2. Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in Independence Day (1996)
President Thomas J. Whitmore, played by Bill Pullman in Roland Emmerich’s smash hit Independence Day, taught us all how to celebrate. Whitmore is such a badass that getting into the cockpit of a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet to fight aliens isn’t even the most memorable thing he does in the movie. After noticing that the eerily young pilots about to fight an invasive species are “a little nervous,” Whitmore grabs a loudspeaker to bid his brave soldiers a good morning—and then some. “Mankind—that word should have new meaning for all of us today,” he says. Go ahead. Finish it. You know the rest.
