The 7 Greatest Angels of Film and Television

Warner Bros. Televsion

When the darkness presses in, it’s good to have an angel on your side.

From Milton’s “Paradise Lost” to the hit Warner Bros. television show, “Supernatural,” angels have been in our fiction for thousands of years, and are an engrained part of our culture’s popular mythology, and now regularly appear on the screen as some of our favorite characters.

Far from original, perfect angels of the Bible, the angels in our contemporary fiction are often more like us—they’re irreverent, they make mistakes, and they experience elation, depression, and everything in between. And sometimes, much to our delight, they even fall in love.

Over the years, a handful of these angels of the screen have come to stand out, burning themselves into our collective consciousness as some of our most beloved angelic characters, be they villain, hero, or something in between.

Join us as we take a look at the 7 greatest angels of film and television.

Clarence from "It's a Wonderful Life"

Liberty Films

No list of film-worthy angels could begin without Clarence.

In the classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the angel, Clarence Odbody, shows protagonist George Bailey what life would be like if George had never existed.

A self-professed “angel 2nd class,” Clarence watches a very broken George as the depressed man makes his way to the edge of a bridge so that he can commit suicide. Before George can leap, though, Clarence jumps into the river, pretending to drown and prompting George to rescue him.

Disbelieving Clarence’s claim to be a guardian angel, George makes the offhand wish that he had never been born.

Clarence grants that wish, allowing George to live within an alternate timeline in which he had never existed, showing him what an immense and positive impact his life has had on those around him. Clarence guides George through this experience, reminding him of all he has to live for. He departs with a simple and timeless message—“No man is a failure who has friends”.

We love Clarence because of the kindness he represents—his gentle, childlike, and naïve-seeming nature are endearing, and his pure and sincere desire to help George see the worth of his life helped to create one of the most inspiring movies in history. No other angel of the screen has so aptly reminded us that each of us, in our own way, has the ability to find our “wonderful life”.

Gabriel from "Constantine"

Warner Bros. Pictures

Not all fictional angels adhere to their Biblical source material. Some are downright villainous, in fact.

Gabriel, the beautifully androgynous half-breed angel from the Keanu Reeves film, “Constantine,” is one such angel.

From his very first interaction with the film’s protagonist, John Constantine, Gabriel is a mysterious and compelling force, rebuffing John for thinking that he could earn his way into heaven by hunting demons. For much of the movie, Gabriel seems a benevolent, if insensitive, being.

But at the film’s climax, we begin to see the cracks in the angel’s visage, until it is finally revealed that Gabriel resents God’s favoritism toward humanity, and intends to bring hell to earth in order to temper humanity in the fires of suffering so that those who survive might be repentant and “truly worthy” of God’s love.

Masterfully portrayed by Tilda Swinson, Gabriel is all charisma and barely-controlled insanity, representing what can happen when an immensely powerful being falls prey to pride and resentment—a process that is fascinating to watch, making Gabriel one of the most popular angelic characters to grace the screen.

Damiel from "Wings of Desire"

Road Movies

“Instead of forever hovering above, I’d like to feel there’s some weight to me, to end my eternity and bind me to earth.”

This is the longing of the angel, Damiel, from the classic German film, “Wings of Desire”—a longing to be human.

Director Wim Wenders makes use of sepia-toned black-and-white to depict the world as the angels see it, and makes use of color to depict the sensory-laden world of humankind that Damiel yearns for, having grown tired of infinity, of being unable to interact with the physical world.

This yearning, so very human, is what makes Damiel so compelling an angelic character. When, finally, he is released from his immortal existence and becomes fully human, he revels in even the smallest details of life—he sees color for the first time, bleeds, tastes food, drinks coffee. He feels.

Throughout the film, Damiel slowly falls in love with a lonely trapeze artist named Marion, a woman who lives by herself in a caravan and dances alone to hauntingly moody music.

Upon becoming human, Damiel finally meets Marion after having been invisible to her for so long, and the two feel as familiar with one another as a pair of old friends might.

This story of loneliness, love, and the value of the limited human existence is a timeless one, and in Damiel, we can all find our longing to truly live. This universal appeal makes Damiel one of the greatest angelic characters we’ve ever watched.

Joe Black from "Meet Joe Black"

Universal Pictures

What would you do if the angel of death fell in love with your daughter?

This is exactly what happens in the bittersweet fantasy romance film, “Meet Joe Black”. When the 65 year-old billionaire, Bill Parrish, piques Death’s interest, Death inhabits the body of a recently deceased young man and arrives at Bill’s door, explaining that as long as Bill will act as Death’s guide to life on earth, Bill will not have to die. Death decides to take the name, Joe Black. Although never overtly called an angel, the film provides several contextual hints that this is exactly what he is.

