The popularity of zombies in popular culture is ever growing, and as a result so too is the belief that there will actually be a zombie-based apocalypse. As such, I have comprised a list of people who I want close to me when the dead live again.

Ash Williams (Evil Dead 1, 2 and Army of Darkness)

Ash, the ever popular hero of the Evil Dead franchises, is obviously the first pick. Twice has he survived the horrors of a house possessed by demonic spirits, he has traveled back in time, slaughtered some odd doppelganger, and defeated the uncreatively titled “Army of Darkness” so if there was anyone I would want at my side at the dawn of a zombie apocalypse, it’s him. Having a chainsaw for a hand notwithstanding, Ash also seems to never EVER run out of ammunition which, as you may imagine, would be extremely helpful when facing the undead with a meagre boomstick.

http://brocknroll.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/breaking-news-sam-raimi-is-game-for-evil-dead-4/

Lionel from Peter Jackson’s Braindead (Dead Alive in US)

Granted, this picture doesn’t exactly make him look like the toughest man in town, but Lionel is certainly a trooper. The son of an abusive and overbearing mother Lionel has to deal with her, and his entire town, becoming members of the living dead via the bite of strange monkey. How does Lionel accomplish this you wonder? With a lawnmower. Yes. He goes into his garage, gets his lawnmower and eviscerates every zombie he encounters. For those who have not seen, or know nothing of this cinematic masterpiece, allow me to just say that it holds the record for most fake blood used in film and features amazing quotes like “Your mother ate my dog!” and “I kick ass…for the lord!”

http://turndownyourlights.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html

Leon Kennedy of the Resident Evil Franchise

Although I never was a fan of his cheap emo haircut and total nonchalance when killing zombies or T-Virus-related mutants, you have to admit that the man gets the job done. By now he is almost certainly tired of zombies and “coincidentally” finding himself in situations regarding zombies, but nonetheless, come World War Z, he’d be a nice guy to have around. Plus that weird guy selling guns always seems to just be following him around, so I imagine that would be a plus as well, even though he never seems too eager to help…

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=24572975&union_id=5525&msg_id=269898499

Gordon Freeman of the Half-Life Series

It really makes you wonder how weak certain aliens are when a nerd can kill most of their population with a crowbar. Either that, or Gordon Freeman is actually totally kickass. Personally, I side with the latter. Valve did a very good thing basing the main character of the Half-life series on those most likely to buy the Half-life series; after all, enough internet pictures have shown us that there are at least 150 people who think they share a resemblance to the theoretical physicist. In any case, the way he handled an alien invasion and subsequent occupation makes him a very good candidate for the anti-zombie super team this article is assembling, the fact that his success is in part because his primary weapon was a crowbar acts only as a plus. Ammo doesn’t last forever, unless you’re Ash.

http://www.giantbomb.com/gordon-freeman/94-341/

My Mum

First of all, I hope you all realize that I’m not so stupid as to put an actual picture of my mom on the internet, this picture is the result of a 3 second Google search. Now, for those few of you who know my mom surely know that when she gets angry, it’s a maelstrom of terror, violence and a long string of curse words. So imagine how handy she would be with, oh, I don’t know, say, a machine gun or a fire axe. All I’d have to do is tell her that the zombies were actually hippy-beggars who are too lazy to get a job and she’d be going Rambo on their undead asses. Problem solved.

http://blog.parentingteensonline.com/page/2/