By The Numbers | Best Movie Archer

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By The Numbers | Best Archer in Movies
Script and VO by: Spencer Gilbert
Written by Lon Harris
Research and Stats by: Mark Hofmeyer
Edited by: Randy Whitlock
Senior Producer: Billy Patterson
Associate Producer: Ryan O'Toole
Head of Production: Max Dionne
Post-Production Supervisor: Emin Bassavand
Post-Production Coordinator: Mikolaj Kossakowski
Assistant Editor: Rebecca Castaneda

[@rightproperlad]

This week on Fandom: Find out who's a better archer - an immortal elf with superhuman reflexes, an Avenger or THIS TEENAGE GIRL?

[@xqueenfrostine]

I mean the teenage girl did so well that the Avenger should be a little embarrassed.

[@masterlight2]

And that avenger IS AN AVERAGE HUMAN

[@bulbafett5001]

Starting to get into Deathbattle levels of one sidedness. Who will win? Wolverine an angry canada with above average strength, claws and regeneration vs Wonder Woman, a Superman tier being with thousands of years of battle experience. Somehow it'll be close.

[@mariosblago94]

the avenger doesn't even know how to shoot. horrible technique

[@TheLynxer]

@@xqueenfrostine To be fair, most of those N/A's for Hawkeye were likely to be hits. So his accuracy is likely way higher.

[@gabdem123]

i would argue that the shot that missed in moria sequence was shot by boromir, also gandalf did deflect the shot. Legolas is the GOAT

[@romanheichinger1561]

Boromir did not had a bow. If it was not legolas than it was aragorn

[@rileykuhl8011]

We all know it wasn’t Legolas who missed, agreed. Also, all those NA for Legolas needs to be hits too, facts.

[@yourboyblue2263]

Legolas was even counting the hits for you haha

[@nostalgiadad7137]

@@yourboyblue2263 right. He was in competition.

[@PhatOof]

You mean aragorn

[@Crest28]

Legolas literally has hundreds of years of battle experience. The other 2 don't even hold a candle to Legolas

[@jatilq]

I think one of his misses was a NA. I think the fact that Hawkeye/Legolas was fighting enhanced enemies should be considered. Robin Hood would've been a better fit, instead of Katniss.

[@Silly_Illidan]

On the other hand, Hawkeye's enemies can fly...have alien Armor, durable skin, superspeed, powerful artillery etc....

[@sarahshields5409]

But he has special arrows so its not that unfair!

[@Rattrap007]

Also you should factor in difficulty. Legolas is fighting orcs and mythical creatures. Hawkeye is fighting soldiers, aliens, robots, super-powered people. Katniss is fighting kids and animals mostly. She is on a lower playing field in a way.

[@rmsgrey]

Point blank shots at an Oliphaunt being so much harder than shooting down a bird in flight?

[@lincolnbeckett8791]

But she is also the most "normal" out of all of these arches we're judging. Legolas is an elf, and Clint is an Avenger (which carries a lot of qualifications and skill sets). Plus, Katniss does fight mutations and trained soldiers in the her last movie.

[@Poisoneaterr]

shes also just a person, like a normal hunter, not very well trained super spy or immortal elf. Her mundaneness and precision despite amateurism are also key to the metaphor of the laymans revolution

[@multiverse_media2023]

Well, no one watches those YA movies anymore. We’d rather watch LOTR and Marvel.

[@eansba88-]

@@multiverse_media2023 which one could argue are also YA movies...

[@Madrock7777]

That pause for Hawkeye in Avengers on the count from 11 to 12 was gold.

[@krishnaajmera2742]

i think we can all agree that legolas has the most creative kills

[@zrxxyt3570]

@@SPDRM naah man Legolas still destroys everyone :D

[@jamalhartley5863]

Um Hawkeye crippled a flying fortress with a single arrow. Let's not get crazy. The two for one arrow from Legolos was pretty dope though.