Slowly, over the course of the film, Bill’s youngest daughter, Susan, falls deeply in love with Joe. Unexpectedly, even to himself, Joe falls in love with her, as well.

Portrayed by a young Brad Pitt, Death finds himself in a familiar situation—familiar to viewers, at least. He experiences human senses and emotions for the first time, relishing them, enjoying them. Reluctant to give up his newfound love, Death professes a desire to take Susan with him when he departs earth, much to Bill’s anger.

Eventually, Bill teaches Death the value of self-sacrifice and honesty, and how these are a part of what love truly is, and Susan is left to live out her life.

The story of an impersonal being learning what it is to be human—and thus, showing the superiority of empathy and love and compassion—is a story we all love to see played out. Brad Pitt portrays Death well, showing us a being who doesn’t quite know how to yet express emotion. Fascinating and enigmatic, Joe Black is an angel we won’t soon forget.

Monica from "Touched by an Angel"

CBS Productions

“Touched by an Angel” gave us Monica, who is perhaps one of the most well-known angels of television.

Played by the Irish actress Roma Downey, Monica is a novice angel-in-training who charmed viewers for nine years, garnering over 21 million viewers at the show’s peak.

The show was unafraid of tackling major issues such as death, slavery, and women’s place in the church and in society. The show’s structure was such that Monica handled human “cases,” wherein she would bequeath guidance and aid to those facing difficulty, often learning as much as those she helped.

The show is as sweet as they come, and Monica proves to be one of the kindest angels to ever appear onscreen, firmly ensconcing herself in the hearts of viewers everywhere, even going so far as showing a willingness to sacrifice her own life for the good of others.

Because of her influence on so many, and the hope, inspiration, and happiness she brought to the screen, we name Monica as one of the greatest angels of film and television.

Bartleby and Loki from "Dogma"

Lionsgate

Aside from being villainous, what if a pair of angels were just jerks?

Bartleby and Loki, a pair of fallen angels banished to Wisconsin for all eternity, discover a way back into heaven through a plenary indulgence offered at the rededication of a cathedral in New Jersey—essentially, all punishment for their sins will be remitted upon entering the church.

However, unknown to them, should they reenter heaven, they would contradict the Word of God, which would have the decidedly unpleasant effect of destroying the universe.

Receiving encouragement for the plan from a the demon, Azrael, the two set off on a journey that makes up the plot of the religious satire, “Dogma”.

There are, perhaps, no two angels in all of fiction which are so perfectly opposite their Biblical origins, engaging in murder, drunkenness—lots of drunkenness, and all manner of other heresy.

It is precisely because of their fallen natures and essential humanity—even if it is the dark side of humanity—that they remain such enduringly popular characters. After all, how many times do we see angels exiled to Wisconsin, taking the bus, getting drunk, and having their wings shot off by a machine gun? The humorous juxtaposition of their angelic state and human sloppiness gives us a pair of angels we won’t be forgetting.

Castiel from "Supernatural"

Warner Bros. Television

Last, and certainly not least, we have the angel who is, arguably, the most popular angel ever to appear on the screen—Castiel from the television series, “Supernatural”.

“Supernatural” follows the road-trip adventures of the Winchester brothers as they make their way across the United States in their 1967 Chevrolet Impala. For the first few seasons, the world Sam and Dean Winchester’s inhabit seems to be made up of nothing but horrors, of monsters and demons and otherworldly entities that feed on, torment, and plague humanity. It is an uncaring world steeped in the darkness.

But then something happens. In a dilapidated shed, Dean Winchester meets a man whose presence causes light bulbs to explode, the walls to rattle, and the very earth to quake. Immune to shotgun blasts, knife blades, and magical symbols, he steps right up to Dean and announces himself in what was one of the most goose bump-producing lines of a series that had yet to acknowledge the existence of heaven.

“I am an angel of the Lord.”

Over the course of the show, Castiel became, perhaps, the most beloved angel every portrayed, thanks to actor Misha Collins’s masterful acting. Collins takes Castiel from the angel’s impersonal, all-powerful beginnings, through the journey of learning what it means to be a human, and on to the adorable figure who likes to wrap himself up in blankets and watch Netflix.

When “Supernatural” draws to a close, the show’s millions of viewers are going to miss Cas’s gravelly-voiced power, his hilarious misuses of pop-culture references, and his surprisingly human naiveté and vulnerability.

More than anything, Cas just tries as hard as he can to be a friend to Sam and Dean, and to somehow help them overcome the increasingly difficult circumstances they find themselves in. Although he fails—sometimes miserably—we can’t help but keep loving him when he misquotes a reference or starts doling out overly-powerful angel hugs.

Here’s to Castiel, the greatest of his kind.