List of Die Hard characters
This is a list of characters that appear in the Die Hard film series.
Protagonists
John McClane
The reluctant hero and main protagonist in the series. John McClane is a New York cop who finds himself taking on terrorists and saving his loved ones. In Die Hard, he gets invited to his wife's Christmas Party at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles when the building she is in is under attack by terrorists led by Hans Gruber. McClane must stop his evil scheme before it's too late. McClane defeats the terrorists and thwarts Gruber's plan, sending him falling off the building. John and Holly reconcile and get back together.
In Die Hard 2, McClane now has a new problem and must battle anti-special forces mercenaries led by Colonel Stuart, who take over Dulles airport and leave several planes (including his wife Holly's) circling in the air running low on fuel, while also dealing with an selfish airport police captain. Once again, the day is saved when McClane takes out Stuart and his mercy by blowing up his plane with his zippo lighter.
He is portrayed by Bruce Willis.
Holly Gennero McClane
McClane's now ex-wife whose relationship with John became more strained by each movie until Live Free or Die Hard, when it was confirmed that she and McClane had gotten a divorce sometime between the third and fourth films. Holly works for the Nakatomi Corporation, a career that John thought she would fail, but he was proven wrong. Holly was among the hostages during the Nakatomi Plaza takeover and was on one of the planes when mercenaries took over the Dulles International Airport. She is portrayed by Bonnie Bedelia.
Lucy McClane
Lucy is the daughter of John McClane & Holly Gennero and the sister of John "Jack" McClane Jr. She was estranged from her father, but during her college years in Rutgers University, she was kidnapped by cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel. After her father saves her and Matt Farrell, they seemed to be on speaking terms and that she changed her last name from Gennero to McClane. Several years later, Lucy drove her father to the airport as he goes to Russia to investigate the arrest of her brother Jack. She was seen when John returns with Jack and she reunites with them after their adventure in Moscow and Chernobyl, Ukraine. She is portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
John "Jack" McClane Jr.
John "Jack" Jr. is the son of John McClane & Holly Gennero and the brother of Lucy McClane. He plays a main role in A Good Day to Die Hard. When Jack is arrested for an assassination in a nightclub in Moscow, McClane who hasn't spoke to his son for several years heads over there to find out what happened to him. It is later revealed that Jack is a CIA operative set on a deep-cover mission in Russia that has lasted for three years without his father's knowledge. He is portrayed by Jai Courtney.
Antagonists
Hans Gruber
Hans Gruber is the first villain in the film series John McClane faces and the main antagonist of Die Hard. Gruber is a cold, unpredictable human being and doesn't care about whom he kills. His henchmen arrive in a truck and immediately take over Nakatomi Plaza, imprisoning hostages as part of a scheme to steal bearer bonds from the building's vault. Little does he know, his plan comes to a halt when John McClane kills three of his men and steals his bag of C-4 explosives. Gruber then sends Karl, his right-hand man, Fritz, and Franco, to retrieve them, all the while he deals with the police and the hostages. Gruber meets McClane himself under the disguise of "Bill Clay", which is quickly foiled. A Shootout with McClane ensues and, despite losing Fritz and Franco, he manages to retrieve the detonators and run back in business. He later discovers one of the hostages, Holly Gennero, is related to John McClane thanks to Richard Thornburg's report, and keeps her for himself as he steals the bearer bonds. John McClane confronts Hans Gruber and his surviving henchman Eddie in the end, and although Gruber seems to have the upper hand, he is shot in the shoulder and falls out the window, still clinging to Holly. McClane saves his wife and drops
Colonel Stuart
Colonel Stuart is the main antagonist of Die Hard 2. He is an ex-Special Forces Colonel who leads a troop of soldiers who takeover Dulles Airport and use makeshift equipment from a church to control all flights from the main command Center, and to free dictator General Ramon Esperanza from Val Verde. He first meets McClane by chance when the two accidentally bump into each other. Stuart takes total control of the airport when his men destroy the main antenna array, and he discovers John McClane is foiling his mission. In retaliation for the soldiers he lost, Stuart causes a plane to crash and he warns the control tower and McClane to stay away from his business. He later receives contact from General Esperanza that he is landing the plane and to turn on the runway lights so he can safely land. Stuart and his men arrive to see him, only to be ambushed by McClane. Luckily, a so,diner traps McClane in the cabin and Stuart commands his men to throw grenades in the cockpit. It explodes but McClane was barely able to escape the plane, and Stuart was forced to flee as cop cars were approaching. Back at the church, Stuart prepared a "shootout" with Major Grant and escaped via snowmobile. Now having Esperanza and Grant at his side, they leave the United States for an island on a jet, but are pursued by McClane. He gets the chance to fist fight McClane on the plane's wing and wins by knocking him off the wing. Unfortunately for Colonel Stuart, he did not see McClane pull the latch and cause fuel to leak, and Stuart is killed in the explosion of the plane lit by John McClane. He is portrayed by William Sadler.
