All 8 'One Battle After Another' Characters, Ranked

1 week ago 20

Published Jan 24, 2026, 7:18 PM EST

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Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is easily one of the most acclaimed and honored films of 2025, having earned several accolades already, and is sure to win many more. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, the black comedy action thriller film follows a washed-up revolutionary who must reckon with the consequences of his past when an old enemy targets his young daughter. It’s a remarkable film that balances an entertaining rescue adventure with emotional depth and political commentary, all brought to life through the performances of its star-studded ensemble.

With the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, and more carrying the story, One Battle After Another presents a fascinating collection of characters, each of whom displays deep thematic and symbolic significance. Of course, any ranking of these brilliant characters would ultimately be subjective and open to discussion, but here’s our ranking of the best characters of One Battle After Another.

8 Virgil Throckmorton

Tony Goldwyn as Virgil in One Battle After Another

A relatively minor figure who nevertheless plays a key role in the plot of One Battle After Another, Virgil Throckmorton is a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club, a secret cabal of wealthy white supremacists that the primary antagonist, Col. Lockjaw, hopes to join. Though he may not have a direct hand in the main plot of the film, the group’s requirements of racial “purity” create the central conflict that kicks off Lockjaw’s actions in the movie.

Played by Peabody Award-winning actor-director Tony Goldwyn, Throckmorton and his compatriots work as an excellent representation of the entitled, oblivious, and ultimately petty white supremacist establishment. And through their representation, the film offers some astute meta-commentary on the gatekeeping within hate groups, which is as realistic as it is absurd.

7 Col. Steven J. Lockjaw

Sean Penn standing in uniform at attention in One Battle After Another

The primary villain of One Battle After Another, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw is a military officer who has made a career out of persecution and paranoia. On the one hand, he’s an obsessively conservative authoritarian who seeks to achieve power through any means necessary. On the other hand, his fragile ego and desperate need for acceptance lead him to engage in self-destructive behavior, most notably his obsession with the revolutionary Perfidia.

Two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn dazzles as the corrupt colonel whose attempts to erase his past drive the meat of the movie’s plot. Essentially the antithesis of everything the French 75 stands for, Lockjaw is a concentrated portrait of the systemic corruption and barely hidden white supremacy that the group fought against. And ultimately, it’s his own corrupt actions that lead Lockjaw to his eventual downfall, both symbolically and literally.

6 Junglepussy

One of the few completely original characters in One Battle After Another, created specifically for the film, Junglepussy is a French 75 member who takes part in a bank robbery to fund the group’s activities. The character is a bold, revolutionary firebrand who characterizes the energy of the French 75 movement, and the wider Black power movement in general.

In the film, the character is portrayed by rapper and actress Shayna McHayle, aka Junglepussy, whose music and stage persona served as the foundation for the character. While her role in the movie is relatively small, her instantly iconic monologue illustrates the beliefs and ideology of the French 75. In an interview with IndieWire, McHayle reveals just how much of herself was in the character, saying, “Because he [Paul Thomas Anderson] reached out to me directly, and was so inspired by my music, even ‘This pussy don’t pop for you,’ having it like as a sign in the movie, which is how I’ve been performing it for the past decade, I knew there were a lot of things that he was drawn to, and I wanted to keep that part of me alive in the role. But I also wanted to do some things that I wouldn’t usually do, like shooting a machine gun out of a moving vehicle, like robbing a bank.”

5 Perfidia Beverly Hills

Teyana Taylor on a payphone at night in One Battle After Another

Arguably the most complex and important character in One Battle After Another, Perfidia Beverly Hills is the radical leader of the French 75. Pat’s partner and Willa’s mother, Perfidia is portrayed as an idealistic but deeply conflicted woman with a complicated legacy. Though she once led the French 75 in their violent quest for freedom, her relations with Lockjaw, betrayal of her comrades, and abandonment of her daughter make her a layered and morally gray figure.