[@taylerdibble8827]

@@jamalhartley5863 or when Lego posts up and waits for the orcs head to pop up right where he expected it to be (DoS) that’s one of my favorites

[@duncanchristensen4979]

I will say that like 3 of Hawkeyes misses were when he was shooting at Quicksilver, which is kind of unfair.

[@d.a.baracus]

This test doesn't take into account degree of difficulty; things like distance from the target, whether the target is moving, whether the archer is moving... Also, you should also factor speed in between shots, which is esp. important for Hawkeye b/c he's always using a bow to fight enemies armed w/ automatic weapons. When all is considered, the rankings are still the same, w/ Legolas still well above the other 2, Hawkeye in 2nd & Katniss in 3rd. The only diff would be, I'd put more distance btn Hawkeye & Katniss...

[@michaelstrodick1769]

To this you need to add different bows and skilled targets. How would all 3 of them be able to hit someone like Black Panther?

[@PlatinumPaladin]

With all the shots taken while sliding down stairs, double impalements or riding elephants I'm pretty sure it'd still be Legolas. :(

[@nandabagus8575]

It is not that deep 😩

[@saatvika2104]

@@PlatinumPaladin his whole body was more or less staying still so it'd be a slightly more difficult hitting a moving Target

[@mckrisbo]

Yep, if there is a weight added for degree of difficulty then Hawkeye takes this easily.

[@Senkuda]

With Hawkeye and Legolas, you are supposed to assume that the shots you don't see land are hits because the films make it clear that these guys don't miss unless the target evades.

[@ZlothZloth]

You can't start calling things you don't see! (I learned that watching pro-wrestling. Come to think of it, I probably should be considering that a somewhat dubious source.... ;)

[@22568307r]

they dont miss unless the target moves? lol

[@major_tangent]

@@ZlothZloth Most people call people every day without seeing them.

[@TommyTucker74]

Hawkeye outta get bonus points for all the no look shots. Unlike everybody else, he ain't gotta aim 😂

[@h0m3st4r]

A warrior prince of a functionally immortal species renowned for superhuman senses and agility and master bow craftsmanship; an ex-assassin armed with trick arrows; or a teenage girl who "volunteered" for a death game? You do the math.

[@matthewluecke3704]

To be fair to Hawkeye, some of his misses were against others with superpowers (or close): Quicksilver, Iron Man (I think) Black Widow, Black Panther--all of whom have better than normal dodge capabilities.

[@bpita0202]

One of Legolas' two misses could have actually been a shot from Aragorn. The other and more definitive miss/blocked was by Gandalf the White.

[@ancard3118]

@@bpita0202 It was a shot from Aragorn and yes, the other got blocked. They put real effort into displaying the fact that legolas NEVER misses

[@AdamBladeTaylor]

True. Plot armor is why Hawkeye misses. Otherwise he's always on target.

[@blyndfold4336]

I mean, who can hit quicksilver? And with, iron man, he didn’t miss, iron man wasn’t the target if you watched the movie

[@Jakc.]

@@blyndfold4336 no he just shot his arrow

[@joshuarichardson3090]

Also, let us remember that Legolas is an Elf and is older than the others by a factor of about 25 times. He has more hours practicing Archery than Hawkeye and Katniss combined have been alive. Of course he's going to be better!

[@nb4749]

Oh course, Legolas won. Look at the fancy foot work he does while shooting!

[@Michaelgnizak]

Yup, he's also got like a thousand hours more of movie time, lol. But also the same in hours of like experience, since, he's elven.

[@Pope_of_the_Church_of_Tea]

While I know things get hairy if they allowed this, I was hoping they would include the full count Legolas gives in his contest with Gimli during the battle at Pelennor Fields.

[@Julian-pw5mv]

Yeah that doesnt work, that just includes how many kills he has, but doesn't take into account how many misses, and we cant just assume he missed no shots.

[@IraJavier]

Jessica Biel in Blade 3 broke a $300,000 camera. I give her the win for that. 🏆

[@williamyoung3764]

I remembered that

[@theFILMNERD653]

Whatever you say in this video can’t change the fact that Yondu is the best archer in movie history!

