Bad Samaritan: A badass ranking of David Tennant’s boldest moments

Last year David Tennant starred in Bad Samaritan, Dean Devlin’s horrific thriller, in another villainous role that gave us all conflicting feelings towards the beloved Scottish actor. Whether he’s playing a hero, an antihero, or a straight-up villain, Tennant always brings an alluring amount of complexity to his roles that can make us cheer for him even when his character might be up to no good.

Here are eight times Tennant pulled off jaw-dropping feats of pure badassery that made us root for him regardless of playing a good or bad guy.

8. Peter Vincent gets enthusiastic about vampire slaying: Fright Night (2011)

If seeing Tennant in a pair of leather trousers for most of the movie isn’t enough for you, may we suggest this scene in which the messy magician finally gets on board with vampire slaying alongside Charley (Anton Yelchin) by unveiling a full body suit of ammunition. Yep! That’ll do it.

7. Scrooge McDuck leads an anarchic getaway chase: DuckTales (2017-2018)

With a cast including Bobby Moynihan (Inside Out), Danny Pudi (Star Trek: Beyond), and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), the DuckTales reboot is better than anyone could have imagined. Lending his voice talents to Scrooge McDuck, Tennant gives the beloved character a crazed impulsive edge, as highlighted in this scene in which he leads a getaway car chase with great shrieking hilarity.

6. Giacomo Casanova enjoys the company of some twins: Casanova (2003)

Depicting the world’s greatest lover obviously involves plenty of scenes of debauchery and what the Brits like to call “rumpy pumpy” (probably). In this scene, Tennant manages to portray Casanova as enjoying both in great quantities by nailing a pair of twins in a frankly very funny (and odd looking) threesome.

5. Mad Eye Moody turns into Barty Crouch Jr.: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Though Tennant’s role is a brief one in the movie, he’s still a slimy horror as one of Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) most loyal kiss asses. Watching him jutter out of Mad Eye Moody’s body is vile, but to see the maddening glint in his eye as he asserts his true power afterwards is absolutely breathtaking.

4. Alec Hardy threatens some teenagers: Broadchurch (2013 – 2017)

The BBC crime drama featured a lot of scenes in which Tennant’s surly detective delivered aggressive strident speeches about one thing or another. But seeing him threaten to cut the “tiny little c***s off” a gang of teenage boys who have been sexually harassing his daughter is some next level badassery – Especially as the boys foolishly respond that he can’t say or do that because he’s the police. Yes he damn well can, boys. Yes he can.

3. The Doctor struts out his credentials: Doctor Who (2005 – 2013)

The tenth doctor made being a badass look easy and frankly we could pull any number of roguish moments from the British sci–fi series to highlight it. But if you really want to see the essence of the Time Lord, it’s in this episode involving the Titanic, Kylie Minogue (Moulin Rouge!), and a speech that sees him challenging everyone and everything with his identity.

2. Hamlet’s 5th soliloquy: Hamlet (2009)

Come on, people! It’s Patrick Stewart (Logan) and David Tennant together at the same time in one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most badass scenes the Bard ever wrote. The scene is jaw dropping from start to finish.

1. Kilgrave controls an entire police station: Jessica Jones (2015 – 2019)

Tennant is at his absolute best as the powerful creepy villain of Jessica Jones S1. As well as torturing Jessica (Krysten Ritter), his best moment by far involves him orchestrating a tense standoff in a police station before urging all the staff to laugh.