean he will avoid collateral damage to massive degrees to achieve his goals.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gabriel claims that he's simply showing the very vulnerabilities of the system he told the government about but they refused to fix and instead destroyed his reputation out of petty revenge for his initial attempts to prove it. In reality, he just intends to steal the United States' financial data for a massive payday and the "fire sale" cyber attack was just the means of getting his hands on it. When McClane notes "it's always about the money" from his prior experience, Gabriel simply replies that he deserves "to get paid for [his] work".
• Sinister Surveillance: Part of his intel gathering hinges on taking over surveillance systems along with pretty much everything else.
• Smug Snake: He believes himself to be on a higher intellectual plane then everyone else, particularly McClane.
• The Sociopath: Has no problem with ruining an entire country by crashing its infrastructure and stealing all of its money, or how many people he murders in the tunnel to flush out McClane and Farrell. And that's not going into what happened when he blew the gas mains after Mai died. To be honest, he wouldn't give a shit.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He shows no remorse for anything but speaks softly and in monotone.
• Underestimating Badassery: Each time he throws something at McClane, he believes the cop would not survive it. Even at the beginning he thinks he can bribe John into killing Farrell.
• Unholy Matrimony: Gabriel and Mai are a couple who care about each other despite both being ruthless criminals.
• Villainous Breakdown: After Mai's death, he started to lose his cool.
• Would Hit a Girl: Slaps Lucy around a few times.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • Does this to the hackers who gave their codes to Mai; this is where John gets involved when Gabriel tries to eliminate Farrell and John gets there first.
  • Has all of his tech experts except Trey killed after they complete their task for him near the end of the movie.

Mai

Mai Linh

Played By: Maggie Q

Dubbed in French By: Yumi Fujimori

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• By the Hair: John rips out some of her hair.
• Dark Action Girl: A ruthless killer who murders several people without batting an eye. Later battles it out with John and gets the upper hand for a while until John finds an SUV.
• Dark Mistress: Partnered with Gabriel.
• Disney Villain Death: Dropped down an elevator shaft in an SUV, which explodes.
  John: "Mai? Oh yeah. Little Asian chick, likes to kick people? I don't think she'll be talking to anybody for a really long time. Last time I saw her she was at the bottom of an elevator shaft with an SUV rammed up her ass."
• The Dragon: Gabriel's second-in-command, also his partner in crime and romance.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She means enough to Gabriel to cause him to flip his lid when she dies.
• Lightning Bruiser: Easily the most capable hand-to-hand fighter in the movie. It takes some serious Car Fu to take her down, and even that doesn't kill her outright.
• Made of Iron: Gets run over by an SUV and survives.
  John: "How you doing?"
• Rasputinian Death: Gets run over by an SUV, rammed through several walls, and doesn't die until the SUV falls down an elevator shaft and explodes.
• Sacrificial Lion: A villainous version. Most people were probably not expecting her to die comparatively early in the film.
• Unholy Matrimony: Despite being a ruthless criminal like Gabriel, she cares about him and is not merely working with him as a co-conspirator.

Trey

Trey

Played By: Jonathan Sadowski

Dubbed in French By: Éric Herson-Macarel

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• Character Death: Shot in the chest by McClane, making him the first to die in the final shootout.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's unnerved when Gabriel orders him to send all the cars into the tunnel. When Trey hesitates, Gabriel does it himself.
• Evil Counterpart: To Matt Farrell.
• Evil Genius: The smartest person on Gabriel's crew.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A villainous hacker who wears a pair of glasses.
• Lack of Empathy: When the hackers put up the first video message, his only reaction is that he tried to put in more Nixon. He also doesn't care when Gabriel massacres his entire team to remove loose ends.
• Techno Wizard: Required to be part of Gabriel's hacker crew.

Warlock

Frederick "Warlock" Kaludis

Played By: Kevin Smith

Dubbed in French By: Sylvain Lemarié

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• Basement-Dweller: Still living with his mother, in the basement. He and his mother mainly interact by shouting rudely at each other from different floors.
• The Cameo: For Kevin Smith.
• Chekhov's Gunman: First mentioned in an online conversation with Matt just before John arrives in Camden.
• Crazy-Prepared: He has enough generators running to stay online and well-lit after the city goes dark.
• Genius Slob: Messy and dressed in a bathrobe and pajamas when the heroes arrive.
• In-Universe Nickname: His real name is Frederick Kaludis.
• Techno Wizard: Enough of one that Matt seeks him out when he needs help.

Rand

Rand

Played By: Cyril Raffaelli

Dubbed in French By: Cyril Raffaelli

A French mercenary who is tasked with killing the hackers who passed their algorithms to Mai.

