Without hero support, our big icon heroes would not exist! They always need their trusty sidekick! So this list is for them! We dedicate our top 10 list this week to the guys (and gals) that don’t get much recognition! So with that said, here is out Top 10 sidekick list!
Keith – Dr. John Watson
Dr. John Watson: This pick was … elementary. There’s a strong argument to be made, however, that Watson, faithful companion of Sherlock Homes, belongs at the top spot of this or any sidekick ranking. A subtitle of the first Holmes adventure, “A Study in Scarlet,” from 1887, labels the mystery: “Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., Late of the Army Medical Department,” and from that point on, the marvelous mind of Holmes is presented to the world through the filter of Watson’s perceptions. And, indeed, author Arthur Conan Doyle made a sublime decision with the choice of the brave, big-hearted sidekick who, over the course of their many adventures, became like brother to the brilliant but detached detective. Watson has been portrayed on screen by many fine actors, among them Nigel Bruce, André Morell and Robert Duvall, and these days the role belongs to Jude Law, who is now on the set in London filming with sleuth-star Robert Downey Jr. and director Guy Ritchie. There are so many other bookshelf sidekicks — the earthy and ironic Sancho Panza from “Don Quixote,” Friday from “Robinson Crusoe” and assorted Hobbits spring to mind — but if we put them on this list, we wouldn’t have room for a goofy cartoon starfish.
David – Plato
Plato was a philosopher, as well as mathematician, in Classical Greece. He is considered an essential figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition, and he founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his teacher Socrates and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: “the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
Plato’s dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, religion and mathematics. His lasting themes include Platonic love, the theory of forms, the five regimes, and innate knowledge, among others. His theory of forms launched a unique perspective on abstract objects, and led to a school of thought called Platonism. Plato’s writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato’s texts
Keith – Tonto
Tonto: One thing about radio shows, it’s best if your hero has someone he can talk to, especially if he roams the Old West where it can get lonely sitting around the campfire. That was the reason behind Tonto, the faithful Native American companion to Lone Ranger who began as a narrative aid but became far more than that as the
David – Ed McMahon
Edward Leo Peter “Ed” McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson’s sidekick, announcer, and second banana on The Tonight Show from 1962 through 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995. He co-hosted TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes with Dick Clark from 1982 to 1998. He also presented sweepstakes for the direct marketing company American Family Publishers (not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House).
McMahon annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. In the 1970s and 1980s, he anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network’s coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident, Fun With Dick and Jane, Full Moon High, and Butterfly, as well as briefly in the film version of Bewitched. He also performed in numerous television commercials. According to Entertainment Weekly, McMahon is considered one of the greatest “sidekicks”.
Keith – Rick Jones
Rick Jones – Being a sidekick can be a temporary position, while others work in an assistant role for decades. For Marvel’s Rick Jones, it’s a juggling act between each of his various mentors.
Originally created as a straight man sidekick to Hulk in 1962’s The Incredible Hulk #1, this orphan wandered into the gamma bomb that gave Bruce Banner his powers, and found a new friend. After getting fed up with the accidents that always seem to happen when you’re rooming with a green-skinned goliath, Rick Jones attempted to start his own ham radio powered superteam called the Teen Brigade, and lucks inted a radio broadcast from Loki that leads him to call some friends — who would eventually form the Avengers.
Over the years, Jones has been at the side of Marvel characters including the Hulk, the Avengers, Captain America, two different Captain Marvels and even Rom: Spaceknight. He was until just last month a gamma-powered monster himself named A-Bomb, though the ability to change into that persona was robbed of him by Doc Green, The Hulk’s newest “upgrade”.
David – Burton “Gus” Guster
Burton “Gus” Guster is a fictional character on the USA Network television comedy Psych played by American actor Dulé Hill. He functions as the straight man for Shawn Spencer’s antics, and provides sobering advice, steady support, and friendship. Over the course of the show, Gus evolves from nothing more than a conventional, uptight pharmaceutical representative to a strong support system through all Shawn Spencer’s crazy antics. He frequently tries to pass himself off as “fearless” although in reality the opposite is true, and often cries, sometimes due to “sympathy” and other times when Shawn is insensitive to his feelings. It is believed that Gus was named after a relative of Steve Franks, the technical producer of the show, Burton Franks
Keith – Scarlett
Scarlett is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic book and cartoon series. She is one of the original members of the G.I. Joe Team, and is a major character in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic book series. She has also appeared in G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, in both the animated series and comic book. In the 2009 film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Scarlett is portrayed by actress Rachel Nichols.
David – Pinky
“Pinky and the Brain” is an American animated television series. It was the first animated television series to be presented in Dolby Surround and the fourth collaboration of Steven Spielberg with his production company, Amblin Entertainment, and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The characters first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on “Animaniacs”, and then from 1995 to 1998, they were spun off into their own show on Kids’ WB, “Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky and the Brain”, with 65 episodes produced. Later, they appeared in the award-winning series, Steven Spielberg Presents “Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain”.
