Recently, there was a GoFundMe scam, which raised $400,000 to assist a homeless man who had allegedly given his last $20 to a damsel in distress on the side of the highway to refill her gas tank. This story was completely made up. Then there’s the Manchester attack’s homeless “hero,” who may have pulled nails from the arms and faces of children after a terrorist bomb killed 22 people, but then he robbed the victims. Judge David Hernandez, who sentenced him to four years and three months in prison, even said, “You presented yourself as a hero. Sadly you were not the hero that you pretended to be. You were just a common thief.”^[1]

Society seems to eat up these stories that fuel their distaste for the homeless, but there are plenty of cases of true heroism that should be remembered and honored. The purpose of this list is to highlight the moments when those who have lost everything in life act as heroes despite societal expectations. In the wake of these “homeless heroes turned rotten” stories, we need to be reminded of some real heroes. There are so many cases when homeless individuals have thrown themselves into a situation, even putting their own life on the line, to help another in need.

10 No Pulse, No Hope

In 2017, a Boston man named George Dakin was strolling down the sidewalk to meet his wife when a heart attack hit him, and he fell to his knees. It was called a “widowmaker” heart attack because 100 percent of his LAD artery was blocked. He lost his pulse for a full 28 minutes. Luckily, he happened to be in front of a group home for people seeking transitional housing. Most people pull out the picket signs when a group home tries to move into their neighborhood, but it saved Dakin’s life.

Austin Davis was staying at the group home at the time, and he raced to Dakin’s side. He performed CPR that kept Dakin alive until the ambulance arrived. It turns out that Davis had performed CPR four times in the past. Each time, he saved a person’s life. Davis said, “All I did was pump and pray, you know. I just hoped he’d make it.”^[2]

Dakin’s family was so grateful that they set up a GoFundMe for Davis. They bought him a used car and set him up in an apartment with the funds. They even helped to secure him a full-time position working at a Holiday Inn. Dakin’s daughter, Jodi, said, “Odds of escaping homelessness are about as bleak as walking away from a heart attack.” As of February 2018, $13,000 had been raised for Davis to help him transition into a new life.

9 A Chilling Splash

At around 2:00 AM on July 28, 2018, Shane Drossard (left above) was resting on the bank of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis when he heard a splash. A woman had jumped off a bridge to kill herself but survived the fall. Now, she was struggling against the current. Drossard reached his hand toward her from the riverbank, but the woman lost the strength (or the will) to hold on. She let go of his hand. Drossard said, “Help’s coming!” and jumped into the dark water.

He struggled to hold onto her against the current. She wanted to give up. Still, he fought to keep their heads above water while reassuring her that she was beautiful and had a full life ahead of her. Someone else heard her screams and called 911. Finally, both were pulled from the river and saved. Can someone please give this guy a medal? And why not a roof over his head while we’re at it?

In November 2010, another damsel in distress needed a knight in shining armor, but again, it probably wasn’t what she expected. Adan Abobaker (right above) was beside the River Thames when a woman attempted to plunge to her death from Blackfriars Bridge. Not only did he get hypothermia from the freezing water, but all of his precious possessions left onshore were stolen. Afterward, he said, “I took a long time to get over it . . . I still dream about it. I remember the waves coming over my head and swimming down towards her.” At least this guy did receive a medal.^[3]

8 Move Over, Flames

Anival Angulo is a young man with a hardened face and neck tattoos who lives in Las Vegas. He may not be what you imagine a hero looks like or even someone you want lurking in your neighborhood. He was doing just that, however, when he noticed smoke billowing from an apartment in 2017. Then, Angulo heard children screaming.

The gate was locked, so he jumped over it into the yard. He went to the door and saw a three-year-old girl. A 10-month-old infant was also inside. There was a steel deadbolt security bar on the door. He pulled until it bent upward and unlatched. Seriously, this is the kind of guy you want on your team when the apocalypse breaks out.