[@taikimori3186]

He never missed those notes

[@azhdaha2497]

hells to yeh- no one can kill 0923420 targets with same arrow

[@wjhull]

I don't think just stabbing people/things with an arrow technically makes you an archer...

[@norakirayumi]

Who?

[@AxelHenx]

@@norakirayumi marry poppins ya'll

[@masterofpastime6418]

But you have to admit Hawkeye does the most difficult shots. Hitting a helicarrier while calculating the wind strength and hitting is absolutely insane.

[@FTNChicken]

Man, I've never been so laser focused on bow *thwip* sound effects

[@movieandbookreview2684]

Akwafine gets 100% for shooting the soul sucker from a mile away after a day training

[@pandanganmatiyn1487]

Totally agree

[@multiverse_media2023]

Go Sisu!

[@brianalice]

Can we have a By The Numbers for the deadliest child left Home Alone? You’ll need to Honest Action the rest of the series and then tally which tike had the most ‘kills’ per movie…

[@Baeraad]

Makes sense. Largely self-taught teenager < hardened secret agent < immortal semi-divine being.

[@towelam2421]

Objective question: shouldn't it count more if one arrow takes out several targets at once. Like an arrow going through two orcs say.

[@ZlothZloth]

I'm curious, too. I know Gimli's opinion on the subject, what about Fandom's? Also, what about the 'shot across the bow' that hits a pirate guy in RotK? Sure, there was interference, but it was a miss of a huge target!

[@suigetsuhyuga7772]

This should be more of a fight by distance and not actually how many times they miss or hit I saw lots of hits being with targets not moving and a few meters away if they go by this way then I'm 100% accurate sense I only used a bow once against a target about 5 meters from me and I hit the target

[@PS-bc5qt]

If you're going by that logic...how many targets does a helicarrier include? plus range...plus arrow type. Exploding head arrows have a different balance than normal arrows. All of Lego's arrows are basically identical so accounting for changes to distance firing is negligible. I mean really, while accuracy is a key for bow use, there are a fuckton of other "numbers" that could be done.

[@CthulhuOnCam]

Kinda looks like Hawkeye pulls off some much harder shots. Most of Legolas's are against enemies running right at him.

[@libbymay]

Can we just appreciate how much work they put into this👏🏻

[@ZlothZloth]

I'm still trying to figure out how they did it!

[@zihnetdelic2184]

Legolas had 43 kills at the Helms Deep alone. Or 42 if you ask Gimli

[@natezomby]

he was only twitching because my axe is EMBEDDED IN HIS NERVOUS SYSTEM!

[@multiverse_media2023]

@@natezomby I understood that reference!

[@alienator345]

Major props to the video editing crew on this one. Very nice work!

[@stormbard]

Well, actually 🤓 The extended versions of all lotr films have been on the big screen on multiple occasions. But I get what you’re saying.

[@EricGarber]

"I aim for the middle." - Tristan in King Arthur 2004

[@nagolbackwards1335]

We all know who won this… Cary Elwes from Men in Tights. I meen he shot ten arrows At once!

[@dragonofthewhiteflame4987]

I liked this... Toss green arrow into the mix and we have ourselves a real contest

[@atramortis6837]

bwahahahahahah..... oh your serious? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... Olivers good but hes still taking third at least he beats the teen girl with no powers magic or training

[@RysterialProductions]

Atra Mortis are YOU serious? Oliver sweeps these three easily.

[@atramortis6837]

@@RysterialProductions not even close he thrashes catniss easily sure. He is litteraly the hawkeye of the Justise league. However clant has more training a higher pull weight bow that he fires quicker that Oliver can. The draw strengh for hawwkye is close to 300 lbs to pull the bow string. Olivers is like 80 or 90lbs higher an standard but not the same class.

[@bjontroy136]

7:08 In Moria, the one that missed, that was Aragorn's shot, he was also shooting arrows. 7:20 Gandalf "deflected" what would have been a direct hit. But still hit him nonetheless.

[@kubush]

Gotta take difficulty into account. Some of Clint's shots were absolutely insane.