Pinky and Brain are genetically enhanced laboratory mice who reside in a cage in the Acme Labs research facility. Brain is self-centered and scheming; Pinky is good-natured but feebleminded. In each episode, Brain devises a new plan to take over the world which ultimately ends in failure: usually due to Pinky’s idiocy, the impossibility of Brain’s plan, Brain’s own arrogance, or just circumstances beyond their control. In common with many other Animaniacs shorts, many episodes are in some way a parody of something else, usually a film or novel.
Keith – Kato
Kato: Radio audiences in the 1930s thrilled to “The Green Hornet,” and the masked man and his sidekick, Kato, made the jump to film serials and comics as well. But in the 1960s, something interesting happened when the duo got their own TV show — all eyes were on the sidekick. The show, a sort of serious sister to the popular “Batman” series, starred handsome Van Williams as newspaper publisher Britt Reid, who battled crime as a vigilante-playing-villain called the Green Hornet. Bruce Lee took on the role of Hornet’s wheelman and hand-to-hand combat expert, Kato, and no one could have predicted that the short-lived role (26 episodes) would be the starting point of an American martial-arts craze and a superstar career for actor Lee. The role of Kato will be reprised by Jay Chou in the Michel Gondry’s “The Green Hornet” film.
David – Barney Fife
Bernard “Barney” Oliver Fife is a fictional character in the American television program The Andy Griffith Show, portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Carolina. He appeared in the first five black and white seasons (1960 – 1965) as a main character, and, after leaving the show at the end of season five, made a few guest appearances in the following three color seasons (1965 – 1968). He also appeared in the first episode of the spin-off series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968 – 1971), and in the 1986 reunion telemovie Return to Mayberry. Additionally, Barney appeared in the Joey Bishop Show episode, “Joey’s Hideaway Cabin” and the first episode of The New Andy Griffith Show.
Keith – Patrick
Patrick Starfish: There are scores of cartoon duos, but sometimes it’s hard to sort out who’s the real sidekick — it gets a bit murky, for instance, to puzzle out the power distribution in the partnership of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo or Rocky and Bullwinkle — but not when it comes to “SpongeBob SquarePants” where No. 2 doesn’t try harder. The pink, lazy and no-so-bright seastar named Patrick lives under a rock, watches way too much TV and shows no evidence of recognizable skill or ambition. In other words, he is exactly like 71% of the adult audience who reach for a bong before watching the Nickelodeon show. The character is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, by the way, who was also the towering mental midget Dauber on “Coach.” “SpongeBob” celebrated its 10th anniversary and some of the best episodes (“Big Pink Loser” and “Patrick SmartPants” spring to mind) were all about this layabout echinoderm who was both a stoner-nation version of Barney Rubble and a latter-day doofus carrying on the grand tradition of Ed Norton from “The Honeymooners,” so we like to think he represents both of them on this list
David – Sam Axe
Commander Samuel “Sam” Axe, USN (ret.) is a fictional character in the television series “Burn Notice” and TV movie “Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe”, played by Bruce Campbell. He is the best friend of Michael Westen, the main character in “Burn Notice”.
Keith – Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn. Although in current comics she’s a sidekick to no one, she was introduced — and will always be remembered — for her hyper hijinx at the side of the villainous Joker. Originally introduced in a 1992 episode of “Batman: The Animated Series” as a relatively minor addition to the DC Animated Universe, she went on to be signature part of the Bat-corner of the comics world and beyond with frequent guest appearances, a popular solo series, a spot as one of the leads in the New 52’s Suicide Squad and significant roles to play across batbooks and even titles like Injustice.
Whether it be her playful demeanor, her distinct accent or her flippant penchant for crime, Harley Quinn’s stolen more than one fan’s heart over the years and has nabbed the number two spot on this list.
David – Sam Gamgee
Samwise “Sam” Gamgee is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium. Samwise is one of the chief characters in Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings, in which he fills an archetypical role as the sidekick of the primary protagonist, Frodo Baggins.
Keith – Bucky Barnes
How do you go from being a hackneyed character of a bygone age to being one of most popular characters of modern comics? That’s the story of Bucky Barnes, who in the past nine years years has defied all expectations, following his unlikely return from death.
For a span of almost 50 years, Bucky Barnes was a non-entity in comics referred to only in minor flashbacks and in jokes about Cap’s plucky sidekick, considered along with Uncle Ben to be one of the only comic book characters that would stay dead forever.