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue wrote on their Facebook page that the three-year-old “ran to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He could see through the smoke the leg of an infant on the floor. He reached down and pulled the infant out.”^[4] So, it turns out that neck tattoos aren’t something to be afraid of, after all.

7 Baby Abduction

They say abuse happens closest to home. That was the case in Minden, Louisiana, in August 2017, when a family friend stole a two-month-old baby boy when the parent left the room to get a bottle from the fridge. He walked for miles with the infant before abandoning the boy under an overpass on Interstate 20. He then hitched a ride to a casino, where he confessed his crime to a complete stranger.

The kidnapper may have seemed a nutjob to some (especially since he claimed, “God made me do it,”) but the stranger who he confessed to wasn’t willing to take that risk. Even though the police have never endeared themselves to the homeless, this homeless man called them immediately. Police arrested the kidnapper and found the baby wrapped in a blanket, fast asleep. Chief Steve Cropper said, “The scariest thing about it—if [the baby] were able to roll off that ledge, he would have hit that concrete retaining ledge and probably would have rolled right out into the interstate.”^[5] So, another homeless gentleman acts fast and saves the day. Not all heroes wear capes!

6 ‘Trolley Man’ Fights Terrorist

What do you do when you see a knife-wielding man attempting to stab police officers? Run in the opposite direction, perhaps? Well, one man, lovingly dubbed “Trolley Man” online, had a different guttural reaction that was pure awesome sauce. At this point, mind you, the attacker, Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, had already killed a cafe owner and injured two others in his rampage on November 9, 2018, in Melbourne. Also, he had just set fire to a car full of gas cylinders near a busy street. So, the scene was literally red-hot. The terrorist was attempting to stab two policemen when Trolley Man lunged the shopping cart he was holding straight into Ali several times, helping to fend him off. (Ali was ultimately shot dead by police.)

Well, it turns out that living on the street leads to acts of desperation. Go figure. Sadly, the day before his heroic act, Trolley Man had broke into a CBD cafe and stole $500 from the register. He had also reportedly stolen a bicycle. So naturally, police wanted to have a chat about the burglaries after he had made his YouTube debut. Despite years of avoiding police at every turn, Trolley Man had an incentive to turn himself in. He was so beloved in the public eye that $155,000 had been raised on his behalf to get him off the streets. The community wanted to give him a second chance when they raised that life-changing sum of money for him. Now, Trolley Man, or Michael Rogers, is in a closely monitored support program where he can get the help and counseling he needs.^[6] Hopefully, harmless acts of burglary don’t disqualify hero status? There’s always redemption.

5 Defender Of The Elderly

Early during the morning of Mother’s Day 2018 in Brooklyn, an elderly woman in her seventies pulls her shopping cart while the woman beside her walks on a cane. They are minding their own business when a peculiar man approaches, mumbling to himself. He violently attacks them out of the blue, but another man quickly appears from the shadows to save the day. People stop and stare from the sidelines as the situation escalates. One of the women is bleeding profusely from her head. Both women are in a daze. The assailant tries to run away, but the Good Samaritan wrestles him to the ground and holds him down until police show up.^[7]

Perhaps this anonymous, homeless hero still wanders the city streets, Batman-style, keeping his eyes peeled for any funny business.

4 Accident Leaves Mother And Son Helpless

One moment, a mother and son are safely inside their car, and in the next instant, the car loses traction and slides off the highway. It was completely submerged underwater when the paramedics arrived. It January 2016 in Salinas, California, and a mother and her eight-year-old son had landed in a creek that was flooded from a recent downpour. It quickly swept them away. They traveled the length of five football fields as they battled the raging current. They were even sucked under the highway at one point and spit out on the other side.