[@danrebeiz4598]

I was just talking with Leg earlier today and asked him what he was up to. He thought I was referring to his kill count and said 942,612. I was like “you silly goose, I meant what are you doing?” To which he replied “hang on… ok, make that 942,621”

[@swootproonce634]

I don’t get it

[@22568307r]

@@swootproonce634 that's why the most successful jokes ares short and simple lol

[@gelbug1991]

I mean.... since Legolas is an elf he has better than human abilities.... maybe not a fair comparison, but nice to know that somehow the result is what it should be if they all competed in a tournament side by side.

[@hhaapp123]

Plus the only two shots that he missed were actively dodged or deflected

[@zxstanyxz]

@@hhaapp123 you could say that about all 3 of them, 3 of hawkeye's "misses" were because they were snatched out of the air by someone else

[@lal12]

The extended edition also did run in cinema, sometimes up to this day...

[@MrShaunhunter]

The extended editions were all released on the big screen…

[@bpita0202]

True. But let's be honest, that was mercy on the person who had to put that all together. They have to watch frame by frame to make sure that they are accurate (no pun intended) in their stats.

[@okami36]

Love how the shot you use of Katniss is her holding the bow poorly, with the arrow resting on her arm instead of the arrow rest or the back of her hand.

[@jaypoirier8780]

Ok but are you factoring in amount of arrows used vs hits? Distance? Bow types used?

[@BoringAngler]

Mallory is the best Archer, no? I guess she hasn't been in a movie.

[@yanch51]

I’ve never wanted a video to get to the point so hard in my life

[@knightofsvea604]

We can easely think that the missed shot was actually Aragorn and the N/A shots.. were actually hits. Id say Legolas holds a 100% accuracy

[@icylynx6067]

If Rangers Apprentice had a movie (it would have to be decent and show the archery accurately) none of these other characters would compare to Halt and Will.

[@v0lt4r1s]

Yeah they’re *insane* archers

[@primmoore6232]

"An ordinary archer practices until he gets it right. *A ranger practices until he never gets it wrong."*

[@nymphrodellsalavin]

I'd probably go for a TV show, and rewrite the Royal Ranger a bit...

[@mimig7251]

@@nymphrodellsalavin Just make Alyss survive. Thats all we’d want

[@mimig7251]

Didn’t expect to find a comment about this here

[@svenr.3803]

The fact that Katniss, an archer, only gets to shoot 1 arrow in the entire 3rd movie shows you how tedious that one was :D

[@IronMaiden1164]

That's not really what those movies are about though

[@metalsadman]

@@IronMaiden1164 same for the other 2 archers :)

[@IronMaiden1164]

@@metalsadman I'd still say hunger games tries to be more of a dystopian society movie then an action movie which the Avengers is, and Lord of the rings (and especially the Hobbit) really borders on.

[@cosmicriptid]

Katniss is a really good archer. Clint has almost supernaturally good aim with any projectile. Legolas does have supernaturally good aim with any projectile.

[@SalvadorHVAC]

Legolas FTW

[@bishop1228]

You should do a Best JB; Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer or James Bond

[@mc-maitrixgaming4330]

The best archers in fiction Green arrow- am I a joke to u

[@atramortis6837]

boxing glove arrows need i say more?

[@chrisxx5583]

The best archer is Robin Hood from Robin Hood Men In Tights

[@CactusJackIV]

Great job getting all the numbers together and doing this, awesome work and content. i'm sure everyone is picking the list apart. I am sorry the only thing I say is, I would count the N/As for everyone(not my list so I should on my own list I guess....lol) . I feel with these archers, with their accuracy, and what they were shooting at(hordes of thousands of different types of creatures/monsters/robots). I think that it is interesting that when doing that it would put Hawkeye and Legolas at 77 each.

[@fnh123]

I've only seen the first Hunger Game but in those shots where Katniss is taking down planes with her arrows, are those like explosive arrows?

[@lincolnbeckett8791]

Yes, they are indeed explosive arrows.

