Power-ranking the 25 best fictional New Yorkers

NYC is home to enough legitimately awesome fictional characters that it's honestly hard to pick favorites. But not that hard, 'cause we totally did it.

Here are our 25 favorite fictional New Yorkers from TV and movies, all of which we ranked from 25 to one based entirely on how awesomely memorable and identifiable with the city they are.

NY Fictional Characters
Bernie Lomax Facebook

25. Bernie Lomax
He’s the embodiment of corporate greed (see: his accounting scam and his ties to organized crime), but the NYC insurance mogul also had a great house in the Hamptons, definitely knew how to party, and even beyond the grave, has some pretty amazing dance moves.

NY Fictional Characters
FRIENDS Facebook

24. The 'Ugly Naked Guy' from Friends
We should all hope to be as free as the Ugly Naked Guy.

NY Fictional Characters
Spiderman Facebook

23. Spiderman
Born and raised here and basically saving the city all the time, he’d be way higher if he 1) wasn’t currently so overexposed (someone get on rebooting the reboot's reboot!), and 2) wasn’t basically his own paparazzi.

NY Fictional Characters
Royal Tenenbaum Facebook

22. Royal Tenenbaum
New Yorkers manage to make people like them, despite kinda being a-holes, and that’s exactly how we feel about Royal.

NY Fictional Characters
Damages Facebook

21. Patty Hewes
In a city with plenty of terrifying lawyers that've got big balls, Glenn Close’s character in Damages is the most terrifying... and has the biggest.

NY Fictional Characters
Carlito's Way Facebook

20. Carlito Brigante
Pacino had to make the list, obviously, and while both Serpico and Sonny Wortzik are both based off real, non-fictional characters, Carlito is based off of TWO non-fictional characters, which makes him... uh... fictional! He's a legend and a total badass who just can’t manage to fully escape his old ways, and we pretty much guarantee you can’t name someone who hasn’t thought about buying a nightclub and dating a stripper/ballet dancer, thanks to him.

NY Fictional Characters
The Critic Facebook

19. Jay Sherman
The Critic was a short-lived animated show in the '90s, but this Jon Lovitz-voiced character is still great as a kind of-pathetic elitist who thinks everything “stinks”.

NY Fictional Characters
Jake Shuttlesworth Facebook

18. Jake Shuttlesworth
Could anybody else have convinced Jesus to go to “Big State” while also searching for redemption? Nope.

NY Fictional Characters
Sex and the City Facebook

17. Samantha Jones
For better or worse, Sex and the City had a huge impact on NYC. And although Carrie was the star, her head-in-the-clouds fantasy felt less real than a badass lady doing what/who she wants, like Samantha.

NY Fictional Characters
Cookie Monster Facebook<br /> <br />

16. Cookie Monster
There may not be anyone else on this list we personally identify with more.

NY Fictional Characters
Patrick Bateman Facebook

15. Patrick Bateman
You’d probably kill to get a reservation at Dorsia, too.

The Jeffersons Facebook

14. George Jefferson
He’s the American success story, because all anyone here is trying to do is move on up.

NY Fictional Characters
law &amp; Order Facebook

13. Jack McCoy
The moral center of Law & Order, and therefore, the moral center of all of New York.

NY Fictional Characters
Shaft Facebook

12. Shaft
Come on! He’s a sex machine to all the chicks.

NY Fictional Characters
Die Hard Facebook

11. John McClane
Not breaking the top 10 only because the first movie takes place entirely in LA (and worse, they don’t even get to NYC until the third one), it’s still pretty undeniable that John McClane is a quotable badass that’s also got a ton of jaded charm.

NY Fictional Characters
Seinfeld Facebook

10. Cosmo Kramer
The ultimate “character”, NY or not. The only reason he’s not No. 1 is because he’s kinda based off a real dude (only kinda, though!). In the end, we just couldn’t leave anyone off this list who covers himself in butter and sunbathes on the roof.

NY Fictional Characters
BIG Facebook

9. Josh Baskin
If you had the means, you’d put a trampoline in your apartment right now, too, wouldn’t you? Admit it.

click to play video

8. Cyrus
Despite The Warriors grit (and even despite The Baseball Furies' awesome outfits), Cyrus is our favorite character from the cult classic, in no small part due to his oratorial skills that none of the other characters had.

NY Fictional Characters
Gossip Girl Facebook

7. Chuck Bass
Somehow, this utterly deposable character managed to become the heart of the show. There's also the whole “I’m Chuck Bass” thing, which was pretty cool.

NY Fictional Characters
The Godfather Facebook

6. Vito Corleone
The Don went from being the guy who works at a grocery store to the head of an empire, all while caring deeply for his family. He's No. 1 on a bunch of all-time-best-movie-characters-ever lists, so No. 6 feels about right for this list.

NY Fictional Characters
Mad Men Facebook

5. Roger Sterling
He’s an excellent dresser, and just about everything out of this guy's mouth is pure gold. Or gin.

NY Fictional Characters
30 Rock Facebook

4. Liz Lemon
There’s nobody better at showcasing the exasperation and hilarity that comes with living and holding a job in NYC, where you feel like everyone else around you is totally batsh*t.

NY Fictional Characters
Taxi Driver Facebook

3. Travis Bickle
And not just because of the dope mohawk, but because he's a reminder that NYC can be a seedy, dirty, dangerous place, even if it’s not the ‘70s anymore.

NY Fictional Characters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Facebook

2. Michelangelo
He’s a party dude who lives in a sewer with three roommates, and he loves pizza more than just about anything. So basically, every New Yorker in their 20s.

NY Fictional Characters
Ghostbusters Facebook

1. Peter Venkman
You freak out when a cockroach is in your bed, Venkman totally keeps his cool when he finds his girlfriend floating in one. He’s got essential qualities that we all aspire to have in NYC, including being totally unflappable, weird, brilliant, and a complete smart ass, and when it comes down to it, he believes NYC has enough goodwill in it to defeat ancient Carpathian ghost tyrants that want to bring about the end of the world.

Andrew Zimmer is Thrillist's NYC Editor and ain't afraid of no ghosts, either. Okay, maybe he is just a little bit. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.