A man named Rick Biddle was camping along the embankment when he heard his dog start barking. The dog alerted the man to the flailing woman in the murky water below. It was a close call, but Biddle managed to rescue both mother and son, who were utterly exhausted. It’s a good thing that the drainage ditch ran through Biddle’s camp, or they may not have been so lucky.^[8]

3 Puppy Love

It takes a real lowlife scumbag to hit-and-run in any situation, but somehow it’s even worse when the victim is a dog that can’t even call for help. There’s no excuse not to stop for a defenseless animal except, oh yeah, heartlessness. Thankfully, a homeless gentleman in Jackson, Mississippi, saw a dog get hit in November 2018 and scooped him up in his arms. He walked for miles with the wounded pooch until he found a vet. Despite some injuries, the dog (pictured above) was saved.

In another instance of puppy love, a Salt Lake City man named Ron Howell was panhandling on the side of the highway in 2018 when a woman dropped off a baby chihuahua in his lap. He knew he couldn’t take care of the tiny puppy, but now he didn’t have a choice. He met a woman who offered him a cigarette one day, and she listened to his story about the abandoned pup. She took some cutesy pictures, posted them on Facebook, and voila! The puppy found an owner, and $500 was raised for the chivalrous man who took the puppy in when no one else would.^[9]

2 Burglary Bungled

Jesse Green lived in a tent by a Shell gas station in San Franciso. He would often walk down there to wash windshields for some spare change. One day in January 2018, he happened to glance inside the mini-mart, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man trying to rob the clerk. The attacker had the young woman pinned to the floor in a choke hold. Jesse yelled for help as he rushed inside and leaped onto the attacker to pry off his strangling grasp. Two other men followed suit, and they all worked to pull the robber off the clerk.

The attacker made a run for it, but police found him lingering in a stairwell close by, where they arrested him for aggravated assault and burglary. When told that he was a hero, Green said casually, “Aren’t we all, naturally, I mean we got to help each other when we see stuff like that, right? I mean, it made me start crying. It’s not something to get happy on, you know?”^[10] Spoken like a true hero.

1 A Bag Containing $17,000

What would you do if you found a plastic grocery bag stuffed with $20 bills? Okay, now be honest. By the way, the money totals $17,000. Well, Kevin Booth of Sumner, Washington, is a man who’s about as honest as they come. As an adult with special needs who had a brain tumor removed in high school, Booth was at a severe disadvantage in life straight out of the gate. After living on the streets for over seven years, he remains drug-free despite daily struggles.

A surveillance video shows Booth discovering the money at the door of the Sumner Food Bank in 2018. “I kind of looked at the bag a little bit, put it on the trash can here . . . that’s when I pulled out a twenty, sniffed it to make sure it was real, which it was real.” Kevin said. “It is a lot of money. It was hard to turn it in, at first. I’m going, ‘Do I do this? Do I turn it in?’ ” He waited for the first person to arrive at the food bank and turned it in.

After 90 days without anybody claiming the money, the food bank claimed it. Booth said, “This story here . . . this has been, I’d say, the most terrific story ever in my life. This is a story to talk about for years to come.” The pride that he feels in doing the right thing is priceless. It props him to “hero” status for sure.^[11]

+ Rags To Riches: A Hollywood Story

Rock bottom has to be sleeping with your toddler in your arms on the floor of a public toilet at a railway station because you have run out of options. This happened to Chris Gardner when he was 27 years old. The odds were stacked against him from the very beginning. He was raised in poverty. His stepfather was an abusive alcoholic who eventually pushed his mother to attempt murder. Then Gardner was placed in the foster system, where so many children flounder. It didn’t seem that his life would work out so well, and it didn’t right away. He was homeless for a year in San Francisco before he eventually became a multimillionaire and had Will Smith star in the Hollywood movie of his life: The Pursuit of Happyness.

You may be wondering if this qualifies him as a hero. Well, some may argue that having unshakable hope in the face of despair is the quality of a true hero, not to mention his steely perseverance to not only survive but thrive for the sake of his son. However, I see your point. Gardner doesn’t just bask in his estimated worth of $60 million by buying private islands, a golden toilet, or $10,000 pajamas, as you may imagine millionaires do. Instead, he continues to be a champion for the homeless. He travels the globe 200 days of the year, giving motivational speeches. He also sponsors countless homeless charities and domestic abuse organizations.^[12] He’s still not giving up the fight.