[@revelhilary]

yes, in the last movie/book they give her different kinds of arrows that work in different ways to fight on the war

[@BeccasaurousRex270]

Does she get credit for the people she killed when the plane she shot down crashed into a hospital?

[@infinitespace2520]

@@BeccasaurousRex270 Ah yes, bonus points for random civillian murder

[@OR56]

I knew Legolas was gonna win, but its cool to see just how much better he is.

[@mahdimalekzadeh6410]

7:01 it was Aragorn that missed not Legolas.

[@MrDestroyedSoulx]

Man, the disrespect for Green Arrow is real... And that I can't find a comment even bringing him up makes me sad :(

[@valdavna1597]

So remember how , in the lord of the rings movies, Legolas was competing with the dwarf on the number of kills on the battlefield, so just like the dwarf was asking , I am asking “ does the elephant looking monster counts as just one ? Or more ? Like a three point shot in basketball? Same question with the trolls, they are bigger than the Orcs, and it takes more arrows to take them down, should they not count for more than one ?

[@Convoy00X]

I would give Legolas more credit if he had killed the Oliphaunt from the ground.

[@h0m3st4r]

Gimli, yes. At Helm's Deep, Gimli beat Legolas by one kill.

[@AmarisFrede]

Thank you 💖

[@radamanthys0223]

can we appreciate how damn beautiful the elven arrows are? like damn

[@thegreatstorieswastaken]

I was gonna say I don't like being that guy but I think I would be lying. The Extended Editions of LOTR have run in Theaters multiple times over the years. Also, at 7:15 why didn't you count the Uruk coming around the tree? Legolas shoots him.

[@dice.and.crossbones]

We all know it's Legolas we just want to see how much he beats them by.

[@realbadger]

All extended LotR versions _were_ on the big screen, albeit limited: I saw them at the Arclight Theater.

[@kurtsudheim825]

It's very simplistic for a real answer, but taking into account if the film shows training or are they at their peak immediately, ease of the shots (distance, size of target, any obstructions/ directions etc)... also they're were other movies, Robin Hood indecisive comes to mind

[@Biophile23]

You could also have another measure of who portrayed archery most accurately. And that'd be Merida ... :) Hawkeye was wearing two armguards at once point cause he kept whapping his arm with the string. Archery N00B ;)

[@FromThe9thDimension]

I wonder if an elven arrow could cut through armour more effectively than Hawkeye's techy arrows 🤔

[@Jacob-WD40]

I think we can all agree it's Yondu.

[@MudSluggerBP]

Hawkeye can hit his targets while looking in the opposite direction, easily the most talented archer.

[@adventuresinAI1982]

I vote Sterling Archer.

[@chrismcdonald2947]

Legolas and Hawkeye with the no look bullseyes

[@nindramaharani1434]

Everyone talking about the distance... i agreed so far, but dont forget how many arrow they took... well, it represents how it also difficult... Hawkeye almost always take 2 or 3 arrows, Legolas 1 and sometimes 2, but Katniss is always 1, bcs she was in forces to take it... and, why dont you count Susan Pevensie from Narnia too?? She's legend😱😱😱😱

[@AlexTTzer0]

I am so happy Legolas was first. Now I can proceed on my daily night sleep routine...

[@mattrasp1615]

It’s actually one less miss. Pretty sure that’s Aragorns shot that misses in Moria.

[@chinmaykabi]

Why don't the arrows in the quiver never run out for any of them? 😤

[@MoonGoddess401]

Well, to be fair to Hawkeye and Katniss, Legolas has about 2000+ years experience over them.

[@rossadams8934]

Just looking at this you could tell it was Legolas, Hawkeye, Katniss in that order. Why did they even throw Katniss to the wolves like this? It would be like a death battle between Happy Hogan and Thanos.

[@ostrichlord7955]

Yeah. Like what's Thanos gonna be able to do to Happy Hogan?

[@EMDakka]

3 of Legolas shots on Helms Deep were most definetively hits, and the first few NA's on ROTK were hits, because he's counting the kills.

[@Jllyrol311]

Television’s best Archer is Sterling.

