John McClane

English

Etymology

From the main character of the movie Die Hard.

Noun

John McClane (plural John McClanes)

1. A dogged and reluctant hero, known especially for sacrificing himself and for crawling through ventilation ducts.
   • 2016, Geoff Manaugh, A Burglar's Guide to the City‎^[1], Farrar, Straus and Giroux:

     Burglars, then, far from being interdimensional John McClanes of the built environment sliding through the many unseen topologies of Nakatomi space, are more like human mosquitoes: irritating, seemingly pointless, and unending in number.

   • 2024, Virgil Henry, Academic Inferno - My Academic Trip Through Adjunct Hell‎^[2], 4 Horsemen Publications:

     I settled into my first faculty meeting of the year with my secret plan in place and devised plans to take over eventually. I would go alone. I was going to be the John McClane of that university.

   • 2017 February 10, Dylan Moses Griffin, “Review – John Wick: Chapter 2”, in The Death of Film Criticism‎^[3], archived from the original on 11 August 2026:

     John Wick joins the annals of the greatest action heroes on screen, up there with the John McClanes, the Rambos, the Bullitts.