Here are Liam Neeson’s 14 action-hero roles ranked by the deadliness of the character he plays. Neeson has starred in a plethora of high-budget thrillers and action movies, carving out a place for himself as one of the premiere action stars of his generation.

Neeson remains one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood and has one of the most iconic voices in modern filmmaking. His estimated net worth of around $145 million speaks to his incredible success in Hollywood.

Throughout Neeson’s acting career, he has become known for high-octane action thrillers like Taken and The A-Team. He has also displayed his range in other hugely successful movies, such as the iconic 1993 historical drama Schindler’s List.

Even so, the vast majority of his movies involve Neeson as an action hero, chasing down bad guys in a race against time. Because of his niche in film, he has played some of the most

14Mike McCann In The Ice Road

Liam Neeson’s role as Mike McCann in The Ice Road is a thrilling ride, but he is far from the deadliest character played by Neeson. The Ice Road follows Neeson’s Mike McCann as he embarks on a mission to save a group of stranded miners in Winnipeg.

McCann is an impressive man with a versatile skill set that he displays in full by the end of The Ice Road, but he is not a trained killer like many of Neeson’s other characters. McCann may not be someone to pick a fistfight with, but he’s not a hardened CIA operative or trained hitman like some of Neeson’s other characters.

13Robert Roy MacGregor In Rob Roy

Liam Neeson stars in Rob Roy as Robert Roy MacGregor, the leader of an 18th-century Scottish clan, as he battles an evil nobleman. Rob Roy is often considered one of Liam Neeson’s best movies, though it is sometimes forgotten in the age of high-octane action thrillers like Taken and The A-Team.

Neeson is a deadly warrior in this movie, but his weapon of choice, the broadsword, lands him a lower spot on the list of Neeson’s deadliest characters because his more modern characters have the advantage of modern weaponry. Even so, Rob Roy MacGregor is not one to pick a fight with.

12Nels Coxman In Cold Pursuit

Neeson stars in Cold Pursuit as Nels Coxman, a snowplow driver whose son is murdered by members of a Denver drug cartel. Nels sets out for revenge and kills several of the cartel’s men, sparking an accidental gang war.

Nels Coxman shows he is nobody to mess around with, holding his own in several shoot-outs with gang members. Though Cold Pursuit had one of Liam Neeson’s worst opening weekends, it received generally positive reviews from critics.

Coxman’s fighting skills keep him from the bottom of this list, but his lack of training prevents him from cracking the top half of Neeson’s deadliest characters.

11Travis Block In Blacklight

Liam Neeson stars in Blacklight as an FBI fixer and Vietnam War veteran named Travis Block. Block becomes embroiled in a conspiracy after a political activist is murdered shortly after giving a speech about racial and women’s equality.

Block sees his fair share of fighting as he uncovers the FBI conspiracy and brings the corrupt Director to justice. Block is one of the deadlier characters Neeson has played, though he still falls in the bottom half of this list.

Deadly and experienced as Block is, Neeson has simply played too many other characters with superior skills and knowledge for Block to crack the top half of the list.

10Alex Lewis In Memory

Liam Neeson plays Alex Lewis in the 2022 film Memory. Neeson’s Lewis is a contract killer with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease who is forced to flee for his life after declining to execute a contract on a young girl.

Lewis goes on a killing spree to avoid being killed, displaying impressive shooting skills and a strong ability in hand-to-hand combat. While his skills are impressive, his Alzheimer’s is a disadvantage that keeps him from landing higher on this list.

Memory is one of Neeson’s must-watch films for his biggest fans, but Alex Lewis is far from Neeson’s most dangerous character.

9Martin Harris In Unknown

Liam Neeson stars in the 2011 thriller Unknown as Martin Harris who loses some of his memories after being involved in a car crash that leaves him in a coma.

Eventually, Harris realizes he was part of an attempt to assassinate a Saudi Arabian prince, but his coma causes a change of heart, and he tries to prevent the murder.

Harris shows impressive reasoning skills and strong fighting abilities, but he is not as highly trained as many of Neeson’s other action heroes. Even so, he is not a character to be messed with.

8Bill Marks In Non-Stop

Liam Neeson’s Bill Marks is the main character in the 2014 action-thriller, Non-Stop. Marks is a former NYPD officer turned Air Marshal who is forced to unravel a mystery during a flight from New York to London.