That all changed in 2004 when Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting re-introduced the boyish sidekick as a clandestine operative for Russia dubbed the Winter Soldier in Captain America #1. Barnes went from ally to enemy and back again over the course of the first few arcs, eventually reuniting with Captain America and hastily pulled into duty as Cap himself, when Rogers was shot and believed dead post-Civil War.
For most heroes, the ideal sidekick is one that could someday step up and take over the role of their mentor. While Bucky wasn’t the first or the last to take this career trajectory, of all the people on this list, he was the one that did it best — serving as Captain America from 2007 to 2011 and making a sizable contingent of fans reluctant to see the original Captain America return. Bucky continues to be a solo attraction, starring in Marvel’s soon-to-relaunch Winter Soldier series. The character also dominated big screens this past spring, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
David – Dr. John Watson
Dr. John Watson: This pick was … elementary. There’s a strong argument to be made, however, that Watson, faithful companion of Sherlock Homes, belongs at the top spot of this or any sidekick ranking. A subtitle of the first Holmes adventure, “A Study in Scarlet,” from 1887, labels the mystery: “Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., Late of the Army Medical Department,” and from that point on, the marvelous mind of Holmes is presented to the world through the filter of Watson’s perceptions. And, indeed, author Arthur Conan Doyle made a sublime decision with the choice of the brave, big-hearted sidekick who, over the course of their many adventures, became like brother to the brilliant but detached detective. Watson has been portrayed on screen by many fine actors, among them Nigel Bruce, André Morell and Robert Duvall, and these days the role belongs to Jude Law, who is now on the set in London filming with sleuth-star Robert Downey Jr. and director Guy Ritchie. There are so many other bookshelf sidekicks — the earthy and ironic Sancho Panza from “Don Quixote,” Friday from “Robinson Crusoe” and assorted Hobbits spring to mind — but if we put them on this list, we wouldn’t have room for a goofy cartoon starfish.
Keith / David – ROBIN
Dick Grayson. Jason Todd. Tim Drake. Carrie Kelly. Damian Wayne.
No matter which character inhabits the role, the superhero known as Robin is the definitive sidekick in comic books, and arguably to the world at large.
Created in April 1940 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger as an erstwhile and diminutive ally to the Dark Knight, Robin has become a hero and a mantle in which an elite group of characters have passed through.
As noted, several heroes have taken up the mantle of Robin, from the original Dick Grayson to the recently departed Damian Wayne. While some lasted longer in the mantle than others, the name and legacy of Robin has had more than enough greats such as Dick Grayson, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne to make this the clear number one pick.
Keith – Chewbacca
Chewbacca: When it comes to sidekick contests, there’s a simple rule: Let the wookiee win. We never understood a word he was saying, but there was no one we would have wanted in the copilot seat next to us more than the big walking carpet himself, Chewbacca, the rangy, loyal Bigfoot of the Jedi universe. In the movies, he was born on the spelling-bee planet of Kashyyyk, but he was conceived in the front seat of a car owned by George Lucas — the wizard of Skywalker Ranch got the idea of a devoted, hirsute copilot by driving around with his Alaskan malamute, Indiana, who also would lend his name to a certain action-minded archaeologist. In the films, the towering Peter Mayhew brought Chewie to life, but he got plenty of help from costume designer Stuart Freeborn (he knitted the costume with mohair and yak hair) and sound designer Ben Burtt, who blended the recordings of bear, walrus, camel and badger to create the guttural lexicon of the wookiee. Chewie is deeply beloved by fans (I myself risked heat stroke back in 1978 when I wore a homemade costume made of shag carpet to my South Florida elementary-school costume contest), but it’s not easy being a sidekick in space — we hear Chewbacca did that sad moan-growl of his when he was the only non-robot that didn’t get a medal for blowing up the Death Star at the end of the original “Star Wars” film. Don’t worry, big guy, you’re No. 1 with us.
David – Gilligan
Gilligan is a fictional character played by Bob Denver on the 1960s TV show Gilligan’s Island and its many sequels. Gilligan, affectionately called “Little Buddy” by the “Skipper”, is the bumbling, dimwitted, accident-prone first mate of the SS Minnow. None of the show’s episodes ever specified Gilligan’s full name or clearly indicate whether “Gilligan” is the character’s first name or his last. Gilligan wears a trademark red shirt, pale trousers and white navy cap.
During a storm, he throws an anchor overboard without a rope attached, which leaves the Minnow shipwrecked on an “uncharted desert isle” with its seven passengers and crew, establishing the underlying premise of the franchise. The enduring popularity of the series has made him a cultural icon.
So with all that hero support, how did we do? Do you agree? Who would you put up on your list? We want to know what your list is! And for more of this list, and why we put them where we did, you can either listen to, or download our podcast show. This will be listed under Podcast Unlimited episode #80! Take a listen! We love your feedback!
And to see our list of Honorable Mentions, you can check out our sister site, at iomnibus.wordpress.com.