The characters in the Die Hard film series, including John McClane (played by Bruce Willis), are based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp.

Protagonists

John McClane

The reluctant hero in the series. John McClane is a New York City cop who finds himself taking on terrorists and saving his loved ones. In Die Hard, he gets invited to his wife's Christmas Party at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles when the building she is in is under attack by terrorists led by Hans Gruber. McClane must stop his evil scheme before it is too late. McClane defeats the terrorists and thwarts Gruber's plan, sending him falling off the building. John and Holly reconcile and get back together.

In Die Hard 2, McClane now has a new problem and must battle anti-special forces mercenaries led by Colonel Stuart, who take over Dulles airport and leave several planes (including his wife Holly's) circling in the air running low on fuel, while also dealing with a difficult airport police captain. Once again, the day is saved when McClane takes out Stuart and his mercenaries by blowing up his plane with his Zippo lighter.

He is portrayed by Bruce Willis.

Holly Gennaro McClane Holly McClane is John McClane's wife. Over the course of the series, their relationship becomes increasingly strained. They have two children together, John ("Jack") and Lucy. Holly is portrayed by actress Bonnie Bedelia in the first two films, Die Hard and Die Hard 2.

In Die Hard, Holly has recently moved to Los Angeles with Jack and Lucy to pursue a new career opportunity with Nakatomi Corporation. She is estranged from McClane, who decides to remain in New York City with the hope that Holly would return home.

In Die Hard 2, Holly and John appear to be on the path to reconciliation, although their relationship is far from perfect. Her role is significantly diminished from that of the first film.

Although Holly does not appear in Die Hard with a Vengeance, she is mentioned in dialogue. McClane makes an attempt to telephone her, and her voice is heard briefly on the phone. She still resides in Los Angeles and is still married to McClane.

In Live Free or Die Hard, cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel notes that McClane and Holly are now divorced.

In A Good Day to Die Hard, she is mentioned by John when John and Jack are on their mission.

Al Powell

Sgt. Al Powell was a cop who helps out McClane in the first two Die Hard films. In Die Hard on Christmas Eve he is sent to check Nakatomi Plaza to see if anything dangerous is going on. A terrorist falls out of one of the windows causing Powell to crash his car calling for more backup. He is played by Reginald VelJohnson.

Lucy McClane Lucy is the daughter of John McClane & Holly Gennaro and the older sister of John "Jack" McClane Jr. She was estranged from her father, but during her college years in Rutgers University-Camden, she was kidnapped by cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel. After her father saves her and Matt Farrell, they seemed to be on speaking terms and that she changed her last name from Gennaro to McClane. Several years later, Lucy drove her father to the airport as he goes to Russia to investigate the arrest of her brother Jack. She was seen when John returns with Jack and she reunites with them after their adventure in Moscow and Chernobyl, Ukraine. She is portrayed by Taylor Fry in the first film and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the last two films.

In Live Free or Die Hard, Lucy tells her boyfriend that McClane is dead and calls herself "Lucy Gennero", her mother's maiden name. She is later kidnapped by cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel for leverage against her father. She proves to be resilient, tells her father the positions of Gabriel's men, and injures one when McClane is incapacitated. By the end of the film, she calls herself "Lucy McClane" and develops feelings for a hacker called Matt Farrell.

Winstead reprised her role for a cameo appearance in A Good Day to Die Hard. Since Live Free or Die Hard, she and John have mended their relationship. After Lucy drops her father off to the airport, she warns her father "not to screw up" when he travels to Russia. She later calls him while he's in the middle of a car chase and he has to hang up. She meets his plane when he returns with Jack and happily reunites with both.

Prior to Live Free or Die Hard, Lucy was featured in the video game Die Hard: Vendetta as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department.

John Jack McClane Jr. John "Jack" Jr. is the son of John McClane and Holly Gennaro and the younger brother of Lucy McClane. He plays a main role in A Good Day to Die Hard. When Jack is arrested for an assassination in a nightclub in Moscow, McClane who has not spoken to his son for several years, goes to him to find out what happened to him. It is later revealed that Jack is a CIA operative set on a deep-cover mission in Russia that has lasted for three years without his father's knowledge. He is portrayed by Noah Land in the first film and Jai Courtney in the fifth film.

In Live Free or Die Hard, cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel calls him Jack, which is a common alternative nickname for "John" in the United States. In early drafts of the script of Live Free or Die Hard, John Jr. was set to be in the film.

In A Good Day to Die Hard, Jack is a CIA agent stationed in Russia to extricate Yuri Komarov, a political prisoner who had evidence against Viktor Chagarin in a file at Chernobyl. To get close to Komarov, he kills a Russian millionaire and asks to testify against Komarov for a shorter sentence. John McClane goes to Russia after finding out about Jack's arrest, but not his CIA mission or ties. Similar to daughter Lucy in Live Free or Die Hard, son Jack was estranged from his father.

Jack and his father gain admiration and respect for each other. They take down Komarov and his daughter Irina and discover their true plot of retrieving weapon-grade uranium from Chernobyl. Jack throws Komarov to death into the rotor-blades of Irina's helicopter, after he claims John will die.