Marks is a trained fighter with good shooting skills and high intelligence. Non-Stop joins the list of action-thriller movies that take place on a plane, but Neeson’s Marks stands above the stars of the others because of his resourcefulness and close-quarter combat skills. Even so, he lacks the elite training that some of Neeson’s most deadly characters possess.

7Jimmy “The Gravedigger” Conlan In Run All Night

In the 2015 thriller, Run All Night, Liam Neeson plays the Irish ex-hitman Jimmy “The Gravedigger” Conlan. Conlan ends up in conflict with his former mob boss and best friend after Jimmy’s son witnesses a murder.

Conlan races to protect his estranged son, demonstrating deadly skills with a variety of weapons. Jimmy, being a professional killer, ranks in the solid middle tier of Neeson’s most dangerous characters.

Action movies like Run All Night often have highly dangerous main characters, but in terms of deadliness, they remain a step below the various special operative roles that Neeson has inhabited.

6Michael MacCauley In The Commuter

Michael MacCauley is another former NYPD officer played by Liam Neeson, this time in the 2018 action-thriller, The Commuter.

MacCauley is laid off from his job as a policeman and, during his daily train ride home, is embroiled in a conspiracy to kill a key witness in the case of a murdered city official.

MacCauley fights off a multitude of skilled opponents during The Commuter, proving himself to be one of Neeson’s more deadly characters.

5Jim Hanson In The Marksman

In the 2021 film, The Marksman, Liam Neeson plays Jim Hanson, a Vietnam War veteran and former U.S. Marine sniper. The Marksman is similar to other Neeson movies, this time following Neeson’s Hanson as he attempts to save a boy named Miguel (Jacob Perez) from a Mexican cartel.

Hanson’s skill as a sniper lands him in the top half of Neeson’s most deadly characters. Hanson shows off other fighting skills over the course of the movie, but his ability as a sniper is his main advantage over other Neeson characters because it means he can kill someone from a long way off without them even knowing he’s there.

4John Ottway In The Grey

Liam Neeson plays John Ottway in the 2011 thriller, The Grey. The Grey is one of Neeson’s darkest movies, and it produces one of his deadliest characters. Ottway works as a sharpshooter to protect oil facility workers from wolves in Alaska.

After being stranded in the Alaskan wilderness when the plane he’s on crashes, Ottway leads the survivors’ efforts to fend off the wolves and stay alive.

Ottway shows incredible tenacity and determination in this film, and that, combined with his shooting skills and ability to survive in the wilderness, makes him one of Neeson’s deadliest characters.

3Tom Dolan In Honest Thief

In the 2020 thriller, Honest Thief, Neeson plays the main character, Tom Dolan, a former Marine turned bank robber who decides to turn himself in but only manages to become embroiled in an FBI conspiracy to steal the money he made robbing banks.

The combination of military training and criminal know-how in Tom Dolan makes him one of Neeson’s most deadly characters. He is also a demolition expert, which makes him even deadlier. Dolan may not be the most deadly of Neeson’s characters, but he is firmly in the top 5.

2John “Hannibal” Smith In The A-Team

Liam Neeson’s John “Hannibal” Smith in, The A-Team, is easily one of Neeson’s deadliest roles. This 2010 action-thriller follows Neeson’s Hannibal as he leads an elite Special Forces team in their efforts to clear their names of a crime they did not commit.

Hannibal is an incredibly skilled and audacious fighter with the highest level of training. As a Special Forces operative, he has elite skills in shooting, hand-to-hand combat, explosives, espionage, and just about any other type of deadly skill.

If not for the number one on this list, Hannibal would sit easily atop the list of Neeson’s most dangerous characters.

1Bryan Mills In Taken

The deadliest of Liam Neeson’s action heroes is Bryan Mills from Taken. Bryan Mills kills loads of Taken villains in this iconic action-thriller. Mills is a former Special Forces and CIA operative with a wide range of skills.

He’s an expert investigator with a huge breadth of knowledge and impeccable fighting skills. He has all the elite training of The A-Team‘s Hannibal but is set apart by his superior drive and will.

Mills is seeking to save his daughter from sex traffickers, which gives him an unparalleled level of determination. His combination of skill and motivation lands him the number one spot on Liam Neeson‘s most deadly characters list.