Because you like The Terminator in The Terminator
Stranded on Mars, Mark Watney is armed with quick wits, an electronic diary, disco music, and an undying resolve to make it back. See them in The Martian.
Captain Spock is on a five-year mission exploring the final frontier and boldly going where no man has gone before. See them in Star Trek.
A weather-controlling mutant, Storm doesn't just use her powers to ruin Magneto's day with unexpected showers. She is truly a badass. See them in X-Men Series.
Gollum is slimy and seething with hatred, the last person you would want to meet in a dark cave. See them in The Lord of the Rings.
Char is always thinking two or three steps ahead of the enemy. See them in Mobile Suit Gundam Series.
The "runt" of his biker gang, Tetsuo Shima grapples with a perpetual inferiority complex. See them in Akira.
Sterling Archer is a fun-loving, car-driving spy extraordinaire. But one can tell his mother didn't hug him as a child. See them in Archer.
Nemo is a small fish in a vast ocean, but he dreams of seeing it all. See them in Finding Nemo.
Born and raised in the darkness, Bane is determined to have the city totally under his control so that he can demolish it. See them in DC Extended Universe.
With those dearest to him dead and no one to trust, Max Rockatansky is a slightly hysterical man alone on the run in a post-apocalyptic world. See them in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Sylar's victims are found all over the country, many with their brains removed. See them in Heroes.