[@atramortis6837]

I see your archer and raise you with Shiro Emiya

[@laylamccahon7797]

It's from quite a vague fantasy film but I wonder how well Crow from Hawk the Slayer would do with his machine gun arrows.

[@scottnufer3632]

To be fair, Hawkeye's misses are only against superheros. Whether or not you count Black Widow, he never wanted to hit her in the first place.

[@gabrielg229]

Didn't David Bowman have a hand in turning Jupiter into a star? Clearly the best Bowman on screen.

[@TheAmishEngineer]

Most of Legolas’s were point blank 😂

[@meeamea]

A big portion of Katniss' shots were against stationary targets lol- easy to hit when your targets aren't moving or trying to kill you.

[@apollolux]

Probably already commented on, but even in the What If? series Hawkeye couldn't miss even when he tried that one time to stand down.

[@stefansamoyloff3866]

Legolas misses both the shots on the sapper seeing we know he was aiming for the legs, but I agree with Hawkeye getting hits when his goal was tactical and not direct. I think all in all this is going to be a common issue for all 3 if you went back; we need to know what they were aiming for. Hitting "something" isn't a hit.

[@charlespfaff6585]

Gina Davis goes on my list of celebs to survive the Apocalypse. Still need to include the Green Arrow and many others.

[@infinitepossibilities-anyt1488]

i love all the nominees. that being said, it's legolas. based on sight distance alone. combine that with his ability to poetically shoot on the move in the some of the most difficult situations ever. he's also an elf so he has had a lot more time to get better. maybe Katniss, Hawkeye, and Robin Hood.

[@gianfrancoubamos1727]

In my opinion, it was Legolas from the very beginning. The bow and arrow were not weapons, they limbs.

[@sadro2537]

Lol, I don't think any of Legolas's misses are really misses.

[@TheJerbol]

The fact that Katniss only shoots one arrow in the entire 3rd movie says all you need to know about how the series ended lol

[@johnnyjrkirch4952]

Every N/A shot for a hawkeye was a hit so he’s a better marksman

[@starkparker16]

Thanks for this important information and this excellent video.

[@djresistance101]

I have never seen Legolas shoot an arrow and curve or hit a trick shot all targets are directly in front of him. Hawkeye is still the best

[@djresistance101]

all of Legolas targets are in front of him in a massive hoard, i mean Hawkeye shot a trick arrow into a drive of a computer !!!! that is a one in a billion shot.

[@supermexican8728]

Number 9 and 10 from two towers should be NA. If you look closely you can see they are different arrows then the ones he’s using 7:40

[@mdchiesi]

tell me honestly, was this inspired by Auralnaut's Legolas Kill count video? It's absolutely hilarious.

[@LahyriAurbach]

And thus, Legolas' infinite arrows meme is debunked. Avg 16 arrows shot per movie, less than a lvl 1 standard equipment in 5e

[@ysera2210]

Legolas is basically a living nat 20

[@Sykonvid]

And how is "headshots" not an added score category for this? :P

[@Windthroughcedars]

Love Fanda is becoming sentient. Definitely won’t be a problem down the line.

[@prashantsarkar821]

But why count Legolas' kills when he does it for you?

[@mixck]

I just laughed during Legolas part because this was never a fair fight 😂😂

[@munstrumridcully]

Even though he's not in the running for this list-- and he didn't actually use a bow and arrow in the Daredevil movie though he easily could have) Bullseye is the winner! I swear to God, Bullseye has a mutant power to never miss with any kind of projectile. Marvel just never bothered to acknowledge that he is a mutant. That's my theory, anyway . No matter what he throws, or shoots, or even spits, he simply _cannot_ miss. The only person that's even close to Bulls-eye out of the guys in this list would be Legolas, who also has some kind of Supernatural ability to not miss, at least in the films.🙂

[@darigonzo348]

was I the only one who had to double take on Catness apparently only shooting her bow ONE time in Mockingjay pt 1?

[@Amoraszune]

Great content, but Spencer, you need to use a much better mic setup ;)