Simon Peter Gruber
Simon Gruber, alias Peter Krieg, is a German terrorist and the main antagonist of Die Hard with a Vengeance. He is Hans Gruber's younger brother, who at first seems to be avenging his brother's death from the first film. A puzzler, Simon makes John McClane play a twisted, crazy version of Simon Says. After a bomb explodes a convenience store in Manhattan, Simon calls the NYPD Headquarters, taking responsibility for the bomb. He then orders the police to send John McClane to Harlem wearing a racist sign that reads "I Hate Niggers". Simon then orders John and his new partner shopkeeper Zeus Carver to reach a nearby telephone booth or else he will blow up another downtown building. He gives them a riddle to solve and answer in the form of a phone number. When they fail, he fools them that a trash can is now set to explode, only to reveal he did not say "Simon Says". Next, he orders both men to get to Wall Street Station within 30 minutes before a bomb is set to explode in the subway. Because both men failed to arrive at the subway station together, the bomb just about explodes near the station. It still does but nobody is killed. The second explosion was part of a scheme by Simon to create a pathway to break into the New York Federal Reserve Bank and steal gold bullion worth millions to billions of dollars. Simon then sends a threat warning to the police if they bother contacting themselves by radio, it will result in an explosion in one of many schools in downtown Manhattan. As the police are being lured to the schools, Simon on the other hand goes briefly undercover to enter his way through the main entrance of the bank. His henchmen break through the rear and steal millions in gold bullion that they load onto many dump trucks. The gold is subsequently exported to Quebec, Canada before Simon imprisons John McClane and Zeus Carver in his barge, where he reveals luring the police away was part of his plan to steal the gold and the real bomb was within the ship the whole time. When Simon flees to Quebec, his men celebrate with beer and Simon dedicates his success by having sex with his female accomplice Katya. But his plan is foiled when McClane and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raid the warehouse and recover the stolen gold. When Simon attempts his escape in a helicopter, he is killed when McClane shoots an electric cable that catches fire on the helicopter's rotors and explodes. He is portrayed by Jeremy Irons.
Thomas Gabriel
Thomas Gabriel is a crazed former DOD (Department of Defense) agent turned traitor and cyber terrorist, and the main antagonist of Live Free or Die Hard. Gabriel is a hacker who attempted to show the DOD how the United States security features could be subject to a Fire Sale. No one believed him and he was relieved of his duties, which turned him against his country. He hired several criminal hackers all over the nation to assist him in his plot to shut down all electrical systems in the United States. While at work with his task, his henchmen planted bombs in several homes with internet connectivity and killed every single one except for one young man named Matthew Farrell. John McClane, now an older man than when he last was involved in a deadly mission, saved him at the last minute; he was close to execution by Gabriel's bomb. Now with a victim on the loose, Gabriel orders his henchmen to track him and find him so he can continue his operation with his Fire Sale, a chain of events involving total control of the nations security systems and electrical power. He is portrayed by Timothy Olyphant.
Yuri Komarov
Yuri Komarov is a former Russian billionaire and political prisoner, and the main antagonist of A Good Day to Die Hard, although this is not revealed until late in the story. A clever strategist, he pretends to be weak and feeble in the presence of his adversaries. He is initially held without trial for refusing to hand over a secret file containing incriminating evidence against former associate and corrupt politician Viktor Chagarin. Jack McClane, under arrest for an assassination attempt, agrees to testify against Komarov in court, in exchange for a shorter sentence. On the day of the trial, the courthouse is bombed by Chagarain's henchmen, led by Alik; in the confusion, Jack escapes with Komarov. John McClane, having come to Moscow to help his son, goes after them, and they are both pursued by Alik and his men. They lose their pursuers and go to a safe house, where Jack's CIA associates demand the location of the file from Komarov in order to bring down Chagarin. Komarov agrees to help on the condition that he and his daughter are given protection and safe passage out of Russia. The safe house is raided by Chagarin's men, but Komarov escapes with the McClanes; he leads them to a hotel to collect a key to the vault containing the file. His daughter Irina is there to meet him, as arranged, but she is revealed to be working for Chagarin for money. She and Alik take her father prisoner, traveling to Chernobyl, where the file is hidden. They enter the vault supposedly containing the file, but Komarov suddenly shoots Alik, before calling Chagarin and revealing that he and Irina planned all along to betray him. Komarov then has one of his men strangle Chagarin. The McClanes enter the vault, and Komarov tells them there never was a file; the vault is instead filled with vast stocks of weapons-grade uranium, worth billions. Irina comes to her father's aid, and a gunfight ensues; John pursues Irina, who escapes in a helicopter, while Jack goes after Komarov. The two face off on the roof, and Komarov taunts Jack, saying his father will soon be dead; enraged, Jack throws Komarov from the rooftop into the path of the whirling helicopter blades. He is portrayed by Sebastian Koch.
Allies
Al Powell
Al is a Los Angeles Police sergeant who shared a friendship with John McClane after helping with the takeover of Nakatomi Building in Los Angeles. He also helped McClane briefly with the situation in Dulles International Airport. He is portrayed by Reginald VelJohnson
Marvin
Marvin is an airport janitor who helps McClane in his mission to save the planes from low fuel. When he meets McClane, he first finds him suspicious and thought he was stealing his record. He is portrayed by Tom Bower.
Leslie Barnes
Barnes is a chief engineer at Dulles airport and communications specialist. He is portrayed by Art Evans.
Richard Thornburg
Thornburg is an arrogant, narcissistic reporter who exposed Holly's identity to Hans Gruber when he was interviewing Lucy and caused everyone in Dulles Airport to evacuate in mass panic after revealing the terrorist situation to the media, which interferes police efforts. He is portrayed by William Atherton.