Kenobi. Kenobi is one of the iconic characters introduced by science fiction over the years. The likes of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Ripley, The Terminator, and Neo are not only icons of science fiction, they are some of the most iconic characters of all time.
But what of the characters that aren't the primary protagonist or antagonists? Like Obi-Wan, characters such as Han Solo, Boba-Fett, and John Connor have gone on to star in live-action productions of their own. But the rest of them are nevertheless icons of sci-fi and cinema, and they deserve to be celebrated.
Neil
Christopher Nolan's 2020 sci-fi epic Tenet was a time-travel experience unlike anything before it. While most such stories feature a jump from one time to another, Nolan's film featured characters and objects moving forward and backward in time. The film features numerous elements relating to forward and backward such as the name of the film and the incredible soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson.
One such element is the character of Neil. Played by Robert Pattinson, Neil is recruited by The Protagonist, but seems to know more about the situations than he should. As it turns out, Neil was actually first recruited by The Protagonist in the future and was sent back in time to help him at a younger age. A popular fan theory is that Neil is Sator's son, Max since N-E-I-L backward is the end of the name Maximilien.
Al Dillon
First introduced with the most epic handshake in the history of cinema, Carl Weather's Dillon is an old chum of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch and is the man who planned the mission in Predator. The team heads into the jungle of Guatemala where they ambush the camp of communist rebels. Dillon deceived Dutch by telling him that the mission was to retrieve a kidnapped diplomat.
But the group discovers that something far worse is out in the jungle with them. An extraterrestrial predator known as a Yautja stalks and kills the party one by one and takes their skulls as trophies. In one of the film's most iconic scenes, Dillon takes a stand against the predator, who blows off his arm and finished him off at close combat with his wristblades.
Corporal Dwayne Hicks
Hicks was one of the colonial marines who accompanied Ripley to the planet LV-426 to deal with a xenomorph infestation in 1986's Aliens. When over half of the platoon is wiped out attacking the Alien nest, the chain of commander es to Corporal Hicks.
Hicks turns out to be quite reasonable compared to Burke and forms a bond with Ripley. He commands the team as they set up defenses for the coming alien attack. Hicks gets sprayed with acid blood and is unable to assist Ripley in the film's climax. Sadly, Alien 3 killed the character off off-screen, but alternate stories such as William Gibson's Alien 3 and Neill Blomkamp's unmade Alien 5 ignored the events of that film and featured Hick's return.
Morpheus
What is the Matrix? That is the question that plagued Thomas Anderson for years and he sought the legendary hacker Morpheus to answer it. With the help of Trinity, He finally found Morpheus who presented him with a choice: blue pill or red pill. Ignorance or answers. Morpheus showed Anderson that the world he lived in was a lie, a computer program that manipulates humans into serving the machines.
Portrayed by Laurence Fishburne, Morpheus was the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar and a legendary and respected figure among the people of Zion. When Morpheus was captured by Agents, Neo went into the matrix to rescue him and in the process confirmed Morpheus's faith that he was The One. Years later, Morpheus was brought back as a program to assist Neo in Matrix 4, played by Abdul Mateen II.
Chewbacca
Han Solo's trusty sidekick and co-pilot, Chewbacca is one of the most beloved characters of all time. In fact, when the character was brought back for the Disney films everyone on set just wanted to hug him, per Star Wars UK's Star Wars and was played by Peter Mayhew. StarWars.com revealed that the character was inspired by George Lucas's dog who would ride in the car with him.
Chewy as he is affectionately known, has appeared in 7 of the 9 core "Skywalker Saga" Star Wars films, plus the spin-off film Solo. Today he is played by former basketball player Joonas Suotamo. In the 1999 novel Vector Prime, Chewbacca was killed saving Han's son Anakin but this was retconned by the new Disney canon.
R2-D2
R2-D2 and C-3PO were the first characters ever seen in a Star Wars film. In the opening scene of the 1977 film, Princess Leia ed the stolen Death Star plans to R2's memory banks while her ship was being boarded by imperials. The astromech droid took an escape pod down to Tatooine to seek out Obi-Wan Kenobi and set the events of the film in motion.
R2 and 3Po have appeared in all nine "Skywalker Saga" films plus Rogue One and a whole host of animated programs. The beloved robot R2D2 has many tools such as a computer interfacing plug-in, electrocuting enemies, and jet thrusters. Originally played by Kenny Baker, these days R2 is presented as an actual remote-controller robot.
Data
The android Data was one of the unforgettable characters of the massively popular show Data was often seeking to understand what it meant to be human, which led to many fun and dramatic moments. He was portrayed by Brent Spiner.
Data appeared in the subsequent four films starring the next generation cast and usually featured alongside Picard for the climax of the films. Data sacrificed himself to save Picard at the end of Star Trek: Nemesis but lived on in Picard's memory and through his own "Daughters" such as Soji in Star Trek: Picard.
Princess Leia
Princess Leia Organa was the princess of Alderaan from the Star Wars franchise. Carrie Fisher debuted the character in the 1977 film which featured an iconic white outfit and two buns. In Return of the Jedi, she was revealed to in fact be the daughter of Darth Vader and the sister of Luke Skywalker. Her birth was witnessed in Revenge of the Sith.
Leia appeared in seven of the nine main Star Wars films and has appeared in countless pieces of expanded media. She married Han Solo and gave birth to Ben Solo in the Disney canon and Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo in the old expanded universe.
Spock
Mr. Spock was an original character of 1966's Star Trek show and even appeared in the unaired pilot which Captain Kirk did not. A half-Vulcan half-human, Mr. Spock favored logic and was highly intelligent. He was well known for the Vulcan neck pinch and for iconic Star Trek lines such as "live long and prosper".
The character sacrificed himself to save his friends in The Wrath of Kahn, but he was reborn in The Search For Spock. Actor Leonard Nimoy appeared in eight Star Trek films, which is more than anyone else. More recently, Spock has been played by Zachary Quinto and Ethan Peck.
Dr. Emmett Brown
One day in 1955, Dr. Emmett Brown slipped off his toilet while attempting to hang his clock and hit his head. When he work up he had a vision of the flux capacitor. He devoted the next 30 years of his life to realize that vision and build the iconic DeLorean time machine.
Considered by some to be a crazy scientist, he befriended Marty McFly and the two went on several time traveling adventures. Dr. Brown settled in the old west with his wife Clara and had two sons named after Jules Verne. He was portrayed by legendary character actor Christopher Lloyd.