Teyana Taylor’s Golden Globe-winning performance as Perfidia masterfully captures all the varying shades of the character, making it one of the best performances of the film. It would have been easy to paint the character as an idealized revolutionary, but the many layers that the movie (and Taylor) bring out in her story help cast her as a more grounded figure, inspirational and sympathetic but not necessarily a role model, ending by giving her a chance to retrospectively connect with her daughter without taking it all the way to total redemption.

4 Willa Ferguson / Charlene Calhoun

Chase Infiniti drives a car frantically in One Battle After Another

The daughter of Bob and Perfidia, Willa is the primary protagonist of One Battle After Another, a bright and resourceful teenager who feels the call to activism but is held back by her sheltered life with her paranoid father. Lockjaw’s attempts to locate and eliminate her, simply for the crime of her existence, form the main plot of the film.

Played by breakout star Chase Infiniti in her film debut, Willa’s story is ultimately that of a teenager coming of age and discovering her path, choosing between the self-defeatism of her father, the complicated activism of her mother, and all the other paths in between that she encounters through the film’s other characters. Eventually finding her own place and purpose, she is a brilliantly written and expertly performed stand-in for the audience, whose story actively exhorts viewers to stand up for justice and a brighter future, irrespective of the failings of the past.

3 Bob Ferguson / Pat Calhoun

Leonardo DiCaprio holding a weapon in the middle of a highway in One Battle After Another.

Willa’s father and Perfidia’s former partner, Pat Calhoun / Bob Ferguson is a washed-up revolutionary who was once the explosives expert of the French 75. Now living off the grid in a perpetually stoned state, Bob no longer shows any real interest in the high ideals that defined his past, but the one thing that can still rouse him from his weed-addled stupor is the safety of his daughter.

Bob may not be the most inspiring or most charming character in One Battle After Another, and for a good part of the story, he doesn’t even seem like such a great dad. But once his daughter’s life is threatened, he becomes an undeterred (if bumbling) force who will stop at nothing in his quest to keep her safe. Played by the legendary Leonardo DiCaprio, Bob is simultaneously the funniest character in the film and provides some key emotional depth through his bond with Willa, eventually proving that he is and always will be her real father, no matter what.

2 Deandra

Regina Hall in One Battle After Another standing in a crowd

In a cast full of eccentric, quirky, and unstable characters, Deandra, aka “Lady Champagne,” is a rock. A French 75 member whose characterization reveals a worn determination to follow through on her revolutionary hopes, she forms a foil to the rest of the cast as a capable, insightful figure full of stoic strength.

Played by Regina Hall, Deandra plays a key role in Willa’s story, saving her from a government raid and attempting to protect and train her to the best of her abilities. Speaking to Collider’s Taylor Gates, Hall describes Deandra as a character with “a lot of heart" who "is sincere, loyal, thoughtful, and mindful...not flashy. It was a much quieter, more internal character.” A relatively rare dramatic role, Deandra is easily one of Hall’s most fascinating parts, a powerhouse performance that has earned the actor multiple accolades, including an AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Supporting Actress.

1 Sensei Sergio St. Carlos

Benicio del Toro in One Battle After Another

Played by Benicio del Toro, Sergio St. Carlos is the leader of the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross, California, and Willa’s karate sensei. As a community leader, he provides help and sanctuary to everyone who needs it, particularly undocumented immigrants. Though he isn’t connected to the French 75, Sensei serves as an important counterpoint to the group’s revolutionary methods, suggesting a different path to achieve the shared goal of a better world.

Unlike the brash revolutionaries of the French 75, Sensei’s revolution is a quiet, almost invisible one. He serves as a mentor to Willa, providing calm, principled guidance and teaching the younger generation to fight with compassion and community, not just violence. Standing in contrast to the more explosive, bold characters who fill out the cast, Sensei’s path emphasizes the importance of action over words and community service over political statements, making him easily one of the best characters of One Battle After Another and of recent movies in general.