Great villains are a crucial element of any film, but while everyone loves a bad guy, they often only exist to give the heroes an obstacle to overcome. Occasionally, though, a movie villain turns out to be the most intriguing and enticing part of the whole story.

Sometimes these villains are played by actors so good at being bad that we unintentionally root for them. Other times they’re so evil our despisal of them dominates the feature. And, sometimes, we realize that maybe they’re not as in the wrong as we initially thought.

The following ten films all feature a villain that, according to critics and audiences alike, outshined the story’s intended protagonist for one reason or another.

Related: 10 Lesser-Known Facts About Superheroes

10 The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)

Batman has a lot of things going for him: cool cars, gadgets, a ridiculous amount of money, and a butler who goes above and beyond his job description. But what truly makes the billionaire vigilante iconic is the incredible cast of villains opposing him. You could take any Batman film and, chances are, the villain is the star of the show. In truth, we could have gone with the Penguin from Tim Burton’s Batman Returns or Bane from The Dark Knight Returns here. But, it’s Heath Ledger’s Joker that remains Batman’s most captivating nemesis.

Described by Heath Ledger himself as a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy,” the Joker of The Dark knight couldn’t be more different than the campy on-screen iterations from the past.

What this Joker lacks in a discernible backstory or motivation, he more than makes up for in presence. Indeed, every time he’s on-screen, something chaotic and insane occurs. Yet, it all feels authentic thanks to Ledger’s performance—which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[1]

9 Darth Vader in the Star Wars Franchise (1977–2019)

The original Star Wars trilogy has no shortage of iconic heroes, but none left quite an impression like Vader. Part of this is simply a matter of presentation. Of course, Vader has the iconic suit, mask, and voice, but there’s also his tendency to bark orders and choke out those who don’t give him what he wants.

Vader’s arch during the original trilogy is also just more interesting than Luke’s. In fact, in many ways, Star Wars is Vader’s story. From his journey to the dark side and his rivalry with his mentor Obi-Wan to the revelation that he is Luke’s father and his return to the light, Lucas gave us a villain that, intentionally or not, arguably serves as the franchise’s main character.^[2]

8 Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men (2007)

Josh Brolin did a great job as Llewyn Moss, the everyman who stumbles his way into a dangerous cat and mouse game in No Country for Old Men. Tommy Lee Jones, too, put on a captivating performance as the nearly retired and weary sheriff caught up in something much bigger than himself. Make no doubt about it, though, this is Javier Bardem’s film.

His ridiculous haircut and vacuum-cleaner-like weapon may initially incite laughter, but Anton Chigurh is simply terrifying. Cold and calculated, Chigurh’s demeanor never wavers despite the magnitude of his crimes, and Bardem’s sheer presence makes him feel like an unstoppable force. Oh, and then there’s the fact he’ll literally murder someone at the flip of a coin. The result is a character that audiences didn’t soon forget and a performance that rightfully earned Bardem an Oscar.^[3]

7 Elijah Price in Unbreakable (2000)

Unbreakable follows the story of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a security guard who doesn’t realize he’s a real-life Superman. Trying to help Dunn discover his superpowers is a disabled comic store owner, Elijah Price (Samuel Jackson). In true Shyamalan fashion, there’s a twist toward the tale’s end, where we realize Price isn’t the well-meaning mentor we initially suspect. However, Price is still more intriguing and relatable than the story’s protagonist, with or without this revelation.

Whereas Dunn is impervious to injury (literally “unbreakable”), Price (aka “Mr. Glass”) suffers from brittle bone disease. As a result, his struggles, including a gut-wrenching fall down a flight of stairs, make him a far more affecting character. But, of course, this only makes the film’s final revelation all that more brutal.^[4]

6 Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973)

Uptight, straight-laced, and as dull as they come, the profoundly religious Sergeant Neil Howie is the antithesis of your usual movie hero. Of course, this is all part of the great trick the folk-horror classic, The Wicker Man, plays on its audience. But where Howie is the unexpected hero, there’s no doubt about the film’s villain, Lord Summerisle, played by Christopher Lee.

