Comic conventions seem like the perfect place for nerdy debates that will end long-standing issues once and for all: The Juggernaut vs. The Blob, the Star Trek “Captain Debate” (Kirk vs. Picard vs. Sisqo vs. Janeway) or–randomly enough–who are the greatest bad-asses in modern cinema?

When MTV’s Movies Blog asked the question nearly a month ago, the final list of potentials came down to fanboy staples like the Johns (Rambo, McClane); Sci-fi/horror icons (The Terminator, Snake Pliskin, Pinhead, Freddie Kruger, Ash, Boba Fett, Ellen Ripley) and more than a few hints at The Man With No Name taking it. Of course, what good is an Internet Debate if you can’t have a definite ending or a loud room of mouth breathers squeaking their disapproval of what you ultimately chose to represent your top ten list? (Not like we’d ever know from personal experience.)

The final results were announced Friday night at a panel during the New York Comic Con featuring cinematic scholars Judah Friedlander (30 Rock), Chuck Nice (VH1’s BestWeekEver), Method Man (no introduction needed), and  James Toback (Tyson), and moderated by Josh Horowitz.

The panel’s first job: define “bad-ass” in film. This would evolve throughout the night, but primarily reflected upon the anti-hero(ine) and his/her use of brevity, action and just what it is they were fighting against. In a fitting sense, Method Man came away with the best one-liners and apt descriptions of each choice, showcasing a scarily superior sense of film knowledge to the rest of the room. Seriously, Method should become a film critic. If only because it’d be hilarious to see the faces of Ben Lyons and Peter Travers when he walked into a screening room.

But before all that, there is a list of Bad-Assery to be done with.

10. John Rambo
“That last movie was okay,” said Method Man, “but the third was horrible!” And so began the chastising of everyone’s favorite Vietnam Vet poster boy. The panel and room were content with this choice, but it was an odd choice, even for Sylvester Stallone as shouts of Marion Cobretti came up from the massive hall.

“Heh. ‘Rambo’s a pussy,’” muttered Method before he had to explain in graphic detail the quote from Tango and Cash. “Y’all too young. Go see it.”

Toback wasn’t as forgiving, as he brought up the fun bit of trivia that Stallone always wanted to play Edgar Allen Poe. “Lurking beneath the bad-ass,” he intoned, “is just a sweet pussy.”

9. Boba Fett
Perhaps one of the more controversial choices due in part to the mythology of the character who had no more than a handfull of lines before Wilhelm Screaming into a giant sand vagina monster’s mouth.

“I think he’s gangsta, cause he wants his money,” said Method. But he admitted that Boba was a little overrated since he was hard, but not that hard.
“Though, you a kid and you see your father get his head chopped off by Sam Jackson? That’s bad-ass. Especially when he turns around–’YEAH, I DID IT AND I’D DO IT AGAIN!’”

8. Khan
A few whoops and not as much fanboy cheer as one would expect from the man responsible for William Shatner’s most famous catchphrase. But also the most apt for riffing:

“I wasn’t sure to be afraid of Khan or if he was going to give me some fine Corinthian leather,” said Chuck Nice. And it is true, that while sticking things into people’s ears and stealing the U.S.S. Enterprise may seem bad-ass, Ricardo Montalbán’s previous role defined him too greatly to ever make him that frightening.

7. Pike Bishop
“This is the seminal Western,” said Tolback about The Wild Bunch and its’ disturbingly macho portrayal by William Holden. “It’s the first time eerie violence was used in movies.”

Of course, when subject of Holden’s death came up, that too would be considered bad-ass. Or depressing–since he slowly died over the course of four days with no one knowing he even was there. Worked out fine either way, as most of those in the room were utterly baffled as to who he was until a definite explanation was given.

6. Sarah Connor
The first of two women on the list, but not the last to receive a bit of sexism from our moderator:
“So you can confirm a woman can be bad-ass and sexy.”

Which quickly got a response from Method: “Call my wife. She can make you biscuits and beat your ass all in the same night.”

This also prompted a flood of nerd rage, calling for Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill or–even in one odd moment, Bloodrayne.

“Yeah,” Method shot back at the crowd. “Pamela Anderson from Barb Wire! Where she at?”

5. Walker
Once again, a surprising choice for a nerd panel, but proved that some sense of cinephilia beat out the spandex heroes and most of the Science Fiction ringers. “One of the best fucking movies ever made,” according to Toback, you could trace his bad-ass nature from Lee Marvin’s own time as a Marine. But more importantly, as Method Man pointed out, he never said more than he had to and he was a scary guy just based off that.

“I believe it,” said Nice. “Just from that picture [a still from the trailer] it looks like a home invasion and sexual assault.”

4. Mad Max
Continuing our new theme of sex, rape and freakishness comes everyone’s favorite post-apocalyptic Aussie. Horowitz began the segment by reading a quote from Mel Gibson whom he had talked on the phone with–something about being honored and now just having a “bad ass” instead of being one.

“And then Mel realized Josh was Jewish and went crazy,” said Nice.

Everyone could agree to keep out the Thunderdome, yet once again Method Man hit the nail on the head about being bad-ass. It relates to your villain:

“I was scared of that guy because of the mohawk and not wearing any pants. I couldn’t tell if he was going to fight or fuck him.”

3. John McClane
A simple choice, sure, that garnered praise for taking out groups of terrorists four times–once without shoes, natch. But there was some disdain at how high up McClane was compared to others. A brief defense was given by Nice that McClane was bad-ass for his use of humor. This quickly was attacked and decried by the rest, especially compared to earlier choices like Mad Max, Walker and Pike.

After a mumbled response that sent his side of the room into an uproar, Method reiterated his previous statement:

“You can’t be bad-ass if Ashton Kutcher is banging your ex-wife.”

2. Ellen Ripley
The second woman on the list, and a sci-fi maven that had the entire room erupt in applause. There was universal praise for taking on the Queen at the end of Aliens, and an awkward filmed segment of Sigourney Weaver accepting the nomination followed by a painful Alien joke.

Toback: “I sat next to her for hours [on a plane.] She isn’t a bad-ass, but a genuine good ass.”

This caused the proper amount of giggling and awkward fidgeting from a crowd of nerds that you could expect.

1. Dirty Harry
Rather than explain this, here’s the “acceptance video” Clint Eastwood gave:

“I think he’s a bad-ass for telling Spike there were no black people in his film cause it was my movie. He’s an asshole and a bad-ass at the same time for that,” said Method.

And with that, the list was wrapped. Although Method was the most vocal about who wasn’t on there–namely Sgt. Tom Sharkey and Stansfield––the rest of the room was more concerned that no one from Kill Bill had made it. And the two 4-year old children to my left and right, dragged their by their parents, were passed out and didn’t give a good goddamn about what had just happened.

To watch the entire panel, click here.