Antagonists

Hans Gruber

Hans Gruber is the main antagonist of Die Hard. He is a cold and unpredictable ex-Volksfrei radical from Zittau in East Germany, who leads a gang of thieves who take over Nakatomi Plaza, imprisoning hostages as part of a scheme to heist $640 million in negotiable bearer bonds from the building's vault. His plan comes to a halt when John McClane kills three of his men and steals his bag of C-4 explosives. Gruber then sends Karl Vreski, Fritz, and Franco to retrieve them, all the while dealing with the police and the hostages. Gruber meets McClane himself disguised as "Wm Bill Clay", but is quickly discovered. A shootout with McClane ensues, and despite losing Fritz and Franco, he manages to retrieve the detonators and escape. He later discovers one of the hostages, Holly Gennaro, is McClane's wife, and keeps her as a hostage as he steals the bearer bonds. John McClane confronts Hans Gruber and his surviving henchman Eddie in the end and, although Gruber seems to have the upper hand, he is shot in the shoulder and falls out a window, still clinging to Holly. McClane saves his wife and Gruber falls to his death.

He was portrayed by Alan Rickman.

Karl Vreski Karl Vreski is Hans Gruber's right-hand man, who leads the hunt for John McClane in Nakatomi Plaza. John seemingly kills Karl by hanging him from some chains. Karl survives and once more attempts to kill John, only to be shot dead by Al Powell.

He was portrayed by Alexander Godunov.

Theo Theo is a computer hacker working for Hans Gruber who appears in Die Hard, and is the only African-American in the group. Theo is snarky and arrogant, often cracking jokes, even when others are killed. After the Nakatomi vault is opened, Theo attempts to prepare the terrorists' escape vehicle, only to be knocked unconscious by Argyle.

He was portrayed by Clarence Gilyard.

Eddie Eddie is one of the terrorists working for Hans Gruber. During Sergeant Al Powell's inspection of the Nakatomi Plaza, Eddie disguises himself as a guard and convinces Powell nothing is wrong. Eddie ends up being one of the only remaining terrorists when Gruber holds Holly hostage, but is shot in the head by John.

He was portrayed by Dennis Hayden.

Others on Gruber's team Gruber has 9 other men, besides the ones listed above, assisting him at Nakatomi Plaza on Christmas Eve. Tony Vreski (Andreas Wisniewski), Karl's brother, disables the phone lines at the beginning of the invasion. Tony is the first of the terrorists to be killed by McClane, who unintentionally breaks his neck in a fight. Franco (Bruno Doyon) is in charge of watching the hostages. He is shot in the knees by McClane, and then smashes his own head through a plate glass window as he falls, dying instantly. Franco and fellow accomplice Kristoff are both French. Uli (Al Leong), an Asian, is notably seen eating a candy bar during the shootout with the SWAT team. He is gunned down by McClane while forcing the hostages onto the roof. Fritz (Hans Buhringer) is a long-haired accomplice who is killed when McClane shoots him with a submachine gun. Kristoff (Gerard Bonn) is Theo's assistant. He is pistol whipped by McClane, and it is left unclear if he survived. Like Franco, Kristoff is also French. James (Wilhelm von Homburg) is one of the two men who fire the missile launcher. He is killed when McClane drops C4 down an elevator shaft leading to the floor James is on. Alexander (Joey Pluwa) is the other of the two who fire the missile launcher. He is killed in the C4 explosion alongside James. Heinrich (Gary Roberts) is in charge of the C4 and detonators. He is the second to be killed by McClane, who then has a shootout with Marco. Marco (Lorenzo Caccialanza) is an unhinged Italian accomplice. He is shot dead through a table by McClane, who tosses Marco's body out a window and onto Powell's car.

William Stuart Colonel William Stuart is the main antagonist of Die Hard 2. He is an ex-Special Forces commander who leads a troop of soldiers who takeover Dulles Airport and use makeshift equipment from a church to control all flights from the main command Center, and to free dictator General Ramon Esperanza from Val Verde. He first meets McClane by chance when the two accidentally bump into each other. Stuart takes total control of the airport when his men destroy the main antenna array, and he discovers John McClane is foiling his mission. In retaliation for the soldiers he lost, Stuart causes a plane to crash and he warns the control tower and McClane to stay away from his business. He later receives contact from General Esperanza that he is landing the plane and to turn on the runway lights so he can safely land. Stuart and his men arrive to see him, only to be ambushed by McClane. Luckily, a soldier traps McClane in the cabin and Stuart commands his men to throw grenades in the cockpit. It explodes but McClane was barely able to escape the plane, and Stuart was forced to flee as cop cars were approaching. Back at the church, Stuart prepared a "shootout" with Major Grant and escaped via snowmobile. Now having Esperanza and Grant at his side, they leave the United States for an island on a jet, but are pursued by McClane. He gets the chance to fist fight McClane on the plane's wing and wins by knocking him off the wing. Unfortunately for Colonel Stuart, he did not see McClane pull the latch and cause fuel to leak, and Stuart is killed as the plane explodes.

He is portrayed by William Sadler.

Ramon Esperanza General Ramon Esperanza is a cruel South American dictator and drug lord of the Republic of Val Verde.

He is portrayed by Franco Nero.

Major Grant Major Grant is a corrupt Army special forces commander who appears in Die Hard 2.

He is portrayed by John Amos.

Simon Gruber