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• The Brute: The most physically capable of the villains, and barely speaks.
• Co-Dragons: With Mai and Emerson, then later with Emerson after Mai's death.
• Cold Sniper: Seems to be going for this with his scoped rifle, stoic demeanor, and utter ruthlessness. The only problems are A) sniping is Plan B if the bombs he planted fail, B) he lacks the necessary patience, and C) he's a shitty marksman.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: John kicks a switch that releases liquid nitrogen that freezes Rand's arms, causing him to fall into a turbine, shredding him to death.
• Hired Guns: A French mercenary.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Rand's weapon is a really expensive custom AR with an even-more-expensive precision scope. Fortunately for the heroes, he mostly can't hit shit with it (apart from a Red Shirt FBI agent) and quickly switches to spraying bullets on full-auto out of frustration, with even less impressive results. A strong contender for "World's Worst Sniper."
• Le Parkour: Has amazing acrobatic skills.
  John: "Jesus, is the circus in town?"
• Mad Bomber: His modus operandi is to rig the hackers' computers with bombs, then activate a virus. When the hacker presses delete to close windows, the bomb is triggered.
• Made of Iron: Jumps out of a helicopter and gets sideswiped by a passing car. He survives both without major injuries.
• Oh, Crap!: When he sees a police car flying at the helicopter he's in. He makes it out, the pilot doesn't.
• The Unintelligible: Only speaks French.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: His job is to cover Gabriel's tracks by killing people.

Emerson

Emerson

Played By: Eduardo Costa

Another mercenary who is in league with Gabriel and third-in-command under him and Mai.

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• Agony of the Feet: Shot in the foot by Lucy during the final standoff. He manages to subdue her again, but is clearly in a lot of pain.
• Beard of Evil: Has a goatee beard and is one of the bad guys.
• Co-Dragons: With Mai and Rand to Gabriel.
• The Cracker: Responsible for downloading the money that Gabriel wants. That is, everyone's money.
• Dragon Their Feet: Tries to shoot McClane when the latter shoots Gabriel, only to be shot dead by Farrell.
• Dressing as the Enemy: His unit wears Hazmat suits when they infiltrate Woodlawn.
• Hired Guns: His unit is described as "hardware" to the hackers' "software."
• Human Shield: Uses Lucy as one during the final standoff.
• Oh, Crap!: When he captures Farrell and realizes that he's been locked out of the system.
• Walking Armory: Carries at least three guns on him throughout the film: a Heckler & Koch UMP in .45 caliber, a Heckler & Koch MP7, and a Heckler & Koch USP pistol.

A Good Day to Die Hard

Komorov

Yuri Komorov

Played By: Sebastian Koch

Dubbed in French By: Féodor Atkine

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• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Irina. Though in truth, he is the one behind it all.
• Disney Villain Death: Subverted, as he is met with a Helicopter Blender mid-fall.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Irina is his beloved daughter.
• Evil Counterpart: To John. Both are washed-up older men who each have a long list of regrets about balancing their work lives and family lives; they subsequently have strained relationships with their offspring yet are forced to work with them to achieve goals.
• Walking Spoiler: Possibly a first in the Die Hard series.

Irina

Irina Komorov

Played By: Yuliya Snigir

Dubbed in French By: Diana Rudychenko

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• Avenging the Villain: What she tries to do after seeing that Jack had killed her father, while she was losing control of the Mi-26 Halo cargo helicopter she was piloting due to John's interference. It leads to her ramming the Halo right into the building the McClanes, only for them to have already escaped, leading to her death.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Somewhat with Yuri. He is the one who does most of the orchestrating, though she manages to hold her own.
• Dark Action Girl: She's a girl who's not afraid to get her hands dirty.
• The Dragon: Yuri's second-in-command, and his daughter.
• Dragon Their Feet: She is the final antagonist who the McClanes face.
• Hellish Copter: How she dies, trying to take down the McClanes with the helicopter that was intended to take her father to safety.
• Ms. Fanservice: Tight and short dresses are only the beginning.
• Revenge Before Reason: She rams her Halo cargo helicopter to kill the McClanes when she notices that they've already jumped out of the building she was about to crash into just to kill them.

Alik

Alik

Played By: Radivoje Bukvic

Dubbed in French By: Radivoje Bukvic

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• Asshole Victim: To say that Yuri's least evil act of killing him is saying something.
• Ax-Crazy: Eagerly enjoys the carange that his job entails
• Bad Boss: Blows up several of his own men in the attack on the courthouse.
• Boom, Headshot!: How Komorov kills him. Of course, he continues to fire into the body long after he had shot the guy.
• Cop Killer: During the Car Chase after Jack and Komarov, his truck gets totaled. As cops arrive on the scene, Alik shoots one of them before fleeing.
• The Dragon: To Chagarin as the leader of the men hired to kill Jack and Komarov.
• Hired Guns: His occupation and he eagerly enjoys it.
• Large Ham: The dude dancing a jig in front of John and Jack, while kicking away their weapons.
• Laughably Evil: He can be pretty funny at points, in spite of being a psychopathic killer.
• The Mafiya: Alik is a vicious Russian gangster working for Viktor Chagarin.
• Psycho for Hire: Enjoys destruction and carnage while doing his job.

Chagarin

Viktor Chagarin

Played By: Sergei Kolsenikov

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• Diabolical Mastermind: He seems like a threatening oligarch at first fitting his role as the Big Bad at least his assumed role.
• Disc-One Final Boss: At first it looked like he's the Big Bad... until Komorov kills Alik, and gets killed himself by one of Komorov's men.
• The Mafiya: Viktor is supposed to be a ruthless Russian Mobster.
• Neck Snap: How one of Komarov's men kills him.

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