Lee here is fantastic as the charming pagan leader pulling the strings behind the scenes on the Scottish island that bears his name. Lee played countless villains during his career, including Dracula and Saruman, but would go on record to call The Wicker Man his best film. While that’s debatable, there’s no doubt that Lord Summerisle and his cooky followers stole the show here, even if Howie’s suspicions turn out to be right in the end.^[5]

5 Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Alongside its iconic set pieces, costumes, and musical numbers, The Rocky Horror Picture Show boasts a genuinely memorable cast of characters. But, with all due respect to Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, there’s never been any doubt that the star of this cult classic is Dr. Frank-N-Furter, “The Eccentric Transvestite Scientist.”

Equally horny, mad, and captivating as he is, Furter, played by Tim Curry, steals the screen every time he’s on it and leaves fans eagerly awaiting his appearance when he isn’t. But, of course, Furter isn’t just promiscuous. He’s outright villainous, completely unable to see any consequences to his actions, which include murder. Still, if you’re focusing on Furter’s actions rather than his gender and social norm-defying ways, you might well have missed the point of the film.^[6]

4 Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise (1984–2003)

Take any horror franchise from the ’80s, and there’s a chance the villain is more interesting than the victims. Most of the time, that’s just because the victims are a group of unconvincing teenage stereotypes. But where the likes of Michael Myers and Jason are silent and cold killers, Freddy Krueger provides pure campy entertainment.

Initially played by the talented Robert Englund, Krueger’s one-liners and sadistic presence are what kept audiences coming back for more. In fact, despite the franchise’s revolving door of protagonists, the films have amassed over $440 million to date. Add in those claw hands, Freddie’s ability to kill you in your dreams, and that iconic stripey red sweater, and you’ve got a horror villain who outshines any final girl or guy.^[7]

3 Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990)

Not to throw shade on James Caan’s performance as the bed-bound and trapped writer Paul Sheldon, but Misery’s legacy is Kathy Bates’s breakout performance as the psychotic Annie Wilkes. There’s a good reason Bates walked away with an Oscar for this performance, after all.

When her favorite author crashes his car in a snowstorm, Wilkes takes it upon herself to save and look after him. However, it soon becomes clear that Wilkes’s fandom is more than just a little obsessive, and she quickly goes from carer to captor. In truth, Wilkes’s mild-mannered and seemingly kind-hearted nature only makes her infamous actions later more shocking. Add in that one particular scene involving a sledgehammer, and there’s little doubt that Wilkes is one of the most sadistic movie villains of all time.^[8]

2 Loki in Thor (2011)

Thor is a badass, and Chris Hemsworth was the perfect choice to play him. However, being the God of Thunder doesn’t leave much room for character depth and intrigue. Instead, it would be Tom Hiddleston’s performance as Thor’s sly brother Loki that would leave the most significant impression in this popular Marvel flick.

Loki is deceptive, conniving, and treacherous but also not wholly evil. And these shades of grey that the character exhibits make him so intriguing. Yes, Loki is selfish and ruthless, but he’s also a great deal more relatable and human than his more muscular brother. So, where Thor might not be much of an anti-hero, Loki might be one of the all-time great anti-villains.^[9]

1 Roy Batty in Blade Runner

What’s that? Two films on this list where a Harrison Ford character gets overshadowed? Okay, so Ford’s Film Noir inspired Rick Deckard is a great protagonist. But, ultimately, it’s Rutger Hauer’s performance as the rogue humanoid Roy Batty that drives home the film’s themes.

Like all great villains, Roy Batty isn’t wholly evil but instead exhibits shades of grey. After all, all he truly wants is autonomy over his own life. But, it just so happens that Batty’s search to understand himself leads him to become the cause of many deaths and destruction. Still, his final act proves to be a very human one, and his closing monologue, partly written by Hauer, where he laments the life he’s led, might be the most compelling in all of cinema history.^[10]